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Happy New Year folks! As you can see, the new year new me "rule" doesn't apply here and I'm joining Thursday Movie Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves, for my 3rd year. The blogathon has been running for 5 years though, 5!. The rules are very simple, each Thursday we pick three to five films to fit the week's theme.
And we are opening the year with movies named after their character. Here are the first three that came to my mind among those I haven't picked yet.
Donnie Darko (2001) [Review]
A giant bunny called Frank tells Donnie Darko that the world will end in 28 days and this troubled teenager beings to commit acts of vandalism and more. It's got one of the weirdest stories ever. It's very complex and I'm not sure I really understood it but I loved it. Jake Gyllenhaal is mind-blowing.
John Wick (2014) [Review]
The son of a Russian mobster boss kills the dog his late wife left him so former hitman John Wick resumes his job and seeks revenge. This one is very simple. It's pretty much Taken with a dog instead of the daughter, and it has a lot of flows. But Keanu Reeves is charming af and the film is quite entertaining.
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Holmes and Watson capture a serial killer who is eventually sentenced to be strung up and Watson attests his death. But this guy returns from the afterlife and Lestrade asks Holmes to help Scotland Yard in the investigation. This also is very entertaining, and Robert Downey Jr. makes an awesome Holmes. I need to rewatch this though.
Nice picks! John Wick is awesome. I really like Sherlock Holmes, too. I think it's an underrated movie. I'm not terribly fond of Donnie Darko but I know everyone loves it.
ReplyDeleteYES! Finally someone who likes Sherlock Holmes other than me.
DeleteI love Donnie Darko! An all-timer for me. Came out when I was just starting college and blew everyone's mind. Dig John Wick too. Great picks!
ReplyDeleteI love Donnie Darko! RDJ was my favorite Sherlock until Benedict Cumberbatch came around. That movie was fun.
ReplyDeleteCumberbatch is my favorite Sherlock too.
DeleteDonnie Darko is a weird view, one that I didn't hate when I watched but have no burning desire to revisit. The cast was certainly on the director's side in embracing the spirit of the piece.
ReplyDeleteThis version of Sherlock Holmes was adequate made more so by Mark Strong's terrific villainous performance. How they decided to turn that most cerebral of sleuths Sherlock Holmes into an action figure is a bit puzzling plus I'm not a fan of post prison RDJ. When he was young he was engaging and charming but now I find him smug and lazy in his work.
I haven't seen John Wick.
I decided to do a theme within the theme spurred by the gift for Christmas of a DVD of my first choice which has been a long time favorite.
Mary, Mary (1963)-Struggling New York book publisher Bob McKellaway (Barry Nelson-who is fine but his role has Jack Lemmon’s name all over it) is getting ready to marry his socialite fiancée Tiffany (a knockout Diane McBain) as soon as his divorce from first wife Mary (Debbie Reynolds) comes though. However his accountant Oscar (a delightful Hiram Sherman) requests Mary come up from Philadelphia for the day to straighten out some tax issues before the decree becomes final. Once together Bob and Mary start to jab wittily at each other and before you know it their attraction starts to resurface aided by the attentions to Mary of movie star and prospective author Dirk Winsten (Michael Rennie) and an inconvenient snowstorm. Betrays its stage origins (the play ran for over 1500 performances) but is often clever and witty. Both Rennie and Nelson repeat their Broadway roles.
Rachel, Rachel (1968)-Rachel Cameron (Joanne Woodward) is a lonely middle-aged schoolteacher. Never married and still a virgin she lives a life of quiet desperation with her widowed mother over the funeral home left to them by her father. Over summer vacation she goes to a revival meeting with her best friend fellow teacher Calla (Estelle Parsons) during which she has an epiphany and begins to emerge from her shell taking her life in unexpected directions. Directed by Paul Newman as a vehicle for his wife this received four Oscar nominations including ones for Woodward, Parsons and Best Picture.
Corrina, Corrina (1994)-Widower Manny Singer (Ray Liotta) is frustrated in his search for a nanny for his young daughter who has withdrawn into herself since her mother’s death and stopped speaking. When Corrina Washington (Whoopi Goldberg) applies she is able to break through the child’s reserve and is hired. As time passes she and Manny discover an attraction and grow closer but all does not go smoothly.
And to show this is not strictly a female happenstance:
Buddy Buddy (1981)-Trabucco (Walter Matthau) a hitman on a job to rub out a Mob informant before he testifies is waylaid by Victor Clooney (Jack Lemmon), the suicidal guy in the hotel room next door. Once he talks him off the ledge he plans to jump from their lives become intertwined and nothing goes as planned. Billy Wilder’s final film as director would seem to have everything needed to succeed, a reteaming of Lemmon and Matthau, a quality supporting cast and the great man himself behind the camera but even he admitted that it was more or less a miss.
I haven't seen any of your picks but I love your theme within theme and I think I'll try to watch Rachel, Rachel soon.
DeleteDonnie Darko is a very nutty film with Bugs Bunny’s evil twin. I liked it but not sure why. I started watching John Wick and when I saw the dog and what happened, I started to cry and had to leave. This was 6 months ago and I still am upset by tha5 scene even though I know the doggie is fine. I will neve4 watch that film...now I love the last film and Downey is excellent as Holmes and he makes a great partner with Jude Law. I have seen it more than once and can rematch this one all the time including the second film that is just as good as the first.
ReplyDeleteWatch John Wick 2 then. It's more fun and the dog doesn't die, if I don't go wrong.
DeleteJohn Wick!!! That's a really good pick, I can't wait for the third movie.
ReplyDeleteMe neither!
DeleteDonnie Darko - I like it and don't think I completely got it too. I do want to rewatch it again some day.
ReplyDeleteI think it's impossible to really get it the first time.
Delete