Thursday Movie Picks #201: Twisty Thrillers

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 Twisty Thrillers

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What makes a twisty thriller? I'm going with anything that just makes you think what is going on at every turn.

 

Fight Club (1999)

Well one of the usual suspects is Fight Club of course. Everything is just so odd and manic and it all makes sense at the end.

Shutter Island (2010)

I was reminded of this when I watched Tabula Rasa a few weeks ago. The gist: a federal marshal is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient at an asylum, but things just get weirder and weirder.

Triangle (2009)

This is one of those mindfuck movies like Fight Club. The gist: after a yachting accident, a woman and her group of friends board a cruise ship but she gets the feeling that this has all happened before.

Before I Go to Sleep (2014)
I love the book and wished this was a better movie; it's not bad but it could have been so much better. The gist: Since a terrible accident two decades earlier, a woman wakes up everyday still thinking she is in her late 20s, remembering nothing of the accident and her life after that, her mind resetting and unable to form any new memory after a full night's sleep. Can she trust the husband she wakes up next to, whom she doesn't recognize, or the secret psychiatrist she's been seeing or the secret diary that she's been keeping chronicling all the troubling yesterdays she has no memory of? 

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday Movie Picks #200: Cannes Favourites

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 Cannes Favourites

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Hey! Another milestone! This is the 200 edition of TMP! Today's theme is one by thevoid99. I'm picking from those that have won either the Palme d'Or, Grand Prix or Prix du Jury.

 

The Go-Between (1971)

I've picked this before last year, so I'm copying and pasting the summary: Set in 1900, a boy spends his summer vacation at a school friend's grand home and becomes a go-between carrying messages for his friend's older sister and her secret lover. There was a recent TV movie adaptation and I think I much prefer this 1971 version which doesn't try to over explain things.

Fish Tank (2009)

Rebellious urban girl, Mia, dreams of becoming a dancer, despite the lack of talent, and is encouraged to follow her dreams by her mom's too friendly new boyfriend. I really like this one and Fassbander is very good in it. 

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

The movie follows a week in the life of a folk singer in New York City. Wow, I can't believe I've not picked this before. My only guess is that it's probably not a movie that I love love, but I remember liking it. And there's the music.

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Monthly Book Picks: The Month of April 2018

Hey, if you've ventured past my usual movies post and found this book blog post, welcome. It's a new series that I've started: Monthly Book Picks where I select my favourite reads of the past month. Interesting coincidence: both my April picks' protagonist is named Allison.

“Hunger flickered, always there, but I pushed it down. I was a vampire. Nothing would change that. But I didn't have to be a monster."

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa (2012)
The Gist: In a post apocalyptic dystopian future that takes place years after a terrible virus, the vampires are now living out in the open and ruling the cities (hence the title). A human girl living in the fringe of the city and society gets turned into a vampire. Forced to flee the only home she's ever known and passing herself as human she tags along with a group of humans on a journey to Eden, a place that may have a possible cure for the virus. It's been a few years since I've read anything vampire related and I miss the genre. So I finally picked up this one that has been on my to-be-read list for years. I really enjoyed it. It's a little slow at first but the action scenes in the later parts makes up for all that. Also, great protagonist. Kicks ass and has agency. I would say it is sort of a mix of Daybreakers and Underworld with a dash of Children of Men and The Walking Dead.

“It didn't even feel like lying anymore. It felt like forgiveness, leaving the past in the past. It felt like mercy. It felt like moving on...And what was one more secret in this house packed to the attic with secrets? ”  

The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz
The Gist: Allison had been one of several children fostered or adopted by a philanthropist / brain surgeon. She led a happy life in the doctor's home with the other kids until she almost died. Due to the suspicion that someone in the family may have tried to kill her, she is whisked away into the care of an elderly aunt. Thirteen years later, Allison receives a letter that the good doctor is dying and she decides to visit her foster family and perhaps finally find out what happened to her those years ago. Really like the book and I did not expect the places it went (in a good way) because the synopsis on the book (which is little longer than my gist) gave little indication. I found it quite scary too, and it's not with the whole she-once-almost-died mystery, but the deeper story of her foster family and the why and how they came to be.

Thursday Movie Picks #199: Characters Making a New Start

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 Characters Making a New Start

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Boy A (2007)

Of my three picks, I like this the best. Andrew Garfield plays Jack, newly released from a prison sentence for a violent crime he committed as a child. He is given a new identity in a new town to start his life again but his past soon catches up to him.

Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

After her marriage fails, Frances buys a villa in Tuscany to start her new life. It has been a long time since I've seen this, so I don't remember much other than I enjoyed it.

Passengers (2016)

This one has characters trying to make a new start on a distant planet colony but a malfunction of their sleep chambers awaken them 90 years early. I didn't really like this. While it looked cool, I was bored and felt the story was too thin and a little dumb. With so many passengers on board and with help so far away, why would there be no crew and engineers on shift duty? Like sleep 115 years and work 5 years.

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday Movie Picks #198: TMP Television Edition - Failed to get a Second Season

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 - Failed to get a Second Season (excluding mini-series/limited series where it was meant to be just one season)

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Hey, it's my favorite Thursday of the month: the TV edition! This week it's TV shows that unfortunately did not get renewed which always sucks when the first season ended with a cliffhanger. Most of my picks today are series that are more than 15 years old, so my memory of them is very poor, but I did like them and had wanted to see a second season.

American Gothic (1995-1996)
I remember this as being very creepy. Most of the plot escapes me now just that it had a scary sheriff, a sort of devil-like character with supernatural powers, trying to control a young orphan boy who has a very thick southern accent.

Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
I re-watched this recently and I think it has aged very well. Still found it very funny. What sets it apart from most teen shows is its focus on the "freaks and geeks", none of the main characters are the popular kids. Such a pity it did not get a second season.

Undeclared (2001-2002)
This was the other Judd Apatow series that got cancelled after one season, this time a college series that was just as funny and had some of the cast of Freaks and Geeks.

Pasadena (2001) 
A teen girl discovers her wealthy family may be hiding some terrible secrets. The thing I remember most is that there was something that was left unresolved in the last episode and I had so wanted to see a new season only to learn that it had been cancelled.

The Returned (2015)
A remake of the French series, which I heard was better, about deceased locals returning. However, I had not seen the original so I can't compare. I thought this remake was a decent series, much better than the other series with a similar premise that had aired about the same period - Resurrection. The Returned ended with things starting to go wrong and with no explanation yet why the deceased have returned, so I was very disappointed when it was not renewed.

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Thursday Movie Picks #197: Meltdowns

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 Meltdowns

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I tend to love meltdown scenes in movies. They usually have some great lines and showcases a great performance. Here are some of my favorites:

"I just ran out of bullshit. Am I still on the air? I really don't know any other way to say it other than I just ran out of bullshit."

Network (1976)
When a news anchorman is fired, he begins the first of many rants about his unhappiness on the air. This movie is so good, it's over 40 years old and still feels relevant.

"...please hear me out because this is not an episode, relapse, fuck-up, it's... I'm begging you Michael. I'm begging you. Try and make believe this is not just madness because this is not just madness."

Michael Clayton (2007)
A lawyer has a meltdown during a deposition meeting and later rants and rambles in an attempt to explain what happened to a colleague.

"I understand. Junior high must've been kind of tough, but it doesn't give you the right to treat your workers like horseshit, Janice. ...I want you to know, if you weren't such a bitch, we'd feel sorry for you. I do feel sorry for you. But as it stands, the way you behave - I feel I can speak for the entire office when I tell you... go fuck yourself."

Wanted (2008)
It's that scene where Wesley finally has had enough of his boss.

"You better lawyer up asshole, because I'm not coming back for 30%, I'm coming back for EVERYTHING."

The Social Network (2010)
It's that scene where Eduardo Saverin found out that only his ownership share and none of the others were diluted. He confronts Zuckerberg and loses it in the office.

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Thursday Movie Picks #196: Movies about Movies

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 Movies

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Ahh...no wonder this theme seemed familiar, it's because we had one way back in 2014. Oh well, it has been almost 4 years since then so I'm sure there are enough movies out there for another round.

Scream 3 (2000)
Of my three picks today, this is probably the one I like best. The Scream movies have all been about paying homage to horror films before it, and Scream 3 finally took the characters to a film set based on their own story.

Be Kind Rewind (2008)
The movie follows video store employees reshooting films to replace the tapes they had accidentally erased. The scenes of the characters acting out all the scenes of famous movies are charming, but that is about all the movie has going for it.

Hugo (2011)
Hugo was pretty to look at, but ultimately it felt too long and didn't quite charm me.

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Thursday Movie Picks #195: Underground

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 Underground

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P2 (2007)
After a late night at the office, a woman is locked in the garage by the crazy garage attendant. I don't remember much of it now, so I suppose it was neither bad or good enough to be memorable.

City of Ember (2008)
I remember thinking the premise of this sounded so interesting, but ultimately the movie was boring and perhaps a little too juvenile for me. Like I know it's a kids movie, but there are those that transcend age.

The Divide (2011)
A group of people survive a nuclear blast in a basement shelter. But things eventually get worse when personalities clash, resources dwindle and so on. I've picked this before previously and of the three today, is the only one I like. 

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Monthly Book Picks: The Month of March 2018

Hey, if you've ventured past my usual movies post and found this book blog post, welcome. It's a new series that I've started: Monthly Book Picks where I select my favourite reads of the past month. Last month turned out to be a solitary endeavour but if you want to join in this month do leave a link using the inlinkz gadget below. Monthly Book Picks will go up every first Monday of the month.

 

“Sometimes I think illness sits inside every woman, waiting for the right moment to bloom."

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (2006)
The Gist: Back on the job after a brief stay at psych hospital, a journalist is assigned to return to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. There's something about the women in a Gillian Flynn novel. They're never simply one thing. They are often messy and most likely very messed up. In Sharp Objects even the children are too. They are so creepy; some are drinking and taking drugs at such a young age and others are wild in an almost feral like way. As a mystery, I think it is better than Gone Girl; Sharp Objects certainly has a lot more stuff to unpack and to sieve through to the truth.

“No one tells you it’s all about to change, to be taken away. There’s no proximity alert, no indication that you’re standing on the precipice. And maybe that’s what makes tragedy so tragic. Not just what happens, but how it happens: a sucker punch that comes at you out of nowhere, when you’re least expecting it. No time to flinch or brace.”  

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (2016)
The Gist: After being abducted and knocked unconscious, Jason wakes up surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. He soon learns that in the world he has woken up to, he did not marry the woman who was his wife and his son was never born. I remember seeing Dark Matter on a lot of top book lists in 2016 and finally read it last March. Wow, what a mind fuck of a book. This was such a fun thrilling fast paced read that was also nightmarish and horrifying with the infinite possibilities it presents.

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Thursday Movie Picks #194: TMP Television Edition - Non-English

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 - Non-English

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If you think you've seen this theme before, you're right. We had one last year. But since it is increasingly easier to watch international series what with all the streaming services carrying them, I thought why not make it a yearly thing. Here are the recent ones I've seen that I love.

Dark (2017 - )
In 2019 in a German town surrounded by thick woods, children have gone missing. As the community search for answers and tension increases, some of the townspeople are reminded of a similar occurrence 33 years ago. A drama mystery with a supernatural/sci-fi element to it, Dark is dark, interesting and it has time travel (highlight to reveal spoiler) so yeah I absolutely love it. The series is getting a second season so I'm glad, but I sort of think the first season ended with a kind of open ended ending that worked just as well if it ended being just a one season series. I kind of think they're all doomed anyway since they're in loop, bound to repeat themselves over and over again. Two people who were in a prime position to break the loop did not: Michael could not because of Jonas, leaving Jonas to make that self sacrificing choice on his own (highlight to reveal spoiler). Also the weird tattoo we saw is based on a supposedly actual ancient tablet that has since disappeared or something, so I wonder if they're going to weave some sort of fake mythology and explore it in season 2.  

Tabula Rasa (2017)

A woman suffering from amnesia is involuntarily committed to a mental institution when she becomes a key figure in the disappearance of a local man that she doesn't even remember she knows due to her condition. I really enjoyed this psychological thriller that constantly shifts between the present and the weeks and days before slowly leading up to the disappearance as the extent of her amnesia and the truth slowly reveals itself. Tabula Rasa sort of feels like a mash up of Shutter Island, The Orphanage and Before I Go to Sleep, so if you like them, I think you'll enjoy this.

Trapped (2015 - ) 
In a remote town in Iceland, part of a body surfaces in the port just as a ferry is about to dock. The local police desperately try to solve the crime as a snow storm descends stranding everyone including possibly the murderer. This is a solid thriller. I love the small town one arc sort of series and this is so soo good. I love the setting too; the unforgiving environmental conditions just adds to the claustrophobia and urgency of the situation.

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Thursday Movie Picks #193: Nostalgia

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 Nostalgia

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This week's theme is inspired by Ready Player One which is about a kid that goes on a treasure hunt in a virtual world that is based heavily on the pop culture from the virtual world creator's lifetime. So the movies I was going to pick initially was something in the same vein as Ready Player One, those that have characters nostalgic about pop culture from their youth. Then I changed my mind. Now I'm going to go with movies that get me nostalgic about these three things: Brick and mortar record stores, video stores and book stores. I'm picking only movies that I like.

Empire Records (1995)
I love this movie and whenever I watch it, it makes me so nostalgic for browsing and buying CDs at HMV. HMV closed here in 2015.

Scream (1996)
Scream of course pays homage to horror films before it, so they already had that nostalgia thing going on, and the movie itself also has this scene at the video store where they discuss who Ghost Face could be. Whenever I watch a movie with a video store scene, I always try to see what titles are on their shelves. Anyway we never had big rental stores here, so I had prefered once again HMV for browsing and buying DVDs. They used to import the Region 1(US) and Region 2 (Europe) DVDs which sometimes have extra special features that the Region 3 (South East Asia) do not. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 
Not a movie about a bookstore but it had a memory wiping scene at the bookstore that one of the characters works at that reminds me a lot of Borders. Borders too closed here in 2013. I loved Borders. Its first outlet was the largest bookstore here (which would still be considered small when compared to any of the US stores probably) and it was a chill bookstore: a lot of areas to sit and they didn't wrap their books with plastic, they really let you browse. 

So you get where my blog name comes from. Suffice to say all the places I used to hangout at are gone and these movies make me nostalgic for them. Now the only place that comes close is the library.

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Thursday Movie Picks #192: Childhood Favourites

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 Childhood Favourites

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These are movies that I watch over and over again as a kid.

Mary Poppins (1964)
What's not too love? It has lovely music and a whimsical story. One of my favourite parts was when they went to the animated world.

Grease (1978)
I was introduced to the music of Grease first; my parents had the vinyl of the soundtrack. They later bought the video so I could see the movie the music was from and I immediately love it.

Casper (1995)
I had seen the cartoons growing up and this is the live action version with a gothic manor, of course I loved it. The effects in this movie would now look dated, but back then when I saw it I was in awe that they were able to make the ghosts see-through.

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Thursday Movie Picks #191: Just One Day

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 Just One Day

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I'm going for anything that takes place within a 24 hour period or less and I'm also trying to pick movies that I've not picked before in other TMPs. Here goes:

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
A mad general launches a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. I tried watching this like 10 years ago, for only a few minutes and gave up. Tried again in 2017 and I finally get it. It's funny! It's about something so serious but it manages to be so sharply funny. There are a couple of scenes that have been used in a certain podcast and when I finally saw it in the movie, the whole complete scene, I could not stop laughing. I totally get it now why people say this is one of the funniest movies ever. If you've not seen this before, now is probably the time to see it.

Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
I can't believe I've not ever pick this before. This used to be on TV so much when I was a kid, I was sick of it. 

A Single Man (2009)

An English professor is unable to cope with life without his partner who died a year earlier. The movie is sad but looks so beautiful. Everyone is so finely dressed.

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Monthly Book Picks: The Month of January and February 2018

Hey, if you have read my blog the last month or so you may have heard me talking about starting a Monthly Book Picks where you select your favourite reads of the last month; so here it is. Since I missed January, I'll be doing both January and February picks this month. If you want to join in do leave a link using the inlinkz gadget below. Monthly Book Picks will go up every first Monday of the month.

January 2018

“There are no good men in this game.”

Vicious (The Villains #1) by V.E. Schwab (2013)
The Gist: College roommates become vicious enemies after developing superpowers through their science experiments. Ten years later, one of them has come back to execute his revenge.
Imagine The Prestige movie but instead of magicians it's people with wicked superpowers. I had high expectations going into this because it has a high rating on Goodreads which was definitely met and Vicious has become my one of favourites. It has great writing, plot, pacing and fascinating characters. If you're tired of the usual superhero fare, as the quote above implies, there are no heroes here.  I can't wait for the sequel and the film adaptation which I'm surprised has not come sooner.


February 2018

“There was a small part of me that was still childish, stubborn in her hope, thinking I could somehow have everything. ...That I could be all the versions of me, stacked inside one another, and find someone who would want them all. But that's childhood. Before you realize that every step is a choice. That something must be given up for something to be gained. Everything on a scale, a weighing of desires, an ordering of which you want more--and what you'd be willing to give for it.” 

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda (2016) 
The Gist: Nicollete has returned to her hometown for the summer to help her brother fix their old house so that they can sell it to use the sale money for the father's nursing home expanses. Then her father, who has dementia, starts saying that he has seen the disappeared girl on their porch, only he has not been to their house a year since his nursing home stay and which girl was he referring too? Nicollete's best friend who disappeared ten years ago or the latest girl that has gone missing, their neighbour. Told in reverse, the link between the girls is slowly revealed as the past resurface.
This is actually my second reading, I loved it on the first read but it being a mystery told in reverse and with a first person narration,you know how unreliable they all are, I knew I was missing a lot of the breadcrumbs the first time around. And yes this is definitely one of those stories/books that you'll continually discover new things you missed before. I also love the writing and the narrator's voice that has a certain reflective wariness to it. Overall just a satisfying suspenseful mystery, one of the best I'd say that I read the last year or so.

“Power. What men like best for themselves and least in their women.”

The Queen of Attolia (The Queen's Thief #2) by Megan Whalen Turner (2000) 
This is the second book in the YA fantasy series The Queen's Thief. The first book The Thief is about a thief who claims he is able to steal anything so he is recruited and goes on a journey with the king's scholar, a soldier and two apprentices to recover a treasure. The first two thirds of the first book, for me, was boring. But the last third was excellent. In the second book, The Queen of Attolia, the thief this time is enlisted more for stealing information and that really is all I can say lest I spoil the first book. Also that, unlike the first book, it is great from the start. It has action, drama, political intrigue with plenty of twist and turns and even has a little romance. I love The Queen of Attolia more, but you definitely can't jump to reading this without reading the first book and all the essential world building.

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Thursday Movie Picks #190: Oscar Nominated Movies that should have Won

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 Oscar Nominated Movies that should have Won

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Today's theme is by Birgit. I haven't watch a lot of the Best Picture nominated/winner movies, so it is kind of hard for me to say which should have won, so I'm sort of doing a reverse of it. I'm picking movies that I think should NOT have won because I have watched them and think surely the other nominees (some I have seen, others not) were better.

2010 Winner - The King's Speech (2010)
While The King's Speech was not at all bad, I do think some of the other nominees were better and more memorable. I prefer Black Swan, Toy Story 3 and The Social Network.

2005 Winner - Crash (2004)
I think everyone hates it right, so surely something else should have won. I can't remember much of Crash any more other than it was terribly heavy handed in its messaging. The only other nominated movie I saw was Good Night, and Good Luck and I think I had found it better than Crash.

2001 Winner - A Beautiful Mind (2001)

I found A Beautiful Mind boring. This is one of those years that I've seen all of the other nominated movies. Gosford Park, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Moulin Rouge! are my some of favourite movies so I prefer any one of them to have won.

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Thursday Movie Picks #189: TMP Television Edition - Legal Dramas

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 - Legal Dramas

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I used to watch a lot of legal dramas about 15 years ago...I suppose because there wasn't much else to watch and there were like 3 Law and Order shows on the air. Now not so much. Here are my favourites over the years.

A small unrelated TMP note: Going ahead with MBP (monthly book picks). Goes up first Monday of the month, if you're participating, with both Jan & Feb picks this March.

Ally McBeal (1997-2002)
So unlike any other legal series, this is just so quirky and funny. It's so memorable for so many things. Remember Ally's short skirts, the unisex bathroom, the dancing baby, the secretary's face bra, and just the overall madness of the office.

The Practice (1997-2004)
This was the other David E. Kelley legal series that was on air the same period...the more serious one. While I don't remember this as well as Ally Mcbeal, I remember liking it a lot.

Law & Order (1990-2010)
Its dual storytelling is one of the things that I like about Law and Order and the original Law and Order is the best at it and has a better cast as well I think. The first half of the show concentrates on the investigation of a crime by the police and the second is the legal side as we follow the district attorneys now presenting the criminal case in court. 

The Guardian (2001-2004)
Of my picks today, this is probably the one that is not as well known. I remember this being great and loving it a lot. Simon Baker plays corporate lawyer Nick Fallin who gets busted for drug use and is sentenced to community service as a child advocate for Legal Aid. Fallin has a sort of frosty emotionless manner which works for him when dealing with the corporate world but out of his depths with his new role.

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Thursday Movie Picks #188: Break into Song Scenes (Non-Musicals)

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 Break into Song Scenes (Non-Musicals)

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I love these kind of scenes in a movie, they are often a lot of fun. I had previously wanted to pick that "You Make My Dreams" fountain scene in 500 Days of Summer, until I realised they only broke into dance but did no singing. So I am only left with picks that are all from movies either about weddings or have a wedding scene.

Some unrelated Thursday Movie Picks stuff - I don't know how many of you actually read the paragraph before my weekly picks but here goes...I was thinking of doing a Monthly Book Picks thing where say the first Monday of the month you pick your top reads (so it is not a theme based thing) for the previous month and anyone joining can add their link to the inlinkz form like how it's done with TMP. As I missed January picks, I plan to start in March listing both January and February Picks.

My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
It's the one at the restaurant where everyone sings I Say a Little Prayer. It's a very upbeat catchy song that makes you want to singalong.

Ella Enchanted (2004)
I'm trying to remember if this was a musical, I don't think it was...so it's here. The scene is at the end when everyone breaks into song and dance to Don't Go Breaking My Heart.

Bridesmaids (2011)

Right at the end when Wilson Philips came on to sing Hold On and everyone sang along.

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Thursday Movie Picks #187: 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 Romance

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I'm picking favourites.

Love Me If You Dare (2003)
Two childhood friends continue their game of dare into adulthood making them second guess their feelings for each other at every turn. It's quirky with a visual style like Amelie but has a much less sweet story. 

Before Sunset (2004)

Picked this countless of times before for other themes; it's my favourite of the Before series. It's two people just talking at its best.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 
I suppose this could be a sort of anti-valentine movie since it is about two people who have broken up trying to erase each other from their memories.

Becoming Jane (2007)
The movie imagines Tom Lefroy as Jane Austen's once great love (he may not have been) and I enjoyed it. The leads had great chemistry and there were lots of wonderful banter and passionate dialogue much like an Austen novel.

Jane Eyre (2011)
I think I had picked this for a theme very recently, but whatever, Jane Eyre is what comes to mind immediately when I think of Romance movies. This one is such a beautifully done adaptation too.

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Thursday Movie Picks #186: Story Within a Story

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 Story Within a Story

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A story within a story seems like something that could make an interesting movie. While I think I may have seen one that I like, but the title escapes me now, so my picks are those that I am not really a fan of.

Third Person (2013)
This has three interlocking stories. One of them has a writer at the center, so you can already see where the story within a story comes from. Ambitious but ultimately uninteresting.

The Words (2012)
Once again it's a movie that has writer characters. Less ambitious but the link between the stories are clearer so I think it makes for a more coherent storytelling.

The Princess Bride (1987)

A grandfather reads a story to his grandson. This is one of those movies that I want to re-watch as I just didn't see why everyone just love this movie. 

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