Tag Archives: Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

Posted on October 9, 2025 by Mark DuPré

If you’re a fan of the television series or the two previous films—or both—this wrap-up is like a warm and cozy meal on a cold winter day. As with a handful of films, this one is beyond criticism in some … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Cora Grantham, Crawleys, Downton Abbey, Downton Abbey: The Grande Filnale, Granthams, history, Julian Fellowes, Kay Francis, Maggie Smith, Matthew Goode, movies, Paul Giamatti, reviews | Leave a comment

Twisters

Posted on August 20, 2024 by Mark DuPré

Twisters Bottom line: Twisters is the perfect movie to see in the theater if you want to just kick back and let it take you on its ride, OR it’s the perfect movie to wait to see until it hits … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Anthony Ramos, Anyone But You, Bill Paxton, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Downton Abbey, Glen Powell, Hamilton, Harry Hadden-Paton, Helen Hunt, Hit Man, In the Heights, Lee Isaac Chung, Minari, Twister, Twisters, Under the Banner of Heaven, Where the Crawdads Sing | Leave a comment

Thor: Love and Thunder

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Mark DuPré

Thor: Love and Thunder is a film as disjointed as its name. It’s not so much a film as a patchwork of ideas, tones, and narrative directions that ultimately don’t add up. It also gives us a Thor we don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Black Swan, Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, Downton Abbey, Guardians of the Galaxy, Jackie, Jojo Rabbit, Leon: The Professional, Taika Waititi, Tessa Thompson, Thor: Love and Thunder, Thor: Ragnarok | Leave a comment

The Father

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Mark DuPré

I was wrong. Not having been able to see The Father in the theater until recently, I went with the current wisdom that the award for Best Actor would of course go to Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Anthony Hopkins, Ben Smithard, Benedict Cumberbatch, Downton Abbey, Florian Zeller, Man in the High Castle, Mark Gatiss, Olivia Coleman, Olivia Williams, Rufus Sewell, Sherlock Holmes, The Father, The Favourite, The Sixth Sense, Victoria | Leave a comment

Downton Abbey

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Mark DuPré

Nothing really new here. If you liked/loved the series on TV, you’ll like/love the movie. It’s just a little bigger, a little more grand, a little more lush, and has perhaps one or two too many subplots. To give enough … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Allan Leech, Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, Kevin Doyle, Maggie Smith, Michael Engler, Mr. Moseley, Raquel Cassidy | Leave a comment

Darkest Hour

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Mark DuPré

What I recently wrote about the 1961 film Two Women (https://film-prof.com/2017/12/31/two-women-1960-1961/) could just as easily applied to Darkest Hour—that the main point of interest was the central performance, but that the evolution of the director’s style was also worth noting. Darkest … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Anna Karenina, Atonement, Ben Mendelsohn, Best Actor, Christopher Nolan, Churchill's Secret, Cinderella, Clemmie Churchill, Darkest Hour, Downton Abbey, Dunkirk, Gary Oldman, Joe Wright, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Pip Torrens, Pride and Prejudice, Romola Garai, Samuel West, Stephen Dillane, The Crown, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Two Women, Winston Churchill, World War II | Leave a comment

Two Semi-Classics: Anne of the Thousand Days and Anastasia

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Mark DuPré

Being a history nut as well as a film person, I try to fill in the many gaps in my film experience with classic or semi-classic historical films. I recently had the opportunity to see 1969’s Anne of the Thousand … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Academy Award, Anastasia, Anne of the Thousand Days, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Downton Abbey, Gaslight, Genevieve Bujold, Golden Globe Awards, Helen Haye, Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Maggie Smith, National Board of Review, Richard Burton, Roberto Rossellini, Romanov, Romanovs, Russia, Siam, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Ten Commandments, Vladovostok, Yul Brynner, Yuliy Borisovich Briner | Leave a comment

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Mark DuPré

The Second Exotic Marigold Hotel is the first film I’ve written about where I have to throw my hands up and declare it officially critic-proof. Not that I couldn’t sit back and analyze it from several different perspectives. It doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Downton Abbey, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Richard Gere, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | Leave a comment

The Imitation Game

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Mark DuPré

The Imitation Game is lovely to look at, features two excellent performances and several good ones, and is something of a mess. That’s not all the film’s fault, as Alan Turing’s life doesn’t fall easily into a three-act structure. Turing … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged 12 Years a Slave, A.O. Scott, Alan Turing, Allen Leech, Atonement, August: Osage County, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bleak House, Bletchley Park, Charles Dance, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Hobbit, Joan Clark, Keira Knightley, Lincoln, New York Times, Pride and Prejudice, Selma, Sherlock, Smaug, The Imitation Game | Leave a comment