Thursday, May 3, 2018

Thursday Movie Picks #199: Characters Making a New Start



Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Characters Making a New Start


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Boy A (2007)
Of my three picks, I like this the best. Andrew Garfield plays Jack, newly released from a prison sentence for a violent crime he committed as a child. He is given a new identity in a new town to start his life again but his past soon catches up to him.

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
After her marriage fails, Frances buys a villa in Tuscany to start her new life. It has been a long time since I've seen this, so I don't remember much other than I enjoyed it.

Passengers (2016)
This one has characters trying to make a new start on a distant planet colony but a malfunction of their sleep chambers awaken them 90 years early. I didn't really like this. While it looked cool, I was bored and felt the story was too thin and a little dumb. With so many passengers on board and with help so far away, why would there be no crew and engineers on shift duty? Like sleep 115 years and work 5 years.

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

9 comments:

  1. Boy A is an amazing film. I do like Under the Tuscan Sun as it's a gorgeous film to watch. Passengers was stupid.

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  2. We have a match! Love Under the Tuscan Sun and Diane Lane in it. Passengers was okay no more despite my liking of both leads. It just had too many plot holes to hold together. Haven't seen Boy A.

    Aside from our match I have one choice where the fresh start comes from a move and the other from a reinvention of self.

    My Fair Lady (1964)-Coarse cockney flower vendor Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) goes to Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) and his friend Col. Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White) after a chance meeting to teach her “how to talk genteel like” so she can get a job in a shop. On a bet with Pickering Higgins decides to remake Eliza and pass her off as royalty and she’s off to a fresh start! Harrison is inimitable and Audrey charming but you can’t help but yearn for Julie Andrews, who created the role on stage, and her bell like soprano. Sumptuous musical won Best Picture and is a treat for the eyes and ears.

    Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)-Recently widowed Alice Hyatt (Ellen Burstyn) and her son Tommy leave their New Mexico town so that Alice can try her luck as a singer in California. In Arizona they find themselves short on funds and she takes a job in a small diner until they build up their resources again. But when she meets handsome rancher David (Kris Kristofferson) it looks like she might be making a new start of a different kind. Directed by Martin Scorsese this won Ellen Burstyn a Best Actress Oscar.

    Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)-Freshly divorced and in a purple funk from which she seems unable to extricate herself writer Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) is gifted by her newly pregnant friend Patti (Sandra Oh) with a tour of Italy that Patti can’t take. Passing through Tuscany Frances impulsively buys a somewhat distressed villa and sets about rebuilding her life with the help of the colorful locales and a new romance. Charming and well-acted with breathtaking vistas you’ll want to jump the next flight to Tuscany when it’s over.

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    Replies
    1. I like My Fair Lady and only recently found out that Andrews had played Eliza on stage. But I guess she must have been working on Mary Poppins then?

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    2. Julie Andrews hadn't made any films at the time and Jack Warner wanted box office insurance since he's paid an enormous sum for the rights to the musical and was worried that Rex Harrison's name wouldn't be enough of a draw. So he offered Audrey Hepburn a million dollars to take the role despite the fact that she couldn't sing freeing Julie up for Mary Poppins. Still a pity since if you listen to the Broadway album of the show she does wonders with the songs due to the power of her voice.

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  3. I have only seen Under the Tuscan Sun and found it enchanting and so beautiful. I almost hopped a plane to live I. Tuscany.

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  4. I don't remember much about Under the Tuscan Sun either but I remember enjoying it. I hated Passengers.

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  5. Boy A is an excellent choice. I really liked that movie. I haven't seen Under the Tuscan Sun and I hated Passengers lol

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