The Wild Blog in the West

That "some stuff happened" is all I can recall.  Various things happened to the different characters, but it's all a bit of a blur, with only a few distinct moments.  Alfred on Top Chef .  Bates threatening Mrs. Hughes.  The guy who brought Pamuk to Downton making a second appearance.  I would end the recap right there, but that wouldn't be fair, would it? Plot Synopsis Oh let's see... Edith may be pregnant, given that she claims that she is going to London to see to Gregson's affairs but instead goes to the doctor's office.  No one else in the family cares, and when Edith claims she knows how it feels to be an outcast in the house, Mary snarks at her.  Will those two ever have a real relationship? Some boring shit happens with Violet and Isobel -- I don't remember.  Something about Violet's new gardener watering in Violet's house and a letter on her desk going missing.  Whatever was the problem, it appears that everything is a-okay i...

I remember reading comments to this effect, and I'm inclined to agree: I'm just not feeling Series Four so far.  I'm sure if I poured through last year's reviews, I would come across similar comments.  Sybil's horrific death didn't happen until Episode 4, and the other excitement happened more toward the end of Series Three.  Yet even in Episode 3, we had Branson escaping Ireland by the skin of his teeth , leaving Sybil behind to face the "pigs."  Here we have... a polite black jazz singer dancing briefly with Rose.  And Mary getting another marriage proposal.  And Edith competing for the title of Unluckiest Woman in the Western Hemisphere. Plot Synopsis The house party lasts a day or two longer after That Scene, which means that Anna must share a dinner table with the repulsive Green, who smirks delightedly while Mrs. Hughes gives him a thousand-watt stare.  Unfortunately, because no one knows what Green did to Anna, that leaves the other housem...

No sooner has Series Four gotten started than it gives us its first darkly disturbing episode.  As if Sybil's torturous, horrible death wasn't enough to make us shiver, now this?  I had read about this episode and storyline on Internet message boards, so I knew it was pretty hot and controversial. Yet unlike the Sybil episode, which seemed to deliver a thunderclap of doom from its opening moments, this one is actually fairly lighthearted until That Scene, where everything changes.   Plot Synopsis The Crawleys are throwing a house party for 16 people and several notables are invited, including Lord Gillingham, an attractive young viscount whom Cora invited to tempt Mary out of her seclusion.  He arrives with his valet, the flirtatious Mr. Green.  Another guest to the party is Edith's beau, Michael Gregson, who tries to ingratiate himself with Lord Grantham, only to get the cold shoulder.   There to entertain the guests will be Australi...

Last time on  Downton : Matthew died horribly in a car crash in the last seconds of an otherwise dull Christmas Special because Dan Stevens did not want to make a cameo in Series Four.  Fans roared and swore that they were through with the show.  And then they gave Series Four, Episode One the largest audience  Downton Abbey  has received yet -- at least in the United States. So what has been happening with our clan since we last saw them?  I'll confess that I didn't wait for PBS to start airing the episodes before I filled myself up with spoilers, but I'll be kind enough to keep them to myself.  The PBS first episode was two hours, containing the first two episodes that aired in the UK.  The first half was better than the second half, though both were decent. Plot Synopsis Six months after Matthew's untimely demise, it is clear that Julian Fellowes still does not know how to write prominent characters off of the show.  For it opens ...

Okay, I jumped the gun a little.  I was going to wait to review classic musicals after I finished with the most notable musicals from the past 20 years.  However, the recent Carrie Underwood take , plus the movie's annual pre-Christmas airing, left The Sound of Music  (1965) fresh in my mind.  So what the hell?  Why not write about my favorite movie musical while it is still fresh? The Sound of Music was adapted from the 1959 stage musical of the same name, which itself was (loosely) based on real life events.  In real life, 18-year-old Maria Augusta Kutschera entered Salzberg's Nonnberg Abbey as a postulant, hoping to become a nun.  Having trained as a school teacher, she accepted an assignment to teach one of Captain Georg von Trapp's seven children.  Captain von Trapp fell in love with Maria, and Maria married him more out of love for his children than for him.  They eventually had a few more children of their own.  Captain von Tr...

Ah Les Miz , it seems like only yesterday I was anticipating you the way I once anticipated gifts from Santa.  Then you arrived and all was well.  Then you came out on DVD, and I watched you more times than was probably good for me. Since then, things have been a little quiet.  A new Broadway production of the stage play is set to open in 2014, and I hope to be able to see it.  However, there has been no mention of an extended cut.  Hopefully Hooper and company will produce one for the 30th Anniversary just two years away. So in honor of Les Miz 's release a year ago, and to relive the excitement of those days, have a look at the series that chronicled the film's journey: Les Miz Is Coming!  Les Miz Is Coming!  " Yet for years, it remained a mystery as to whether the musical could ever be made into a decent screen adaptation.  After several aborted attempts, it looks as though they have finally succeeded." Les Miserables the Movie Part ...

Since I have been weighing in on modern movie musicals, I could not resist the opportunity to comment on Carrie Underwood's version of The Sound of Music , which was aired last Thursday to big ratings and will be airing again tonight.  True, it is not exactly the same thing -- it is not a movie musical, but a televised version of the original stage musical of The Sound of Music .  Yet it stands in the long, deep shadow of the 1965 movie  The Sound of Music  starring Julie Andrews, with every note destined to be compared.  (Though I have not yet reviewed movies older than 20 years, let me just say that this movie will not appear on the Wrong list.) Really, this was a can't win situation from the get-go.  Underwood and the brain trust behind the televised version deserve credit for chutzpah alone.  Beyond that, was this a successful musical on its own terms?  Well... kind of.  To the extent that it wasn't, it can't all be blamed on Underwoo...