Thursday Movie Picks: Television Edition: Series that Failed to Get a Second Season

I've been so busy writing the review for Infinity War (it will be on the blog tomorrow) that I completely forgot it was Thursday and therefore time for Thursday Movie Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. It's the last week of the month so instead of movies we are doing TV series, and this week we are picking those that never got a second season.

Venus in Fur (2013)

Though I saw and liked The Pianist, I never bothered to check out Roman Polanski's filmography. It's the whole sexual abuse story, it is such a turn-off. Then months ago, perhaps even a year ago considering how fast times goes by, someone (either Getter from Mettel Ray, or Sofia from Returning Videotapes) picked Venus in Fur (French: La Vénus à la fourrure) in one of their Thursday Movie Picks. It sounded interesting so I added it on my list. I finally watched and damn, it was good. 

A playwright, Thomas Novachek (Mathieu Amalric), is about to leave the theatre after a long day of auditioning for the female lead of his new play which he adapted from the 1870 novel, Venus in Fur by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, when an actress, Wanda Jourdain (Emmanuelle Seigner), arrives soaking wet from the rainstorm outside. She doesn't look like an actress and her name isn't even on the audition list, but eventually, with much persuasion, Novachek agrees to read the part of the play with her, and he's immediately stunned by her.

Conviction (2010)

"Conviction does give us more beard throughout the movie, and a quite horrible one, that Rockwell yet again pulls off at the end, but overall, it’s a pretty beard-tastic movie!" Getter at MettelRay.com said. Well, if that's not enough to make me want to watch a movie, I don't know what is. 

Anyway, Conviction is about two siblings, Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) and Kenny (Sam Rockwell) who have always been very close to each other. When Kenny is arrested and eventually convicted of the brutal murder of a woman, Betty Anne, who firmly believe in her brother's innocence, puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother and prove his innocence. 

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Though I love graffitis and I often take pictures when I see some pretty good ones, I know absolutely nothing about street art. Those beanies with "Obey" written on them? I had absolutely no idea a street artist made them --the same guy who made those famous Obama posters, by the way-- I just assumed it was some expensive brand. So that's one of the things I learned watching Exit Through the Gift Shop.

But mostly, I learnt about the story of Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles whose obsession with filming literally every single moment of his day brought him first to meet some of the most famous street artists, Shepard Fairey (the Obey/Obama guy) and Banksy, and later to become a street artists himself.