crazy_smart Reviews

Northanger Abbey (2007 TV Movie)

A thrilling and bang-up-to-date adaption of a fantastic book.

[9/10 · 26 March 2007]

Northanger Abbey is not just one of my favourite Jane Austen books, but also one of my favourite books full stop. So, when hearing of an ITV adaption, I was in equal parts excited and nervous.

Well, after seeing it I can only praise it. The cast performed extremely well - especially JJ Field as the charming and likable Henry Tilney, and Felicity Jones as the naive and excitable Catherine Morland - the direction was top class, and the narrative - though not always faithful to the book - was pretty much faultless.

Some people may be disappointed in the less-faithful parts of the feature, but I felt that they fit in very well with Ms. Austen's novel. They were charming and felt very up-to-date in a way that would appeal to both Jane Austen lover's, and people who just wanted to watch a good film on Sunday night.

If you haven't seen this, then I highly recommend it, and I know that I certainly will be buying the DVD.

Serenity (2005)

Sensational, made me a fan of Firefly

[10/10 · 12 February 2006]

There is one word which sums up this film perfectly - wow.

I was amazed at how fantastic this film was, especially as I'm not usually a big sci-fi girl, being far too girly and teensy for that. However, this film changed my perspective of the whole genre.

It is an amazing action-packed film that works just as well as a stand-alone film, and I should know as I had never watched a single episode of firefly before this. In fact, I was completely opposed to it in principle because it was the reason one of my favourite TV shows (Dark Angel) was cancelled.

However, a mistake on my friend's part mixing up the times at the cinema meant that this was the only film on, so we decided to watch it, and I actually didn't know it was based on Firefly. Well all I can say is that from start to finish, I was astounded. I was taken in by the well-formed characters, the world, the backgrounds, the sets etc. and I went on to see it another two times, and am now waiting with avid anticipation for the DVD release.

However, this film wasn't only good for the film, it was good because it introduced me to Firefly, which I am now just a little bit obsessed with.

If you do anything this year, I advise you to rent this DVD out, in the hopes that a sequel will be made because it would be a travesty if this is where Firefly/Serenity ends 10 stars for sure.