2020 Blind Spot Series: Vertigo (1958)


There's plenty of Alfred Hitchcock films I'm yet to see so why did I pick Vertigo? Simply because it is regarded as a masterpiece and stars James Stewart. Yes, I'm that shallow. But also, Stewart was terrific in Rear Window, which is easily my favourite Hitchcock film, so I figured I'd play it safe with it. I was wrong as, while it's not terrible, the film is far from being the masterpiece I was expecting. 

Sound of Metal (2019)

"This is off to a really bad start", I thought as Riz Ahmed was playing the drums and Olivia Cooke singing in the opening sequence. What can I say, I don't like heavy metal and that beginning made me kind of wish I was deaf so I wouldn't have to bear it. But people whose film opinions I trust loved Sound of Metal, I kept repeating myself, so I kept watching. And soon enough, I couldn't take my eyes off of Darius Marder's film as it became more and more powerful and thought-provoking as well as emotional and heartbreaking. 

The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020)

Despite the fact that I spend many hours a day on Netflix — either watching stuff or adding films to my endless watchlist — I would have never watched nor heard of Radha Blank's The Forty-Year-Old Version if it wasn't for Dell who praised it during Girl Week. And it would have been such a loss on my part as it turned out to be such an honest, intimate, and funny semiautobiographical dramedy.

Thursday Movie Picks: Films Directed by Women

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After seeing other people's numbers, I decided to count how many films directed by women I have seen this year so far and, not to my surprise, it's a mere 27 out of 141. It gets a little better if I'm only looking at 2020 releases as it's 13 out of 35. The good news is that 3 of those films are in my top 4 of 2020, and therefore I'm going to pick them for this Thursday Movie Picks week. 

Happiest Season (2020)


I am a bit of Grinch when it comes to Christmas. While being all grumpy during the holiday season is not my vibe, I don't like the money and time wasted on decorations, I don't like people pretending to be happy when they are not, and I f***king hate Christmas songs. Hence I would have never watched Clea DuVall's Happiest Season were it not directed by a woman and praised by bloggers I follow. And it would have been a loss on my side because, while it has its flaws, it is an engaging, moving and heartbreaking film. 

Kajillionaire (2020)

I was reading Allie's post about female directors of 2020 when I realised two things: first, I haven't seen a lot of 2020 releases; second, and most importantly, the majority of those I've seen were directed by men. So, since both she and Brittani praised Miranda July's Kajillionaire, I decided to start with it. And I am very glad I did as the comedy-drama is just as brilliant and touching as I was expecting it to be. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Adaptations

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We are kicking off the month of December with a pretty vague theme as it's not said what kind of adaptations. Now, if you are not new here, then you know I am not a fan of musicals. It's just that people singing and dancing all of a sudden for no reason whatsoever doesn't really compel me. There are, however, some exceptions and over the years I've fallen in love with several of these films. So without further ado, here are my picks for the week. 

Monthly Recap: November 2020

I'm surprised by how fast November went by considering how much I struggle to find things to do as I have plenty of free time these days. Even more so when November weather is peaking and going for a walk is not fun at all. 

2020 Blind Spot Series: Point Break (1991)

It has been so long since I added Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break on my watchlist that I completely forgot what the film was about and went it knowing only one thing, that it was about surfing. So you can get my surprise and then disappointment when the film turned out to be a predictable action-crime thriller. 

Girl Week 2020: Powerful Monologues Delivered by Women

There is nothing I love in films like the delivery of a powerful monologue. You know, one of those moments when an actor completely takes over the scene and has you glued to the screen, listening carefully to every single word of the speech. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Television Edition: Foreign Language Series

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Happy Thanksgiving my American readers! By the way, how is this the last Thursday of the month?! It feels like November just started! I am kind of happy though because I can finally talk about some foreign TV series I love. And since Dell is hosting the Girl Week Blogathon this week and wasn't able to pick series about women, for each show I'm picking my favourite female character. So without further ado, here are some shows you should check out. 

If Anything Happens I Love You (2020)

I was about to watch yet another Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode when Netflix played the trailer to If Anything Happens I Love You. I had never heard of it before so, before venturing into another dreadful film, I googled it. While the score was high — 8/10 on IMDb —, it was the storyline that convinced me I should have given this short animated feature a chance. And I'm glad I did because it's one of the saddest and heartbreaking and yet beautiful and touching shorts I've ever seen. 

Girl Week 2020: Female Villains I Love

From a very young age, I've always been fascinated with villains as I always found them to be the most compelling characters and therefore I almost always rooted for them. There's a problem with villains though, everyone talks about male villains. After all, most movies are made by men for men, hence there's always a male hero and a male villain. Thankfully, some films and TV series revolve around women as well, so for my first entry in Dell's Girl Week 2020 Blogathon I'm able to talk about my favourite female villains, both from the big and the small screen. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Movies about Villains

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While at a very early age I always rooted for the hero, as I grew up I became increasingly fascinated by villains, and I've found myself rooting for the bad guy more and more often. It's not a coincidence that American Psycho is one of my favourite films. As you probably imagined, this week I'm going with some villain films I love. 

The Life Ahead (2020)

There's a scene around the 30-minute mark where Sophia Loren is sitting in the rain, completely petrified, looking like she is there but she also isn't there. The kids are making faces and laughing to get a reaction from her, but she doesn't bat an eye. Her still facial expression, however, delivers tremendous grief and pain, and it's beyond heartbreaking. That's when I knew Edoardo Ponti's latest film, The Life Ahead (Italian: La vita davanti a se), would end up being one of my favourite of the year. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Favourite Cinematography

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Every film has a cinematography. But not every film has a great cinematography, one that isn't just pretty but that is capable of turning the words from the script into visuals, while building atmosphere, delivering emotions and making the audience feel as if they are experiencing the story first hand. This is the week's theme, or anyway these are the characteristics my favourite cinematographies have.

Thursday Movie Picks: Bookish Films

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I've been trying to write so much for the past few days — with very poor results, by the way —, I don't feel like writing anymore. I'm utterly uninspired. However, since we have a really, really nice theme I'm joining this Thursday Movie Picks week to talk about some book-related films I enjoyed. Which happens to be all romances because (apparently) I'm craving for a relationship lately. 

Monthly Recap: October 2020

I'm so glad October ended because, although it wasn't as distressful as September, it was mentally exhausting. 

2020 Blind Spot Series: The Ring (2002)

Despite it being widely praised by fans of the genre, I was never compelled to watch Gore Verbinski's The Ring as I always thought it'd be just another mediocre to say the least American horror. But it's a must-see, apparently, hence I picked it as my Blind Spot film for the month of October. And I wasted two hours of my day off to see it, hours I could have spent watching two episodes of Netflix's Dark, which is scarier, far more tense, suspenseful and twisted than this dreadfully boring flick. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Halloween + Television Edition: Horror Series

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Yet another month has come to an end which means a television edition of the Thursday Movie Picks series. And since it's October, we're asked to pick horror series. Not my strongest suit, I must say, as I'm not really fond of the genre and therefore I don't usually watch these series. But thanks to Netflix, I can join with some great series. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Halloween Edition: Snow/Winter Horrors

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There couldn’t have been a more appropriate Halloween theme this week as we went from 20+ degrees to barely 10 here, and it’s cold and windy and all we are missing to be winter at its worst is snow. Anyway, this week I was forced to use some films I wasn’t a huge fan of because I haven’t seen many winter horrors.

Thursday Movie Picks: Halloween Edition: Horrors Based on True Stories

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Welcome to another Halloween themed Thursday Movie Picks. This week we are venturing into the scariest kind of horror films, those based on real-life events. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen many that fit and I’ve already used one last week so not all my picks are good this week. 

Monthly Recap: September 2020

Remember when I bragged about my 2020 going wonderfully? Well, September really tried hard and succeeded in messing that up. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Halloween Edition: Horror Movie Houses

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As we welcome October, we also welcome the Halloween Edition of Wandering Through the Shelves’s Thursday Movie Picks. For this first week, we are asked to pick films with scary houses, or at least that’s what think. Without further ado, here are my picks. 

2020 Blind Spot Series: Coming to America (1988)


Just like Trading Places, Coming to America is one of those films that airs a lot on TV here, one I've been feeling like I have to watch for more than a decade and yet keep avoiding every single time as  I've always imagined it to be just another dumb Eddie Murphy film. Upon watching it, I sadly have to say my intuition was right as the film is exactly that, just another dumb Eddie Murphy movie, one I, unfortunately, didn't find particularly funny. 

The Devil All the Time (2020)

I always get a little bit excited when a Marvel actor — Tom Holland in this case — decides to work on something more serious and demanding as it goes to show whether he/she has talent or not. Netflix's latest original, The Devil All the Time, doesn't only star Holland; Robert Pattinson, Haley Bennett, and Eliza Scanlen are also in it, three additional reasons I couldn't possibly overlook the film despite the underwhelming reviews. And if like me, the cast is the pretty much the only reason you want to see the film, you're in for a treat as, while the film itself is a bit tedious, the actors are downright terrific. 

Thursday Movie Picks: The Band

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Between sleeping, working and numerous trips to the mechanic’s, I don’t really have a lot of time to write so this is going to be another short Thursday Movie Picks post. As you can tell by the title, we are dealing with bands this week — and since my brain isn’t functioning properly lately I had to google my way through it. 

Cuties (2020)

Like most of us, I became aware of Cuties (French: Mignonnes) because of Netflix’s infamous promotion that made it look like some sort of paedophilia film. I was utterly disgusted and almost on the point of cancelling my subscription but then Film Twitter exploded, saying the poster and plot did not represent the film one bit. Netflix soon apologised, changed poster and plot, and I, having read positive reviews, decided to give the film a chance. And you should too, despite the backlash it’s still getting on Twitter, Maïmouna Doucouré’s debut feature is a great coming-of-age that makes social commentary against the sexualisation and exploitation of young children. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Non-English Language Films

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There's one thing that has helped me improve my English tremendously, watching films in English as opposed to watching them dubbed in Italian like I grew up doing. This is a technique I've been using to learn German too lately and, as this week we are asked to pick foreign language films, I'm going with some great German-language films. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Domestic Thrillers

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I don't know about you but I find domestic thrillers to be of the most unsettling and scary kind as they are more likely to happen in real life, and you feel like you're living one whenever you hear a weird noise in the middle of the night. It's usually nothing other than a fervid imagination though. It's not the same in the fictional world of films where people often find themselves in horrible situations. Without further ado, here are my three picks for this week's Thursday Movie Picks.

Monthly Recap: August 2020

Remember when a month ago I said July had been very good to me and would probably be my favourite month of the year? Well, August outdid July as not only my health is still on track but Bayern won their sixth Champions League and their second treble on the 23rd and I'm still over the moon. I don't think the excitement is ever going to leave me. 

2020 Blind Spot Series: Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

Mrs. Doubtfire is one of those films I've been meaning to watch for years but was never compelled enough to watch because of its silly premise. It is quite a beloved comedy though and it stars the talented Robin Williams so I decided to watch it for my Blind Spot series this year. Unfortunately, the film didn't live up to the hype as it turned out to be a quite unfunny, ridiculous and predictable film. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Television Edition: Prequels

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With prequels becoming more and more popular on the small screen, it was only a matter of time before we talked about them in a Thursday Movie Picks. And here we are and since there are so many bad things happening at the moment I'm going with three great series. 

Never Look Away (2018)

Although The Tourist was far from being a good film, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) is one, if not the best German film, a stunning and intense character study that authentically portrays the life in 1980s East Germany. This and the several Oscar nominations — Best Foreign Feature and Best Cinematography — are the reasons I really wanted to see his latest film, Never Look Away (Werk ohne autor), which I sadly avoided for more than a year because of its runtime of 188 minutes. What a silly reason to avoid a film that not only I was able to watch in one sitting but that engaged and intrigued me from start to finish as it is a poignant, astonishing work of art. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Female Buddy Films

 

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I started rewatching 28 Days earlier this month but I was so tired and unfocused I had to stop and, because of my Iñárritu marathon, didn’t have the time to finish it. So for this week’s Thursday Movie Picks, as we are asked to pick female buddy films, I’m going with three films starring Sandra Bullock.

Happy Birthday, Alejandro González Iñárritu!

Someone posed a question on Twitter not long ago, a question I didn't have an answer for as it asked to name a director we liked every single movie from. I first thought of Steve McQueen but then remembered how he ruined it with the good and yet flawed Widows. Definitely not Christopher Nolan as I'm yet to see some of his films and didn't adore all of those I've seen. And the same goes for the amazing Taika Waititi as I'm yet to watch Boy. It's only after rewatching Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) that it hit me, it's Alejandro González Iñárritu. In fact, the Mexican director is the only one that has made me feel an incredibly wide range of emotions throughout the years, mostly pain, with films that if are not masterpieces come very close to it. For his 57th birthday, which is today, I embarked on the journey of rewatching all of his films, and attempt to write something decent to celebrate him. 

Thursday Movie Picks: School


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The heat has damaged the few remaining brain cells I had so no introduction for this week's Thursday Movie Picks. It's not like there's much to say other than it's about school. Anyway, here are my three picks for the week. I know, I know, I'm probably picking wrong films but they all are set in high school. Anyway, stay hydrated!

Thursday Movie Picks: Deadly Sins Edition: Pride

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I’m kind of breaking the rules this week but I’m also not breaking them as for the final deadly sins-themed Thursday Movie Picks, which is pride, I’m going to watch with LGBTQ+ movies. 

Monthly Recap: July 2020


I don't know about you but July has been so good to me it's going to be my favourite month of this pretty shitty year. Unless one of the upcoming months outdo July.

2020 Blind Spot Series: Boyz n the Hood (1991)


While I picked my previous (and following) Blind Spot films out of popularity or Oscar nominations and win, John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood ended on the list because of Dell over Dell on Movies and his love for the film. And because of the many great things I've read over the years, I had very high expectations. Which the film didn't meet but spectacularly exceeded as Singleton's debut is a powerful, raw, and emotional coming-of-age drama.

Thursday Movie Picks: Television Edition: TV Series Based on Movies

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After waking up covered in sweat from a 40-minute nap that felt like forever, in the heat of my AC-less room, I struggle to find words to properly introduce July's final theme. So I'm just going to say that this week we are talking about TV series based on movies, as the title says, and that since I've used the majority of those I've seen, I'm going with series I'm yet to watch but have been meaning to as I read great things about them. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Secret Doorways/Worlds

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There's nothing I'd love more right now than walk through a door and find myself on a beach on some island, doing absolutely nothing other than relaxing all day long. Preferably with Daniel Ricciardo. Who am I kidding? I wouldn't even have the energy to entertain him, if you know what I mean. Anyway, unfortunately, I live in the real world and the closest I can get to such an experience is watching a movie about someone entering a secret world. Which is exactly what we are talking about in this week’s Thursday Movie Picks.

Thursday Movie Picks: Male Buddy Movies

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I used to watch Dumb and Dumber all the time when I was young and have been watching the buddy genre over the years so, finally, a Thursday Movie Picks week I'm prepared for, although I have to keep some of my favourites out because they revolve around women.

Palm Springs (2020)

After days of either mediocre or heavy films, I decided to give Lonely Island's latest film, Palm Springs, a chance because what a better way to improve the day than with a light and short comedy starring one of my celebrity crushes, Andy Samberg? Well, despite expecting it to be good — because I loved Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping — I still can't believe what a funny, charming and delightful twist on the time-loop genre it turned out to be.

Thursday Movie Picks: Globetrotting Movies



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As someone who likes to travel but doesn’t do it very often — when I had time I didn’t have the money, and now that I have the money I don’t have the time — I hate watching movies about people travelling. That being said, there are some movies about travelling that I’ve been meaning to watch and those are my picks for this week’s Thursday Movie Picks

Thursday Movie Picks: Deadly Sins Edition: Wrath

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I've been feeling so low these last couple of days, I didn't really feel like talking about movies at all. Even writing June's recap was quite a challenge as I didn't feel like doing anything other than laying on my bed and commiserate myself. But since that's not possible — I have to go to work — and I haven't missed a single Thursday Movie Picks this year, here I am, sharing three films about the sin of wrath. 

Monthly Recap: June 2020

Another month has gone by, another month of me not doing the things I said I'd do, like visiting some places and learning German, although I did improve my doodling game a lot.

2020 Blind Spot Series: The Notebook (2004)

Despite my not being into romantic films, I considered it a lack of mine to have not seen the one film many believe to be the greatest romance ever, Nick Cavassetes's The Notebook. Unlike my previous Blind Spot picks though, I did know a little going in because, when the idea of becoming a film blogger wasn't even at the back of my mind, I gave the film a chance only to quit after 10 minutes. It didn't go much better this time around as, while I managed to finish it, I found The Notebook to be just an overrated romantic flick.

Babyteeth (2019)

Some movies you just love. Some movies you just hate. Some you think are okay but turn out to be a lot more. Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth definitely is one of the latter as I wasn’t that invested in it and yet it had a devastating, emotional effect on me. 

Thursday Movie Picks: Television Edition: Book to TV Adaptations



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"The book is better", is something I often find myself saying when talking about (mediocre) films based on books I read and loved. It's a bit different when it comes to TV series as the long form nature of series is better suited to the purpose. It comes without saying that for this week's Thursday Movie Picks I'm going with three series that are as good if not better than the books they are adapted from. Also, theme within a theme alert! All three were written by women and has women as their main characters.