Thursday Movie Picks: Origin Movies


Welcome back to Thursday Movie Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Each week we, those who join, have to pick three to five films to fit the theme. This is origin movies week and since it's also Girl Week 2017, a series hosted by Dell on Movies from November 20 to November 26, I combined the two and picked three origin stories of female characters. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a third good film so I had to settle for a terrible one.

Wonder Woman (2017)
It narrates the events that made of Amazons princess and warrior Diana Wonder Woman. This is one of the best origins and comic book movies ever made. The character build up is spectacular and Gal Gadot is fantastic as Wonder Woman. It's basically a dream come true. 

Maleficent (2014)
Have you ever wondered how someone ends up being a villain? Well, this movie shows that. And more. It's a pretty good movie, visually stunning, well directed and with solid acting. And it makes you fall in love with a villain.

Catwoman (2004)
A sensitive woman is transformed into a woman with the strength, agility and speed of a cat and walks the thin line between criminal and hero. I saw this movie more than 10 years ago, but I remember it was bad. Very bad. Halle Berry was stunning though. 

12 comments :

  1. Wonder Woman is a great inclusion for this! Maleficent was so-so but it had quite daring thematic elements for Disney movie

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  2. I have one pick similar to yours.

    Catwoman - I remember it got really bad reviews so I just didn't see it.

    Little side note, do put a link back to my blog when you participate :)

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    1. Oh god, thanks! I fixed it now. I completely forgot!

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  3. Wonder Woman! Loved that...hated Catwoman like everyone else lol

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  4. Ah Wonder Woman, a hero we needed and kinda saved the DC franchise. Can't wait for Wonder Woman 2 (hoping for a better title).

    I have passionate hate for Maleficent. And Catwoman....well...lets just leave at its very bad.

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    1. As long as it's good as this one, I'm fine with Wonder Woman 2 haha

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  5. Great choices! I think Wonder Woman is a hit in so many ways. I have to see that movie!! Maleficent was a better movie than I thought it would be. What a shame that we let men takes us down such a dark path. I only saw part of Catwoman which sucked. I think they decided to showcase Halle Berry rather than good writing, acting, plot......

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    1. I don't remember much about it other than Halle Berry so I guess that's what they did. Of course it didn't work.

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  6. Glad to see some more love for Maleficent. It's such an underrated film. And how sad you had to include Catwoman. There need to be better origin stories about women.

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    1. I know! Hopefully Captain Marvel (and others) will be one of those.

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  7. I've yet to see Wonder Woman though it's in my queue, so soon. Maleficent was entertaining if not great but Angelina Jolie was well cast. The less said about Catwoman other than it fits well the better.

    I purposely avoided Superhero origins for mine:

    The Bourne Identity (2002)-A young man (Matt Damon) is found floating in the ocean by fisherman, bullet riddled and with no memory of who he is or how he came to be in his situation. As he recovers he discovers he knows many languages, is versed in complex defensive skills and for some reason has a computer chip implanted in his hip. Sensing danger he assumes the identity Jason Bourne, the name on his passport and sets off to discover the facts of his life. He is actually a pursued agent with the bulk of the film following efforts to eliminate him during which he uses his skills to defend himself helped by a young woman (Franka Potente) he enlists along the way. Kinetic, exciting opener to the series followed by several excellent (and a few not so hot) sequels.

    Dirty Harry (1971)-With San Francisco in the grip of a maniac known as Scorpio police inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is put on the case since others have been ineffective. Harry, untroubled by things like procedure and rules, opens a can of whoop-ass on a variety of lowlifes and criminals in his pursuit of the lunatic. Responsible for the catch phrase "You've got to ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" this massively successful film lead to four sequels.

    A Family Affair (1937)-First film of the enormously successful Andy Hardy series follows the everyday adventures of small town California Judge Hardy (Lionel Barrymore in the first/Lewis Stone in the series), his wife (Spring Byington in the original/Fay Holden series), two children Marion (always Cecilia Parker) and Andy (Mickey Rooney) and their live in Aunt Millie (Sara Haden). This time out the judge is up for reelection but crooked politicians and a hack at the local paper try to throw the vote. Meanwhile oldest daughter Joan (who more or less vanished later on) returns home because of troubles in her marriage but after Andy jumps into action and has a man to man talk with his dad all turns out A-Okay! Sprightly piece of Americana was so successful (earning over 2 ½ million on a budget of less than 200 thousand) it begat a series of 15 follow-ups that proved such a money mill MGM used them to introduce their most promising up and comers including Lana Turner, Kathryn Grayson, Esther Williams and Judy Garland who became a semi-regular as next door neighbor Betsy Booth who pined for Andy though he was going steady with the short tempered Polly Benedict (Ann Rutherford). These helped turn Rooney into a top 10 box office attraction for many years including twice at number one.

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    1. I haven't seen A Family Affair but it sounds interesting aka I'm adding it to my list. I loved Bourne Identity (actually, I loved the entire trilogy) and I really enjoyed Dirty Harry. I wasn't a fan of the sequels though. Some were fine, but some were terrible.

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