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Thursday, June 25, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #50: All in the Family Edition: Sibling Relationships (Biologically Related)



Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.For further details visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is All in the Family Edition: Sibling Relationships (Biologically Related)

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Every last Thursday for the first nine months of 2015 I'm running the All in the Family Edition and this is the sixth theme for the edition. My three of my picks this weeks all come from different genres: Period drama, contemporary drama and horror.

Pride and Prejudice (2005)
I think my favourite adaptation is the 1995 mini-series but this is very good as well. Most would know it because of the Elizabeth and Darcy romance, but at the center of it is the Bennet family where Elizabeth is one of five sisters, all with different personalities. Perhaps if you've never seen this you may think it is one of those slower period dramas; it's not. It is also very funny.

The Savages (2007)
The premise of this movie is something very familiar: you either have been in this position, will soon be or have seen others in it. In the Savages, brother and sister played equally brilliantly by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney have to determine how best to care for their aged father whom they don't even have a good relationship to begin with as I remember, but regardless feel a sense of duty towards.
 
You're Next (2009)
Other than what happen to the neigbours, the movie begins quite brightly. A couple of adult siblings come together for a weekend with their parents at their country home and I thought aww this looks like a sweet family that gets along. Then the snide remarks start to appear; at dinner they have an all out argument and we get the picture of how their relationship really stands. It is the family/sibling relationship that is the foundation of this  very very clever thriller. If you still haven't seen You're Next quick get to it!
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 So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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16 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 25, 2015 at 2:34 AM

    Ah, what range here! Love these picks!

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  2. Brittani BurnhamJune 25, 2015 at 4:20 AM

    Nice picks! I also chose The Savages. I love the variety here, though I never saw You're Next.

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  3. Kevin PowersJune 25, 2015 at 6:00 AM

    The Savages was totally on my mind, but I just can't remember enough of it to justify picking it this week. Great pick! Haven't seen the other two.

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  4. Big Screen Small WordsJune 25, 2015 at 6:04 AM

    Pride and Prejudice was a lovely adaptation of the novel. I haven't seen the other two; The Savages has been on my watch list for quite some time.

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  5. krhhJune 25, 2015 at 7:37 AM

    I never like the 1995 version. Mrs. Bennet is too annoying for me and I like Keira better than Jennifer.

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    1. WandererJuly 2, 2015 at 3:17 AM

      Mrs Bennet is suppose to be very annoying, so is Lydia. The movie may have toned it down. I think the movie has a Hollywood stroke to which is why I like it slightly less than the mini-series.

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  6. DellJune 25, 2015 at 11:56 AM

    I've only seen You're Next and I love it. What a brutal and twisted family, that is!

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    1. WandererJuly 2, 2015 at 3:09 AM

      Oh I know how you like horror movies. guessed you must be the few that have seen it. :)

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  7. joel65913June 25, 2015 at 6:41 PM

    I love this version of Pride & Prejudice, I prefer it to the 95 mini. It does a terrific job of showing the relationship between the sisters, especially Elizabeth and Jane. The Savages is a terrific pick, wonderful acting. I haven't seen You're Next but it sounds interesting.

    This week's theme was a cinch compared to last week for me. I ended up with two extras and could have come up with several more.

    A River Runs Through It (1992)-Set in a wide open Montana near the turn of the last century two brothers, Brad Pitt and Craig Sheffer, bond with each other and their minister father while fly-fishing. The film follows the brothers separate paths and is full of visual splendor. This pushed Brad Pitt over the top into full-fledged stardom.

    An Unremarkable Life (1989)-Two elderly sisters, Frances (Patricia Neal) a friendly and sweet self-described maiden lady school teacher and Evelyn (Shelley Winters) a bitter, prejudiced widow have shared a home for 20 years. Having settled into a rhythm of memories and companionship with Evelyn the dominant, or more accurately domineering, decision maker their life is in a steady pattern until Frances meets kindly Asian mechanic, Max (Mako). They slowly fall in love which sends Evelyn, already resentful of Max’s ethnicity, into a combative tailspin and she sets out to end the relationship regardless of her sister’s happiness. Finally a confrontation between the sisters reveals long suppressed resentments and a degree of understanding.

    This Is My Love (1954)-Linda Darnell's ironically named Vida Dove (peaceful life) is living anything but. Lonely and full of bitterness at having to live with her sister, Faith Domergue and brother-in-law the cruel, wheelchair bound Dan Duryea, Linda's former flame. Shackled to them and tortured by him she is desperate for any way out. Enter handsome Rick Jason and a possible escape until he gets a look at Faith, also seeking an escape from the viperish Dan, pitting sister against sister and setting the stage for unimaginable tragedy. Obscure, well made, tightly paced noir painted in the blackest shades but filmed in lurid Technicolor with a couple of great performances by Linda Darnell and Dan Duryea. Very hard to find but worth the effort.

    Honorable Mentions:
    What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)-Blanche Hudson, once a great film star until she was crippled in a car accident, lives in her decaying Hollywood mansion with her slatternly alcoholic sister, former child star “Baby Jane” Hudson who is now her caregiver. Theirs has always been a tenuous relationship which ruptures when Blanche decides to sell the house and have Jane institutionalized, something that should have happened years prior. Jane finds out her plans and starts a campaign of fear and punishment that escalates to extreme proportions. A huge hit in its day which reinvigorated Bette Davis and Joan Crawford’s careers. A study of siblings broken by ambition and resentment. Both actresses are very good but Davis is quite brilliant.

    In This Our Life (1942)-Bette Davis stars as Stanley Timberlake a selfish impulsive schemer who dumps her fiancée and runs off with her sister Roy’s (Olivia de Havilland) doctor husband. After marrying she emasculates him, eventually driving him to suicide. Returning home she finds her fiancée has now fallen in love with Roy and they plan to wed. Jealous and spiteful Stanley tries to steal him back, in the process becoming involved in a hit and run accident which she attempts to let a protégée of the family take the rap for. As Stanley Bette is at her hellcat best tossing off lines like “What I want I go after-and get!” Olivia as Roy Timberlake is more docile but does proclaim “I’m going to be hard-just as hard as she is!” Good soapy fun.

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    1. WandererJuly 2, 2015 at 3:06 AM

      Another Brad Pitt movie that I thought could fit was Legends of the Fall, but despite seeing both I just can't remember much.

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  8. DanielJune 25, 2015 at 9:06 PM

    LOVE The Savages. Such great performances from Hoffman and especially Linney. I almost picked it, along with Linney's other brother-sister movie, You Can Count On Me with Mark Ruffalo. I've been DYING to see You're Next - heard a lot of good things.

    I swoon for this Pride & Prejudice. Keira. <3

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    1. WandererJuly 2, 2015 at 3:01 AM

      I don't think I've heard of You Can Count On Me, have to keep a look out for it. Yes You're Next is soo good.

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  9. AnonymousJune 26, 2015 at 3:34 AM

    As if you put You're Next, I literally considered it myself. It's the family stuff that sells that makes this movie work.
    I'm a fan of both Pride and Prejudice and The Saves and I even went so far as to pick The Savages myself.

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    1. WandererJuly 2, 2015 at 3:03 AM

      You're Next - Definitely...a reunion gone so terribly wrong.

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  10. MyerlaJune 29, 2015 at 6:36 AM

    Savages has popped up a few times so I'm inclined to see. You're Next I have seen (didn't know it came out that long ago..Thought it was more recent) and it's a great pick. Would have never of thought of it.

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    1. WandererJuly 2, 2015 at 3:05 AM

      You're Next - maybe that is the festival premiere year? It does feel more recent to me too.

      Oh definitely see The Savages. The two leads are great.

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