In which I swoon over Scenery+Settings

I've done posts in which I've gushed nonsensically over dresses and frills. I've done about fifty of those, when it comes to that. (Well, sliiight exaggeration is allowed now and then.) I've done posts in which I've exclaimed in - oh horrors of horrors - capital letters my fondest love for certain fictional characters. (No, I did not mention Mr Knightley in every one of those posts. Hush.) I've talked about all kinda stuff. 

But I've never really gushed over that BEAUTIFUL scenery in those movies. And those often-ignored Settings. So I am to do so now.

Okay, before we talk about ANYTHING, I'm going to point out that Cinderella has the best inside settings ever. (I haven't seen this yet, but OH I KNOW IT.)

Now we can carry on.

The Sound of Music has THE most GORGEOUS Scenery EVER. Well, I never, and all that jazz. It's all so greeny blue and bluey green and free, free and melodious. It seems to chirp out music - GAH. The Sound of Music is such a pretty movie. Remember that scene where Maria sings about the Hills being Alive, and she goes and swings between the trees? That is SO pretty.

I love that the Sound of Music ends AND starts with mountains and grassy hills. And oh, the way the wind BLOWS on the grass and makes all those RIPPLES.

God really is the most amazing artist ever.

And also the gazebo scenes. Like, it's sooo gorgeous and romantic. With all the moonlight shining through the glass, and the garden all quiet around them. Also, all the inside scenes. I know it's easy to have beautiful interior settings when the movie is about a stinking rich Sea Captain with expensive dance floors, but STILL.

Ahh, you know the scene where they DAAANCE. The Laendler dance?!! That scene's BEAUTIFUL too. :-D

Yeah, I'm going to shut up.

BUT THIS MOVIE IS BEAUTIFUL. Just look. Those white-topped mountains looking so splendid and royal above all the green hills. I want to go on a hike now.

War Horse is not my favourite movie (1. Because it's too horsey. I'm not a huge horse fan. And 2. Because it's a War movie and War movies tend to make me upset.) BUT what I have always loved about War Horse, from the first time I watched it, was the scenery. Seriously, Albert's farm was situated in the prettiest place ever.

I still want to go and live there.

Lark Rise to Candleford has SUCH gorgeous scenery! All the yellow golidness of the fields, the lovely English countryside, the villages, the forest. I. NEED. TO. VISIT. THIS. PLACE. (Gah, wouldn't it be the coolest thing ever? To be able to visit all these filming areas. I'd love to visit Lark Rise and Candleford. Of course, I'd imagine all the characters to be there, but still. :-D)

Yeah, the scenery is gorgeous.

I love also that, after a while, because you see the scenery often (seeing as there are many episodes), that you soon recognise those trees and that path. I love this show like crazy.

We just finished episode five of Season three yesterday - I've witnessed some CRAZY Minnie-Alfie cuteness (shut up you two why are you so cute and please ughhhh ahh (!!!)) and I am becoming very good friends with Daniel, who I Really Like. :-)

Testament of Youth also has some Very Exclamation Point Worthy scenery. Let the pictures speak for themselves. (Besides I am very touchy when it comes to Testament of Youth. I'd rather not talk about it. One doesn't talk about Testament of Youth. One cries about it.)

*snifffff*

And of COURSE, Downton Abbey. The show with All the actors, All the plot lines, All the quotes and All the good scenery. This show has everything and that SO includes the most perfect perfect PERFECT scenery. Possibly out of every movie, Downton Abbey has my favourite scenery.

Duh, the inside settings are wayyy to gorgeous too.

Just look. Sink in it.

I could go on and on about beautiful movie settings and beautiful movie scenery, but this shall be all for today, Jeeves. Have a lovely Sunday! :-)

Do you like watching sad movies?

I love crying whilst watching movies. Well, love heh, isn't 'zactly the right word to describe it. It's just that, when a movie makes me cry, it means it has touched me inside and normally those movies are the ones I can't forget, even if I want to. Those kinds of movies kind of live inside me for a long time.

I have to admit, my favourite movies are not ones that really make me cry, though. My favourite movies are the ones that are beautiful and most-part happy and British and Jane Austen-y. They have their fluttery parts, but they aren't usually handkerchief-y. Movies such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Wives and Daughters and Anne of Green Gables have made me cry but they aren't, in my opinion listed under the title 'sad movies.' They are movies that make one happy. Movies that one watches to get cheered up. Cosy-hours-movies. Perfect.

But then I have seen sad movies which have managed to reach my 'favourite' list, so I do enjoy the sad ones. 

Of course, different people define different movies as sad (for instance, Little Women. Many people say it's a 'sad movie' - but I think it's rather cosy and happy-feelsy. Although OF COURSE it has a sad bit or two. I cry my eyes out at Beth's death. But I wouldn't call it a 'sad movie'. I don't know, there's more to Little Women than sadness. It's a cosy, happy family story.) And of course, there are several kinds of sad-movies I just can't watch. 

For me, sad movies must have...

1. A re-assuring ending. I need HOPE. 

It doesn't have to be all rosy and happy and sparkly and golden (although I have to admit I like those too) but it needs to have an ending with hope. Not one of those 'Oh goodness, how am I going to ever get over that' endings. Ugh.

'Testament of Youth' was a brilliant movie, but the ending didn't have as much hope and 'happy feeling' as I would have liked. Still, I just about tolerated that, and I love 'Testament of Youth' because it's so gorgeous and pretty. But I wish they would've made the ending more hopeful.

'Miss Potter,' for instance is, in my opinion, a rather sad movie, but I absolutely love it - it has a good ending. Beatrice finds another guy and you can finish the movie with a smile on your face and a happy feeling inside, despite all the sad feels and tears.

2. The sad movie has to be my kind of sad. 

I know, that might sound weird. But there is a 'my kind of sad' and a 'not my kind of sad.' Let me sit down and clear my throat and explain. (Thank you for letting me. You really are too kind.)

'Not my kind of sad' movies are the gruesomey kind of sad. Like, I can't CANNOT watch Holocaust movies. I tried once and I had nightmares even though I stopped before half of the movie. It was just too BLACK and GRUESOME. Like, I was trembling with the horrid sadness. That is so not my kind of sad. Goodness, reading books about the Holocaust make me snag for breath in anguish. Of course I can't watch Holocaust movies.

And Les Miserables is not my kind of sad either. I couldn't watch it. One sad thing after another. Endless shots of miserable, raggerdy, blood-smotched faces - so. much. vivid. misery. I just didna like it, I didn't.

The only movie with slightly 'gruesome' and 'vivid' sadness I love is 'North and South.' Oh, and I like most of the Dickens movies. But really, most sad movies with the 'scary, violent sadness' are so not for me. No thank you.

Movies that are my kind of sad can make me cry and even leave me with misery-feelings. Testament of Youth made me feel absoblumelootely miserable, but I also absoblumelootely love it. It's a vivid movie, but it not one-thing-after-another-gruesome. Miss Potter, as I mentioned earlier, is SO my kind of sad. It's quiet and twinkley sad. Umph, it's so good.

I have a question for you. Two, in fact.

1. Do you like watching sad movies?

2. Do you know some my-kind-of-sad Period Dramas you think I would like?

(Because I obviously need to lengthen my to-see list. Haha.)

By the way, isn't that picture from 'Sense and Sensibility' gorgeous?!! I have a serious love affair with pretty Period Drama pictures. Ahum, perhaps you noticed.

Testament of Youth ~ Review

Most of you should remember my Testament of Youth pre-gushing post I did several days ago, don't you? I wrote that post when I kinda of discovered the movie 'Testament of Youth.' I described in great gusto my burning wish to watch the movie because it looked so stinking amazing. I swooned over the pictures I had endlessly pinned on Pinterest. My dear commenters shared my enthusiasm, and one of them, a certain Emily, said she had found the movie online and she sent me the link. 

I was SO HAPPY. The movie was online!?! (It still is, so grab your chance to watch it while it's there, folks.) The movie was THERE! I could watch it!?! I told my Dad that I wished VERY much to watch it as soon as possible, and he, being the good chump he is, said, 'Oh let's watch it on Saturday' and I said, 'OKAY YES LETS.' I checked the website every day to see if the movie was still there. I couldn't wait to see it.

And then I saw it!

Now, I warn you in advance, the movie online is very soft. So soft, we thought when we watched the beginning that it had no sound at all (I freaked out in quick disappointment.) Like, you-have-to-lean-close-to-catch-all-the-words soft and a-cough-of-a-fellow-watcher-will-make-you-loose-a-sentence soft. This was pretty difficult and made the movie a bit of a challenge to watch sometimes. I was straining my ears the whole way through.

But YET, I loved it.

It broke my heart. It was beautiful. It made me cry. It was just squeefully adorable and bitterly ending-wrenching-like.

Now, if you don't like sad movies, don't watch the complete movie. Watch the first half, which, in my opinion can be watched as a story on it's own, and stop at the scene where Vera and Roland fly a kite together on the cliffs near the sea, as a newly and happily engaged couple. The first half of the movie is ADORABLE and I just loved it. We watched the first half on Friday and the second half on Saturday, and I can tell you, the ways I went to bed on Friday and on Saturday were very different. On Friday I went to bed with happy feelings, thinking about the darlingness of the movie and pinning pins and gifs of the movie till it was super late. On Saturday I went to bed with knots in my neck and tears in my eyes (but more about that later.) 

So yeah, the first half. It's cosy and family-like and romantic and fuzzy-feelsy and you frankly can't do much wrong with having millions of scenes in there stored up in your head.

So, let me talk about the first part of the movie first, okay?

The story is about a young girl, perhaps nineteen, called Vera Brittain. She loves writing and desperately wants to go to Oxford university and reach a proper degree and do what she loves, but, due to being a girl, her parents have difficulty accepting the fact that their daughter is a complete bluestocking. They try to shove her onto the piano and finding-husband-thing instead, but she bluntly says that she won't ever marry. Not now. Not ever. That's pretty clear, isn't it?

Vera has a younger brother, Edmund (more about him later, folks, because he's my favouritest character ever) who often brings his two good Oxford pals with him to home. The three boys, Edmund, Victor and Roland are the kind of slap-on-the-shoulder, play-in-the-mud, gather-around-the-piano, loud, typical hungry kind of lads, and good chums, always laughing a teasing around. I loved their friendship, and the way they are all so gentlemanly to their pal's sister, Vera.

Vera often finds herself hanging around the boys, and she also finds herself attracted to Roland, who's a fellow writer and encourages her to pursue her dreams.

I really love that Roland wasn't this drop-dead handsome hero - he was very kind, funny, and he had a huge sense of duty and love. He was a bit shy, unlike Vera, and oh, their romance was just impossibly squeeful. I loved the scenes where they went out on trips and their big bustly chaperone kept on squishing in between and slapping away any physical contact.

I also love what Roland said to Vera. "You're not odd. Just Interesting." It's a new favourite quote of mine.

Roland was exactly what Vera needed, and vice-versa. Someone who was at her side about her being a writer and an Oxford student, but also someone who made her feel like a lady, someone who looked at her in beautiful ways and loved her. When he tried to put his hand on her shoulder during the cinema, with the chaperone seated between them, I decided I loved him. 

He just lovely. And a writer too! That definitely makes him more of a hero, doesn't it?

To be honest, Vera annoyed me a lot in the beginning. I loved and cried with her by the end, but I found her rather cumbersome with her snappy, direct and sigh-ing ways. Of course, she perhaps needed to speak up a bit to get what she wanted, but she could have been a bit more, um, calm, patient. 

But I did relate to her when she told a half-stammering, hint-giving Roland with a blunt sigh that she liked clarity, because I do too. And, as I said, by the end she becomes much more likeable, especially when you see what she goes through, and all that. Also she has some very adorable outfits, which helps me to like a person. Apparently. ;-P

I also absolutely loved Victor. My heart just goes out for him. He's so sweet and kind and young and innocent. He reminds me a bit of John Chivery, the way he is quietly in love with Vera and doesn't want to hurt her feelings ever. The way he looks at her with this sweet hopeful glint in his eyes. He's SO DEAR. I just want to hug him.

And when he went and pretended he had a girl, just so Vera wouldn't feel guilty. 'What's her name?' Vera asked, happy and relieved. 'Um, Molly. Yeah. She's keen.' Poor chap. 

Edward Brittain, the younger, musically talented pianish, jokester, kind-hearted chump, was my favourite character in the whole movie (followed closely by darling Victor.)

He exactly 'my' kind of guy, you know, adding the unhelpful fact that he's impossibly handsome, especially when in a khaki. I loved, loved, loved he and Vera's brother-sister relationship. I tell you, it's so beautiful. It's my favourite brother-sister relationship I've probably ever seen in a movie. I loved how they teased each other, relied on each other and clung to each other. My favourite Edward-part was when Vera gave him her letter from Oxford (which contained her results) and he read it with a solemn face and said in a solemn voice, 'You got it.' He's such a delightful tease! Such a boy. Such a dear chap. So kind and good and loyal. I loved him. :-)

So yeah, if you're not one for sad endings, stop right after Vera and Roland's engagement scene - which, by the by, is the most adorable thing ever because they sit there and talk about the white dress and the wedding guests and the cake with tears in their eyes, together alone looking from a cliff to the sea underneath. I know. Aww. - and you're good.

Because as you go on, you'll - heh - notice more and more that this movie has a likely chance of breaking your heart. Because, I warn you, it hasn't got a good ending. Not even rather good. You only get a bit of hope - hope from nature, hope from spring - but nothing that will fully satisfy you. Due to the unwantingness of spoilers, I won't tell you WHAT the sad ending is, but if you'll ask me in the comments I will be happy to oblige you with a tear-filled answer.

Because this movie is really SAD. That's a true war-story for you.

Vera's brother, her fiancé, Victor and all the other friends of her brothers all go off to fight. Vera feels she is wasting away her time and work in Oxford between all the rows and rows of books, and she goes and becomes a nurse. She sees how the war affects lives. She sees the endless lists of names of passed loved-ones in the newspaper. She becomes more broken and broken and sadder and sadder every day. 

It's like the world is peeling off at her sides and she can't do anything to keep her loved ones safe.

Vera ends up having to care for a bunch of wounded Germans. She sees how they cry and talk about their mothers and loved ones just like the English soldiers do. She sees them die too. She sees fields and fields of wounded men, English or German, it doesn't matter. They are all the same, she learns. They all have loved ones, and they all have feelings. They all have a right to live, all the same.

There was this one scene that got me the most. When she goes and looks between the dead bodies to find her brother and realises he is, in fact still alive. She manages to nurse him back to life and she rocks him in his arms as he cries about all the things he had seen. Vera sees how this war is affecting the lives of these young men - many just teenagers. How they shiver and have thoughts that haunt and depress them.

Man, are you crying yet? 

This movie made me weep. My heart was crying and my eyes were a definite wet. I was in need of tissues, especially afterwards, when I re-and-re-thought about the movie in my bed. I imagined what it would be like to say goodbye to my brother, or my father, or my cousin. Or my fiancé (not that I have one, I just imagined it and I happen to have a rather good one. Imagination. Not fiancé.) I mean just THINK. How horrible would it be if you know that every time the postman comes, or the telephone rings it might tell you that one of those lads you have so many memories of and love for might be dead?!

This movie made me really realise what a huge thing that war was. It's definitely a Testament of Youth. Such a sudden death, or change of life, at such a young age!

Wow. I just am stunned by how this movie is made and I highly recommend it.

I was also very pleased with how family-friendly it was, as other people have mentioned. There was perhaps a taaaad to many kisses to my taste (let's just say my brother started talking about random things whenever they kissed) and, of course, there are wounds and dead people (I turned my head twice, just because) but I think it's more of a 12+ movie than a 13+ movie, to be honest. It's extremely good.

The scenery was absolutely, utterly gorgeous, even on the small dusty laptop screen we watched it on. I just want to LIVE where the Brittain's live (in Britain, haha.) And the scenery around Roland's house (who, by the way, has a mother who was acted by Caroline Bingley which made me squeal) was AMAHZING too, with the seaside brushing and waving underneath the green cliffs. Also, the scenery of the lovely brown buildings at Oxford made me sigh.

And the interiors were impossibly gorgeous! I basically want Vera's bedroom - it's so pretty. And the library at Oxford!!! PLEASE. It's just impossible how gorgeous the library there was. *thud*

The costumes were BEAUTIFUL and 100% accurate. They reminded me a lot of the Downton Abbey costumes. In fact, I spotted that Vera wore two Edith's blouses in Series Two. Like, hello Vera, that's EDITH'S wardrobe, not yours! :-) Haha. Look, the one she's wearing in that picture above is the same as this one, and she also wore this one.

Also, all the other girls at Oxford were so deliciously late-Edwardian, with their blouses and low buns or long braids, and their shirt-waists and ties. They reminded me of pictures like this and this and this. There was a lot of costume-envy from my side, suffice to say. Especially when Vera's beautiful pink dress came on show. I'm talking about the pink dress in the first picture of this post. (Yes, do scroll up to have a better look. I'll wait.)

HIGHLY recommended. But don't say I didn't warn you about crying, okay?

*goes away with a knot in her neck*

Testament of Youth - that pre-gushing post

GUYS.

GUYS.

*insert about three million squeals and about three million tears both of sadness and heart-feelsies and joy* Have you heard about this new movie?!!! Have you?! Have you? It's called 'Testament of Youth' and it's seriously one the way to become like, my favourite movie ever (after P&P. Haha.) I want to watch it sooo badly. Just as bad as I want to see 'Cinderella' and 'A Royal Night out' and all those other movies I keep on gushing about before having seen the movie. Because that's how I do things, just in case you didn't notice. I gush about movies before actually watching them. I have quite a lot of pre-gushing posts on here. *giggle*

Seriously, this movie is going to be perfect. The sneak-peak scenes and the wow-factor trailer and all the gorgeous-swamped pictures and screencaps are already giving me serious issues. I'm having butterflies of the sheer beauty and sadness of this movie.

I JUST WANT TO WATCH IT. Okay?!!!

I believe I have like, really vaguely talked about this movie on another post of mine (or probably just some pre-pre-squealing in the comments) but it has only SERIOUSLY started - my want-to-see-ness, that is - these last few days. I've discovered it looks like exactly the kind of movie where I will cry my head off whilst watching it - the kind of movie I'm going to over-and-over-think about like crazy. The kind of heart-tearing with real-ness and beauty-movie.

I basically want to be Vera Brittain already.

As far as I know, the story is about a girl called Vera who wants to be a writer and goes to Oxford university. Then the First World War breaks out and, because she wants to be as close as possible to her brothers and love interest, she trains to become a nurse. SOUNDS GOOD, HUH?!! I mean, a writer. That means, I'm IN. And I love War stories - they somehow always manage charm and bewitch the life out of me. And then the romantic feels. And men in khaki uniforms! I love those war khaki uniforms.

Okay, I know this movie is going to be sad, because yeah, the War, but I'm willing to sacrifice myself for that. I just know I would love it. :)

As far as I know, there are no major sexual inappropiate-ness, but the movie is rated 13+ for bloody and gruesome war scenes - Vera being a nurse, rather a lot of wounds are being shown.

The cast is also, superb! Emily Watson (once again! She seems to be popping in every single movie recently, don't ya think?), Hayley Atwell (Cinderella, Mansfield Park), Nicholas Farrell (Amazing Grace, Chariots of Fire) and several others. The pictures of the young men look very sweet and gentlemanly, and the costumes are GORGEOUS. It's just as beautiful as Downton Abbey, you guys, historically accurate and EVERYTHING.

It's going to be gorgeous. :-) Just look at the hat! And, because of viewing the trailer and sneak-peak scenes, I know it has a beautiful darling romance, gorgeous lacy costumes, a teary good-bye scene at a railway station, a super darling brother-sister relationship,  beautiful English scenery, letters, and epic heart-moving lines and filming effects.

And quotes, too. I think it'll be very quotable.

Just look at it. I really love khaki uniforms. They make men look, like, 100 times more handsome, immediately. 

Yeah, I know it's weird of me to be SO gushing over a movie when I haven't even seen it yet, but hey, I HAVE seen the trailer and all the avaliable scenes and all the pictures on Pinterest, so I think I've tasted the general idea of the movie. It's going to be amazing, I feel it.

Have you seen this?

What are your pre-opinions?