Dell on Movies: Search results for thursday

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Thursday, October 1, 2015

Thursday Movie Picks: Alfred Hitchcock Movies

Thursday Movie Picks - Westerns

Thursday Movie Picks: Undercover

Thursday Movie Picks: Good Remakes

Thursday Movie Picks: Immortals

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies About Young Love

Happy Thursday, all! On this week's edition of Thursday Movie Picks...

oh, wait. There might be some new folks here. Let's give them a quick rundown. Every Thursday, I make suggestions based on a theme selected by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves as part of her Thursday Movie Picks meme. Check out her place and the list of upcoming topics and feel free to join in with your own picks.

This week, the theme is childhood, or young love. Wanderer defines "childhood" as being before high school. This left me in a little bit of a bind. I literally had no idea what to do. After combing the recesses of my mind for hours...okay, seconds because my recesses don't run that deep...I finally decided on three I'm calling my favorites. Chronologically, they are...

My Girl

(1991)

Has there ever been a more heart-breaking movie than this? In it, we follow Vada (Anna Chlumsky) and Thomas (Macaulay Culkin). Vada is a girl who has a ton of health problems. Similarly, Thomas is seemingly allergic to everything. The two form a bond throughout the movie and then...well, I won't say anymore.

Let the Right One In

(2008)

Let Me In

(2010)

Okay, so I'm cheating just a bit. We'll actually have four movies, instead of three to choose from this week. Let the Right One In is a wonderful Swedish film featuring two kids that develop an amazing relationship. The boy is a target for bullies while the girl keeps to herself. It just so happens that she's a vampire. In case subtitles are a bit much for you, Let Me In is the American remake. There are some differences along the way, but I enjoyed both very much. In fact, they both made my list of The Best Vampire Movies Since 2000.

Moonrise Kingdom

(2012)

In this one, a boy scout named Sam (Jared Gilman) runs away from camp and convinces a girl from town, Suzy (Kara Hayward) to go with him. While they're off on their little adventure, everyone on the island they live on, including his scout master and her parents are looking for them. Everyone involved gets into some rather interesting situations. Be forewarned that this is a Wes Anderson flick, whom I know some people aren't that fond of. Still, I had a great time watching this. Click here for my full review.

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Thursday, August 7, 2014

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies About Assassins

Once again, it's that wonderful day of the week that most of you only like slightly more than Wednesday because it's one step closer to Friday. Around here, Thursday has recently gotten a sprucing up thanks to Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves and her Thursday Movie Picks Meme.

Yes, this is the part where I urge you to swing by her place, check out the blog and join the Thursday fun.

Do it.

Now.

Just make sure you come back here, at some point.

Soon.

This week's theme is "Movies About Assassins." No shortage of those, so I didn't have too much trouble picking this week. In fact, I had way too many to choose from. I had to narrow it down some way. Therefore, I settled on three that don't take themselves serious, at all. Not even a little bit. These are three movies filled with blood soaked action, profane profanity, and situations so far over the top ridiculous doesn't even begin to describe them. All three are underappreciated, so I've no choice but to call them hidden gems.

Shoot 'em Up

Clive Owen does not play an assassin. However, he is trying to protect an infant from one. Just how insane is this movie? It starts with the delivery of said baby by Owen amidst a shootout that includes the death of the mother. Owen engages in another shootout literally while having sex with Monica Bellucci. The assassin who is always hot on our hero's trail is played with mustache twirling brilliance by Paul Giamatti. It's all a bit much to take in, but it's totally worth it when you do. Don't believe me? Take it from the late great Roger Ebert. About this movie he wrote "I may disapprove of a movie for going too far, and yet have a sneaky regard for a movie that goes much, much farther than merely too far." And he gave it 3 1/2 stars out of four.

Smokin' Aces

This one features a cast of thousands (not quite). Most of them are hitmen trying to kill a magician/gangster played with sleaze dripping from every pore by Jeremy Piven to keep him from testifying against a Las Vegas mob boss. The roster of killers includes Chris Pine, Kevin Durand, Peter Berg, Taraji P. Henson, Common, and even Alicia Keys. Don't worry Piven's got some help from the likes of Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia, Common, and Jason Bateman giving what I consider his finest (and most disturbing) performance. "The Critics' Consensus" on rottentomatoes.com for this film is that it's "a violent mess of a movie." And like that's somehow a bad thing, it only earned a 28% rating. Ladies and gentlemen, I am the 28%.

Crank

It doesn't get any more ridiculous than this. Jason Statham plays an assassin who makes a hit that has some unforeseen consequences. He finds himself poisoned with a drug that inhibits the flow of adrenaline and will eventually slow his heart down enough to kill him. Well, it will kill him if he can't keep his heart rate up. To do so, he does everything you could possibly think of, and then some. Take methamphetamines? Check. Get into fights with both gangsters and the police? Check. Have sex in the middle of the street? Check. Of course, he does all this while trying to get the guys who did this to him. Does it always make sense? No. Is it often downright sadistic? Yup. Do you need to "turn your brain off" to enjoy this? It wouldn't hurt. What? I don't see the problem.

Bonus pick!

Crank: High Voltage

Just because I couldn't let you escape without mentioning the sequel. I'll keep this one short and simple. Suffice it to say when I wrote 'it doesn't get any more ridiculous than this' about the original, I lied.

Bonus Bonus Pick!!

The Big Hit

I won't say too much about this one since I used it as a Thursday Movie Pick a few weeks back. Click here.

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Thursday, February 8, 2018

Thursday Movie Picks: Romance

Thursday Movie Picks: Adopted/Foster Families

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Adapted from Young Adult Novels

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies with Ensemble Casts - Hidden Gems

It's Thursday once again, so it's time for another entry in Wanderer's Thursday Movie Picks Meme. In case you're just joining us on this little adventure, and please do, bloggers are asked to pick three movies every Thursday based on the subject she has selected. You can either go with the best (or your favorites), the worst (or least favorites), hidden gems, or take a crack at multiple categories.

This week's subject is movies with ensemble casts. As opposed to last week's meme, this one is an extremely broad topic. With so many out there, I chose to go with hidden gems. These aren't totally obscure, to be sure, but they've gotten a lot less recognition than I think they deserve. I just want to shed a little light on three pictures that have faded away with the 90s.

My hidden gems are:

The Big Hit

(1998)

The Ensemble: Mark Wahlberg, Lou Diamond Phillips, Bokeem Woodbine, Antonio Sabato Jr., China Chow, Christina Applegate, Lela Rochon, Avery Brooks, Robin Dunne, Sab Shimono, Lainie Kazan, Elliott Gould

Less than a year earlier, Mark Wahlberg had his first real big hit, another ensemble cast flick by the name of Boogie Nights. When this action-comedy flick hit theaters, it opened #1 at the box office, but was quickly forgotten in subsequent weeks. I find it to be a very funny movie about a team of underappreciated team of assassins. When they take a job kidnapping a rich Japanese businessman's daughter, their star player, Wahlberg, finds himself trying to protect the girl. Much like in Boogie Nights, he's just lovably goofy. Lou Diamond Phillips is amazing, here. So, too, are most of his co-stars. Most critics dismissed it. Audiences were rather lukewarm. I had a great time watching it.

Get on the Bus

(1996)

The Ensemble: Charles S. Dutton, Andre Braugher, Isaiah Washington, Hill Harper, Ossie Davis, Bernie Mac, Wendell Pierce, De'aundre Bonds, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Gabriel Casseus, Albert Hall, Steve Hall, Charles Robinson

A year earlier, Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam led The Million Man March on Washington, D.C. It was to be a day of atonement for African American men. It was well attended with many communities sending busloads of black men to the event. Spike Lee's Get on the Bus is a fictional account of one such trip. There are a broad cross-section of personalities representing all walks of life. It's a fun ride with something to say. As far as the public was concerned, it was met with indifference. It was well reviewed, but has fell out of favor over the years. I'm not sure why. Sure, it's not one of Spike's best, but I found it thoroughly enjoyable.

Set it Off

(1996)

The Ensemble: Jada Pinkett Smih, Vivica A. Fox, Queen Latifah, Kimberly Elise, Blair Underwood, John C. McGinley, Ella Joyce, Charles Robinson, Dr. Dre, Chaz Lamar Shepherd

It's not a list of hidden gems unless it uncovers a 'hood classic. This one follows a group of four young ladies facing some serious financial woes. What other way is there to fix your money issues than to start robbing banks? Well, maybe there are other ways, but that's what these ladies decide to do. It becomes an inner-city crime drama that tells most of its story from the bad girls' point of view. There are a number of really good performances, but the real treat here is Queen Latifah. Her character Cleo is by far the most thugged out of the crew. Everything about Cleo runs completely counter to Latifah's well crafted public persona. I don't know how well known it is outside of 'hood movie aficianados, but it did well at the box office grossing roughly four and a half times its $9 million budget. Still, it was hardly a huge crossover success. That's why I call it a hidden gem. It's an underrated heist movie that deserves more eyeballs.

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