Film Meme

[porphyry]

 1. One movie that made you laugh: The Lost Boys (“Oh my God, oh my God, she’s a vampire!  Don’t try to tell me this doesn’t make her a bad person!”)

2. One movie that made you cry: Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Even though John Malkovich’s character, Le Vicomte de Valmont, was a complete bastard—I mean, complete bastard—throughout, at the end it seemed he’d really sort of redeemed himself.  Tugged at my redemption-is-possible-Catholic-heartstrings, I tell you.)

3. One movie you loved when you were a child: There were two:  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and The Wizard of Oz (I still like them both, too.)

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (“I tell you, Blondie, when you feel that noose around your neck, you feel the Devil bite your ass.”)

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (when Legolas snowboarded down the stairs at the battle of Helms Deep and the wandering Elf Brigade showed up, I had to argue with Malkhos, in the theater and in front of everybody, to stay because he stood and kept demanding we leave right now; he also despised the way Gimli was turned into a sort of comic relief figure, prompting Malkhos to ask me throughout:  “Why do they keep doing that to him?”)

6. One movie you didn't like: Bram Stoker’s Dracula (I simply could not believe this interpretation of the world’s most famous vampire.  You wound up feeling sorry for him.  Need I say more?)

7. One movie that scared you: The Exorcist (I was only twelve, remember) and Jaws (ugh—I have a horribly irrational fear of becoming fish food)

8. One movie that bored you: 2001 (Sorry, dear)

9. One movie that made you happy: La Belle et La Bete (1946 Cocteau version; there’s just too many good things about that movie to name)

10. One movie that made you miserable: The Scarlet Letter (God damn it, that book could be such a great movie, too)

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see: Hostel

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with:  Anybody Clint Eastwood or Nicholas Cage plays is a-okay with me!

13. The last movie you saw: on DVD: Do the action parts of the Godzilla movies count?

14. The next movie you hope to see: The Kite Runner (I read the book after it first came out and would be interested to see it on film.)

Comments

[bibermx.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with Bram Stocker's Dracula...A vampire that elicits pity is NO vampire....


O.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

No, a vampire is the embodiment of irresistible evil. And while I'm embarrassed to admit it, I did also see Interview with the Vampire and thought Brad Pitt's performance of a vampire with a tortured soul and a conscience was stretching it a bit... I guess I just like my vampires to be more traditional.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

The Lord of the Rings has a Svengali-like hold on me. Whenever I see it come on, say, even television, I can't stop watching it. Although I too can see Malkhos's points--he had other criticisms, too, but I thought two examples would suffice--overall, I thought it well done considering the vast amount of material to be dealt with. I'm looking forward to The Hobbit as well. Is Peter Jackson directing that one too, or someone else?

[petrusplancius.livejournal.com]

John Malkovich doesn't go in for half measures when playing complete bastards, and in my view it would be something of a letdown to feel that one might be redeemable. As with Dracula.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

Malkhos wasn't entirely convinced Valmont was redeemed at the end of that movie... a momentarily lapse in his ways was how Malkhos saw it. What's so bad about redemption, anyway? :) And I agree, if one wants an unmitigated bastard, John Malkovich can do it (and he's Illinois born and bred, too!)

One wouldn't want a redeemed Dracula--his evil is his allure. That's the point (one of them, anyway) and why I hated that movie so much.

[petrusplancius.livejournal.com]

I suppose one should feel sorry for vampires because they're so vulnerable, silver bullets, sunlight, garlic, stakes through the heart, running water, it's a wonder any survive at all.