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Sunday, March 23, 2014

Call the Midwife Season 3 and Mr. Selfridge Season 2!


Chummy is back on Sunday March 30! I just previewed the first episode of Call The Midwife Season 3 and it was fabulous as usual. And lots of Chummy in this one so you know it will be good. And a (shhh) Royal Visit (shhhh).


Check local listings but in my area this one airs at 8pm as the lead in for Mr. Selfridge. Harrumph! Call the Midwife should be the main feature methinks.


Mr. Selfridge Season 2 starts next Sunday as well on PBS stations everywhere. I think 9 pm but check local listings!!!


I like this show (if I can remember back that far) but I haven't heard any buzz on the new season. I also haven't had a chance to preview the season opener yet so I can't give you any info yet.

I do love Frances O'Connor so high hopes!


Let me know what you think of these new seasons!

P.S. After watching the whole season opener of Mr. Selfridge on Sunday night, I am sort of on the fence about it. Absolutely gorgeous to look at, no doubt about that. And Frances O'Connor as Rose Selfridge is sticking up for herself and letting Jeremy Piven's big boss know where he can take his loving husband routine. Go Rose! But there is still something lacking in this series. I will continue to watch, ever hopeful that the plot will live up to the production values. I'd love to know what you think. Please comment below.

Still loving Chummy and The Midwives! xoxo

Cheers!

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The Grand Budapest Hotel

The Grand Budapest Hotel, in model miniature

The Grand Budapest Hotel is a wonderful Wes Anderson film. If you are a fan of Wes Anderson then you likely already have this on your radar to see soon, if you haven't already. If you don't know Wes Anderson, well, how do I describe him to you?

Wes Anderson in his director's chair

A creative worldly dynamo from Texas, he loves to create entire worlds for his films, being the writer, director and producer for most of them, TGBH included. I think Moonrise Kingdom is still my fave film of his but this one is a very close second. Stylistic, funny and dark...you will not be bored during one of his films!

Gustave H and lobby boy Zero

Ralph Fiennes lives it up as a very hammy concierge (Gustave H.) of a fictional hotel between the wars in a fictional Eastern European country with his sidekick Zero Moustafa (played by brilliant newcomer Tony Revolori).


Told as a story within a story, we hear the tale through a dinner conversation between the now grown lobby boy (F.Murray Abraham as the adult Zero) and a guest at the now run down hotel (Jude Law as "Young Writer").


It would seem Anderson has no problem enticing big name stars who love offbeat films. Saoirse Ronan as Zero's love interest and Tilda Swinton as one of Gustave H's elderly female guests are just a few of the names you may recognize. Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe...the list goes on and on!

So I will end with the official trailer and let you decide if it is something you want to see. Personally, I am still smiling! The Squire just looked over my shoulder as I played the trailer and said "That film was entertaining but different." I will leave it at that. :)


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Doc Martin: A trip to Cornwall


As an antidote to this long cold Canadian winter we have been having, I have developed a new way of coping. Whenever I get cold or down, I go on Netflix and watch a Doc Martin episode. I have now ripped through the first 3 seasons and I look forward to season 6 starting on TV soon (some PBS stations tonight-check local listings- and VisionTV on Wed March 19).


Martin Clunes plays Dr. Martin Ellingham, the curmudgeonly doctor first espied as a minor character in the film Saving Grace with Brenda Blethyn and Craig Ferguson. Clunes and his wife (producer Phillipa Braithwaite) apparently liked the character and the village of Port Isaac so much that they convinced ITV to make a TV series out of it. Good move! They film in the summers on the north coast of Cornwall and every time I put it on, I feel like I have spent an hour in a lovely Cornish village (closing eyes and smiling and sighing right now).


Caroline Catz is the good doctor's love interest Louisa. She apparently looks past his rude demeanor to see something that we only get to see when he had a very rare glass of wine. Imbibing some liquid courage seems the only way that tenderness will trump frankness in this hilariously brusque fellow.


The medical content is pretty far fetched but totally hilarious most of the time. It is more of a comedic medical mystery show than a medical show. Absolutely unbelievable and will have you belly laughing and smirking if you share my sense of humour.

Ian McNeice and Joe Absolom play father/son team Bert and Al Large, first plumbers and then restaurateurs. The look on Bert's face in the photo above says it all!


Stephanie Cole plays Martin's Aunty Joan, who he apparently spent summers with as a young lad and we find out is much more of a mother to him than his own mater who shipped him off to boarding school. Small wonder the Doc has no bedside manner as Aunty Joan is almost as matter of fact as he is, although with a much more tender soul.


And then the rest of the cast is rounded out by equally wacky characters such as Doc Martin's receptionist (I think he is now on his third) and a single police constable for the entire village who provides more comic relief. Selina Cadell as Mrs. Tishell the chemist (pharmacist) has a little crush on the doctor, and you have to see one particular episode to have the cervical collar explained.

So if you like me have passed this series by up until now, I can heartily endorse it. Especially if you need a little dose of a Cornish summer right about now.

I think I'll re-watch Saving Grace tonight to see the genesis of Doc Martin. It's a pretty good flick too if I recall!

Cheers!

P.S. Watch the way Doc Martin runs down the streets of the fictitious Port Wenn in his ever present suit. Makes me laugh every time someone has an emergency, which is about as often as a murder in the town of Midsomer.

P.P.S. There is an extensive list of guest appearances by stars such as Chris O'Dowd, Sophie Thompson, Celia Imrie, David Bamber, Lucy Robinson, Benjamin Whitrow, Phyllida Law, Sylvestra la Touzel etc etc. Fun!