Just found out I'm "IT," tagged by Miss M to do the movie meme
So, I'll attempt to rise to the challenge. missmurchison doesn't think I can reduce my most meaningful movies to just five, and she's probably right, but . . . well, let's see:
1) Total number of films I own on DVD/video:
I counted 109 commercially produced DVD and VHS films, which doesn't include any of the TV series episodes or seasons on commercially produced DVD and VHS, nor does it take into account the movies I've recorded (or had recorded for me by my sister or others) off of cable and broadcast and which make up a fair-sized minority of the 200+ home-recorded 6-hour and 8-hour VHS tapes on the rest of my shelves.
2) Last film bought:
Probably "The Void" on VHS, used (Amanda Tapping from Stargate: SG1 as -- what else? -- a brilliant physicist/mathematician out to avenge her father's death by shutting down Malcolm McDowell's evil project, and seducing incredibly hunky fellow professor Adrian Paul, formerly of Highlander, into helping her save the world). I had intended to give it to my sister as part of her birthday gift, since she's a major Adrian Paul fan, but decided to keep it for myself, since she wasn't enthusiastic enough to satisfy me.
Before that, it was a used DVD of "The Chronicles of Riddick," so I could watch the extended version before it was cut down for theatrical release, even though the restored cuts weren't always smooth or with completed special effects. Loved it, I have to say.
3) Last film that I watched:
On cable TV: "The Fallen Ones" on Sci-Fi channel, for yucks (see review in preceding post).
On DVD: "The Chronicles of Riddick," some months ago (mostly use the DVD player for watching TV series episodes), but I thorougly enjoyed the movie, and the additional scenes.
On VHS: "The Assassination Bureau" (1968) starring Diana Rigg and Oliver Reed, with Telly Savalas and Curt Jurgens, etc., along for the fun. I took it along to my weekly Super Scrabble game last Monday night (my Scrabble opponent has a VCR but no DVD player), and she got almost as big a kick out of it as I did, even after all the other times I've seen this film. Dark comedy, with incredible style, and Diana Rigg as a pre-WWI female investigative journalist, pitting her wits against (and with) a very young and darkly attractive Oliver Reed as the head of an international organization of assassins for hire.
In the cinema: "Unleashed," two days ago (see review in post immediately preceding this one) -- highly recommend it, even if you haven't been a fan of Jet Li before this.
4) Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me, in no particular order:
I'll try to limit myself to the films I actually own copies of, and that I prize though others might not hold them so dear:
"The Slipper and the Rose" -- a musical version of the Cinderella story from the 1970's, starring Gemma Craven and a young and agile Richard Chamberlain as the all-singing all-dancing prince charming! A friend recorded it off the Disney channel, back when that was a premium channel just starting out in the early 1990's, and she gave me the tape when she found out how much I wanted it. In the days before VCRs, I actually used my portable tape recorder to record the sounds coming from the TV set the last time I happened across this movie showing on some TV channel in the middle of the day. When I need a lift of spirits, I put that movie in the machine and cue it up to the scene where the Prince and his commoner groom/companion are singing and dancing irreverently all over the tombs of the prince's royal ancestors ("Ho, Ho, Ho, What a comforting thing to know . . . there's a tidy little spot in the family plot where your royal foe will go!") and then fast forward to the song "Position and Positioning," where the commoner explains to the Prince about how social position limits your possible marriage partners.
"The Assassination Bureau" -- see above, under "last film I watched on VHS". Even better than "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" when it comes to great vintage Diana Rigg, and Oliver Reed does a far better job of matching her wit for wit and style for style than George Lazenby ever got the chance to.
"Babette's Feast" -- (1988) In Danish and French, with English subtitles, from a story by Isak Dinesen. Eat a really good dinner with friends before you sit down to watch this movie, no matter how many times you've already seen it, is my best advice. If the Kingdom of Heaven is, as often described in the New Testament parables, akin to a great party/feast, then this film presents the closest thing on earth to a simple, gorgeous, visceral sense of the eschatological banquet yet to come, and the glimpses of paradise that may be attained on earth when we give all that we have for the chance to do our best, to exercise our arts to the best of our abilities.
"Enchanted April" -- (1992) "For those fond of wisteria and sunshine . . . ." Miranda Richardson, Josie Lawrence, Joan Plowright, and Polly Walker, as mismatched a group of potential bosom-bows as one could imagine, contrive to escape from depressingly cold and rainy post-WWI London to spend the month of April sharing a small medieval castle in Italy. Alfred Molina, Jim Broadbent, and Michael Kitchen play crucial supporting comic roles as the men who get to participate in the tail end of this transformational month in paradise, but the story really revolves around the four women and their self-healing and discovery that beneath their disappointments and preoccupations with daily life, some startling new growth is capable of springing from seemingly dead wood.
The first paper I ever wrote and was HAPPY with for my PhD studies was a Jungian analysis of this film entitled "Individuation in a Medieval Castle -- or, The Alchemy of April in Italy." It's the spiritual equivalent of a scented bubble bath with candles and a bottle of good champagne, when your soul is bruised and in need of something restorative. See the movie first, and then read the novel it was based on, written by Elizabeth von Arnim, to appreciate how a novel expressing the spirit of the 1920's was transformed into a film that spoke to the spiritual hunger of the 1990's.
Since missmurchison has already extolled the virtues of the 1953 film "Hobson's Choice" (which she turned me onto, with the result that my mother special ordered a VHS copy of it for me as my most prized Christmas gift -- well, along with the DVD player -- some years ago), I'll skip over that one for now (though it is every bit as good as she says, and very re-watchable).
Instead, let me use my 5th slot to mention the much (and, in many ways, deservedly) reviled English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's 1984 anime "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," cut down to 95 minutes and released under the title "Warriors of the Wind." This film, when I first saw it on HBO at my parents' house in 1986 or so, was my introduction to the films of Miyazaki and to their ability to radically re-imagine and re-energize familiar mythic themes like sacrifice and resurrection and universal redemption and healing. Even now that the full version of "Nausicaa" is finally available in an English dub on DVD, my old VHS copy of "Warriors of the Wind" still holds a special place in my heart.
Honorable mentions would include the Clint Eastwood musical epic featuring the music of Lerner and Loewe (the team responsible for "Gigi," "Camelot," and "My Fair Lady") and the unusual musical topic of polyandry, "Paint Your Wagon" (1969), the slight but oh-so-charming-and-frothy Sarah Michelle Gellar/Sean Patrick Flanery romantic comedy "Simply Irresistible" (1999), and the weird but surprisingly ambitious Sci-Fi version of Buddhist Enlightenment crossed with Christian Pentecost and a heavy Ecological message brat-pack epic known as "Solarbabies" (1986) -- yes, it's often cringe-worthy in its dialogue, but at other times it's hilarious or genuinely moving and beautiful, and hey, you get to see Sarah Douglas playing an evil villainess yet AGAIN, so what more do you want?
And then there's my three favorite James-Cameron-working-out-his-mother-issues-and-mythic-nightmares films, which are in class and category all by themselves, when it comes to films that mean a lot to me: "Aliens" (1986 -- Director's Cut only, please!), "The Abyss" (1989 -- again, Director's Cut is even better and much more meaningful), and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991).
5) Pick on five people. Tag five people and have them put this on their journal.
I'm so out of it that I don't know who's gone and done this already, but IF you haven't already done this and you're reading this right now, consider yourself well and truly tagged, my friend.
1) Total number of films I own on DVD/video:
I counted 109 commercially produced DVD and VHS films, which doesn't include any of the TV series episodes or seasons on commercially produced DVD and VHS, nor does it take into account the movies I've recorded (or had recorded for me by my sister or others) off of cable and broadcast and which make up a fair-sized minority of the 200+ home-recorded 6-hour and 8-hour VHS tapes on the rest of my shelves.
2) Last film bought:
Probably "The Void" on VHS, used (Amanda Tapping from Stargate: SG1 as -- what else? -- a brilliant physicist/mathematician out to avenge her father's death by shutting down Malcolm McDowell's evil project, and seducing incredibly hunky fellow professor Adrian Paul, formerly of Highlander, into helping her save the world). I had intended to give it to my sister as part of her birthday gift, since she's a major Adrian Paul fan, but decided to keep it for myself, since she wasn't enthusiastic enough to satisfy me.
Before that, it was a used DVD of "The Chronicles of Riddick," so I could watch the extended version before it was cut down for theatrical release, even though the restored cuts weren't always smooth or with completed special effects. Loved it, I have to say.
3) Last film that I watched:
On cable TV: "The Fallen Ones" on Sci-Fi channel, for yucks (see review in preceding post).
On DVD: "The Chronicles of Riddick," some months ago (mostly use the DVD player for watching TV series episodes), but I thorougly enjoyed the movie, and the additional scenes.
On VHS: "The Assassination Bureau" (1968) starring Diana Rigg and Oliver Reed, with Telly Savalas and Curt Jurgens, etc., along for the fun. I took it along to my weekly Super Scrabble game last Monday night (my Scrabble opponent has a VCR but no DVD player), and she got almost as big a kick out of it as I did, even after all the other times I've seen this film. Dark comedy, with incredible style, and Diana Rigg as a pre-WWI female investigative journalist, pitting her wits against (and with) a very young and darkly attractive Oliver Reed as the head of an international organization of assassins for hire.
In the cinema: "Unleashed," two days ago (see review in post immediately preceding this one) -- highly recommend it, even if you haven't been a fan of Jet Li before this.
4) Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me, in no particular order:
I'll try to limit myself to the films I actually own copies of, and that I prize though others might not hold them so dear:
"The Slipper and the Rose" -- a musical version of the Cinderella story from the 1970's, starring Gemma Craven and a young and agile Richard Chamberlain as the all-singing all-dancing prince charming! A friend recorded it off the Disney channel, back when that was a premium channel just starting out in the early 1990's, and she gave me the tape when she found out how much I wanted it. In the days before VCRs, I actually used my portable tape recorder to record the sounds coming from the TV set the last time I happened across this movie showing on some TV channel in the middle of the day. When I need a lift of spirits, I put that movie in the machine and cue it up to the scene where the Prince and his commoner groom/companion are singing and dancing irreverently all over the tombs of the prince's royal ancestors ("Ho, Ho, Ho, What a comforting thing to know . . . there's a tidy little spot in the family plot where your royal foe will go!") and then fast forward to the song "Position and Positioning," where the commoner explains to the Prince about how social position limits your possible marriage partners.
"The Assassination Bureau" -- see above, under "last film I watched on VHS". Even better than "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" when it comes to great vintage Diana Rigg, and Oliver Reed does a far better job of matching her wit for wit and style for style than George Lazenby ever got the chance to.
"Babette's Feast" -- (1988) In Danish and French, with English subtitles, from a story by Isak Dinesen. Eat a really good dinner with friends before you sit down to watch this movie, no matter how many times you've already seen it, is my best advice. If the Kingdom of Heaven is, as often described in the New Testament parables, akin to a great party/feast, then this film presents the closest thing on earth to a simple, gorgeous, visceral sense of the eschatological banquet yet to come, and the glimpses of paradise that may be attained on earth when we give all that we have for the chance to do our best, to exercise our arts to the best of our abilities.
"Enchanted April" -- (1992) "For those fond of wisteria and sunshine . . . ." Miranda Richardson, Josie Lawrence, Joan Plowright, and Polly Walker, as mismatched a group of potential bosom-bows as one could imagine, contrive to escape from depressingly cold and rainy post-WWI London to spend the month of April sharing a small medieval castle in Italy. Alfred Molina, Jim Broadbent, and Michael Kitchen play crucial supporting comic roles as the men who get to participate in the tail end of this transformational month in paradise, but the story really revolves around the four women and their self-healing and discovery that beneath their disappointments and preoccupations with daily life, some startling new growth is capable of springing from seemingly dead wood.
The first paper I ever wrote and was HAPPY with for my PhD studies was a Jungian analysis of this film entitled "Individuation in a Medieval Castle -- or, The Alchemy of April in Italy." It's the spiritual equivalent of a scented bubble bath with candles and a bottle of good champagne, when your soul is bruised and in need of something restorative. See the movie first, and then read the novel it was based on, written by Elizabeth von Arnim, to appreciate how a novel expressing the spirit of the 1920's was transformed into a film that spoke to the spiritual hunger of the 1990's.
Since missmurchison has already extolled the virtues of the 1953 film "Hobson's Choice" (which she turned me onto, with the result that my mother special ordered a VHS copy of it for me as my most prized Christmas gift -- well, along with the DVD player -- some years ago), I'll skip over that one for now (though it is every bit as good as she says, and very re-watchable).
Instead, let me use my 5th slot to mention the much (and, in many ways, deservedly) reviled English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's 1984 anime "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," cut down to 95 minutes and released under the title "Warriors of the Wind." This film, when I first saw it on HBO at my parents' house in 1986 or so, was my introduction to the films of Miyazaki and to their ability to radically re-imagine and re-energize familiar mythic themes like sacrifice and resurrection and universal redemption and healing. Even now that the full version of "Nausicaa" is finally available in an English dub on DVD, my old VHS copy of "Warriors of the Wind" still holds a special place in my heart.
Honorable mentions would include the Clint Eastwood musical epic featuring the music of Lerner and Loewe (the team responsible for "Gigi," "Camelot," and "My Fair Lady") and the unusual musical topic of polyandry, "Paint Your Wagon" (1969), the slight but oh-so-charming-and-frothy Sarah Michelle Gellar/Sean Patrick Flanery romantic comedy "Simply Irresistible" (1999), and the weird but surprisingly ambitious Sci-Fi version of Buddhist Enlightenment crossed with Christian Pentecost and a heavy Ecological message brat-pack epic known as "Solarbabies" (1986) -- yes, it's often cringe-worthy in its dialogue, but at other times it's hilarious or genuinely moving and beautiful, and hey, you get to see Sarah Douglas playing an evil villainess yet AGAIN, so what more do you want?
And then there's my three favorite James-Cameron-working-out-his-mother-issues-and-mythic-nightmares films, which are in class and category all by themselves, when it comes to films that mean a lot to me: "Aliens" (1986 -- Director's Cut only, please!), "The Abyss" (1989 -- again, Director's Cut is even better and much more meaningful), and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991).
5) Pick on five people. Tag five people and have them put this on their journal.
I'm so out of it that I don't know who's gone and done this already, but IF you haven't already done this and you're reading this right now, consider yourself well and truly tagged, my friend.