Thursday Movie Picks is hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Head over to her site and join in! This week is about movies that are related to the underground. My choices this week has their setting take place partly underground. Here are my picks for the week.
Fantastic Mr Fox - Because of Mr Fox's thievery, he has led his family and neighbors into hiding underground, as the businessmen hunted them down. Fantastic Mr Fox is one of my favorite Wes Anderson movies. It had a great voice cast, and I liked how they substituted the cursing to keep it 'child-friendly'.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 - Parts of the movie took place in District 13, a district that everyone thought to have been bombed, but they were thriving underground. This is where district runaways try to go to (because they believed that District 13 exists) unless they're gunned down by the Capitol. I thought that the inner workings of District 13 was more complicated in the book. For content purposes, I don't think Mockingjay should have been divided into two movies, but it does give a glimpse of that mysterious district.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Back when I was in my early teens, I read the whole Chronicles of Narnia series. Prince Caspian was one of my favorite books, but this movie was just terrible. The only part I remember about this is the attack on Narnians, and that they were underground because the people drove them out.
I never got around to seeing Fantastic Mr. Fox. I actually liked Prince Caspian, but I never read the books. It was Dawn Treador that I thought was the terrible movie.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to like the adaptations as much as the books because the books were awesome. I liked Dawn Treader more, but not as much as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
DeleteI've only seen bits of Narnia but couldn't get into it, from your comment it seems I didn't miss anything. I'm not a fan of Hunger Games, the whole children hunting children idea is repugnant. I'm not an animation fan so seeing Mr. Fox is a long shot.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find anything that happened completely underground though my last comes close.
Transatlantic Tunnel (1935)-Engineer Richard "Mack" McAllan (Richard Dix) proposes the building of a tunnel to connect England and the United States though revolutionary new technology. The film follows the many years and problems encountered as the realization of the project progresses. Futuristic early sci-fi posits the construction of an undersea tunnel linking England with the United States was one of the first film allegories to attempt to strengthen the US/UK bond as the dark clouds of war began to waft through Europe. Though little known today this was a high profile project at the time with two of the most esteemed actors in film, Walter Huston and George Arliss, as the President of the United States and Prime Minister respectively.
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)-Sir Oliver Lindenbrook, a Scottish geologist (James Mason) and his assistant Alec McEwan (Pat Boone!) set off on an expedition to the center of the earth after finding directions in an inscription hidden in volcanic rock. Along the way to an Iceland volcano to begin their journey Carla Göteborg (Arlene Dahl) the widow of a famous scientist, Icelander Hans Bjelke (Peter Ronson) and his pet duck Gertrud join their party. On their way they encounter, treacherous terrain, subterranean oceans, prehistoric monsters and rival scientist Count Saknussemm (Thayer David) who is on their trail. The sets and effects are very dated by today’s standards but still a fun adventure.
Daylight (1996)-When robbers fleeing police collide with trucks carrying toxic waste inside New York’s Holland Tunnel a fireball results collapsing both ends and trapping a disparate group of survivors who turn to the disgraced former chief of Emergency Services Kit Latura (Sylvester Stallone) now working as a cab driver and trapped with them “the only man capable of saving the day!” Typical Stallone nonsense but vigorous and actiony if undemanding.
You're not missing out by skipping the Narnia movies. Only the first one was good. I watched the remake of Journey to the Center of the Earth, though I don't remember much about it. Daylight sounds something that I would enjoy as a popcorn flick.
DeleteI love The Fantastic Mr. Fox. I agree it's one of Anderson's best. Not a fan of either of the other two movies. Mockingjay could have been really good had it been just one tight film instead of two bloated ones.
ReplyDeleteMockingjay definitely should have been compressed to one movie. It was the weakest one in the trilogy, both film and book.
DeleteI love Fantastic Mr Fox. I wish I thought of it.
ReplyDelete