Search

Search only in certain items:

Harold and Maude (1971)
Harold and Maude (1971)
1971 | Comedy, Drama, Romance
8.6 (5 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I’m going to go with Harold and Maude, by Hal Ashby. I think it’s definitely one of the most unusual love stories that I’ve seen. Maude is one of the most inspiring characters. She reminds me to see the world positively and forgivingly and put past troubles behind me. The Cat Stevens soundtrack is sublime. The comedy is delicious. The performance of Ruth Gordon – you know, she’s a woman in her 80s acting like a 16-year-old – is one of the most extraordinary performances I’ve ever seen. I believe it got very bad reviews when it came out, almost unanimously, but is, I think, probably one of the great comedies ever made."

Source
  
40x40

Will Oldham recommended Harold and Maude (1971) in Movies (curated)

 
Harold and Maude (1971)
Harold and Maude (1971)
1971 | Comedy, Drama, Romance
8.6 (5 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"This was the movie, when I was a kid. This and Bugsy Malone. I know all of the dialogue in these two movies from repeated viewings at the movie theater. The Vogue and the Alpha 3 theaters in Louisville. And Ruth Gordon gave me a gateway to Hollywood screenwriting history, and Cat Stevens a gateway to transformation through music. Harold took life’s lemons and made a black psychedelic monolithic lemonade. I learned to do that too. Comedy in death, comedy in failure, comedy in being mystified by societal expectations. I was very fond of MGM musicals during my childhood, and Harold and Maude felt like the closest thing to a modern-day evolution of one of those."

Source
  
I’ve haven’t read any Agatha Christie, so I’ve only seen Miss Marple on the TV in her many guises - and I’ve enjoyed them all.
My favourite stories in the anthology were written by: Val McDermid, Natalie Haynes, Ruth Ware, Ely Griffiths and Kate Moss.

The authors mentioned above gave the most convincing re-imaginings, whilst some of the others made her sound more modern, or Americanisms had slipped in - which is definitely very un-Marple-ish!

All in all, it’s a very enjoyable anthology, and I did like all of the stories.

Thanks to The Pigeonhole and to all the authors that contributed (the US cover actually shows who all of the authors are).
  
In Her Footsteps
In Her Footsteps
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
In this exciting domestic thriller by Ruth Harrow, Harriet tells the story of her abuse and her efforts to go into hiding from her husband Dan.
Having fled from London, she sets up shop in Coventry, rebuilding her life, working and cautiously making new friends again. From the outside all looks well. However, the reader is led into a false sense of security and slowly we watch Harriet’s paranoia get the better of her, and cannot help but wonder if she is just worried because her past, or if there is something deeper going on.
In Her Footsteps was an entertaining debut book, broaching difficult topics surrounding physical abuse and the emotional distress it causes. I’ll be looking out for more from this author in the future.
  
Quite amusing in places, but there were some errors - Henry VIII's will did in fact reinstate Mary and Elizabeth and after that went for the descendants of younger sister Mary (the Greys) over older sister Margaret (the Scottish line). It was Edward's Device for the Succession which looked to overturn that.

There was some off-beat facts thrown in, but would have been nice to have some explanation too. It mentions a fine if you sold the meat of a Bull without it having been baited but doesn't explain why (this might have driven me mad, but I had just read Ruth Goodman's How to be a Tudor, which explains about how they believed this would tenderise the meat! I highly recommend the book!).