Taboo - Season 2
TV Season
BBC One and FX has announced that they will team up with producers Ridley Scott’s Scott Free...
Everything Sucks - Season 1
TV Season
It's the 1990s in Boring, Ore., and groups of outcasts in Boring High School's AV and drama clubs...
Comedy drama everything sucks Netflix 90s
Taboo - Season 1
TV Season Watch
Set in 1814, Taboo follows James Keziah Delaney, a man who has been to the ends of the earth and...
Complexity and Evolution: Toward a New Synthesis for Economics
David S. Wilson and Alan Kirman
Book
Two widely heralded yet contested approaches to economics have emerged in recent years: one...
Christine A. (965 KP) rated Hark! the Herald Angels Scream: An Anthology in Books
Jan 22, 2019
I waited until closer to the holiday to read this book and, with all of the rushing involved with the season, forgot to post my review. The Christmas season may be over, but it is still winter, so grab a cup of hot chocolate and be prepared to be entertained.
Hark! The Herald Angels Scream by Edited by Christopher Golden is an "anthology of all-new short fiction from some of the most talented and original writers of horror today." Included are eighteen stories of Christmas or winter themed horror from authors: Kelley Armstrong, Christopher Golden, Elizabeth Hand, Michael Koryta, Sarah Langan, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Sarah Lotz, Jonathan Maberry, Josh Malerman, Seanan McGuire, John M. McIlveen, James A. Moore, Sarah Pinborough, Angela Slatter, Scott Smith,Thomas E. Sniegoski, and Jeff Strand.
The cover quickly bring to mind "Tales from the Crypt", a campy, horror anthology television series with a memorable narrator, Crypt Keeper. The stories written could have been been portrayed in any of the episodes. As with "Tales from the Crypt", the stories in "Hark! The Herald Angels Scream" were creepy, funny, chilling, gruesome, dark, and definitely worth your time.
The stories are well written and stand alone.
From Little's Law to Marketing Science: Essays in Honor of John D.C. Little
John R. Hauser and Glen L. Urban
Book
John D. C. Little of MIT's Sloan School of Management is famous for his contributions to operations...
Zones of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, Pat Harrigan and James F. Dunnigan
Book
Games with military themes date back to antiquity, and yet they are curiously neglected in much of...
Big Data is Not a Monolith
Cassidy R. Sugimoto, Hamid R. Ekbia and Michael Mattioli
Book
Big data is ubiquitous but heterogeneous. Big data can be used to tally clicks and traffic on web...
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Gosford Park (2001) in Movies
Mar 24, 2020
GOSFORD PARK is an English Murder Mystery, set in the 1920's, featuring an All Star Cast, Directed by a 7 time Oscar nominee. It received critical acclaim in the year it was released (2001), earned 7 Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (Julian Fellowes...who would go on to create/write DOWNTON ABBEY).
Set in an English Country Manor, overseen by overbearing Lord William McCordle (Michael Gambon, the 2nd Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films), GOSFORD PARK tells of the trials, tribulations, loves and death (yes, there's a murder) of a host of characters both Upstairs (the wealthy) and Downstairs (the servants).
And what a cast it is! Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Charles Dance, Jeremy Northam, Tom Hollander and Bob Balaban lead the group of the wealthy, while Helen Mirren, Alan Bates, Clive Owen, Kelly MacDonald, Eileen Atkins and Emily Watson head up the cast of servants below the stairs.
Both Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren were nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for their work in this film (both losing to Jennifer Connelly for A BEAUTIFUL MIND).
Directed by Robert Altman (M*A*S*H, NASHVILLE), GOSFORD PARK is much of what you would expect from an Altman film...many, many people living their lives, sometimes intersecting with others, often times just going off on their own, tied together by the circumstances of being in this giant manor house on a weekend of a murder.
It is an ambitious, "Oscar bait" film that succeeds for the most part. And, if you are into the costumes, sets, Interior Design and intimate scenes of people talking, then you will be richly rewarded by this film.
I loved this film when it first came out and was anxiously looking forward to re-visiting it.
While I still liked it during this viewing, I did find the pacing to be languid and I started finding myself being frustrated by threads and character direction that just sort of petered out or ended all together with no real resolution. I know this was on purpose, for Altman would argue that this is what happens in real life, but I found this frustrating.
But this film has much, much going for it and if you haven't seen this - or haven't seen this in awhile - and are a fan of these types of films, then GOSFORD PARK will be a very rewarding 2 hours and 11 minutes of a movie going experience.
Letter Grade: B
7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)