I loved the show. Haven't seen the flick.
Posted on 10/19/2019 7:31:50 PM PDT by Rummyfan
A week ago I was having a conversation in the Fox News green room about the Downton Abbey movie with ...well, go on, guess: Tucker? Kilmeade? No, it was Tyrus. A hulking ex-professional wrestler who could crush the average effete English earl between his toes doesn't seem the most obvious fan of Downton's doings, and we disagreed on Lady Mary, for whom he has an intense loathing and to whose icy bitchery I've warmed up over the years. But it does suggest the broad appeal of Julian Fellowes' "franchise", and helps explain why, franchise-wise, Downton Abbey clobbered the latest Rambo at the box office: Stallone's swan song cost three times as much and its box-office take is less than half.
To be sure, if you've never seen the earlier capers, it will be largely meaningless as a stand-alone movie - but then that's true of the new Rambo and X-Men and Ant-Man and everything else at the multiplex. Perhaps, in the manner of The Avengers, they should have subtitled it Downton: Endgame, or Infinity Tea or Age of Carson. Strung around a visit to the Abbey by George V and Queen Mary, the plot hinges on a broken boiler and the servants' resentment at a toffee-nosed Page of the Back Stairs from Buckingham Palace - so it makes a nice change from the Incredible Hulk ripping yet another hole in the space-time continuum. That said, Michael Engler's cinematic Downton lacks the tart wit of the better telly seasons: Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess is worked to the bone as a drive-thru one-liner dispenser, and the pursed lips get a bit heavy-handed, as it were. On the other hand, Kevin Doyle's footman Molesley, who reliably goes to pieces under the stress of great events, as usual collapses to the occasion....
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
I loved the show. Haven't seen the flick.
It was awesome and I believe the next movie will probably take us through the Great Depression and Downton Abbey will probably Feed The Village everybody will work the fields and so forth. Go see it it’s worth it.
Prolonged gay scene.. no thanks. Loved the series.
LOL!
One reason for its popularity.
Production budget: $13-20m
Box office so far domestic and international: $156m
I saw the movie because my sister didn’t want to go alone, but I hadn’t seen the series. I liked the movie so spent the next week or so binge watching the series on “Prime”. It was very good. A glitzy soap opera.
The dresses and gowns in the first three or four seasons were stunning.
I loved the series, but didn’t love the movie. Didn’t hate it either.
I thought the cinematography was poor, more on the level for an average TV show. I was expecting gorgeous cinematography, something like Michael Coulter (Ang Lee’s “Sense and sensibility”) would have done.
It was trying too hard for laughs between Maggie and Lady Crawley. Barrows storming out in a huff from Lord Grantham and the king letting Edith's husband out of service because Edith is expecting was completely out of character. The scenes regarding tricking the royal staff, who were exaggerated, was farcical. The French chef was an embarrassing caricature.
It felt like Fellowes kind of cheapened it with Hollywood silliness. And the obligatory gay crap was unnecessary.
For years I thought people were talking about a show called Downtown Abbey.
I loved the series, but was disappointed in the movie.
Intensely loathes Lady Mary.
Exactly! I felt the same way. I was looking forward to the movie but was disappointed by it for the reasons you state.
The movie was OK. Not as good as the series. But what made it worse for me was the fact I went and saw in a crappy theater with the projector bulb turned halfway down. It was very dark. I hate going to theaters that do this.
To Jane Austin fans...PBS will be airing her unfinished novel titled Sanditon. And because she never finished it, it won’t have the typical Jane Austin ending. Already saw it. Entertaining but disappointing.
Julian Fellowes has two new series coming out...Belgravia and The Gilded Age.
I tried to watch it, made it through the first season. I found it boring and slow moving.
Each to their own.
Back in the 1970’s I watched these BBC TV series, The Onedin Line, The Pallisers, and Edward the 7th. Those were well done.
Saw the tv series, saw the tv series reruns, and raced off to see the movie when it first opened here. LOVED IT...really wonderful to see on the huge screen with surround sound. Same castle, same actors with a couple of interesting additions, and best of all, they ended the movie at a point that clearly can be followed with a sequel. Really interesting and surprising ending too....go, you’ll love it.
What about Poldark, Upstairs Downstairs, Lord Peter Wimsey, and I, Claudius?
Thank you. I didn’t know they were making a series of Belgravia. I really enjoyed the book, and its serial nature makes it ideally suited to TV.
It all starts at one of the most famous parties in history, The Duchess of Richmond’s Ball, and quite a story unfolds...
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