Thursday Movie Picks: Road Trip Movies

It's Thursday, and that can mean only one thing, it's time for Thursday Movie Picks! This is an amazing series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Each week brings a new theme, and all you need to do is pick 3 movies that fit the bill. They can be the best of, the worst of, or hidden gems.

Man, it’s been too long since I’ve last taken part in Wanderer’s Thursday Movie Picks. I couldn’t miss this week though. It’s Road Trip Movies, and despite never going on a road trip myself (I don’t think 3hrs to Cornwall counts) I love road trip movies. That makes this week a hard one, but only because I can only pick 3 movies! Here goes…

I’ve got to start with my favourite. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) is weirdly one of my childhood movies, mainly because it’s all my family would watch on a Sunday when we all got together. Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) takes his family on a road trip across America to Wally World, and just about anything that could go wrong, does. They’re doing a remake this year which I’m equal parts dead excited and horribly worried about.

I had to check I hadn’t picked this before, but it seems we just like to talk about Little Miss Sunshine (2006) a lot on this blog. One of my favourite Drama/Comedies, this movie focuses on a truly messed up family as they take a road trip so that their daughter can take part in a beauty pageant. Olive’s (Abigail Breslin) dance routine at the end is a major highlight and Steve Carell gets to play a serious role, which he nailed.

Another movie I like to talk about! Chef (2014) is one of my favourite movies of 2014, another Drama/Comedy following a working road trip that Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) takes with his son in their food truck after he loses his job at a restaurant. The plot doesn’t sound like much but it’s one of the most heartwarming movies I’ve ever seen. It has tasty food too, what more could you ask for? Don’t watch on an empty stomach!

Honourable mentions go out this week to Zombieland (which I did choose before), We’re the Millers and Paul, which very nearly made my list.

Review: August: Osage County (2013)

Darn my local cinemas. When August: Osage County came out, I was in full swing of my Benedict Cumberbatch obsession. My closest cinema wasn't even showing it, but another near me was. Unfortunately, I couldn't convince my other half to see it with me, and when I finally egged Jenna on to see it with me "Thursday" she said, "I'm free on Thursday!", I found out that it stopped showing after Tuesday. Now, I've finally seen it!

I don't think I've ever seen such a star studded cast before; so many faces that I love are in this film. Meryl Streep plays Violet Weston, the mother of this huge, but troubled family. A crisis brings her sister and three daughters, along with their partners and children, together to comfort each other. However, when you bring any family together under strained circumstances, supressed issues are brought to light, and arguments ensue.

Despite the fact that not an awful lot actually happens in this film (the biggest part is spent sat at a dinner table), it was amazing how gripped I felt to August: Osage County. No character was left out and I really felt a connection to them all.

It has to be said that even though Meryl Streep was brilliant, Julia Roberts absolutely stole the show. As someone who has never been that bothered by her, she just won my heart, then broke it, and won it all over again. Her ability to portray love but so much anger at the same time was just incredible to watch. It's no wonder that she was nominated for an Oscar for this role, and I'm gutted that she didn't win it.

With such a huge cast, I would talk for hours about each individual character, but I must give an honourable mention now to my two favourite characters, Ivy and Little Charles, played by Julianne Nicholson and Benedict Cumberbatch. Both pretty much forgotten about by the rest of the family, Ivy is the sister who never found love, and Little Charles is the son who constantly disappointed his mother. They were the two characters that I rooted for throughout the whole film. Plus, who can't fall in love with Benedict's little song?



It was a breath of fresh air also to see Benedict Cumberbatch play a character who wasn't super smart and full of himself.

Without spoiling it for anyone, the ending absolutely broke my heart. I just sort of sat still for a few minutes after the credits ended just trying to take everything in. I'm kind of glad I didn't see this at the cinema now or the staff would have had to scoop me out of my seat and carry me out!

I would recommend this film to anyone, even if you aren't a huge fan of dramas. I think anyone could relate to at least one of the characters in this film.

Review: Zombieland (2009)

I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to scary films, I can't watch one on my own. The gore and psychological torment doesn't bother me so much, but it's those jumpy bits that have me running scared! Zombieland was on my Emma Stone list though so I was going to have to face this, and well, it is a comedy mainly, so I manned up.

I watched this for the first time with Jenna last year, and I convinced my other half to watch it with me again just before we went to Cornwall for a short break the other day. I actually forgot how jumpy the first five minutes are! I had already seen this and I told Allie it wasn't jumpy at all, forgetting completely about all the jumps in the first few scenes - oops!!

So this film follows four characters who are some of the only survivors on earth, Columbus (Eisenberg) is trying to get to his family in Ohio, Wichita and Little Rock (Stone and Breslin) are trying to reach an amusement park they have heard is free of zombies, and Tallahassee (Harrelson), well, he's just on a search for Twinkies. Who wouldn't be on a search for Twinkies mmmm!! You could say they sort of join forces on their missions.

*SPOILER ALERT* My favourite parts of this movie are all the little details like the text of the rules that pop up occasionally, and the zombie kill of the week. It's little details like those that really make you remember a film. Not to say that was all I liked, the film was hillarious! I probably would have appreciated the Bill Murray scenes more if I really knew who he was... WHAT???  You don't know who Bill Murray is??  Groundhog Day?? Ghostbusters?? COME ON!!!  Anyway, moving on, I love the text popping up on screen, I think it made this movie - I still would like to see the full list of the rules if I'm honest!  I think Rule Number 1 was my favourite because it kept popping up 'Cardio'

 

I loved Woody Harrelson's character in this, specifically “in the ass-kicking business – and business is gooooood!” and I could complete relate to his love for Twinkies!! The contrast between him and scaredy cat Columbus makes for brilliant viewing and good fast paced banter between the two.  This is one film that I didn't particularly like Emma Stone's character, although the further through the film I got the more I got to like her!

 

 

Seriously though this film is great, I also heard that it was based a little on the game Left 4 Dead 2 which makes me happy as I freaking love that game. Never heard of this... Okay, Flick Chicks needs a games night at some point. Left 4 Dead is amazing and I'm terrible at it which makes it even better.

 

In case you need to be reminded of some of the rules for staying alive, here you go...you can thank me later.

A great film to watch with friends or family with a couple of drinks and a take-out!  Brilliant film, laugh out loud funny and delightfully clever.  Can happily watch this over and over again and never get bored!