Monday, October 3, 2011

My Favorite Movie

The next item in my 30 Day Challenge is My Favorite Movie.  This, like my favorite song, is impossible to pin down to just one, although I AM much more discriminating with my movies than my music.  I don't like mindless, stupid, drunken comedies (like The Hangover).  I don't like horror movies (the "Freddy" movies, the "Halloween" movies, the "Chucky" movies.  Hmm.. with the proliferation of all of these horror series, though, apparently SOMEBODY likes them!)  I'm not crazy about shoot-'em-up, drive-like-crazy action movies (like Die Hard or Gone in 60 Seconds), but I will sit through one occasionally with my husband and son (just last week it was The Road Warrior--man, Mel Gibson was YOUNG!). 

A "message" in a movie is fine, especially if it's sort of left up to interpretation.  I LIKE to think!  But too "artsy" in the presentation of the message and I'm bored.  (I hated Shakespeare in Love).  I guess what it boils down to is I like to be entertained, and for me entertainment requires a decent plot and actors who can actually act, and I like it to engage me in the story.  So, here are a few that I've sat through more than once and enjoyed every time:

Glory (1989) --the Civil War film about the first black regiment in the Union Army, starring Matthew Broderick, Carey Elwes, and Denzel Washington in one of his first movies.

Excalibur (1981)--the epic Sword in the Stone, King Arthur and Camelot tale, starring Nigel Terry, Nicholas Clay, and Helen Mirren.

Willow (1988) --a fantasy adventure where reluctant dwarf and a former thief must protect a baby princess from an evil queen, starring Val Kilmer and Warwick Davis.

The original Star Wars trilogy.

Most of the Star Trek feature films.

And of course, The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  The director's cut.  Hours and hours and hours of Peter Jackson's masterpiece, done just the way I hoped it would be when I first read the books back in the mid-1970's.  I think it's time to watch them again, actually....

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