Wandering through the Shelves

Thursday, May 25, 2023

Thursday Movie Picks #454: TMP Television Edition - TV Score and/or Theme Song

Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your 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 - TV Score and/or Theme Song

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We did the same TMP two years ago and I thought enough time has passed for you to have seen newer shows with great score or theme song. Here are four of my favourites.

Succession (2018-2023)

I haven't seen the latest season but have always liked the opening theme song...lots of tension and spiralling keys.

WeCrashed (2022)

The opening theme song is catchy and the lyrics fit quite well with the show and I love the opening sequence too with the unicorn walking around the office

Moon Knight (2022)

I love the Moon Knight theme, which gets played at the end credits of the first episode and variations of it is also usually played when the character transforms. While I only enjoyed the first half of the series, the second half is a mess reminding me so much of Legion another series about a Marvel character, the score for this series is great. It sounds truly cinematic...and also the visuals...do watch the end credits sequence because it is stunning and has different tracks playing for each episode.

Slow Horses (2022 - )

I love this series. It's a fun spy drama that has sharp dark humor and when I first heard the theme song sung by Mick Jagger I thought it was soo perfect for the series. It was only later that I found out that it's perfect because it was written specifically by Jagger for the series. Unlike the other series I've picked, I'm not posting the credit scene where the theme song is played, instead I'm attaching the official lyric video Jagger released. Look at the lyrics...it reflects so much of the story and humour of the show.

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Thursday, May 11, 2023

Thursday Movie Picks #453: Period Drama

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 Period Drama

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I’m simply selecting the last three movies I saw the first half of the year.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

I read Macbeth as a teen, not for school but on my own so I wasn’t able to fully understand; Shakespeare’s language is a challenge for me. A few years ago I saw the movie with Fassbender in the title role, I got the gist of it but not all of it and still didn’t quite get why it is such a popular play. I was apprehensive watching this new one but decided to just give it a go and it finally clicked…I finally understand it. I do like the movie as a whole, the story the way it was presented here made someone like me who doesn’t understand Shakespeare’s language understand it easily. The visuals: it was shot in black and white with great use of light and shadows and the set was stunning…I love the minimalism and the whole gothic expressionist architecture…it was, looking at IMDB, all filmed in the studio. Performance was generally so-so for everyone…Denzel was great in some parts and moderate in others. I think both leads are older than the age the characters are suppose to be so that made some of the lines not quite work when uttered by older actors.

The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
The mystery is a bit thin though still a decent enough gothic horror movie. I do highly recommend to watch the movie for the visuals. The wintry landscape was just beautiful and filmed in such an atmospheric, melancholic and eerie manner.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
This brought back McDonagh as writer/director and costars Gleason and Ferrell together again who all worked on In Bruges. I love In Bruges, so I wanted this to be great, unfortunately this was quite disappointing for me, it was just so-so, others though seem to love it as this is a well reviewed movie.

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday, April 27, 2023

Thursday Movie Picks #452: TMP Television Edition - Lukewarm Second Season

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Lukewarm Second Season (Series that had a hot First Season and a not so hot Second Season)

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Heroes (2006)

The first season was outstanding; it was a series which I really looked forward to the next episode. So I was excited about the second season, unfortunately it was such a letdown. I can’t really remember now why, since it’s almost 20 years ago now, but I think the story was just not as interesting and the characters started doing silly things. The same goes for its other subsequent seasons which were all never able to have that same magic from season one.

Felicity (1998)

Felicity didn’t have the kind of stellar season one that Heroes had, but it was a decent show and its first season was I think well liked by its target demographic. Then Felicity, the title character, cut her curly locks and it lost some of its audience. Here’s the thing…I don’t think the quality of the show dipped, not like Heroes, Felicity I thought was a consistent series. The problem was I think not just the haircut, it was Felicity herself. I have not seen the show in two decades, but I vaguely remember Felicity having two quirks. One where she pauses a lot, unable to spit out what she actually wants to say. The second where she sort of rambles a lot when she’s nervous or something…these two things occur frequently and they can make her annoying. However, her big curly hair makes her cute/attractive, so her annoying quirks are somewhat tolerable. But when she cut her hair in season two, it really is one of the worst hairstyles ever, she is no longer as attractive and all that annoying quirks that used to be tolerable is now not. This is a fictional character after all, one that can easily be dropped, …so I can understand why people choose not to watch a show with a very annoying main character anymore.

The Morning Show (2019)

The first two were easy picks but I had a hard time picking a third series. This I think fits well. The first season of The Morning Show had a lot of buzz for multiple reasons. It is one of Apple TV+ first few TV shows released when it was launched. It starred a few big movie stars. It had a Me Too plot involving a news anchor which was something very current at the time with the scandals that some real anchors were embroiled in. Anyway I thought The Morning Show’s season one lived up to the hype, it was an entertaining season. The second season was subsequently released in 2021 which I don’t remember hearing much buzz about that I even forgot there was a second season. Not a fan of the second season, to me it basically just dragged on too much of the same drama from the first season and not really in an interesting way along with some other messy secondary plot dramas. I would say compared with the first season, it had a lot less focus.

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Thursday, April 13, 2023

Thursday Movie Picks #451: Erotic Thrillers

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Erotic Thrillers

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Another quick one. This sub-genre isn’t the greatest but the twists while often silly make it a fun entertaining watch. I am picking movies I recently watched.

Wild Things (1998)

Saw this years ago. Don’t remember anything so rewatched it this year. Everyone in this is so corrupt with everyone conning each other…the movie should be renamed Dirty Things. Anyway I enjoyed the 90’s-ness of this movie; the twists were silly but fun.

The Voyeurs (2021)
A young couple having moved into their new apartment finds that their neighbours in the building opposite them have large curtain-less windows and are shamelessly living out their lives and romantic lives in full view of their neighbours to see. I thought this was interesting. The twist though came as a surprise and which I thought was over the top and a little nutty.

Deep Water (2022)
In order to avoid a divorce, a couple have an agreement that the wife would be able to have affairs with other men. Then the wife’s lovers start to either disappear or turn up dead and the husband becomes the prime suspect. A little on the moody self-serious side but still thought this was pretty entertaining.

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Thursday Movie Picks #450: TMP Television Edition - Companion Reads

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Companion Reads (Pair a book to a TV/mini series that makes a good companion read because they feature similar themes/subject - not necessarily the book it was based on)

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The first two picks were easy finds and what inspired the whole Companion Reads, the last was a little hard to think of.

Lost in Austen (2008) and A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England (2014)

Lost in Austen follows a modern woman, a fan of Jane Austen, who finds a portal to the world of Pride and Prejudice. Switching places with Elizabeth Bennet, she pretends to be Elizabeth’s friend visiting her home. I love this mini series, it is so much fun to see a present day woman trying to live in regency England; I remember there was a scene where she couldn’t identify the instruments to brush her teeth with…it was twigs and some cleaning powder. A perfect companion read is the non-fiction A Visitor's Guide to Jane Austen's England. It is such a fun and insightful read covering how people of the time lived and socialized, how they traveled, the fashion of the time, money matters, what they shopped and do for leisure, marriage and also health. I think this book provides very good context for anyone reading a Jane Austen or regency novel.

A Teacher (2020) and Tampa (2013), My Dark Vanessa (2020)

In limited series A Teacher, a teacher has an inappropriate relationship with her student. I thought this was interesting as it gives the perspective of both teacher and student. Two good companion reads to A Teacher are Tampa and My Dark Vanessa, though I do think there is a difference in that the teacher in A Teacher was unhappy about her life and the relationship she started with her student was part of her imploding her life instead of making certain difficult decisions, while the teachers in the two books are a lot more predatory in that they went into teaching specifically to get access to children. Tampa is quite controversial, it is a first person narrative of a teacher, Celeste, so you are basically in the head of a predator and she is unrepentant in her pursuit and conquest of teenage boys. My Dark Vanessa is from the perspective of a woman, Vanessa, now in her 30s who had a relationship with her teacher when she was 15, one she is adamant was consensual. However, as the Me Too movement gets more press coverage and previous allegations of sexual abuse by other students resurfaced against her teacher along with new allegations, she reluctantly reexamines their relationship…was she too just another victim. Of the two books I definitely recommend My Dark Vanessa, the middle of which is a bit long but the last quarter or so was really good.

Home Before Dark (2020 - 2021) and The Good Girls Guide To Murder (2019)

In Home Before Dark, a young girl, an aspiring journalist, starts her own newspaper and begins to dig into the unsolved case of her father's still missing best friend who had been abducted as a child, where she believes the man imprisoned for his supposed involvement in the crime was wrongly convicted. A good companion read is The Good Girls Guide To Murder, it is quite similar in that they both have precocious girls trying to investigate a crime in which they believe the main suspect was falsely accused and the victims are still missing. In The Good Girls Guide To Murder, five years ago, a teen girl went missing and the prime suspect is her boyfriend who eventually committed suicide after texting a confession of her murder. In the present day, Pip, a girl in her last year of school before university decides to make a podcast for her final year school project focusing on the local murder suicide as she believes the boyfriend was falsely accused and the real killer is still out there living among them.

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday, March 9, 2023

Thursday Movie Picks #449: Companion Reads

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Companion Reads (Pair a book to a movie that makes a good companion read because they feature similar themes/subject - not necessarily the book it was based on)

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This is coming in late. I'm picking some of the movies I’ve enjoyed and paired them with some of books I like that I think make great companion reads.

Strangers on a Train (1951) and The Kind Worth Killing (2015)

Strangers on a Train itself is adapted from a Patricia Highsmith novel, but if you want something contemporary, a little similar but different, try The Kind Worth Killing, which according to its own blurb is a reimagining of Strangers on a Train. The initial premise is certainly very similar, two strangers meet in an airport, one of them expresses a desire to kill their cheating spouse and the other willing to do it. That’s where the similarity ends as The Kind Worth Killing gets a whole lot more twisty, it even kills one of its major character quickly and on the whole is such a wicked fun read. This has a sequel, The Kind Worth Saving, which was released just the past week.

Practical Magic (1998) and Garden Spells (2007)
Practical Magic the movie is a little different being more supernatural and magical as compared to the book which is more of a family drama of a gifted family and Garden Spells is more like the Practical Magic book. But the basic premise is very similar, a family with two sisters with some magical skills, with one sister returning to the family home after a long time away. I really enjoyed Garden Spells so if you’ve enjoyed Practical Magic, movie or book, it’s likely you’ll enjoy it too.

Promising Young Woman (2020) and Sadie (2018)

In Promising Young Woman Cassandra’s best friend died when she was in medical school and for the years after that Cassandra has been out on a reckless and suicidal quest for justice and revenge. In Sadie, Sadie’s sister was recently killed and she herself had recently disappeared out on a desperate, reckless and suicidal quest for justice and revenge. Sadie is a dual narrator novel; the other (the first is Sadie) narrator is a radio host who has been tasked to start a true crime podcast. When Sadie’s disappearance gets his attention, the missing Sadie becomes the focus of the podcast. If you like Promising Young Woman I highly recommend Sadie as it is quite similar in its basic premise and is soo good. However, in all its bleakness Promising Young Woman still had moments where it was darkly funny…Sadie on the other hand is relentlessly bleak and heartbreaking.

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Thursday, February 23, 2023

Thursday Movie Picks #448: Romance Tropes / TMP Television Edition - Friends To Lovers

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Romance Tropes / TMP Television Edition - Friends To Lovers

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Hey it's February and it's time for the Romance Tropes Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the month.

February 2 - Romance Tropes Edition: Travel Romance
February 9 - Romance Tropes Edition: Cinderella Plot (A heroine being swept off her feet by a wealthy guy)
February 16 - Romance Tropes Edition: Forced Proximity (characters are stuck together perhaps sheltering from a storm together, or are on a long haul flight, or stuck in a lift…etc)
February 23 - Romance Tropes / TMP Television Edition: Friends To Lovers

This theme turned out to be quite tricky. I’m picking three British series I like.

Misfits (2009 -2013)
This is a gem. A favourite. The gist: 5 juvenile delinquents (about late teens early 20-ish youths?) are stuck doing community service at their community center when they get hit by lightning during a freak storm and get some special abilities. They all sort of become friends as they each learn how to use their new powers. Two of them eventually become more than friends, but in the new world of special abilities, things get difficult for them.

Fresh Meat (2011 - 2016)

This is a funny comedy about six university students sharing a house, two of them eventually form a romantic relationship, though a difficult on and off type. The series ended in 2016, but I thought it was the kind of series that could have continued on with a fresh batch of students living in the house.

Crashing (2016)
The series follows a group of mostly 20 and 30 somethings who are friends/lovers/rivals living in a disused hospital as property guardians. Two of them are childhood best friends who have recently reconnected and have always been sort of in love with each other but have trouble admitting it, so much so that when one or the other inadvertently admits it, each immediately take it back treating it as a joke. They're a disaster but the series itself is very funny and I was disappointed that it only had the one season.

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