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 Starring Real Life Couples
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Gattaca (1997)
The Gist: Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman star in a movie about a genetically inferior man assuming the identity of a genetically superior man to fulfill his space travel ambitions. Love this movie. It's a thought-provoking science fiction that visually looks both cold and stylishly beautiful.
Cruel Intentions (1999)
The Gist: Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon star as the doomed lovebirds in a modern retelling of Les Liasons dangereuses set among wealthy teens in NYC. This one is over the top and fun; a little like Gossip Girl but more vicious. When I saw this way way back then, I thought the actors were all playing adult characters because they were playing very adult games and we don't actually get to see them go to school until the end of the movie.
The Woodsman (2004)
The Gist: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick star in a movie about a convicted sex offender who returns to his hometown and tries to start a new life. This movie deals with a hard subject matter which I think probably made it an underwatched movie. It has been a long time since I've seen this, but I thought the movie was well made and handled the challenging theme in a thought provoking manner. Also Kevin Bacon puts in a great performance.
I'm picking movies I like featuring once or current real life couples that play a couple in them.
Gattaca (1997)
The Gist: Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman star in a movie about a genetically inferior man assuming the identity of a genetically superior man to fulfill his space travel ambitions. Love this movie. It's a thought-provoking science fiction that visually looks both cold and stylishly beautiful.
Cruel Intentions (1999)
The Gist: Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon star as the doomed lovebirds in a modern retelling of Les Liasons dangereuses set among wealthy teens in NYC. This one is over the top and fun; a little like Gossip Girl but more vicious. When I saw this way way back then, I thought the actors were all playing adult characters because they were playing very adult games and we don't actually get to see them go to school until the end of the movie.
Jeux d'enfants aka Love Me If You Dare (2003)
The
Gist: Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard star as
childhood friends who continue to play their often reckless and
dangerous game of dares which also cause each to distrust the other's
feelings for them. I love this one when I saw it a long time ago; would
love to see it again. It has a sort of quirky visual style like Amelie
but with a story that is a lot less sweet and with more dark humour.The Woodsman (2004)
The Gist: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick star in a movie about a convicted sex offender who returns to his hometown and tries to start a new life. This movie deals with a hard subject matter which I think probably made it an underwatched movie. It has been a long time since I've seen this, but I thought the movie was well made and handled the challenging theme in a thought provoking manner. Also Kevin Bacon puts in a great performance.
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I haven't seen any of these but I loved Gossip Girl so I'll definitely check out Cruel Intentions.
ReplyDeleteThe only one of these I haven't seen is Love Me If You Dare. It's been years since I've seen Cruel Intentions. I need to rewatch that.
ReplyDeleteKevin Bacon is so creepy in The Woodsman.
I also listed Cruel Intentions for this week's topic! Can't believe I forgot about Gattaca, though. The other two films are new to me but sounds super interesting!
ReplyDeleteI haven’t seen any of these. Gattaca never appealed to me and The Woodsman sounds great nteresting but not sure I want to see it. I wonder if they are recalling the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale
ReplyDeleteCruel Intentions was the movie that all of my friends obsessed over in High School. I don't know why I never watched it, but it's still getting a lot of love years later so I should give it a watch.
ReplyDeleteThe Woodsman is so unsettling. It's very well done, but yeah, tough to watch. Haven't seen your other picks.
ReplyDeleteI've seen and liked the first two but not the latter duo. Cruel Intentions isn't as good as the Glenn Close take on the material but still a decent film.
ReplyDeleteIt turned out there were so many ways to go with this I had to do a theme within the theme, married couples in Shakespeare comedies, just to get it to a managable number.
The Boys from Syracuse (1940)-In the town of Ephesus in ancient Asia Minor two boys from Syracuse, Anthipholus (Allan Jones) and his servant Dromio (Joe Penner), search for their long-lost twins who, for reason of plot confusion, are also named Anthipholus and Dromio. Problems arise when the wife of the Ephesians, Adriana (Irene Hervey) and her servant Luce (Martha Raye), mistake the two strangers for their husbands. Complications and comedy ensue. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. Leads Jones and Hervey were married for over 20 years, their son vocalist Jack Jones is most well-known for singing the theme for The Love Boat.
The Taming of the Shrew (1967)-Wealthy Padua merchant, Baptista (Michael Hordern), has two daughters-the fiery Katherina called Kate (Elizabeth Taylor) and younger sister Bianca (Natasha Pyne). Bianca loves Lucentio (Michael York), and wants to marry but can’t until the thorny Kate does which she shows no inclination to do. On the scene comes the raucous and magnetic Petruchio (Richard Burton) who sees Kate as a challenge and when her father forces them to marry the real combat begins. The infamously battling Burtons are perfectly cast as the warring lead couple.
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)-After a successful campaign against his rebellious brother, Don John (Keanu Reeves), Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) visits the governor of Messina. With him are Benedick (Kenneth Branagh) and Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard). While there, Claudio falls for the governor's daughter, Hero (Kate Beckinsale), while Benedick engages in a war of words with Beatrice (Emma Thompson), the governor's niece. While Don Pedro tries to trick Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love, Don John tries to tear Claudio and Hero apart. Aside from married (at the time) couple Branagh & Thompson and the aforementioned stars the cast also includes Michael Keaton, Imelda Staunton and Emma’s mother Phyllida Law.
The Taming of the Shrew (1929)-Same basic story as the Liz & Dick version above but with substantial cuts (and additional dialogue by Sam Taylor-???? WHY) served as a wrong-headed early sound vehicle for two of the biggest stars of the silent era, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. who had notoriously left they spouses to marry each other (but whose own marriage was foundering by this point) in an echoing of the whole Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie episode of later years. Static and dated with both stars nearing the ends of their careers (Mary made 3 more films, Doug 4 before retirement) Pickford considered it one of her worst performances (she’s right) but Fairbanks, full of brio is suited to Petruchio and emerges okay. Still you’re missing nothing if you give it the skip.