Tag: TMP

TMP – TV Edition: Holiday

Kat Impossible6 Comments

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for the Thursday Movie Picks feature. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

I’ve enjoyed doing this feature on a weekly basis for the past year, but I don’t know if it (or I) will continue in 2022. So far, I’ve not seen a new schedule with topics for the upcoming year. We’ll see? I just know I don’t have the creative energy to come up with themes of my own and I understand this is a lot of work and yeah … Let’s just say I’d get it running its course, because I know it has been around for a very long time.

As it so happens, for this final theme of 2021, we once again change it up for the month and talk about TV shows instead of movies. Today’s topic is holiday! I’m going to liberally interpret the theme as festive holidays as well as going on vacation (or as I sometimes say, go on holiday, if you get my meaning).

Dash & Lily 

I’ve read the books in the series and was really looking forward to all of them getting adapted. However, Netflix decided to not move forward with the property anymore, but at least the ending wasn’t super open. It felt pretty fitting and I’m sure that there’s many people who feel content enough with what the show provided. I loved it for sure!

Hjem til Jul/Home for Christmas

This was the first year without a new season of Hjem til Jul and I missed it. I would have loved to see a little bit of what happened after she got the guy, you know? But I’ll just headcanon that stuff and deal with it. Definitely one of my most favorite Norwegian shows!

The White Lotus

This show is messy and not exactly happy go lucky, but so well acted. I liked the subversion of expectations in many cases and am intrigued to find out what they’ll do with the next season, since it doesn’t seem like something you can continue easily. Maybe it will be more anthology like …

What are some holiday shows you can think of! Don’t cheat and just say holiday themed single episodes either, I want the whole show to be about it! Let’s talk!

Thursday Movie Picks: Holiday Party

Kat Impossible14 Comments

It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

This week, as we’re nearing Christmas at an unstoppable pace, it’s all about Holiday Parties! Of course, a holiday party doesn’t necessarily have to be about Christmas though, because there’s many more celebrations out there. Let’s see what I can come up with!

Holidate

This movie is literally about two people forming an arrangement to be each other’s +1 to various holiday parties, because they’re tired of the pressure of bringing people or dating during the holidays in general. It’s not the best movie out there, but it’s enjoyable enough.

Happiest Season

This might be my favorite queer Christmas movie (and I’m saying that, not having watched Single All the Way yet). Kristen Stewart didn’t feel as misplaced or awkward here and I really liked the movie. The parents are throwing a rather huge Christmas party, so I figured it would fit the theme.

Last Christmas

I don’t want to spoil this movie for anyone, but I have fond memories of it, because I got to go to a special advanced screening with Emilia Clarke and the director, got a branded advent calendar and a green Santa hat. I had a great time. In the movie, they’re also doing a huge event for charity, which isn’t exactly the same as a party, but I’ll just use it as such anyway.

What are some holiday party movies you could think of? I know there’s one literally called “Office Christmas Party”, but I haven’t watched it nor do I intend to, so I didn’t want to include it. Let’s chat!

Thursday Movie Picks: New to the City

Kat Impossible9 Comments

It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

This week’s theme is “New to the City“, which I kind of like? Often, although not always, it’s reminiscent of the “fish out of water” trope, which can be just a lot of fun, when done right. A lot of the time, I think this theme kind of holds the promise of someone wanting to fulfill their dreams and only thinking that’s possible in a larger city. I already have a couple movies coming to mind, so, without further ado, let’s get started!

Burlesque

I don’t know where exactly Ali lived before, but she sure wasn’t as prepared for Los Angeles as she would have liked to be. The movie definitely has some flaws, but I’ve watched it so many times and always enjoyed it. As far as movies with singers as leads go, this really isn’t half bad!

Coyote Ugly

When I first watched Burlesque, it actually reminded me a lot of Coyote Ugly, so it’s only right I put that movie on the list for this week as well. I do kind of wonder about what kinds of movies I watched as a kid and what I liked? Questionable taste? Maybe! I haven’t seen Coyote Ugly in a while, but from what I remember, I think it brought home some good points.

Cheaper by the Dozen

I’ve watched this so many times as a kid! I think as an only child, I sometimes glorified these big families, but I also always cried when they didn’t pay attention to Mark. Well, either way, they moved from a rural area, where they had more like a farm, to Chicago or something.

What are some movies that involve a move to the city? What did you think of my picks? Let’s talk about that!

Thursday Movie Picks: Rags to Riches

Kat Impossible12 Comments

It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

Today’s theme is all about movies that feature the Rags to Riches trope! I wouldn’t say I’m actively seeking out films with that particular story progression, but I don’t mind it either. There’s already a couple ideas swirling around in my head, so let’s get started with the list.

Catch Me If You Can

I love this movie and have seen it so many times, I have lost count. You could argue that DiCaprio’s character isn’t exactly rich by the end of it, but he still amassed quite some wealth with his cons. I was trying to think of something a little more unconventional.

A Knight’s Tale

Poor squire rises up to be a real knight? Not sure how much actual money is involved in knighthood, but I’m sure he got some riches by the end of it. I also just enjoy the movie because of its various anachronisms.

Sweet Home Alabama

Reese Witherspoon’s character becoming a successful designer and her high school sweetheart becoming successful with his own business, when they both thought they couldn’t afford anything fancy back in the day – I like it! I also like that the money was just helpful (which it is), but not the thing they needed the most.

Maid in Manhattan

With the upcoming release of the comic book adaptation of Marry Me with Jennifer Lopez as the lead, I was just reminded that I really quite enjoy her romance movies. So, this ended up on the list.

Of course, movies like Aladdin, Cinderella (both those titles in all their different iterations) and Annie would have worked just as well. What are some of your picks and what did you think of mine?

TMP – Oscar Winner Edition: Best Foreign Language Movie

Kat Impossible10 Comments

It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

This week is once again part of the Oscar Winner Edition, which will continue to be a reoccurring theme during each month. This month is all about Best Foreign Language Movies. I certainly know one movie that comes to mind, but I’m sure I’ll once again have to consult some lists to see which movies won in the past years. Let’s get this started!

Parasite (South Korea)

This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned Parasite and it probably won’t be the last. I mean, Parasite made history, so why would I not mention it first thing in this post!?

Amour (Austria)

I could not resist including movies that represent my own country, despite this movie being shot in French! I know the director, Michael Haneke, and his work well, I’ve even met him a couple of times. I have to say, I’m not his biggest fan? However, I very much respect the career he has made for himself and you can’t deny there’s a certain genius in him. After all, he won with Amour, but he was nominated another time as well.

The Counterfeiters (Austria)

Austria’s movie industry was once described as the feel bad capital of the world, so … the movies are mostly on the depressing side. We still won though?

Amélie (France)

Amélie did not actually win, but it was nominated. I feel like it was more of a commercial success despite its quirkiness and I also feel like commercial appeal doesn’t always work with the Academy? Could be only my interpretation …

Well, this certainly proves again that I do not watch very many Oscar nominated movies, but I somehow still don’t think I’m really missing out? I do think that there’s probably some hidden gems in the international section, but I still very often question the Academy’s selection.

TMP – TV Edition: Mystery

Kat Impossible18 Comments

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for the Thursday Movie Picks feature. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

As it so happens, we change it up once per month and talk about TV shows instead of movies and today is all about shows in the Mystery genre! I feel like that’s such a huge pool to draw from, because there’s also a million sub-genres, that I’m super curious to see what everyone will come up with. Here are my picks!

Yellowjackets

Two episodes in and I am disturbed yet fascinated, grossed out but curious. It’s not a show for everybody and I find myself not being able to stomach some things, but it’s still interesting. I like the different timelines and how we only slowly uncover what happened and to what extent the situation really escalated. They went into more than just survival mode.

Only Murders in the Building

I didn’t think this was going to be for me, but it was so fun, I binged it all in a day or two! It has those typical amateur detective elements, but really great twists and hilarious cameos on the way. I enjoyed it a lot and am glad to know there’s another season coming.

Cruel Summer

Throughout the entire show, I kept finding myself going back and forth on who to believe and who to trust. I really liked the ending too, because of the implications it held, even if that meant that it wasn’t really closed. It works as a limited series for me.

I definitely went with more recent shows! What do you think? What are some of your mystery picks?

Thursday Movie Picks: Book Adaptations

Kat Impossible16 Comments

It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

Today we shall talk about Book Adaptations, which most of you will know, is a topic I’ve talked about on numerous occasions here. Seen as this blog is dedicated to books, TV shows, movies and really anything I can think about, it does tend to be a repeat subject.

Here are some examples of previous posts regarding adaptations:

I’m going to try my very best to not to repeat myself too much from previous posts (and to stick to movies and not TV shows). There’s not really a theme here, other than that I have actually read all the books for the movies as well as watched them. (Because there’s still some books I haven’t watched and some films I haven’t read … if that makes sense.)

Stardust

Stardust is one of my absolute favorite comfort movies and I can watch it pretty much any day, whenever it is on. There’s no such thing as too much Stardust. I also have to say that I enjoy the movie more than the book, because I didn’t actually connect to Neil Gaiman’s writing at all. I know he is brilliant and a much beloved author, but this book wasn’t really it for me. The movie is where it’s really at!

Charlie St. Cloud

I read this book after watching the trailer, while I was doing my internship in the French countryside. Something about this story was just magical and although I think the movie didn’t capture that as well as the book, I still enjoyed both.

The Spectacular Now

The Spectacular Now is one of those cases where I thought I would really enjoy both, the movie and the book, but ended up feeling very confused about both. It’s not a fluffy teen romance at all, it has a deceptively amount of depth. It’s even quite sad …

Dumplin’

I cried watching and reading Dumplin’. It’s a really beautiful story, but it was interesting to see on what different aspects the two variations focused on. I remember the book featuring more of Bo (who I adore as a love interest), while the movie had a clear focus on the mother-daughter-relationship. Then again, how could you not utilize having Jennifer Aniston in your movie …

This Is Where I Leave You

I have a thing for grief explorations and complex family dynamics, so I was immediately drawn to This Is Where I Leave You. The book obviously has the room to go much more into depth on some of the relationships, which I missed in certain scenes, but generally, it was a well done movie. Some things were even improved (thank the lord we didn’t have to hear Judd’s horny thoughts all day long).

What are some of book to movie adaptations you like? Let’s talk about those!

Thursday Movie Picks: Dream Sequences

Kat Impossible13 Comments

It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

This week is all about Dream Sequences! I honestly couldn’t think of a single one from the top of my head, which just means that dream sequences aren’t something I pay a lot of attention to. Either way, we are … or rather I am going to try and come up with some.

Inception

Does it count when basically the whole movie is a dream? I’m just going to say yes. Inception had such a great concept and I loved the world of possibilities it opened up. I really enjoyed watching that movie back in the day, although I haven’t revisited it much to be honest.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Walter Mitty’s daydreams were wild and ridiculous at times and then really beautiful as well. I love that movie, despite some flaws, because it’s just such a great motivator to be brave and go into the world. It’s also just very human.

Grease

Okay, who could ever forget the Beauty School Dropout scene? I sure couldn’t, so it made this list. Grease didn’t age particularly well, but it’s one of the musical movies I enjoy more than others.

What are some dream sequences in movies you enjoy? Do you tend to remember those very vividly or did you have to look it up? Let’s talk!

TMP – Oscar Winner Edition: Best Animated Movie

Kat Impossible9 Comments

It’s Thursday and I’m back with a new Thursday Movie Picks feature post. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

This week is once again part of the Oscar Winner Edition, which will continue to be a reoccurring theme during each month. After having taken a break during October in favor of a Halloween theme, we are back with Best Animated Movies. I can’t really recall watching an animated movie BUT I can proudly say that I have watched every single movie that has won an Oscar for best animated feature. The category “only” exists since around 2000, so I didn’t have that much to comb through, but how exciting? I think I genuinely liked 90% of the movies, so narrowing it down will be hard.

Spirited Away

I highly doubt I understood what this movie really entailed when I watched it as a little kid, but I definitely knew right away that it was something special. I fell in love with the style of animation, the quirkiness and oddness of the story, the (to me) unexpected depth. To this day, it’s my favorite Miyazaki movie.

Big Hero 6

Baymax being absolutely adorable aside, I loved the family aspect of this, especially the relationship between Hiro and Tadashi. I don’t know what else to say. It was really good.

Inside Out

This movie wrecked me when I watched it. There are so many layers to it and still, it works for children just as well as for adults. I’ve seen it several times now and found something new to appreciate upon each rewatch.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

The animation for this movie is impeccable. The characters amazing. Miles Morales being front and center is pure satisfaction. You know me to be a Marvel simp, but I never expected to be that much into the animation. I usually prefer live-action, but this might just be the best Spider-Man movie we have.

Soul

Not gonna lie, Soul put me into a bit of an existential crisis, but in a good way. Totally in a good way! Pixar … they get me every single time.

Some of my Favorite Nominees

As I’ve stated in the beginning, I really enjoyed almost all the winners. They are fantastic movies, but I also wanted to give a quick shout out to some of my favorite nominees:

  • Brother Bear
  • Lilo & Stitch
  • Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
  • Monsters Inc.
  • Coraline
  • The Princess and the Frog
  • Wreck-It Ralph
  • Klaus

I’m pretty sure all of those movies also made me cry at one point or another. So, I kind of even had a theme within the theme? Still, movies like Finding Nemo, Shrek, Wall-E, Up and so many more would have just as equally deserved to be mentioned this week. What are some of your favorite Best Animated Feature winners?

TMP – TV Edition: Horror (Halloween Edition)

Kat Impossible9 Comments

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for the Thursday Movie Picks feature. This series is hosted by Wandering through the Shelves and offers you a weekly prompt to post some movie recommendations/talking points according to the theme. Usually, you are supposed to post about 3-5 examples, which I find a very manageable amount.

The entirety of October is dedicated to a special Halloween Edition, meaning we’ll take a look at themes through the lens of Spooktober! This week, however, is also the week we focus on TV shows instead of movies, so the theme was kept simple with – horror! I don’t watch a lot of horror shows in general, but I already have a few in mind that I’d love to discuss with you. Here we go!

Nancy Drew

I thought I’d start off with an example of super light horror, but it still has some really creepy scenes, plenty of ghosts and hauntings and not all things end well. Still, I was never much into the whole Nancy Drew lore, but I adore this show (not at the least, because it gave me one of my comfort characters – Ace). They keep getting better each season, while also proving that they know how to write a continuous story with plenty callbacks. I’m curious about the Tom Swift spin-off!

From Dusk Till Dawn

I wrote a whole detailed post about this show, which you can check out here. I never in a million years expected to like this, but I did. I was bumbed when it ended, but I have my headcanon where they are now. That’s what matters the most.

Helstrom

You all know how obsessed I am with Marvel, so it should have come as no surprise to you that I watched Marvel’s first attempt at a horror show. It definitely was creepy in atmosphere, but I suppose it could have gone further. They also cancelled it after one season and didn’t make it part of their MCU, although TV shows are canon now, so I always should have known it wasn’t going to last long. Impeccable casting though!

SurrealEstate

I was almost going to put Wynonna Earp (it IS a supernatural western horror show), but then I figured, why not hype up Tim Rozon’s aka Doc’s new show? SurrealEstate is a mix of real estate stuff and paranormal things. Enough said. It’s cool!

The Haunting of Bly Manor

Bly Manor was the first time, I felt like I put on a horror show on purpose, fully knowing what kind of show I was getting into. I sought it out, more than feeling pressured into it. No regrets whatsoever! In the end, it was more of a love story than a ghost story, or maybe a bit of both, and I fell in love with it too. Bly Manor also paved the way for me to watch the next show…

The Haunting of Hill House

I love Hill House so much. The characters, the complexity, the end! So amazing! I will never forget the emotional journey they took me on. I can’t even say if I like Hill House or Bly Manor better, because I wouldn’t have one without it the other, even if they are two separate stories.

 

Previous Halloween Editions:

What did you think of my list? Do you agree that those are (at least in part) horror shows? Let’s talk!