Mansfield Park 1999

Things I Liked: I saw this back in 1999 in the theaters and disliked it immensely. I'd like to say that twelve years later, I find my opinion has changed. It wasn't nearly as awkward or incestuous feeling. I've always thought the relationship between Fanny and Edmund in this version was rather incestuous, but in watching it again, I didn't find it to be so. (Yeah the marrying cousins thing is weird, but I was able to get past it.) There seemed to be a lot more romance between Fanny and Edmund, which was a welcome change from the 1983 version. The hand holding in the carriage was quite nice. I liked the pacing of this movie. Two hours really was enough time to tell this whole story. I loved Fanny's stories. I think they added a fancifulness to her character that was fun. I loved Susie! I'm a fan of Sophia Myles, so it was quite likely I'd like her. I really enjoyed the relationship between Fanny and Susie. I also really like James Purefoy and was rather sad that his character has such a minor role in the movie. I loved when Fanny told Mrs. Norris off in the end. It was quite satisfying. I liked at the end when Fanny talks about how it could have been different - but it wasn't.

Things I Didn't Like: I feel they took this movie in some very modern avenues that were not very austenesque. Sir Thomas was all sorts of creepy. He just made your skin crawl. Mary Crawford was way too touchy with Fanny - to the point that you wonder if she is gay. Then there are the disturbing images in Tom's notebook. Honestly, it's hard to get them out of your brain once you've seen them. I think Jane Austen would have been horrified to see that scene! I didn't like how they made Fanny second guess whether Henry Crawford was a decent man. I disliked that she accepted and then rejected his proposal. It didn't seem in keeping with Fanny's character. I did not need to see Maria and Henry en flagrante delicto. It was just so awkward.

Other Notes: I thought it was funny that Lady Bertram and Mrs. Price were played by the same actress. This movie was my first exposure to the glass harmonica. I would love to play on one of those.

 Young Fanny

 Maria and Julia

 Henry and Mary Crawford

 Lady Bertram and Pug

 Mrs. Norris

 Susie Price

 Mrs. Norris and Maria

 Tom, Sir Thomas, Susie, Julia and Lady Bertram

 Edmund and Fanny

The Creepy Patron and the Big, Glass Maze

We're sitting at the Welcome Desk taking a little breather from the new pin number fiasco when the elevator door opens and we hear a man yelling all sorts of profanity - although the most common word was the F-word. The librarian on desk with me turns to the patron and asks him to keep his noise and swearing down. This irritates the patron who tells us that he has Turrets and can't control it. (I have to say he might have had Turrets, but if not... what an ingenious way to get away with swearing loudly in public!) The librarian tells him, he understands, but the yelling, not to mention the swearing, is disruptive to the other patrons. The patron says that he wouldn't be swearing so much if he could just find a way out of the building. "It's like a f***ing big, glass f***ing maze!" he says.

By this time the patron is at the desk and getting quite upset. The librarian is trying to diffuse the situation while reaching for the phone to call security. The patron grabs the librarian's arm and says "Don't you f***ing call the f***ing cops on me!!!" So the librarian puts the phone down and tries to reason with the patron only to have him grab his arm again, but after a few moments he lets go and walks to the elevator in a huff. Luckily, the circulation department called security and they're on their way. The patron gets on the elevator and several staff members watch to see which floor he went to.

The elevator just goes down to the lower level, so the staff hurry down there and follow him at a discreet distance. (Oh, and if you don't know, the lower level is the children's department!) It seems that when the elevator doors opened, he'd calmed down. That would have been a 5-10 second ride. The patron walks over to the drinking fountain where there's a little girl getting a drink. He walks right up behind her and starts rubbing/caressing her back. The little girl freaks out and runs back to her mom. (I think it would have been great if she had raised her hands in the air while she was running and shouted "Stranger danger! Stranger danger!") Finally, the security arrive and take him back to their office, to which the patron offers up no resistance. To see him, you'd think he was friends with the security officers. Then a little while later he was escorted out of the building, whether he was banned for the day, week or month I didn't ever find out.

Mansfield Park 1983

What I Liked: I liked the cast far more than I thought I would. I own the pink covered dvd and well, it didn't instill me with much hope of it being very good. Now if I'd had the UK version... it's just a far superior design and picture. Edmund was far more attractive than I had hoped - although he's still no Colin Firth or Rupert Penry-Jones! I thought Fanny was well portrayed. She is a very strong woman and doesn't back down on her decisions/beliefs even though she receives many a scolding for her choices. There were a lot of familiar faces in this movie. I think I've seen almost every actor in some other movie be it a period romance or James Bond.


What I Didn't Like: Well, the cinematography was not much to praise, that's for sure. I expected it, so it wasn't a surprise to me. When they were riding in the carriage it seemed like they used a handheld camera and both mom and I were a little bit motion sick. The movie itself was very long! It took my mom and I three whole days to get through the six episodes. The ending wrapped up far too quickly. I kept looking at the time during the last episode and wondering when are they going to start wrapping this story up? When it was all over my mom said, "It was too a quick wrap-up for all that we've endured!" I agree. I feel like this was an endurance for us to get through. That's not to say I disliked it, but you have to be very committed to finishing. I didn't like the actor they chose for Henry Crawford. He reminded me of a chipmunk. The scene where Fanny is crying to Sir Thomas because she can't marry Mr Crawford was too over the top for me. It's supposed to be sad and yet, I wanted to laugh. I really wanted to see a proposal scene and yet all we got was hand holding. I find it funny that Fanny and Edmund never kissed and yet Maria and Henry kissed passionately twice!

Other Notes: Honestly, I don't like the story of Mansfield Park.  I started reading the novel, but got half-way through and decided it just wasn't for me. I rarely put down a book when I'm that far along, but it just wasn't interesting to me!

 Fanny Price

 Edmund Bertram

 Aunt Norris

 Lady Bertram

 Sir Thomas Bertram

 Julia & Maria Bertram

 Mr. Rushworth & Maria with Edmund in the background

 Henry & Mary Crawford

 Susannah Price

The wedding of Fanny & Edmund. You can see Tom Bertram behind Edmund and Fanny's father behind her.

Cute Baby Eli

On January 4 my newest nephew was born. Isn't he so cute!?!

With Grandma

With Aunt Victoria

With me, Auntie Ali

The cute babe!

The new baby brother

Zoe was so excited that her mom was coming home from the "hostible"

Eli with his daddy

With the whole family

A week or so ago we babysat Zoe and Eli. This is her helping me feed him.

New Year's Eve

Our New Year's Eve was great! We had some of our Chicago relatives visiting us, so we made it a party! We went out to dinner at McGrath's Fish House and then came back to the house for a bunch of games.

We Had a Great Christmas Day!

Our Christmas morning!

Zoe loved trying on my shoes!

She loved her new wagon as well

What a cute little fairy!

Feeding our baby dolls

Spraying silly string at Grandma

Ryan loved his new tripod

Two cute girls hanging out in Addie's bed