Lauren Mangioni

Once every blue moon, a film comes along that has you thinking about it for days. Bright Star was certainly one of those films.

Nothing brings me to tears like a romantic yet tragic period piece. Or a John Keats poem. Keep the tissues close by!

In my mind, BBC’s 1996 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice will always be my clear favourite but I stayed up very late to watch all four episodes of their 2009 Emma miniseries starring Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller. I adore all the empire-line dresses and riding jackets and of course, the love between Emma and her Mr. Knightley. I think I was born in the wrong era.

Screencaps source.

+

+

= the perfect Friday evening. (A more substantial update coming soon, promise).

Who doesn’t love a Quentin Tarantino film?

I was so excited to see Inglorious Basterds that I’m still yet to see Johnny Depp’s Public Enemies and I can assure you, I was not disappointed. There was no way I could be thanks to a cast that included Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender (yum) and Til Schweiger who are out to do one thing and one thing only. Kill Nazis.

Christoph Waltz, as Col. Hans Landa was brilliant and terrifying at the same time while French actress Melanie Laurent, as the French-Jew who manages to find herself thrown into the ranks of German high society (including propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and Hitler himself), is wonderfully disconnected and cold. To say I was on the edge of the seat is cliched but my heart was in my throat from beginning to end.

If you suffer from a weak stomach, be warned, you may want to look away more than once.

It was sad to wake up this morning and learn that John Hughes, director of such cult classics like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, has died at the age of 59. An icon in the 80’s, his films about the trials and tribulations that teenagers face are still more than relevant today and loved by so many across the world.

R.I.P John Hughes.