Thursday Movie Picks #112: World War 2

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 World War 2

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I just generally don't go for war movies, but this week was a little better than the previous World War 1 theme in that I have a slightly larger pool of watched films to pick from. I'm just going with 3 of my most recent watch.

Fury (2014)

The movie follows a tank crew during the last few days (or was it weeks?) of the war in Europe. I can't think of any other film that ever gave the perspective of a tank crew or the role of tanks during a war, so that was interesting. Although the way the interior of the tank was shot made it seem a lot roomier than I think it actually was.

The Book Thief (2013)
Based on a very popular YA novel, I was looking forward to it. It was underwhelming. I haven't read the book so I'm not really judging it as an adaptation. It's just the story is narrated by Death, and as we are to believe it to be so, I don't think the film (maybe the book did a better job?) quite show us why this girl's story stands out from all the rest in the whole human existence. I can see how her story would appeal to book lovers in that she is totally badass stealing books that were banned but I'd imagined Death would have seen more people that had to make extraordinary choices and led extraordinary lives.

The Imitation Game (2014)

Underwhelmed by this too. It just feels Oscar baity.

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Thursday Movie Picks #111: Non-English Language Movies - Scandinavian Language

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  Non-English Language Movies - Scandinavian Language

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My picks today are basically the only Scandinavian language movies I've seen.

A Royal Affair (2012)

I know people like love this movie; I thought it was just ok. The whole insight into Danish court life was interesting but I found the noticeable age difference between Vikander and Mikkelsen was just distracting so I couldn't really buy the romance, especially since the age gap of the historical figures wasn't as large.

Let the Right One In (2008)
Love love this movie. It's an eerily haunting movie about a young outcast falling for the girl next door who happens to be a vampire.

I Am Dina (2002)

I didn't even remember this as being filmed in Norwegian because it had English and French actors in some the bigger roles but since it was Norway's Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film, it lands as my pick today. Truthfully I remember very little of it, just that at the beginning the title character as a young girl causes a horrific accident that claims the life of her mother resulting in her father to neglect her and she grows up a little wild and eccentric.

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Thursday Movie Picks #110: Crime Gone Wrong

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  Crime Gone Wrong (Suggested by Hitchcock)

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This week's theme was suggested by John Hitchcock @ HitchcocksWorld. Such a great theme. My picks today are some of my favourite flicks where things go spectacularly and horribly wrong.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)

Two men kidnap a rich man's daughter for ransom. Highly recommend this. Very tense drama especially the first few scenes with the kidnapping and the just not knowing who these people are and how far they will go. I had heard the Alice character wasn't the usual damsel, she isn't but in what way I won't spoil it here. The movie doesn't really have like a twist, just a lot of things go wrong and a lot of doubt as who is aligned with who.

Trance (2013)
Picked this movie before, picking it again because it's a perfect fit. A fine arts auctioneer is mixed up with some gangsters who are robbing the auction house where he works and is tasked to assist them as necessary during the robbery except that he loses the painting they're trying to rob. When he loses his memory when his head is hit, the gangsters hire a hypnotherapist to recover the painting through hypnosis. I don't remember this being that well received but I enjoyed it; this one definitely has lots of twist and turns.

A Simple Plan (1998)

While I still struggle to remember most of what happens in this, I do remember it was a very good movie. Very dark and good performance by the leads. The gist is a couple of people find a huge amount of money and decide to keep it. That was their first crime: keeping the money. Consumed by greed they commit other crimes to protect the money and hide their secret. It's just sad really how quickly they fall from being regular seemingly law abiding people to doing terrible things.

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Thursday Movie Picks #109: Movies About Writing/Writers of Novels

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 About Writing/Writers of Novels (not about real-life Writers)

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I don't know if my the theme for today seem confusing; in short what I mean is no biopics or anything to do with real writers. My picks today are random.

Third Person (2013)

Three interlocking stories set in three different cities where one of the characters is a writer trying to finish up his latest book in a hotel room. It sort of has an interesting way in connecting the stories, but the individual stories themselves were not that strong, so overall I didn't quite enjoy it. James Franco is in this and I have to say I don't think he can do drama; I found him pretty awful in this.

In the House (2012)

I've chosen this before for the Teachers theme but it's a good drama/thriller that's fitting here as it follows a French teacher, Germain, giving extra writing tutoring to one of his students, a budding writer. He soon becomes engrossed by his student's written account of a classmate's family life and doubt begins to arise what is real and what is fictionalised and sensationalised to keep Germain's interest. 

Ruby Sparks (201)

Chose this before in a previous theme but once again it's such a fitting pick for today. A novelist suffering from writers block writes his dream girl into existence. A quirky dramedy that goes to quite a dark place as the main character increasingly manipulates aspects of his girlfriend's characteristics to mould her into his idea of the perfect girlfriend for the perfect relationship.

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Thursday Movie Picks #108: Gambling

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 Gambling

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Hah! Another one of those what was I thinking? themes. I think I might have been watching The Gambler, the one with Mark Wahlberg when I came up with this theme. But of course by now I can hardly remember anything from that movie - it was pretty forgettable. I know I have watch a few gambling movies, most of them I can't remember much of the plot by now, so here are three that left me with a more lasting impression.

The Hustler (1961)

This was probably the first movie starring Paul Newman I had seen and it remains my favourite. Newman plays a pool hustler who after a big loss tries to regain his confidence and money to have a go at another big challenge.

21 (2008)

Based on a true story, it's about a group of college students that count cards at Las Vegas casinos. I didn't love love the movie, still it was an entertaining two hours or so of these kids trying to beat the big guys. If you like heist films, this is sort of made like it.

The House of Mirth (2000)

Gillian Anderson plays a young socialite who while financially dependent on income from her aunt accumulates a large gambling debt. Thus it becomes more imperative that she marry rich to clear her debt but her heart belongs to another who isn't. Lest you think it's a romantic comedy from the title and my very brief description, it definitely is not. Love this movie and Gillian Anderson is soo good. This and Bleak House, she should just do a lot of period dramas.

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Thursday Movie Picks #107: World War 1

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 orld War 1

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Sometimes I really wonder why I come up with these topics. As I looked up today's one, I'm drawing a complete blank. I can't recall any movies at the top of mind so once again I have to check that list where I keep track of everything I've seen. My picks today is pathetic because these are the only ones I remember watching.

A Very Long Engagement (2004)

It seems that everything that stars Audrey Tautou  has a little whimsical quirkiness to it, even though this is mostly a depressing film. Tautou plays a woman tirelessly searching for her fiance (who pretty much had lost his mind during his service) who disappeared from the trenches of the Somme.

A Little Princess (1995)

A young girl becomes a servant at her boarding school to pay off the school fees when her father goes missing during the war. I know this is a favorite among many, but I just can't stand the whole princess thing and it has the magical minority person thing going on too, which is just so no. I suppose I can't blame the movie because it's probably the book's fault. Story aside, the movie does look pretty.

My Boy Jack (2007)

This is a TV movie but I'm just going to pick it as I remembered it was pretty good and it also featured one the earlier Carey Mulligan and, non-Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe performance. The movie follows Rudyard Kipling and his family's search for their son who goes missing. The eventual death wrecks the family especially Kipling because he had used his influence to get his son accepted into military service despite being rejected several times for bad eyesight.

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Thursday Movie Picks #106: Summer Camp

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 Summer Camp

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Ahh summer camp. I've been to the shorter few days type of camp and can't say I'm a fan of them. I much prefer the comforts of home and watch TV, hence the blog right. I know there's like the teen comedy and horror summer camp sub genre, but my picks today are the more kid friendly variety because I just haven't seen a lot of the former.

Standing Up (2013)

Two kids, both victims of a prank at summer camp, runs away. A sweet movie about two outcasts becoming friends. If you like Flipped, I think you'll enjoy this as well.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Two kids in love decide to run away; one from home and the other from Scouts camp. What is it with running away from camp? This movie is just super cute. It pretty much has everything I expect and love from a Wes Anderson movie.

The Parent Trap (1998)

Twins separated when their parents divorced finally meet at summer camp. Haven't seen this probably since I was a tween myself, but I do remember enjoying it a lot. And wasn't Lindsay Lohan just cute and charming then?

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