Journal #1

The movie "The Jane Austen Book Club" comes out on September 21st and I read this review about it, to see if it would influence my desire to see it. The reviewer, Dennis Harvey, discusses the plot of the movie quite extensively and comments on the cast as well. He starts the review with a positive ( I think ) remark about the movie;

managing a highly eventful narrative in brisk terms without seeming rushed; drawing moderately complex characters and conflicted relationships with economy and feeling. In those regards and others, the pic is much more satisfying than recent femme-centric adaptations "The Nanny Diaries" or "Evening," let alone the pandering, formulaic likes of "Because I Told You So."

In that excerpt, I respect Harvey's opinion and I like how he explains it. He explains how in this genre, this movie does quite well for itself. I appreciate how he compares it with other movies, because having seen them I am relieved to know that he thinks this movie is better. Those few sentences alone have already influenced my desire to see it; it makes me want to see it because it is "much more satisfying" than those other films.

I really like the way the Harvey goes through some of the characters and the plot without being overtly biased or opinionated. While explaining the ins and outs of the many relationships and connections to other characters, he doesn't use many adjectives that would affect how I would view the characters. He doesn't go out and tell me that one of the characters is poorly portrayed, which is good- I can make that decision on my own. However, he also gives his opinion that the "Cast is first-rate all around, unafraid to play up the annoying, insensitive or self-pitying aspects of their nonetheless likeable characters," which gives quite an insight as to how he feels about the cast.

The reviewer supports his view of the film through some of the ways he talks about the film as a whole. He says that the film is "Slickly handled in all departments" directly after going through how well the producer worked with the actors in the film and put it all together for a well produced movie. He says that "Swicord's direction proves as accomplished as her script at handling an incident-packed story with ease, capturing humor and drama sans cheap laughs or tearjerking."

It really is a 'feel good' kind of review, which in my opinion are the good ones to read. Although the opening lines could have been interpreted as sarcasm or obnoxious-ness, they really turned out to be a compliment to the movie and another reason to see it. I think that this review really influenced how I will like the movie. Having read this, I predict that I will like the movie more than if I had not read this. I am an easily persuaded person, and coming from a reliable source I will probably assume he is "right" and agree with what he says...which is totally fine with me!