{"id":24760,"date":"2022-05-19T10:14:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T17:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=24760"},"modified":"2022-05-19T10:14:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T17:14:41","slug":"downton-abbey-a-new-era-is-pleasant-and-genial-but-not-as-memorable-as-earlier-exploits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=24760","title":{"rendered":"DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA is Pleasant and Genial, But Not as Memorable as Earlier Exploits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/24_0007_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15069\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Running Time: 125 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This title from Focus Features will open exclusively at movie theaters on Friday, May 20<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First premiering on televisions back in 2010, the British series <em>Downton Abbey <\/em>quickly became one of the country\u2019s biggest and most successful exports. After six seasons, a movie was released in 2019 and became one of the hits of the year, grossing more than ten times its production budget. Naturally, the massive revenue generated has now resulted in a new follow-up. <em>Downton Abbey: A New Era<\/em> is set at the end of the 1920s and finds the Crawley\/Grantham family and their servants dealing with several new and unexpected concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Downton-Abbey-03-fixed-1024x608.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24762\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the household celebrates the wedding of Tom Branson (Allen\nLeech) to his new bride Lucy (Tuppence Middleton), word comes that family\nmatriarch Violet Grantham (Maggie Smith) has inherited a lavish villa on the\nFrench Riviera. This news comes as quite a shock to son Robert Grantham (Hugh\nBonneville), who can\u2019t understand why she might have been gifted the property.\nRobert, his Cora Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern) and other family members decide\nto visit the villa and clear up these questions. Meanwhile, Lady Mary (Michelle\nDockery) decides to allow a film crew to shoot a silent picture at the Grantham\nhome, hoping the location fee will help pay for some much-needed repairs. The\ndownstairs staff are starstruck by the arrival of famous actors and do their\nbest to care for the unusual personalities staying there.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Compared to the previous feature, which included a visit\nfrom King George V and an assassination attempt, this follow-up is much\nbreezier. Frankly, the dramatic stakes are low this time out and the film\nstruggles to generate tension. Robert and his group visiting the French villa\nreceive a few snippy comments and those at the Grantham estate are forced to\ndeal with complications as the silent film production is reworked into a\n\u201ctalkie\u201d, but the tone is relaxed and the problems established are more benign\nand unsensational than anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Downton-Abbey-02-fixed-1024x623.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24763\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thankfully, the cast are all charming and do manage to make\nsignificantly more of the slight material. In particular, the staff have a few\namusing moments dealing with fragile celebrity egos. There are some funny gags\nas things go wrong during the shoot, including people accidentally interrupting\ntakes. And the unimpressed Violet delivers plenty of disparaging comments about\nthe performers and crew that raise some smiles. Mr. Molesley (Kevin Doyle) also\nhas a bigger role in this film and engages sympathy as he attempts to help the\nproduction get back on its feet. These sequences are entertaining and the movie\ndoes manage to tie up some story threads with supporting characters that are\npleasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Admittedly, later sections try to inject weightier drama as\nserious health issues among specific characters are revealed. It just comes a\nlittle late into the proceedings. These reveals lead to a few emotional\noutbursts from Robert and others, but even these moments feel overplayed given\nwhat has preceded it. Despite these missteps, the movie again manages to find\nits footing during the finale with a more appropriate send-off for a popular\ncharacter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Downton-Abbey-04-fixed-1024x629.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24764\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, the stoic characters in this franchise live by manners and proper decorum. But the filmmakers could have made up for this deficit and introduced more uneasy or suspenseful elements into the proceedings like previous chapters have. The movie is a gorgeous travelog that delivers some chuckles and nicely wraps up some lingering storylines. It\u2019s pleasant, genial and reasonable overall, but <em>Downton Abbey: A New Era<\/em> isn\u2019t as strong or memorable as the Grantham family\u2019s earlier exploits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Running Time: 125 minutes This title from Focus Features will open exclusively at movie theaters on Friday, May 20th. First premiering on televisions back in 2010, the British series Downton Abbey quickly became one of the country\u2019s biggest and most successful exports. After six seasons, a movie was released in 2019 and became one of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[209,3559,6199,6200,6201,6202,6825,7285,9460,12913,13865,15922,23375,23376],"class_list":["post-24760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-209","tag-british","tag-downton-abbey-a-new-era","tag-downton-abbey-a-new-era-film-review","tag-downton-abbey-a-new-era-movie-review","tag-downton-abbey-a-new-era-review","tag-elizabeth-mcgovern","tag-family-drama","tag-hugh-bonneville","tag-maggie-smith","tag-michelle-dockery","tag-period","tag-tv","tag-tv-adaptation"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}