Welcome to Thursday Movie Picks, the weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Each week we are asked to pick three to five films (on the last Thursday of the month we pick TV series this year) to fit the week's theme. This week's theme is small towns. Living in a small myself, my picks are nice films that prove living in such towns isn't that boring, interesting things happen here too.
Tom lives a happy and quiet life in a small town in Indiana. Then one night someone tries to rob his diner, he takes action, saves his customers and becomes a local hero. That draws a lot of attention from the media, and his past comes back to haunt him. It's a good and quite horrifying drama about violence, the ability to distinguish good from evil, and whether we know or not those around us.
Lars is a shy and awkward young man who one day finally brings home the girl of his dreams to his brother and sister-in-law's home. The only problem is that she isn't real, she is a sex doll Lars bought on the internet. This one is incredibly sweet and touching. It deals with loneliness in such a beautiful way and it finds the perfect balance between humour and drama. And Ryan Gosling is perfect.
Sweet Virginia (2017)
A man walks into a bar and kills three people, shaking the entire community of a small town in Alaska. Turns out he's a hitman and, waiting to cash the payment, he befriends Sam, a former rodeo champ who now owns a motel. This bromance is doomed to fail though as Sam is romantically involved with Bernadette, the widow of one of the victims. It's got a simple story and a slow pace, but it has a lot of suspense and it's quite interesting to follow. Also, Jon Bernthal is great as Sam.
I haven't seen Sweet Virgina yet but I really want to. I love your other two picks. I wish I would've thought of them.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good movie, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Plus Jon is very dreamy in it :)
DeleteI have not seen any of these but I really want to see the first one as I love Viggo and think he is an under-rated actor. I forgot about Lars and have it now on my list. I have not heard of the 3rd one at all but it sounds good.
ReplyDeleteThe first one is a bit violent, but you're going to like it if you love Viggo.
DeleteSweet Virginia!!! YAAAS! I mean, praise for Jon's movies this week just puts a smile to my face! :D
ReplyDeleteSweet Virginia! Yaaas! I mean, picking a Jon movie this week was something we have in common! ;) Oh and I've meant to watch Lars and the Real Girl for ages, but haven't gotten to it yet.
ReplyDeleteI would have probably picked Wind River too if I hadn't wrote this post already by the time I watched it. Please, watch Lars and the Real Girl, that movie is so good!
DeleteI've only seen History of Violence which was not bad with excellent work by Viggo and Maria Bello. I tried with Lars but came in late and just couldn't get into it. Never heard of Sweet Virginia but it sounds worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteThere were so many choices this week since small town life is a common setting for films I had to leave off so many films I like.
Doc Hollywood (1991)-Ben Stone (Michael J. Fox) is a hotshot young doctor as well as pompous jackass who has been offered a big opportunity with a plastic surgeon in L.A. Driving across country in his sports car he tries to avoid highway traffic but causes a minor accident on a back road in the small town of Grady. Sentenced to community service assisting the town’s long time cantankerous physician Dr. Hogue (Barnard Hughes) he struggles with the slower pace of the village. At first snappish and anxious to get out of there ASAP he gradually falls for both the colorful townspeople including the mayor (David Ogden Stiers) his randy but sweet daughter Nancy Lee (a scene stealing Bridget Fonda) and pretty ambulance driver Lou (Julie Warner) whose affections he has to compete for with the cocksure insurance man Hank (Woody Harrelson). Good natured comedy is a great showcase for Fox’s boyish charm.
All That Heaven Allows (1955)-Douglas Sirk’s masterpiece of color and skewering of class structure looks at the May/December romance of wealthy widow Cary Scott (Jane Wyman), lonely but hidebound by small town mores to a country club life full of wolfish men, disapproving children and stifling conventions, and her younger gardener Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson) a successful nurseryman with a rustic, down to earth attitude who doesn’t give a damn what others think. They are happy for a brief period but Cary, saddled with two of the most odious children (both of college age) in filmdom is pressured by them to break off the affair at which point having ruined her life they promptly forget about her. There’s plenty more drama ahead for the pair though. This heavily influenced Todd Haynes’s Far from Heaven.
Our Town (1940)-The everyday life of small town Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire from the turn of the last century until about the time the film was made is recalled by the residents young and old. Idyllic version of life in the early 20th century where no one locks their doors and all is mostly harmonious focuses on young lovers George Gibbs (William Holden) and Emily Webb (Martha Scott) through their trials and triumphs. Thornton Wilder’s play on which this is based won the Pulitzer Prize.
I'm not a romance person but All That Heaven Allows does sound interesting.
DeleteI've only seen A History of Violence. Excellent choice. To be honest, I've avoided Lars and the Real Doll. I've heard it's good, but those things are creepy looking.
ReplyDeleteThey do look creepy but it's worth watching.
DeleteLars and the Real Girl is one of my favorite movies! I didn't even think of it for this theme.
ReplyDeleteI guess Lars living in a small town isn't something people think about. There's so much going on that it goes into the background.
DeleteI overlooked it too.
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