My Top Forty Movies/Series

Nicking this idea from my dear friend Eva, who last month or so posted her top-something Movies on her wonderful blog. For me, Movies and Series are the same thing. They're both Things You Watch. The same. The end. So here, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER OKAY, are my top forty movies. Okay, my real biggie favourites will be near the top of the list, but I'm not ranking them specifically because that would be a weepingly big task and I have a long list of To-Do-things today. No time for that jazz.

But voila. Enjoy the eye-candy. My favourite movies; my darling stories; I love these ALL. (And surprise, surprise, all forty of them happen to be costume dramas. Wow.) (Just saying: Brooklyn, Daniel Deronda, The Paradise, A Royal Night out, Mercy Street (picture above) and many others would be on this list had I actually watched them. :-P)

1. Pride and Prejudice 1995

2. Emma 2009

3. Downton Abbey

4. Sense and Sensibility 2008

5. Call the Midwife

6. Lark Rise to Candleford

7. Wives and Daughters

8. Little Dorrit

9. Miss Potter

10. The Young Victoria

11. Belle

12. Testament of Youth

13. Cranford

14. Sense and Sensibility 1995

15. The Kings Speech

16. Saving Mr Banks

17. The Book Thief

18. Anne of Green Gables

19. Sound of Music

20. Pollyanna 2003

21. North and South

22. Cinderella

23. Amazing Grace

24. Northanger Abbey

25. Goodbye Mr Chips

26. Berkerly Square

27. The Scarlet Pimpernel

28. Jeeves and Wooster

29. Chariots of Fire

30. Roman Holiday

31. War Horse

32. Martin Chuzzlewit

33. State Fair

34. Our Zoo

35. Little House on the Prairie

36. Fiddler on the Roof

37. The Railway Children

38. To Kill a Mockingbird 

39. Gone with the Wind

40. Mary Poppins

Have you seen many of my favourites? (If you haven't... how you must be missing out!)

6 Period Dramas I did not like.

First, a random gif of my darling Amy Dorrit, then the post.

You all know. I adore Period Dramas. You don't need to read any of my posts to know this; you just need to use your eyeballs and look at my header and the pictures/tags in my sidebar. Period-Drama-filled. I am unashamed - I LOVE Period Dramas. (My favourites being Pride and Prejudice 1995, Emma 2009, Downton Abbey, Lark Rise to Candleford, and Testament of Youth, and Little Dorrit, and...)

But there are some that were a disappointment to me. They made me sleep, or weep, or groan in dismay. You might be a fan of these, so yes, I am prepared for fierce-and-angry-comments. Here they are, people; Period Dramas I Did Not Like. (I don't necessarily hate them. I just didn't like them.) (And they are in no particular order, although there are some in this list that annoy me a lot more than others.)

1. Persuasion 2007

Ew. When I watched this, I kind of CRINGED a lot. Everything was just a bit cinge-worthy to me, and I feel very un-Jane-Austen-like to say this in Front Of Everyone, but I didn't like it. I didn't like Anne, to start with - not because she was 'old' or 'quiet', but because she had greasy hair, a creepy smile, and she looked straight AT THE CAMERA and it ANNOYED ME SO MUCH. (Hush, Naomi. Calm down.)

Also... Captain Wentworth. (Pssst. I don't think he's that handsome.)

2. Under the Greenwood Tree

Under the Greenwood Tree was okay - I just about liked it. (It's probably my favourite on this list, too.) But it definitely doesn't rank high on my list of Period Dramas. Heh. Heh. The main thing that annoyed me was Dick Dewy. :-P First of all, he wasn't handsome. (IN MY OPINION.) Secondly, the way he fell in love with Fancy Day was just so ridiculous it makes me want to weep for humanity. Thirdly, the way he invites Fancy to the 'Par-y' by simply SAYING 'Par-y' in front of her face twice makes me criiiinge. (The pastor also annoyed me so so much. And so did the old man with the big sideburns. Just everyone.)

Basically, I didn't really mind watching this movie because we had a lot of fun watching it and laughing at about just about every character.

3. Our Mutual Friend

Okay, so adding this one to the list is KIIIND of unfair, because I only watched one episode and that's it. (Emma says that if I had watched it all, I would have ended up loving it. :-P)

Buuuut, I didn't, and therefore I did not like it at all. It was CREEPY  (I mean... finding dead bodies in a lake??? Thank you for making nice tv-series, BBC.) and all the characters were CREEPY (like, yeah, keeping sculls in a house is normal???) and just... BLEH. I didn't like it. (I do want to give this another go, though. One day.)

4. Pride and Prejudice 2005

BLEHHH. This movie drives me cruuu-ayyy-zee. Click here for zee long, numerous reasons. MWUHAHA. (It's a very long post. And very hefty. Just warning.)

5. Les Miserables

I'm sorry to say that I didn't even finish this one. :-/ I have learnt to love the music and the characters now - and I have learnt to really love the stage musical - But the movie version?! NOPE. Nopeditynope. It was too miserable and gritty and spooky and sad and scary and poor-people-y.

(The music is nice though, and I would like to give this movie another go one day. But in the meanwhile I'll rewatch the dvd's of Emma's Les Mis performance whenever I'm in a Les Mis mood.)

6. The Mill on the Floss

When people ask me, "What is your least favourite Period Drama?" - I usually say, 'Ew, Mill on the Floss - it's awwwwful." And it is awful. :-P All the characters are either really mean or really melancholy, and although I liked the main character in some parts, she disappointed me hugely. Basically, she falls in love with a tolerably nice dude and then SUDDENLY OUT OF THE BLUE kisses someone else.

Like... UM. OKAY. (How did this story get published again?)

But that's not all, because after zee kiss and zee other-man-business, the main character's annoying brother (who I hate) comes along and they both DROWN. AND THAT'S IT. LIKE REALLY. UGHHHHHHHH. BLEHHH.

(Never watch this.)

Okay, ha. I hope you enjoyed this highly negative post. I'm sorry if I offended you, or bashed your very favourite movie once again - please don't take anything personally, and please tell me whether or not you agree with my controversial sentiments. And have a very good day. :-) Keep on smiling and don't watch bad movies. :-)

What are some Period Dramas you didn't like?

10 Favourite JA dresses

{Images from cap-that.com}

The Jane Austen movie have the PRETTIEST gowns. They're generally not too fussy, as the Regency style/pattern was a more simple one. (I mean, you know, no endless hoops or furbelows like the ladies wore in other time periods. I love those too, by the way.) Here, dear people, are my ten favourite. And ohhhh, choosing where which one will go in the list is going to be HARD. But I'll try. :-)

(Most of these are going to be from Emma Woodhouse in the 2009 wardrobe, just warning. I'm very much in love with her entire wardrobe. :-/)

#10 - Elizabeth Bennet's gold sprigged dress

Elizabeth's whole wardrobe is entirely simplistically gorgeous and naturally elegant. I'm the most in love with her blue spencer (I mean, it's seriously the most beautiful spencer in the entire world - go click here) but as that's not a dress, it cannot appear on this list. One of my favourite of Elizabeth's dresses is this one. I love the goldish-brownish design, and the fresh white-ness. It's just scrumptioussss.

#9. Catherine Moorland's light blue/white dress

I actually am not crazy about Catherine's wardrobe in general, but this one is just adorable. And the neckline is not atrociously low, which is nice, you know. I love it - it captures Cathy's youthful-ness and innocence very well. :-) (There, wasn't that a clever thing to say?)

#8. Maria Lucas' yellow dress

I know Maria Lucas isn't one of the main characters in Pride and Prejudice, but I've always noticed and completely LOOOOVED her yellow dress. The bell-like sleeves, the buttons in the shape of flowers... it's just so adorable and angelic. She wears it at the Netherfield Ball (where she gets to hold Mr Darcy's hand during a dance - lucky girl) and several times at Rosings.

#7. Emma Woodhouse's Christmas dress

Okay, maybe it's just me being in a disastrous Christmas mood already, but this dress of Emma's is absoblumelutely adorable. We don't see her wearing it enough, but from what I've seen, I think it's made from a kind of velvet-y material - maybe not, but it looks kind of velvet. And I LOVE Velvet. I personally think the sash is a bit too large, but for the rest this dress is VERY Naomi-Approved.

#6. Kitty Bennet's blue patterned dress

I don't know why I love this dress of Kitty's so much - it's very simple. Maybe it's the little tiny puffs at the top of the sleeve, or the tiny blue dots. I just love it so much.

#5. Emma's pink afternoon dress

AHH. EMMA'S WARDROBE. It was agony choosing 'at least four', I tell you. But this pink inside-the-house dress definitely deserved a place on the list. I mean, look. It's gorgeous and yet it looks super comfortable too. I actually (shockingly) love Mrs Elton's outfit in this scene too. Yes, it's over-trimmed, but it's really surprisingly gorgeous (or it would be, if someone else wore it) - look at her bonnet. 

#4. Isabella's yellow dress

Okay, most of Isabella's gowns aren't my favourite ones. They generally tend to scream: "FLIRT" - you know what I mean. But this yellow one; I mean, it's SO pretty. And it suits her so well and OH I WANT IT THANKS. (Ahhhh, look how it flows... and the perfect puffy sleeves. Looook.)

#3. Marianne's peach cross-over dress

Marianne wears peach SO. DARN. WELL. (My favourite outfit of hers is the one with the peach pelisse and the peach hat with the ostrich feathers. As this isn't a 'dress', I cannot add it into my list, but I have to give you a LINK to it. Because it's gorgeous.) Anyway, this dress - I LOVE IT. I love the cross-over pattern and the gold-y peachy-ness. It's so elegant and simple and golden... Ahhh, I really like it a LOT. :-)

#2. Emma's orange flowered dress

This dresssssss. Wow, guys, it's AMAZING. It's really Autumn-y, with the rusty tones and the burnt-orange, and the peachy flowers.... GAHH. Someone sew this for meeee.

#1. Emma's pink ball gown

AND NOWWW. MY FAVOURITE DRESS. I have mentioned this dress many times before, I know I have - but that won't make me stop right now. (Sorry if you just got your hopes up, haha.) In the 'behind the scenes' of Emma 2009, the costume designer (forgot her name. Or maybe his name. I can't even remember if it was a man or a woman. Probably a woman, because that's more typical.) said that this dress has loads of thin layers to create a shimmery, elegant effect. Well, that's just why I love this dress - it's the shimmery party-ness - and ohhh, it's pink and sparklyyyyy.

I LOVE IT. :-)

What are some of your favourite Jane Austen Movie dresses?

Oh, and I WOULD have added this dress, but I didn't because it's not really in a JA movie, and us Janeites aren't completely happy with this movie (because Jane Austen never eloped and she does in the movie, and that makes us angry.) But anyway: I LOVE THIS DRESS TOO. Like, I love it like crazy and I'm completely in love with it.

Oh, and I mentioned the word 'love' seventeen times in this post. We are all surprised.