Downton Abbey fans will love this film.
It picks up in the late 20s and wraps up lots of story lines from the series and first film.
Take two hankies, there are tears aplenty.
Five stars out of five.
Saw it today and it was the most enjoyable movie I've been to post Covid.
Any movie today that's not about comic book heroes or misfit teenagers is a welcome relief.
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Reviews have been harsh, but I don't understand why reviewers don't weigh their reviews based on their target audience.
If A New Era delivers to its fanbase and makes them happy, it's a great movie. If it disappoints its fanbase without creating a new fanbase, it sucks.
That is not *their* audience. Their audience are general viewers.
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I haven't seen either movie, but are they stand on their own films, or do they require having had to have watched the series to make any sense?
I wouldn't be the person to ask on that. You should probably start your own topic, but even then it's problematic. Most people who would come here have already seen the series.
Probably best to read the professional reviewers.
Just saw it. My initial reaction is that it is definitely better than the first film.
shareI guess Barrow's live interest.
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Just decided to see it last night and I really enjoyed it. I loved the idea of the old Hollywood story line and all the excitement with that. I love they gave Barrow a new love interest. I'll be honest, I felt really sad when he related the story of the other guy getting married. I hope this new adventure works out with him. I only complain on that note is the....I don't know the word to you...He started off telling Mrs. Hughes his troubles so I didn't like that they didn't 'circle back' to the two of them talking later on at the end. Instead, he tells Mary. Which is fine considering their connection to each other but somehow I think they missed a chance for...i don't know...A thank you from Barrow to Hughes...something to kind of close that out. But it didn't ruin the movie for me, just something I noticed while watching.
The other part of the story about the villa was ok though not my favorite part of the story. Violet kept everything super cryptic for no reason. Not wanting to look like a whore is perfectly understandable but to not at least tell her son is weird to me. But I guess it had to happen for the story to take place...I also would have liked some closure for the widow. I know there's laws and wills but I think I would have allowed her to stay in the house/use for vacations as long as she wanted while she was alive. Especially if Sybbie wasn't going to be living there for a while. Of course, people tend to live longer when money/property is involved, haha but something to make it easier on her that she wasn't being thrown out of her place...I dunno. I guess that part of the story just happened so fast for me and it feels like there was a lot more than could have been explored there.
And just to add. I lost my aunt a few weeks ago. she was only 71 but she had the strength of Violet. All the parts around her death really hit me hard but also gave me a lot to think about regarding my aunt's life and all of that. It was beautiful
Yeah, the Barrow story was puzzling. I kept thinking Barrow is going to end up alone, heartbroken and penniless in California. Guy seemed genuine but he is an actor and a charmer hired to play a gambler (red flags!). Guess optimists will hope Barrow lives happily ever after in Hollywood, with an aging actor, he met a few times over the course of a month…
The villa story was sketchy and hard to square in many ways. Check my other posts if interested in my take. My guess is they could not resist the glorious visuals of filming at such a place and patched together this odd story to justify it.
Sorry about the loss your aunt. 💔. The funeral scene stirred up sad memories for me too. Losing a beloved character is hard, but seeing a family, even a fictional one, mourn and grieve is a something most have been through at least once in life.
Oh, I can definitely see that happening to Barrow considering all the other failed relationships with him. I guess since this is kind of a closing out of his story/story as a whole (I don't know if there will be more sequels) I'd like to just send him off on a happy arch.
I'm glad I'm not the only one finding the villa storyline a bit weak. I look forward to reading your other posts.
Thank you. Look forward to reading your posts too.
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My guess is they looked back at the Christmas specials that were set at another estate and wanted to try and recapture some of that magic that worked so well for the series.
Over, I enjoyed the film. The writing was a lot like the series, in that Fellowes relied on his old bag of tricks. This was what I had expected with the first DA film, and was pleasantly surprised to find it was much better than I hoped it would be.
Have you seen any episodes of The Gilded Age? It makes me wonder if JF decided to wrap up DA so he could focus more on TGA.