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

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

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 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 Movie Picks #305: Girls' Trip

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 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 Movie Picks #304: Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Envy

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 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 Movie Picks #303: TMP Television Edition - Game Shows

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 - 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 Movie Picks #302: Verbal Altercations

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 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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Thursday Movie Picks #301: Numbers in Title

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 Numbers in Title (Not part of a franchise)

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There are tons of movies with numbers...most of them franchises...which is why I put that little rule for no franchises...still there are plenty left to choose from. Here are some of my recent watches:

Starter for 10 (2006)
A first year university student navigates school, love and participates in a televised university quiz show. I had been wanting to watch this for quite some time because it stars quite a number of actors before they became recognizable names:  James McAvoy, Rebecca Hall, Dominic Cooper, James Corden  and Benedict Cumberbatch. Overall just an ok watch.

The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
An awkward high-schooler's life becomes unbearable when her best friend dates her popular older brother. I love this. I thought it was funny and portrayed awkwardness just really well. Just the main character trying to navigate a party looks painful, not because she does silly stuff, but just because it is clear she doesn't feel comfortable there.

Eighth Grade (2018)

An introverted awkward girl tries to navigate the last days of 8th grade. I like this one too which is another movie about an awkward teen. The main character here is quiet and socially awkward in her real life but she aspires to be the opposite so she pretends to be outgoing and have it together on her Youtube channel...and it's so very clear she's very naive, awkward and faking it so she doesn't get that many views...which just makes the awkwardness more painful to watch because of how real and current it feels since a lot of young people now seem to want to be social media stars even when the don't really have the "IT" factor.

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Thursday Movie Picks #300: Movies about Animals

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 Movies about Animals

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Today's TMP is the 300th one! Can you believe it! We would never reached 300 without all of you that participate every week. And the theme of the day is a suggestion by  Birgit. I was quite apprehensive about this theme at first. I tend to dislike animal movies because a lot of them are super sad. So I've picked ones that are lighter in tone that I love.

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)
I grew up watching this and loved it. It's a cute, funny and heartwarming adventure and it's one of the few live action movies that feature a cat as one of the main characters.

Puss in Boots (2011)
I like animals in general but I'm definitely more of a cat person. And when I saw Puss in Boots I thought, the writers and animators must be cat people or they must have spent hours observing cats before making the movie because they captured them perfectly and made all the little things they do funny.

The Jungle Book (2016)

I think I may have seen the 1967 Jungle Book as a child but I don't remember much of it. I had thought the idea of a live action The Jungle Book was going to be terrible so I was not interested in seeing the movie at all. Then it was added to Netflix and I thought fine I'll watch it and ended up loving it. The Jungle Book world looked magical and the animal characters were really really well done. The music...the music just gave the movie that extra magic...I absolutely love the musical numbers. Definitely stay for the end credits which has this lovely pop-up book thing with the characters moving around and singing to one of the songs.

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Thursday Movie Picks #299: Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Greed

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 Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Greed

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Welcome back to the Seven Deadly Sins edition and today's theme is Greed. There's two options, money or power, I'm going for money and my picks today are two new watches and an old good one.

The Laundromat (2019)
This one is about the Panama Papers and tries to be like the Big Short where characters in the movie explain the financial world to us viewers but is less successful. Even though it attempts to be quirky it still ends up being so very dry. 95 minutes felt soo long.

American Made (2017)
This was quite entertaining. Drama with a little bit of comedy about an ambitious pilot who while on flying missions for the CIA in Central America meets the Medellin Cartel and ends up being a drug trafficker, gun smuggler and money launderer.

A Simple Plan (1998)
I haven't seen this in a long time and I remember it being very good and liking it. It's a dark tale about how a three people found money, decided to keep it and consumed by greed began to do everything they could to keep the money.

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Thursday Movie Picks #298: TMP Television Edition - Docu Series

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 - Docu Series

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There will never be a Documentary Feature TMP  because I rarely watch any, but documentary series, I definitely do watch them, well because I watch more TV than movies. So if it's on TV as I am flipping channels, I might just continue on watching. I prefer history docu series or the theme within a theme I'm going for this week which are docu series that does "making of" or "behind the scenes" look at something.

7 Days Out (2018)

Each episode follows groups of people which may be employees, organisers, participants or competitors and gives a glimpse at the behind the scenes stuff for seven days leading to an event. I absolutely love this series and I hope they do more. The first season covered the Westminster Dog Show, a restaurant reopening, a NASA mission, a Chanel fashion show, the Kentucky Derby and a pro video game tournament. If you've ever played a sport or organise an event that involves a lot of people, where there is a lot of work that goes on for months and days leading up to the actual event, I think you'd relate and enjoy this.

Animals with Cameras (2018)
The series follows camera specialists as they work with scientist to fit cameras to wild animals to give a truly unique animal's perspective of the world around them. We get to see the team go through a lot of trial and error to make a camera just the right size for each respective animal, in the case of a meerkat it was very small, and to find a way to fix it on them in the best way possible. If putting a camera on a land animal is hard, an aquatic animal seems a lot more challenging as in the case of the devil rays, but the footage of a group of devil rays migrating that came out off it was just magical to look at.

The Movies That Made Us (2019)
The thing I miss most about DVDs and Blu-rays are the special features. I love seeing how movies get made. Which is why I love this series and once again I hope they do more of it. The first season looked at Dirty Dancing, Home Alone, Ghostbusters and Die Hard. I thought the series presented the making of these movies in such a fun entertaining way. And I do think it goes beyond the usual info in special features that comes with DVD which usually just have interviews with the director and actors and maybe sometimes the screenwriter, composer or costume designer. This series actually has few actor interviews and instead talked mostly to the behind the scenes people like the producers, the screenwriters, special effects people, casting directors, etc and they talked about studio changes, writer changers, title changes, cast changes, etc the kind of stuff that probably would never have ended up on a DVD special features since DVD special features tend to be more promotional and rosy. Anyway I just found it all fascinating. 

Cheer (2020)

Cheerleading isn't a thing here, so the only cheerleading I've seen are in movies like Bring It On or on teen TV series but those of course are just actors. So when this series came up on Netflix, I thought sure why not. I wanted to see real cheer stunts. It's a pretty good series that gives a look into competitive cheerleading as it follows a college team as they train for a competition. The team isn't really one that does those sideshow cheers at other sports games. Cheerleading is a sport in itself and so this team's stunts are much more acrobatic, death defying and as such amazing to look at when they pull it off perfectly; some of those stunts looked like as if the film reel is playing in reverse even though it's not. Yet you really wonder why anyone would go through months of painful training because it really looks just so painful, even when they do the stunts perfectly and of course worse when the stunt fails. I suppose it can be argued that most sports causes pain and injury, but the difference being that unlike other sports there is no pro teams or leagues in store for the cheerleaders to actually make a living other than being a coach. All the risks and injuries with very little reward...which reminds me of a fictional drama TV series called Dare Me where a doctor is examining a cheerleader that had just sustained an injury after a terrible knock to her face when a stunt went wrong, and he says something like "at least football players have helmets".

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Thursday Movie Picks #297: Bad Boys

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 Bad Boys

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This is a fun topic. At first I thought of going the route of school bad boys, then I thought of a theme within a theme within a theme. I'm going for literary bad boys who are all men in uniform serving in the military.

George Osborne from Vanity Fair (2004)
Snobby narcissistic George marries the naive Amelia. I thought he was perfectly played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers who looked like a total peacock especially with the costumes and the vibrant colors this adaptation had. 

Mr Wickam from Pride & Prejudice (2005)
The charming, ambitious and opportunistic Mr Wickam tries to woo Elizabeth and when he fails at that quickly moves on to the silly youngest Bennet sister, Lydia.

Sergeant Francis Troy Far from the Madding Crowd (2015)

Bathseba attracts three different suitors and yet chooses to marry the handsome but reckless Francis Troy.

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Thursday Movie Picks #296: Spoofs / Satires / Mockumentaries

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 Spoofs / Satires / Mockumentaries

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I'm picking satires, because there are so many good ones. Here are three that immediately came to mind.

Scream 1 - 4 (1996 - 2011)
The first time I saw the first three Scream movies I was a kid and I didn't get the appeal of it nor any of the references. I've rewatched all of them the last few years and I get it now. I know Scream 3 is probably the least liked of all of the Scream movies, but I actually do like it. Bringing the characters to a movie set about them brought the series to a full circle.

Office Space (1999)
I love workplace comedies especially ones with office settings and this I remember as being very good. It has been ages since I've watched it though so time for a rewatch.

Thank You for Smoking (2005)

Like Office Space, I've somehow have not picked this for TMP before. This was so sharp and funny. It follows a tobacco lobbyist as he goes around defending/speaking for cigarettes. I particularly remember that little speech the character gives to his son about proving someone wrong...very good spinning. 

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Thursday Movie Picks #295: Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Gluttony

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 Seven Deadly Sins Edition - Gluttony

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Welcome back to the Seven Deadly Sins edition and today's theme is Gluttony. This is a tough one, because it seems quite similar to Greed. But here is what I understand to be the difference: gluttony refers to over consumption while greed refers to over accumulation. So with that, I could have gone a few different ways...movies about over consumption of food, alcohol, drugs, etc. Instead, I'm going to go the supernatural horror route and here are my picks.

Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Lestat creates the child vampire Claudia and she becomes a talented little vampire luring victims with her little girl charms.

30 Days of Night (2007)
A coven of vampire kills a whole town during their 30 days of night.

Jennifer's Body (2009)
In this horror comedy a cheerleader develops an insatiable appetite for boys.

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Thursday Movie Picks #294: TMP Television Edition - Romance

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.

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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Thursday Movie Picks #293: Love in the Tech Age

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 Love in the Tech Age

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Here are three movies that immediately came to mind.

Her (2013)
A man falls in love with his OS. Wow...it feels soo long ago since I saw this. I remember liking it a lot and would love a rewatch.

Newness (2017)

Two millennials hookup when they swiped right on a dating app and start a relationship but they soon get bored and decide on an open relationship. This is my fourth Doremus movie, and I think this is at the bottom with Equals. The couple in this is bored by monogamy and I'm bored with them. 

Sierra Burgess Is a Loser (2018)

When the most popular girl in school as a prank gives a boy the number of a nerdy girl, Sierra, he starts a text message relationship with her thinking he's chatting with the popular girl. Sierra Burgess is a Loser...I mean really. The movie started sort of cute and silly but the whole mistaken identity went on for too long and gets too weird. Jamey still being interested in Sierra in the end was just so outrageous; the catfishing was bad enough than there was the whole invasion of privacy thing when Sierra got stupidly jealous and malicious and posted someones private messages...how was he able to get past all that?

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Thursday Movie Picks #292: Meet Cute

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 Meet Cute

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With Valentine's Day tomorrow, I thought Meet Cute would be a fun theme. But you know what, it has been pretty hard to remember how characters meet in a movie. I feel like I'm missing some good ones but here are the ones that I do remember (some vaguely) and that I like. And most of the ones I picked the couples don't really get a happily ever after...all they have is a little romance.

Leap Year (2010)
A woman trying to make her way to Dublin to see her boyfriend gets stranded in Dingle due to bad weather and meets a surly local innkeeper. I really enjoyed this. It's the whole personalities clash at first thing and the whole scenic road trip after that...very charming.

Stardust (2007)

A young man finds a woman in a crater and asks her if she has seen the fallen star he's been looking for, not realising she is the star. Oh I love this movie and their first meeting is just funny and charming. 

Once (2007)

A guy busks on the streets at night, playing and singing his own song. A girl approaches and starts questioning him about his song and why he doesn't perform it in the day instead of the popular songs by other artists he usually does. I love how the movie just jumps straight into the first song and their first meeting and she is so direct but in a curious and not in a mean way. Out the three Carney movies, this is still my favourite.

Romeo + Juliet (1996)
While admiring the aquarium that forms part of a wall of the men's bathroom, Romeo sees Juliet on the other side of it. It's this magical beautiful scene with the blues and yellows of the aquarium and the shy flirty looks they give each other. The imagery of their first meeting here is pretty iconic.

A Little Romance (1979)
A girl waits in one of the rooms in Versailles as her mother visits her director friend shooting a film there. A boy on his school trip at the palace sees her and asks for her name and she says "Lauren" to which he replies "Call me Bogie". "Why" Lauren asks and the boy says "Because they belong together". Which I think the girl doesn't really get as she is not a movie fan as he is. This is of course a reference to Bacall and Bogart...anyway...I just thought this is just the cutest movie meet cute ever.

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