Home

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #330: Bookish Movies

 


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.

---

This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Bookish Movies

---

 
When I set this theme Bookish Movies, it is meant to be more than just adaptations (a theme we already have annually) or movies about writers (a theme we had in 2016), though they could very well be that too since those things are not mutually exclusive. I would say the Bookish Movies theme is meant for those movies that are about the love of books and reading or a sort of homage to everything literary. Here are some of my top bookish picks:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
A writer forms a friendship with residents of Guernsey Island who had formed a book club during WWII where reading and talking about books became an escape from the harsh life of living under Nazi occupation. This is one of my most recent watches. A bit of tearjerker but I really enjoyed this charming romantic drama.
 
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The movie follows the lives of the eccentric members of the dysfunctional Tenenbaum family. This is one of my favourite movies and this is possibly not the most obvious choice for bookish movies, but here's why it's my pick. There's just a very storybook-like quality to almost all of Wes Anderson movies and it is especially so with The Royal Tenenbaums, visually and narratively. If you remember, it is told in chapters (each chapter introduced with an image of the first page of the respective book chapter if I recall correctly) and the movie is narrated by an unseen narrator. The movie is also populated by characters many of whom have written books and we get to see those books with their gloriously retro design book covers. And if you've seen the Criterion DVD, the slipcase is designed to look like a book and the DVD cover art inside has a very whimsical picture book sort of illustration. Basically The Royal Tenenbaums from the movie to the packaging of the DVD completely charms my bookish heart.

Dead Poets Society (1989)
A new English teacher teaches his students to appreciate poetry, express themselves and seize the day. Just one of my favourite movies ever. Once again it's about a group of people meeting up to talk about literary stuff.

---

If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

---

Participating Blogs/Bloggers


11 comments:

  1. Hello!! I love this week's topic and we have The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in common, yay!! I love that movie, definitely a charming romantic drama. Great picks of the other two,I saw Dead Poets Society and it was such an amazing film. To this day I'm still quoting 'carpe diem.'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, I love this theme too. Might make this one of those returning themes.

      Delete
  2. The book of Guernsey....is one of my very favorites and while the adaptation isn't all I hoped it would be it was not a bad one. I just wish they had gone with the original plan to star Kate Winslet rather than the bland Lily James.

    I didn't love Royal Tenenbaums but it was an adequate watch.

    Dead Poet's Society looks to be the title of the week. I thought it was a good film but everyone seems to love it much more than I did.

    I'm having computer issues this week so while I have three I'm relying on the Google synopsis for clarity.

    The Book Club (2018)-Four friends' (Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Diane Keaton and Mary Steenburgen) lives are turned upside down when their book club tackles the infamous "50 Shades of Grey." From discovering new romance to rekindling old flames, they inspire each other to make their next chapter the best chapter.

    The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)-Quirky dog-lover Jocelyn and many-time married Bernadette decide to start a book club exclusively dedicated to Jane Austen, primarily to help distract their friend Sylvia from the fact that her husband has just dumped her. Frustrated French teacher Prudie, Sylvia's daughter Allegra and sci-fi fan Grigg join up as well.

    The Pillow Book (1996)-Nagito has a fetish for calligraphy on the human body and meets ideal soul-mate Jerome, an English translator sent to Japan. However, once Nagiko's father's gay publisher rejoins the scene, the story is overtaken by treachery and bloodlust.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Book Club is one I want to watch.

      I saw The Jane Austen Book Club around the time it came out and would love to rewatch it.

      Delete
  3. Dead Poets and The Royal Tenenbaums are two films I need to rewatch. I didn't like them the first time I saw them, but my tastes of changed so much I need to give them another chance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean. There are movies that I rewatch 5 years ...10 years later and they become one of my favourites on second viewing.

      I feel like if you like Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel you might like The Royal Tenenbaums.

      Delete
  4. The first one is a completely new movie to me, I don't think I've heard of it before. The second two I know and have seen but I remember Dead Poets Society a lot better than Tenenbaums. I really need to rewatch Tenenbaums...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society...in some places, Netflix releases it as their Netflix Original I think.

      Delete
  5. That is a great pick, The Royal Tennenbaums, I love that film and find it like a story. I still have to see Dead Poet’s Society.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've loved this week's theme! I haven't seen any of your picks but I've been meaning to see Dead Poets Society for so long now.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I haven't seen your first pick (it's been on my watchlist forever though) but I loved the other two, especially Dead Poets Society.

    ReplyDelete