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 orld War 1
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A Very Long Engagement (2004)
It seems that everything that stars Audrey Tautou has a little whimsical quirkiness to it, even though this is mostly a depressing film. Tautou plays a woman tirelessly searching for her fiance (who pretty much had lost his mind during his service) who disappeared from the trenches of the Somme.
A Little Princess (1995)
A young girl becomes a servant at her boarding school to pay off the school fees when her father goes missing during the war. I know this is a favorite among many, but I just can't stand the whole princess thing and it has the magical minority person thing going on too, which is just so no. I suppose I can't blame the movie because it's probably the book's fault. Story aside, the movie does look pretty.My Boy Jack (2007)
This is a TV movie but I'm just going to pick it as I remembered it was pretty good and it also featured one the earlier Carey Mulligan and, non-Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe performance. The movie follows Rudyard Kipling and his family's search for their son who goes missing. The eventual death wrecks the family especially Kipling because he had used his influence to get his son accepted into military service despite being rejected several times for bad eyesight.
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I didn't think of A Little Princess - love that film. Reminds of the younger days.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the other two by I remember when they both came out/were on TV. AVLE was one I missed because someone told me how it ends and I wasn't the mood for a sad story. But I like the cast so I might go back to this.
AVLG - It is quite a lengthy movie as well and sorry the end got spoiled, but it's not really a movie that relies on a twisty or revelation sort of ending.
DeleteThis week was HARD! lol. I love A Little Princess though, I didn't even think of that one. Should've chose it.
ReplyDeleteIt is isn't it? It just seems I've watched more WW1 mini-series than movies; which I totally can't use.
DeleteI liked this version of A Little Princess but I guess because I grew up watching the Shirley Temple film I'm partial to it. However it didn't occur to me when I was coming up with titles.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen A Very Long Engagement though I've been meaning too. Can't believe it but we have a match on a title I didn't expect to see anywhere! My Boy Jack is a deeply moving look at the waste of war with a quartet of excellent performances.
This theme was tough but a challenge is good. Here's what I came up with:
The Big Parade (1925)-A young gadabout from a wealthy family (John Gilbert) decides to enlist in WWI to experience what he thinks is the romance of war. Soon he is off to France where he befriends two other men and begins a liaison with a young mademoiselle but soon the sheen of new experiences is torn away when they discover the brutality of war first hand. One of the great silents and an essential film.
My Boy Jack (2008)-17 year old Jack Kipling (Daniel Radcliffe), son of the famous poet Rudyard Kipling, wants to join the navy or perhaps the army to fight the Germans but his poor eyesight prevents his entry. Rudyard uses his influence to arrange his commission with the Irish Guards, a move Jack’s mother & sister (Kim Cattrall and Carey Mulligan) bitterly oppose because it could mean his deployment to the front lines. Jack persists and enters training, then on his 18th birthday he receives orders to lead his troops into what becomes the Battle of Loos where he goes missing. Heartbreaking illustration of the waste of war was originally a TV presentation but with that cast and level of production it could easily be a theatrical film.
King and Country (1965)-During WWI an army private (Tom Courtenay) is accused of desertion during battle in Belgium. Captain Hargreaves (Dirk Bogarde) is assigned to defend him at his court-martial and though initially frustrated by the simple minded man over time he learns there is more to the case than he thought. Somber and grim but worth watching.
I didn't think anyone would choose My Boy Jack either with it being a UK TV movie. I didn't imagine it get much views elsewhere.
DeleteI haven't seen any of these, but I think I'd like A Very Long Engagement.
ReplyDeleteI think movie buffs will like how it looks visually. It's very sepia toned and tries to have the look of films of the time.
DeleteI would like to see A Very Long Engagement because it sounds quite good. I have seen both versions of the Little Princess...the one you speak of and the Shirley temple version and it is a sign of the times but the film with Shirley temple actually takes place during the Boer War which makes more sense because of the class distinction. We just watched My Boy Jack the other night again. It is an excellent film with some great acting. The man who plays Rudyard Kipling wanted to do this film since the 1980's (I love watching all the "extras" on DVD)
ReplyDeleteALP - during which war does the book actually take place? Did class play a large part in the 1995 version?
DeleteTis a hard category. Basically all of the WWI films I've seen, I don't remember if I liked them or not. A Very Long Engagement sounds like a good one!
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen any of these. True story, I rented A Very Long Engagement back when I worked at Blockbuster, had the damn movie in my possession for a week and, for whatever reason, never watched it. For that reason alone, I think I will watch it.
ReplyDeleteHad to sit out this week. Too many things happening all at once at my house the last couple days (I almost always do these on Wednesday night). I'll be back strong next week.
Hah...me too! I've rented AVLE a couple of times, and I finally watched it last year or so. The lengthy run time and the generally depressing plot put me off watching it so many times.
DeleteI've only seen A Very Long Engagement here. Picked it myself. Tough one this week. I didn't even think about A Little Princess. I've definitely seen that one. Years ago. After Swiss Army Man, I'm willing to see Daniel Radcliffe in anything. Great picks!
ReplyDeleteIt is tough. There seems plenty of WW1 movies but I just haven't seen a great many myself.
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