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| guilty pleasure movies
by canaveralgumby on 6 August 2005 2:48am |
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NOT movies which are necessarily good, or touted by the Film Institute... Just your favorite movies which you could watch very often and maybe are embarrassed to admit to, but since we use pseudonyms it's okay, you're among friends. Mine:
THE PROFESSIONAL: Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, Gary Oldman. Made in New York, a European production so it has a nice, different sensibility about it. For instance, no sense of sexuality going on between Leon and Matilda, something I don't think a Hollywood film could have pulled off. Gary Oldman is a great campy bad guy, just like he was as Dracula or as Mason Varger in "Hannibal," except in this movie he gets to look like Gary Oldman. (Euro. release was called "Leon")
NIGHTHAWKS: Sylvester Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, Rutger Hauer. As if you need any more than that! But a good solid story of police detectives, spies and terrorists. Stallone and Williams are gorgeous and brave and wonderful heroic alpha males and you have to root fot them. Rutger Hauer is gorgeous and beautiful and sadistic and psychopathic and you have to root for him! And a music score by ELP's Keith Emerson. Even the disco music playing at the club, by Keith Emerson. Twenty plus viewings and I can't decide if the music is really good or if it really sucks. :^)
THEY LIVE: An alien invasion movie starring pro wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper. As if you need more than THAT! As an actor, he's a really good pro wrestler. Actually, he isn't bad... Very pretty to look at (not quite as pretty as Rutger Hauer in "Nighthawks"!) A John Carpenter film, which looks like it was made on a budget of $587. Includes the famous ump-teen minute long, seemingly unending fist fight in the alley - "Put on the glasses!" - which South Park paid homage to, frame for frame, in the "Cripple Fight" episode.
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| Re: guilty pleasure movies
by orit on 6 August 2005 10:55am |
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Let me say it proud and loud: I love the movie LEON! Gray Oldman is just so gorgeous!! There, I've said it.
Although I don't agree with the "no sense of sexuality going on between Leon and Matilda" that you mentioned. There was a lot of sexual tension going on there, even though Natalie Portman was only 11-12 when she did the movie (she turned 12 during filming).
And another movie I am loud and proud about:
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI: Directed in 1919 (!) by Robert Wiene, the movie tells the tale of murder and intrigue set in a small German town. There's a leading lady, there're 2 guys in love with the abovementioned lady, there's a carnival, there's a somnambulist and there's a lot of expressionism. Oh, and there's a doctor. What's not to love? |
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| Re: guilty pleasure movies
by Godfather on 6 August 2005 6:48pm |
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LEON is one of my favourites too. I also dont agree that there was no sexual chemistry going on there. The movie was very sensual, but at a subtle level. Matilda is always teasing Leon (but in a comical way). The movie Leon is a kind of mixture of Lolita and The Godfather. Great music by Eric Serra, and Sting's "Shape of my Heart" at the end was such a beautiful choice for a closing song.
NAME OF THE ROSE
Cinema adaption of Umberto Eco's novel, in which Sean Connery (William of Baskerville) and Christian Slate (Adso of Melk) travel to a remote Italian Abbey in the 13th century. Soon morphs into a medieval Sherlock Homes mystery. Beautiful cinematography, and every character in the movie is so distinct that you remember them all. Connery is superb in the humble pious yet intellectual role of monk.
THE WICKER MAN
Zany, and Edward Woodward plays the part of an uptight formal christian police chief very well. Now a cult film, made on a low budget in the remote islands of Northern Scotland. Christopher Lee is suitably awfull, but the twist in the story is fantastic and the ending one of the most disturbing in cinema. One of my favourites.
THE HILL
Black and White movie starring a young Sean Connery, set in a North African prison camp during WWII. All about the abuse of power amongst the guards. Fantastically simple filming, and very effective. Shows how less is more, and how character development comes from that.
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| Re: guilty pleasure movies
by pandab on 6 August 2005 10:06pm |
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My favorites are a varied lot <G>:
THE LION IN WINTER - Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn play Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. I've seen it so many times I can recite whole scenes by heart.
THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD - No idea who the actors were without looking at the tape jacket. Sinbad races against an evil sorcerer to get 3 treasures and restore a king to his throne. Campy and at times silly, but I love it anyway!
MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL - Absolute silliness by the absolute masters! The Making Of documentary on the DVD only makes it more fascinating.
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| Re: guilty pleasure movies
by orit on 6 August 2005 11:01pm |
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MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL! Of course! pandab you are so right! Which reminds me of course:
LIFE OF BRIAN: No need to introduce. I visited the Coliseum in Rome last week with a couple of friends and we did the Judean People's Front skit :)
LORETTA: The People's Front of Judea. Splitters.
REG: We're the People's Front of Judea!
LORETTA: Oh. I thought we were the Popular Front.
REG: People's Front! C-huh.
FRANCIS: Whatever happened to the Popular Front, Reg?
REG: He's over there.
P.F.J.: Splitter! |
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| Re: guilty pleasure movies
by canaveralgumby on 7 August 2005 6:50am |
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Well, I shall have to reconsider whether there is sexual tension in "Leon." I don't WANT there to be!
Is "Golden Voyage of Sinbad" the movie with the Ray Harryhausen (spelling?) effects? You can't beat those movies with a stick! "Clash of the Titans" "Jason and the Argonauts" Oooooooh good stuff! |
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| Re: guilty pleasure movies
by perfectbitch on 7 August 2005 1:05pm |
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Pandab - I could watch anything with Kate Hepburn and almost anything with O'Toole. I especially like The Ruling Class but it doesn't work on a small screen. My late husband used to drive for him and he is a sweet old luvvie.
"Now Voyager" with Bette Davis. A melodrama in the classic style with the immortal final line, "Why wish for the moon when we have the stars."
"White Mischief" for the great line spoken by Sarah Miles, playing a wealthy heroin addict. She walks wearily to the window and looks out over a stunning view and utters, "Oh God! Not another f***ing beautiful sunrise." The rest of the movie is crap.
The Right Stuff. The macho gung ho tale of the early Mercury astronauts. Sam Shepherd in the leather jacket!!!
The Phantom Tollbooth. A full length cartoon feature that isn't Disney. I love this film and the demons are superb.
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| Re: guilty pleasure movies
by canaveralgumby on 7 August 2005 7:45pm |
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| DOG DAY AFTERNOON - IMextremelyHO Al Pacino's best performance. Okay, it's in the top three. As the viewer you get "Stockholm Syndrome," which makes the ending tragic and a shock to the system, even though it shouldn't be. And what could the wonderful actor John Cazale have accomplished if he'd lived longer?... |
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| Re: guilty pleasure movies
by pandab on 8 August 2005 4:08am |
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That's the one, Canaveral! There were 3 Sinbad movies that Harryhausen did (at least that I know of)--The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Sinbad & the Eye of the Tiger.
Golden Voyage is my favorite of the 3, but I have to admit Patrick Wayne in Tiger made a Sinbad that wasn't at all hard to look at <G>.
Of the 3, Golden Voyage is also the one that kept closest to the "feel" of the era and setting.
Imagine what they could do with that genre now! |
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| Re: guilty pleasure movies
by George on 8 August 2005 4:54am |
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| Animal House-for lots of reasons. |
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