Post Cousins Day Meme

You may recall that a few mnths back, I decided that I would do a meme for the day after a Cousins Day, since nothing much happens between the time I write my Cousins Day entry and the time I generally post the next entry, so without further ado, I present this month's Post Cousins Day Meme (I got a million of 'em, folks!). This one is a movie meme.

The best movie you saw during the last year
Oh that's easy. Hands down, Toy Story 3. Now whether it is or is not the best movie of the year is irrelevant. It's the ONLY movie I've seen in a theatre this year!

The most underrated movie
Hmmm. I'm going to name a movie that probably few have heard of. The Frisco Kid. It's a little movie with Gene Wilder and a very young Harrison Ford and it's just great, but I'd never heard of it until someone recommended it to me.

Favorite love story in a movie
It's a tossup between Affair to Remember and Shadowlands. I loved the story of C.S. Lewis and his relationship with his wife, but isn't everybody's favorite romantic movie Affair to Remember (or at least everybody of a certain age).

The most surprising plot twist or ending
I will admit that I was totally shocked by The Sixth Sense. I had to go back and watch it again just to check out all those scenes that are made to fool you. I should add that I never saw Diabolique until long after I knew the surprise ending, or that might rank right up there as most surprising ending.

A movie that makes you really happy
Dave. I could see that movie a lot. Of course it made me happier during the Bush administration than during the Obama administration, but I like to think that a good, honest man could do greate things for the country very simply...Yes, I'm a cockeyed optimist.

A movie that makes you sad
Lost of movies make me cry (heck, supermarket openings make me cry), but the most recent movie that I saw that made me SAD was Beyond the Gates, that movie I saw last week about the Rwanda genocide. It just filled me with so much sadness for our world.

Favorite made for TV movie
There have been lots of made-for-TV movies. So many. I like mini-series like The Six Wives of Henry VIII (the first one, made for PBS) and Roots. I also like very schlocky made-for-TV Hallmark Movies, but I'm too embarrassed to admit which ones I've actually watched.

A movie that you’ve seen countless times
Well, that would obviously have to be Judy Garland's A Star Is Born, which I've probably seen more than 100 times.

A movie with the best soundtrack
I should pay more attention to soundtracks than I do, but anything that John Williams has scored is great. I also loved the soundtrack to Shadowlands so much that I bought the CD.

Favorite classic movie
How old does a movie have to be to be "classic"? Does Hitchcock qualify? Then I'd put North by Northwest and Rear Window on my list. Does it need to be older, like To Kill a Mocking Bird? or older, like Gone with the Wind or City Lights. Or should I just put down what everyone would expect me to put down, Wizard of Oz, though that wouldn't be my favorite

A movie that you hate
That one is easy: The Prince of Tides. Barbra Streisand, whose work I generally like, ruined what was one of my favorite books, making herself, in the character of the psychiatrist (a very minor role in the book), the star. All of the charm of the movie, which was told in flashbacks to the days of the children, was minimized. Close second would be what Ms. Streisand did to A Star Is Born.

A movie that changed your opinion about something
I think The Nun's Story changed my mind about wanting to be a missionary!

A character who you can relate to the most
Shirley Valentine...before she left for Greece

A movie that is a guilty pleasure
Trading Places, which I complained for years that I hated, but which I kind of like now and will watch if it comes on.

Favorite movie based on a book/comic/etc
Superman with Christopher Reeve. Could there have been a better Superman...even in his personal life, to the end.

A movie that disappointed you the most
The aforementioned Prince of Tides. I had been looking forward to it because I loved the book so much and I just HATED it.

Favorite movie from your favorite actor/actress
Well, that's an answer everybody who has read this journal for any length of time can answer for me. All together now: Judy Garland's A Star Is Born.

A movie that you used to love but now hate
I don't know that I ever really loved it, or that I exactly hate it, but I'm sure tired of Wizard of Oz. Really!

Favorite action movie
I'm not really an action movie fan, but the first James Bond that Daniel Craig was in sure kept me on my treadmill for a full 30 minutes. I was so impressed with the action in that action movie that I made Walt watch it, which I almost never do.

A movie that you wish more people would’ve seen
The Court Jester, because everyone should know where to find the brew that is true.

Favorite documentary
I watch a lot of documentaries, and it's hard to remember them all. My favorites are generally the nature documentaries (like Planet Earth, which had such amazing photography). The last one to impress me was March of the Penguins and another one about a year in the life of an elephant herd (which I can't remember the title of).

Favorite animation
I love animation, so it's difficult to choose one favorite. From the old cel-based animation, it would have to be Bambi for the story, but Snow White or Pinocchio for knock-out ground-breaking animation. For the more recent CGI type animation I would choose Monsters, Inc. I still remember the scene of the blue guy lying in the snow, with the wind ruffing his fur. I don't remember anything else about that scene except being literally blown away by how good the animation was. A friend in the movie industry tells me that they had to invent a whole different kind of animation to create that scene.

The most hilarious movie you’ve ever seen
Maybe W.C. Fields' short, The Fatal Glass of Beer, though I've seen it so often I don't think I laugh as much any more.

A movie that you wish you had seen in theaters
I know it was a terrible movie, but I really wanted to see 2012 in the theatre, for the impressive CGI. I haven't actually seen the movie at all, even on the small screen.

Favorite movie from your favorite director
Not sure if he's my favorite director, but I think my favorite Hitchcock movie is North by Northwest, with Vertigo a close second.

A movie from your childhood
Well, I saw all the usual ones, but there are three that I remember vividly, that nobody has ever heard of:

1. Paula, with Loretta Young and Tommy Rettig in his pre-Lassie days, where he is an orphan who is hit by Young, a self-absorbed society matron, who is driving to a party. The plot is predictable and very soap-opera-y but I loved it.

2. The Blue Veil isn't even availble on DVD and probably not on VHS. Jane Wyman plays a war bride whose husband is killed. She is pregnant at the time and the shock of his death causes her to lose the baby, and to learn that she can never have another. Instead she becomes a nanny and the movie follows her through all the children she cares for and the grand reunion of all her grown "children" at the end.

3. Driftwood is another one that you can't get anymore. Natalie Wood as a young child. This is ImDB's synopsis: Six-year-old Jenny rescues a collie dog, the only survivor of a plane wreck. A tag on the dog's neck states that it is en route to a medical laboratory where its blood will be used for spotted fever vaccine. Dr. Steven Webster meets both Jenny and the dog and "adopts" them both. His fiancée Susan isn't too fond of either the girl or the dog. Webster wants to get a hospital for the town but he is suppressed by the town mayor. In the arguments that follow, Webster's lab is wrecked and ticks infected with spotted fever escape. The town is in a panic and all want to be vaccinated. Jenny is infected and is about to die. (guess who saves her..)

Like I said, I was really into soap operas!

Your favorite movie of all time
All together now: