Sunday afternoon movie watching
It's Sunday afternoon, and, the overcast sky shuttering my plans to spend the day lazily floating down a river, I find myself lounging on the couch, eating pretzels, drinking a beer soda and watching "Secret Admirer" on On Demand.
It's got me thinking about movies I will happily watch over and again on lazy Sunday afternoons – movies that most people haven't watched even once. These are my top five (click the title to see the trailer):
1. "Clue": Based on the board game (natch), starring Tim Curry, comes with three different endings. True story: back in the day, my brother and I used to recite the dialogue to this movie every night as we washed the dishes after dinner. Due to my older sister privileges, I always got to be the characters with the most lines.
2. "Moonstruck": Most people adore this film for the moment Cher slaps Nic Cage and tells him to "snap out of it!" I love every other moment in the movie, especially the one where John Mahoney sees Danny Aiello on his knees proposing in a restaurant and asks the waiter, "Is that man praying?" Una storia vera: "Moonstruck" inspired me take three semesters of Italian in college.
3. Seesnark "Sneakers": Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, Ben Kingsley, David Straithairn, Dan Aykroyd, Timothy Busfield and Mary McDonnell in a fun film about cryptology. Do I have to go on?
4. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid": Robert Redford + Paul Newman = the greatest on screen couple ever. At one point, my family owned three copies of this on VHS, and one on DVD. It was just too hard to resist buying it whenever we saw it in a store. Don't ever try to watch this movie with me, though, because I will recite every single line out loud. (Props to "The Sting" as well: whenever I hatch a secret scheme, I insist that my co-conspirators acknowledge it with a brush of the index finger against the nose.)
5. "License to Drive": Corey Haim crush residue can only explain this one. That, and the immortal stylings of Mr. Billy Ocean. Hey! Hey! You! You! Get into my car!
All right, I owned up. What have you got?
Comments:
Here is my list of 5... though I've included genres as well.
1. Any epic movie ever made! The more grandiose the better. From De Mille to Lean and beyond. My current choice... Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven" (the extended version, of course.)
2. John Boorman's "Where The Heart Is". No, not the "Walmart baby" one with the same title... but the other one with Crispin Glover, Uma Thurman and Dabney Coleman. Really a fun quirky movie.
3. Any Dracula movie with Christopher Lee in the title role. Any horror movie made by Hammer Studios in the 60's and 70's for that matter. Campy, Creepy... total fun.
4. "All That Jazz" - Bob Fosse at his best... enuff said.
5. "Casino Royale" ... the 1967 version with just about every working actor in Hollywood... just for the sheer silliness of it all.
Posted by: marcel at July 20, 2008 5:47 PM
#1 _"Ferris Bullers Day off".....high school, flat-out fun....no matter where it is, will drop and start watching it...
#2_"O'brother where art thou" --Coen Brothers, music, and period...amazing...but then add 'Raising Arizona' and 'Fargo' and more...
#3_'Moonstruck' agree!
#4_'You've got Mail" and 'Sleepless in Seattle" OMG, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are so cute!!updated fairy tales...
#5-'The Princess Bride' Fred Savage and Peter Falk, who knew? What a great story, and Mandy Patinkin too!
Posted by: pk at July 20, 2008 11:21 PM
1. "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles": I dare you not to laugh out loud...
2. "The Wizard of Oz": Everyone loves it, don't they?
3. "The Color Purple": Somehow, when this is on TV, I always end up watching at least part of it.
4. "Wide Awake": Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan (before the Sixth Sense), such a great movie. When I first rented it, I watched like three times...
5. Anything with John Candy--Summer Rental, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck...You [almost] can't go wrong.
Posted by: Ernie at July 21, 2008 8:21 AM
My movies are based on the movies my daughter makes me watch over and over again. She runs the TV on any given Sunday afternoon.
5) Mean Girls
4) Legends of the Fall
3) Goonies
2) The Color Purple
1) Fried Green Tomatoes/ Steel Magnolias
Posted by: MsJoey at July 21, 2008 9:22 AM
1. Roman Holiday. One of my favorite Hepburn movies. The final scene makes me teary eyed every time.
2. Spiderman 2. Even though I refuse to acknowledge the existence of 3, this is one of my favorite superhero movies.
3. Dead Alive. Way before Peter Jackson did Lord of the Rings he was doing cheap B movies. This one has one of the best uses of a lawnmower. EVER.
4. Clerks. I only worked at a 7/11 for a month, but I swear this movie was based off that month.
5. The Aviator. My favorite Scorsese flick. Yeah it's three hours, but just so visually stunning.
Posted by: Michael at July 21, 2008 9:25 AM
1. "Twister": LOVE this movie. Makes me want to leave my job and go chase tornadoes.
2. "Armageddon": OK, I don't tend to get emotional at movies, but this one makes me bawl like a baby!
3. "ConAir": Totally unbelievable, I know, but I enjoy it nonetheless.
4. "The Stand": originally a TV miniseries of Stephen King's book. Considering the epic scope of the source material, I think this was a good adaptation.
5. "Fried Green Tomatoes": Great performances by Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker and Kathy Bates ("Face it, girls, I'm older and I have more insurance.").
Posted by: Lisa Boyles at July 21, 2008 9:31 AM
1.Sound Of Music,Hearwarming story and uplifting tunes.2.Ordinary People,powerful story of relationships.3.Its a Wonderful Life,A moral of everyones life being important. 4. Aviator,How having an obsessive compulsive disorder can ruin your life. 5.Chariots Of Fire,How being true to your beliefs is important.
Posted by: Martin Martinez at July 21, 2008 11:35 AM
1. "Sense and Sensibility." I cannot get enough of Alan Rickman in his prime playing Col. Brandon. Plus, it's a wonderful adaptation of the Jane Austen novel.
2. "The Usual Suspects." Verbal Kint. Kaiser Soze. Kevin Spacey. Need I say more?
3. "When Harry Met Sally." It's just delightful and funny.
4. Any Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy classic.
5. Anytime I happen to run across "Citizen Kane," I find myself watching it all over again. Pure classic filmmaking.
Posted by: felicia matlosz at July 21, 2008 2:11 PM
FUN!
Maid in Manhattan. (What?)
Jumanji. (Kirsten Dunst's finest hour.)
Bad Boys. (Mike Looooooooowry.)
Lonestar State of Mind.(Pantyliner masks? Come ON!)
Two Weeks Notice. (I'm going to go put this on RIGHT NOW!)
Posted by: elena at July 21, 2008 3:17 PM
1. Valley Girl (Nick Cage pre horse teeth)
2. Heathers (Funniest line at the jock's funeral, "I love my dead gay son!")
3. Office Space (can't change channel must watch to completion)
4. Better off Dead (Classic Cusack - Lane Myer...A lesson in mopishness)
5. Summer School (I'm Chainsaw and I'm Dave we'll see you ...at the movies!)
Posted by: Brian at July 21, 2008 5:09 PM
So many good movies on this list - seriously. I chose five, but really the actual list of movies I'd watch over and over is in the hundreds.
Props to
"O Brother Where art Thou?"
"The Princess Bride"
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
"Mean Girls"
"Fried Green Tomatoes"
"Steel Magnolias"
"Clerks"
"When Harry Met Sally"
"Sense and Sensibility"
"The Usual Suspects"
"Two Weeks Notice"
"Heathers"
and tons of other movies you guys could name.
Posted by: Heather at July 21, 2008 10:39 PM
I can't believe that you left off THE SOUND OF MUSIC. I can remember lots of lazy afternoons watching that movie with both my children.
Posted by: Jackie at July 22, 2008 5:24 PM
You're high, Jackie. We always watched that on Christmas Eve.
On Sunday afternoons we watched "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" or sometimes those TV shows "Crazy Like a Fox" and "Scarecrow and Mrs. King." Remember? Remember how we didn't have cable until I was, like, 17?
Posted by: Heather at July 22, 2008 5:27 PM
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