The SECOND Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is definitely worth seeing. I liked it almost as much as the first film. My loyal reader Olga thought she liked it even better than the first one!

Like the first film, it follows the lives of British retirees looking for a less expensive (and more interesting) place to spend their twilight years. This one continues with Sonny (Dev Patel), his gorgeous fiancee Sunaina (Tina Desai) and their plans for yet another Anglo-Indian retirement home. It also shows the bumpy ride they have toward their wedding. I don't think I will spoil it for you by saying that the film ends with a wonderful wedding dance, Bollywood style.

The best thing about this film is of course the fab British cast. How can a movie with these amazingly talented actors be anything less than delightful? Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton...it just goes on and on! Director John Madden returns as well (Shakespeare in Love) to steer the ship.

I am afraid to say the worst thing about The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was Richard Gere. I don't know if it was the juxtaposition with the talent above, but his acting seemed very second rate. When he was attempting to woo Sonny's mother, I didn't believe a word he said! Am I being too hard on him? Did anyone else like him in this????

So the bottom line is to just go and see this. Enjoy the wonderful costumes, scenery and the not too heavy story line. It is just the kind of date film my husband and I enjoy and I'm sure you will too!

Cheers!

About Time- A Sentimental Journey

I got to see the latest Richard Curtis film About Time last weekend and can absolutely recommend it. If you haven't already heard it is about a time travelling father and son team (Domhnall Gleeson and Bill Nighy) and the son's search for love (Rachel McAdams in her third time travel film). And yes it is a bit sappy, par for the course with Mr. Curtis. But it is also wonderful!

In a nutshell, it seems like Richard Curtis was feeling very sentimental about family (the father son relationship especially) and he has also apparently been mulling over the fact that we could all be happier by smelling the roses more instead of getting stressed out over life, as most of us do.

So suspend your disbelief (only adult men in this particular family can time travel, and to do it they have to go into a dark place while they close their eyes and clench their fists) and just go with it.

Tim (Domhnall Gleeson pronounced Dough-nal) is the new Hugh Grant/ awkward Brit character who falls in love instantly with Mary (Rachel McAdams) without seeing her at first (too complicated to explain) and uses his time travel ability to go back and "re-do" the cringe-inducing moments we are used to in a Curtis film.

Let me just add that the cast is superb among them Tom Hollander as...well...again, hard to explain his relationship with the main characters but his role is hilarious perfection! And Lindsay Duncan is understated and simply lovely as the mother/wife of the time travelers.

The supporting cast of young unknowns is also wonderful and the scenery of Cornwall is out of this world. So yes, if you enjoyed Love Actually, Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral you will adore this one too. If those films didn't turn your crank then you probably have drastically different taste in film than I do!

Enjoy this one friends!!!

Bill Nighy- Actor of the Week

Bill Nighy is now one of the greats of British cinema, having achieved fame late in his career. This high school drop-out tried being a writer first before attending acting school at the urging of an old girlfriend. He eked out an acting career for decades doing some fairly prestigious stage work. And then came Billy Mack...

Bill Nighy as Billy Mack in Love Actually

If you are like me, you got to know Bill as the rather eccentric over the hill rock star Billy Mack in Love Actually.

Billy Mack: When I was young and successful, I was greedy and foolish, and now I'm left with no one. Wrinkled and alone. 

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Billy Mack: Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free!

Laura Fraser and Bill Nighy in He Knew He Was Right

As the seemingly lecherous Colonel Osborne in He Knew He Was Right, Bill Nighy is spot on, reveling in the attention he receives when perceived as a womanizer. Poor Laura Fraser's character Emily Trevelyan, does not realize that her father's friend is not acting in her best interest.

Bill Nighy in I Capture the Castle

As the father of two girls played by Romola Garai and Rose Byrne in I Capture the Castle, Bill Nighy is a novelist in 1930s England with long term writer's block after a first successful novel.

Cassandra: Father. 'Jacob Wrestling' was a wonderful, groundbreaking book. There was never going to be a sequel overnight!
James Mortmain: Meaning?
Cassandra: Meaning, it will come!
James Mortmain: How old are you?
Cassandra: Seventeen.
James Mortmain: And you still believe in fairy tales.

Bill Nighy and Romola Garai in Glorious 39

In the thriller Glorious 39, again playing the father of Romola Garai's character (typecasting?) Bill Nighy is a member of the House of Commons in 1939, on the cusp of WWII. I haven't yet seen this one but it looks fascinating. Written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, this one also has a fantastic cast including Jenny Agutter, David Tennant, Hugh Bonneville, Julie Christie and Jeremy Northam among others.

Bill Nighy in The Boat That Rocked (Pirate Radio)

The Boat That Rocked (known as Pirate Radio on this side of the pond) is about a bunch of DJs in the 1960s running a pirate radio station off the coast of Britain in order to get around the British censors. Who better to play Quentin, the eccentric head of the floating radio station than Bill Nighy?

Quentin: So... expelled?
'Young' Carl: That's right.
Quentin: What for?
'Young' Carl: I suppose smoking was the clincher.
Quentin: Drugs or cigarettes?
'Young' Carl: Well, both.
Quentin: Well done! Proud of you. So your mum sent you here in the hope that a little bracing sea air would sort you out?
'Young' Carl:Something like that.
Quentin: Spectacular mistake.

I loved this one, directed by Richard Curtis by the way. Emma Thompson makes a great cameo as Young Carl's mother. And Jack Davenport and Kenneth Branaugh are quite memorable as the stiffs at the BBC.

Bill Nighy in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

We finally get to see Bill Nighy as a true nice guy in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Not eccentric, not evil but just a really great guy. How refreshing! As Douglas Ainslie, a retired government worker who has invested his entire next egg in his daughter's dot-com start-up and hence has to live cheaply, he and his wife played by Penelope Wilton move to India. Yes, it's far fetched, but just enjoy the film and don't look too closely for plot holes. It's a wonderful film.

"Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not the end." 

Now I had to leave a lot of Bill's best films out of this list or my post would have been really long! Did I miss one or more of your faves?

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for Mother's Day

For Mother's Day I was taken to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Not by my children of course, but by the man who made motherhood happen, The Squire as he is affectionately known. And it was wonderful. Magical one might say.

Ready for adventure at The Marigold Hotel

A group of British retirees who cannot afford to live well in England decide to "outsource" their retirement to India. And mayhem ensues.

Based on the novel These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach (screenplay writer of Pride and Prejudice 2005) one wonders why director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, Mrs. Brown) didn't have Deborah adapt her own book for the big screen. I think she might have done a better job, but I am quibbling here. I loved the film and I will definitely purchase it, to be watched on very hot days and on very cold days!

Judi Dench and Celia Imrie in Marigold Hotel

Judi Dench plays a recent widow who had trusted everything to the husband who left her without a home or enough money to live on in the end. Of course, she ends up landing on her feet and blogging about it!

Judi Dench with Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy in Marigold Hotel

Tom Wilkinson's character was not in the book but was introduced into the story to hint at India's British colonial roots. A High Court Judge (one assumes he could afford a better hotel and is slumming it) who grew up in India but has never returned since he left in disgrace to attend University in England. I won't tell you any more but his story is a lovely addition to the film.

Dev Patel with Tena Desae

Dev Patel's character Sonny is the scatterbrained dreamer who is trying to make his father's vision of the hotel come true. Beautiful girlfriend from a different social class, disapproving mother...you know how it goes.

Maggie Smith in Marigold Hotel

Maggie Smith is delightful as a bigoted Brit who has to travel to India to avoid a six month wait in England for a new hip. I think I loved her story the best and she obviously had fun with the role.

The Squire loved Bill Nighy the best, quite rightly. What a joy to watch. He is such a character!

Ravla Khempur, the real Marigold Hotel near Udaipur

The real hotel, called Rayla Khempur is apparently much nicer than it is portrayed in the film and is available for stays if the film made you want to see the beauties of India. Wild Frontiers (wildfrontiers.co.uk) has put together a 10-night Marigold Hotel Rajasthan Tour which takes in locations from the film, as well as Agra, Pushkar and Delhi.

So please go and see the film. Just look at the amazing cast and you know you will love this film. Yes the ending is a bit pat and cliche but you want a happy ending right? If you are like me you will leave the theatre with a smile and a craving for Indian food. If you are like The Squire, you will love the film but shudder and say that you will never ever travel to India (or indeed China he says). :)

The Young Visiters (Author's spelling) DVD and book

The Young Visiters, or Mr. Salteena's Plan

I just stumbled across the film The Young Visiters from 2003 on the BBC Canada website  and I had to find out more about it. After all, look at the DVD cover. It stars Jim Broadbent and Hugh Laurie! How bad could it be? And then I find out that it also stars Bill Nighy, Geoffrey Palmer, Sophie Thompson and Sally Hawkins. Awesome! But what is it about?

The Young Visiters written by 9 year old Daisy Ashford in 1890

It is a hilarious story written by a 9 year old Victorian girl Daisy Ashford in 1890 (with rather creative and variable spelling) about a young girl Ethel Monticue, who meets Mr. Salteena, "an elderly man of 42", who falls in love with her at first sight and promises to introduce her to high society. Only one problem... he only knows one aristocrat by the name of Lord Bernard Clark! Hilarity ensues.

Daisy Ashford, authoress and child prodigy

I shan't say any more about this except that it is adorable and very "BBC", so very well done. So if you would like to travel back in time through the imagination of a little girl, this is the DVD for you. And now excuse me while I go order the book for Christmas. Apparently, it has never been out of print.

P.S. This would be perfect to watch or read WITH a similar little girl with a good imagination.

Love Actually...Not Period Drama but I love it...

It is that time of year, when about a month before Christmas, I want to pop in my Love Actually DVD.  This has as many great British actors as you can cram into one film, and there was so much great stuff, that the extras contain almost another entire film (and some of the best bits).

For those of us who adore Period Drama, some of our favorite actors are at their best here...


Emma Thompson, as a housewife who thinks her marriage and family life is stable until she finds that necklace (I always yell at the screen when Alan Rickman's character cheats).

No Emma, don't open the present....

Boo, hiss.....(throw shoe)

Then we have Colin Firth as a stuttering sweetie, who is dumped by his girlfriend for his goofy brother (what was she thinking!).  He goes to France, only to fall for his Portuguese cleaning lady (hot, sexy, cleaning lady).

Swoon...

And we have Hugh Grant as the unlikely new Prime Minister (and Emma Thompson's brother) who falls for his slightly foul mouthed assistant.  Hugh's dance routine to the song "Jump" is hilarious and worth watching just for that!

Swivel those hips Hugh!

Take a bow...

The one part which is now a bit hard to watch is Liam Neeson as a widower, struggling with adapting to single fatherhood.  As he is now a widower with two young boys, after his wife Natasha Richardson died after a ski accident, this cuts a bit close to the bone, but as it was always the most poignant part of the film, it will only be more so now.  The extras do however have a really funny bit with Liam and online porn sites, which will have you rolling on the floor.

The total agony of being in love?

A rather unusual part of this film, deals with the love between two adult males, in a platonic way (I believe), with Bill Nighy as an aging rock star and Gregor Fisher as his "chubby employee" ("Ten minutes with Elton John and you're as gay as a maypole!").  Bill Nighy is a legend in British comedy.

I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes....Christmas is all around us...

Kiera Knightley in the unrequited love sequence is absolutely radiant, and made me Google "banoffee pie" to find out what the heck that is (aparently it is banana and toffee...hmmmmm).  Andrew Lincoln as her admirer and best friend of her new husband is both adorable and heart breaking.

Banoffee Pie...a bit suspect?

Awwwwww.....

I could go on, but instead, I think I'll just go and pop this DVD in to get me pumped for the holidays.  Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers!  I have a craving for a banana split now...