Movies

Movies have been around most of, but not all of, my life. I don’t remember movies from my first era, the New York Era, but I do remember them from all eras after that one! (I may just not remember seeing movies in my earliest days.)

I didn’t become an active consumer, let alone a gourmet, until well into the Los Angeles Era.

It really wasn’t until college when I studied film and television making that I really got into films. They’ve been a special source of interest ever since.

As a fan of movies and science fiction, naturally I love the combination. (Like, a lot!) I’ve started a list of Science Fiction Movies.

I also love baseball, so I also started a list of Baseball Movies.

I used to have a thing for movies about assassins. Others apparently do, too; it’s surprising how many there are. (I’ve also noticed my list getting a fair number of, pardon the expression, hits.) I made a list of Assassin Movies a while back (for my website). It’s gotten a bit out of date now.

My Rating System

For the record, here’s my current movie rating system:

Wow! — A must-see! Gets everything as right as possible. Few or no complaints. Reserved for the very special and jaw-dropping.

Ah! — Glad I saw it! Pretty good, definitely worth seeing. Has some aspects that are especially noteworthy.

Eh! — I’m not sorry I saw it. Still a thumbs-up but didn’t have much that was particularly interesting or noteworthy.

Meh! — I didn’t need to see this. Didn’t impress but didn’t completely stink. Has some aspects that might make it worth seeing, at least for some.

Nah! — I’m sorry I saw this! Not good, not really worth seeing unless there is some special reason that compels one to make the effort.

Ugh! — Avoid! Avoid! Terrible, awful, horrible, very bad. A waste of time. Should not exist.

Favorite Five

I’ve never been able to pick out a top favorite of all time (in much of anything). There are just too many good choices. But sometimes I can manage to narrow it down to five (or so). This list may change, but for the moment, here’s my favorite five. I’m not saying they’re the best films; they’re my favorite films, movies I’ve seen many times and could watch again:

  1. LA Story; 1991; Steve Martin; Mick Jackson
  2. Grand Canyon; 1991; Kevin Klein, Danny Glover; Lawrence Kasdan [post: Grand Canyon]
  3. His Girl Friday; 1940; Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell; Howard Hawks
  4. Galaxy Quest; 1999; Tim Allen, many others; Dean Parisot
  5. Zardoz; 1974; Sean Connery; John Boorman

Heavy on the comedy, perhaps, but I value laughter above just about everything. The last two, especially the last, might seem odd, but [A] I’m a big science fiction fan, and [2] both of those movies speak to me in special ways.

(Odd that I’ve posted about only one of them. I’ve mentioned LA Story several times. And Galaxy Quest, too. I really should write posts about them, though.)

Runners up are:

And breathing down their neck:

All films that are among my favorites. Sadly, not many modern movies find their way into my heart. Storytelling in movies has gone way downhill.

Here are some runners up:

Those are just the ones on my favorites shelf. There are a lot of other movies I’ve loved over the years. Far too many to list.

Lastly, some favorite must-see classics (highly recommended if you’ve never seen them):

To name but a few.

And what do you think?