Thursday, July 16, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #53: Science Fiction Movies (No Space/Aliens)



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 Science Fiction Movies (No Space/Aliens)

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I'm going really simple today because I don't think I've watch that many Science Fiction films to get creative with my picks. I'm also hoping to also get some good recommendations today.

Gattaca (1997)
I've been meaning to catch this movie again for quite some time. I've seen it at least twice before but that was more than a decade ago. My memory of the plot has faded, still I remember liking this a lot then.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Once again I have not seen this in ages. Definitely want to see it again. I do remember A.I. has a very sad ending.

Minority Report (2002)The first time I saw this I was pretty young and I thought it was just a meh movie. Couple of years later I saw it again, and hey it's a pretty smart and cool movie. Plus there's a TV adaptation coming soon right? I looking forward to that.

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

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Thursday, July 9, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #52: Road Trip 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 Road Trip Movies

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This week is the 52nd edition of Thursday Movie Picks which means it's the one year anniversary!!! Can you believe it? One year? Time flies! Thank you everyone who have ever participated for making Thursday a day to look forward to.

Now back to regular programming; this week's theme was suggested by John Hitchcock @ HitchcocksWorld. I thought I'd have a little fun and make it another theme within a theme; I'm picking apocalyptic end of the world road trips. I mean have you notice how many people in movies go on road trips when the end is near? Quite a number.

Zombieland (2009)
So I'm pretty sure I've picked Zombieland in previous week's before but it is the perfect pick for this week! A college student travels across country to see if his parents made it through the zombie outbreak and meets a man determined to find the last Twinkie. Their paths cross with two sisters who have been conning through life and now the zombie apocalypse to go to an amusement park. Fun zombie comedy.

 Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) 
In this one the end of the world comes in the form of an asteroid that's about to make Earth disappear. Steve Carrell seems to play the same character he usually plays, a nerdy sad-ish guy like in Little Miss Sunshine, Dan in Real Life and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. This time he's sad because the end of the world is nearing and his wife has suddenly left him so off he goes on a road trip to find his high school sweetheart bringing along his equally depressed neighbour. Not as darkly funny as I thought it would be. More on the darker and duller side.

 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
In this movie we do see life after Earth was destroyed. Arthur Dent survives the demolition of Earth which was made to make way for a new intergalactic motorway when his best friend, who turns out to be an alien, gets them a ride on a passing spaceship and so begins their trip around the galaxy. Read the book, did not get why it is such a hit. Watched the movie partly to see if I was really missing something and maybe get the book more. Still feel the same way, so I'd say watch it if you really enjoyed the book. I do like Marvin though.

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

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Thursday, July 2, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #51: Adaptations of Classic Literature (No Poems or Plays)



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 Adaptations of Classic Literature (No Poems or Plays)

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As usual this week's topic has a few caveats. No plays meaning no Shakespeare adaptations and most of Wilde's work too. I can't really think of anything that was adapted from a poem other than Homer's work....so yeah nothing Homer related. Now I don't know what you'll consider as classic literature, I'm sure its something that's debated a lot, for my picks I'm limiting to nothing written beyond 19th century. Anything 20th century and after just seems too recent. It's too bad too that this is a movie blog series because the UK TV networks produces some wonderful adaptations which I love so I'm gonna go ahead and cheat, and recommend the TV mini-series when possible. 



Jane Eyre (2011)
I think I've mentioned my love for Jane Eyre here before; last count I've watched 6 adaptations and this 2011 movie is somewhat tied with the 2006 BBC mini-series. If you still haven't seen this, there are two good reasons to do so among many: Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender. It's also told in a slightly different way which makes it refreshing especially if you've seen a few of its other adaptations. So my TV recommendation is of course the 2006 adaptation; Ruth Wilson was just as great as Jane. 


 
Mansfield Park (1999)
Not the most faithful adaptation but I just love this movie. From what I understand it's not just based on the book but also Jane Austen's personal letters. Having read Mansfield Park I'd say it made the movie better; more alive and colourful especially with what they did to the Fanny Price's character. In the book Fanny is this mousy dull person and in the movie with a little Jane Austen infused into her Fanny has more wit and agency, and is just a whole lot more interesting character to watch. Now if you want something a little more faithful try the 2007 TV adaptation; it kept the brother and Fanny mousiness but unfortunately it was just so boring and I did not enjoy it at all.



Tess (1979)
Can anyone make a bad adaptation out of Tess of the d'Urbervilles? I don't know about them being faithful since I haven't read the book but it seems all of the ones I've seen are just so beautifully made including this one. I really like Tess but I have to say my favourite and also the TV recommendation is the 2008 BBC mini-series Tess of the D'Urbervilles. It just feels more authentic especially since it was shot in England which Tess wasn't. I also absolutely love Gemma Arterton as Tess especially her accent in this; I have no idea if its a true rural Wessex accent, but it sounds rural-ish and also has a very girlish, adorable and naive sound to it which just fits Tess. The series looks gorgeous too but despite the beauty it is still a wrenching tale of a young woman used and abandoned by the people in her life.

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

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Thursday, June 25, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #50: All in the Family Edition: Sibling 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: Sibling 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 sixth theme for the edition. My three of my picks this weeks all come from different genres: Period drama, contemporary drama and horror.

Pride and Prejudice (2005)
I think my favourite adaptation is the 1995 mini-series but this is very good as well. Most would know it because of the Elizabeth and Darcy romance, but at the center of it is the Bennet family where Elizabeth is one of five sisters, all with different personalities. Perhaps if you've never seen this you may think it is one of those slower period dramas; it's not. It is also very funny.

The Savages (2007)
The premise of this movie is something very familiar: you either have been in this position, will soon be or have seen others in it. In the Savages, brother and sister played equally brilliantly by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney have to determine how best to care for their aged father whom they don't even have a good relationship to begin with as I remember, but regardless feel a sense of duty towards.
 
You're Next (2009)
Other than what happen to the neigbours, the movie begins quite brightly. A couple of adult siblings come together for a weekend with their parents at their country home and I thought aww this looks like a sweet family that gets along. Then the snide remarks start to appear; at dinner they have an all out argument and we get the picture of how their relationship really stands. It is the family/sibling relationship that is the foundation of this  very very clever thriller. If you still haven't seen You're Next quick get to it!
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 So that's it...my three picks. What three movies made your list today?

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Thursday, June 18, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #49: Animated 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 Animated Movies

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Animated Movies

This week theme somehow seems oddly familiar, but after checking past themes, we've really not done this theme before. Now I think I've mentioned on this blog that I don't watch a lot animated films anymore; so I'm not quite caught up on the best animated films of today. My picks will have to come from the pool of films that I watched as a kid and the kid me pretty much loved all the animated feature films I had seen then. I thought it'll be fun to also do a theme within a theme thus I'm picking animated films centering on non human characters.
 
The Land Before Time (1988)
I watch this movie quite a number of times as a kid especially since it played on TV a lot back in the 90s so it was unavoidable. Anyone remembers the theme song If We Hold On Together sung by Diana Ross?
 
The Lion King (1994)
Love, love The Lion King. The movie just gorgeous with a great soundtrack. What is it with kids movies scarring children with scenes of a parents death?

Toy Story (1995, 1999, 2010)
I think I really did grow up with these movies. It had been the first CGI movie I had seen way back when it was first released and from what I understand it was actually the first full length CGI feature ever. I find each subsequent Toy Story is more emotional than the one before despite being essentially about the lives of toys...Pixar is so good at making full fleshy characters from its non human characters.

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

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Thursday, June 11, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #48: Movies Set in a High School, Secondary School or the Equivalent



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 Set in a High School, Secondary School or the Equivalent

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As usual I set up my own parameters for today's theme. Firstly, a majority of the setting has to be the school. Second, I excluded all teen comedies since we already had a teen comedy week and lastly no boarding school movies as we've already had that too. So here are my picks:


The Breakfast Club (1985)
I can't help but pick this movie for this theme; it's set 100% in a school. What happens when a student from each clique are forced to spend several hours together? Some very emotional scenes as they confront each other prejudices.

The Chocolate War (1988)
Based on a YA novel, the story centers on Jerry who as part of a secret society initiation ritual is tasked to refuse selling chocolate boxes for the school's annual fund raiser. I know that might not sound like the most appealing premise but some bad stuff goes down when Jerry continues to refuse selling beyond the number of days he was ordered, as his own little act of rebellion against the school's corruption. Little did he know that his actions escalates the power struggle between Archie, a student who is the mastermind of the school's secret society, and the corrupt school headmaster resulting in Jerry becoming an outcast picked upon by the other students. I love the book so I was thrilled when I found out it had already been adapted way back in the 80s. The book has such great villains; I wished the movie had the gritty performances to flesh out those characters. The movie also certainly tones down the sinisterness of Archie's schemes and the overall bleakness of the novel; still, the movie was an interesting watch.

Speak (2004)
I know I've mentioned this movie quite a number of times but it's so good and yet so under seen. It's also perfect for this theme; a majority of the scenes are set in the school and shows the its social structure. It even has that scene like in Mean Girls where they introduce the cliques but with less of a humorous tone and more to highlight how the protagonist doesn't fit in none of them.

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


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Thursday, June 4, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks #47: Kids Movies Adults Would Enjoy (Non-Animated)



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 Kids Movies Adults Would Enjoy (Non-Animated)

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I don't have kids, but as a fan of movies, I do sometimes watch some kids movies. Now I can't help but think that parents/guardians have probably had to sit through countless awful kids movies that are just too sugary sweet, too heavy handed, too moralistic, too simplistic or full of bad acting among others. So here's to saving parents/guardians from bad kids movies.

The reason why I have the caveat as non-animated is because I have a feeling that without it, we'll see a lot of Pixar movies being picked. We all know Pixar is very good at making movies that cuts across all age groups so I thought it would be a much interesting and less easy theme without Pixar movies.

Flipped
You know how you'll sometimes hear of elderly couples who've been married forever because they're childhood sweethearts? I feel like Flipped is a movie of how they got together. It's a very sweet tale of two kids who live across each other in the early 1960's. For the earlier part of their childhood it was mostly an unrequited love, not even a friendship, until the other slowly starts to notice what's in front of them. The movie is based on a young adult novel which I haven't read but I understand they actually pushed the time setting a few decades backwards; I think it works and I really enjoyed the 60s setting. Don't the kids just dressed smartly for school in those days? Actually in general, I think people just dress better in that period.

Peter Pan
Peter Pan needs no introduction, everyone know this story and this adaptation is brilliant. I just love this movie. It's got action, adventure, magic, comedy, drama and has a lot heart. It makes me feel like a kid again.

The Secret Garden
Fell in love with this movie as a child and I still love it. There is no actual magic in this, but there's an almost magical quality to it with how the children's spirit were all restored through the restoration of the garden. If you have a little girl or still young at heart, don't miss seeing this particular adaptation of The Secret Garden.

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


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