Monday, July 11, 2011

An Evening at The Movies...

I took a sort of holiday this last week.

 In the few quiet moments I had I chose to vacate my life for another time and place.
I did not choose to partake in any of my regular pursuits. I did not bake, I did not sew, 
I did not read, I did not knit, I did not blog.... 
I watched movies.

I have very fond memories of watching movies all the summers of my coming of age. My sister and my step mother would watch them almost compusively, sometimes 3 a day/night. The video store down the block from our house rented old VHS movies for .47 a night and we'd burn a dollar-fifty a day going through all the lists we could find on (the brand new) internet. Every Harrison Ford movie, Every Tom Hanks, Juila Roberts, Bruce Willis, Sandra Bullock, Oscar Winning, Shoot-em-up, Romantic Comedy, Parody, Musical, Mystery, Drama or Suspense we could get our hands on. We watched new movies and old movies. Black and White movies and sad movies. Critically Acclaimed movies and really, really dumb movies.I watched the classics and the blockbuster hits together. Movies that sometimes scared me, thrilled me or inspired me.

Man Alive, did I ever fall in love with movies. 

I remember the summer of the Hitchcock festival on television very well. Every night a new Hitchcock film and every night I lay awake playing over everything in my head. Not just because they were a little scary, but because I felt like that was the beginning of my foray into movies with real taste it was the beginning of watching movies critically for me. Considering myself somewhat of a dilletante or amateur connoisseur of cinema.
Now that's not saying I think I have really good taste in movies... and that's not saying that I am snob when it comes to movies. I have my standards and preferences when it comes to films, and I must admit that some of my favorite movies of all time are considered really bad by those who really do know how to critique a film. I am totally willing to suspend myself and my preconceptions when I watch a movie and even go out on a limb to defend it if I really loved it. (like Meet Joe Black...it's my guilty pleasure...along with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure). It's like loving 80's music I guess... which I do.

Anyway... long story short... I continued to love movies as I got older and developed stronger tastes for what I like and got pretty good at enjoying a film even if I had to duck my head under a blanket or cover my eyes for parts of it. ( I don't do violence or suspense very well.)

Then I married a guy who also loved movies...but a totally different kind than me and we watched some great and  some terrible movies together (Aliens VS. Predators Anyone?).

Then we had a baby.... and we pretty much stopped watching movies. Not all together, but nowhere like we did before.  In fact the other day I was looking at a list of Oscar nominated and winning movies from the 90's and 20's and I had seen almost every single one until 2006... the year Ava Grace was born.

We watch very little t.v. in general and we like it that way... I have very little awareness of what movies are coming out or being made... one of the last movies I'd seen in theaters was Avatar.

And then we decided to watch Cold Mountain last Sunday night.

I couldn't explain it. I hated most of the movies... it made me cringe and feel ill and at the ending ( I won't spoil it for you) I was too shocked and indignant to cry...but I just couldn't get it out of my head. Heck, I still can't.

Know why? 
Cause it was an amazing movie... and it made me want to watch movies again. 

So I did.... all this week. Whenever I had a chance I watched movies....Some I'd seen before. Some that were favorites. Some that I had completely forgotten and decided to give another chance.

Some of them were as good as I remembered... others were not... others were even better.

Now perhaps this latest past time is a waste of time, perhaps it's an idle passive entertainment that no good will come of... certainly the only thing I learned that summer of movie watching as a young teen was how sleep in late the next morning... and maybe also how to disembark a bus that is incapable of slowing down below 60 miles/hour or it will blow up....

But that's the true confession of my most recent past times. Perhaps Hollywood is very homemade and it doesn't usually smell very much like Apple Pie... actually it smells like a big bowl of buttery popcorn... which IS homemade and which I think I ought to go get popping right now...it's almost time for the next show.

But first, here's some of the scenes that have captured my imagination this last week... enjoy.

Hands down: the best movie ever. My only lament is that is not 10 hours long.

I cry at this scene every one of the six times I have seen this movie. Fireworks do in fact make me emotional

A fluff movie for sure...but gosh I wish I had a tent like this.

I could've filled this post with scenes from this movie..but you should probably just go watch it yourself.

Got any couch potato plans this summer?

3 comments:

  1. oh man! movies and tv are what rob and I do and enjoy. We're night owls, so once the kids are in bed, we put our feet up, visit about the day, and watch something. It's our tradition.

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  2. OH you and I love the same movies!!!! If we lived in the same town I would be a couch potato with you!!!!
    First, Cold Mountain---ugggghh love that movie. I describe it as blissful self torture. Kind of like City of Angels in a way-- where the ending is well, you know, but the build up is so beautiful you just can't not love it.
    Sense and Sensibility is on my netflix list to watch again as I write this,
    Meet Joe Black, priceless, just absolutely priceless.
    We did the same growing up, watch 3 movies in a row sometimes as it was my dad's favorite past time as well.
    I have watched Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly twice already this summer and am reading the book again now.

    Some of my favorites Moulin Rouge, P&P as I already mentioned, 3:10 to Yuma (russell crowe), Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Amelie, I shouldn't keep going or else this will be a novel.
    And the kids--oh yes, together we loved the latest Charlie and the chocolate factory--(johnny depp made that movie rock), and Battle of the smithsonian--We LOVE this movie,not to mention all that the kid learned!!

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  3. Have you read Cold Mountain? even better. and I highly reccommend the PBS version of Pride and Prejudice

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