Downton Abbey

I know that I'm late to this party, but Downton Abbey really is as good as you've heard.  You can watch the entire first season on Netflix, and season 2 is available (until March 6th) at PBS.org.  I'm generally not a big fan of the Upstairs/Downstairs sort of thing, so I took awhile to try this show out.  That was a mistake.  What really makes this show great is the writing and acting; every single character (and there are a lot of them) is a complicated, troubled, messy, real human being with their own motivations, ethics, and beliefs.  In addition, the production values are very high, the sets and costumes are Edwardialicious.  A+ for Season 1.  I haven't finished season 2 yet.

Practical Magic

Practical Magic is one of my favorite movies ever (although the book is much better, darker and stranger).  It's the story of two adult sisters, Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, who happen to be witches.  Sandra Bullock, the older of the two, has renounced magic, and is trying to live a sedate, normal, suburban life, but the world has other plans.  This is technically a romantic comedy, but the real sparks come from the completely believable sister relationship between the two leads.  Stockard Channing and Dianne Weist are fantastic as the elderly aunts.  Aidan Quinn is a very good as the romantic lead, with a folksy, down-home, protective vibe that I don't really find appealing, but I imagine is very sexy for middle aged hausfraus.  Mostly what I love about this movie is the magical realism and the awesome sets and production design.  Also, keep an eye on everyone's hair; the more magic they do, the thicker, wilder, and more awesome the weaves get.  Bonus: a tasty fine, very young Goran Visnjic in a sexy role as a "vampire cowboy" bad-boy love interest for Nicole Kidman.  I think this was one of his very first American roles.  A- for witches, probably B for anyone else.

Strange Days

Strange Days (no longer available to stream) is a weird, awesome, compelling movie.  It stars a very wide range of people before they came to wider attention.  Ralph Fiennes (excellent as always), Vincent D'Onofrio (creepy and convincing), Juliet Lewis, Angela Basset (smokin') , etc.  It came out about the same time as Johnny Mnemonic, and it's a lot like that movie would be if it didn't suck.  Set 5 minutes in the future, on the eve of Y2K, I really love all the small background details.  Ralph Fiennes is an ex-cop who now deals black-market VR disks.  It's a little slow at the beginning, but don't give up on it until the who-dunnit kicks in around the half way mark. B+

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a story about a traveling magical street circus?  Count me in!  Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Johnny Depp...sounds good so far.  

This movie is beautiful.  The effects, the acting, the script, they're all beautiful (except maybe for the midget).  It's magical, and astonishing, and all about using art and magic to bring about liberation from social norms.  You would think that this would be an A+ movie, but it's kind of preachy, and its ideas about "right" and "wrong" are much less Luciferian that I would like.  


That being said, if you love Terry Gilliam, you'll love this movie, and if you hate Terry Gilliam, I imagine I just don't like you.  A-

Shakespeare In Love

Shakespeare in Love:
This is a beautiful, romantic, funny movie, full of beautiful, romantic, funny people.  It won several Oscars, including Best Picture.  This is the movie I watch when I need sewing inspiration, or romantic inspiration, or writing inspiration.  Even though it's a satire, it's clearly made by people who really love Shakespeare as much as we do.  A-