Movie Confessions Blogathon

 

A little late to the party on this one, but Nostra over at My FilmViews has started a Blogathon involving bloggers making their cinematic “confessions.”  I thought I’d throw down my 2 cents.

 

Which classic movie don’t you like/can’t enjoy and why?

There’s a lot of them.  One of the most popular answers here is Gone With the Wind, and I certainly belong to that group (another popular answer, 2001: A Space Odyssey, saddens me, but I understand it).  Most Godard leaves me utterly cold and I don’t really get what the big deal about Renoir is (although I do like him).  But probably the one that raises the most eyebrows/gets me the most grief is almost everything John Ford ever did.  Including The Searchers.  There are a few Ford movies I like (My Darling Clementine most of all) but in general I find his characterizations annoying, his penchant for myth-making off-putting and overall I’m just not impressed.

 

Which ten classic movies haven’t you seen yet?

This is tough for me to answer.  In completing (sans The Art of Vision) the TSPDT 1000 list, I’ve seen almost everything that’s commonly considered a “classic”.  Two other blogs in this blogathon listed a significant number I haven’t seen.  I’ve only seen half of The Great Katharine Hepburn’s list (Jezebel and Stella Dallas are two I’m particularly keen on checking out).  Deep Red Rum lists only two that I have seen, the others appear to be fairly obscure horror flicks.  Among the other seventy-five blogs participating, there are exactly 10 films listed I haven’t seen.  So I’ll use those for my list:

1. The Way We Were
2. Safe in Hell
3. The Ten Commandments
4. Top Gun
5. Dirty Dancing
6. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
7. Dumb and Dumber
8. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
9. Guys and Dolls
10. Love Story

I question the “classic” status of some of these, but it’ll do.  I don’t think any of these appeared on more than one person’s list.

 

Have you ever sneaked into another movie at the cinema?

Oh yeah.  Back when I first started dating my ex-wife, we used do this all the time.  I would guess I’ve done approximately 40-50 of these “sneak double features”.  Not a very cool thing to do, although I’d be lying if I said I was torn up with guilt about it.

 

Which actor/actress do you think is overrated?

Natalie Portman comes to mind, since I easily booted her out of the Top 10 Actresses Relay Race.  I think Michael Fassbender is getting too much love, although I do think he’s a perfectly fine actor.  But the one that stands out the most is Christian Bale.  With somewhat lukewarm reactions to The Dark Knight Rises, maybe the Bale hype will finally die down.  I just don’t think he’s that special.

 

From which big director have you never seen any movie (and why)?

I honestly can’t think of one.  Uwe Boll?  Paul W.S. Anderson?  Bimal Roy?

 

Which movie do you love, but is generally hated?

I tend to hate more films that are generally loved than love films that are generally hated.  The Beautiful Washing Machine is a movie I adore but has a shockingly low IMDb score, but I don’t think 97 votes counts as “generally hated”.  I guess I’d have to go with the guilty pleasure House Party.

 

Have you ever been “one of those annoying people” at the cinema?

No, but I tend to breathe loudly when I’m lost in concentration, I bet that annoys anyone within earshot.

 

Did you ever watch a movie, which you knew in advance would be bad, just because of a specific actor/actress was in it? Which one and why?

I usually don’t watch movies for specific performers, and if I do, I try to cherry-pick the good ones.  Off the top of my head the only one I can think of is Android, which I watched specifically for Klaus Kinski.  And it wasn’t really that bad.

 

Did you ever not watch a specific movie because it had subtitles?

Good lord, no.

 

Are there any movies in your collection that you have had for more than five years and never watched?

No.  I’ve seen everything I own.  It’s extremely rare for me to buy a movie I haven’t seen, and I always watch it within a week or two.  I don’t understand people who buy scads of movies they’ve never seen and just let them accumulate on a shelf.  That’s madness as far as I’m concerned.  Give me your money if you have so much to waste!!!

 

Which are the worst movies in your collection and why do you still own them?

I don’t keep movies I don’t like unless they’re part of a box set containing movies I do like.  So things like The Godfather Part III or Lady in the Lake.

 

Do you have any confessions about your movie watching setup at home?

I don’t have, and have never had, a surround sound system… or any audio system, for that matter.  If my wife’s not home, I’ll listen through the TV speakers, but 99.9% of the time I listen through wireless headphones.

 

Any other confessions you want to make?

I used to frequently watch movies using the 1.5x speed option on the Playstation 3.  I look back on this period with great shame.   There’s no excuse.

I don’t think the theater experience is all that special.  It can be, but most of the time the annoyances outweigh the positives.  I prefer a home viewing experience, even though it means being late to the discussion on all recent releases.  I’ve been to the theater twice this year, and zero times last year.