I first saw the "Lonesome Dove" miniseries in 1993, about four years after it had first been shown on television. Essentially a six-hour movie, it was widely credited with resurrecting not only the TV miniseries format but also the genre of the Western, which had been thought of as dead for some years. In fact, … Continue reading Unforgiven in Lonesome Dove
I first saw the TV miniseries adaptation of "Lonesome Dove" in the early 90s, about four years after it premiered. I didn't read the novel until this summer. The movie was and probably always will be one of my favorites, but after reading the novel I'm finding some important differences between the two, that I'd … Continue reading Lonesome Dove book vs movie
Everything we build is matchsticks. That’s how I felt recently, watching the residents of Walnut Grove blow up their beloved town with dynamite in the final episode of the “Little House” TV series. I originally that episode – the two hour movie billed as “The Last Farewell” – close to 40 years ago now, and … Continue reading Matchsticks
“Anna Karenina” is not a book you can read quickly. It just doesn’t move at a hungry pace. You can read a couple of chapters and feel like you’ve moved into a single character’s soul; and you’ve got more than enough to digest for one night, without thinking of moving out into some other character. … Continue reading Anna Karenina – Parts 3 and 4 (of 8)
December 2, 2020 I’m so close to finishing Jane Austen’s six main novels that I figured, why not finish. So I rewatched Ang Lee’s 1995 movie of “Sense and Sensibility” and started the novel, while watching for the first time the Andrew Davies movie from 2008. Nothing more needs to be said about Lee’s movie; … Continue reading Sense and Sensibility
November 16, 2020 I’ve just seen the 2007 version of “Northanger Abbey”, and maybe my expectations were too high, but it was disappointing. Everything is too broad and obvious. We know, for example, who are the bad apples because they are clearly, ominously bad as soon as we see them. All mystery, ambiguity, and uncertainty … Continue reading Northanger Abbey movie (2007)
November 9, 2020 The 1971 BBC version of “Persuasion” is not a bad adaptation, even if it feels more like a play than a movie. It’s faithful to the original story and it gets many things right, including Mrs. Smith’s role. But I think Anne in ‘95 was a better characterization. This Anne doesn’t seem … Continue reading BBC Persuasion (1971)
November 2, 2020 I’ve seen again the ‘95 movie and it’s very faithful to the novel. But the last scenes suffer now in comparison to the novel. That tense chapter that unfolded Mrs. Smith’s revelations to Anne, is a mere nothing in the movie; and Mrs. Smith knows much about Mr. Elliot but has never … Continue reading Persuasion movie (1995)
October 28, 2020 Pride and Prejudice has many great chapters, including of course Darcy’s first proposal to Lizzie, but for my money the best chapter is the next one, when Lizzie receives his explanatory letter and her mind is sent into full-on turbulence, as she struggles with new information. How she goes back and forth, … Continue reading Finishing Pride and Prejudice
October 19, 2020 Last night sat down with my wife Dess to watch “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” I have no desire to see any of the straight retellings of the novel, because none of them appear to be very good. This one is not a straight retelling; I think of it actually as … Continue reading The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
