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Movies for Every Mood
Seeing a movie in a theater can be an amazing experience — something I hope we don’t lose due to either economics or (misplaced) safety concerns — but it’s generally impractical to see a film repeatedly in theaters, especially one that strikes your particular mood. For that, the home is infinitely superior.
We’ve talked many times about what the best movies are — either artistically or in terms of values — but I’d also like to explore what movies members enjoy under different circumstances. Don’t worry so much about whether a given film is actually the best or even the best-suited to a given circumstance, and feel free either to use my categories or invent your own.
Happiness: The Gods Must Be Crazy
On paper, this film shouldn’t work. Its three (four?) subplots are tonally discordant — how many PG-rated comedies open with a 15-minute documentary-style anthropology lesson followed by an assassination scene (with fatalities) played for laughs? — and the Rousseauian depiction of the Bushmen is probably as accurate as Wodehouse’s portrayal of the British aristocracy. It is, however, one of the funniest and sweetest films I’ve ever watched: my grandmother and I used to get caught in hysterics during the Land Rover scenes, and the last 30 seconds make me tear-up every single time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_AdOJoZJPI
Ignore the sequels.
Goofy/Fun: O, Brother Where Art Thou?
Another film that makes little sense on paper, the Cohen Brothers grafted allusions to The Odyssey onto a story about a depression-era prison escape, with an enormous helping of folk, spiritual, and bluegrass music. Clooney is very, very funny as the leading man; the cinematography and post-production work is simply stunning, the music superb, and the script just gets funnier and more clever with each viewing.
And how many movies can take the line “Them sirens did this to Pete. They loved him up and turned him into a … horny toad” and make it work?
Romantic: Persuasion (1995)
Austen’s final novel has higher stakes than some of its predecessors — one never really worries for Elizabeth Bennett, for instance — and I find the results more powerful. Made in the heyday of 1990s Austenmania, this film didn’t get a lot of notice, which is a shame given how well-crafted and superbly acted it is: Amanda Root’s portrayal of Anne’s growth from depression to confidence is nothing short of spectacular, and Ciarán Hinds’ performance just goes to show how the guy improves everything he touches. The scene where the two of them talk in the opera lobby has more romantic tension than almost anything I’ve ever seen.
Re-watching really pays off with this one: there’s some incredibly deft work happening in the background, and the supporting cast shines all the more when you can pay attention.
Unfortunately, both of the promos available on YouTube are painfully — fatally — over-produced and what clips there are tend to turn into fan-made music videos. This one, at least, gives a flavor of Hinds’s contribution.
Contemplative: A Man For All Seasons
This should need little introduction, but the combination of Robert Bolt’s script and Scofield’s performance — with some strong assists — makes for an amazing depiction of the costs and importance of integrity.
Brooding: LA Confidential
It’s well-worn territory, but I can’t think of a film that better depicts the shine, promise, and rot of 1950s Los Angeles than this. Featuring (genuinely) star-making performances from both Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce — as well as an excellent one from Kevin Spacey, just as he was hitting his stride — this has the added benefit of two excellently choreographed shoot-outs and a noir plot that actually makes more sense on repeated viewings.
Published in Culture, Entertainment
Minor correction – Fred Thompson plays the admiral in command on the carrier (I think he’s commanding the entire battle group, not just the carrier). He is not the COB.
Jones was also a great character in the film (as in the book).
I liked Richard Jordan as the National Security Advisor too. He had a couple of great lines:
I was always a particular fan of Jordan, who died far too young (56) in 1993 — probably due to his performance as Armistead in Gettysburg.
Wow, a Firefly-inspired album! I just listened to “It’s Good to Have Jayne On Your Side.” Fantastic.
My oldest (the Marine) brought home his new FAL last night (the FAL is a 7.62 NATO rifle). I told him he should name it “Vera” (Jayne’s biggest gun in Firefly, which he tries to trade for Christina Hendricks).
Did not know that, though I guess Brooks deserves more credit. Few writers or directors would add the scene, never mind admit that it hadn’t been their idea.
Back to movies:
Best female lead: A Lion in Winter and the Philadelphia Story.
Best musicals: Anchors Aweigh and Fiddler on the Roof.
How about Stupid But Funny (as opposed to Just Plain Stupid)? Sometimes you want to watch something that doesn’t make you think too hard.
I nominate Superbad. Fifteen minutes into it my wife turned to me and said “are we really going to watch this?” and we were going to turn it off but decided to give it a couple more minutes and really enjoyed it. Even watched it again a year later. And, surprise, it turned out to actually have a sensible message at the end. But mostly it’s outrageously funny. Don’t let the children watch.
This movie creates an alternative universe we’d all like to be in for awhile. We’ve watched it three or four times over the years.
Sorry, I meant screenwriter Larry Ferguson!
Revenge/Justice:
The Sting
Shawshank Redemption
Shoot. I forgot Groundhog Day. How’d that happen?
Hmm. It is in my first list. How did THAT happen?
How did I forget “Tropic Thunder?”
I know who I am! (Not at all CoC-compliant clip)
And let’s not get started w/ Les Grossman. Oh, why not? So you think Trump would be tough on terror? (No CoC here either)
There are two movies…actually, specific scenes, that I’ll watch when I’m preparing to go run and want to get my blood pumping while I warm up:
1) The Last of the Mohicans—the scene of the ambush after the evacuation of Fort William Henry. It is a frightening thrill to hear the Indian war-whoop coming out of the forest, and then to look down the line of the British column to see gunfire gradually erupting and working its way closer.
2) Apollo 13—the launch status check and launch scene. I’ve always gotten a thrill listening to the launch status checks of Shuttle flights, as the flight controllers gave their go/no-go for launch, and Ron Howard’s movie makes it even more exciting, with James Horner’s music building to the launch. Then there’s the tearful, anxious face of Mrs. Lovell as the rocket clears the tower (the earlier scenes had built up her worry and her initial decision not to come to the launch, so it’s an earned emotion). Finally, the pure thrill of seeing the ice falling off the rocket, the umbilical cables detaching, and the cloud of flame as the rocket passes the viewer make me think that the Apollo missions were among the highest achievements of mankind.
…and with that, I’m always ready for a solid run.
Most of my favorite re-watches have already been hit, except:
Master and Commander
The Full Monty – funny and a lot of messages in that one – have not seen it in years
When Gaz turns down his son Nate’s request to go swimming because “I haven’t got me trunks, have I?” while visibly fighting back tears, and Nate immediately realizes his mother and her boyfriend got a restraining order against him, and the ex and her boyfriend both visibly realize they never intended this, always ties my stomach up in knots. Very little dialog, a lot of heartbroken and horrified faces.
Good-hearted, obese Dave asking, rhetorically, “who wants to see this dance?” And his lovely wife quietly insisting “I do!” And that’s all Dave needs; he’s off to the races from that point on.
Gerald’s crackup after the lads blow his interview, literally reeling as the weight of his deception of his wife and the bills and the debts crash down on him, all his bluster and hostility just masking his desperation and essential loneliness. To see that character go from “Because you’re fat, he’s skinny, and you’re both [CoC] ugly!” to “And there might be something’ in it for you lot!” with a genuine smile by the end wonderfully sums up the heart of this story for me.
Yeah, I have watched it a few times…
Adventure: The Man Who Would Be King. An inspired pairing of Connery and Caine. Two rascals late of Her Majesty’s forces who refuse to return to England and hold open doors for tips from blousy civilians. Rather to set themselves up as kings of a distant land and loot it three ways to Sunday. “We are going to teach you soldiering, the world’s noblest profession. When we are done, you will be able to stand shoulder to shoulder in ranks and slaughter your enemies like civilized men.”
Sports: Tin Cup. The best golf movie ever. A talented but undisciplined driving range pro earns a shot at the US Open championship all because he wants to impress a woman. His inability to resist the temptation to “go for it” rather than play conservatively, results in a score of 12 on the last hole. Bonus, pro Gary McCord appears as a course announcer. McCord’s 12 on a water hazard in an actual tournament was the inspiration for the story.
Most of my favorites have been mentioned. So here is a list of “go to” movies. I have a special pile of DVDs that are good for a Friday night when I am waiting for kids and husband to get home:
Deja VU – Denzel Washington, time travel (sort of) what’s not to love
Paycheck – Paul Giamatti, time travel (sort of)
State of Play – Russell Crowe, kind of a two hour version of House of Cards
All the Die Hard Movies – I watch them all on a Saturday in January when I am doing my taxes. Especially love Live Free or Die Hard
National Treasure – I just love it
Love Actually – we watch it every Thanksgiving weekend to start off the Christmas season
Nottinghill – the perfect chick flick that even all the men in my life love
Anything where Jack Ryan is the protagonist
Air Force One – Get off my plane!
Inside Man – the perfect bank heist
A couple of films that I watch every time I come across them on TV, and occasionally on purpose, too:
That would put the Ian Holm count on my list at 4!
My problem with Indiana movies and TV (Hoosiers, Breaking Away, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, A League of Their Own, Natural Born Killers, Parks and Recreation) is that neither the people nor the places look or sound anything like Indiana. Parks and Recreation drove me especially nuts because if you take all the location hints, they’d be within a stone’s throw of Columbus, IN, a town world famous for its architecture. Number of references to Columbus? 0. Number of references to French Lick, where Larry Byrd is from? I lost count. But the bigger issue was everyone’s “General American” dialect, which those of us from southern Indiana do not speak.
If that’s how you feel about Indiana dialects, what is one to think of “Witness” with Harrison Ford, where the Amishmen are played by Russians, Danes, and a grab bag of other ethnicities, the Amish heroine is a California girl, her young son is from California, the Philadelphia cop is from Chicago, and his evil boss is a German?
I loved the film, but the only reasonably genuine accent was Patti Lupone as John Book’s Philadelphia sister, although she is really from Long Island.
I was born in Philadelphia and lived 30 years in Lancaster County, so I know all the locations where the film was made.
For a fun ride that’s a Western, you can’t beat Silverado. And so very quotable.
Beautifully filmed and funny escapist flick (speaking of Ciarán Hinds): Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day.
I hear you. Southerners have become inured to the slaughtering of our accents (there are lots of varieties), but particularly egregious examples still put me off. I can’t watch Forrest Gump because I just know he would never pronounce his name the way Tom Hanks does.
I have a contribution to offer, for when you are listless but willing to go for a slow-moving drama with intelligent dialog. It is in black and white. You will care about this family before the end.
How Green was my Valley
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033729/?ref_=nv_sr_1
A great movie and an even better book. One of my favorites.
Inception is a movie I can watch over and over. Very original and well cast
If any one here has mentioned The Outlaw Josey Wales, I missed it. That is a great movie that everyone should watch at least once per year.
Unforgiven is great too.
Yes – in The Full Monty I liked the scene where he puts on the record and practices taking clothes off and his jacket gets stuck – he even get past that – and when they are interviewing for the dance – too funny – I was moved also by the fact that men try so very hard to be good providers and have their children be proud of them, as well as their wives. That movie says it all.
Two more favorites I thought of (love all the old movies and classics of course – love Cary Grant), but wanted to add:
The Bishop’s Wife – perfect at Christmas
and of course, The Quiet Man with John Wayne, I think someone mentioned.
Most of my selections have been mentioned,but for movies that are just fun to watch, don’t forget “Waking Ned Devine”, “1776”, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”, “Tom Jones(1963 version)”, “The Dirty Dozen” and “Diner”.
A top 10 list.
Z, 1969.