Not the original movie meme of course, jes that it’s made up by myself from a bunch of movies floatin’ around in my head over the last few weeks.
Feel free to give more than one answer to any of the following:
- Last Oscar winner (or nominee) which you watched and thought, “What the hell were they thinking?”: Brokeback Mountain. Guess I’m feeling a little reactionary, but I watched it recently and thought, “So, it’s a pretty basic tragedy about unrequited love, but they’re gay. Big whoop. (I also feel pretty contemptuous toward Crash as well, but that’s practically a post in itself.)
- Last Best Picture winner you actually agreed with: American Beauty, which was back in 1999. As a matter of fact, there are only three since 1990 that I actually though deserved the win (Silence of the Lambs and Schindler’s List). As a matter of fact, looking at the choices made by the Academy over the years, I’m reminded why I no longer care about the Oscars.
- Favorite guilty pleasure: Moulin Rouge. Nuthin’ but syrupy, sappy, melodic eye-candy, but done pretty much perfectly.
- I just don’t understand why this is considered great: The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Sure, it was vast. It was sweeping. It was epic. It was also choppy, ponderous, and full of effects shots that seemed more about being a cool effects shot than drawing the viewer into the story. I’m not saying it was bad, but neither was it memorable.
- I just don’t understand why this isn’t considered great: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Actually, that’s not entirely true; most of the people I’ve known (or read) who hated this movie loved it on stage and thought the movie paled in comparison. Me? The first time I heard of it was when I saw the movie and instantly recognized it as great. I suppose it’s not really for everyone, but if you can appreciate Shakespeare, enjoy debate on the meaning of life and have a good sense of the absurd, you too should think it’s great. And if not, I won’t understand why.
- I’d always heard it was great, and it was: The Graduate. Just saw this a while ago and was surprised at how good it was, even having known a fair amount about the plot beforehand and having the added baggage of high expectations. Some of the direction was a little much, but it was an experimental time for film making, so it didn’t bother me, and besides, modern film grammar is so well-used that it’s rare to see someone do something interesting with the camera. Technical stuff aside, it’s just good fun.
- I can’t believe that no one ever told me how great this was: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I don’t even remember why I decided to put this in the queue, but I was blown away by it. Just in case it’s never been recommended to you: See it.
- I had to be talked into seeing this, and I’m glad I was: Die Hard. At the time, Bruce Willis was a TV actor recently of Moonlighting and had started popping up all over the place, singing, dancing, etc., and even though I’d liked him on TV, his ubiquitousness was really starting to grate. Then out of nowhere, this big action pic. I really didn’t feel like spending the money on it, but afterwards I was glad I did. It’s still a fun movie.
- I’m told I should see it, but won’t: Happy Gilmore. I’m assured that it’s hilarious, but every Adam Sandler movie I’ve ever seen makes me break out in hives. I’m also told that I shouldn’t let the few of his movies that I’ve seen bias me against Gilmore because yes, those are trash, but Gilmore is brilliant. Fool me once . . .
- I’ve never been able to finish watching: 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yeah, I know. One of the greatest films of all time. I dunno. As much as I dislike watching an entire novel chopped down to two hours, I’m even more turned off by what seems like a dozen pages of hastily sketched notes stretched into two and a half hours of ponderous silence punctuated by monotone dialog. Zzzzzz.
I could add quite a few more things, but then what would I post tomorrow?
Loonmagnet 