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 TMP Television Edition - Romance
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I'm picking favourites today.
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
I have to include Pride and Prejudice...it is basically one of the earliest romantic comedies. I love this adaptation, because with it being a miniseries, it has the time to get as much of what's on print on to the screen and also this is just so funny. Especially the mother who tries tirelessly to get her daughters out there and Lydia who is just soo silly.
Jane Eyre (2006)
I seen three TV Jane Eyres and this is still my favourite of the TV adaptations. Ruth Wilson is perfect as Jane. And with this being longer than a movie we get to see more of the flirty side of Rochester.
Gran Hotel (2011 - 2013)
Set in 1905, the series follows a man as he gets a job as a waiter at a grand hotel to investigate the disappearance of his sister who had been a maid. This is a lot of fun to watch. It's like a mash up of Downton Abbey and Gosford Park, with the whole upstairs and downstairs thing, but with more drama, romance and mystery and little comedic elements sprinkled in as well.
Lovesick (2014 - )
I thought I've picked this before but apparently not. Anyway I love lovesick and it turns out to be my only pick with a contemporary setting. It's this sweet funny romantic and also friendship comedy about a guy who is in love with one of his best friends but just doesn't have the guts to tell her because he's afraid it'll ruin their friendship.
I have to include Pride and Prejudice...it is basically one of the earliest romantic comedies. I love this adaptation, because with it being a miniseries, it has the time to get as much of what's on print on to the screen and also this is just so funny. Especially the mother who tries tirelessly to get her daughters out there and Lydia who is just soo silly.
North & South (2004)
I
absolutely love this. If you like Pride and Prejudice, you might want
to check this out as it has the whole love/hate thing. But that's where
the similarities end. This is set against the backdrop of the industrial
revolution where some of the characters are dealing with workplace
safety and labour issues so the tone is much bleaker, so yeah this is not a
romantic comedy, more of a romantic drama. Still despite the general
bleakness, it is a beautiful miniseries; great score, gorgeous scenes of cotton floating in the mill and the chemistry between the leads is
just electric.Jane Eyre (2006)
I seen three TV Jane Eyres and this is still my favourite of the TV adaptations. Ruth Wilson is perfect as Jane. And with this being longer than a movie we get to see more of the flirty side of Rochester.
Gran Hotel (2011 - 2013)
Set in 1905, the series follows a man as he gets a job as a waiter at a grand hotel to investigate the disappearance of his sister who had been a maid. This is a lot of fun to watch. It's like a mash up of Downton Abbey and Gosford Park, with the whole upstairs and downstairs thing, but with more drama, romance and mystery and little comedic elements sprinkled in as well.
Lovesick (2014 - )
I thought I've picked this before but apparently not. Anyway I love lovesick and it turns out to be my only pick with a contemporary setting. It's this sweet funny romantic and also friendship comedy about a guy who is in love with one of his best friends but just doesn't have the guts to tell her because he's afraid it'll ruin their friendship.
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I'm 3 for 5 with these.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite by quite a bit is North & South. It was nice to see Richard Armitage as a good guy, though he still had that brooding thing going on, since he's often the villain. The story also quite a bit of heft to it and since I wasn't familiar with the source material there was more surprise to it than many of the classics.
This is a very fine production of Pride & Prejudice and Colin Firth a terrific Darcy but even if it's not as detailed my favorite version remains the Keira Knightley/Matthew McFayden one.
I'm not the biggest fan of Jane Eyre in any of its iterations but as these go this one is well done.
The other two sound good, especially Gran Hotel. I'll have to keep an eye out for them.
I went with romantic comedies from different decades.
The Nanny (1993-1999)-Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) is working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens when her boyfriend kicks her out in one of those crushing scenes. What is she to do, where is she to go? She’s out on her fanny. So it’s over the bridge to the Sheffield's door, she was there to sell make-up but the father saw more….she had style, she had flair, she was there! That's how she became the Nanny. And for the next five years Fran and her widowed commitmentphobe boss Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy) flirt, fight and fall in love while she raises his three children and causes dozens of calamities assisted her dizzy friend Val (Rachel Chagall), brassy mother Sylvia (Renee Taylor), forgetful Grandma Yetta (Ann Morgan Gilbert) as well as Niles, the butler (Daniel Davis) and Max’s brittle, cynical partner C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane) who share a love/hate relationship while she too pines for Maxwell.
Pushing Daisies (2007)-Pie maker Ned (Lee Pace) has the ability to bring dead things back to life with his touch. He yearns for his childhood crush Chuck (Anna Friel) who he has brought back from the dead but at a cost. They cannot touch or Chuck will perish. While they try and find a solution they work with private investigator Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) and co-worker Olive Snook (a scene stealing Kristin Chenoweth) with Ned using his abilities to solve murder cases. Quirky, unique series was cancelled far too soon.
Love, American Style (1969-1974)-Comic anthology series that each week presented a series of vignettes featuring the various trials and tribulations of falling in love, marriage, falling back in love etc. With a constantly changing cast the show provided an early start for many future stars including Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Bernadette Peters, Burt Reynolds, Martin Sheen and many others.
North & South was in the mid 2000s so it was the first time I saw Armitage in anything and yes he was soo broody in this. I have see other Gaskell adaptations, but this is definitely like you said has heavier themes unlike the others which were more romantic and domestic dramas sort of thing.
DeleteI like the Pride & Prejudice 2005 movie, it's very pretty adaptation but I found it went soo overly cheesy near in the end with how Elizabeth and Darcy met in the mist and then before the credits when they were like massaging each others feet.
I haven't seen any of these but Lovesick is on my watchlist.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen any of these, which is common for me this week lol.
ReplyDeleteThe first one cemented Colin Firth in hubba hubba Star and he is a great actor to boot. I still have to see North and South nor have I seen the other 2 either but they sound good.
ReplyDeleteNorth & South is a must watch for anyone that like period dramas or classic adaptations. It is soo good and I feel most people overlook it since its not an Austen, Bronte or Dickens adaptation.
DeleteI haven't seen any of these and this just proves that I'm bad with anything related to historic genres, period dramas for instance are my biggest enemy. I do love the movie of Pride & Prejudice but I just can't seem to bring myself to watch the show. BUT it's so nice to see them being mentioned here!
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad, the Pride and Prejudice TV miniseries is good and funny.
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