Friday, June 8, 2012

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

17 comments:

  1. I haven't seen any of those movies. I don't spend much time watching tv either. More often than not, I watch cartoons with the kids. It's much better than watching all that reality crap they have these days!

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  2. Zombieland was the only one of these I saw and you were right on in your assessment. Good fun.

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  3. Dan: Haven't had much time to watch any cartoons beyond "King of the Hill" lately, so it's good that you can spend quality time with the kids that way.

    Charles: While I was doing some link search, I saw a few links about the possibility "Zombieland 2" being made in the near future. It would be interesting that's for sure.

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  4. Funny -- I just noticed this post on Facebook, and I happen to be watching "Easy A." Which is a movie that I watch just about EVERY time I see that it's on. :)

    Zombieland was awesome! :)

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  5. Love Love LOVE - Places in the Heart! Have to admit, the other five movies I've never seen.

    Hope you have a fabulous weekend, G!

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  6. Lisa: I decided during my second stint on FB that it would be easier to post updates of my blog via status updates than trying to set up a blog feed.

    I actually got hooked into Zombieland by wathcing the last twenty minutes or so. Liked it so much, been watching every single time it's on the movie channels.

    Talon: Up until very recently, I've never seen the entire movie. Always been picking it up about twenty minutes in whenever I see it.

    Sally Fields is a fine actress and John Malkovich has always been a favorite of mine as well.

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  7. I have seen Tender Mercies and Places in the Heart. I'll put the others on my Netflix queue (except for Drive Angry, maybe.) :)

    I have Get Low at home - it's an Indie film with Robert Duvall - Old Lady of the Hills recommended it.

    Here's one - have you seen Breaking Away? I loved that movie so much I bought it on DVD.

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  8. I've seen Places in the Heart and it's a wonderful movie -- love John Malkovich especially!

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  9. Lynn: I love Robert Duvall as an actor. I remember an indie he did called "The Prophet" (I believe) in which he played an evangelist on the run from the law.

    I will keep "Get Low" in mind during my searches.

    I have heard of "Breaking Away" but I have not seen it. However, that particular movie reminds me of another sports oriented one called "Airborne". It's about a California kid transplanted to Cincinnati for the summer. The final rollerbade race sequence is to die for.

    Debra: John Malkovich is such a wicked actor that his mere presence often can carry a bad/mediocre film. He is very good at playing against type, and that movie is no exception.

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  10. Haven't seen any of those. Ok Places in the Heart maybe for 5 minutes on TV

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  11. I don't watch TV at all, except for BBC series on PBS. Haven't heard of any of these movies, they sound interesting.

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  12. I couldn't agree with you more about the state of TV these days. This year I'm not following any dramas or sit-coms. I enjoy a good documentary and the occasional well-told true crime story. Movies I can sit through are few and far between. I usually find them on the channels for Festival/Sundance films or the Independent Film Channel.

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  13. Bearman: Sometimes when you have a very active life, movies are quite often the last thing that you wind up watching. I don't watch the majority of movies that are out there to begin with. I usually wait until they come to cable before watching them. Only way I know of to save $40.

    M: You really aren't missing much, although I might suggest you check out BBC America. They carry some very solid and very good crossover British programming that are in some cases levels beyond what we got here.

    S.R.: I like watching documentaries myself and usually stay far away from network television. As for those two channels that you mention, I don't watch IFC anymore, simply because they started inserting commercials into their programming and movies. If I'm going to watch a movie on a movie channel, I really don't want to see commercials as well.

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  14. I've been wanting to re-watch Zombieland lately. And I'm right with you on Drive Angry.

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  15. I love fiction movies. My spouse loves historically accurate documentaries and/or movies. He will watch LONESOME DOVE with me and almost anything with John Wayne. His favorite comedy is DENNIS THE MENACE with Walter Matthau.

    PLACES IN THE HEART is an all time favorite of mine. I have gotten over Nicholas Cage but at one time he was a real actor in movies like MOONSTRUCK, and RAISING ARIZONA and he was good in FACE OFF. I don't think Robert Duvall has ever made a bad movie and THE PROPHET is definitely a favorite. And I could go on an on...

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  16. Chris: Zombieland is an absolute blast to watch and I never get tired of watching.

    I'm not a big Nicholas Cage fan, but this one really fits into his acting persona.

    The scene where he's having sex while shooting up the motel room is absolutely priceless.

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  17. Granny Annie: I saw the "Lonesome Dove" miniseries and I thought it was spot on. I agree with you about historically accurate movies/documentaries. Those I can watch repeatedly.

    I'm more of a quirky movie kind of person, so my speed is more when an actor goes against type than when they play the same type repeatedly.

    And I also agree that Robert Duvall never made a bad movie.

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