Saturday, November 14, 2015

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel/The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

In 2011, movie-goers were able to travel to India with some British retirees to experience what they believed to be a newly-restored hotel.  Then in 2015, we were allowed to go back to experience the continuing storyline of the retirees long with more of picturesque India.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:

Dev Patel first came into our radar in 2008 blockbuster, Slumdog Millionaire.  Now he portrays Sonny Kapoor, a young man with an entrepreneur spirit to own the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel much to his mother's dismay.  The hotel becomes filled with characters portrayed by the wonderfully talented ensemble of actors: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie and Diana Hardcastle.  They all combine to bring humor, sadness, honesty and realism to a group of individuals thrown into a difficult situation.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:

A sequel to capitalize on the success of the first, this movie succeeds on the talent of the ensemble alone.  Not to say the story is bad but just simple enough as not to get in the way of the characters.  All the cast from the original returns, except Tom Wilkinson, plus the addition of Richard Gere, David Straithairn and Tamsin Greig.

If you link talented acting, beautiful scenery and a reason to with there was a best ensemble category with the Academy awards like there is for the Golden Globes, then by all means watch these movies. I give the original two exotic thumbs up pointing to the pedestal that Judi and Maggi reside on and the sequel one enthusiastic thumb up for the privilege at seeing both of them together again.

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