1. The last movie you saw in a theater, and current-release movie you still want to see:
Current release I want to see? I’m dying to see Half Nelson, Black Dahlia, Little Miss Sunshine and I totally have to see Shortbus when it opens on Oct. 4 just cause I’m so curious.
And – I guess I haven’t been to a movie in the movie theatre in a long time. I just can’t remember what the last one was. Poseidon? What a piece of crap THAT was.
2. The last movie you rented/purchased for home viewing:
Carnal Knowledge – just bought that this past weekend
3. A movie that made you laugh out loud just one??
What’s Up Doc?
Waiting for Guffman
Bringing up Baby
4. A movie that made you cry:
Running on Empty
5. A movie that was a darling of the critics, but you didn’t think lived up to the hype:
Forrest Gump
It wasn’t just the darling of the critics – it was the darling of, uhm, everyone – and I wasn’t just bored by the film, I was also actively annoyed by it. I thought it was indicative of everything that is WRONG in today’s society (and I’m not a “oh woe is me, society is going downhill” type girl – but yay, Forrest Gump MADE me into one of those people). I’ve posted my thoughts about it before and people write me pained emails trying to tell me why I need to see it again. It HURTS people that I don’t like the movie. So freakin’ weird. So no. I will not see it again. Life is too short for me to watch that piece of shit twice. Now let the emails fly!!
6. A movie that you thought was better than the critics:
Living Out Loud – I think that was one of the best movies of the last 10 years – and I guess it got good reviews – but certainly not like I thought it should have gotten. Fantastic film. I think everyone in it (Holly Hunter, Danny Devito, Queen Latifah) did their best work ever.
I felt implicated by that movie. I felt named by it. I took it personally. On some level, I am that Holly Hunter character and … I felt intensely disturbed by it, but also so impressed. Wow … how did they KNOW all that?
But besides my own personal response to it- it’s just a good movie, that’s all.
7. Favorite animated movie:
Lady and the Tramp probably. I adore that movie. Although I have such a soft sport for Bug’s Life – because of how often I watched that movie with the Cash-man.
8. Favorite Disney Villain:
The Queen in Snow White. I still find her rather terrifying.
9. Favorite movie musical:
Probably Meet me in St. Louis. Although – you know what? No. I’m gonna have to go with Grease. Sorry.
10. Favorite movies of all-time (up to five): Ack – I hate these, but here we go – off the top of my head, just in terms of how many times I have seen these, and how often I can see them and never ever get tired of them:
Empire Strikes Back
Running on empty
Only Angels Have Wings
Witness
What’s Up Doc?
hahahahaha! Someone else who hates “Forrest Gump.”
I remember watching this with relatives…watching them all eat it up, talk about how “moving” and “wonderful” it was, and find myself thinking, “Is it just me or does the emperor have no clothes?”
someone – maybe it was a commenter on an earlier post about this on your blog – referred to this genre as the “magic retard” movie (sorry if that’s offensive but it’s a direct quote). And I HATE that kind of movie with a blinding passion. Because I’ve worked with mildly disabled people. And working with people who are disabled is NOT all magic epiphanies about life. It’s a lot of frustration, and a lot of not-relating, and a lot of the challenges of working with not-disabled people, but those challenges are magnified even more because communication is more difficult. Watching those “magic retard” movies is like being told to be happy happy happy all the time – I just can’t do it.
ricki – I believe I wrote an entire post about how much I despise the “magical retard” theme in films (hahahaha) – only that post was in regards to the Rosie O’Donnell debacle “Riding on the bus with my Magical Retard Sister”.
Again – I don’t mean any offense either – a lot of people I know work with special ed kids, and wouldn’t have it any other way (it is a calling for them) – but yes, it comes with frustrations, difficulties, etc.
As far as I’m concerned – the emperor was WAY without clothes in terms of Forrest. I have never felt so out of sync with the rest of the population. People I respected, loved, adored, all just went NUTS for this movie. I slunk off into the corner, and seethed about it privately. Until now. :)
1. The last movie you saw in a theater, and current-release movie you still want to see:
I guess the last movie I saw in the theater was Over the Hedge. I want to see The Devil Wears Prada and Gridiron Gang.
2. The last movie you rented/purchased for home viewing:
March of the Penguins.
3. A movie that made you laugh out loud
Waiting for Guffman
Young Frankenstein
4. A movie that made you cry:
Is there a movie that DOESN’T make me cry? Right off the top of my head: Rudy.
5. A movie that was a darling of the critics, but you didn’t think lived up to the hype:
Anything by Woody Allen.
I’m sorry; I know y’all love him. I guess it’s the whole “NY sensibility” of it all that escapes me, but seriously, I just want to smack him across the face. Hard. And then kick him in the nuts, if he had any.
6. A movie that you thought was better than the critics:
Memories of Me.
It’s a perfect little poofy fluff of a movie. Alan King is perfectly cast, and Billy Crystal is so cute I want to put him in my pocket and take him home. I watch it every time I come across it on TV.
7. Favorite animated movie:
Typical animation: The Little Mermaid.
Pixar: The Incredibles.
8. Favorite Disney Villain:
Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. Perfect name for a perfect villianess.
9. Favorite movie musical:
Funny Girl.
10. Favorite movies of all-time (up to five):
Gone With the Wind
It’s a Wonderful Life
Four Weddings and a Funeral
St. Elmo’s Fire
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Little Miss Sunshine is the feel good movie of the year.
dorkafork – I’m dying to see it. My parents loved it – I have to see it before the damn thing goes away!!
Forrest Gump STUNK! I just kept thinking “Isn’t this movie over yet!?” Fortunately my hubby hated it too, so I didn’t feel that sense of aloneness during all of the hype.
The best thing I’ve read about retarded people lately was from Patrick. Some people with mental handicaps are cool, like my friend Alice. (and Patrick’s grocery bagger guy) Others are totally annoying. Then there are retards of all IQ’s. (Jumping Tom comes to mind first.)
To quote Patrick: “Im not saying a guy with Down Syndrome cant be a retard, just that in my little world the two things arent necessarily tied together as cause and effect. Shit, itd be almost disrespectful to say they cant people with Down Syndrome can be just as retarded as anyone else. They can also be just as boring, petty, sheeplike or surly as you or me, and nobody can take that away from them.”
I haven’t really enjoyed a Woody Allen film in about 10 years. But yeah – I’m a huge fan of his earlier stuff, especially the comedies.
And Lisa – you’re so right about Memories of Me – have we ever talked about that movie? I totally love it too.
red fish – oh, that’s right!!! I forgot about Patrick’s grocery guy – that is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about.
I am so pleased to find other Gump haters. I really am.
No, we haven’t talked about it! I thought I was the only person who’s ever seen it!
“Let me get this straight: is he an actor or isn’t he?”
“Exactly.”
Ha!!
As always, Sheila, feel free to call me when you piss on Gump. I am game for it anytime. Anywhere. Seriously, call me.
And while I’m ait, that Tom Hanks can suck it. I just want to punch him in that bulbous bottom lip of his.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to take my Paxil.
Before you take that Paxil, Curly, my cat KILLED. A. MOUSE. yesterday. In my kitchen.
You’re welcome.
curly – hahahahahahahaha I will definitely call in that chip. You and I need to bitch about Gump in PERSON next time we get together (Mexican??)
Dude, what’s up with all my typos? I’ve got the bronchitis, you see. Bear with me.
Lisa, the mere mention of a m-o-u-s-e makes me want to wash down my Paxil with a swig or two of Drano. At least the wee bugger is dead though. I’m fearful of saying that I have had no sightings in my abode since the last reported one. I’m going to throw some salt over my shoulder and say a novena just in case…
Mmm… Mexican and Forrest Gump bashing. That goes better together than chocolate and peanut butter.
Favorite five:
The Usual Suspects
The Quiet Man
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Toy Story II
The Great Race
I was really tempted to list The Darkling Plain, just to see who’s paying attention. ;-) Alas, I’ve never seen it.
I love your typos Curly. Feel better please.
Sheila,
You and I need to have a LENGTHY Magic Retard conversation one day. We’ve never had that, and it would make me happier than the Liza at the Actor’s Studio Story.
I not only hated Forrestt Gump because of the Magic Retard, but I also hated it because of the Unamed Immune Disease what’s-her-puss dies from.
UNAMED IMMUNE DISEASE???????
Oh fer Christ sake.
And then, not only does she spend the entire fim getting beat up, sticking needles in her arm, and flailing around her life like a moron, but she ends up in a white dress with flowers in her hair half dead as Haley Joel Osmond acts every grown up off the screen.
That movie can go straight to Immunne Disease Hell.
Just as a PS, I have the same revulsion for “Philidelphia”. Don’t even get me started on the sickeningly touching, abhorrently sweet, and maniaclly understanding performance of Tom Hanks and his inane, totally unrealistic and blindly stupid portrayal of someone dying from AIDS.
I sobbed at the end like everyone else (thanks to the two seconds we saw Joanne Woodward and the terriffic song by Springsteen) but that movie makes me want to crawl out of my skin.
God…what a snarky post.
Yeah, I wasn’t wacky about Philadelphia either. Except for Joanne Woodward and the couple times we saw Antonio Banderas.
And yeah – the whole thing in Forrest Gump – argh. Every second of that movie drove me insane. Unnamed disease and all.
And we can have a long “magical retard” conversation on our drive to Vegas!!!
I just pretend all Tom Hanks has done is Sleepless in Seattle and Big.
Oh, and Bosom Buddies.
It makes life a lot easier.
Lisa – hahahahaha totally!!!!
“Life is like a box of chocolates…”
Worst. Life. Simile. Ever. and it’s solipsism at it’s worst
Yay! Another one!!!!
Exactly.
That’s supposed to be wisdom? I’m supposed to be totally blown away by the wisdom there?
Puh-leez.
…I totally have to see Shortbus when it opens on Oct. 4 just cause I’m so curious.
I wrote an entire post about how much I despise the “magical retard” theme in films
So, can I assume that Shortbus is not about “magical retards”?
Did you guys hear the rumor about how Tom Hanks was caught on camera tawkin’ smack ’bout Bruce Springsteen during the Oscars the year he won for Philadelphia? Bruce had just won his Best Song Oscar and the camera cut to Hanks and he had a smile plastered on his face and was clapping and saying something to Rita. The next day, people with entirely too much time on their hands read Hanks’ lips and deciphered the following: “He’s a schmuck. A complete schmuck.”
Oh no he didn’t! I hate him. Hate him. And what was up with that opera scene?!
I hate Forrest Gump. I became a retard just watching that piece of crap.
BUT … I wouldn’t mind seeing a movie that puts Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump on Tom Hanks’ “Castaway” island and THEN we’ll all see what that magical retard can do.
i guess i’m going to have to be the lone person to defend forrest gump. shitty job, but someone has to do it. i like watching that movie, and it’s one of the movies i can watch frequently and not get sick of. i think what i liked about it wasn’t the “magical retard” bit (good point about that) but the novelty of the way his life goes through the different periods of time, especially the CGI stuff where they put him on film with JFK and LBJ, etc. at the time that stuff was a major breakthrough, as i remember. i also generally like tom hanks. there. i said it. i’m sorry.
but the biggest reason i like to watch that movie is gary sinise. his lieutenant dan is one of my favorite characters ever, and i love his exasperated exchanges with forrest.
anyway, i’ll let you guys go back to hating now. :-) i mean, i’m the girl who was traumatized by the staple of 80’s childhood, the neverending story, and i despise nicolas cage with the flaming passion of a thousand supernovas, but everyone else seems to think he’s at least ok. so what do i know.
JFH – ha!! Nope. It’s porn. Or – it’s a movie with real sex in it. I’m just so curious about it. No MRs in it (I hope!!)
beth – ha!!! Stand strong! Obviously you are not alone – I am way off the curve of the norm (on this one, anyway) – and I do hate that movie but like I said – so many people whom I find to be smart, discerning, yadda yadda, loved it. So to quote you: what do I know?
and hahaha “flaming passion of a thousand supernovas” – hilarious!!
that would be another good post although I have done variations on that theme: what do you despise that everyone else seems to adore?
Obviously Forrest Gump is on my list.
And I actually agree with you about Sinise – that and Apollo 13 were my favorite roles of his.
Ken – oh my God, I just noticed your Darkling Plain comment. You are so amazing, seriously. Can they BOTTLE your memory and SELL IT??
I watched it again recently and while I cringe thru most of it – I have two moments that I can honestly say, “You know what? That was pretty good.”
So that’s not too shabby.
Coincidentally, I just a few hours ago discovered the existence of Running on Empty, and thought it was a movie I’d like to see. My world is converging in upon itself!
Believe it or not, I’ve never seen Forrest Gump. On Gump-fest Oscar night, I went to see Pulp Fiction at the Cedar-Lee in Cleveland Heights, where I could (and did) have pita, hummus, and a bottle of ale while watching the movie.
I did, however, see the X-Files episode “Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man.” That version of the Worst. Life. Simile. Ever. is much better:
“Like is like a box of chocolates. A cheap, thoughtless perfunctory gift that nobody ever asks for. Unreturnable because all you get back is another box of chocolates. So you’re stuck with this undefinable whipped mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there’s nothing else left to eat. Sure, once in a while there’s a . . . a peanut butter cup or a . . . English toffee. But they’re gone too fast and taste . . . fleeting. So you end up with nothing but… broken bits filled with hardened jelly and teeth- shattering nuts. If you’re desperate enough to eat those then . . . all you got left is a . . . is an empty box, filled with useless brown paper wrappers.”
(Full disclosure: This is Google-fu, not a feat of memory.) ;-)
I mean, I do have a good memory and all, but memorizing that dialogue on one watching is beyond my skill. Don’t want to front….
Little Miss Sunshine was everything it promises to be. Laughed out lous again and again – which I never do.
Living Out Loud was criminally underrated – I have a copy I pull out when I feel unconnected from the world and it reminds me how you can suddenly find connections… or how people who don’t even know you can impact you. Holly Hunter, whom I love love love, was so good in it. But everyone was.
The last movie you saw in a theater, and current-release movie you still want to see:
I saw Jackass2 on Saturday night…loved every adolescent second of it!!!!!!…and then on Sunday i saw Half-Nelson..bleak,beautiful,moving,smart and flawlessly acted..truly..flawless.
2. The last movie you rented/purchased for home viewing:
got TransAmerica from Netflix..havent watched it yet..i watched The Producers(musical version)before that..what atotal and absolute bummer..a disaster all around.
3. A movie that made you laugh out loud:
Whats Up Doc? -always!!
4. A movie that made you cry:
fuck everyhting makes me cry..but..um..The Way We Were…”your girl is lovely Hubbel”…oh sweet lorf…ur killing me Babs!!
5. A movie that was a darling of the critics, but you didn’t think lived up to the hype:
since Sheila brillinatly articulated my first and biggest pet-peeve movie..Forest(oh so that how George W. got elected) Gump so well..i’ll have to go with Crash..second -rate,ersatz Robert Altman with some great acting..but overly simplistic and obvious…(but any movie that lets Loretta Devine shine cant be all bad)
6. A movie that you thought was better than the critics:
Men Dont Leave/ All Night Long/ Dead Men Dont Wear Plaid
7. Favorite animated movie:
Spirited Away-masterpiece!!
8. Favorite Disney Villain:
Ursulla the Sea Witch
9. Favorite movie musical:
Meet Me in St. Louis and A Star is Born
10. Favorite movies of all-time (up to five):
Nashville
Meet Me in St Louis
Spirited Away
Fanny and Alexander
Postcards From the Edge
Ursula the sea witch – hahahaha she’s awesome
and please, darling, let us not forget:
“He’s a-leeee
the famil-eee
we call him Shal now
Does improv
Dressed like a slob
Weighs 303 ..”
We are seriously going to hell. Like … NOW.
so glad you agree on sinise. i love him. i even loved him in his version of of mice and men with malkovich.
i sorta kinda did a post about how much i hate nicolas cage but it was tied in with my post about oliver stone’s movie. i bring up my hatred in a lot of these movie memes, though, so i think it’s pretty clear that nicolas cage and i are not simpatico.
that general post seems like a good idea, though. that, and what do you love that everyone else seems to despise?
Uhm – well, I think a lot of other people love this as well – but The Red Shoe Diaries come to mind.
Well, since this is still going, I’ve a couple
of comments.
A movie that made you laugh out loud?
Just watched His Girl Friday and it was hilarious!
I had been laughing out loud during most of it, but I lost it completely
when Hildy sobbed after learning that her fiance was in jail a 3rd time because she had given him the counterfeit money.
Another, that seems to have been forgotten
was Fandango. 2 scenes especially had me roaring.
Where they try to attach the front of the car to a moving train, and the sky-diving excursion.
A movie that made you cry:
I don’t cry at movies but last week I watched
An Affair to Remember, when Grant at the end,
realized the condition of Kerr, the look on his face really tugged on my heart strings.
Just a change of expression. Wow!
Anyhow, as you may have noticed, I’m am obsession or two behind you.
Regards, Hank
Shal!!!!..who the hell do we think we are!!???
We were assholes who saw other people as comic relief.
“we call him Shal now”????
Uhm, guys – that’s not his name. Have you asked him if it’s all right that you “call him Shal now”???
I’m guffawing
also..its kinda racist really!! …now..people reading this..we are not racists..but we couldnt remember his name and so the first thing that came out of my mouth became what we called the guy!!
I told you I ran into Shal a couple years ago – I know you’ve seen him a couple of times, but I never have – and I saw him when Miles was in town and he and I went out.
And 2 funny things:
1. He saw that I was with Miles – and he actually remembered my face from long ago – and he obviously immediately thought that Miles and I are still hanging out all the time. hahahaha Like: guys. Move ON. I said, “Oh no … we haven’t seen each other in a couple of years …” and Shal actually looked relieved.
2. I almost called him “Shal”. It took me a second to remember his REAL name.
Well, and also the TUNE that we sang our song to … the semi-Middle Eastern Disney tune …
It was inappropriate on so many levels, and it still makes me howl.