Thursday, April 9, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #39: Dance Movies



Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple 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 visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Dance Movies (Excluding anything Musical or based on a Musical)

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This week is one of those weeks where I think what was I thinking when I set this as a theme? I suppose this was my attempt at having more variety. I myself don't really watch dance movies as such my options were limited; still, these are some of favourite movies that featured dance.
 
Black Swan (2010)  
I thought this move had an amazing first few minutes with the opening dance. It's intense, menacing and claustrophobic, the character transformations in that short span of time was beautiful, and it sets the tone for the rest of the movie. One of my favourite movies.

Center Stage (2000) 
This is the only one here that I don't remember much; I've only watch it the one time way back in 2000. You may remember it had that Mandy Moore song on its soundtrack: I Wanna Be with You. Anyway I do remember enjoying this a lot. It gives a glimpse into the world of ballet, through the lives of some fictional teens at a ballet academy, but without the kind of body horror depicted in Black Swan.

Strictly Ballroom (1992)   
I had put off off watching this for the longest time. From some of the promo pictures I had seen, the movie looked very dated, I didn't recognise any of the actors and it was about ballroom dancing; not exactly something that interests me. Finally watched it recently; found it incredibly charming and really enjoyed it!  It sort of has an ugly duckling transformation story. I know that sounds like a big movie cliche, but in Strictly Ballroom it worked because it's more of a natural transformation involving a beginner dancer doing the work to be a better dancer to compete in a ballroom dancing competition.

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

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks
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Thursday, April 2, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #38: Teen Comedies




Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple 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 visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Teen Comedies

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So this week is Teen Comedies. Shouldn't be hard right, since I'm sure everyone has seen a couple of teen comedies. Although I suppose there are not as many good ones. I'm keeping it simple once again this week and going for favourites, listed chronologically. By the way I haven't watch much of the recent teen comedies, are there any good ones post 2010?
 
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Ferris is the coolest smartest truant ever! He knows how to have fun and you kinda want to be like him don't you?
 
Clueless (1995)
I didn't appreciate it the first time I saw it years ago; I probably had been too young to get the jokes then; but now I love it. It's hilarious and is a well done retelling of Jane Austen's Emma too. I definitely enjoy the 90's nostalgia as well. Remember the scene where Cher was commenting on high school boys who were wearing those baggy jeans. Yeah...that grungy, just rolled out of bed look was "in" then.

Mean Girls (2004)
Entertaining and hilarious; the movie created some really memorable characters with the mean girls of the movie. And whatever happen to Lindsay Lohan? This was her last good movie


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

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks
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Thursday, March 26, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #37: All in the Family Edition: Mother-Daughter Relationships (Biologically Related)




Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple 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 visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is All in the Family Edition: Mother-Daughter Relationships (Biologically Related)

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Every last Thursday for the first nine months of 2015 I'm running the All in the Family Edition and  this is the third theme for the edition. Last month's the theme was Father-Son Relationships and in January it was Married Couples. This week we're looking at Mother-Daughter Relationships and my picks are in chronological order.
 
White Oleander (2002)
In White Oleander; Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), a poet, is idolised by her young impressionable daughter, Astrid (Alison Lohman). When Ingrid is sent to jail for life for the murder of her boyfriend, Astrid is shuffled from one foster home to another. Self centered and cold, Ingrid maintains her influence over Astrid through her letters and Astrid's prison visits, attempting to mold her daughter into her ideals to the point of sabotaging Astrid's happiness to maintain her dominance.
 
Volver (2006)
This is such a movie about mothers and daughters, how can I not pick this? When her daughter, Paula, is attacked, Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) fiercely protects her in a way that her mother never did for her. As Raimnuda tries to get her family's life back to normal while running a restaurant, her own mother comes back from the dead to fix their broken relationship.

Byzantium (2012) 
Somewhat similar to Volver, this feature another mother (Gemma Arterton) fiercely trying to protect and save her daughter (Saoirse Ronan). Spending too much time together for long periods of time can cause or reveal cracks in any relationship; in Byzantium, mother and daughter are vampires on the run who have been stuck with each other for a very long time. Their relationship is further strained by the fact the daughter has never been comfortable with what she's become and rejects her mother's means of survival.

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

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks
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Thursday, March 19, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #36: Movies adapted from a Young Adult Novel


Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple 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 visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Movies adapted from a Young Adult Novel

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Young Adult adaptations seem to have been unfairly written off because some of the recent popular adaptations haven't really been good movies. However, in each category/genre wouldn't there be more bad apples and than goods ones? I'm sure if you really look, there are couple of good ones in the barrel. Here are my picks for what YA adaptations has to offer.

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The Hunger Games (2012)
This movie surprised me for so many reasons. First that it managed to get made. Second that it was a well made movie with capable actors that capture the core of the story. Lastly for successfully adding  elements to it that we never got in the book such as the behind the scenes of the Hunger Games with the Gamemakers.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)
The movie spans one night as Nick and Norah go around New York meeting friends along the way and trying to find an elusive band. Found this to be a cool and fun movie about some kids having fun, being stupid, awkwardly navigating love and friendship, and just being young. 

Speak (2004) 
Speak is an incredibly faithful adaptation of the novel of the same name about a girl, Melinda, who becomes unable to speak after a traumatic experience at an end of summer party. The movie delicately follows Melinda in finding her voice again and still keeps her inner sardonic humour, and in doing so manages to make a movie that has a difficult theme both touching and funny.

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

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks

Thursday Movie Picks #7: Dramatic Scenes   
Thursday Movie Picks #16: Haunted Buildings       
Thursday Movie Picks #24: Movies Driven Entirely by People Talking
Thursday Movie Picks #14: Found Footage Movies
Thursday Movie Picks #22: Movies that Feature a Family Secret

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Thursday, March 12, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #35: Live Action Fairy Tale Adaptations


Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple 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 visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Live Action Fairy Tale Adaptations

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The live action Cinderella directed by Kenneth Branagh opens this week and fairy tales are back in vogue now. Just last year there was Maleficent and of course by now you might have heard about last week's Beauty and the Beast casting news. It's not just Hollywood too, the book world is also filled with fairytale re-tellings. Which is why today's theme is Live Action Fairy Tale Adaptations. My picks today are two favourites and one bad movie pick


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Red Riding Hood (2011)
Let's start with the bad. Red Riding Hood. At the center of this movie is a young woman choosing between two suitors one a supposed bad boy and the other the family's match. A love triangle, really it's a pretty sad attempt to throw romance and make the movie sexy which it still fails. This all of course takes place in the midst of a witch hunt for wolves or witches or both that's been tormenting their village which I thought was the more interesting aspect of the movie. Still, the movie was just so bad it even had the whole "what big eyes you have" line.

Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
If you love the Cinderella story you have to see this movie. It is a lovely spin on Cinderella with Drew Barrymore as Danielle who was orphaned when her father dies and is made servant by her stepmother. Smart and plucky, Danielle catches the prince's eye when in disguise as a noblewoman(to rescue another servant her stepmother has sold) she gives her opinion about everything. Danielle is definitely not a damsel in distress in Ever After.

Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1998)
Snow White has been getting quite a number of adaptation recently with Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman and its sequel which is in the works. However, the only Snow White movie that worked for me was the 1998 Snow White: A Tale of Terror with its interesting take on the well known tale. In it Snow White is a little bratty giving the stepmother, who didn't start out all evil, a very hard time. Then something terrible happens which threw the stepmother over the edge and out for Snow White's blood. The dwarves here aren't dwarves either but outcasts, while the prince charming is just another outcast who crosses path with Snow White after her stepmother went crazy. The movie does get quite dark and creepy in the second half, what with all the witchcraft going on, so this is definitely not a fairytale for kids.

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

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks

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Thursday, March 5, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #34: Black and White Movies made since 1970




Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share three movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple 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 visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Black and White Movies made since 1970

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Modern Black and White Movies Paper Moon, Pleasantville and Sin City

We're back to regular programming; this week's theme is a suggestion is from Wendell@DellonMovies and it's a tough one considering I have not watch a lot of black and white movies, much less those modern movies that were intentionally made so. Still I tried and admittedly some of them are not fully black and white having some scenes in colour.

Paper Moon (1973)
I remember this to be a cute and charming movie starring real life father and daughter Ryan and Tatum O'Neal playing a con man and a spunky little girl who go on the road together.

Pleasantville (1998)
Fun movie where a 50's black and white sitcom depicting the perfect lives of its characters transform into colour when two teenagers from the 90's are transported into their world and change them.

Sin City (2005)
I heard the sequel was bad which is a pity because I like Sin City and wanted to see a continuation to the different storylines. One of the things I like about Sin City is that it looked like it jumped out of the panels of the book, basically it's a moving graphic novel.

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

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Check out some of my random Thursday Movie Picks

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