Wandering through the Shelves

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #276: Halloween Edition - Rituals

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 Halloween Edition - Rituals

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Hey it's October again and it's time for the Halloween Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the month.

October 3 - Halloween Edition: Period Drama Horror
October 10 - Halloween Edition: Teen Horror
October 17 - Halloween Edition: Jump Scares that Got You [Suggested by Brittani]
October 24 - Halloween Edition: Rituals
October 31 - Halloween/Television Edition: Horror

I'm simply going with ones that came to mind.

The Wicker Man (1973)
This is great. It starts of like a mystery and just gets creepier and creepier. While it's remake is so laughably bad.

Jennifer's Body (2009)
Can't believe it's been 10 years since I saw this. Anyway I liked this quite a bit, and I am so surprised that it has such a low rating on IMDB...and have always thought that it would eventually be a cult fav one day.

The Ritual (2017)
Easiest pick since it is the title. It was creepy and scary. Though I can't say I truly get it. The movie gives some flashbacks to an incident that caused a death of one guy in a group of college friends, so does the whole eventual ordeal in the forest also serve as some sort of metaphor for survivor's guilt of the remaining friends?

The Babysitter (2017)

A little over the top, but still a good horror comedy I think.

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Thursday, October 17, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #275: Halloween Edition - Jump Scares that Got You

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Halloween Edition - Jump Scares that Got You [Suggested by Brittani]

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Hey it's October again and it's time for the Halloween Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the month.

Today's theme is a suggestion from Brittani. This was a challenging week. I'm sure I've seen plenty of good jump scares but right now I'm having a hard time recalling them. Here are the ones I came up with.

Se7en (1995)
When the guy, I think it was for sloth, MOVED.

The Sixth Sense (1999)
It was the scene when Mischa Barton's character suddenly appears under a darkly lit blanket vomiting.

The Ring (2002)
It was that scene where Samara crawled out of the TV screen. I saw this on DVD on my computer in the dark, so the proximity of me and the computer screen I was watching from made that scene extra jumpy for me.

REC (2007)

The characters are in the attic. There are no lights, so one of them use the night vision camera to see the room and one of the infected is in there with them.

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Thursday, October 10, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #274: Halloween Edition - Teen Horror

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Halloween Edition - Teen Horror

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Hey it's October again and it's time for the Halloween Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the month.

I haven't been watching that many teen horror movie in recent years so my options are limited. So like last week, I'm simply going to list some of my recent watches.

The Craft (1996)
I rewatched this a few months ago. It has the typical new girl at school peer pressure plot but with the added witchy supernatural stuff, it was definitely a fun trip back to the 90s and I still like the movie. Apparently a remake or sequel in the works...I am so looking forward to it.

Unfriended (2014)
This was an ambitious movie. It came before Searching (a much better film, though not horror), so I think this was probably the first movie where the entire movie takes place from the point-of-view of a computer (or whatever device they were using) screen. While it was an interesting way to tell a story, it was also very limiting because it meant that Unfriended HAD to have all the scary stuff happen in front of the computer/phone camera...like really? Pretty straight forward story, teens had a hand in a girl's suicide so she haunts them in the new internet/social media age style...overall, just an ok watch.

Don't Breathe (2016)
This was scary. Just when I thought it's one of those home invasion movies, where the victim fights back, like in Hush or You're Next, which are both good movies by the way, Don't Breathe takes a step further and adds an extra twist.

Slender Man (2018)
The teens summon a urban legend character and it haunts them. Honestly I don't remember much anymore, it just wasn't a memorable movie.

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Friday, October 4, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #273: Halloween Edition - Period Drama Horror

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Halloween Edition - Period Drama Horror

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Hey it's October again and it's time for the Halloween Edition. Take a look at what's in store for the rest of the month.

I've always found horror movies with a period setting has that slight edge in terms of scary atmosphere because without electric lights nights are way more scarier and people lives used to be ruled by so much superstition. Anyway some my favourite movies have period settings but they have been picked multiple times before for other themes, so this time I'm simply picking ones I've watched most recently.

The Witch (2015)
This was a disappointment for me. It is not bad, I just expected to like it more. I don't really find it scary either, just very creepy. I think this makes a good double feature with The Crucible, set in the same period it has a lot of the same themes.

Crimson Peak (2015)
I really wanted to love this so much since I love Guillermo del Toro's other period horror movies: Pan's Labyrinth and The Devils Backbone....maybe he just need to do another Spanish language horror movie. Those movies are sad and haunting and lingers...while Crimson Peak was more of a gothic melodrama horror. It was still an ok horror movie...I mean I like the crazy gothic mansion and the dramatic costumes, but the movie is just not as memorable.

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
This is one of those rare times where the sequel is better. The first one is more of a teen horror flick while this one, set about 50 years before, has more of a The Conjuring thing going on with a family plagued by an evil presence. If you like The Haunting of Hill House, this was made by the same people and has some of the same actors.

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Thursday, September 26, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #272: TMP Television Edition - Fantasy

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Fantasy

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Fantasy really isn't my genre, plus there just isn't a lot of fantasy series as compared to other genres since it is pretty hard to pull off. Anyway here are the ones I like.

Game of Thrones (2011 - 2019)

I have not seen this in a long time and have only seen up to season 3. I've basically been waiting for the series to complete so I can binge watch everything when I do get HBO Go. Anyway I love what I have seen, and have thankfully yet to be spoiled of the seasons I haven't seen. Sometimes I read non fiction history books and think this stuff is crazy, I can't believe this actually happened and hey wouldn't something like this make a good TV series. Then in comes Game of Thrones which has just about the same crazy political intrigue, only it's fiction and has magic and dragons...and doesn't have like five guys all named Edward or Henry or Thomas, so win-win.

Once Upon a Time (2011 - 2018)

I have also seen this up to season three. I would say that the effects in this looks pretty terrible especially the green screen stuff. But I sort of got passed it because the story is imaginative and it was fun seeing all the mostly fairytale Disney characters together with their stories all interwined. This is definitely a very bingeable series.

Fantaghirò (1991 - 1996)

This Italian series is also known as The Cave of the Golden Rose. I think this was originally a series of TV movies. However ,when I saw it when I was very young, it was actually divided into shorter episodes and it was also dubbed, so I had no idea it was from Italy until recently. Anyway I saw it so long ago, I don't remember much other than it was set in a fairytale setting with a very adventurous princess as the main character, who by the later episodes had cut off her hair and dressed like a man. I really enjoyed the series then and would love to see it again.

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Thursday, September 19, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #271: Break-Ups

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Break-Ups

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I decided to go with a more comedic route with today's picks.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
A man goes on a Hawaiian vacation to get over a breakup only to find his ex-girlfriend is also staying at the same resort with her new boyfriend. This one gets aired on TV quite a bit so I usually get to rewatch parts of it and I still find it funny.

500 Days of Summer (2009)
After a breakup, a man retraces the failed relationship to see what went wrong. I love this one. It's bright, quirky and has a great soundtrack.

Celeste & Jesse Forever (2012)
After the breakup of their marriage, a couple have always been friends, tries to maintain their friendship. It's been some time since I've seen this, but I remember it being quirky and just very sweet.

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Thursday, September 12, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #270: Non-English Language Movies

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Non-English Language Movies

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I've been mostly watching Non-English TV series rather than movies, so I have hardly any choice to make. Here are ones I've seen since a similar theme last year.

Mademoiselle de Joncquières (2018)
A widow plans her revenge on a casanova. I've picked this before for the period drama theme. I like it. Revenge sounds menacing but this is actually more of a romantic dramedy, so her clever revenge is more to humiliate him and hurt his status in high society.

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. Have also picked this movie which I enjoyed early this year. This is a French remake and it has been remade in like 10 different countries, I wonder when Hollywood too will remake it.

Personal Shopper (2016)
A personal shopper in Paris tries to make contact with her dead twin brother who was a medium. This is like my cheat pick, because like I said I have watched so few movies this year. Anyway this is mostly in English with about 10% of it in French. Personal Shopper is a somewhat spooky drama that I've been wanting to watch for awhile. Unfortunately I thought the first two thirds of this movie was soo slow, just waiting for her to make contact. But the last third was great, it was a nice little twist. I had actually watched this on TV and I think they had thought this was completely in English, so no subtitles was provided for the French parts, I was so pissed I had no idea what was said during those parts.

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Thursday, September 5, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #269: Hostage

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Hostage

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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.

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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Thursday, August 29, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #268: TMP Television Edition - Revivals and Reboots

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is TMP Television Edition - Revivals and Reboots

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So this is a little tricky. What are revivals and reboots? Are they remakes? I don't think they are so I came up with my own definitions for myself to differentiate them.

Remakes - I think there are two types. One where it is remade from a series from a different language to another. The essential story at least at the start is the same but changes are made to reflect the cultural differences. So examples for these are Ugly Betty, The Bridge, The Office, etc. The second type of remakes are those that are remade for a brand new generation of audience so while there might be changes like making the characters more diverse, it is very much like the first type of remake where the essential story is the same and the changes are made to fit the current cultural landscape, so examples are Charmed, MacGyver, Hawaii Five-O, etc.

Revivals - Revivals have been so popular recently. I would define it as a series that is revived years later with the same characters now older often with the same cast reprising their roles. Examples are Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, etc.

Reboots - Reboots are perhaps the rarest of the three, at least I think so. A reboot is a new series that takes the story right back to beginning of the original series, however while the basic story is the same with the same original characters, something major is changed. Perhaps changing the perspective from which the story is told or changing the overall tone of the story. The only example I can think of is my pick for today so read on.

Now that the definitions are out of the way, here are my picks and my choices were really limited since I really haven't seen a lot of Revivals and Reboots:

90210 (2008 - 2013)

This is a somewhat weak pick for a revival, but like I said I had very few to choose from. Set several years after the original series, it follows mainly a new bunch of teens in Beverly Hills. However, some of the original cast like Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty played their original characters in several episodes. I think I saw the first season in its entirety, but watched it on and off for the second. Overall it was an ok series, just not something I made a point to keep up with.

Heroes Reborn (2015 - 2016)

Five years after Heroes ended they tried to revive the series with Heroes Reborn. It takes place in the same world a few years after the original series with a few of the original characters coming back. I only saw about half of the season, it was so boring and those episodes had characters running in circles asking where's Claire which was just so stupid. I don't think she actually showed up by the end of the season. Anyway many of the major characters from the original series did not make an appearance which is quite an indication of the quality of this series. So yeah I think it's a complete waste of time, skip it.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018 - )

This is my only reboot pick. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch is a comic books series part of Archie comics and the 1990s TV series follows that in tone, it was a half hour light teen comedy. A few years ago a new Sabrina comic book series came out called Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, I have not read the new comics so I don't have an opinion on it, but I have seen the TV series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina which I suppose is an adaptation of the new comic book, and it is vastly different from the 90s TV series. It now has hour long episodes and while the gist of the story is the same, with the same characters and the first season starts somewhat at the same place as Sabrina is turning 16, it is now darker more of a horror drama and though it is set in the present day, it has a very 50s and 60s retro look. I thought the first season of this was very inconsistent, some of the episodes were absolute bore. The second season is better, but it is far from being a series that I'd eagerly wait for a new season.

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Thursday, August 22, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #267: Actors in Multiple Roles

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Actors in Multiple Roles

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This is a really difficult theme and here is what I came up with:

The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Leonardo DiCaprio plays both the title character and King Louis. I sort of love this movie. It's the whole Musketeers action and adventure thing...it's fun. And I just love the score as well.

The Pretty One (2013)
Zoe Kazan plays both twins. I like this quirky dark comedy about the plainer twin assuming the identity of her dead identical twin sister when she is mistaken for her.

Enemy (2013)
Jake Gyllenhaal plays the two look-alikes. This was just soo weird and I think I sort of get it...but the SPIDERS...that I don't get at all. And I hate the color scheme of the movie, which is like this sickly sepia tone.

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Thursday, August 15, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #266: Witness

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Witness

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Well I am doing a theme within a theme. All the witnesses are kids

Witness (1985)
A young Amish boy is the sole witness to a murder tied to police corruption. This is an obvious pick, but I had to pick it since I rewatched this last year and it was what inspired today's this theme

The Client (1994)
A boy and his brother witness the suicide of a mob lawyer who blab a little too much to the kids on his way out causing them to be a target of the mob. I haven't seen this one in a long time, but it is one of my favourites. And Brad Renfro was so good in it.

Léon: The Professional (1994)
A young girl becomes a witness and sole survivor of her family's murder and enlists her neighbour, a hitman, to help her get revenge. Another favourite, one that I've picked many times before for other themes, but it's perfect here.

Road to Perdition (2002)
A boy witnesses a mob hit forcing him and his father to go on the run. Yet another favourite and a must watch.

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Thursday, August 8, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #265: The Mrs Robinsons

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is The Mrs Robinsons [Suggested by Getter]

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This week's theme is a suggestion by Getter. The title of the theme is of course in reference to Mrs Robinson from the Graduate so this theme is about movies that feature older women in a relationship with much younger men. I tried to pick less obvious ones like The Graduate and Harold and Maude and here's what I came up with that I like:

The Good Girl (2002)

A bored store clerk has an affair with a colleague who see's Holden Caulfield in himself. I really like this. I don't think Aniston does a lot of dramas, but she was good in this.

The Door in the Floor (2004)
A writer's assistant has an affair with his boss's wife who is still grieving over a family tragedy. It's been so long since I've seen this, that I don't remember much so it's funny that I saw this as being categorized as both a comedy and drama on IMDB, when all I remember is people being very sad.

Notes on a Scandal (2006)
A teacher has an affair with her student and her colleague holds that knowledge over her. This movie is soo good and great performances by Dench and Blanchett.

Chéri (2009)

An aging courtesan at the start of the 20th century starts what was supposed to be a short affair with her friend's son but it ended up lasting several years. I don't remember much now, but I know I enjoyed it. I was very light and funny and the costumes were gorgeous.

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Thursday, August 1, 2019

Thursday Movie Picks #264: The Great Outdoors

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is The Great Outdoors

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I'm doing a theme within a theme: it's kids experiencing the great outdoors.

The Kings of Summer (2013)
I don't remember much of it now, but I did enjoy this movie about a couple of teens who build a house in the woods and living off the land for the summer.

Standing Up (2013)

In this one, the kids didn't quite have a great experience with the great outdoors. I really enjoyed this one, a rather heartfelt sweet movie about these two kids becoming friends when ran away together from summer camp after a terrible prank.

The Secret Garden (1993)

One of my all time favourite movies, it's about these two kids who have mostly lived a life confined indoors finally venturing outside and resuscitating an almost dead garden. I love love this movie. It's one of those movies that has like a sort of fairytale magical quality to it and that garden was so gorgeous wasn't it? You almost expect woodland creatures to come out talking and singing.

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