Change Your Image
misskatiek
Please note that some of the selections on these lists have been given very high ratings, while others are placed on the list for mostly autobiographical or cultural reasons. A few lists are essentially negative (worst) lists.
[colorful] Top Seven With a Tie.
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27864644/
Cannot decide between Godfather I and II.
[cooldance2] Next Twenty-One
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27864653/
Having troubling limiting it to Ten, this, as well as others, are still under construction, and/or subject to change.
[trendy] Sullen 80s Youth
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865560/
Tarantino (with whom I share a generation) talks about outgrowing certain movies, and these are a few of mine.
[evil3] Empire of Cruelty
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865563/
I actually find them more of a pain than a pleasure to watch.
[cool1] Outr� Vague
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865564/
These movies captured an edgy and angular temporality. If I couldn't make it to a New York nightclub or European art opening at the peak of the 80s neo-nness, these made me feel pretty close. Most of these don't have a true, contemporary reference anymore.
[fight4] Juvenille Morbidity
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865565/
As a child I was obsessed with the most gruesome form of fairy tales, and I loved Edward Gorey. In an extention of this, I tended not to miss disaster movies, or any old movie with a nasty death scene. Horror movies rarely caught my interest, however: I usually liked ordinary premises with ghastly accidents.
[sigh] Dreary Afternoon
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865567/
Back in the pre-Cable movie channel days, when many television stations were independent and not Network affiliates, and before most stations filled up their daytime schedules with courts, cops and courting cousins.
[cloak] Weirdotronic
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865568/
In the mid to late 80s, a lot of independent critics and alternative publishers latched onto the idea that there were mounds of great movies in the Cinematic dumpster, and one just needed to unearth them, like so many postmodern archeologists.
References: http://www.psychotronicvideo.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incredibly_Strange_Films
[cats] Ensemblerama
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865569/
Ensemble cast movies fall into a special niche, and tend to not fall into a particular genre as well.
[hat] Classics of Childhood
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865570/
Most are perennials from the pre-video age when you had to wait until Easter or Thanksgiving to watch them. Others were my movie buff parents� favorites that became some of mine, too.
[butterfly] ConStructure
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865571/
Uniquely structured films. One is a Yin-Yang, one is a Mobius strip, one is...huh?
[roll2] A Really Good Story
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865572/
Good stories.
[trum] Its About the Music
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865581/
The music is great, and in certain cases is better than the movie itself, and the soundtrack is the only thing worth collecting.
[none] It Never Moved Me
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865582/
Good movies with �fridge logic�.
[eek] Rubberneckers
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865591/
I really hate these movies but have, in fact, watched them - sometimes more than once. They are cinematic versions of train wrecks.
[glasses] Academic Archive
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865592/
These are the kinds of movies that I show in art classes but that leave me a little cold.
[misc1] Mind Maps
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865593/
Like ensemble casts, I decided to make a seperate list for all those films dealing with memory and/or erasure.
[sad7] Killing Me Softly
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865610/
All of these have something about them that resonates with a chapter of my life or have characters eerily like people very close to me.
[aura] Psych-O-Deli
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865611/
A sampling of movies that had too much color and swirly styling. I got really into these, as well as old Garage rock, in the mid-80s.
[afro] Right On
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865620/
These flicks are out out of Sightous!
[clap] The Next Generation
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865621/
Kid favorites.
[2face] Gorgeous and Engaging
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865622/
Nice to look at.
[bunny] Deep Dark and Funny
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865623/
Black (as opposed to "Urban," which I also have a great fondness for) Comedy!!!
[wild] Idiots Delight
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865640/
I know they are stupid but they still make me laugh.
[nicebat] All Things Gothic
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865642/
A macabre mix of moody movies.
[gonemad] Oddities
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865643/
These are just a bit hard to categorize.
[giveup] Not Yet Seen!
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865645/
Believe it or not, even though these are the types of movies I like, I have not seen them yet in full.
[royal] Trashy Treasure
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865647/
Gaudy, campy, and sometimes deeper than you would expect.
[love10] Teen Hysteria
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865649/
All of these are movies that a) I saw with a bunch of people as a teenage group b) saw with a bunch of people who were on mind altering substances as a teenage group c) was dragged to multiple times by an obsessed friend d) went to see ironically with equally jaded friend or e) saw on TV and everyone talked about it the next day... etc. Please excuse the obvious entry.
[fight3] Futuretheque
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865650/
Dangerous futures meet 70s fashion shoot. Gotta love them.
[frozen] Truly Chilling
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865659/
These will actually give you bad dreams. Wonderfuly horrible.
[eyes] Amazing Face
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27865660/
Movies carried primarily by a single actor's expressive face.
[fight5] Bottom Ten
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27870591/
These are my Personal Worst.
[cheers] Lemme Tell You a Story...
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27871894/
Movies that I have some or another degree of seperation from, somehow.
[love3] Really Romantic
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27871895/
I am not a romantic type, but these actually got to me.
[party] Background Noise
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27871912/
These are movies I might have had running at a party.
[snow] Weather or Not
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27871913/
Great weather scenes.
[flowercat] Skin Deep
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27871914/
Beautiful look / where is the content?
[kiss] Lasts and Firsts
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27873268
These have some kind of chronological significance for me, even if the movie is not memorable.
[square] Offbeat but Hilarious
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27871914/
All are quirky but also VERY funny.
[help] Bizaare Geography
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27871914/
If you know a place well, seing nonsensical movie geography can be irritating.
[joker] It Made Sense in the 90s
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27880988
Now?
[ninja] It Made Sense in the 80s
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27880608
Now?
[rainbow] It Made Sense in the 70s
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27881007
Now?
[hippy] It Made Sense in the 60s
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27881008
Now?
[popcorn] Classic Classics
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27881041
Great and notable from the golden age.
[hmm] I WANTED to Like it
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27881091
But...
[hasta] New Bad Future
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27881188
Took this term from Totally Recalling Arnold: Sex and Violence in the New Bad Future, by Fred Glass
Film Quarterly � 1990 University of California Press
[giveup] I Just Like it... OK?
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27881263/
No Apologies.
[misc2] Video Drone
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27889472
I saw these over and over and over and over again when I worked at a video store in the late 80s.
[angry10] I Refuse!
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27912265
These movies always sounded so freaking stupid. I hope I never have to sit through them.
[animal] Edge of Memory
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27912378
These are movies I saw in the theater or on television when very, very young - in some cases I barely remember them - in one case (Let it Be) I forced my mom to take me home I found it so boring.
[angry5] Chalk on a Blackboard
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27912493
Every movie on this list annoys me in some way. Not enough to go on a "worst" list but enough to complain about all through after-the-movie coffee.
[clown] Satiricon
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27912510
Satires.
[laugh] Damn Funny
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27912737
Damn Funny.
[cry] Left Me Weeping
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27926256
Really.
[sleep1] Sunny Sunday
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27926875
Kind of like "Dreary Afternoon"
[conf3] Repetetive Cable Syndrome
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=27926996
Cable ad nauseum.
Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againReviews
The Notebook (2004)
My problems with it...
Well, I am not going to make many people happy, but...
If a guy sent me a letter every day for a year, ON TOP of him having some of the temper issues the Gosling character had, EVEN IF I LOVED HIM, even if my mother had been hiding the letters and even if he had no idea that is why I was not responding, I would probably put a restraining order on his a-- (figuratively speaking), not keep running back.
If a girl I knew had the kind of emotional instability and spoiled sense of privilege of the McAdams character, I would run far away from her as possible without regret. (Though, granted, if I I had had a mother like the Joan Allen character, I myself would probably be that messed up.) I think someone else said: this is an example of how NOT to have a relationship. It is not that I am so jaded, but ultimately I see the relationship between the two as troubling rather than beautiful.
And even if it was "just beautiful", have we not seen it before? Isn't it kind of like The Titanic (minus the sinking ship) set in the deep south on the cusp of WWII? The actors were very good at playing people I would not care to know. If the acting were not so good, I would feel like I was watching an early 80s Pia Zadora movie or something, or at least a slightly forgettable 50s melodrama that shows up on TCM at 3am once in a while.
Sorry if I offended. I don't mean to spoil other people's enjoyment, but I found myself actually upset with the way the film presented dysfunctionality as great love, without a hint of irony.
SPOILER ALERT: James Garner looks nothing like Ryan Gosling. And yet I still guessed the "twist". Sigh.
The People (1972)
Captures the Mood of the Time
Despite the fact it is often set in some remote setting, temporal or spatial, science fiction reflects the sensibilities of its own timeframe more than any other genre. This science fiction TV movie evokes a strong memory from my youth that is as much semi-personal cultural artifact as it is broadcast entertainment.
In the early 1970's, there were a number of us, adults and children, who lived "apart" from the everyday society: rural, rustic, spiritual seekers, community-minded, experimental and questioning. We looked to the past to create the future. Many of us ended up in Marin County, in the northern section of the San Francisco Bay Area.
It is never really possible to perfectly signal the everyday mood of a cultural zeitgeist, though all movies attempt to, in varying degrees of success and intentionality. "The People," while to some a modest and moderately successful literary adaptation, is, to me, a stunning capture of the "mood" of Bolinas, California, 1971. The social remove of the "people" acted as an allegory for our cultural dissatisfaction.
Step backwards. While a lot of people in this time/place avoided television (though not my family), the broadcast of this movie generated a great deal of excitement for at least three main reasons.
At the top of reasons were the crew involved. The director, John Korty, was local to the area (though I forget exactly from where...) Also, of great interest was in the scene in which the schoolchildrens' story was told. Arthur Okamura was a Bolinas artist who did the illustrative paintings. (He also happened to be my father's best friend at the time.) Of course, for Northern California grounding, there is the ubiquitous Coppola involvement.
Another reason for the interest were the filming locations in Northern California. This was before every other movie was made in an over-speculated and glamorized-to-death San Francisco.
The final reason is the message of the film, most importantly the final scene in which the group is able to act as a single healing force. This manages to fairly sum up the collective dream of our little alternative society.
Is it a good movie? I actually can't say.
Then what can be said about this movie? Mostly is quite amazing that such a pristine cultural document exists in the form of a network movie of the week from its own era. Thousands of portrayals of "hippies" exist from the time, this is one of the few that is the real deal. It feels like an subversive art film that managed to get commercial sponsors.
That's pretty, uh, cool...