I'll admit it - I'm not into "film". I like *movies*. Great art isn't necessarily what I'm looking for; I like a rollicking good tale, well told, with appealing characters. I want escapism, for the most part.
Jade's entry on her favorite movies of all time got me thinking... what are mine and why?
Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade - "Dad, I *was* the next man!" What's not to love? I only hope the next one is as good. (Part of it was filmed about 45 minutes away this summer so it's underway!)
Galaxy Quest - Maybe you have to be a Trekker with a good dose of humility to appreciate it but I didn't know I could laugh so hard and NOT bust something!
Apollo 13 - I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up (still do but I'm 40, nearly blind, and fat... chances are diminishing rapidly!) and this story captivated me. Gary Sinise did a great job in this bringing a character to life that could've been easily overlooked.
Stargate - absolutely.
Princess Bride - "It just so happens that your friend here is only *almost* dead." "'Allo, my name is Inigo Montoya, you keel my father, preepare to die!" "Wuv, twoo wuv..."
Say Anything - Yes, it's a bit cheesy, I don't care. It's still a fave.
The Cutting Edge - the same genre but with figure skating! Woohoo!! The look on Moira Kelly's face when she's standing back against the hotel corridor, hungover as all hell, when she realizes she's locked herself out. Ouch.
Ladyhawke - "Truth is, I talk to God all the time and he never said anything about you." A young Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer (mmm!), and a hauntingly beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer.
Star Wars - the first one - um, the first one that came out - not Episode I (*that* was mediocre). Space opera at its finest and with a *great* score.
Million Dollar Baby - Not a huge Clint Eastwood fan but this was a really good movie (Unforgiven was great too). Not sure I'd watch it again, though, I cried too hard the first time.
Pride & Prejudice - the A&E version. Ok, technically, this was a miniseries but I'm counting it here anyway. I've seen several P&P versions but this came the closest to what was in my head in one of my countless re-readings of the Austen classic.
Ghostbusters - "Nobody steps on a church in *my* town!" Again, it's the supporting characters that get me - Harold Ramis and Dan Akroyd are hilarious. And the short little geeky guy.
Top Gun - Yes, it's a pretty mediocre movie but the flying is AWESOME. I saw this 8 times in the theater while I was in college.
Probably the absolute top of the list is Schindler's List. I've watched it only twice because it's so emotionally draining. No, it's not escapism; it's gutwrenching. What capped that movie for me? The end where the survivors are placing stones on Schindler's grave. I sobbed.
Lord of the Rings - take my all time favorite book(s) and turn it into a movie? I've watched the trilogy (the extended DVD versions) close on to 10 times now. I think it made an enormous difference that they filmed them back to back. It's clear that Alan Lee, Peter Jackson, the cast, and me share a vision of what Tolkien was after. Transfixing. Only thing that could surpass it? Make one of the Silmarillion.
What are yours?
9 comments:
Geez! I feel so shallow after reading your list. Mine are comprised of stupid feel good flicks...
Bridget Jones' Diary...
Blazing Saddles
Baby Boom
Dirty Dancing ( you wouldn't care if I humped the entire red army as long as they were on the right side of the Ho Chi Min trail...)LOL!
Off the top of my head: the two Haag cult movies:
Tron I think Matt can quote all the dialogue from that! LOL
Sneakers "My name is my passport." Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier.
I'm sure the list could be longer if I didn't have this headache.
Hey, a bunch of those are stupid feel-good movies, JT! And the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles?? Hil-freakin'-larious!! Baby Boom was a lot of fun too. Would you believe I haven't seen Bridget Jones' Diary??
I haven't seen either of those but isn't it cool to have family cult movies, Robin? I think Galaxy Quest is ours - I think every single member of my FOO (family of origin) owns a copy!
Interesting list, though I admit that I haven't seen them all. Might consider compiling my own list... hmm...
Oh, a bit off-topic, but Robin - being a Tron fan as you are (and I admit I wasn't too keen on it when I saw it), what are your thoughts of the "next chapter" of Tron that's reportedly in the works? (Skimpy article here: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=44033 )
Know what I REALLY loved was the Anne of Green Gables series that was on PBS! That was so fantastic and I wish I had bought it during their begathon...I would love for Maya to see it!
You've gotta watch Bridget Jones' Diary. Got to. Now. Go get it and watch it. Waaaay super cute chick flick. Hugh Grant is an absolute ass, but he's so cute to watch... Bridget is so unsure of herself and goofy, I totally related to her. Super cute.
JT - I have all of Dirty Dancing memorized. When it played on HBO my oldest sister taped it for us, and we had just purchased a VCR so we spent an entire summer with just that movie playing over and over and over again. I remember the freakin' dance moves and everything :D
I LOVE The Princess Bride. And I LOVE Galaxy Quest too... "Weeee neeeed yooour helllllpppp" We say this to the kids and the looks we get...they think WE come from another planet, ha.... I also really, really loved Love Actually. It's not horribly exciting and action-packed but it's just really good.
SMT - Love Actually is an ADORABLE movie! So fun, and Hugh Grant is a doll in that one :)
I have A LOT of Dirty Dancing memorized too. And whenever I watch it, I find myself unconsiously doing the dance moves as I sit there, so I know those too. That movie WAS my senior year of high school. It came out at the beginning of my senior year and then I spent that year buying all of the various soundtracks they released and by spring break it was out on tape and we rented it to watch at a spring break party (a sedate, parents-in-the-house kind of party) and kept freeze framing it as Patrick Swayze got out of bed to see if he was actually NAKED. I'm sure he wasn't, but it entertained a room full of teenage girls for quite a while.
"Right there!"
"Pause it!"
"Dang it! It's blurry!"
"Rewind it and try again."
The fact that this was the wildest party I think I ever went to in high school should tell you A LOT about my group of h.s. friends. Hee.
Anyway, on with my list. DD doesn't actually make the top five.
TOP FIVE (in no particular order):
A FEW GOOD MEN (I'm usually SUCH a romantic comedy chick, but I LOVE this movie! It's a Sorkin thing.)
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
S: (sobbing) And I'm gonna be FORTY!
H: When?
S: (sob) Someday.
H: In EIGHT YEARS!
S: Yeah, but it's there. It's just sitting there like this big dead end. (sob) And it's not the same for men. Charlie Chaplin had babies when he was 73!
H: Yeah, but he was too old to pick 'em up.
THE CUTTING EDGE -- Cheesy beyond belief, but I love it. So help me last week when I was watching the Emmys and Terry O'Quinn won and Emmy for Lost, I just kept thinking "It's Kate's dad!"
KEEPING THE FAITH -- I'm not Catholic, but have a thing for fictional hot priests. I think it goes back to seeing The Thornbirds when I was 12. *g* And I love Ben Stiller too.
BROADCAST NEWS --
"And if things had gone differently for me tonight then I probably wouldn't be saying any of this. I grant you _everything_. But give me this: he personifies everything that you've been fighting against. And I'm in love with you. How do you like that? I buried the lead."
Runners up:
Say Anything
Bull Durham
Reality Bites
Crossing Delancy
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