Thursday Movie Picks #257: Undercover

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 Undercover

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I went for undercover cops with my picks today....but if I had gone for a non cop route it would have been Never Been Kiss and The East.

21 Jump Street (2012)

A pair of cops go undercover at a high school to catch a drug supplier. The movie was such a surprise for me. I didn't think I would like it, but I did. I found it really funny. Still haven't seen the sequel and would like to. 

Miss Congeniality (2000)
An FBI Agent goes undercover as a Miss United States beauty pageant contestant to prevent a bombing. I don't like it as much my other two picks, but it was still a fun comedy. It's sequel though was just not as good. 

Face/Off (1997)

An FBI agent undergoes a facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity of a terrorist to uncover the location of the bomb from the terrorist's brother. The whole facial transplant is just so silly, what about his body right? The plot may be ridiculous but it still is a fun action movie.

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Thursday Movie Picks #256: Nannies / Babysitters

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 Nannies / Babysitters

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There are quite a lot of nannies/babysitters movies so I didn't have a hard time finding options. Most fall under either comedy or horror so I'm including picks from both genres.

Mary Poppins (1964)
Childhood favourite. I used to watch this a lot as kid. Love the songs.

Adventures in Babysitting (1987)

Another classic. I like it, but it used to be shown on TV so often I got sick of it.
 
The Babysitter (2017)
A boy secretly stays up past his bedtime to spy on what his babysitter's been up to and discovers her doing some satanic ritual. It's a horror comedy. At time over the top but it was funny, I rather like it.

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Thursday Movie Picks #255: TMP Television Edition - Secret Agents/Spies

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five titles 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 - Secret Agents/Spies

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I just realized there was a similar theme last year. I totally overlooked it. Oh well, I suppose there are tons of TV series about secret agents or spies so there would be plenty to choose from. Here are my picks, the first three I like a lot.

Deutschland 83 (2015) & Deutschland 86 (2018) 

The Gist: The German drama follows an East German border guard who is forcibly recruited to be a spy and infiltrate the West German army. I really enjoyed this series. If you like 80s set cold war dramas then I definitely recommend this, especially the first season, Deutschland 83, which has more of the whole spy stuff.

The Man in the High Castle (2015 - )

The Gist: The series is set in a alternate history world where the Axis powers won World War II; the US has been divided into two with the East under Nazi occupation and the West under the Japanese and there is an illusive Man in the High Castle trading/collecting(?) mysterious films that give glimpses of a different outcome to the war that gives the resistance hope. This is another pick which I've picked earlier this year for Book-to-TV Adaptations. This is such an interesting series and gets better every season. The last time I talked about this series I mentioned the political intrigue and the science fiction elements in it. What I didn't mention is that it also has the secret agent/spy element where a Nazi agent infiltrates the Resistance making it a perfect pick for today's theme.

Patriot (2015 - )

The Gist: A depressed suicidal intelligence officer assumes a non-official cover in order to facilitate the purchase of a foreign election. Neither the title nor the plot particular interested me but because I read some good reviews I gave the series a try and it really surprised me. It is good...like really good. Patriot is a dark comedy drama thriller. The main character constantly finds himself moving from one bad situation to another, often due to the bad intelligence he's received, where nothing goes as planned, forcing him to fix one problem that only causes other unexpected problems that further need fixing. All of it is taking its toll and he is spiraling into depression. I know all of that sounds very dark and disturbing which it often is but the series also manages to be funny. I would actually describe Patriot as a little like In Bruges but with a secret agent instead of a hitman and with hints of Wes Anderson due to the oddness and quirkiness of many of its characters.

Traitors (2019 - )
The Gist: A British civil servant agrees to spy on her own government for the Americans in the aftermath of WWII. This was my latest watch. Of my picks today, I liked this the least but it was still a decent series. The story was interesting though I found it quite slow. Things only really start to move along half way through.

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Thursday Movie Picks #254: Movies Adapted from Movies of a Different Language

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 Adapted from Movies of a Different Language

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This is one of those repeated themes; the last time was in 2016. It's been 3 years since, so I thought I was going to have some options, but I really have watched very few remakes since then and had to pick an older watch with my last pick.

Le jeu (2018)
Remake of the Italian film Perfetti Sconosciuti. Three couples and their friend meet for dinner. Bored they decide to play a game where they share texts, emails and calls that pop up on their cell phones that ends disastrously. I really enjoyed this. It starts of light and fun. While it does get serious when secrets start to spill and their friendships and relationships get tested it still maintains some of its humor and never got overly dark.

 
A Bigger Splash (2015)
Remake of the French movie La Piscine. A rock star and her boyfriend's vacation in Italy is disrupted by the unexpected visit of an old friend and his daughter. This was an ok movie for me. In the beginning everyone is relatively friendly but there is clearly some issues between all of them and it slowly comes out and I did not expect the turn that it took.

The Invisible (2007)

Remake of the Swedish film Den Osynlige. A teenager becomes invisible after an attack . I saw this ages ago and the only reason it got pick today is because I just found out it was a remake. Truthfully I can't really remember much of it now other than I found it very disappointing and boring then. I wonder how I'd find it now.

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Thursday Movie Picks #253: Letters

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 Letters

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I love receiving actual physical letters (bills and advertisements excluded of course). I also love nice stationery and that's one of the fun things about snail mail is that the writer's personality come through not only in the content of the letter but in the handwriting and the choice of writing materials. Then of course if the writer is from oceans away, it's nice to see the colourful pretty postage stamps, proof as how far and how long this physical thing has come to reach you. Anyway here are my picks of movies where letters play an important role.

84 Charing Cross Road (1987)
Based on a true story, its follows a New York City writer who begins a business correspondence with a second-hand bookstore in London for the purpose of purchasing books which eventually develops into real friendship between her and the staff of the store. While the movie is charming, it lacks an actual story I think. Not really a three act structure kind of thing. It's basically just these letters between the writer and the bookstore staff for nearly 20 years in which they tell each other what happens in their lives.

 
Dear Frankie (2004)
After responding to her son's letters pretending to be his father, a single mom hires a stranger to pose as him when meeting her son. I have not seen this in a long time. I don't really remember much of it now other than I really liked it when I saw it and would very much like to rewatch it some time.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)

A teen girl's secret love letters (ones that were never meant to be sent) get mysteriously mailed out to her crushes. I've picked this before for the Romantic Comedies theme. I enjoyed the movie a lot; it is cute, funny and the leads have great chemistry. I like the books and was so pleased that the movie ended up quite loyal to the source as well and that the sequel is in the works.

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Thursday Movie Picks #252: Movies You Have a Different Opinion After Rewatch

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 You Have a Different Opinion After Rewatch

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Today's theme is one by thevoid99. I don't often watch movies that I don't like again. The exception is when they are either classics or have an overwhelming number of great reviews, plus maybe I wasn't in the right mood then or just too young to understand so in those rare cases I give the movie a second chance several years later. Some of them I did end up liking or even love upon rewatch. While I think I'm forgetting some titles, here are the three that came immediately to mind.

West Side Story (1961)
I tried watching this about ten years ago, only a few minutes of it because I pretty much immediately disliked it. I think the movie opened with some gangster characters dancing and I was like seriously...gangsters twirling and dancing on pointe? To be fair, I'm not a big fan of musicals. A few years later, I don't know why but I popped the DVD and tried again and it turned out not to be soo bad, I can even say I like it. I like quite a number of the songs and while the whole gangsters ballet dancing thing is a bit weird, I can appreciate that all the dancing in the movie is well done and choreographed. The movie also seem very self aware of the world it lives in which is evident in the lines the characters say, there were moments that were absolute gems I thought and some of the issues that the movie touches on is still prevalent making the movie still feel very current.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
I think I tried watching this like 10 years ago, for only a few minutes and gave up. I had not understood what it was trying to say nor why people say it is funny. Tried again in 2017 and well I get it now.

Gosford Park (2001)

I first saw it it on DVD like 16 years ago and I did not get it at all. In fact I found it so boring and dull. A few years later I decided to give the movie a second try and I totally loved it. This is like if those old timey Agatha Christie type of murder mystery/detective story and the best Downton Abbey episode had a baby. I mean seriously, just imagine a more polished Downton Abbey with a much tighter story...that is Gosford Park. It such a well crafted film; sharp and funny and well acted by the fabulous cast. Of the three this is the one I like best and is one of my favorite movies.

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Thursday Movie Picks #251: True Crime

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 True Crime

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I do not watch a lot of true crime so my options were limited.

Heavenly Creatures (1994)
 Two teen girls form an intense obsessive friendship and when one of their parents tries to separate them, they seek revenge. I don't remember much of the movie anymore, just that both leads, Winslet and Lynskey, were very good in it.

 
The Highwaymen (2019)
A pair of ex-Texas Rangers come out of retirement to catch Bonnie and Clyde. This was a very recent watch. It was an ok movie, not very memorable but it does have an interesting take of the Bonnie Clyde story choosing instead to tell the story from the perspective of the guys who are trying to catch them. The audience actually hardly get to see Bonnie and Clyde at all on screen.

Kidnapping Freddy Heineken (2015)

The movie follows the planning, execution and aftermath of the kidnapping of the Heineken beer tycoon. Once again, this is a sort of average unmemorable heist film. Still this was interesting in that I had not heard about the case before.

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