Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain

On November 6, 2025November 6, 2025 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized19 Comments

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and as we move closer to Halloween, spookier) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!!

This week’s movie is The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain. A very long title for a cute little movie.

This was such a sweet little movie about one of my favorite things, a quirky little small town that is full of community. Rotten Tomatoes describes it as “With an ample serving of Huge Grant’s trademark charm, a quirky Welsh town comes together to put their town on the map in this feel-good folksy tale.”

And that is a very simplistic way of looking at this film, since there was a much deeper story under it all, but I will get to that later.

On the surface, this movie is about well, a man (and his boss) who arrive in the small town of Ffynnon Garw, Wales. WWI is still raging, and most of the younger men, sons, brothers, fathers, are off serving in trenches in France. It’s a rough time for people, wartime, full of worry and hardship. But one source of pride the townspeople have is their claim to fame -their mountain.

The rug is pulled out from under them however when two English surveyors (Hugh Grant as Anson and Ian Macniece as Garrad) come to town, and remeasure the mountain – and find out it is a hill. It’s almost like the town visibly deflates. And the Reverend and his nemesis, Morgan the Goat, decide that the English are not going to steal this from them (lots of English vs. Wales banter in this movie). Morale is low, and they need every bit they can to keep a stiff upper lip and all that.

And from there the shenanigans begin. The town works together not only to build up the hill an extra twenty feet to put it over the measurement required to make it a mountain on the map, but to delay the departure of Anson and Garrad. Anson is sheepish, adorable, and affable, while Garrad is a bit of a dandy curmudgeon. His outfits and poses cracked me up. The scene where they were going up the mountain and Garrad was just sprawled out on the ground made me laugh and almost wake my child up. He always looked fabulous though despite his attitude.

The other supporting characters and actors in this were fantastic as well. Colm Meany as Morgan the Goat, was a bit of a slimy character who I didn’t really care for. But Betty played by Tara Fitzgerald was my favorite, besides Hugh Grant, of course. I am sure they are everyone’s favorite characters though. (also adding I love her in I Capture the Castle) She was drawn into the plan to stall the two surveyors by Morgan the Goat, who wanted her to charm and seduce Anson, whose head was turned but he “was a gentleman” which melted Betty’s heart in turn. She made me laugh as well, with some of her comments, like when Anson and Betty were talking about the beauty of some flowers and Anson said they were pretty, and Betty replied with “Not as pretty as me… YOU’RE supposed to say that.” It was just a cute little moment.

There were some serious issues however tackled, regarding the war, especially the PTSD, or shellshocked as they referred to it back then, that the returning men suffered. Johnny Shellshock just about broke my heart, and doubly so knowing that this is such a real thing, then and now.

This whole movie is based on a folktale, and I legit thought it was true because of the ending of the movie, but after reading about it this morning, I learned it is not. Which I am sort of sad that it is not, although I was a little weirded out by one part and was glad that it didn’t really happen.

And now, just some gratuitous images of Hugh Grant because he is adorable.

Overall, this movie is a fun, charming, sweet movie. One for a night when you need a bit of cozy and happy to fill your soul.

You can find Lisa’s post here!

Next week is our last movie this time around, and we are watching The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Comfy Cozy Cinema – Ladies in Lavender

On September 26, 2024September 26, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Comfy Cozy Cinema15 Comments

Hello everyone!! Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and sometimes, chilling) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!! Our link will be live for a whole week after we post about a movie.

This week’s movie is Ladies in Lavender, starring Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Daniel Brühl, and Natascha McElhone.

From Amazon: Aging spinster sisters Ursula (Judi Dench) and Janet (Maggie Smith) discover a young man (Daniel Brühl) near death on the beach by their home in a small Cornish fishing village. Taking him in, they discover that he is Andrea, a violinist from Krakow, Poland, who had been swept off an ocean liner on which he was sailing to a fresh start in America. It is set in the 1930s.

I ended up enjoying this movie, but at first I had my doubts. It begins innocently enough, with Ursula and Janet walking their beach, going to bed that evening, and then a violent storm hitting the coast overnight. In the morning, the sisters spy a man on their beach and find a young man, close to death. They of course call the doctor and bring him into their house to nurse him. He eventually awakens and they learn his name is Andrea, and that he is Polish.

Through trial and error and some beginning German on Janet’s end, they are able to somewhat communicate. Ursula also teaches him some English as well.

Ursula also however begins to develop a crush on the young boy. And yes, it is awkward and uncomfortable for the viewer, and in part this is all due to the masterful acting of Judi Dench. She nails the fawnings of a young girl newly in love, the attitude, the postures, the small gestures and looks, the flouncing and pouting and delight. It was a testimony I felt to her skills as an actress, and Maggie Smith cracked me up as usual, with her expressions and faces regarding her sister’s behavior. She notices and her demeanor alternates between alarmed and concerned and sometimes just plain what the eff, with some amazing side eyed looks.

Eventually they learn that Andrea is a very talented violinist, and as he begins to heal, he begins to explore his new temporary home. He befriends Russian painter Olga, played by Natascha McElhone, and Ursula is a bit jealous, and compares her to a witch in a fairy tale.

Andrea is spreading his wings, and the ladies are feeling a bit jealous, yes Janet too, in her own way. He has come to represent dreams and desires that were lost to them, that they were denied, for love in the case of Ursula, and Janet, who lost her love and her chance at being a mother (this is just my interpretation). They want to hold on to him, to hold onto these dreams, and the small ways that they can live them out. Olga with her free spirit and youth, not to mention the ability to speak easily and fluently with Andrea, make her a threat. All three women know that Andrea is a special however, and do want the best for him.

This movie had a very slow beginning, but as the story picked up and became more complex and less strange, I became invested in these characters of Ursula and Janet. It was a weirdly beautiful story if you stick with it, albeit sad.

The setting is beautiful, a stone home on the coast, surrounded by ocean and garden. It is like a dream itself, a fairy tale home hidden away by the sea. The music itself is gorgeous, fitting to the movie and the characters. There was one shot, so beautiful, of Andrea perched on the rocks at night, playing his violin to the sea and it was a moment, and ugh. I am just such a sucker for cinematography. If I were Keith Brymer Jones I would have cried at just that one shot alone.

If you start this movie, stick with it. It is slow starter, there is not much action, it is a quiet little spark of a movie, but it really is beautiful. It is about love and unfulfilled dreams, aging and youth, and letting go. A bit like holding a butterfly in your hands, that is this movie.

You can find this movie almost on every streaming platform if you are interested in watching.

If you have watched along with us, and want to share your link, please feel free. We would love it!

Up next – Kiki’s Delivery Service! We are about to enter a wave of my picks, starting with Kiki. I always have to make Lisa watch a cartoon it seems.

We are also thinking about having a fun watch party for the last movie, Chocolat. If you think you might be interested in this, let us know!

You can find Lisa’s impressions here!

Comfy Cozy Cinema: Somewhere in Time

On September 19, 2024September 19, 2024 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Comfy Cozy Cinema21 Comments

This week’s movie is Somewhere in Time, another Lisa pick. I was looking forward to it because I am a Michigander, and this movie was set in and filmed at Mackinac Island, somewhere I have been many times. Although, never back in time.

Somewhere in Time stars Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, two of the most beautiful people I have ever seen. Their attractiveness onscreen was almost unreal. Lisa and I were texting each other while watching the movie, and I told her that Jane Seymour actually looked like artwork to me.

According to the manufacturer (this what the Amazon entry states) “Somewhere in Time is the story of a young writer who sacrifices his life in the present to find happiness in the past, where true love awaits him. Young Richard Collier (Christopher Reeve) is approached by an elderly woman who gives him an antique gold watch and who pleads with him to return in time with her. Years later, Richard Collier is overwhelmed by a photograph of a beautiful young woman (Jane Seymour). Another picture of this woman in her later years reveals to him that she is the same woman who had given him the gold watch. Collier then becomes obsessed with returning to 1912 and the beautiful young woman who awaits him there.”

This movie, for all the time travel science fiction of it all, is a romantic love story, filled with gorgeous gowns and the timeless beauty of the Grand Hotel. That porch! The movie made the most of it too, with lots of long shots of it. I have never walked on it, but I know you can pay $10 to do so, if you are not a paying guest at the hotel itself. That seems worth it to me!

Ok back to the movie. I think this is a lovely story, but if you look too closely at it, it might seem weird. On the surface, it could be a story that is about a man who falls in love with a portrait and wills himself almost violently back in time to find the woman in the portrait. The woman herself has a guardian/protector who has known her since she was 16 and thinks that she belongs to him, which might feel a bit icky. So my suggestion is, don’t look to closely at this story. Enjoy it for what it is – a love story between Richard and Elise, one that transcends decades. Connected souls through time. If you read the Stephen King book 11/22/63, it reminded me of the love story in that book. Which honestly makes sense. Somewhere in Time the movie, is based on a book written by Richard Matheson, who is a horror/fantasy/science fiction writer, and Stephen King has mentioned him as a creative influence in the past. You may know Matheson best for the story I am Legend (and yes the story was way better than the movie for that one).

Lisa looked up the book Somewhere in Time, and read that there were some parts left out of the film version, that tied it all together a bit more cohesively. I don’t want to say what though, as that reveals the ending!

My favorite part of the movie is when Richard and Elise are just casually sitting on the floor of her room, all rumpled from *ahem*, eating fried chicken, and laughing together. It just felt so natural, less like acting, and just like two friends/lovers hanging out. And come to find out, Seymour and Reeve fell in love during the making of the movie. Seymour admitted this at the TCM festival in 2022, as reported by EW.

Well, here comes the story that I’m officially telling you now, because Chris and I, when we made the film, we literally fell madly in love..

Sigh. A love story within a love story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie! It was so neat to see places I have been, and Billy and I would exclaim, hey we have seen that, or look! we have been there. The Round Island Lighthouse is a place we have seen, the lawn where Elise and Richard walked, I have seen the Grand Hotel many times. In fact, it is one of the first places on the island that is visible as you approach the island by ferry boat. It is just really a beautiful building. And if you are ever a tourist on Mackinac Island, be prepared – you can buy all sorts of souvenirs that tout this film. I believe there is even a festival or a weekend centered around it every year!

Next up is Ladies in Lavender, starring none other than Maggie Smith and Judi Dench! (I believe Dame Judi Dench graces our movie list three times this year!)

Did you watch along? If you did and want to link a post, you can post below until next Wednesday. You don’t need a blog though, you can also just comment below!

You can find Lisa’s post here!

And here are the rest of our movies and post dates.

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Secret World of Arrietty

On September 14, 2023September 14, 2023 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Comfy Cozy Cinema11 Comments

Hello all! Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I love to buddy watch movies together – even though I am in Michigan and she is in Pennsylvania! We don’t literally watch together in a watch party, although that might be fun one time! We wanted our fall list to feel fall cozy, move into some more chilling movies, than turn cozy again for November. This week we had a double feature week, starting with Fantastic Mr. Fox on Tuesday and today, The Secret World of Arrietty.

Over the past year or so, I became a Ghibli fan. I had been urged for years to watch Studio Ghibli movies by my husband and brother, and eventually I gave in and found that yes, they were right, I love them as they knew that I would. Well, most of them. I like the more fairy tale, whimsical Ghibli rather than some of the more sci-fi type (like Nausicaa). In fact, one of my favorite movies as a child, The Last Unicorn (I still love this movie and the book) was created by the people who later formed Studio Ghibli. So I guess I was always a fan and didn’t know it.

The Secret World of Arrietty is one of my favorites. It is such a gentle movie, with fields of flowers and dreaming, a giant fat cat, a kind boy, a brave girl. This movie is based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton, and is about a family of tiny people who secretly reside in homes. They borrow only what they need, things that would not be noticed or needed, things forgotten, like Arrietty’s straight pin. They keep to themselves and remain hidden, for the rule is, if a borrower is seen, than the family needs to move to keep safe.

Arrietty sort of blows that being hidden and not seen thing out of the water. She is thirteen, adventurous, and wants to see what is out there, and one day on one of her forays, a new boy arrives to the home to live with his aunt and her employee. He has heart issues and is staying with his aunt until his operation, so that he can relax and be safe and rest. Arrietty doesn’t know this, or about his personality, which turns out to be kind – but she does know that there is a good chance that she was seen by him. She doesn’t say anything to her parents, Pod and Homily, and later that night goes on her first borrowing with her father. I love this part. The seriousness that is conveyed through animation is amazing. So much is said in the quiet moments, the heaviness of her father’s walk, the stoic way he handles the whole expedition. Homily, Arrietty’s mother, is a bundle of dramatic nerves and I have to say, I sometimes can relate to her. I would be terrified if my teen was going on a borrowing and we were only like 3 inches tall. Homily however knows that her child has to learn how to take care of herself, as the three of them, as far as they know, are the last of their kind. They don’t know if there are others out there, so one day Arrietty might be all on her own. She sends them off, imploring them to be safe and with a small list – sugar and tissue paper.

It’s on this expedition that things go awry. Arrietty is not only straight up seen by the boy, Shawn, but he speaks to her. He talks about his mother who grew up in that house told him stories of little people who live in the walls, and you get the sense she was a romantic dreamer, even though now it appears she has left those days behind her. Anyway, this is not good. Not good at all. Pod starts making plans to move, and spends the next few days finding safe routes away from the house. On one of these trips he becomes injured and is discovered by another borrower, Spiller. Spiller tells them he can help them leave, he knows more borrowers out there, and can help them escape to a new beginning.

Now that they have definitely been seen, they have to move and it kills me. There house is so charming and beautiful and every time I watch it I think about how cozy it looks. Just filled with color and life and useful items, books and herbs and quilts and it is all just so delightful. Plus Shawn and his aunt are sympathetic to the family, and not out to get them, although we do know that someone else is.

The animation is spectacular. The way that flowers move in the breeze, the homes with ivy crawling up their sides, plants with dew, the attention to detail is amazing and so real – the scenes without dialogue that are just quick views of the landscape or scenery are some of the most powerful (and relaxing) in the movie.

I could just lay in a field of flowers on a lazy day reading with a cat curled up on me too.

This movie is bittersweet, in the sense that new friends Shawn and Arrietty have to say goodbye to each other, and Arrietty and her family have to move. However, the last few lines of the movie make it seem a bit better.

It was the relaxing, cozy movie I needed last night, after a sort of stressful two days around here. I fell asleep dreaming of rooms filled with plants and life and color.

Next up we leave the world of animation and move back into classics, with the African Queen! This movie has been on my watch list for years and years and I am looking forward to finally watching it. When I feel like a Bogart movie, I almost always switch on Key Largo, one of my favorites, rather than trying a new one. So I am looking forward to finally watching it!

You can find Lisa’s post on Arrietty here! I am linking straight to her blog as I know she had some stuff going on and may not get her post up until a bit later.