You know how you'll be flipping channels and then you see it--that movie you know you love, but you kinda forgot about how much you loved it and so you start watching it again ... for approximately the 47th time? These are the ones that get me erry single time. I'm listing them here because a) I'm all about lists today, b) it's a running reminder of a list of the ones I still need to buy (or recoup from happy borrowers) and c) I'm curious to know if you feel the same, and if so, which movies pull you right back in*?
In no particular order (because regardless of what I'm supposed to be doing I always seemingly have infinite numbers of hours to while away):
- O Brother Where Art Thou? The reasons are endless, but I do happen to love a Dapper Dan man ... in theory. That pomade does look like it'd stank in high Mississippi heat. There's also the plethora of literary and film allusions, the amazing soundtrack, the hi-larity of singin' into a can, the importance of knowing when to are-you-en-en-oh-eff-tee, discovering the sort of geographical oddity that's 2 weeks from errywhere and the sensational tomfoolery of infiltratin' a certain, uh, secret society. Oh, and it's bonafide.
- Layer Cake. Dudes. I watched this when it first came out, which was earlier in the stages of my Anglophilia, so I didn't do the whole, "Oh my gosh! That's the person who was in Harry Potter/The Dark Knight Rises/Persuasion, Blue Jasmine, Happy-Go-Lucky, Made in Dagenham, Desert Flower (Yo, I loves me some Sally Hawkins what can I say!)/Elizabeth/Skyfall (twofer!)/that one really good miniseries I caught on BBCAmerican this one time, etc. Nevermind the fact that this Daniel Craig had that good, raw charisma and dead-on wit and heebie-jeebie feeling about guns and killing folk; him was so human. In the words of Captain Obvious, all the layers in this story are fantastic and snipped, cut and shot together so beautifully. It was on the other night. I swore I was too tired to do anything that required open eyes and yet ...
- The Green Mile. Caveat. Mags owns the remote 99.99% of the time. This movie seems to be on 99.97% of the time. It was actually one of those movies I never wanted to see--no reason, but I was just eh about it and now at any given moment you can overhear me singin' "Bar-be-cue, bar-be-cue, me and you, stanky panky pew, pew, pew ..."
- Any Harry Potter. Because I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good. Always. My mischief stay managed. Especially when mischief = procrastination.
- Gladiator. It vexes me in a terrible, terrible way to turn from it. It's like Maximus is some wee child, or that drunk friend you drop off--you just gotta watch and make sure they get all the way home. It doesn't matter where you first picked them up--in a wheat field, slaying tigers, wearing a super short skirt with strangely alluring unshaved legs--you have to see them home. It makes one feel whole and safe and happy and warm inside ... or maybe that's just the sound of Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard.
- The Godfather Trilogy (see * above). Doesn't matter. I disliked III, but I will forfeit 9+ hours for the Corleone Family. I mean, is there any way you could honestly
safelyrefuse the offer?