Welcome back, welcome if you are new, to Thursday Movie Picks, the wonderful series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. If you want to know more about, and/or participate, you can find everything you need to know here. This week we are picking movies starring real-life couples. It was not an easy week as I'm yet to see many of these films —Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Green Lantern, to mention a few— so I had Mr. Google help me. Which made me realise how dumb I am for not thinking about my second and third pick.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
A young white woman (Katharine Houghton) returns home earlier from her vacation so that her parents (Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn) can meet her African-American fiance (Sidney Poitier).
A Quiet Place (2018)
In order to survive, a family lives in solitude and absolute silence as there's something lucking in the shadows that waits for noises to attack. It stars John Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt.
Zelig (1983)
A mockumentary that follows the story of Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen), a man who becomes a celebrity in the 1920s due to his ability to look and act like the people around him. Mia Farrow plays a psychiatric who wants to help Zelig.
The only one of these I haven't seen is Zelig, I've only managed to like one Woody Allen film ever. lol
ReplyDeleteI watched all the movies he directed 😅
DeleteGuess Who's Coming to Dinner is very much of its time and place and far from my favorite teaming of the pair but Tracy's performance is a beauty. However while Kate Hepburn is good her Oscar win is a puzzler. I think it was intended as a sort of benediction to her career since the Academy couldn't have realized she's come roaring back the next year with a worthy performance in The Lion in Winter.
ReplyDeleteThe same holds for Zelig with Woody and Mia as far as favorites go but it's the much better film of the two and both of their performances are solid.
Haven't seen A Quiet Place but it's on my list.
I started looking for picks and found so many choices I got very specific to narrow down, I went with adaptations of Shakespeare comedies and still ended up with four!
The Boys from Syracuse (1940)-In the town of Ephesus in ancient Asia Minor two boys from Syracuse, Anthipholus (Allan Jones) and his servant Dromio (Joe Penner), search for their long-lost twins who, for reason of plot confusion, are also named Anthipholus and Dromio. Problems arise when the wife of the Ephesians, Adriana (Irene Hervey) and her servant Luce (Martha Raye), mistake the two strangers for their husbands. Complications and comedy ensue. Loosely based on Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. Leads Jones and Hervey were married for over 20 years, their son vocalist Jack Jones is most well-known for singing the theme for The Love Boat.
The Taming of the Shrew (1967)-Wealthy Padua merchant, Baptista (Michael Hordern), has two daughters-the fiery Katherina called Kate (Elizabeth Taylor) and younger sister Bianca (Natasha Pyne). Bianca loves Lucentio (Michael York), and wants to marry but can’t until the thorny Kate does which she shows no inclination to do. On the scene comes the raucous and magnetic Petruchio (Richard Burton) who sees Kate as a challenge and when her father forces them to marry the real combat begins. The infamously battling Burtons are perfectly cast as the warring lead couple.
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)-After a successful campaign against his rebellious brother, Don John (Keanu Reeves), Don Pedro (Denzel Washington) visits the governor of Messina. With him are Benedick (Kenneth Branagh) and Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard). While there, Claudio falls for the governor's daughter, Hero (Kate Beckinsale), while Benedick engages in a war of words with Beatrice (Emma Thompson), the governor's niece. While Don Pedro tries to trick Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love, Don John tries to tear Claudio and Hero apart. Aside from married (at the time) couple Branagh & Thompson and the aforementioned stars the cast also includes Michael Keaton, Imelda Staunton and Emma’s mother Phyllida Law.
The Taming of the Shrew (1929)-Same basic story as the Liz & Dick version above but with substantial cuts (and additional dialogue by Sam Taylor-???? WHY) served as a wrong-headed early sound vehicle for two of the biggest stars of the silent era, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. who had notoriously left they spouses to marry each other (but whose own marriage was foundering by this point) in an echoing of the whole Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie episode of later years. Static and dated with both stars nearing the ends of their careers (Mary made 3 more films, Doug 4 before retirement) Pickford considered it one of her worst performances (she’s right) but Fairbanks, full of brio is suited to Petruchio and emerges okay. Still you’re missing nothing if you give it the skip.
I haven't seen any of your picks but I'll definitely check out Much Ado About Nothing since I love Keanu Reeves.
DeleteWe match on A Quiet Place! I almost had to resort to Google this week, I've learned a lot reading everyone else's posts!
ReplyDeleteSame here. I didn't even know some of the actors the others picks were a couple at some point lol
DeleteI have only seen Guess Who's Coming to Dinner which i do enjoy and still believe it is relevant even if I am one of the few. I am not sure about A Quiet Place as it sounds scary as hell. I still have to see Zelig but glad you picked Woody Freak Allen since he was involved with all his leading ladies until he teamed up with his step daughter (ewwww)
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on that, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is still very relevant.
DeleteGuess Who's Coming to Dinner is my blind spot pick for this month. I've already watched it. Hopefully, I'll get the review up soon. A Quiet Place is very good. Haven't seen your last pick.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read your thoughts about it!
DeleteNope, haven't seen any. I have only seen the remake of the first one which I didn't really like. I do want to watch A Quiet Place since it has good buzz.
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe they remade Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
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