We all have movies that we love. The ones we will always stop to watch, even though we’ve seen them so many times we know them by heart. The fact that we know them so well only makes them better, because we know what’s coming up next. I have accidentally watched whole movies because I kept saying “I just want to watch the next scene. That’s where ________ happens.”
Yesterday’s Tuesday Trivia quotes were from ten of my favorite movies. If there are any you missed, I highly recommend them for your next movie night.
1. “Well fuck you, for sure, like totally!”
I admit it. I love Nick Cage. He’s done a few movies that I’m not so fond of, and it’s hard to forget the terrible southern accent from “ConAir,” but I will always love him. “Valley Girl” is so perfectly 80’s. It makes me sad that I was too young to be a part of the early punk scene. And the soundtrack rocks. Political correctness be damned, “Johnny Are You Queer?” is totally tubular.
2. “One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach, all the damn vampires.”
Before vampire movies got all weird and sparkly, there was “The Lost Boys.” It is a movie that holds up. We watched it the other night and my teenage sons were just as into it as the adults. The only things that really date the movie are Cory Haim’s clothes and the puffy shouldered leather jackets.
3. “Evil begets evil, Mr. President. Shooting it will only make it stronger.”
I can’t pick one thing that makes “The Fifth Element” so great. The combination of Mila Jovovitch learning English, Ian Holm being awesome, Bruce Willis kicking ass and Chris Rock freaking out just works. Not to mention Gary Oldman and everyone else. It is epic sci-fi fun.
4. “We got both kinds, Country and Western!”
“The Blues Brothers” is my dad’s favorite movie. He had me watching it when it first came out on TV in ’81 (’82?). The more you watch it, the more little things you see that make it even better. Like the fact that Carrie Fisher works at the “Curl Up and Dye” salon. Or that Dan Aykroyd has bread in his pocket so he can try out a toaster oven in Ray’s pawn shop. And again with the soundtrack. It is so good it hurts.
5. “*We* are the music makers… And *we* are the dreamers of dreams.”
“Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” is the epitome of childhood dreams. When I was little I used to daydream about growing up and making the candy room where everything is eatable into a reality. I wanted to live there. The boat in the tunnel scene creeped me out like nobody’s business, but who cares. They were on a chocolate river!
6. “Of course you can! Everything in this room is eatable, even *I’m* eatable! But that is called “cannibalism,” my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies.”
You can’t really compare “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to the original. Well, you can, but why would you? They are totally different movies. With the exception of all the flashback scenes, the new movie is closer to the book than the first movie, which wins big points with me. Plus, it’s got Johnny Depp – *le sigh*
7. “And that’s kickin’ your ass.”
The “Charlie’s Angels” movies are perfect. They bring the series into the new millennium with just the right amount of camp. They treat the sillier aspects of the 70’s show with affectionate humor, instead of ignoring them or trying to make up for them. The new crew manages to kick serious ass while paying homage to the costumes, the hair and the gratuitous jiggling that made the series so much fun. And it’s got Tim Curry and Bill Murray. Who could ask for more?
8. “I want my father back, you son of a bitch.”
Oh “Princess Bride” what would I do without you? When this movie came out, I saw it every weekend for a month until my best friend begged me to stop. Comic fantasy has grown slowly over the years, and I think this movie was a great leap forward for the genre. It has a smart sense of humor, as well as genuine silliness, and romance. The mix is like ice cream in summer.
9. “I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said ‘… I drank what?'”
“Real Genius” is another movie where I can’t pick a favorite scene. By picking one, I am ignoring all the others. The whole thing is my favorite scene, the whole script is my favorite line. Seriously, I can’t settle on a specific example for why I love it so much. Just watch it. (Can you guess what I’ll be doing later?)
10. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“Because you’re letting me.”
I identify way too much with Ally Sheedy in “The Breakfast Club,” although I have never been a pathological liar. And I still want John Bender to be my boyfriend.
The bonus quote is from Roberto Benigni’s vignette in “Night On Earth.” You can find it on YouTube and it is one of the funniest things I have ever seen ever.
11 replies on “Movies I Will Always Watch”
Thank you, Sara B for listing “Real Genius”. It is underrated and under appreciated. Val Kilmer kills it as the surfer dude/genius/rebel. It really does capture nerd culture. I hung out enough at MIT, the Cal Tech of the east, to get a good feel for nerd tech culture, and this film captured their joy, energy, intense tooling (MIT nerd speak for hardcore studying), and hard partying ways.
“Charlie’s Angels” and “The Fifth Element” are guilty pleasures that I will defend with earnest.
Horrible confession: Have never watched any Blues Brothers film despite growing up with the Not Ready for Primtime Players. Horrible, right?
Once I saw “Baby it’s You” I opted not to watch “Valley Girl”. Both films were released around the same time and it was a battle of Team Nic Cage or Team Vince Spano. I should watch “VG” though because it has Elizabeth/ E.G. Daley, the voice of Tommy Pickles on “Rugrats” and other cartoon voices. She’s done quite well as a voice actor. And she was once the musical guest on SNL where John Lovitz danced on stage with her (WTHello Kitty were they thinking?!)
My list of movie repeats is so long, I’m embarrassed by it. Pretty much anything John Hughes ‘teen’ movie tops the list along with most 80s and 90s John Cusack movies.
My one ridiculously embarrassing one–League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I know it’s bad…but Stuart Townsend wins.
My sappy one…Sliding Doors. Whenever I’m feeling crappy about my lack of love life, I pop it in. It always makes me feel like there’s hope still.
@Meghan: Valley Girl used to be on instant. I never got around to watching it when it was, so it’s still hanging out in the bottom of the queue area on my account. It’s supposedly coming back to instant in February.
On my list is Dirty Dancing. I held out on seeing that movie for so long because I thought it was going to be terrible because everyone at my school loved it (and I hated everything about them). Color me surprised when I saw it later on. I consider myself making up for lost time every time I watch it again.
Also on my list: Evolution, The Untouchables, Speed Racer (GET THAT WEAK SHIT OFF MY TRACK), The Sandlot, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the Princess Bride…
Color me embarrassed Lisa M., I always confuse Chris Rock and Chris Tucker (I’m sorry Chrises, you are both really funny). I know I have this problem, and I should have checked to make sure I had the right name.
So I Married an Axe Murderer and Dave are also on my list. Dave makes me cry every time.
“I identify way too much with Ally Sheedy in “The Breakfast Club,” although I have never been a pathological liar. And I still want John Bender to be my boyfriend.”
A guy once tried to woo me by telling me I reminded him of Ally Sheedy’s character in The Breakfast Club — minus the big bag of junk. (Obviously he’d never seen the inside of my purse.) I was weirdly flattered by that.
As far as cheesy, bordering on guilty pleasure, movies I’ll always watch: Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion, So I Married an Axe Murderer, and SLC Punk (this, I wish, was my 80s).
Love Romy and Michellel too. Lisa Kudrow is the bees knees. It’s a showcase for her truly unique comic style. And being an 80’s babe I love the music.
I pair that film with “Grosse Point Blank” with its great reunion story setup. Killer soundtrack too.
@HelloKitty Romy and Michelle is an awesome movie. So funny and bright and sharp, and the leads are really good in it. I forget how talented Lisa Kudrow is, she isn’t really seen around as much anymore (last was in Easy A, but that was a depressing part).
Sound of Music, Galaxy Quest, Blades of Glory, While You Were Sleeping; an eclectic mix, I’ll admit. Fifth Element and Independence Day are also must-watchers.
The ones I guessed right for the trivia are also some of my favourite movies.
Confession: I don’t really like the Gene Wilder CatCF all that much. The new one rocks my socks off though (minus flashbacks) because it is mimiced my vision of the book so well!
I don’t own it, but the one movie that — no matter at what point I find it — I watch whenever it’s on TV is Dave. I love Kevin Kline…
I do own A Room with a View on DVD (and VHS, and BETA) though, and it is definitely on my list!
The movie that immediately springs to mind is Love Actually. I don’t know why I can’t resist its siren call, but if it’s on, there go two hours of my life.
One quick note – it was Chris Tucker, not Chris Rock, in the Fifth Element, which is a movie that I totally need to see again.
I’m so excited that several of these are on Netflix Watch Instantly-unfortunately, Valley Girl isn’t and that’s at the top of my to-see list. And neither is Real Genius =(
My watch over-and-over movies are Almost Famous, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Edward Scissorhands.