I have an account over at Yelp, which is how I found Rutabegorz. It asks questions to help people get to know me (it’s like myspace for restaurants, instead of music). I regularly go in and change my answers. For example, one is, “What’s the most recent interesting book you’ve read?” to which my answer is “End of Faith”.
One of the questions is “What’s your favorite movie?” and my current answer is “13th Floor” and I was thinking of changing it. But movies are difficult to choose just one of. There’s the Princess Bride, which I like watching and can recite most of (ditto Emperor’s New Groove), there are the Disney classics (from my childhood: Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Mulan), there are the stoner movies, which for some reason my husband and I really like (Dude, Where’s My Car?, Harold & Kumar, Super Troopers), and then there’s cyberpunk. And, while I watch my cyberpunk less, it figures more in my mind as “favorite” including eXistenZ, Lola Rennt, La Cit?© des enfants perdus, Fifth Element, &c.
So, I may change my “favorite” movie to eXistenZ even though I don’t own it and haven’t seen it in years because I feel that it is more important than Dude…
24 responses so far ↓
1 John White // Jan 17, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Fresh
Miller’s Crossing
L.A. Confidential
Seven Samurai
Fight Club
Dazed and Confused
Half Baked
The Big Lebowski
No other comments necessary!
[drops mike, walks off-stage]
2 Matt Bowman // Jan 17, 2007 at 5:11 pm
This year?
Children of Men.
Brick.
Previously?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
The Godfather.
Barton Fink.
Die Hard.
3 John // Jan 17, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Just watched Children of Men and strongly recommend it, though Pan’s Labyrinth might rank a little higher in my book. Ooh, and I have City of the Lost Children in my backpack right now!
Other faves:
More Kurosawa, less samurai: Ikiru
Contact
The Shawshank Redemption
The Secretary
The first Matrix (didn’t watch the others)
4 Elise // Jan 17, 2007 at 10:23 pm
A Beautiful Mind.
About A Boy (Three cheers for British humor).
American Beauty.
Cinderella Man.
Crash.
Hanging Up.
The Hours.
Love Actually.
Meet Joe Black.
Must Love Dogs (I’m slightly embarrassed to admit this one).
Phenomenon.
Sabrina (the new one with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond).
Sideways.
The Constant Gardener.
The Truth About Cats and Dogs.
V for Vendetta.
When A Man Loves A Woman.
When Harry Met Sally.
White Oleander.
I second Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and The Secretary.
Sorry I can’t narrow it down….what can I say, I love movies.
5 Johnny // Jan 18, 2007 at 6:40 am
I love the Big Lebowski…I have to watch it at least once every few months.
6 Miko // Jan 18, 2007 at 9:51 am
John: my fav. Kurosawa is Rashomon, and I consider it cyber punk because it’s theme is, even if it’s set in the middle ages. & if you liked the Matrix, you’ll like the Animatrix. Don’t ever, under any circumstances watch the second two.
& al.: see? hard to choose just one
7 Matt Thurston // Jan 18, 2007 at 5:30 pm
My favorites of 2006, so far (in no particular order):
Pan’s Labyrinth
Children of Men
Brick
The Prestige
Stranger Than Fiction
Thank You for Smoking
United 93
Cars
I also liked, though not as much as the films above (again, in no particular order):
Casino Royale
Inside Man
Happy Feet
The Departed
Fast Food Nation
Hard Candy
Jesus Camp
Marie Antoinette
Little Miss Sunshine
V for Vendetta
Dreamgirls
An Inconvenient Truth
The overrated film of the year for me was “Volver,” though I usually love Almodovar films. But this emporer had no clothes.
Worst films of the Year for me were:
American Dreamz
The Break Up
Friends With Money
The Holiday
Hollywoodland
Poseidon
Lady in the Water
Luckily, I try not to rent or see lame movies anymore, but sometimes I get suckered into one (or my wife picks it out.)
8 Matt Thurston // Jan 18, 2007 at 5:42 pm
John, I also like City of Lost Children, to say nothing of other Jeunet films. The Badalamenti soundtrack is a must own. Marianne Faithful singing “Who Will Take My Dreams Away” just pierces my deep dark soul.
9 pilgrimgirl // Jan 18, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Matt:
What did you like about Marie Antoinette? I saw it last week and was kinda like ‘whoa, that was a huge waste of time just to see some pretty clothes and lots of cleavage.’
10 Elise // Jan 18, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Oh yeah - I forgot Thank You For Smoking. I really liked that one, too.
I haven’t seen Marie Antoinette. The subject matter seems interesting, but I generally see movies based on the cast and Kristen Dunst is one of those I try to avoid. She was nice in Interview With A Vampire and Little Women 15 yrs ago or so, and then it’s been down hill from there….
11 John // Jan 18, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Elise, you’re the third woman I know who avoids Kirsten Dunst movies. I’m neutral on the subject (I don’t watch the Spider Man movies to see her!), but I’m curious–what is it about Dunst that scares off some potential viewers?
12 Elise // Jan 18, 2007 at 8:21 pm
I think I just generally dislike women who seek attention by acting pouty, sulking, inentionally dressing in an in-your-face provocative manner, and seem eternally displeased. Most of her characters seem to fit this mold (like Bring It On, Spider Man, Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, and Wimbelton). She just strikes me as a blond bimbo. She’s probably not in real life and I’m probably unfairly judging…..please someone, prove me wrong…
13 Miko // Jan 18, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Dunst reminds me a lot of a friend of mine in HS, so I don’t avoid her stuff…but she seems trapped in highschool. I agree that, for some reason, her best role ever was when she was like 8 (Interview).
14 John White // Jan 18, 2007 at 9:49 pm
I think that a reaction as strong as disliking an actress because of a role she plays is probably the sign of great acting.
I used to really dislike Mariska Hargitay’s character on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, until I realized what I really disliked was the character she played on E.R. a year or so before L&O:SVU started.
If you dislike Kirsten Dunst, then the movie to see is Crazy/Beautiful. It was marketed as a teen titillation movie, but it’s more about degeneration and redemption.
15 Elise // Jan 18, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Ok, I’m giving her another try. I just added Crazy/Beautiful to the Netflix list.
16 Ryan // Jan 18, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Easy Rider,
Annie Hall,
Pulp Fiction,
Y Tu Mama Tambien,
Requiem for a Dream,
Fight Club
The Mission
Shaw Shank Redemption
The Secretary
Run Lola Run
Das Boot
Sideways
American Beauty
Something’s Got to Give
17 Ryan // Jan 18, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Oh yeah, and I forgot An Inconvenient Truth.
18 Matt Thurston // Jan 19, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Jana (#9):
What’s wrong with cleavage and pretty clothes?
Actually, I’m not a big Kirsten Dunst fan. She’s not a deal breaker for me (like, say, Cameron Diaz), but she doesn’t draw me to her movies either (like, say, Scarlet Johansson).
I was drawn to Marie Antoinette because I was a fan of Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation. (BTW, Marie would be a distant third if I were to rank the three movies.) Still, I liked Marie for the same reasons I liked Suicides and Translation, namely, their meditative, dream-like qualities. Sofia achieves such atmosphere in part by her use of music (she and I could probably switch iPod’s and not notice the difference), and in part by her ability to capture introspection and loneliness on screen.
So that was why I liked Marie Antoinette — beyond the cleavage and pretty clothes I saw a sad and bored teen girl caught up in something beyond her control, and all of it scored to such somber and “wintery” (but delectable) (and obscure) songs as “All Cats Are Grey” by The Cure.
19 pilgrimgirl // Jan 19, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Matt:
Hmmmm….two hours of clothes and cleavage is overload for me. But I’m probably just weird that way.
I did get the sense of the sad and lonely girl, but I had way too much sense of historical context to feel sorry for her. My fav movie about a young girl thrust into monarchical power: Lady Jane (and I way prefer Helena’s brooding gothic look to Kirsten’s waif-like look).
As for the music–it was interesting in some places, but overall it wasn’t as well executed as I wanted it to be.
20 John White // Jan 19, 2007 at 2:45 pm
I didn’t see either of those movies, but I did like Elizabeth.
Hmmm, that might be completely off-topic.
21 Matt Thurston // Jan 19, 2007 at 3:44 pm
For the record, when I said “What’s wrong with cleavage and pretty clothes?” I was speaking in jest. I probably should have added a smiley face, but I was also hoping my sarcasm would shine through. I couldn’t tell by your “hmmmm” reply if you took me seriously or not.
None of the criticism of M.A. by you or anyone else, including many movie critics, suprises me. In fact, I generally agree with the criticism and can only say I liked the parts I liked, and for whatever reason was little bothered by the parts that bothered you or anyone else.
As for its biopic pretentions or historical context… I never considered it representative of Marie or the period going into the movie, so its deviations or complete disregard of historical or period accuracy didn’t bother me. I assumed this was the movie equivalent of Dave Matthews riffing on Beethoven.
22 pilgrimgirl // Jan 19, 2007 at 4:49 pm
JW:
FWIW, I remember liking Elizabeth, too, although it’s been so long since I watched it that I can’t remember any of the specifics of the movie (well, just that one scene where she’s being rowed through the Traitor’s Gate to the Tower of London).
23 jjohnsen // Jan 20, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Previous favorites are Princess Bride, Eternal Sunshine, Shawshank Redemption, Say Anything and Unbreakable. My three favorites from last year are The Illusionist, Children of Men and Casino Royale.
24 Ariel // Jan 29, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Little Miss Sunshine
The Parent Trap (1998)
Now and Then (the “then” story)
The Sound of Music
Sorry, it’s a four-way tie.
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