The Wild Blog in the West

Congratulations to Les Miserables for winning three Oscars!  While I was wrong in predicting that Les Miz  would win the most Oscars without actually winning Best Picture (that would be Life of Pi  with four), I wasn't too far off.   Les Miserables  won as many Oscars as Argo , the Best Picture winner, and more than critical darlings  Lincoln , Zero Dark Thirty , and Silver Linings Playbook .  In fact, Les Miserables has a better win percentage than both Lincoln  (2 of 12) and Life of Pi  (4 of 11), and is tied with Argo  (3 of 8).  Not bad, musical movie, not bad. Overall, it was a rather strange 3.5 hours, not the least because Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy  was the host.  Instead of one movie dominating the night, as many predicted Lincoln  would, the awards were pretty evenly distributed.   Argo  won despite not having any nominees for Best Actor/Actress or Best Director.  I think I prefer ...

Maybe "gently" was not the best choice of words, but you know what I mean. Damn the gap between airings in the UK and the rest of the world.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have been spoiled about Matthew's death since practically the beginning.  The spoiler that told me about Sybil also tipped me off to Matthew's demise.  Matthew's was less of a surprise because I knew that Dan Stevens would be leaving the show, although initially I thought he would be getting some remote civil servant post that forced him to be away most of the year.  Also, to my chagrin, I realize that I had a hand in leaking the spoiler when I linked to an article about Dan Stevens in one of my earlier posts.  I'm so sorry -- I hope that I didn't spoil Series Three for anyone. In any event, now everyone knows, and I'm sure there will be much to talk about before Series Four.  Hopefully the U.S. airings will not lag behind the UK next time. Plot Synopsis Matthew's death is ...

Since the Oscars are fast approaching, I thought it worth doing another post on Les Miserables to discuss the thoughts that have accumulated since my movie review. It seems a little strange to use the word "hate" with regard to this movie, because compared to Evita and The Phantom of the Opera , it is far more critically -- and certainly far more commercially -- successful.  At present, it sits at 70% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes .  That's not the stellar rating of, say, the very overrated Silver Linings Playbook , but it does mean that more than two-thirds of critics thought that the movie was worth their time.  In addition, Les Miserables  was nominated for eight Oscars (compared to Evita 's five), including significant nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Best Actor, and Best Picture.  It has already won more Golden Globes than any other movie in 2012. Yet those who hate the movie have been very vocal about their hatred.  From their outbursts, you ...

For whatever reason, Masterpiece Theatre  has again merged two episodes of Downton Abbey to create one super-sized episode.  Maybe it was because they were damn determined to make sure there were only seven episodes per series, or maybe they were worried about competing with Oscar night.  Regardless, we are looking at the Series Three finale -- or what UK viewers know as the Christmas Special -- next week. Plot Synopsis Count on Downton to deliver generous doses of WTF? each year, as well as completely unbelievable resolutions to problems.  In the first half of the episode, we see Bates emerge from prison looking quite dapper in a three-piece suit.  Anna has been waiting for him in a car, but when she sees him, she bursts out and they share a tender moment.  If there is any sense that their relationship has changed, we don't see it in this episode.  I'm so happy that the prison storyline is over with, I'll squelch any impulse to complain about th...

The times are a-changin'.  Suddenly it's cool to not humiliate people from lower classes and different religions. Watching this episode, I felt as though Julian Fellowes were somehow responding to all of our fan criticisms about Series Three, even though that would be impossible.  It felt more satisfying than an episode of Downton Abbey had for a very long time, and was the second strong episode in a row. Plot Synopsis In the aftermath of Sybil's funeral, feelings are still quite raw.  A visibly shaken Branson tells the Crawley family that he doesn't intend to stay at Downton forever.  "K thx," says Lord Grantham, but Edith and Matthew try to convince Branson to stay longer.  They discuss the baby's christening, and Branson states that he not only wants to name the baby Sybil after her mother, but also intends to have her christened as a Catholic.  Both choices upset Lord Grantham greatly, especially the latter one.  He invites Reverend Travis ...

Okay, so the song doesn't quite apply, since I'm mainly looking at two things.  Oh well.  It's catchy. So where does a twerp like me get off thinking that she can criticize the historical accuracy of the great Downton Abbey ?  I'll confess that I'm not the most qualified person.  While one of my degrees is in history, I specialized in a different time period.  I have been an amateur historian of the Victorian period (1837-1901) for well over a decade, and recently spent a year doing some intensive research into Victorian reforms and social customs.  But Downton Abbey isn't set during the Victorian period -- it's not even set during the Edwardian period (1901-1910).  From Series One to the present, it has been set during the reign of George V (1910-1936). However, despite the occasional reminders that "the world is changing!", Downton Abbey  seems to be stuck in a time warp.  It's still 1912 on the estate, which might as well be 1892. ...