Ten Things Tuesday

This is the first in a series of ten posts about great movies.

It was so very much fun to do the “100 Songs” page that I’ve decided to tackle 100 Movies, too. I’ll do it in installments and no, this won’t be the next ten weeks’ worth of TTT’s – I’ll spread it out a bit. I don’t want to wear this idea out.

As I disclosed in the song list, these are movies that I love for the reasons that *I* love them; I don’t have any snobby criteria for my films – I like them for the reasons I like them, and that’s it. I’ll try to be articulate about what those reasons are, of course, and everyone is free to agree or disagree as the mood strikes them. You may think my reasons are good enough for you, you may not, but I do ask that you concede that my reasons are good enough for me. Also, the order in which these are placed is entirely meaningless – I don’t love #1 any more than I love, say, #64. Okay?

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s go to the movies!

1. The Hunt for Red October. Even though I JUST got finished saying that the order the movies are listed is irrelevant, I still feel compelled to put this one on top. The Hunt for Red October is a film that I can watch over and over – and I do! – and never grow tired of it. I believe it is true that I can recite damned near the whole film from memory, but that doesn’t take away, one bit, from how much I adore this story and the actors who play in it.

I think that Baldwin’s Ryan is just right (though I love Harrison Ford, I don’t think he was right for Ryan as Clancy wrote him), James Earl Jones as Greer is just delightful (“JEEEZUS, Jack! Ya look like hell!“) and I don’t think there’s anyone else on the planet I would have chosen as Ramius over Sean Connery. Add to that Scott Glenn as the incredulous American sub captain, Courtney B. Vance on the sonar and one of the screen writers, Larry Furguson, who wrote himself a part as the hysterical Chief of the Boat, and you’ve got yourself the perfect outing. The plot is tight, the lines are delivered perfectly, and the payoff is satisfying. This was actually the first DVD I bought when we got our first player, and it will remain the corner stone of our collection.

2. Men in Black. I love this film for a lot of reasons. Both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones rank right up there as my favorite actors on the planet (no pun intended), and they work so incredibly well together in this piece. There’s funny ALL OVER the place (“I’m not kidding, fellas, you’re lucky to be alive after a blast like that,” “while you’re at it, get a decorator in here quick because, DAMN!” and “you insensitive PRICK! Do you have any idea how much that STINGS?!” are some of my favorites), and never once does the plot stall. It’s a movie we can all watch together as a family, it’s never too yucky or too scary, and the special effects are just campy enough to add to the overall feeling of the movie. In short, I love it. (though, I ought to disclose here that we only have the first film; we went to see MIB II, but didn’t bother to buy it on DVD. It was okay, and there were some funny bits (the post office scenes were great), but nothing that made us feel like it was worth dropping the $20 to own it.)

3. Mississippi Burning. God/dess, but I love this movie! It’s difficult to watch. It’s sad and scary and infuriating, but it’s supposed to be those things – and it does those things exceedingly well. The film is based on the FBI investigation into the disappearance (and murder) of three young men, two white and one black, who were participating in the voter registration drives in the South in 1964. Gene Hackman’s performance in this film is one that gives me goosebumps, regardless of how many times I watch it. The filmmakers took some serious liberties with the facts of the case (and with the behavior of the primary players in it), but I don’t care one bit about that; it’s a movie, not a documentary. The fact is that I use this film a lot in my literature classes because Hackman’s character is such a GORGEOUS study – he’s complicated… or is he? Whose side is he really on? Does he even know? Really – if you haven’t seen this movie – or if you haven’t seen it in a while – go and rent it. You won’t be sorry.

4. So I Married an Axe Murderer. I didn’t think I’d like this film – I couldn’t quite reconcile Mike Meyers as a romantic lead – so I was surprised when it turned out to be one of my all-time favorites. I STILL laugh out loud at some of the scenes, especially the ones where Meyers is playing his own (cranky, cantankerous) father with the hysterical Scots accent (“Heid! PANTS! NOW!“). It’s camp at it’s best – a haggis plays a pretty central role in the formation of a love story, the police captain spends his days trying to find the right balance between caring and tough, and really? Steven Wright as an airplane pilot? – but I love it.

5. Braveheart. Yes, I know – it is WILDLY historically inaccurate and Mel Gibson has proven himself to be kind of an asshole in real life, but neither of those things takes away from the fact that I really do like this movie a lot. I’m drawn to almost anything Scottish in the first place, and this story of a man who does what’s right because it’s right – and whose friends stand right there next to him – inspires me. I sometimes wonder, within the context of the story as it’s told here, whether Wallace would have been a revolutionary if Murron hadn’t been killed, and I love that the question hangs over the entire film. I love the way rumors fly and stories get created. I love the humility of the character. I love the costumes. I LOVE Stephen (“The Almighty says, “Don’t change the subject, just answer the fookin’ question!“). It’s a really beautiful movie to look at, and the breathtaking romance – the belief that those we love stay with us even when they’ve gone – is what keeps me coming back to this movie.

6. Shooter. A lot of people are surprised to learn this about me, but I’m a sucker for a good, fast, loud action flick. While I’m generally uncomfortable with guns in real life, I LOVE them in the movies. Give me a man with a big gun and a bad attitude and I’m a happy girl (so much the better if that man is cool and smooth and quiet – I love me a “speak softly and carry a big stick” kind of guy). I’ve got a bit of a crush on the Wahlburg brothers (either of ‘em; makes no difference to me) because they are those kinds of guys. In this movie, Mark Wahlburg plays a disaffected veteran. He was set up for a foreign mission and after his discharge from the military, he went off to live a quiet existence in the mountains with his dog. One afternoon, someone comes to him with a consulting gig, and he ends up in a world of trouble. The film is about him working his way through that trouble. He’s observant. He listens. He thinks ahead. He can think through a problem and anticipate the snags, and then do what he’s got to do to un-snag them. There are car chases, explosions and more than a little blood, and I love every second of it.

7. Ever After. This is a retelling of the Cinderella story, and it’s gorgeous for a lot of different reasons. First of all, both Drew Barrymore and Angelica Houston are PERFECT in their roles. Barrymore is a lovely combination of headstrong and pragmatic (and romantic, let’s not forget that). Houston’s portrayal of the wicked stepmother is so nuanced that we almost feel sorry for her. There’s humor, there’s romance, there’s a lesson in there about telling the truth and about how we should treat others, and the costuming and scenery are just gorgeous. It’s another film we can (and do) watch with the girls, which only adds to its appeal.

8. Amistad. Bowyer gave me this DVD for Christmas a while back, and I’ve watched it a bunch of times since then. I use this film in my literature classes and, sometimes, I’ll just pop it in to watch “just because.” It tells the story of the fate of the Africans who were captured and transported (illegally, even at the time) aboard a ship headed to sell them into slavery. They staged an uprising and attempted to sail themselves back to Africa when the ship was intercepted and, though a series of events, they were all brought to the U.S. where the government attempted to sort the whole mess out. The cast is fantastic – Djimon Hounsou as the Sierra Leoneian who insists on his regaining his freedom; Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams, who beautifully argues the case in front of the Supreme Court; Morgan Freeman as a free black abolitionist who seems both entirely sure of himself and utterly and completely homeless in his own country; and Matthew McConaughey as the property lawyer who really changes as a result of the experiences he has over the course of the film. Again, I have some doubts about the historical accuracy of the film (I’ve not yet done sufficient research about the case to know where liberties were taken with the story), but that doesn’t detract from either the scope or the message.

9. 50 First Dates. Mr. Chili saw part of this film on a trans-continental flight a few years ago, and he called me from the trip to tell me that we HAD to see it in its entirety when he got home. The idea of Adam Sandler as a romantic lead was just about as ridiculous to me as Mike Meyers as a romantic lead (and don’t get me going about John Candy as a romantic lead, but that worked, too!), but this movie works. Sandler is really a great actor, and his combination of puppy-dog eyes and sweetness against his acid sense of humor and skill with the one-liners makes this a movie I can watch again and again. I’ve liked pretty much every film Sandler and Barrymore have worked together for, and this one is no exception.

10. Dances With Wolves. Here’s another one of my all-time favorites, so much so that I got the extended director’s edition. If you’ve been under a rock for the past decade or so, this movie is about a Civil War-era soldier who volunteers to be posted in the far west – he wants to see the frontier “before it’s gone.” The bonds that he forms with his native neighbors is so complete and so convincing that I never leave this film without being ashamed to be a white person. Our nation’s history is terribly complex (and even more bloody), and this film does a really great job of peeling away a little of the shiny veneer that we got in history classes. The scenery is breathtaking, and the nuanced performances of all of the characters – but especially those of Graham Green and Rodney Grant – make this a movie that I couldn’t NOT have in my collection. Very soon, I’ll be sitting down with my daughters to watch and discuss this movie – I think it’s important that EVERYONE’S stories get told, and this one’s a doozy.

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Ten Things Tuesday
• Sound Off!
• ‘Ten Things’ Tuesday
• Ten Things Tuesday