Move over, Downton Abbey: Parade’s End is moving in Stellar writing and cast make British period piece a winner By Bill Brownstein, Montreal Gazette February 20, 2013 (CALGARY HERALD)

MONTREAL - Great news for those going through the initial stages of Downton Abbey withdrawal: another sterling British period piece is set to make its North American debut.

The five-part miniseries Parade’s End begins Tuesday on HBO Canada. But unlike Downton Abbey, viewers won’t have to wait endless weeks for it to wrap. This Parade comes to an end on Feb. 28; the entire series airs over three nights.

Saving the best for last: Not to detract from Downton Abbey, but Parade’s End packs even more of a punch. Yet it, too, has epic sweep, replete with lavish costumes, tony castles and manicured gardens.

Not that time-honoured servitude doesn’t come into the fray, but Parade’s End is much more upstairs than downstairs-oriented. There is also more passion and more mirth at play here than in Downton Abbey. The tension builds dramatically in this bittersweet tale of love and valour. And the “whiff of sex permeates like a vapour,” as one character so accurately assesses.

Not to detract from the work of Maggie Smith et al at the Abbey, but Parade’s End stars Benedict Cumberbatch (yes, the same guy somewhat slumming in the Sherlock TV series), Rebecca Hall, Adelaide Clemens, Rupert Everett, Stephen Graham, Janet McTeer, Miranda Richardson and many more give the equivalent of a master class in acting. Even the late Sir Larry Olivier would be dazzled.

And not to detract from Downton Abbey creator/writer Julian Fellowes, but it’s hard to top scripts penned by playwright Tom Stoppard, who has adapted this series from the acclaimed four novels of Ford Madox Ford. The dialogue, be it tongue-in-cheek droll or deliciously treacherous, is brilliant. To wit: “He’s not dead. He’s in Glasgow.” Or, “He’s a great lump of wood … (I want) to kill him to see if he has any blood in him.”



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Benedict Cumberbatch: Parade’s End – Episode 3 Review September 8, 2012 8:46 am Oscar Harding (WHATCULTURE)

If you haven’t been watching Parade’s End, the five-part adaptation of Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy of novels starring Benedict Cumberbatch, then I seriously suggest you do. As it stands at the start of the episode, the somewhat conservative and brilliant Christopher Tietjens (Cumberbatch), has resigned from the imperial office of statistics, and away from both his bitterly frustrated wife Sylvia (Rebecca Hall) and his potential saviour-cum-hopelessly smitten suffragette Valentine (Adelaide Clemens). So far, so Downton. But this episode was a reward for patiently enjoying the foundations set in the first two episodes- whilst we see less of the levity of Tietjens’ friend MacMaster (Stephen Graham) and his affair with Edith Duchemin (Anne-Marie Duff), we instead shift focus to three different themes- 1. What Titetjens really means to the women who love him, 2. The Tietjens dynasty and Christopher’s place in it, and 3. The effects of the war on society

First off, we discover that in actual fact Sylvia does love Christopher. Rebecca Hall is given more of an opportunity to show she is completely frustrated with Christopher, desperate for him to be more human, and more flawed. He is on a pedestal she wants to knock down, because she wants to love this man, but knows her wish will never come true. Her character became someone I really empathised with, rather than just an acid-tongued delight and the token villain. Clemens’ Valentine became less simpering and showed a little more depth- her sheer disappointment when her brother (Freddie Fox, playing the one character in the mini-series I have no time for) shows up and she can’t be Christopher’s mistress for the night makes her more than just a token suffragette. I am beginning to warm to her a lot more, and as Rupert Everett says as Christopher’s brother, “You’re good for him”, and she is. As both women develop, so does Christopher- he is not uptight, merely trapped. He does not know what to do as everyone of worth in London discredits him, spreading rumours, which are the catalyst for Sylvia realising how much she cares for him. Christopher is forgetting things, and he looks set to rebuild himself as a more modern man, and realising what is in front of him- a real chance for happiness, and a chance to rebuild his marriage. What happens next will be very interesting.

READ MORE: http://whatculture.com/tv/tv-review-parades-end-episode-3-review.php

New 'Parades End' Teaser Photograph (SCOOP IT)

Benedict Cumberbatch as 'Christopher Tietjens', Rebecca Hall [left] as his wife, 'Sylvia', and Adelaide Clemens completes the love triangle as 'Valentine Wannop' [right].

Christopher is supposed to be a fat, unusual-looking sort of a man but, despite the fat-suit and cheek bumpers, he still looks rather attractive; sorry, Mr Cumberbatch.



http://www.scoop.it/t/benedict-cumberbatch

First Look: Luke Evans creeps up in first still image from horror “No One Lives”

Up and Comers

By Linda Ge | Tags: adelaide clemens, images, laura ramsay, luke evans, movie stills, no one lives, ryuhei kitamura

British up and coming actor Luke Evans goes for a midnight swim and maybe a murder or two in our first look at “No One Lives”, sort of a “The Strangers” / “Straw Dogs” / “Last House on the Left” hybrid wherein a gang of ruthless killers take a wealthy roadtripping couple hostage in the middle of nowhere to torture , only to have the tables turned on them.
“No One Lives” is director Ryuhei Kitamura’s follow-up to cult horror classic “Midnight Meat Train” and Evans co-stars with fellow up and comers Adelaide Clemens, Laura Ramsay, Beau Knapp and Derek Magyar. There’s no word on who Evans plays, but considering his character’s name is Driver, we can presume he’s the vengeance-seeking male half of the kidnapped duo.
Shock ‘Til You Drop has the first ever image from the indie horror – seen below – that will be released sometime in 2012.