It's fun to make lists. Here are some movies lists. What does this have to do with writing? Movies have scripts, don't they?
1. Movies I’ve watched many times and will watch again.
- AMADEUS (1984)
- ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930)
- BATTLEGROUND (1949)
- BLOW-UP (1967)
- BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
- CASABLANCA (1943)
- THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951)
- DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID (1982)
- THE DEPARTED (1984)
- DR. ZHIVAGO (2006)
- FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966)
- FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
- FUNERAL IN BERLIN (1967)
- THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (1947)
- THE GODFATHER (1972)
- THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
- I MARRIED A WITCH (1942)
- THE IPRESS FILE (1965)
- JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959)
- LAURA (1944)
- LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
- THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
- THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (1975)
- MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982)
- THE PRODUCERS (1967)
- REBECCA (1940)
- ROMEO AND JULIET (1968)
- SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)
- THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)
- SHINDLER’S LIST (1993)
- THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1965)
- THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951)
- THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942)
- VERTIGO (1958)
- YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974)
- ZULU (1964)
This list is incomplete as I keep remembering good movies.
2. Movies I’ve seen once and will never watch again.
- AUSTRALIA (2008)
- AVATAR (2009)
- THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)
- A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1972)
- CRASH (2004)
- LOVE STORY (1970)
- THE DEERHUNTER (1979)
- FATAL ATTRACTION (1987)
- GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002)
- MRS. DOUBTFIRE (1993)
- SAW (2004)
- THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2008)
- WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (1998)
- Every superhero movies I’ve seen except
- THE PHANTOM 1996)
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| Laura |
3. Movies I’ve fallen asleep while watching and won’t try again.
- All of the LORD OF THE RINGS movies.
- The HARRY POTTER movies my daughter was able to drag me to
4. Movies I’ve walked out of to get a cup of coffee and waited for my wife to finish watching and join me at the coffee shop
- THE CONSTANT GARDENER (2005)
- THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996)
- SOLARIS (2002)
That's all for now.
List 2: Although I’m notorious for seldom watching a film twice, O’Neil, I’m pretty much in alignment with your choices. Out of your List 2 selections, I’d make an exception for Clockwork Orange, both the movie and the model. But I’d add to it The VVitch. I saw it with friends and the one who recommended it kept apologizing. We’ve almost forgiven her.
ReplyDeleteList 4: I’ve never left behind a date in a theatre, but twice I’ve walked out with a date. One was Excalibur, which I happened to see in France. I thought it dull, my date felt it excruciating monotonous.
List 1: All great choices on List 1, although I wasn’t a fan of Butch Cassidy, not sure why. But you listed a couple of surprises. Apparently you and I are among the tens of people who saw (or at least remember) Blow-up. It’s not a great movie, but it needs to be watched more than once to figure out what was going on. It also spawned Blowout, which no one seems to remember either.
The other surprise is Journey to the Center of the Earth. Pat Boone and Gertie the Goose? But yeah, I get it from the perspective of a kid. Do I remember right, cheesy dinosaurs and treasure? And James Mason who is sort of a treasure. I haven’t seen it since I was a kid, but I do remember it.
I suggest a 5th list– movies never to watch ever.
I haven't watched anywhere near as many films as you have, O'Neil. At least, not recently. Growing up, I went to the local theater every weekend for about seven years. That said, I agree with almost everything on your lists, but there are a few films I keep going back to on DVD. The original Manchurian Candidate, the original Charade (the remake was a waste), and The Magnificent Seven. I saw them all when I was a kid and still love them.
ReplyDeleteCHARADE is worth watching again every couple of months!
DeleteI walked out of Windtalkers & returned the rented tape of Highlander after watching only 15 to 20 minutes of it. There are a few actors I don't like much & will go out of my way not to watch. Mr. Elizabeth has a non-sexual crush on Dwayne Johnson & I do not share his feelings for him.
ReplyDeleteD'accord! I'd heard Windtalkers was pretty bad. I've going out of my way to avoid Highlander showings. Ugh!
DeleteI hated Excalibur, and I also walked out of Altman's Nashville. On the other hand, I've seen Altman's "Three Women" multiple times and will again. Maybe tonight.
ReplyDeleteOh, easily the latest Sherlock Holmes movie titled Holmes & Watson with Will Ferrell and John C Reilly in it. Nothing, nothing I say, to do with the Great Detective, just an absolute farce. I have never in my life walked out of a movie halfway through, but I had no choice as it was totally off with fart and sex jokes that aren't needed to be ever added under these 2 great names.
ReplyDeleteBeen told that they only showed it as John starred in the Stan & Ollie movie which was a lot better received. But Holmes & Watson - unless you truly enjoy jokes where Holmes is late again and found in bed with the young Mrs Hudson, is truly the worst of the worst for me.
I managed not to hear about this movie until now. It sounds awful. I agree with O'Neil about Downey– what a mess. The accents were horrible, an American playing an Englishman and a Canadian playing an American. The principal actor had never read a Sherlock Holmes story! And it shows. In a previous article, I argued the protagonist was played closer to Batman than Holmes.
DeleteAll right. Stirred some comments.
ReplyDeleteLeigh – The date I left was my wife on both occasions as I walked our of the theater (in a mall) to go next door to a coffee shop in the mall. Coffee shops are our usual rendezvous locations.
Yeah. Blow-up. First seen when I was a teenager. Saw Journey to the Center of the Earth when I was eight. James Mason was a treasure.
As for movies never to watch, there are so many actors (male and female) I will not spend time with and never see their movies. I will see no slasher zombie or torture movie. The less explosions in a movie, the better.
Steve – As an army brat all we had were movies when we were overseas and it’s lasted a life time.
Elizabeth – same here with both movies you mentioned. Saw parts of both on TV.
Eve – saw Excalibur once and it was forgettable.
Mystery Lover – I like Sherlock Holmes movies very much but do not like any version that does not take place at the end of the Nineteenth Century. The updated movies with Robert Downey stink (In my opinion). As for the attempt at comedy with Holmes & Watson, I watched the trailer and that was enough.
I'd footnote a couple of pictures I only saw once and wouldn't see again, not because they weren't any good (in fact, they were terrific), but because they were so disturbing: DOWNFALL, about Hitler in the bunker and the Russians crushing Berlin topside, and MYSTIC RIVER. Then there are movies you wish you could unsee, or at least get those two hours of your life back, GHOST, anyone? (I'm probably in the minority.) Very much in agreement with JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, and have to add 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA - that giant squid gave me nightmares sixty years ago, and I still have bad dreams about falling into the ocean.
ReplyDeleteI found the novel, Mystic River, disturbing and then I was dumb enough to watch the movie. I think it bothered me so much because I knew people very much like those characters with barely suppressed violence living in that area and era.
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