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 Oscar Winners Edition: Best Picture
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Hi and welcome to the 8th run of TMP. Today is also the start of Oscar Winners Edition with Best Picture being first up. Shouldn't be too difficult with 90+ winners to choose from. I'm picking some of my favourites.
Rebecca (1940)
We've had a similar TMP theme way back in 2015. I picked Rebecca then and I'm picking it once again because I love this movie. Joan Fontaine is the star here. She is so perfect as the Second Mrs. de Winter. Her portrayal had the right mix of youth,
innocence and naivety.
A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Henry the VIII's rule from the point he tried to divorce Katherine of Aragon to his death was a tumultuous one and makes great drama for the screen. A Man of All Seasons is I think one of the best movies that depicts a short span of that period and focuses on Thomas More who tried to defend himself against charges of treason. The movie is based on a play so is very dialogue heavy which I like and had good performances by the cast.American Beauty (1999)
This is such a great movie and was my first introduction to dark comedy back in 1999. It's funny, it's sad...it is just soo good.
The Departed (2006)
Mob movies tend to bore me but the whole undercover cop vs mole in the
police premise was interesting and made the movie thrilling with all the
twist and turns. I also thought it had great pacing.
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Rebecca isn't in my top tier of favorite Hitchcock's but it is a good movie. Fontaine and Olivier are good but Judith Anderson owns that movie as Mrs. Danvers.
ReplyDeleteA Man for All Seasons is a measured watch that takes patience to stay with but is loaded front to back with great acting and a fascinating tragic story.
I appreciated rather than liked American Beauty when I saw it in the theatre but never had any desire to revisit it.
I'm in the minority but I hated The Departed. I was surprised myself since I usually enjoy cop films and had loved Scorsese's previous film The Aviator but I barely made it through this one.
LOVE the theme and the whole series of going through the various categories. I've used so many of the BP winners that I love before so this time I chose the ones that I think are the three worst winners.
The Broadway Melody (1929)-It only took two years for the Academy to award the wrong film. Glue-footed musical that came out shortly after sound changed the industry won more out of the novelty of songs being able to be heard on screen than any kind of worth the picture possesses….which ain’t much!
Cimarron (1931)-Stiff as a board adaptation of Edna Ferber’s classic novel of the settling of the Oklahoma Territory. Leaden direction, dull performances (incredibly Richard Dix won Best Actor) and a sluggish pace aren’t compensated by one great land rush sequence. The first Western to win Best Picture (in a year where The Public Enemy, Little Caesar and City Lights weren’t even nominated!) soured the pot and it took another 60 years until Dances with Wolves captured another.
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)-The title says just about all about this insufferable, tedious, tiresome and endlessly bloated adaptation of a Jules Verne adventure dealing with a balloon trip circumnavigating the globe. Stuffed with cameos of stars of the day in either passing bits or meaningless parts it made a mint on release but this is the worst film to ever win Best Picture.
Have not seen any of your picks nor do I have any desire to watch them.
DeleteExcellent theme this week and I personally found it very difficult to choose!
ReplyDeleteUnlike Jack above I really enjoyed The Departed; must watch it again soon. I've seen American Beauty before but don't remember much apart from *that* iconic scene on the ceiling.
I love the Rebecca story so will try and catch the 1940 version.
I think I'd like to see The Departed again too. I've forgotten a lot of it.
DeleteI love the Rebecca story as well and I hope you watch this 1940s Rebecca before seeing the newer one on Netflix which was just an ok movie.
Yay, we match with Rebecca! It's one of my Hitchcock favorites! :-D
ReplyDeleteMine as well.
DeleteI've seen all except for A Man for All Seasons, wow what a cast on that one. I ended up going w/ 3 different film genres from 3 different decades. Soooo many to choose from!
ReplyDeleteIf you like period dramas and the Tudor period...then A Man for All Seasons is a must watch.
DeleteNice picks! I love Rebecca, and almost refuse to hate-watch the remake that just came out on Netflix. And, The Departed was excellently edited and well-paced. Leo should've been nominated that year.
ReplyDeleteThe new Netflix version is just ok. I wished they went with actors with a bigger age gap or at least did something like had Hammer get a beard or something to age him, because that was an important aspect of the story, that the protagonist was a lot younger than Maxim and Rebecca; her youth made her feel unsophisticated in comparison.
DeleteI rewatched American Beauty last year and it was so disturbing and disgusting because of Spacey I barely got through it. I wasn't a huge fan of the film before and I sure don't like it more now.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen your first two picks but I love your last two. Easily two of my all time favorites.
ReplyDeleteRebecca is a really good film and I wanted to live in that home. American Beauty is a good film and I can separate myself from Spacey the actor and Spacey the real predator. It is very funny in spots. I forgot that your last 2 picks were Best Picture Winners. I really do like A Man For All Seasons which is so well acted. The Departed is so well done and a film you can't take your eyes away or you will miss something.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen American Beauty as whole for quite some time but I think I can separate Spacey from the movie. I just think the movie is the work of so many people, he is just but one actor in a cast and crew of hundreds.
DeleteYAYYY We're baaaackk agaaain! So glad to be joining and starting off the year well I see! I've seen just the bottom two but I liked both, love The Departed even though I haven't seen it in years. :D
ReplyDelete