Replay That Movie Into Redundacy: Take One

I Don't watch much television anymore. Most of the programming that is offered to the masses, is vapidly redundant and tired to the point of rigor mortis. And the programming that I do watch is slowly being overkilled to the point of being made part of Fangoria.

So what little time I do spend of my day glued to the boob tube, is spent watching movies, domestic & foreign, English & sub-titled. About 95% of the movies I do watch, I watch at the most, one and a half times. The first time I watch a movie, I'll watch the last twenty minutes. If it piques my curiosity, then I'll watch it from the beginning before being done with it.

But the remaining 5% are the movies that I'll be focusing on today. Why? Because those movies are the ones that I gt out of my way to watch over and over again. I'll even go to the point of borrowing the DVD from the library to watch it again.

In no particular order of importance, these twelve movies, of which the first six will be posted today, from the modern color era (in my world it's the 1970's forward) that I will always watch repeatedly, be it through the boob tube movie channels or on DVD, because they resonate just that much.

1} Brick: Brick is a movie done in a noir style that focuses on the Southern California high school drug scene. The movie tells the story of a young man in search of the person who had murdered his ex-girlfriend. The movie itself is told both in flashback and present day, and expertly jumps between the two with no loss of continuity. If you like noir style films, this one is for you.

2} Dinner Rush: Dinner Rush tells the story about a night in the life of a hot trendy Tribeca restaurant. Among the sub-plots are two low-level wiseguys trying to muscle in, a son who's a degenerate gambler and an owner who is trying to make things right while trying to get out of the bookmaking business with his life intact.

 3} Drive Angry: This Nicholas Cage movie tells the story of a man who escapes from the bowels of Hell to rescue his baby granddaughter from the clutches of a murderous Satanic cult. Featuring lots of action, lots of violence and a bit of dark humor. One of Cage's better fantasy movies (I put this just about Ghost Rider), it's about two hours of pure fun.

4} Tender Mercies: Robert Duvall plays an alcoholic country singer who has hit rock bottom and slowly extricates himself from it. Redemption you might say. The story itself unfolds in a way that isn't preachy yet hammers home a powerful message. One thing that makes this movie unique is that Robert Duvall sings and play his own music.

5} Zombieland: With a premise almost as thin as the hair follicles on my head, Zombieland features almost two solid hours of pure joyful mayhem. Features a wicked cameo by Bill Murray, and also showing how versatile Woody Harrelson is as an actor. No matter how many times I've seen this movie, it still cracks me up.

6} Places In The Heart: Another good drama that pushes all the right buttons, it stars Sally Fields, John Malkovich and Danny Glover. Set in 1930's Texas during the depression, it shows how a widow with two children try to survive by growing cotton. Exceptionally real for its time, it remains one of two mid-80's movies that are permanently on my list.

To be continued