In the need of more speed...

 

 

Finally…I have been back to a movie theatre!  It took me a long time to dare to go back in due to a certain.  For a very long time I did not experienced the urge to fully commit to go and sit down in an other room in total darkness where there are no windows that you can open.  As so many amongst us I did started instead to stream movies by signing up to certain services who throw so many movies and series at you.  Binge watching found its way into my life;  

On top of that have I been having an extremely good time rediscovering a few of those things I have not been doing for rather a long time.  There are still a few ones that I still seem not to be ready for but that is okay.  The ones that I have done surely added some more spice to my existence.  That we were able to celebrate Christmas together was such a bonus to a year that kept me on my toes.  Still I did miss going to the movies…I did.  Okay the sound of slurping fizzy drink and popcorn eating noises I did not but it was all the other sensations that come along by going to see a movie on a big screen that I did lack.

When Tom Cruise had announced that Top Gun: Maverick was not going to be released for streaming I first was bit disappointed.  To be honest the d-word did not even cover what I felt.  Yes, I had been anticipating that release and I just couldn’t wait to get back into a high speed plane and finding out what had happened to Maverick and if he still was going strong with Charlie.   Hey…I was in desperately in for speed…  So yes, I admit I was one of those fans that just couldn’t wait to see what it would be like to see Maverick&co back in action.

Now I know what you are thinking…Stallie must have had the hots for Cruise as many of us did.  After all there was the infamous elevator ride she did even mention that one in one her previous entries.  Plus yes, I have seen most of the Cruise his movies.  I plead guilty on all those charges.  The thing with this specific movies is that I had something else going on with that just a man in a jumpsuit driving a motorcycle and driving a woman crazy while just wearing Aviators.  ‘It is complicated’-tagline coming up here…and you might not believe me anyway why I had rather the hots for something else when it came down to that movie.

The moment that Goose and Maverick got into their very fast planes and I saw the whole crew at work something inside of me was triggered.  It even started to before that.  The opening sequence of Top Gun is for me a winner.  Because it told me something about planes and how much teamwork is behind them to fly secure.  Oh yes, it was the cinematography of Tony Scot in combination of the music by Kenny Loggins and Berlin.  And Top Gun Anthem can still give me goosebumps for so many reasons.  

Top Gun was to me a movie mostly about the planes and about friendship.  Lots was written about the movie at the time.  Plus that the heat you could feel between Iceman and Maverick when they are getting from order the shower and walk around in a towel in the locker room is unmistakably one of the most testosterone loaded scenes I had come across.  Needless to say what the beach volleyball scene did with our hormones.  Let alone the song ‘Take my breath away’. But honesty I just loved the noise and the movement of the planes.  The take off on the flight carrier was for me one of the highlight and the touchdowns made me go in overdrive.

The thing is that I was a teenager at the time and that more than 3 decades later after the original so much has changed.  I got older and surely did all the cast members of that movie.  Deep down I was even expecting it to be not even close to be as good as the original one.  So that Tom Cruise was putting it off to release his latest creation was in a way a bit of bittersweet.  In a way it seemed the movie was buying time.   And with that tiny virus still causing global havoc I wondered if it ever was going to happen.…well…I finally did happen…and what a pa

Now about a month later I am still amazed by the movie.  Yes, because of a bunch of fit men in a jumpsuit, toothpaste smiles and the need for speed I went back into movie theatre. No, I did not buy any popcorn or fizzy drink.  The line at the check out was way too long and we were already running late.  Instead I tried hard to just focus on what was in front of me.  In an IMAX the screen takes up a lot of space and the Dolby surround just block anything else.  So that was easy peasy but what a ride this movie was…

What an action movie this turned out to be and how do all the puzzle pieces fit together.  Yes, there are a few comebacks and one is a particular one.  So many ‘easter eggs’ are thrown in there that your basket will be filled up to the brim.  Remember Carole Bradshaw alias Mrs Goose (Meg Ryan her character)? She was the one who hugged Pete Mitchell and a few seconds later said:"He told me all about the time you went ballistic with Penny Benjamin.”  Well, ever wondered what the admiral’s daughter must have looked like?  Patience pays off because in this movie you see why she was worth a fly over.  I had my doubts about her taking the place of Charlie but then the signs were there.  Pete Mitchell was not going to settle down easily and neither was the ambitious lady.   And then there was Iceman.  Val Kilmer his character was taking up so much place in the first movie that you wondered if he would ever share a box of Magnum ice creams with anyone.  Well, I am not going to give too much away but the reunion of Pete and the man who once ran around with bleached hair tips through a locker room wearing only a white towel is one of the highlights of the movie.

But foremost this is an action movie in which once again the planes get a lot to say.  The opening sequence gave me goosebumps.  That over thirty years later so much has changed is something that you can see in the way they filmed everything.  Everything is on the edge…and when these young pilots take off and wonder if their old teacher can even teach them a few things about flying you do know you are in for a treat.

So yes…I LOVED THE MOVIE!  It was as good as a big box of macarons by Ladurée or a chilled bottle of Veuve Cliquot. There is a lot of nostalgic involved but Tom Cruise&co managed to wrap it all up in one gigantic box that is filled with all the good stuff. Stuff that blockbusters are made off.  Tony Scott passed sadly away some ten years ago and this movie was even put to an hold due to it.  Still, I am pretty sure that he would have approved of what Joe Kosinski has done with his characters and planes.  Sequels turn out to be rather disappointing but this one is just a league on its own.  After all when Tony Scott made Tom and Vil get into a F14 was he even wondering what the legacy would be of that movie?  In case you are still in doubt about going to see the next generation of pilots who are aiming high? Don’t…you will have a thrilling flight on board…you are in the safe hands of Kosinski&Co.  Oh and one one more thing ladies and gentlemen, please go easy on Bob…the guy is a keeper.

Macaroons & Austen...what a delightful combo!?

 

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”  I bet some of you now already know what this entry is going to be about.  The iconic Jane Austen words do reflect very well the area in which she has written them.  There are so many out there that still go into a certain overdrive when the next Austen adaptation for the TV-screen is announced.

Mentioned here in a previous life is that I adore Jane Austen her work and that I still will devour work that is inspired by hers.  There is a whole literature out there that is based on her works.  And directors have even dared to take on her last work ‘Sanditon’.  This is an unfinished novel that is about a coastal town where a group of people try to find their place in society.  Daring to say the least.  And when the second season was announced I did have a my reservations.  It is one thing to go after a story that has a beginning but not an end.    Still season 2 turned out quite a romantic escape from everyday headlines.   Die hard fans cannot wait for season 3 to come on and see if a certain stubborn man to finally give in to his real feelings.

So when Netflix announced that they were taking on ‘Persuasion’ again I was very thrilled.  It is not my all favourite of the books she has written but any Jane Austen adaptation can get me in a happy place.  Plus that there is within this specific novel a certain rawness that can at times feel a bit as if you are lost within the waves that crush against the pier of Lyme Regis.  It is in this work that I did wonder what it would feel like to end up as a spinster.  The main character Anne seemed  to be rahter  cursed if it came down  to find a love interest.  It was as if Anne was forced to remain the one who always to have to settle for playing the second violin or even be ignored entirely.  

The greyness that Austen managed to embed within her words made me rather thread becoming also a single woman.  Not that she had not given Anne enough backbone to remain her true self.  Overcoming sadness and cosmic loss with so much dignity that you just had to feel impressed by this young regency girl.   The complexity of this work is is mind-blowing and there is a lot to be said about how two lost souls try to find common ground.  They walk in and out of each other their life and seem never ti find the right tone.  The biggest opponents are the back ground noise of many characters that seem to rather prefer to keep the show to go.

‘Everything for the sake of money and the title.’, could be a tageline of many characters who Jane Austen let run wild in every single of her works.  It is back ground noise that lifts up the ones that go agains the stream.  Still it is never without risks to turn something that has go so many fans into something that easily be told be ‘a total disgrace’.  Jane Austen is considered a league of her own.  She has ben given the privilege to take the place of HMQ Elisabeth on a ten pound note.  Tells you enough about the cultural impact of an author who in my humble opinion will remain an enigma.  

That Dakota Johnson who dared to put on the walking shoes of Anne and face an angry mob I dare to call admirable.   As said before many times I will always give lots of things and people the benefit of the doubt.  This time it was very hard to do so due to the fact that social media was all over this Netflix production.  Many even said bluntly that according to their humble opinion this is worst ever adaptation of a very beloved novel.  Some very people will be very disappointed…one can never please everyone.  Just this time overall are the Janeites very openly dismayed by what the director and scriptwriters have done with the character.  

After having seen the result myself I have got mixed feelings.  The awaited doom and disgust did not overwhelm me and there were moments that I just had a real good time with this Anne and her slightly derailed family.  Not that I don’t get what many fans left behind in comment sections.  There is a lack of a certain sentiment that is very much alive and kicking in Jane Austen her original words.  Words that are more evoked in depth in the various other adaptations.

I do get it that if someone who sees this might not feel the same sentiments then hose who are very much acquainted with Austen her literature.  Persuasion is a work that breaths certain sentiments that can only be described as gloom, despair, sadness, hopelessness and even depression.  Anne seems to be on the way to eternal spinsterhood and nobody seems to be able to connect with her.  The love she has once found has been abruptly been taken away from her due to her family.  These are very strong emotions and many authors do not manage to get these across in a way that you as a reader feel connected with them.

Personally I have always wondered why Captain Wentworth so easily had given up on Anne.  Fair enough that he must have felt not up against the sentiments of the Elliot family.  Regency times marriage was for most families a financial transaction.  And a naval officer was surely  not a wealthy prospective for many families who wished to keep up their standing.   Many naval officers ended up buried at sea and did not come along with an appealing annual income.  One single look at the numbers and that was it.  But still…  

Anyway the author is in charge of the story line and must have had damn good reasons to let her two main characters suffer through so much despair and heartfelt sadness.   It are also these sentiments that by many readers considered the ones that make the reading of this novel superb.   Honestly nowadays in many YA books are also these the ones that make a book stand out.  The second book of the Twilight book is mostly a book about a depressed teenager who cannot get over her first love and another (eternal) twenty something who decides that he wished to make an end to his eternal life due to unrequited love and the prospect of never finding the perfect partner as his parents and siblings did.  You are getting the picture here, I hope.  

Now these sentiments are hard to find within this movie.  Instead we are served rather a dish filled up with some newly adopted dialogues and a rather twisted storyline.  In the comments that I have been ploughing through the movie is rather considered a fail and lacking anything that the book is after.  Many consider Persuasion as Jane Austen her finest work and love the book ardently.  And nope, this movie-adaptation is not to their liking.  Many wonder if this one is not one bridge too far.  

Honestly..I liked the movie…I did.  Especially one certain actress just stood out and it was not Dakota but an actress by the name of Mia McKenna Bruce.  She plays the over dramatic sister of Anne, Mary Elliot, and will more than once make you wonder if you ever have been a drama queen in your life.  She is for me the winner of this one…and also the confectionary shop where Anne walks for the millionth time back into her former love interest.  So get a box of the best macaroons or perhaps a nice bottle of rosé and enjoy what Carrie Cracknell created.  Nope, it is not close to what Jane did intend but there is a lot within this one that is worthy a gaze or two.  Oh and one more thing…there is this music by Birdy…you will surely wish to hear what she has to sing when it comes down to two star crossed lovers, don’t you?


PS: I choose two Laura Pausini songs to go along with this one.  The first one is the perhaps the one song that we can call her break through one and the other one is her most recent one.  Just to give you an idea what time does…Laura Pausini is so aware of that one sensation that Anne and William had to endure for over 8 years.  The second song is about a box in which we store memories of a life time.  This song goes along with a must see documentary about Laura Pausini her life that you can find out on one of the major streaming services…even daring to call it a good alternative if the above movie is not your cup of tea and you are rather after a glass of Prosecco.