Wandering through the Shelves

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #315: Secret Doorways / Worlds

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 Secret Doorways / Worlds

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I thought this would be a fun theme full of magic with secret doorways leading to a secret worlds. Here are my three favourites:

Harry Potter (2001-2011)
I enjoy the Harry Potter movies and Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station is the doorway to the secret platform from which Hogwarts students take a train to their school.

Peter Pan (2003)

I suppose "second star to the right" is the doorway here, but it's Peter who serves as a key and guide who teaches the Darling children to fly and brings them to Neverland. I love this movie, it is so magical.

Stardust (2007)

A breach in a wall bordering an English village is the doorway to a magical kingdom of Stormhold where a star has just fallen and four remaining princes have to survive each other for the right to rule the land. I absolutely love this one. It is so charming, full of magic and funny as well.

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Thursday, July 16, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #314: Male Buddy Movies

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Male Buddy Movies

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This is quite an easy week. There's plenty to choose from. Here are 3 of my favourites:

Lethal Weapon (1987), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989) & Lethal Weapon 3 (1992)

I started watching Lethal Weapon some months ago and have seen up to the third one. I really enjoyed them. They're fun action packed movies with two leads that have great chemistry.

21 Jump Street (2012)

They took the basic TV premise and turn it into a comedy which I very much enjoyed. It was really fun that the main characters were ex classmates, now cops, who sort of get to relive high school again when they go in together as undercovers, except now their place in the social hierarchy has flipped.

The Nice Guys (2016)

Most buddy movies are about characters who are friends or work partners, this one is not. They're two private eyes whose cases overlap and so they reluctantly work together which results in good banter between the two of them.

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #313: Globetrotting Movies

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Globetrotting Movies

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There's quite a lot of globetrotting movies, most of them seem to be from the action genre which is what I'll be picking; my most recent globetrotting watches.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

I only started watching MI from Ghost Protocol and I was so confused about Ethan working for the IMF. I was like since when was IMF about espionage. Hilarious right...that I thought the IMF in the MI movies was referring to the real life IMF. It was only after I googled it that I found that MI's IMF stands for the fictitious Impossible Missions Force. Why didn't they just call it MIF the Mission Impossible Force and save us all the confusion? Anyway what I'm trying to say is I really don't care about the plot or what any of the missions are about...the movies are fun because they jet set around the world and have all the great action scenes.

6 Underground (2019)

I like the opening car chase scene, the rest of the movie didn't quite match up to it. Still it is quite a decent action movie. And it was quite impressive that they did all that action pieces and globetrotting considering this is a Netflix film; 6 Underground looked like an action movie bound for the theaters.

Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

It's there in the title, Spider-man and his classmates go on a European trip. I think this is really the first time in any of the Spider-man movies that he's been far from home, all the others they've all just been fully set in New York. Anyway this is a lot of fun and cute.

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Thursday, July 2, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #312: Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Wrath

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Wrath

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This requires quite a bit of thought. I feel like I know a lot more movies that fit this theme than what I can remember. And I'm picking particular scenes in each movies.

Closer (2004)

I've picked this before very recently but this is such a great wrath scene. It's that scene where Clive Owen's character confronts his wife played by Julia Roberts about her infidelity and he relentlessly presses her to divulge the intimate details of her affair.

Wanted (2008)
It's that office scene. You could see the anger building on Wesleys's face; the veins in his forehead starts popping and his face grows redder and puffier as his bullying boss yells at him until he explodes and starts yelling back.

In Bruges (2008)
This is a great dark comedy so this scene is more on the funny side. Ralph Fienne's character just finishes a call, one he is not pleased about, and starts to repeatedly smash the phone on his desk until his wife comes into the office and tell him to stop because "it's an inanimate object".

The Social Network (2010)
It's that scene where Saverin just found out his shares were diluted, he stomps his way to Zuckerberg, rips out the laptop Zuckerberg was using and slams it on the table and tells him to lawyer up.

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #311 TMP Television Edition - Book to TV Adaptations

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Book to TV Adaptations

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This in an easy week, there are so many to choose from. I'm picking my three most recent watches, ones that I have read the books they were adapted from.

Sharp Objects (2018)
This one is a limited series, based on the Gillian Flynn novel of the same name. I like the book and had been looking forward to the adaptation and it did not disappoint. The town was a real character. The heat, the nosy inhabitants, that disturbing play and the secrets it keeps. It is no wonder the main character wanted to escape it. And the children...they really were wild little monsters. I wonder though if most people would overlook that mid credit scene, because it's not something that is often done on a TV series especially one that is a crime drama.

Virgin River (2019 - )
I read the book about a year and half ago because I knew Netflix was adapting it. The contemporary romance genre is usually not my thing (I prefer chick lit which has more humor) and I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise. Anyway the book is part of a multiple book series, of which I've only read the one and the TV series is already getting a second season. The first season is rather faithful to the first book and while I don't love it, it is an okay watch. It is something to put on when I need a family friendly series. If you're a fan of those Lifetime and Hallmark type of romance drama, than this would be right up your alley. Otherwise, it will probably bore you.

Locke & Key (2020 - )
There was an adaptation made in 2011, where a pilot episode was shot, but it was never picked up for a season and I have been waiting for another fully realised adaptation since then. Unfortunately even though overall I did enjoy this new adaptation, it is still a bit of a disappointment. It's been a few years since I've read the graphic novel, so while I think it gets the gist of what happens, I remember the graphic novel to be much more sinister in tone...like things were just scarier and uglier, and this adaptation is just so PG and YA-ish. I really hope the second season put a little more horror into it.

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Thursday, June 18, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #310: Period Dramas

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Period Dramas

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I'm picking recent watches. And it's a theme within a theme, all the posters have the leads in profile shots.

Phantom Thread (2017)

It's an ok drama. Moody but on the dull side. And for a movie about a dressmaker the costumes didn't really stand out that much.

Darkest Hour (2017)
I liked this much more than the Phantom Thread. I like talky movies so this, which is mostly people arguing on whether to negotiate a surrender, was right up my alley. And Oldman put in a good performance. He was also unrecognizable as Churchill, the only way you could tell it was him underneath all the prosthetic and makeup was his eyes. The bit I didn't like was the Underground scene, it was presented in a rather cheesy manner.

The Little Stranger (2018)
This has the lowest IMDB rating out of the three but I enjoyed it the most. It's a slow burning creepy gothic mystery about a country doctor who forges a relationship with a family who owns a crumbling manor where strange things begin to occur.

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Thursday, June 11, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #309: Prequels

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Prequels

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We've done a couple of sequels themes for TMPs before and this is actually the first for prequels. I'm picking the ones I like.

X-Men: First Class (2011)
I love this. Just seeing how the school got started and the beginning of Professor X and Magneto's friendship. I also really like McAvoy and Fassbender in those roles, they have great chemistry.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
I have not seen the original nor the Time Burton remake, they just do not look like something that I would like, but I'm glad I saw this one. This is soo good.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Even though war is in the title of all the Star Wars movies, this is the one that has the look and feel of a war movie. Comes complete with beach landings and battles.

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Thursday, June 4, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #308: Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Sloth

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Sloth

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Today's deadly sin is sloth, so we're looking for movies with lazy slacker type of characters. Here are 4 that I've seen.

The Big Lebowski (1998)
Saw this recently. What does the Dude actually do? Other than drinking, smoking pot, bowl and walking around looking like he just rolled out of bed.

Idle Hands (1999)
This horror comedy immediately came to mind for this theme. Though it is not as if I remember anything about the movie (I saw it a very long time ago) other than the basic premise: slacker teen finds his hand is possessed.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Ed who is essentially freeloading off his best friend, Shaun, spends his days lounging around, drinking and playing video games.

Bad Teacher (2011)
I was trying very hard to think of a movie that featured a female slacker and this is the only one I that I can think of that I've seen. Diaz plays the bad lazy teacher who cares nothing about actual teaching.

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #307: TMP Television Edition - Competitive Reality Shows

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Competitive Reality Shows

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I'm not much for reality shows, but I do watch a couple of the competitive ones. Here are 5 of my favourites.

Survivor (2000 - )

I think I've seen every season except for the first one. The game has really evolved, many new things have been introduced to make the game more challenging. The way the players play the game and the attitude they have, have also evolved greatly. In the first few seasons the contestants are often very bitter when they are voted out and especially if they were blindsided and their bitterness came through during the final tribal council when the jury (the losers) get to question the the remaining survivors about how they played the game. It is the nature of the game that the people who got voted out are the very ones who in the end have to vote who between the remaining survivors should win and be the ultimate "Survivor"...this was a very hard pill for the contestants of the earlier seasons to swallow. However in the more recent seasons, the contestants that make the jury have a more sportsmanship spirit. They seem to have more of the attitude of if they had to be outwitted, outplayed and outlasted, it has to be by someone who is a better player than them...because who wants to lose to a loser right? They are more likely to respect people who have agency and really played the game, in terms of socializing, strategizing or winning the physical challenges, even if that meant they were voted out in the process. The ability to organize successful blindsides just means the remaining survivors are good social players and strategists...and therefore are deserving "Survivors".

The Amazing Race (2001 - )
I love this show, it's basically an around the world treasure hunt. We follow teams as they complete challenges and puzzles and of course drama and bickering often ensues especially when the contestants are exhausted. They've also added a lot of obstacles in the newer seasons to make the race challenging. A great game often gets franchised and have international versions and The Amazing Race too has a couple. I've seen almost all the seasons of the original American version of course. The other ones I've seen are the Asian version and either the Canadian or Australian versions as well.

The Great British Bake Off (2010 - )
I'm not a fan competitive cooking shows...especially ones that have those studio commentary by the contestants as they are shown cooking during a challenge pretending to narrate the event as it happened when they so obviously already know if they won or lost a challenge by the time they record the commentary...these are just so annoying. But I do love The Great British Bake Off...which doesn't have a studio commentary, only a short on interview with the contestants after each challenge, which I suppose is one of the reasons why I like it. The Great British Bake Off is just very charming and the the tone of the competition is very relax. It seems the contestants are just spending a nice afternoon in a tent, in some nice garden, in some quaint country estate having fun baking. When one contestant is having trouble finishing something on time...other contestants who have finished their own baking often come along and ask what they can do to help...like I said super relax. I think it's because most of the contestants are just home bakers who enjoy baking for family and friends. That said the judges are still quite tough with their criticism, they would definitely point what was wrong with what was made but they are just not mean about it. The challenges are also very fun especially the showstopper challenge of the day where the contestants get to flex their creativity in terms of presentation.

Bake Off: The Professionals [previously known as Bake Off: Crème de la Crème] (2016 - )
The contestants are as the title goes, professionals. They are teams of chefs from hotels, restaurants, shops and even the armed forces. And because the contestants are professionals, they are very serious and thus the show has much less banter. It definitely cannot be described as charming like The Great British Bake Off. The judges criticism here are very tough since they are professionals and it often gets very technical which I think is another reason why this is not as popular as The Great British Bake Off. But I still enjoy the show.

The Great British Sewing Bee (2013 - )
This is very much like The Great British Bake Off in terms of it being very charming and contestants who are amateurs, no one here is betting on becoming a professional and talent scouted to work for a fashion atelier at the end of it. The competition is just like a pleasant way to spend an afternoon for the contestants, spending time doing a hobby they all enjoy. The tone is very relax and challenges are fun especially ones like making costumes for children and pets which were adorable.

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Thursday, May 21, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #306: Great Final Films of Actors/Actresses

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Great Final Films of Actors/Actresses

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Today's theme is one by thevoid99. Well this is a tricky theme. It was such a challenge to find any movies, but I did manage to find three. While I do think these are good movies, I don't think it was these actors performance that elevated them; they were good movies because of other actors' performances or it was just a really good screenplay.

Adrienne Shelly - Waitress (2007)
If we're talking about acting performance, it would be Keri Russell's, I thought she was great in this. Shelley did however act in this movie too, her final film which she had also written and directed; and it is a great movie. It manages to be the right balance of quirky, funny, sad and heartwarming.

James Gandolfini - The Drop (2014)
Gandolfini's last feature film. As far as I remember he was good in it. I actually want to rewatch this. I remember thinking it was a really good gritty crime drama. And the dog...it was so cute.

Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
The Hunger Games movies are by far the best YA series adaptations. While I did like this movie I don't feel as invested in it as I was in the book, and this adaptation wasn't the best in the movie franchise either. I much prefer Catching Fire and the first movie, they were I think better movies. Still as I've said this was still good and it was Hoffman's last. I have to say he wasn't really given much to do in this franchise. Still he was decent...he certainly has better performances in his filmography.

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Thursday, May 14, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #305: Girls' Trip

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Girls' Trip

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This theme was inspired by my first pick. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that after it was released there seem to be more movies about women going on trips/vacations together.

Bridesmaids (2011)
This the best out of my picks today. This is a little bit of a cheat because they only sort of went on a trip but like I said this movie inspired this theme. Anyway the women all got on a plane for a Las Vegas bachelorette party, but things went wrong along the way in a funny way and they got kicked off the plane. It's a short bit in the movie but a memorable one.

Wine Country (2019)
I enjoyed this one about a group of middle age friends trying reconnect by going on Napa Valley vacation.

Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
I watched this very recently and yes they went on a trip. The girls most of whom have graduated, miss singing and decided to reunite and join an overseas USO tour. While I enjoyed the singing bits, I do think the movies have deteriorated with each sequel. There's just not much of a story there. And don't you just find the Emily character (played by Hailee Steinfeld) in the sequels redundant? I sort of do...she is even more so in this one.

Rough Night (2017)
A group of friends go to Miami for a bachelorette weekend. This one is a little like a mash up of Bridesmaids with the whole wedding and bachelorette thing going on and Wine Country with the whole old friends trying to reconnect. I would also say it's a little like a female version of The Hangover as well in that it has all that gross humor thing. Overall I would say it was just an ok watch.

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Thursday, May 7, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #304: Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Envy

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Envy

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Welcome back to the Seven Deadly Sins edition. I hope this edition has been fun for all and today we're on the fourth sin which is envy. I'm just going for whatever came immediately to mind.

Cinderella (2015)
Cinderella's stepmother's cruelty is the result mostly of her jealousy; jealous that Cinderella possess beauty and intelligence that her own daughters lack and that she is so beloved and will always come first for her new husband. I really didn't like the costume choices for this movie, it looked cartoony and gaudy. What I did like was character development especially of Cinderella, the prince and her stepmother.

Dorian Gray (2009)

The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favourite books. I've seen this and the 1945 version and I can't say I like either that much. However, if had to choose, I'll pick this 2009 version because I really dislike the Dorian in the 1945 one. So jealousy...Dorian, a handsome young man who becomes jealous of a painting of himself because it, unlike him, will stay young forever and so he makes an extraordinary wish.

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
A man is betrayed by his best friend who is jealous of his good fortunes. It was an ok movie.

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Thursday, April 30, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #303: TMP Television Edition - Game Shows

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Game Shows

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I grew up watching game shows like Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right since they get a lot of airtime on the local channels and they are simple enough for a kid to play along. But the ones I really love now are the quiz show ones, the ones that are challenging and preferably with little pointless chatting...I'm looking at you Who Wants to be a Millionaire...I mean just answer the question already, you either know the answer or don't...don't ponder over it for 5 minutes. Unfortunately the local channels don't really show a lot of these quiz shows because I'm guessing most of them are American and British quiz shows where the questions are very much geared towards their American and British contestants and audiences, so local audiences here don't really have that much fun playing along. Hence most of the great quiz shows can only be seen on cable TV and now Netflix. Here are my favourites:

The Chase (2009 - )

The original British The Chase of course. We used to get UK's ITV channel here but the cable operator have since stop airing the channel which is a pity so I have yet to see the newer seasons. The game is basically contestants competing against a professional quizzer "the chaser" who tries to prevent them from getting the cash prize. Contestants are given answer options so in that regard it is little like Who Wants to be a Millionaire and it is quite chatty too but overall I would say less annoying. The only minus I would say is that sometimes I think the Chaser is not trying hard enough since they have less stakes.

The Weakest Link (2000 - 2017)
The original British The Weakest Link of course. This was shown on one of the BBC channels and unfortunately the show has ended after the host retired. The game has nine contestants taking turns answering questions within a time limit and at the end of each round the contestants vote the weakest contestamt out of the game. I love this quiz show. The questions come at a rapid fire speed with contestants having to answer quickly and correctly because how much the eventual winner gets depend on how many correct answers they all answer without breaking the chain of correct answers in each round. So basically this game show has very little pointless chatting. And it's quite funny too with the sharp snarky remarks the host usually makes at the contestants trying to unnerve them after each round.

Jeopardy! (1984 - )
The original American Jeopardy. While I've known about this game show for a long time since it is often reference in pop culture, I never knew it is a quiz show because I don't think this was ever shown on the local channels at least ever since I started watching game shows and I started young. Perhaps they used to show it in the 80s and maybe it didn't quite catch possibly because local audiences didn't really have that much fun trying to play along and answer questions that are so clearly geared towards American and Canadian contestants/audiences. So anyway I finally got to see it when Netflix started streaming it about two years ago and it was mostly the special tournaments, how I wish they would show whole seasons. This has now become my absolute favourite game show. Like the Weakest Link this too goes through the clues very quickly. I love the wordplay often used in the clues. It is so much fun and challenging. Seriously where else can I use my completely useless general knowledge, only for quiz shows such as this of course...Jeopardy makes me feels smart which is not often. And I'm always astonished when I get the answers correctly and none of the contestants do. They don't have picture clues often but there was once a WWII picture clue where they had to identify a historical figure, it was obviously Patton, I think there was even a tank in it and if I remember correctly none of the contestants buzzed in, no one even tried...I was so surprised. Anyway my favourite categories are literature, world history, TV, movies and general pop culture. Bad categories for me are American geography, American politics and worst is American sports, I know absolutely nothing about American football or baseball.

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Thursday, April 23, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #302: Verbal Altercations

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Verbal Altercations [Suggested by Getter]

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This week's theme is a suggestion by Getter. I love dialogue heavy movies so I greatly enjoy verbal fights. I think you really see the strengths of the script and acting in those scenes. Anyway here are three that I love and I know I'm forgetting other great ones.

Pride & Prejudice (2005)
The praise is mostly to Austen of course because her dialogue is so sharp and the movie does a decent enough job of putting all of that on the screen. The scene takes place after Mr Darcy tries to propose to Elizabeth which he does so horrendously. As he is awkward, too honest and totally unable to flatter, he insults Elizabeth's family and her social standing as he is proposing. Of course she is offended!

Closer (2004)
It was that scene where Clive Owen's character confronts his wife played by Julia Roberts about her infidelity. I found him pretty scary as he relentlessly presses his wife to divulge the details of her affair.

American Beauty (1999)

It's the dinner scene. It is soo good and darkly funny as well.

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