Hi everyone! Today I found in a pile of old drawings and cinema memorabilias one of my favorite things ever! It is very simple, but it is so precious to me. When I was a kid, and when I went with my dad in London, we would always go and take a look in a wonderful art gallery, which sadly no longer exists. It was called Catto and it displeyed always the most wonderful things, all related to cinema and movies. Especially Disney! They would sell original prints, framed art, gorgeous screencaps, pictures and autographed stuff. Once, they even had a maquette event, where they would sell AMAZING “Nightmare before Christmas” maquettes AND Tim Burton in person did attend and autographed the little busts and statues. Unfortunately, it happened the exact day of our return at home with the plane… đ
And I always collected everything I could take home with me, little leaflets, cards, free pictures, etcetera. And one of my most beloved treats that I took home was this lovely, thick cardboard little pamphlet from Disney’s “Beauty and the beast“. In a short time they would have a display of the movie new edition maquettes and I remember it looked like the most amazing thing ever. I couldn’t attend to this event either, ugh!, but just having this leaflet was sooo good!! It felt like taking a piece of something rare and beautiful with me!
I wouldn’t mind having these two beauties at home, now! I LLLLLOVE maquettes!!!! And these two look absolutely wonderful! As you can see, the exact same colours from the movie were used to paint these ones!
Let’s dream about this adorable maquettes! Now that we are all waiting for the 2017 movie to arrive in theaters, it seems to me that everything concerning “Beauty and the beast” is more great than ever?? Don’t you too? đ
The Beast? Oh, the beast… Well! In the trailer we get to see a PICTURE of him as a boy with HIS PARENTS!!!!!! Will the movie show us a bit of HOW did the boy get turned into a horrible beast by the Fairy????? I mean… not a bit… A LOT, PLEASE!!!! The beast, aka prince Adam, will be played by actor Dan Stevens, known among others for his role in BBC’s Downton Abbey. He is veeerrrry handsome and also verrry talented!!!!! Great choice for the legendary role of the beast, who must pass through a whole range of emotions and feelings before finding his humanity and love inside him again!
But we DO hear… hehe! Lumiere and Cogsworth, voiced by… Ohohohoh!!!! … Yes! Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellen!!!!!!!!!!! OHMYGOD RIGHT??????????????? I swear, when I first read about the casting I was a bit undecided about Ewan McGregor, I don’t know why… but then, when today I heard THAT VOICE. OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It threw away ALL of my doubts!!! Amazing voice, amazing actor!!!! So sweet and funny and cheeky at the same time!!!!! Perfect, perfect!!! And, well… need I say more? … Ian McKellen? Did you hear THAT voice in the teaser???? I… I… I already want it on dvd to buy. Right now!!!! A year???? Are you insane?????
And now. Gaston. Gaston. Dear, crazy, extra macho, vulgar, annoying, inopportune Gaston will be played by… LUKE EVANS!!!!!!!!!! Aahahahaha, nooooooo!!! I can’t believe it!!! I wanna see him!!! What? Who? … HOW??? Luke Evans???? He is one of my most beloved actors and I’ve always seen him as the good guy. And now: Gaston!!!! Oh GGGOD!!!! I cannot wait to see him in this performance and of course he is not in the teaser!!! WHY???? I know why, but…. why???????
In the teaser we are introduced in the beast castle, which, I believe, is very in the style of a sumptuous Phantom of the Opera! Very mysterious, very gloomy, yet gorgeous, rich, decadent, breath taking, golden and covered in winter snow. We get to see briefly the inside of the ballroom with crystal chandeliers and an abandoned piano. Also we can hear in the air Alan Menken’s music with a piano theme of Beauty and the beast lingering in the grand halls and cold rooms. Then we see the entrance of the castle with a broken door… And Belle is… just… almost… entering the do… No! You must wait!!! And in the end, falling across a black background is a single red petal of the Rose and a golden writing appears: “Be our guest” …Oh. Dear. God. If you can go through the teaser without crying… you are a very strong Disney fan!!!
ht: “Oh, total
ave you ever watched this gorgeous, inspiring movie? From Fannie Flagg’s book, “Fried green tomatoes at the Whistel Stop Cafè“, this movie AND the book are the perfect combination of comedy, drama, family, friendship, history, girl power & food! Poor Evelyn, a WONDERFUL Kathy Bates, is struggling with middle age crisis and finds a new friend and new hope in Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy), a cute little old lady who lives in a retirement home. And she has a LOT to tell: incredible stories from her youth at the Whistle Stop Cafè, during the Twenties. In particulare the movie will take us to know better the other two main characters of the story, Idgie and Ruth (Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary-Louise Parker), two strong, independent, brilliant girls who open the Cafè and develop a powerful, beautiful friendship and love. And of course we get to see the funny and yet moving and life changing days in this small yet so important restaurant.
The story is set in Alabama, so the food is strichtly typical and we are introduced to a wide range of delightful dishes and meals, cooked à la Whistle Stop Cafè, in a very comforting, real life, no-bullshit kinda way. The book recites:
ved a place too!!! (I don’t do drugs, embrace it, so I will switch to… Top movies list to see when you’ve eaten a 14 courses meal, preferably in the evening, ok??) That being said… uhm, I WILL do a post about that! Austenland. AUSTENLAND!!!
problem. When I feel like reading Jane Austen, weel, I must admit that I possess a big, huge collection of all the novels and it is quite difficult to read it easily, such as… in bed at night… So a few weeks ago I started – as I always, sistematically do – to look in bookstores for adorable, vintage looking, real looking, authentic, regency style editions of the books, but separated, one version of Pride & Prejudice, one of Emma, etcetera.. But, sad to say, they do not really make vintage-like editions of Jane Austen anymore, do they? I can’t have a Sense and Sensibility book with the picture of two girls smoking and chewing gum and apparently sisters, on the cover. I can’t. I would rather keep my old old complete collection. So today I had an idea. I had a bunch of old fashioned beautiful papers from Bassano’s Stamperia Tassotti, an historical paper shop in Italy that creates wonderful decorative stationery items. So, I decided to wrap the book! And it turned out, verrry gorgeous! I used a lemon themed paper, so cute and poetical, I really love it… I still will be looking, all my life I suppose, for beautiful Jane Austen novels’ editions, but now I love my old collection even 
more! Just for the fun of it, take a look at these beauties… Touching these books, buying them, having them as quiet companions in your beloved, shiny bookshelves… Oh, I do love these books, I wish I could be under a tree in the spring afternoon, reading… Just reading… Oh, look, it has started to rain and a mysterious man on a white horse is approaching! … đ
can trust and keep as a good friend? … Ihih, read the book! đ Or watch the movie!
Headey… and mannnny others! Please, do period movies, preferably love period movies, please, pleeeease!!! đ ) Yes, Carey Mulligan is a wonderful miss Thorpe, so sassy, so seductive, so girlish, and so well opposing to the pure and naive Catherine, who in the beginning totally believes in the good nature of her new friend. Even in the book the two families will be referred to as the good ones and the bad ones, very appropriate of a child-like girl who just entered society and must choose between good and bad…
While reading the book I was struck by how much I felt like Catherine was constantly in dangerous situations. In Bath, left to the care of idiotic mrs Allen, who couldn’t care less, Catherine is always put in uneasy and weird moments by the Thorpe brothers. She reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, like she cannot really take control of her life and is dragged around by evil minds and events. In the movie I didn0t feel all of this very strongly, but in the book it was very vivid to me. I believe it was all intentionally created by Jane Austen. I mean, the girl 
in distress of the gothic novels is truly Catherine, though she is just on vacation in Bath, she really is put in danger by those who she considers friends but really aren’t.
Hi everyone! How are you? Everything fine today? Good! Today I was thinking about a soundtrack, a very special soundtrack so dear to me… The movie is Robert Redford’s “The horse whisperer” and the soundtrack is by composer Thomas Newman.
But as I was saying, today I will be concentrating on the score, composed by mister Newman. Let’s start from the beginning, that’s to say: the story, the movie’s plot. Little Grace (Scarlett Johansson) loves of a deep love her horse Pilgrim, they have a strong friendship bond that trascends human-animal rules. She lives with her mum, Annie, a workaholic New York editor (Kristen Scott Thomas), and her dad (Sam Neill). 
The two parents are going through a difficult time and clearly aren’t so much in love now as they were in the past, and Grace can feel this and suffers for it. The story has a dramatic twist: one morning, Grace and her best friend get their horses and go for a ride, laughing in the
life suddenly changed and hopeless. And here you get into the movie. Her mum won’t accept this. And moved by a stubborn, blind determination throws herself in researches about horses healing and horses doctors and cures. It is at this point that she makes a discovery: in the state of Montana lives a man who earned the name of Horse whisperer, being able to communicate with horses at a deep level that humans can’t even understand. So she resolves to take her beloved daughter and the horse from New York to Montana to see if something, anything can be done, for both of them. The journey begins, in every sense. Of course Grace feels a lot of mixed feelings towards her mother, accusing her of being a control freak and of pretending too much from her. But at the same time you can feel her struggle to have a normal relationship with her mum, based on love. At the same time, Annie is torn between her obvious great love for Grace and her frustration in seeing how her daughter fights her and won’t accept a way towards her own happiness. But life has something very special in store for them. As they finally arrive in the grand Montana, 
they get to the Booker family farm. Here lives Tom Booker, (Robert Redford), the famous “horse whisperer”, who accepts, after some indecisions, to take the case. And Grace and Annie unpack their luggage at the farm little cabin, nearby, so that they can be close to Tom, to make the work easy. And the work begins. Every day, day by day, during a glorious spring and summer, Tom gets to know Pilgrim and earns his trust, taking it back to life. And also, the good, healthy, sunny days of work in the fields and with the animals bring new found peace and happiness to Grace, who blooms under everyone eyes, becoming more and more confident and serene every day. But Annie finds herself too, because she finds a soul mate in Tom, although in the beginning they seem like water and oil and cannot get along. He is too relaxed, confident, and she is just too much constantly 
nervous, pacing around, thinking about work work work. But the farm life, the slow cycle of seasons, the nature that works its powers… They all finally have a therapeutic effect on every character in the story. Pilgrim comes back to life, trusting Grace again and loving her as before, Grace understands herself and finally gets to know and love her mum. And Annie finds herself under the spell of a wonderful, intoxicating romance with Tom. What will be of them? …Eheh, watch the movie, you’ll fall in love forever with it!!!
Montana. It has in it the magic of the animal world, shaken to its core by the accident and on a deeper level by the ever-so difficult hystorical relationship between horses and humans. Then there are moments of pain and reflection when you face Grace’s inner thoughts and sorrows. And then there are the liberating moments of healing, of riding free in the meadows, of watching a sunset colouring the sky… And with those moments, well… This soundtrack will make you cry and be happy to be alive at
secret garden”!!! Have you ever seen it? Of course you have, it is a childhood classic, a 1993 movie and … Well, let’s take it from the beginning.
outside. She begins to explore the world, the gardens, the meadows. And she will discover, thanks to a lovely little robin, a secret garden. This will be her salvation. Because working on the garden, trying to make it bloom and blossom again and get to life again will bring life, health and a new found happiness and meaning in life to the girl, who will become friend to Colin, her cousin, and save him too from all his hillness and miseries. In the end… well, please, do read the book! đ You will absolutely lov
e it!!! Oh, and buy it in a wonderful, old, illustrated edition, because this will make a real treasure and you will love it even more if the book itself will be beautiful too as the story it keeps inside! I have this edition and I consider it one of my most precious ones!!! 
And now… the movie. The movie is simply brilliant, beginning with the music, a hypnotic, sweet, rich, by composer Zbigniew Preisner. It seems to be imbued with the fragrances of India, it has a flavor, it perfumes of sandal and desert sands and hot indian sun. You can feel it. The music in this movie is like the smoke of a piece of incense… It carries you along with it, through spirals and waves, leading you through the story… taking us to Misselthwaite. Here the music becomes a little beacon of light in the moore, it becomes spring rain, cold wind, cool water, it is made of grass and roots. And then, when the garden blooms, the soundtrack, the music… It caresses you and becomes flowers, petals of roses, soft, warm lilies, rays of soothing sun, it is the summer and the tranquility… And hope, and life… And delicious, amiable happiness…!!
I love the cast, it is simply superb: Mary Lennox is right on spot, played by cocky little Kate Maberly. You are delighted and amused to see the changes in her, the hair growing thick and healthy, the cheeks becoming rosy and soft, the smile 
finding its way through her beautiful face. I love all her clothes too! đ So cute and british! Then you have mrs Medlock, the governess of the house, so severe in the beginning, but you cannot help but love her, cause she’s played by Maggie Smith, so, you know… You will hopelessly love her in the end! Little master Colin, the hypochondriac cousin, played by Heydon Prowse, is a one of a kind kid, simply marvellous performance, every time I watch the movie I am amazed by the little boy! Every single actor perfectly embodies the character he’s been c
hosen for and the book comes to life before your eyes in the exact way you imagined it while reading. And I love when this happens. I just love the movies to be “just as the book” đ Oh, and then you’ll see little Dickon, Mary’s servant’s brother. An elf-like boy who loves animals, plants
fresh new air and get a sight of everything blossoming in the meadowes. I really do understand why it could be so therapeutic and good for little Mary to get out. Into the pure nature. Discovering, studying, observing nature, relaxing in it, with it. Feeling its strenght. Its beauty…Â 
surrounding us. I love how they change for the best, getting strong, eating in a healthy way, with great good appetite, having picnics in the garden… oh, so lovely! I love how the writer made us see how simple things like cultivating a little piece of earth can make us grow, in every sense, and be happy and content, with little actions and little things and moments, which in fact, in the end define us.
I hope you will watch the movie and enjoy it as musch as I did and also read the book, sooo worthy!!! Oh, and since I felt so Secret Garden-y, I asked my mum (who paints with watercolours) if she could paint something flowery and fresh to start this new year for my cinema site. So the title at the very top of the site is hers, so nice, right? Thank you maman, lovely flowers! Mary and Colin would have loved them!!!
Hi everyone! Today is looking very autumn-like weather in town and though I am at work, I 
ust seen this movie, a few days ago, and for the very first time ever! Very nice indeed! Clever, smart, fresh, bubbling with jokes and sparkling with a wonderfully comic couple. Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal are just perfectly matched in this one, you just can’t help it but to watch the idiotic things they do and say to sabotage their own lives and happiness and you just smile and shake your head with fondness! You simply have to love them and forgive everything they do, ’cause they are just so clumsy and confused.
f I have to stay curled up in bed or on the sofa, while eating and drinking and have to choose a fall-feeling movie, well, now… oh!!! “Sex & the City”!!!!!! But not the movie, the tv series!!!! Hell yes!! Perfect! Uuh, so many seasons to chose from, so many feelings and emotions to watch and feel… I’m gonna go with the last season and with the very last episodes and fly to Paris with Carrie, why not? Don’t you want to be with her on those lonely days in Paris, during the autumn? Don’t you wanna be her friend? Have a hot chocolate together in a Parisian cafè? Eating macarons? And go to that 
t my clayfigurines inspired by “The wind in the willows”, you’ll know where this is heading… yes, new clay figurines – sculpting, uuuh !!!!!!! But this time inspired by the great, magical, wonderful 80’s movie “Labyrinth” !!!!!! And that’s to say… GOBLINS FIGURINES!!!!!
my last trip to Austria, which you know is the paradise of papery and DIY lovely stuff and shops, I bought a ton of clay packets and in a hidden box behind the clay I found thousands of these gorgeous vials of glitter!!! For all the fans out there you know what glitter triggers inside us: Labyrinth, Jareth, goblins and magic a gogo! So I told myself, “This time, goblins!”.
two years ago, “The goblins of Labyrinth”, a great collection and catalogation of the Labyrinth goblins, by Brian Froud, the painter, and Terry Jones, the man behind the Labyrinth moviescreenplay. It is such a rich and interesting book, funny also, and it was just what I needed to find all sorts of goblins to sculpt and paint.
ed upon this weird, amazing place one year ago and… Well, I do love books, but I do not know German… ehm… so well… ehm, at all, so I just went into the shop to take a look at the book covers. And then, wait, everywhere there were… mmm… cats things, cat… stuff… Like post its, signs, bookmarks, pictures, little black adhesive cat paws prints on the floor and… feeling a bit like some kind ofCoraline I followed the feline steps and … well, there they were, comfortably sitting among the books, two black cats!
cat stickers and silhouettes made of paper! And then a lovely reading room with red 
veil upon them… How can you figure out a black cat? What is he thinking?
ys cuddle him đ
