JANE AUSTEN LIVE!
The great Jane Austen movie gold rush of the 90's has just received a new injection with the release of the splendid Love And Friendship (2016). It is a  clever and very funny adaptation of the little-known Austen novel Lady Susan. Look for Kate Beckinsale to be in the running for an Oscar next year. She is the title character, Susan Vernon, and though impoverished and with a somewhat shaky reputation, she is determined to find a suitable husband for herself and her daughter. Her methods and comments are hilarious.
Mansfield Park (1999) marked the end of what had been a  grand run of Austen films until this year.  Patricia Rozema has injected much modernity into Mansfield Park, but not too much. Fanny (Frances O’Connor) becomes a determined feminist writer and alter ego for Ms. Austen. The film successfully depicts the constriction of a British colonial system dominated by short-sighted masculine power. The playwright Harold Pinter does an excellent turn as the sputtering squire of the manor. The film works well; Ms. Austen can always be counted on for a ripping good story.
Sense and Sensibility (1995)  represents the culmination of a personal mission by Emma Thompson, who wrote the screenplay (Oscar) and produced. She is the Sense part of the pair of impoverished sisters with few prospects. Kate Winslet of Titanic fame is the emotional Sensibility sibling. Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant join a very good cast in one of the best cinematic adaptations of a Jane Austen novel. 
Emma (1996) is a showcase for the talented Gwyneth Paltrow as the Austen character arranging everyone else’s lives while her own drifts toward emptiness. A splendid ensemble cast effortlessly moves this fine adaptation along. The same Austen story works as well in modern California in Clueless (1995). Alicia Silverstone is the Valley Girl arranger and Stacey Dash her sidekick in this clever, successful Austen update. These two films would make a fascinating video double feature!
Pride and Prejudice is the most famous Austen story.  There are excellent 
made-for-TV versions from 1985 and 1995, but the 1940 version with Greer Garson
and Sir Laurence Olivier remains the benchmark. Any of these are well worth your while Sanditon was never completed by Ms. Austen. It was a satire of health care and resorts that she unfortunately knew first hand. There’s enough there for a screenplay, though... 
And now the bad news: Northanger Abbey (1987), the Austen parody of breathless Gothic novels, just doesn’t work very well. The screenplay and direction seem to lose their nerve and settle for OK. Oh, and then there’s Pride And Prejudice And Zombies...oh please...
All of the movies in this column are available on DVD and for streaming except, of course, Love And Friendship  which should be accessible later this year. None are suitable for children under 12 because they won’t like them.