There are days when you are sitting on your couch with your remote in hand flipping endlessly through channel after channel. It is one of those days for you. There is nothing of consequence sports wise, drizzle has speckled your windows, and you’re still wearing your pajama bottoms. As you press the channel up button and yawn with your mouth as big as a boa constrictor, Al Pacino is sitting at the dinner table with his family. You immediately stop and the remote falls to the floor with a dull thud. You know you won't need it anymore because THIS is The Godfather. You sit with great anticipation as you wait for James Caan to put his brother-in-law in a trashcan. You have watched this movie sixty-one times, yet, it still enthralls. Your wife or girlfriend enters the room and proposes a trip to the mall or some other mundane activity that will satisfy no voids in your day. Then you have it, the power of The Godfather. She sees Pacino hiding the gun in the bathroom and with a voice of utter contempt she says, “I’ll be back in a few hours.” This is the power of a movie you cannot turn off no matter the circumstance. This is the beauty of having five hundred cable channels. This is your day.
For the sake of today’s Roar I have listed five movies that I cannot turn off. This means I will continue watching no matter where I "pick it up" on T.V.
5) Field of Dreams/Hoosiers
This was a difficult decision because this list could easily have five sports themed movies. Field of Dreams is a classic as is Hoosiers. Both are tear-jerkers in their own way. It is damn near impossible to not cry at the thought of having a catch with your dad. Hoosiers is just the perfect David versus Goliath story. Ollie does make his free throws and all is well in Hickory. If these movies are on, I will come.
Favorite Moments: “They will come Ray…” and every speech Hackman gives to his team.
4) Clash of the Titans
It is Ray Harryhausen at his best. The gods on Mount Olympus deciding the fate of Perseus and a mash of many tales make this one entertaining movie. I am still scared to death of the cannibalistic Stygian Witches. Give us back the eye!
Favorite moment: Any scene with Calibos.
3) Jaws
Jaws always frightened me as a kid and frankly, I never understood the buzz around the movie until I was about 12. I came to the realization that it wasn’t just a shark movie, but these characters were in a dreadful situation. They weren’t just prop pieces so the shark could eat on screen. The real menaces were the people of Amity. Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss are all aces in this flick. “You scream barracuda…” and I am there watching.
Favorite moment: Boys playing shark prank on beachgoers only to have the real deal bite some dudes leg off moments later. Classic.
2) Rocky
Rocky isn’t a sports movie as much as it is a human drama. I cannot turn this movie off and I get choked up at the every time Stallone crawls into bed with Adrian and confesses that he cannot beat Apollo. The man knows his destiny and after all these years, I am not turning this one off.
Favorite moment: Apollo’s entry into the ring.
1) The Shawshank Redemption
When thinking of perfect movies this is the movie I think of because it is textured so beautifully in every scene. It flawlessly weaves major themes in and out of every moment. Andy and Red have a great on screen friendship that is not only seen, but felt. This movie is on T.V. frequently, but it also finds its way into DVD player now and again. I’d crawl a mile in crap just to watch this one.
Favorite Moment: Negotiating beers for the boys while doing hard labor.
For the sake of today’s Roar I have listed five movies that I cannot turn off. This means I will continue watching no matter where I "pick it up" on T.V.
5) Field of Dreams/Hoosiers
This was a difficult decision because this list could easily have five sports themed movies. Field of Dreams is a classic as is Hoosiers. Both are tear-jerkers in their own way. It is damn near impossible to not cry at the thought of having a catch with your dad. Hoosiers is just the perfect David versus Goliath story. Ollie does make his free throws and all is well in Hickory. If these movies are on, I will come.
Favorite Moments: “They will come Ray…” and every speech Hackman gives to his team.
4) Clash of the Titans
It is Ray Harryhausen at his best. The gods on Mount Olympus deciding the fate of Perseus and a mash of many tales make this one entertaining movie. I am still scared to death of the cannibalistic Stygian Witches. Give us back the eye!
Favorite moment: Any scene with Calibos.
3) Jaws
Jaws always frightened me as a kid and frankly, I never understood the buzz around the movie until I was about 12. I came to the realization that it wasn’t just a shark movie, but these characters were in a dreadful situation. They weren’t just prop pieces so the shark could eat on screen. The real menaces were the people of Amity. Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss are all aces in this flick. “You scream barracuda…” and I am there watching.
Favorite moment: Boys playing shark prank on beachgoers only to have the real deal bite some dudes leg off moments later. Classic.
2) Rocky
Rocky isn’t a sports movie as much as it is a human drama. I cannot turn this movie off and I get choked up at the every time Stallone crawls into bed with Adrian and confesses that he cannot beat Apollo. The man knows his destiny and after all these years, I am not turning this one off.
Favorite moment: Apollo’s entry into the ring.
1) The Shawshank Redemption
When thinking of perfect movies this is the movie I think of because it is textured so beautifully in every scene. It flawlessly weaves major themes in and out of every moment. Andy and Red have a great on screen friendship that is not only seen, but felt. This movie is on T.V. frequently, but it also finds its way into DVD player now and again. I’d crawl a mile in crap just to watch this one.
Favorite Moment: Negotiating beers for the boys while doing hard labor.
8 comments:
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Terms of Endearment
3. Overboard
4. Star Wars
5. Dirty Dancing
clash of the titans is awesome but so is the princess bride and legend
Dude, this is pure poetry:
"Your wife or girlfriend enters the room and proposes a trip to the mall or some other mundane activity that will satisfy no voids in your day."
I have six and a half:
1.Goonies
2.Pee Wee's Big Adventure
3.Star Wars(any of them)
4.Whats eating Gilbert Grape
5.Stir Crazy
6.Shawshank
6 1/2. I will watch pretty much anything that has Bill Murray in it.
1. Hooisers -- i have to be close to triple digits as far as screenings. Love the "picket fence" speech Dennis Hopper gives and "there is two kinds of crazy" line.
2. Shawshank Redemption- too perfect of a movie not to keep watching
3. Jaws- have to at least watch it unitl the scar stories scene.
4. Princess Bride- this is my guilty pleasure. no rhyming i mean it -- does anyone want a peanut
5. Godfather--only draw back is that if you keep watching you day is over, especially since 9-out-of 10 times, Godfather 2 is surely to follow.
6. Rocky-the training scene always sucks you in-- but it's truly great to watch it from the beginning when he beats on Spider Rico.
7. Major League-underrated sports movie.
8. Ferris Bueller-I don't even love this movie, yet I at least watch it for 20 minutes when it's on.
1. Goonies
2. Gremlins
3. Empire Strikes Back
4. Billy Madison
5. Dazed and Confused
and in the embarassed to admit file: I've gotten sucked into "You've got mail," way too many times. (Like at least 3).
and I always get sucked into the shining but only last till it hits a commercial. i can't watch commercials in something that long.
Goonies and Gremlins are classics...agreed
Totally forgot about Goonies ... great one
I hate a two pizzas yesterday
Derek
Post a Comment