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melina123 has posted the answers and reasons to her movie quotes meme, which has inspired me to post mine (since I'm playing Happy Avoidance Day anyway). I chose these twelve movies for a variety of reasons; not all of these films are great films or even very good films, but they all represent moments, turning points, realizations for me, either in my life or my history with experiencing film.
1) My good friends call me Harry. NO ONE GOT THIS ONE. Would it help if I told you Harry's last name was Tuttle? I thought so. :) I chose a quote from Brazil because that movie is so many things to me. It disturbs me, it makes me laugh, it makes me sad. But it was the studio ("American") ending which really put this on the list for me. There is nothing wrong with audiences who prefer movies with happy endings to unhappy endings. But when an audience prefers a happy ending qua happy ending to an ending which makes far more sense within the constructed narrative, then I cannot relate to that audience at all. Brazil was an experience in filmgoing that stands out along the graph of "I don't like movies the way most people like movies".
2) Let's never come here again because it will never be as much fun. Lost in Translation, guessed bygreywingnut. I saw this opening day and turned around and went back immediately the next day. And took people to see it several times after that. I have a passionate love affair with this movie, and am completely, utterly, totally flummoxed by people who say that "nothing happens" in it. Subtlety is a fading art in moviemaking in all of its forms, be it subtlety in acting, writing, directing... this movie has all three in spades. Tiny, subtle spades. I cannot put to words how much I appreciate the choice made in the final sequence *not* to let the audience hear what is said. It's beyond perfect.
3) You're protected by the enormity of your stupidity, for a time. Notorious, guessed byyahtzee63. I chose this film because I was thrown by just how much I loved it the first time I saw it. I am not a fan of "romance" as a genre, but the romance between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in this film grabbed me by the throat. Hitchcock's brilliant maneuvering around the Hays Code puts this film on the short list of Smartest Filmmaking Choices Ever anyway. It has true suspense, true comedy, and some of the most magnificent camerawork ever. And Claude Rains. CLAUDE RAINS!
4) Jews know two things - suffering, and where to find GREAT Chinese food. My Favorite Year, guessed byltlj. I chose this because it is a perfect comedy, IMO - an object lesson in comic timing. It never drags, it never falls into the easy joke unless it does it deliberately to illustrate an easy joke, the performances are pitch-perfect across the board, the script is unbearably well put together. Jessica Harper, failing to be funny, is at that moment the funniest actress in the world. It's simply exquisite.
5) If I die, I'm sorry for all the bad things I did to you. And if I live, I'm sorry for all the bad things I'm gonna do to you. All That Jazz, guessed bywickedwords. Ah, All That Jazz. Overindulgent, overwrought, over-the-top. I adore it. When I was an acting student, I related deeply to Bob Fosse's film à clef. I still do, sometimes.
6) Well, fine. You go ahead and miss church and then when you die and go to hell, you can answer to Satan! South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, guessed bycereta. Funniest 90 minutes, second for second, I've ever spent. Various near-asphyxiations. We were concerned that we'd have to be calling an ambulance for itsthewa. Simply peerless.
7) Ninety years ago I was a freak. Today I'm an amateur. Time After Time, guessed bygreywingnut. I was nine when I saw this movie and it was my first conscious experience with the genre we'll encompass with the phrase "high concept". I fell *hard*. History mixed with scifi mixed with speculative fiction... I didn't understand at the time, but in retrospect, it is the crystallizing moment in my moviegoing (and possibly fannish) life history where I felt that I had found my genre.
8) Why, with your looks and figure, you could drive an ice wagon or shine shoes! Singin' in the Rain, guessed byalvafan. To quote Lina Lamont, this is a "shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firmament". Not just a great movie musical but also a great movie, full stop. Perfect book, wonderful score, outstanding performances. A joy. Anyone who can watch Donald O'Connor's performance in this and not crack up at least once is dead inside. Classics are classics for a reason. I want to hug this film.
9) Twenty-five thousand bucks. That's a lot of money to pay for a dame without a head. Citizen Kane, guessed byyahtzee63. Citizen Kane is the Shakespeare's canon of film - even with all of these learned people expending their enormous vocabularies telling us how great it is, they cannot truly convey just how great. Almost every movie you've seen since owes something or other to this film.
10) If I had this stuff, I wouldn't have to rape anymore! Skidoo, guessed bywhatssnoo. Worst. Film. Ever. I promise you. The Flower Children Save the Mob, directed by Otto Preminger. There is nothing else like this, anywhere, in the history of film. Jackie Gleason drops acid. Carol Channing does a striptease for Frankie Avalon. Groucho Marx (in his final film) as a mobster named God, smokes pot with Austin Pendleton (in his film debut) who plays an escaped prisoner who looks an awful lot like Gandhi. Michael Constantine says the quoted line, after going on an acid trip in prison. Garbage cans dance a ballet and turn into naked football players.
And - oh yeah - it's a musical.
11) A privilege here, a responsibility there, never enough to fight over. Just a subtle drain of power, right? NO ONE GOT THIS ONE. A Shock to the System, with Michael Caine, Swoosie Kurtz, Elizabeth McGovern, and Peter Riegert. When this film ended, I sat in my seat thinking, YES! YES! YES! The other audience members were not so pleased, judging by their conversations on the way out. This was a classic example of the "American" ending preference vs. not. I was thrilled that the movie went where it did. If it were made today, it would never get past the first focus group. To that I say, bite me.
12) Not essential? I think you misunderstand the meaning of the word. I teach history and literature, since when it's not essential? Schindler's List, guessed bykirbyfest. I had to include it because, cliché or no, this was the movie that most affected me when I saw it, ever. I cried through the last forty minutes of the film in horror and outrage and despair and regret, and then came back and saw it again the next day, and the next, and the next. I simply could not stay away, even though it was absolutely exhausting to sit through. Even with distance from it and the ability to see how certain scenes were overtly and unnecessarily manipulative, it still has far more scenes which elicit stark, raw, gut-centered emotion than anything else I've seen.
melina123 has posted the answers and reasons to her movie quotes meme, which has inspired me to post mine (since I'm playing Happy Avoidance Day anyway). I chose these twelve movies for a variety of reasons; not all of these films are great films or even very good films, but they all represent moments, turning points, realizations for me, either in my life or my history with experiencing film. 1) My good friends call me Harry. NO ONE GOT THIS ONE. Would it help if I told you Harry's last name was Tuttle? I thought so. :) I chose a quote from Brazil because that movie is so many things to me. It disturbs me, it makes me laugh, it makes me sad. But it was the studio ("American") ending which really put this on the list for me. There is nothing wrong with audiences who prefer movies with happy endings to unhappy endings. But when an audience prefers a happy ending qua happy ending to an ending which makes far more sense within the constructed narrative, then I cannot relate to that audience at all. Brazil was an experience in filmgoing that stands out along the graph of "I don't like movies the way most people like movies".
2) Let's never come here again because it will never be as much fun. Lost in Translation, guessed by
greywingnut. I saw this opening day and turned around and went back immediately the next day. And took people to see it several times after that. I have a passionate love affair with this movie, and am completely, utterly, totally flummoxed by people who say that "nothing happens" in it. Subtlety is a fading art in moviemaking in all of its forms, be it subtlety in acting, writing, directing... this movie has all three in spades. Tiny, subtle spades. I cannot put to words how much I appreciate the choice made in the final sequence *not* to let the audience hear what is said. It's beyond perfect.3) You're protected by the enormity of your stupidity, for a time. Notorious, guessed by
yahtzee63. I chose this film because I was thrown by just how much I loved it the first time I saw it. I am not a fan of "romance" as a genre, but the romance between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in this film grabbed me by the throat. Hitchcock's brilliant maneuvering around the Hays Code puts this film on the short list of Smartest Filmmaking Choices Ever anyway. It has true suspense, true comedy, and some of the most magnificent camerawork ever. And Claude Rains. CLAUDE RAINS! 4) Jews know two things - suffering, and where to find GREAT Chinese food. My Favorite Year, guessed by
ltlj. I chose this because it is a perfect comedy, IMO - an object lesson in comic timing. It never drags, it never falls into the easy joke unless it does it deliberately to illustrate an easy joke, the performances are pitch-perfect across the board, the script is unbearably well put together. Jessica Harper, failing to be funny, is at that moment the funniest actress in the world. It's simply exquisite.5) If I die, I'm sorry for all the bad things I did to you. And if I live, I'm sorry for all the bad things I'm gonna do to you. All That Jazz, guessed by
wickedwords. Ah, All That Jazz. Overindulgent, overwrought, over-the-top. I adore it. When I was an acting student, I related deeply to Bob Fosse's film à clef. I still do, sometimes.6) Well, fine. You go ahead and miss church and then when you die and go to hell, you can answer to Satan! South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, guessed by
cereta. Funniest 90 minutes, second for second, I've ever spent. Various near-asphyxiations. We were concerned that we'd have to be calling an ambulance for itsthewa. Simply peerless.7) Ninety years ago I was a freak. Today I'm an amateur. Time After Time, guessed by
greywingnut. I was nine when I saw this movie and it was my first conscious experience with the genre we'll encompass with the phrase "high concept". I fell *hard*. History mixed with scifi mixed with speculative fiction... I didn't understand at the time, but in retrospect, it is the crystallizing moment in my moviegoing (and possibly fannish) life history where I felt that I had found my genre.8) Why, with your looks and figure, you could drive an ice wagon or shine shoes! Singin' in the Rain, guessed by
alvafan. To quote Lina Lamont, this is a "shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firmament". Not just a great movie musical but also a great movie, full stop. Perfect book, wonderful score, outstanding performances. A joy. Anyone who can watch Donald O'Connor's performance in this and not crack up at least once is dead inside. Classics are classics for a reason. I want to hug this film.9) Twenty-five thousand bucks. That's a lot of money to pay for a dame without a head. Citizen Kane, guessed by
yahtzee63. Citizen Kane is the Shakespeare's canon of film - even with all of these learned people expending their enormous vocabularies telling us how great it is, they cannot truly convey just how great. Almost every movie you've seen since owes something or other to this film.10) If I had this stuff, I wouldn't have to rape anymore! Skidoo, guessed by
whatssnoo. Worst. Film. Ever. I promise you. The Flower Children Save the Mob, directed by Otto Preminger. There is nothing else like this, anywhere, in the history of film. Jackie Gleason drops acid. Carol Channing does a striptease for Frankie Avalon. Groucho Marx (in his final film) as a mobster named God, smokes pot with Austin Pendleton (in his film debut) who plays an escaped prisoner who looks an awful lot like Gandhi. Michael Constantine says the quoted line, after going on an acid trip in prison. Garbage cans dance a ballet and turn into naked football players.And - oh yeah - it's a musical.
11) A privilege here, a responsibility there, never enough to fight over. Just a subtle drain of power, right? NO ONE GOT THIS ONE. A Shock to the System, with Michael Caine, Swoosie Kurtz, Elizabeth McGovern, and Peter Riegert. When this film ended, I sat in my seat thinking, YES! YES! YES! The other audience members were not so pleased, judging by their conversations on the way out. This was a classic example of the "American" ending preference vs. not. I was thrilled that the movie went where it did. If it were made today, it would never get past the first focus group. To that I say, bite me.
12) Not essential? I think you misunderstand the meaning of the word. I teach history and literature, since when it's not essential? Schindler's List, guessed by
kirbyfest. I had to include it because, cliché or no, this was the movie that most affected me when I saw it, ever. I cried through the last forty minutes of the film in horror and outrage and despair and regret, and then came back and saw it again the next day, and the next, and the next. I simply could not stay away, even though it was absolutely exhausting to sit through. Even with distance from it and the ability to see how certain scenes were overtly and unnecessarily manipulative, it still has far more scenes which elicit stark, raw, gut-centered emotion than anything else I've seen.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-20 10:55 pm (UTC)Time After Time gave impetus to my (ongoing) interest in seriel killers (I creeped out the criminology prof with my command of the subject). If you asked me to name what stuck with me most: the Mickey Mouse phone, the blood spattered walls, and the hooker being fished out of the canal. My father was horrified at the graphicness of this PG rated SF piece he'd taken me to.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-21 10:18 am (UTC)So without futher ado:
OMGOMGOMG! :)
That was the quote I was going to use for singin in the rain in my quote meme but instead I went for "I can't make love to a bush!"
no subject
Date: 2005-01-21 06:17 pm (UTC)Jean Hagen's performance is truly one of the great unsung comedic turns in history. She's just magnificent. And yeah, there's just an overabundance of good quote material in that film. " She can't act, she can't sing, she can't dance. A triple threat." "Well, then everybody was a dope." "We've been looking for you in every cake in town." "Ridi, huh?" "People? I ain't PEOPLE!"
I could go on. As you can see. ;)
And hey - I hear you're making your way across the pond for VividCon this year. Wonderful!