"The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack.
"
- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Scott took the book meme and made it go to eleven. So I'm copying him by answering the questions with movies.
1. A movie that made you cry
I've never flat-out bawled at a movie, but more than a few have choked me up and/or prompted tears. Notables include Rain Man, Punch-Drunk Love (specifically when Sandler's character gets harassed by his sisters at the party and then his vulnerable, anguished cry for help with his brother-in-law -- that scene crushes me every time), and Magnolia (specifically the "everyone is crying" Jason Robards deathbed scene -- when Tom Cruise starts sniffling, my throat gets lumpy, then when Philip Seymour Hoffman starts bawling, I have to dude up to keep from losing it).
2. A movie that scared you
When I was a kid, I saw Poltergeist on HBO at a neighbor's house, went home and wouldn't eat the Chef Boyardee ravioli my mom made me for lunch. It looked too much like the gunk flying out of the ceiling in the movie. Also the tree-eats-the-boy scene had me scared of trees for a while.
As an adult, a few scenes in The Sixth Sense scared the bejeebers out of me.
3. A movie that made you laugh
I'm a very easy laugher. I laugh at all kinds of stuff, so the number of movies that have made me laugh could fill the whole page. My sentimental favorite comedy is The Cable Guy. I love Jim Carrey, Charlie Chaplin, Albert Brooks, Woody Allen, the Marx Brothers, Wes Anderson movies, Will Ferrell and Steve Carell and all the new "Slacker Pack" flicks, and aside from being the coolest movie star in the universe, Vince Vaughn always cracks me up.
4. A movie that disgusted you
I know I should have a disgusting movie to list, but I honestly can't think of anything at the moment. Jason Goes to Hell comes to mind.
5. A movie you loved in elementary school
Holy cow, Back to the Future was the landmark film of my cineast youth. But I'm betting I was the only elementary schooler who was into movies like Hope and Glory and The Mosquito Coast.
6. A movie you loved in middle school
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Ferris Bueller's Day Off
7. A movie you loved in high school
Wayne's World
8. A movie you loved in college
Bottle Rocket, Sense and Sensibility, Manhattan, and extra extra especially The Truman Show
9. A movie that challenged your identity or your faith
Hmmm. Can't really think of one.
10. A series that you love
Indiana Jones, The Lord of the Rings
11. Your favorite horror
Hitchcock's Psycho, although I'm not sure it really qualifies as horror these days. I did like the recent Dawn of the Dead remake quite a bit.
12. Your favorite science-fiction
The Star Wars prequels
13. Your favorite fantasy
TLOTR
14. Your favorite mystery
Murder by Death
15. Your favorite biography
I don't know if it really counts as "biography," but The New World rocked.
16. Your favorite coming-of-age
Wow, this was harder than I thought.
Radio Days? The Fox and the Hound?
The Goonies? ;-)
17. Your favorite not on this list
Casablanca and Seven Samurai
My list of all-time favorite films can be found here.
Feel free to complete your list in the comments or at your own blog . . .
Trackbacks:
Trackback URL: http://thinklings.org/bloo.trackback.php/3197.
Comments on ""A Movie" Meme":
2. Matt Self
- 07/19/2006 7:06 am CDT
A lot of guys list Brian's Song as the Steel Magnolias for men, but I just can't get past James Caan's acting. He such a Steve McQueen wanna be. Maybe I'm the only guy who's never cried over that movie.
Only two movies have made me cry in my life: My Life and Life As A House. In the first, when Michael Keaton's father gives him a shave while Keaton's on his death bed ... I lose it every time. Just thinking about it makes me well up. It's the most tender father/son moment I've ever seen on film.
I saw Poltergeist when I was 13. Even today, I'm convinced that movie had some kind of demonic attachment to it. I had to sleep on the floor in my parents' room for six months. When you grow up in a Pentecostal preacher's house, that stuff is not easily put away as farce in a child's mind!
3. nhe
- 07/19/2006 8:24 am CDT
oh no, not a movie meme.....I was just about to get some work done today, but resistance is futile - as is excercising the self-control fruit apparently - so here goes:
1. Made me Cry:
Many, beginning with "Lassie Come Home" when I was 6......my biggest blubbering fool moment was while watching "Shadowlands" at the theatre (when little Douglas Gresham finds the wardrobe and finds it empty) - and then he said he missed his mom and C.S. Lewis (A. Hopkins) burst into tears and whimpered "I miss her too" - I might as well have just stammered "I miss her too!" - because I could not control my sobbing - truly embarrassing.
2. Scared Me
As a rule, I'm not a horror fan at all, but "Silence of the Lambs" had several great scary moments.
3. Made Me Laugh
A lot have - "Zoolander" comes to mind
4. Disgusted Me
"Requiem for a Dream" - Drugs kill, I get the point, you don't have to show me an amputated arm overloaded with track marks.
5. Movie Loved in Elementary School
"Worlds Greatest Athlete" with Jan Michael Vincent
6. Loved in Middle School
"Rocky"
7. Loved in High School
"Meatballs" - the original with Bill Murray
8. Loved in College
"Raiders of the Lost Ark"
"Beverly Hills Cop"
"Uncommon Valor"
"Back to the Future"
9. Challenged Identity/Faith
"Ghost World" - an existentialist film that challenged but affirmed my faith - a good thing
10. Loved Series
"Lonesome Dove" and "Horatio Hornblower"
1l. Favorite Horror
"Silence of the Lambs" - otherwise not a fan
12. Sci Fi
"Star Wars"
13. Fantasy
LOTR Series
14. Mystery
"Jagged Edge"
15. BioPic
"Rob Roy" though it is as much legend as history
16. Coming of Age
"Seaching for Bobby Fisher" - he kind of grew up
17. Favorite Not on the list
Glory & and The Shawshank Redemption
4. Raindream
- 07/19/2006 11:49 am CDT
Horror: Shawn of the Dead isn't your favorite? I'm sure it's just as good as the other one.
Murder by Death is hilarious. Sam Diamond so influenced me as a kid that I still often say that I have to go to the can. And the Hercule character: "Operateur? Hello? Hello? I am saying hello, hello."
5. Chris
- 07/19/2006 3:14 pm CDT
1. A movie that made you cry.
I remember watching John Hurt play the role of John Merrick in The Elephant Man when I saw it on Showtime once as a child. I can't recall any other movie that made me outright cry. There have been plenty of movies that have made me tear up, though.
2. A movie that scared you
The Sentinel. No contest. It's not quite a second-rate horror movie from the late 70s, but it *still* gives me a major case of the heebie-jeebies.
3. A movie that made you laugh.
Good grief. Where do I start? Stripes with Bill Murray is my all-time favorite movie ever. I can quote it with roughly 90% accuracy from start to finish (I know, I know . . .I need a life.) Brain Donors with John Turturro is also a great film, too. He and his supporting cast almost sorta kinda remind me of Groucho Marx and the Marx Brothers. One of the funniest movies I have *ever* seen.
4. A movie that disgusted you.
Cannibal Holocaust. This was an Italian-made movie in the "cannibal" genre that, for some odd reason, was booming in the 70s. Really sick.
5. A movie you loved in elementary school
The Pirate Movie. I had a huge crush on Kristy McNichol.
6. A movie you loved in middle school.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is everyone's favorite.
7. A movie you loved in high school.
Predator.
8. A movie you loved in college.
Bram Stoker's Dracula
9. A movie that challenged your identity or your faith.
I'll go with you on this one, Jared. I can’t think of anything.
10. A series that you love.
The Harry Potter series. Not as good as the books, but oh well . . .
11. Your favorite horror.
Re-Animator.
12. Your favorite science-fiction.
I'd have to say Star Wars: A New HopeThe next two were good as well, but not as much (at least not in my opinion.) The most recent three were not very good at all.
13. Your favorite fantasy.
Hmm. Can't say that I have one, so I'll default to saying the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
14. Your favorite mystery.
Murder by Death is a classic. One of the few movies I will *always* drop whatever I'm doing to watch.
15. Your favorite biography.
Never seen any that I can recall. Sorry. :-(
16. Your favorite coming-of-age.
Lean on Me.
17. Your favorite not on this list
Musa the Warrior.
6. blestwithsons
- 07/19/2006 4:13 pm CDT
1. A movie that made you cry
I'm a mush...it's not hard for a movie to make me cry. One that surprised me was Return of the King. Although I, of course, knew what was coming. When Frodo walked to the edge of the fires of Mt Doom and then turned and said he was keeping the ring- I was bawling. I don't quite know why...
A movie that scared you
Halloween. Wish I'd never watched it. I can't stand suspense.
3. A movie that made you laugh
I'm a laugher as well as a cryer. One that springs to mind is My Favorite Wife with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. One of my faves.
4. A movie that disgusted you
Wild Orchid, probably. It's been a long time since I saw it. But any movie with Mickey Rourke is probably not a good choice.
5. A movie you loved in elementary school
Star Wars.
6. A movie you loved in middle school
Ladyhawke... Man that movie is terrific.
The Breakfast Club - saw it over fifty times, taped off of HBO
7. A movie you loved in high school
The Little Mermaid. (sad, isn't it)
Dead Poets Society
A Room With A View (started my love affair with British movies)
8. A movie you loved in college
Beauty and the Beast (I was a Disney fanatic)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (shown at midnight at the Rialto in downtown Raleigh every weekend. And no, I didn't dress up - much. But I did learn the lines and the dances)
9. A movie that challenged your identity or your faith
???
10. A series that you love
LOTR, I guess. I'm re-watching them now. But I still get really....grfffff...at the changes. Ooh Ooh Arwen's life force is ebbing - GAK!
11. Your favorite horror
Um... I don't really like horror. Does Silence of the Lambs count? I wish I hadn't watched it - four times - but it was extremely well done.
12. Your favorite science-fiction
Star Wars the originals
13. Your favorite fantasy
TLOTR
14. Your favorite mystery
Dead Again - if you haven't seen it, you missed a great one
15. Your favorite biography
Shadowlands - though not a complete biography
16. Your favorite coming-of-age
October Sky
Some Kind of Wonderful
17. Your favorite not on this list
Pride and Prejudice - the one and only A&E version
7. dbd
- 07/19/2006 10:13 pm CDT
Highlights reel:
1. A movie that made you cry.
Even though I ended up not liking the rest of the trilogy, I pretty much cried every time anybody said anything in Fellowship of the Ring.
5. A movie you loved in elementary school
The Dark Crystal. Still a fan--on sites with avatars I always use Aughra.
9. A movie that challenged your identity or your faith.
I actually sort of have one. Except not really, but I saw Jesus of Montreal years before I was a Christian, and it made me go "huh," but that was it. I thought of it again recently when the Boar's Head had a "If He Came Today" discussion--the movie isn't about a modern Jesus, but constructs a series of modern parallels to the life of Christ around a guy who takes the lead role in a passion play. Anyway it was (as I recall x years later) pretty good.
15. Your favorite biography
An Angel at my Table. Jane Campion has never made a decent movie again, but I kept hoping for over a decade because this one is very, very beautiful.
17. Your favorite not on this list
Brazil
plus, Blestwithsons, shout out for Dead Again.
plus, nhe, shout out for Ghost World. Do you know the comic? It is also pretty great. And the song by Aimee Mann is also also pretty great. (The action figure, on the other hand, is only so-so.)
8. nhe
- 07/20/2006 3:12 am CDT
dbd - I've heard about the comic, but haven't seen it. The great thing about "Ghost World" is that it asks the question "What's the point of life in a world where there is no God?" - the movie's answer is that "there is no answer", the best that you can hope for is to ride off into nothingness - this is a wonderfully honest assessment of life without God - Albert Camus would be proud......this movie is a great lead-in to the gospel because it leaves the average non-Christian very frustrated with their world view.
9. Mandi
- 07/20/2006 3:16 am CDT
1. A movie that made you cry
I cannot believe no one put Braveheart. I was crying so hard during this movie people 3 rows back were passing me tissues. I cried for 30 minutes AFTER the movie was over. Maybe I was empathizing too much.
2. A movie that scared you.
The Ring - I only watched about 45 minutes of it that is how bad it was freaking me out. Another one was What Lies Beneath with Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford.
3. A movie that made you laugh
The first time I saw Ace Ventura: Pet Detective I was hysterically laughing.
6. Middle School Favorite
Dirty Dancing - my girlfriends and I must have watched this at least 300 times.
7. High School Favorite
I am ashamed to say Pulp Fiction. Now I can't stomach the movie but I used to think it was an awesome movie.
10. A series you love
Ohh there are too many. LOTR, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Matrix, etc.
11. Favorite Horror
Not sure if it is horror but I'll take anything by M. Night. When that alien came across the screen in Signs I almost wet myself.
15. Favorite Bio
The New World was so good. I just saw it but man was it a great and different movie experience.
17. Fav not on the list
Boy this is hard. I think I'll go with The Secret of Nimh. I really want to get this on DVD.
10. nhe
- 07/20/2006 3:53 am CDT
2 people mention "The New World"?.......you 2 are more patient than I am - that is the slowest moving movie of all time.....paint had dried on my wall and given ITSELF another coat before that movie ended - absolutely brutal.....
11. Scott
- 07/20/2006 4:54 am CDT
The Pirate Movie, oh gosh I used to watch that thing like once a week back in the day. It had HEAVY rotation on Cinemax or HBO when I was a kid.
13. nhe
- 07/20/2006 5:25 am CDT
nah Mandi, my wife observed even more paint hardening itself to the drywall than I did. I loved Christian Bale's character and story - I may have liked it if he were in it more.
I think that T. Mallick (the director) paints with the camera - that's his style - he's more concerned with canvas than story. If you like to watch painters paint, you like his movies.
However, if you prefer to wait for the painter to finish, and then just observe the end result in the art museum, then it's more of a challenge.
14. Matt Self
- 07/20/2006 7:31 am CDT
I'm a little surprised not to see any of the more modern flicks mentioned here, like The Game or Usual Suspects. Too conventional for this crowd? Has anyone ever seen The Following or Pi? Darren Aronofsky is a little too "film school" for me, but he's definitely talented.
15. nhe
- 07/20/2006 7:37 am CDT
The Game and Usual Suspects don't really fit neatly into any of these genres - mysteries maybe, but not really. Pi is a superstar film among the elite crowd, but probably not very known or accessible otherwise - people tend to steer clear of indy-black and white - which is too bad.
16. Jared
- 07/20/2006 7:40 am CDT
I’m a little surprised not to see any of the more modern flicks mentioned here, like The Game or Usual Suspects.
In response to which questions?
I liked both of those flicks a lot, but have trouble seeing where'd they'd fit in the meme. (Mystery?)
I saw "Pi" in the theater. Kooky, but good, film.
17. Mandi
- 07/20/2006 7:53 am CDT
you know this thread got me thinking about other movies that I really like. Has anyone ever seen "Iron Monkey"?? It has got the cheesiest dialogue and voice-overs ever but it has great martial arts. It has the same fighting as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (another great fighting movie in my opinion). I'm interested in what others favorite kick-butt movies are.
18. Jared
- 07/20/2006 7:55 am CDT
"Iron Monkey"
It rocks. I love it and own the DVD.
It was in my top ten for the year it was released stateside.
20. Thirsty Bear
- 07/25/2006 5:05 pm CDT
1. A movie that made you cry
Rocky- I was 8 years old when I saw it. And I cried when Apollo Creed pummeled Balboa. I'm such a chic.
2. A movie that scared you
Nightmare on Elm Street.
3. A movie that made you laugh
Chicken Little
4. A movie that disgusted you
Platoon, Alien
5. A movie you loved in elementary school
Star Wars
6. A movie you loved in middle school
Raiders of the Lost
7. A movie you loved in high school
Batman
8. A movie you loved in college
I don't remember college.
9. A movie that challenged your identity or your faith
Chariots of Fire, Black Hawk Down, The Passion
10. A series that you love
El Mariachi, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan films
11. Your favorite horror
The Sixth Sense
12. Your favorite science-fiction
Star Wars, Aliens
13. Your favorite fantasy
LOTR
14. Your favorite mystery
A Blood Simple
15. Your favorite biography
The Fog of War
16. Your favorite coming-of-age
My Dog Skip
17. Your favorite not on this list
We were Soldiers
Cool. Good films all.