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 Hostage
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Phone Booth (2002)
I've only just seen it this year. I don't know why it has taken me so long to check it out. Anyway, it's quite a good tense thriller about a man held hostage in a public phone booth and forced to come clean about his lies.
Money Monster (2016)
The movie moved from being a hostage situation to the characters doing some investigative journalism on a time crunch and I thought they were just trying to do too much; I really began to lose interest by then. Overall it was just an ok movie for me and there are certainly better movies that tackle the big bad financial world.
I'm going with three movies that immediately came to mind.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
I was reminded of this when I saw Mindhunters as the characters in the series were watching the movie. I like the movie and have picked it before way back in 2015 for a Bank Robberies theme.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
I was reminded of this when I saw Mindhunters as the characters in the series were watching the movie. I like the movie and have picked it before way back in 2015 for a Bank Robberies theme.
Phone Booth (2002)
I've only just seen it this year. I don't know why it has taken me so long to check it out. Anyway, it's quite a good tense thriller about a man held hostage in a public phone booth and forced to come clean about his lies.
Money Monster (2016)
The movie moved from being a hostage situation to the characters doing some investigative journalism on a time crunch and I thought they were just trying to do too much; I really began to lose interest by then. Overall it was just an ok movie for me and there are certainly better movies that tackle the big bad financial world.
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The only one I've seen here is Phone Booth which I agree is a lot better than I expected it to be. Dog Day Afternoon is definitely one I want to check out. I have it saved as a future Blind Spot for me.
ReplyDeleteDog Day Afternoon - definitely, it's a classic.
DeleteDog Day Afternoon is such an intense dazzling piece of filmmaking with just top notch work by everyone no one moreso than Pacino however.
ReplyDeleteI think Phone Booth was unfairly judged when it was out as a gimmick and the critics didn't seem to be able to see pass that to the tense thriller within.
I agree about Money Monster. It started well and then petered out.
As soon as I saw the theme I knew I had to include my first pick then the other two are ones that kept me rapt from beginning to end.
Hostages (1943)-A large group of Czechoslovakians are held hostages by the Gestapo until the supposed killer of a Nazi officer-actually a suicide-is turned in. Among the group is the leader of the resistance movement (William Bendix), working undercover as an apparently ignorant washroom attendant in the nightclub where the victim was last seen alive. Meanwhile a group of resistance fighters, led by Maria (Katina Paxinou), try to contact Bendix to establish the time to blow up a German ammunition supply and devise a plan to rescue the prisoners. This was double Oscar winner Luise Rainer’s last film for 54 years.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)-Four men Misters Blue, Green, Grey and Brown board a New York subway train and take the 18 passengers hostage demanding one million dollars in an hour’s time or they will start killing the hostages, one a minute until their demands are met. Under the direction of laconic but sharp transit cop Zach Garber (Walter Matthau) the city tries to meet the deadline and negotiate the lives of the hostages. Slam bang adventure with a cast full of familiar faces really captures the pulsing feel of New York City in the 70’s.
Argo (2012)-1979 Tehran, militants storm the U.S. embassy taking 66 American hostages. During the siege six manage to slip away and find refuge with the Canadian ambassador. Knowing that it's just a matter of time before the refugees are found and likely executed, the U.S. government calls on extractor Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) to rescue them. Mendez's plan is to pose as a Hollywood producer scouting locations in Iran and train the refugees to act as his "film" crew. Affleck does well in blending all the intricacies of the plot into a cohesive taut whole.
I've only seen The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, but it was the remake which I didn't like much.
DeletePhone Booth is such a great yet underrated movie! Man, I really need to revisit it soon! :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen Phone Booth so Colin Farrell's terrified expression is the only thing I remember about it. I did enjoy it though.
ReplyDeleteDog Day Afternoon is such a great pick as well as one of the greatest films ever made.
I am late here to comment-I have seen Dog Day but many years ago but I thought it was great. I haven't seen the other but i have been meaning to watch Phone Booth
ReplyDeleteHaha, no problem, I am always commenting late.
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