Movie Meme
Rules: In a text post, list ten movies that have stayed with you, ten movies you're rewatched more than once or pushed your friends into watching or can't get out of your mind. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard - and, yes, limit it to ten. Then tag ten friends and spread the madness.
In no particular order:
---"Chicago" with Rene Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones as murderesses and Richard Gere, cutting the rug as their sleazy lawyer. I love this movie's cynical point-of-view, its music, and - importantly - that it introduced me to Queen Latifah.
---"Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" with Dexter Fletcher and Jason Fleming playing two of the boys trying to repay their Shylock but pulling off a caper that is way above their job grade. Along the way, one of the boys calls on his father (Sting) for help, and Dad proves to be scarier than the crooks that are after his son.
---"Fresh" with Sean Nelson as Fresh, Samuel L. Jackson as his chess-playing father, and Giancarlo Esposito as the scariest of the many violent criminals that inhabit Fresh's world. "Fresh," like "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels," is a sting movie, a genre I love, partly because the protagonists are usually smart...or, in this case, brilliant.
---"Get Shorty" is a terrific adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, with dialogue that has all the punch you associate with Leonard. John Travolta is perfect as Chili Palmer, a mobster who gets sent to Hollywood to collect a debt and is smitten by the movie-making culture. Funny, funny movie with quite a few surprises along the way.
---"The Big Country" stars Gregory Peck as a retired sea captain engaged to a spoiled-rotten Carroll Baker. When he travels to Texas for the engagement party, everybody - including his fiancée - assumes he is an effete Easterner, completely out of his depth. Maybe not. Way down the list of actors, as a thorough-going villain, is Chuck Connors. Oh, yeah!
---"Up" has Ed Asner voicing Carl and Jordan Nagaie voicing Russell, but it's the first half hour of this movie that makes it so very special, as we are shown Carl's journey through life with his first love and devoted wife, Ellie. I dare you not to cry or at least tear up.
---"Intouchables" introduces its bromantic characters in one of the best car chases I have ever seen. The two men in the car are Phillippe (Francois Cluzet), a paraplegic, and his attendant, Driss (Omar Sly). From that introduction, the movie flashes back to how they got to that point. I have two warnings for this movie: It's in French so...subtitles. It's one of two movies I've shown to people who said, "Why did we watch this movie?" (The other is Fresh.)
---"The Brothers Bloom" with Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo. This is another sting movie, one that had me wondering who was stinging whom. Were the brothers stinging heiress Rachel Weisz or was she stinging them back? Or what? (Love me some Adrien Brody!)
---"Young Frankenstein." Omigod, this may be the most perfect movie ever! Just typing the names of the cast has me laughing out loud: Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein, the incomparable Marty Feldman as Igor ("Walk this way."), Madeline Kahn as Elizabeth, Cloris Leachman as Frau Blucher, and Teri Garr as Inga. October is the perfect time of year for my annual rewatching.
I'm tagging yvonnereid, severina2001, besame_bj, gaeln, bkrave, Bodleian, mindyone1, techgirl_on_ij, guavejuice, and spike7451 because you are all my friends and I'm interested in you and what you love. On the other hand, if I didn't tag you, but you are reading this, DO THE MEME anyway! I love you, too. FanSee
In no particular order:
---"Chicago" with Rene Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones as murderesses and Richard Gere, cutting the rug as their sleazy lawyer. I love this movie's cynical point-of-view, its music, and - importantly - that it introduced me to Queen Latifah.
---"Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" with Dexter Fletcher and Jason Fleming playing two of the boys trying to repay their Shylock but pulling off a caper that is way above their job grade. Along the way, one of the boys calls on his father (Sting) for help, and Dad proves to be scarier than the crooks that are after his son.
---"Fresh" with Sean Nelson as Fresh, Samuel L. Jackson as his chess-playing father, and Giancarlo Esposito as the scariest of the many violent criminals that inhabit Fresh's world. "Fresh," like "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels," is a sting movie, a genre I love, partly because the protagonists are usually smart...or, in this case, brilliant.
---"Get Shorty" is a terrific adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, with dialogue that has all the punch you associate with Leonard. John Travolta is perfect as Chili Palmer, a mobster who gets sent to Hollywood to collect a debt and is smitten by the movie-making culture. Funny, funny movie with quite a few surprises along the way.
---"The Big Country" stars Gregory Peck as a retired sea captain engaged to a spoiled-rotten Carroll Baker. When he travels to Texas for the engagement party, everybody - including his fiancée - assumes he is an effete Easterner, completely out of his depth. Maybe not. Way down the list of actors, as a thorough-going villain, is Chuck Connors. Oh, yeah!
---"Up" has Ed Asner voicing Carl and Jordan Nagaie voicing Russell, but it's the first half hour of this movie that makes it so very special, as we are shown Carl's journey through life with his first love and devoted wife, Ellie. I dare you not to cry or at least tear up.
---"Intouchables" introduces its bromantic characters in one of the best car chases I have ever seen. The two men in the car are Phillippe (Francois Cluzet), a paraplegic, and his attendant, Driss (Omar Sly). From that introduction, the movie flashes back to how they got to that point. I have two warnings for this movie: It's in French so...subtitles. It's one of two movies I've shown to people who said, "Why did we watch this movie?" (The other is Fresh.)
---"The Brothers Bloom" with Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo. This is another sting movie, one that had me wondering who was stinging whom. Were the brothers stinging heiress Rachel Weisz or was she stinging them back? Or what? (Love me some Adrien Brody!)
---"Young Frankenstein." Omigod, this may be the most perfect movie ever! Just typing the names of the cast has me laughing out loud: Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein, the incomparable Marty Feldman as Igor ("Walk this way."), Madeline Kahn as Elizabeth, Cloris Leachman as Frau Blucher, and Teri Garr as Inga. October is the perfect time of year for my annual rewatching.
I'm tagging yvonnereid, severina2001, besame_bj, gaeln, bkrave, Bodleian, mindyone1, techgirl_on_ij, guavejuice, and spike7451 because you are all my friends and I'm interested in you and what you love. On the other hand, if I didn't tag you, but you are reading this, DO THE MEME anyway! I love you, too. FanSee