 |
| Tour Schedule |
Thanks for inviting me to talk about my ten favorite movies. I found it difficult to choose just ten. Here are the ones that came to mind today. Most of them are cheerful comedies. Perfect for a cold, wintry February!
Top Ten Favorite Movies
1. Singing in the Rain
A joyful musical about the switch from silent movies to talkies, starring Gene Kelly, Deborah Reynolds and Donald O’Connor. I love Donald O’Connor walking up a wall as part of a dance routine.
2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
This innovative mix of live action and cartoons is a fun take on film noir that can be enjoyed by adults as well as children. Roger’s an annoying but loveable character.
3. The Incredibles
A feature-length cartoon about a family of superheroes who are called out of retirement to help save the world. It’s a charming story with lots of wisecracks.
4. Brazil
An extraordinarily imaginative dystopian film by Terry Gilliam. The hero is an ordinary man in a miserable job who finds himself the enemy of the state. It’s a bleakly comic satire.
5. Strictly Ballroom
Baz Luhrmann tells the story of a young couple—a successful dancer and a newcomer—who upset the world of ballroom dancing in Australia when they try to win a competition, only to find that history is repeating itself. A really lovely romantic comedy.
6. Muriel’s Wedding
The story of the friendship between two young women in Australia, this is an uplifting comedy about small-town dreams and friendship.
7. Sweet Charity
Shirley MacLaine stars in this musical about a girl who dreams of meeting a decent man and settling down. There are some great dance numbers and I love the character of Charity, a warm-hearted girl who never does anything quite right.
8. Kung Fu Hustle
This is a gloriously funny live action film that plays out like a comic book. A gang is menacing a small town in China. Some elderly martial arts heroes come out of retirement to help the hero, an apparently ineffectual dreamer, to defeat the villains. A lot of fun. Watch the Cantonese version with subtitles rather than the dubbed version.
9. Some Like it Hot
A comedy starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, this regularly screwball comedy tops the lists of favourite films in America and the UK. It’s charming and funny.
10. Bringing Up Baby
Another screwball comedy, this time starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. An awkward paleontologist teams up with a clever socalite to recapture a pet leopard when it goes on the loose. Daft fun with loveable characters.
Top Ten Favorite Movies
1. Singing in the Rain
A joyful musical about the switch from silent movies to talkies, starring Gene Kelly, Deborah Reynolds and Donald O’Connor. I love Donald O’Connor walking up a wall as part of a dance routine.
2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
This innovative mix of live action and cartoons is a fun take on film noir that can be enjoyed by adults as well as children. Roger’s an annoying but loveable character.
3. The Incredibles
A feature-length cartoon about a family of superheroes who are called out of retirement to help save the world. It’s a charming story with lots of wisecracks.
4. Brazil
An extraordinarily imaginative dystopian film by Terry Gilliam. The hero is an ordinary man in a miserable job who finds himself the enemy of the state. It’s a bleakly comic satire.
5. Strictly Ballroom
Baz Luhrmann tells the story of a young couple—a successful dancer and a newcomer—who upset the world of ballroom dancing in Australia when they try to win a competition, only to find that history is repeating itself. A really lovely romantic comedy.
6. Muriel’s Wedding
The story of the friendship between two young women in Australia, this is an uplifting comedy about small-town dreams and friendship.
7. Sweet Charity
Shirley MacLaine stars in this musical about a girl who dreams of meeting a decent man and settling down. There are some great dance numbers and I love the character of Charity, a warm-hearted girl who never does anything quite right.
8. Kung Fu Hustle
This is a gloriously funny live action film that plays out like a comic book. A gang is menacing a small town in China. Some elderly martial arts heroes come out of retirement to help the hero, an apparently ineffectual dreamer, to defeat the villains. A lot of fun. Watch the Cantonese version with subtitles rather than the dubbed version.
9. Some Like it Hot
A comedy starring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, this regularly screwball comedy tops the lists of favourite films in America and the UK. It’s charming and funny.
10. Bringing Up Baby
Another screwball comedy, this time starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. An awkward paleontologist teams up with a clever socalite to recapture a pet leopard when it goes on the loose. Daft fun with loveable characters.
Three Sisters and Showstoppers by Helen SmithThree Sisters and Showstoppers are two novella-length stories in the Emily Castles mystery series. The first full-length novel, Invitation to Die, will be published by Thomas & Mercer in October 2013.
The Emily Castles mystery series is set in present-day London. It features twenty-six-year-old Londoner Emily Castles and her neighbor, eccentric philosophy professor Dr. Muriel Crowther. In Three Sisters, Emily goes to a party in a big house at the end of her street. She's sure she witnesses a murder, but no one will believe her. She teams up with Dr. Muriel to investigate.
In Showstoppers, Emily helps out at a local stage school run by her neighbor, Victoria. Soon she's mixed up in a blackmail plot and two deaths. Emily and Dr. Muriel team up to prevent further a massacre live on stage during the end of term show.
Fast-paced, funny, and mysterious... Helen Smith is a master story-teller.
~Socrates Book Reviews
It grips you from the very beginning.
~Babs Books Bistro
Bright, colorful and full of surprises.
~Amazon Vine Reviewer
Fast-paced and unusual, I highly recommend this one.
~Eva’s Sanctuary
Praise for Helen Smith
Smith is gin-and-tonic funny.
~The Booklist
Purchase
Helen Smith is a novelist and playwright who lives in London. She's the author of bestselling cult novels Alison Wonderland, Being Light and The Miracle Inspector as well as the Emily Castles Mystery Series.
10 winners will each receive a Kindle Ebook copy of Showstoppers & Three Sisiters
Ends 2/28/13
a Rafflecopter giveaway
0 comments:
Post a Comment