Cold Comfort Farm

A delightfully twisted comedy of manners, starring a who’s who of great British actors, Cold Comfort Farm is charming from start to finish. Kate Beckinsale sparkles as Flora Poste, a recently orphaned young woman (although it doesn’t seem to bother her much), who because of her new circumstances must find a home with one of her many relatives.  Her decision is ruled by a desire to collect material for her novel, which she is sure will rival the works of Jane Austen once it is published (or, in fact, written).  It’s a good thing her future doesn’t depend on her skill as a writer, as the samples inflicted on us are florid and overblown in the extreme. Her real talent is arranging things so as to avoid messiness and there is plenty for her to do at Cold Comfort Farm, her chosen new abode and home of the Starkadders.. The array of bizarre characters infesting the dilapidated ruin in the country are a wonder to behold, with standout performances by Sir Ian McKellen (a country preacher obsessed with damnation), Rufus Sewell (a libertine of a farm hand obsessed with the movies) and Stephen Fry (an obnoxious local writer with deplorable manners, obsessed with Flora).

Miss Poste takes everything in hand and proceeds to fix absolutely everything and she doesn’t stop with just people. “Nature’s all very well in her place, but she mustn’t be allowed to make things untidy.” You do need to be able to appreciate a certain type of subtle British humor in order to enjoy this film, but I absolutely loved it. The plot is simple but the script is witty, dry (humor wise, that is) and utterly yummy in an offbeat and very English sort of way. It feels like a P.G. Wodehouse book crossed with Austen’s Emma, a smidgen of Brontë, plus a dollop of The Great Gatsby.  Of course the latter in the list is included mostly because of the roaring 1920’s setting, full of hedonism and glamour.  I fell in love with many of the eccentric oddball characters and found the entire movie to be utterly charming. It was a joy to watch Flora battle the fabled Doom of the Starkadders and I cheered her on every step of the way. Cold Comfort Farm flirts with satire and lampoons all the clichés of rural life.  Silly, funny, romantic and engaging, this absurdly amusing 1995 frolic is a classic example of wonderfully off-kilter British cinema. – BETHANY

For more on this agreeable comedy, visit: The Internet Movie Database

If you’d like to know more about the novel on which this movie is based, see: Cold Comfort Farm on Wikipedia

Flora (Kate Beckinsale) and her extremely worldly friend Mary (Joanna Lumley).

Look out, Cold Comfort Farm, here she comes!  And who names a place ‘Cold Comfort’ anyway?

Well, perhaps I can see why.  The lovely edifice itself.  “There has always been Starkadders on Cold Comfort Farm.”

Seth Starkadder (Rufus Sewell) and Flora.  Does proper etiquette require that I mention the cow?  (Or bull, if you want to be really precise.)

                       “Highly sexed young men living on farms are always called Seth or Reuben.”  Reuben (Ivan Kaye) and Seth Starkadder.

    Ian McKellen as Amos Starkadder, preaching at the Church of the Quivering Brethren.

Oh Sweet Lord, she’s writing again.  Heaven protect us from her melodramatic verbiage!

“Let me warn you: I’m a queer, moody brute, but there’s rich soil in here if you care to dig for it.”   Stephen Fry as Mybug – what woman could resist?

                     The fashion in this movie is superb.  Flora can really dress!

 

Photos courtesy of BBC Films, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Thames International, Thames Television and Gramercy Pictures

 

The Wolf of Wall Street

[This is another of my reviews posted on Netflix that I have to re-post again and again.  Evidently, they object to my opinion and use that to justify clicking the ‘objectionable content’ box that will get my review automatically pulled from the site.  At least here, on my very own blog, I won’t have that problem.  It does get disheartening when someone disagrees with my thoughts so much they would not just vote it as ‘unhelpful’ but go so far as to get it removed from the site entirely.  If you see the issue differently than I do, I invite you to leave a comment so we can discuss it like civilized human beings.]

“There’s no nobility in poverty” according to Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), a morally reprehensible stockbroker who evidently has no conscience whatsoever. That’s as may be, but there’s also no inherent nobility in being filthy rich, especially when you’ve committed egregious acts of greed and corruption to attain it. The Wolf of Wall Street exemplifies the words of Obi-wan Kenobi describing the Mos Eisley spaceport, “a wretched hive of scum and villainy.” These denizens of Wall Street worship at the altar of Money and venerate those who best practice the seven deadly sins. It is worth noting that there are plenty of hard-working stockbrokers who carefully and responsibly tend other people’s money. This lot, however, care absolutely not one whit about good stewardship but instead take pride in being venal predators who actively laugh at their clients’ gullibility as they gleefully line only their own pockets, bilking hard-earned money from people who can ill-afford to lose it. This movie certainly succeeds in portraying the malignant debauched lifestyle of Belfort, whose company resembles more of a lunatic asylum where the inmates run wild and everyone indulges in the most lewd excesses instead of being a professional financial institution.

Tawdry, obscene and unconscionably wanton, this film is full of the most appallingly foul language to such an extent that if the script left out all the expletives it would cut the run time in half (the same thing has been said about Good Will Hunting, but in the case of that film the rest of the content is so wonderful I forgave the language.  Needless to say, this film did not achieve the same level of grace with me). I found very little of redeeming value in the narrative although I can appreciate the caliber of acting performances. Bits here and there were funny but on the whole it was an illustration of terrible choices, of how not to live your life. Rampant sexual orgies, constant drug use and a lack of anything remotely resembling ethics made this horrifying to watch. I guess I just don’t particularly care for movies that seem obsessed with the seedier side of life and show the most graphic and repulsive things for the sake of being edgy and controversial. So slimy and perverted, I feel I need a shower in order wash away the stench of this raunchy sleaze-fest. – BETHANY

For more on who was involved in The Wolf of Wall Street, visit the Internet Movie Database

Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Jordan Belfort and his sole reason for living.

Matthew McConaughey as Mark Hanna.

Belfort and wife #2, played by Margot Robbie.

Here’s a fun activity – cover a hooker in money!

Or have hookers give you a “money massage”.

Jonah Hill in the famous scene where he swallows a live goldfish (he didn’t really, in case you were wondering).

Ah, the life of a greedy amoral sociopath …

Just another day at the office of Stratton Oakmont.

Jordan explains to FBI agent Denham (Kyle Chandler) that he’s doing nothing illegal.

Sir, I have an amazing opportunity for you to invest in a bridge somewhere …  (Jonah Hill)

 

 

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures, Red Granite Pictures, Appian Way, Sikelia Productions and EMJAG Productions (unless otherwise credited in clickable form)