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Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks, a weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves where you share three movies to fit the theme of the week each Thursday.
This week's theme, first of a four week Valentine's Edition series, is Star-Crossed Lovers. I'm no expert in romance related things, so I had to google it, and I found out that all relationships doomed to fail due to external forces fall into this category. So here's my picks:
Boys Don't Cry (1999)
Brandon's doing great at life, and gets even better when he starts dating Lana. The two of them fall in love, and they are happy like they're never been before, but he has forgotten to mention one important detail: he was born a woman, and when his best friends discover this, Brandon's life is ripped apart. With a terrific performance from Hilary Swank, it is an heart-breaking, eye-opening film about transgender people that everyone should see.
Titanic (1997)
Rose, a seventeen-year old aristocrat, falls in love with Jack, a kind but poor artist. As if their social statuses weren't already a big obstacle, Rose is supposed to marry her rich, snob fiancé Cal who finds out about the romance and locks Jack away. But that's not all, the ship hits an iceberg, Rose must find Jack only to see him freezing to death in the cold water. There's not much to say about this one that hasn't been told already. Simply amazing. A classic.
A Walk to Remember (2002)
Despite being two different people, Landon and Jamie start a relationship, much to the chagrin of Landon's popular friends and Jamie's reverend father. Eventually they fall in love only for Landon to find out Jamie is dying. It's quite hard to admit it, but I actually loved this film, and I was pleasantly surprised because it's Nicholas Sparks.
Boys Don't Cry! How did I not think of that? Brilliant film that is so important and fits the theme perfectly. Great choice.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It was the first film that came to my mind.
DeleteBoys Don't Cry is a brilliant choice. That's such a hard film to watch, but it's so powerful.
ReplyDeleteIt is, and it stuck with me like no other romantic flick also because it is so much more than that.
DeleteBoys Don't Cry is so brutal I could never watch it again but it is a compelling film and fits well here.
ReplyDeleteTitanic fits well too and while I think the picture is exceptional technical picture making and Kate & Leo are super together the impossibility of their romance actually happening on that ship at that point in history is just a bridge to far for me to suspend my belief. I certainly don't hate the picture I just prefer the other versions of that ship's sorry fate more.
I liked A Walk to Remember but it didn't blow me away, it works well here however.
I went further back for my choices, and almost had a Barbra Streisand theme within theme but the third film of hers that fit is so terrible I skipped it and selected a much better version of the same story. I threw in a small snippet from each to highlight the theme.
The Way We Were (1973)-Memories will light the corners of your mind after viewing this high quality drama of Jewish radical Katie Morosky (Babs) and "gorgeous goyish guy" Hubbell Gardner (Robert Redford) who attend college together in the 30’s then meet again during WWII and despite immense differences fall in love. The film follows their problem plagued relationship through dating, marriage and the Hollywood blacklist. Tale of doomed love is ultra-romantic with political overtones has nice period detail and perhaps Streisand’s career best performance.
**Star-crossed quote- "I want us to love each other. The trouble is we do."
Funny Girl (1968)-Gawky, burning with ambition and massively talented Fanny Brice is trying to make her way in show biz, by chance she meets suave professional gambler Nicky Arnstein who helps give her a step up. Sensing a spark but pulled apart by circumstances Fanny continues her ascent occasionally running into Nick until a fateful encounter leads to a great love. Problem is Fanny’s compiling one triumph on top of another while Nick feeling the pressure of being “Mr. Brice” suffers a series of bad luck deals leading to a disastrous decision (and an emotion packed finale). Oscar winning showcase for Streisand, how much is true is questionable though the real life Brice and Arnstein did have a troubled marriage.
**Star-crossed quote-Nick: “I thought maybe, finally, at last my luck had changed…but it hadn’t. “Fanny-“So it will change tomorrow, the way it has a hundred other time. Everybody has a run of bad luck now and then it doesn’t mean anything.” Nick-“How would you know darling? You never lose.”
A Star is Born (1954)-Band singer Esther Blodgett (Judy Garland) saves movie star Norman Maine (James Mason) from making a drunken fool of himself at a Hollywood benefit when he stumbles into her act. Intrigued he tracks her down to a late night club and discovers that she possesses “that little something extra” that makes a great star and convinces her to leave the band. After some complications a friendship develops leading to a romance and marriage but as Esther, now rechristened Vicki Lester, rises ever higher Norman, trapped by demons in a downward spiral, falls leading to tragedy for all. Judy’s pinnacle both vocally and dramatically. She’s almost matched by Mason and they are supported by strong work from Charles Bickford, Tommy Noonan and especially Jack Carson.
**Star-crossed quote:
“Love isn't enough, I thought it was. I thought I was the answer for Norman. But love isn't enough for him. No matter how much you love someone — how do you live out the days? How?”
I haven't seen any of your picks, but I'm adding A Star is Born to my queue.
DeleteI picked Titanic, too - it is so great, just tremendous filmmaking, and that you buy into Rose and Jack's relationship despite the historical inaccuracy of it all (and that unforgivable spitting scene) is a testament to Leo & Kate's talent. Boys Don't Cry is superb, too. So tough to watch, though.
ReplyDeleteI never saw A Walk to Remember but I remember really liking the songs Mandy Moore did for the soundtrack.
It's great to see I'm not the only one who didn't like the spitting scene. Not seeing A Walk to Remember isn't a big loss. Mandy Moore's songs are probably the best part of the film. Along with Toploader's Dancing in the Moonlight, let's not forget that.
DeleteI still have to see Boys Don't Cry and the reason is because I know it is a tough film to watch. I haven't seen A Walk to Remember but it sounds ok. Titanic....The effects are great especially how one sees the ship under the water and then it melts into how it used to look but otherwise I hate this film. I am waiting to see Gopher and Julie talk shop since it seemed like the Love Boat. It was hugely inaccurate, the plot would never happen...ughhh
ReplyDeleteTitanic certainly has some flaws, but I just love it, probably because it's the first love story and "grown-up" film my generation and I have seen.
DeleteBoys Don't Cry is a great pick! Never crossed my mind. As for Titanic, I just can't ever do it again. The hype was too big, and I just never fell in love with it as a love story. Same for A Walk to Remember. I saw it because my high school girlfriend wanted to see it. That's about all I can say. Lol.
ReplyDeleteWe are on opposite sides on Titanic. I absolutely loved it, despite the flaws. I saw A Walk to Remember in high school. I had this cool religion teacher - which is a lot said by an atheist - who used to discuss with the class about everything, and we watched this when talking about love. It isn't a masterpiece or anything, but I picked it also because everyone's still talking about how great The Fault in our Stars was, like it's something completely new, when this one happened more than 10 years before and had a similiar story.
DeleteHmmm, I'm sure what FIOS has isn't completely new, but I guess it does deal a lot more with sick children and how all they and their family cope for years and years.
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