Thursday Movie Picks #25: Bank Robberies

Happy New Year!!! Can you believe it? It's 2015 already. Every year it feels like as if the year passes quicker and quicker.

This is the first Thursday Movie Picks of 2015 and we're now in the 25th week of the series! If you're reading this now, I'm so glad you decided to join us in the new year.

Before we start, for new people who may have just wandered here, the rules of this weekly series is simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.For further details and the 2015 theme schedule visit the series main page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Bank Robberies.

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This week's topic started life as Heist movies. That is a pretty broad topic. Then a few weeks ago I watched a bank robbery movie which made me mentally list out all the other bank robbery movies I've seen, which turned out to be quite a lot...which also means that there must be plenty others that I haven't seen. So I scratched out Heist movies as a theme (by the way, Heist Movies will be a theme next year) and chose for today a more specific theme: Bank Robberies.

Dog Day Afternoon (1976)
So this is the movie that sparked today's theme. Wow has the bank robbery in this one go totally wrong from the start. From there not being much money in the bank to one of the robbers flaking out to being completely surrounded by the police so soon and to complete that is the media circus that follows as the robbery stretch on for several hours.

Flypaper (2011)
This is my hidden gem for this week. I knew nothing of this movie and only picked it up because of two of the recognisable names in it. Ended up enjoying it. There's action, its funny and it has some pretty good unanticipated turns. In Flypaper a man (played by Patrick Dempsey) gets trapped, as one of the hostages, in a bank when it is held up simultaneously by two different teams of bank robbers. Unable to get to the pharmacy to get his meds, he becomes increasing neurotic and obsessively tries to figure out how the two robberies could occur at the same time. 

The Lookout (2007)
I have mentioned this movie before; it was one of my picks for Movies Featuring Amnesiacs. I'm picking it again because it is a perfect pick for today's theme and because I don't think it's widely seen even though it's great. In the Lookout, ex-school hockey star Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is left with brain damage which severely affects his short term memory after a car accident. Due to his mental incapacitation Chris now works as a janitor for a bank and soon finds himself becoming a target of thugs planning to rob the bank as he can provide entry to it.  
 

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out my past Thursday Movie Picks

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

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Thursday Movie Picks #24: Movies Driven Entirely by People Talking

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

This week is the last Thursday Movie Picks of 2014! How the weeks flew by. It's been a wonderful run. To those that have participated this year I hope you had fun, as I did, sharing your picks each week and hopefully have even been checking out your fellow participants picks as well. And if you are new to all this and are thinking about participating in 2015, the 2015 theme schedule is already up. You can check it out at the series main page here.

Before we start as usual, for new people who may have just wandered here, the rules of this weekly series is simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Movies Driven Entirely by People Talking

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Since we had a movies adapted from a play them recently (most based on play movies are very dialogue heavy) I decided to avoid them entirely...so there goes Closer which would have been a perfect choice this week as well. I like dialogue heavy movies so naturally I watch quite a lot of them so even without movies based on a play I am pretty spoilt for choice. And so these are three that I've settled on.

Before Sunset (2004)

My favourite of the Before trilogy. I love the long conversation they have (we did wait 9 years for it!) and just how seamlessly it flows from one topic to the next. If you haven't seen this trilogy what are you waiting for?

In the Loop (2009)
In In the Loop, a British minister makes a remark about war sending reporters in a frenzy and sets off maneuverings by war and anti war factions in the governments of both the UK and US. This movie is just completely foul mouthed but insanely hilarious. And if you love Dr Who...the current Dr reprises his TV (The Thick of It) role and spews out profanity filled lines in this one.

Network (1976)
Just watch this a few weeks ago. I think it's commentary on news, TV and the media in general is possibly more relevant today than the period it was set...which is just amazing. Having watch Michael Clayton before this, the rantings of Peter Finch's character in Network reminds me so much of Tom Wilkinson's character's breakdown rant.

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out my past Thursday Movie Picks

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

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Participating Blogs/Bloggers

Thursday Movie Picks #23: Coming of Age Movies

Hello and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks! Before we start, for new people who may have just wandered here, the rules of this weekly series is simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each. For more information and future topics please visit the Thursday Movie Picks page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Coming of Age Movies

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There's an abundance of male coming of age movies so I decided to challenge myself and go for female coming of age picks.

An Education (2009)

This isn't Carey Mulligan's first movie (you may remember her as Kitty in the movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice) but this is her breakout role and she is pretty fantastic in it. In An Education, Jenny foolishly decides to forgo her education so that she can live the life of a fabulous married woman.

The Man in the Moon (1991)

It's been such a long time since I've seen this but I remember liking it a lot. It also stars a young Reese Witherspoon as Dani who discovers love, jealousy and lost the summer before her older sister leaves for college.

Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
I had trouble coming up with a third pick as always. In the end I went with this even though it has a much younger protagonist than the typical coming of age tale. Plus I thought it really is good. It's a painful tale of a socially awkward preteen, played wonderfully by a very young Heather Matarazzo, who is ill treated by her peers and ignored by her self absorbed parents. 

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out my past Thursday Movie Picks

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

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2015 Thursday Movie Picks Schedule

Hello there! If this is the first time you've come to my blog, welcome. If you've been here before you may already know I created and host a weekly series called Thursday Movie Picks. The series had quite a successful run in 2014 and I had such a blast putting it together every week. I'd also like to take this chance to thank everyone who has participated; especially to frequent participants like Wendell, Hitchcock, Brittani, Big Screen Small Worlds and Mike. You've all made my Thursday Movie Picks experience better and introduced/recommended me a great number of movies I hope I'd get a chance to watch.

Now I am very happy to announce that Thursday Movie Picks is continuing in 2015 and excited to reveal the themes.

For the last few days I had such fun working the themes around (I like making the themes as much as I like picking three movies for those themes). It took me quite a while to sieve through themes I have at hand to decide which should be used for 2015 and those to be saved for 2016. Once that was settled it was then a matter of which theme should be fixed for each week. For 2015 I attempted to feature more variety and when appropriate fixed related themes for certain dates or themes relevant to a movie being released at that particular period. 2015 will also feature two special editions. This includes the Halloween Edition of Thursday Movie picks in October and additionally for the last Thursday for the first nine months of 2015 I'm running the All in the Family Edition which features the different relationships within a family.

Well...without further delay, as promised, here is the 2015 Schedule:


2015

January 1 - Bank Robberies
January 8 - Movies that feature an Irreparable Mistake
January 15 - Musicals
January 22 - Movies with Colour in the Title
January 29 - All in the Family Edition: Married Couples Movies (Suggested by Wendell)
February 5 - Romantic Comedies
February 12 - Unrequited Love
February 19 - Oscar Winning Movies (from pool of Winners of Best Picture/Best Animated Film/Best Foreign Film)
February 26 - All in the Family Edition: Father-Son Relationships (Biologically Related)
March 5 - Black and White Movies made since 1970 (Suggested by Wendell)
March 12 - Live Action Fairy Tale Adaptations
March 19 - Movies adapted from a Young Adult Novel
March 26 - All in the Family Edition: Mother-Daughter Relationships (Biologically Related)
April 2 - Teen Comedies
April 9 - Dance Movies (Excluding anything Musical or based on a Musical)
April 16 - Police Movies (Suggested by John Hitchcock)
April 23 - Superhero Movies
April 30 - All in the Family Edition: Father-Daughter Relationships (Biologically Related)
May 7 - Work Place Movies
May 14 - Foreign Language Movies - German
May 21 - Movies based on a Graphic Novel/Comic (Non-Superhero)
May 28 - All in the Family Edition: Mother-Son Relationships (Biologically Related)
June 4 - Kids Movies Adults Would Enjoy (Non-Animated)
June 11 - Movies Set in a High School, Secondary School or the Equivalent.
June 18 - Animated Movies
June 25 - All in the Family Edition: Sibling Relationships (Biologically Related)
July 2 - Adaptations of Classic Literature (No Poems or Plays)
July 9 - Road Trip Movies (Suggested by John Hitchcock)
July 16 - Science Fiction Movies (No Space/Aliens)
July 23 - Sequels
July 30 - All in the Family Edition: Twins
August 6 - Alien Invasion of Earth
August 13 - Movies with Devastating Crushing Endings that Makes You Want to Weep
August 20 - Foreign Language Movies - Asian Language Movies Set in East Asia (Non-Horror)
August 27 - All in the Family Edition: Stepfamilies
September 3 - Teachers
September 10 - Train Movies (Suggested by John Hitchcock)
September 17 - Journalists/Reporters for Print/TV
September 24 - All in the Family Edition: Adopted/Foster Families
October 1 - Halloween Edition: Alfred Hitchcock Movies
October 8 - Halloween Edition: Villainous Children (Suggested by Wendell)
October 15 - Halloween Edition: Asian Horror
October 22 - Halloween Edition: Werewolves
October 29 - Halloween Edition: Ghost Movies (Suggested by John Hitchcock)
November 5 - Secret Agents and Spies
November 12 - Movies about Music/Making Music/Musicians (No Biopics or focus on Real Life Musicians) (suggested by Wendell)
November 19 - Foreign Language Movies - Asian Language Movies Set in South East Asia (Non-Horror)
November 26 - Movies about Royalty
December 3 - Con Artists
December 10 - Movies Set in a Hotel
December 17 - Family Get-Together/Reunions
December 24 - Holiday/Vacation Movies
December 31 - Snowy Winter Movies

* Click the following linked keywords for a rough guide to Young Adult Novels, Classic Literature,  East Asian Countries and South East Asian Countries which may be helpful for your picks for a few of the themes.


So there they all are, the themes for the whole of 2015. I hope you like them and join me in sharing three picks each Thursday. For new future participants, the rules of Thursday Movie Picks are outlined on the series page here. I will also post this schedule up at the series page for easy reference. If you have any questions or require clarifications regarding any of the 2015 Thursday Movie Picks themes (a few of them have caveats), do comment below.

Thursday Movie Picks #22: Movies that Feature a Family Secret

Hello and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks! Before we start, for new people who may have just wandered here, the rules of this weekly series is simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each. For more information and future topics please visit the Thursday Movie Picks page here.

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Movies that Feature a Family Secret

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Family secrets can be so terrible that they devastate a few generations. When I came up for this topic, I felt sure I had watch a lot of such movies enough to warrant making it a topic for one of the weeks. However when it actually came to picking my three picks, two came easily to me but the third proved to be much harder. Still, I managed and what I came up finally is two hidden gems and one favourite.

Adore (2013)

Adore wasn't at all critically well received but I thought it wasn't that bad. Coincidentally I watched Adore around the same time as I watched The Oranges. They have a similar premise where a middle age person starts sleeping with their best friend's child. In The Oranges a man hooks up with his best friend's college grad daughter while Adore does a gender reversal where two women who are best friends sleeps with each other's teenage sons. While The Oranges went for a safer route being a dramaedy, Adore certainly explored more of the messiness of the secret affairs that destroys the couples' other relationships. 

August: Osage County (2013)

So this is the movie that spark the theme this week. And the family secret thoroughly surprised me....not as to what the secret was but that there was one because for most of the movie it was all about the tension between a mother and her three adult daughters who have returned home when a tragedy occurs. 

In My Father's Den (2004)
One of my favourite movies ever. So many pretty scenes! But the story and how it unfolds is just beautiful. In the movie Matthew Macfadyen stars as Paul a world weary war photographer who has returned home to New Zealand, after years away, for his father's funeral. Back home he reconnects with the people he left behind and even befriends his ex-girlfriend's 16 year daughter to the disapproval of everyone else. When the girl disappears, Paul becomes the prime suspect. Injected between the present time we see glimpses of Paul past which slowly paints the reason why he ran away from home so long ago, and ultimately revealing its ties to the current crisis. The secret and especially its devastating consequence is pretty mind-blowingly heart wrenching.

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So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out my past Thursday Movie Picks

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)

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Thursday Movie Picks #21: Movies Adapted from a Play (non-Shakespeare and non-musical)

Hello and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks! Before we start, for new people who may have just wandered here, the rules of this weekly series is simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each. For more information and future topics please visit the Thursday Movie Picks page here. 

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Movies Adapted from a Play (non-Shakespeare and non-musical)

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I've never actually watch a play before. Okay scratch that, I have watch a school play or two. Maybe they were bad productions but I don't think stage plays are for me. The setting is just too artificial and unnatural and to compensate this actors have a tendency to overact and so I just can just believe anything I'm seeing. But I have greatly enjoyed a couple of movies based on a play. I like dialogue heavy movies and often movies based on a play are that. So here are three of my favourites 

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

The Tudor reign of England is full of drama that makes for interesting TV and Movies and this is one the best movies set in that period. In A Man for All Seasons, King Henry VIII is determined to break off from the Roman Catholic Church and divorce his then wife Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Thomas More a lawyer and one of Henry's key counselors refuses to support the divorce and the break with Catholic Church and is charged with treason. As a lawyer More certainly has a way with words and fights the charges made against him all while balancing sticking by his principles and walking the line to ensure he does not offend the king. If you like courtroom dramas I definitely recommend this.

Closer (2004)

Closer features some of the most messiest relationships on screen...I mean these people are just awful towards one another. Now it kinda sounds bad to say that this makes for such a great watch, but it is especially because the performances here are just so wonderful and raw. And I love how the story is just contained. All we get is just the four actors and the relationships between them and that is how each is defined by. 

Proof (2005)

Wow, it has been almost a decade since I saw this. Just a few years before, A Beautiful Mind which was the more popular movie that features a brilliant and mentally ill mathematician was released. Unfortunately I did not like A Beautiful Mind. I love Proof. Proof to me felt more modest and grounded. In Proof Catherine's father, Robert, a brilliant but mentally ill mathematician has just died. She struggles to cope with her grief, the arrival of her sister for the funeral and one Robert's former students who has come to rummage through his stuff in the hopes that Robert had made some mathematical breakthrough during periods of clarity, and the fact that she may also very well have inherited her father's insanity.

So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out my past Thursday Movie Picks 

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)  

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Thursday Movie Picks #20: Foreign Language Movies - French

 

Hello and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks! Before we start, for new people who may have just wandered here, the rules of this weekly series is simple: Each week there is a topic for you to create a list of three movies. Your picks can either be favourites/best, worst, hidden gems, or if you're up to it one of each. For more information and future topics please visit the Thursday Movie Picks page here. 

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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Foreign Language Movies - French

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Most of the time when I watch a foreign language movie, I come into it knowing very little. I simply pick them up because they have become available and also because I want to watch more variety. Often I am pleasantly surprised by how good they are and enjoyed watching them. This week I've set the foreign language to French and I'm planning to have other Foreign Laguage themes next year. My picks this week features two favourites and one hidden gem.

À la folie... pas du tout aka He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2003)

First up is my hidden gem pick. Audrey Tautou is one of France's popular exports and movies starring her are relatively easier to find in Singapore. This one is I suppose one of her comparatively less popular movies and I thought it has a pretty unique narrative splitting the movie into two to show the perspective of both parties in the relationship. Just when you think you know what the story is, it flips it around.

Jeux d'enfants aka Love Me If You Dare (2003)

Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard (now real life couple) stars as childhood friends who continue to play their game of dare in adulthood to often disastrous consequences. Jeux d'enfants has a similar look to Amelie and if you like movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind about messy unconventional romances presented in a quirky style I definitely recommend this.

Les Choristes aka The Chorus (2004)

For last week's theme, one of my picks was Dead Poets Society. This week is another unmissable movies featuring an inspirational teacher. In Les Choristes a teacher at a school for troubled boys form a choir despite facing disapproval from the principal. The movie also feature some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard.

So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Check out my past Thursday Movie Picks 

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If you are participating be sure to add your blog post to the linky widget below (Enter your Blog Post URL, your Blog Name and your email {which will remain hidden}). Please also visit the other participating blogs, spread the word about this meme, and also link back to my blog on your own Thursday Movie Picks post :)  

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