Hey! Welcome to Thursday Movie Picks where you get to share your movie picks for each topic presented every Thursday! Based on the theme presented each week, you can pick up to 3 to 5 movies and explain why you picked those movies! This meme is being hosted by Wandering through the Shelves!
This week's theme is: Hostages!
I had watched a couple of movies that dealt with characters being held as hostages or the plot involves a hostage situation and I wanted to list the movies that I have seen or haven't seen that dealt with hostages!
1. John Q
John Quincy Archibald takes a hospital emergency room hostage when his insurance won't cover his son's heart transplant.
I remembered watching this movie when I was in high school and I remembered being really interested in this movie because Denzel Washington's character was holding the hospital hostage because they wouldn't help his dying son. Now, I really want to watch this movie again!
2. Speed
A young police officer must prevent a bomb exploding aboard a city bus by keeping its speed above 50 mph.
I remembered how big this movie was when I first saw it and I remembered being a bit pumped for this movie! Although I haven't seen this movie for years now and I barely remembered what happened in this movie. This is definitely worth a rewatch!
3. Misery
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
I haven't seen this movie yet, but I've hearing nothing but good things about this movie and it seems like the perfect hostage movie!
I just saw John Q this year actually and it was not bad. A bit operatic in spots but a decent watch.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Speed! A wonderfully propulsive thrill ride. Parts, if not all of it, are preposterous but thanks to the sharp direction and the cast you're too caught up in the story to notice. Can't believe it didn't even occur to me!
Misery has an absolutely brilliant centerpiece performance by Kathy Bates but I found it very disturbing so that one watch was plenty for me. It fits well though.
Hostage films have been around since movies began so I hopped around the decades to come up with my three this week.
Hostages (1943)-A large group of Czechoslovakians are held hostages by the Gestapo until the supposed killer of a Nazi officer-actually a suicide-is turned in. Among the group is the leader of the resistance movement (William Bendix), working undercover as an apparently ignorant washroom attendant in the nightclub where the victim was last seen alive. Meanwhile a group of resistance fighters, led by Maria (Katina Paxinou), try to contact Bendix to establish the time to blow up a German ammunition supply and devise a plan to rescue the prisoners. This was double Oscar winner Luise Rainer’s last film for 54 years.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)-Four men Misters Blue, Green, Grey and Brown board a New York subway train and take the 18 passengers hostage demanding one million dollars in an hour’s time or they will start killing the hostages, one a minute until their demands are met. Under the direction of laconic but sharp transit cop Zach Garber (Walter Matthau) the city tries to meet the deadline and negotiate the lives of the hostages. Slam bang adventure with a cast full of familiar faces really captures the pulsing feel of New York City in the 70’s.
Argo (2012)-1979 Tehran, militants storm the U.S. embassy taking 66 American hostages. During the siege six manage to slip away and find refuge with the Canadian ambassador. Knowing that it's just a matter of time before the refugees are found and likely executed, the U.S. government calls on extractor Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) to rescue them. Mendez's plan is to pose as a Hollywood producer scouting locations in Iran and train the refugees to act as his "film" crew. Affleck does well in blending all the intricacies of the plot into a cohesive taut whole.
I've seen Argo around on a few posts, but I haven't seen that movie yet. Sounds interesting though!
DeleteWe match! Definitely check out Misery. I really need to see John Q.
ReplyDeleteCool!
DeleteAs you've already pointed out on my blog we match the first two picks. As for Misery, I'm ashamed to admit this but I've never seen it. I watch to though.
ReplyDeleteSame here! I need to watch Misery!
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