An American Werewolf in London

One of my favorite television shows, Psych, contains an amazing male lead whose favorite movie is An American Werewolf in London. So I figured, why not watch this movie for my, what is it, twelfth movie in my 501 movie-long marathon?

Here's the story: David Kessler (played by David Naughton) and his friend Jack (Griffin Dunne) are Americans backpacking across Europe. In England, they come across a strange town and an even stranger animal. Hiking at night, they are attacked by a giant wolf that mauls and kills Jack, but only bites David. He falls in love with a nice nurse at the hospital he is transferred to, and his haunted by Jack, who has something special to tell David: he was bitten by a werewolf.

This is the kind of horror movie that doesn't need climactic music to aide it in suspense. The gore of the movie can stand on its own, but not overwhelm viewers so that it becomes disgusting, nor does it make fun of itself. Without a doubt, the creepiest parts of this movie are owed completely to the make up applied to the actors. One instance of this contains spoilers, so I will not divulge its awesomeness. The other, however, is Griffin Dunne's continually decomposing corpse that is haunting David. That effect is my favorite part of the movie.

It's not the best horror movie that I've ever seen (I personally like The Shining or The Omen) but it's the best werewolf movie I've seen so far, that's for sure. So good call, James Roday from TV's Psych.

My guilty pleasure movie today was parts of Moulin Rouge. What can I say, I liked it.

On Holiday with Audrey & Gregory

If you guessed from this blog title that this entry is about my viewing of Roman Holiday, than congratulations, you are correct. Although, how one could have missed that I do not know.

When I was a child, the movie that I watched whenever I stayed home sick (my sick-day movie) was Disney's Mulan. Now, as a teenager, it's Roman Holiday. I get into my pajamas, I fix myself a bowl of chicken noodle soup, and get some saltine crackers. I sit down on my cushy leather couch, and I watch Audrey do her thing.

It is a great honor to watch Roman Holiday. Gregory Peck is nearing his peak in this film, and Audrey Hepburn is just getting started, but is still remarkable.

Here's the story: Hepburn is a princess tired of her royal life. She escapes her protectors, and is taken in by Gregory Peck, a pessimistic journalist stuck in Rome because he can't hold on to money. Discovering that he's housing the runaway princess that will make the story of his career, he bets his boss that he can get a scoop on her story. Through the process of attempting to get a story, he shows her Rome, and the two fall in love.

It's a truly great movie that is simply a romance, with charm, great acting, humour, conflict, and some heart-break. Highly recommended sick day movie.

Spectacular Spectacular

I had a serious Jones today for something romantic and depressing. So I watched Moulin Rouge, a movie that I hadn't seen, but whose ending had been maliciously revealed to me by cruel individual who shall remain nameless.

Here's the plot: It's 1899 Paris. Ewan McGregor (yummy) plays a starry-eyed, penniless young poet. He moves to Montmarte (the home of Amelie, I might add), in search of freedom, truth, beauty, and love. He befriends John Leguizamo's character, a short guy with trouble saying 'l's. He invites McGregor to write a play with him to sell to the Moulin Rouge, a night club, a den of "hedonistic pleasures." There, McGregor meets Satine (played by the enchanting Nicole Kidman), who mistakes him for the Duke she must seduce to get funding for the Moulin Rouge's new play (McGregor's play). She and McGregor meet, fall in love, and weave a tangled web around themselves, the Moulin Rouge, the real Duke, and Paris.

Their story alone is heartfelt, beautiful, heart-breaking, honest, ethereal, and excellent. But Baz Luhrman, the director of this masterpiece, tells it in such a way that makes it a modern love story that is absolutely true to its era of beauty, art, voluptuousness, and love. What makes it modern is this, my favorite part of the film: Luhrman makes a musical, but uses all modern songs like Elton John's 'Your Song,' 'Roxanne,' 'Like a Virgin,' 'The Show Must Go On,' and some great love songs from all across time.

It's a movie that's magical, with a singing moon and all, but still very mortal, showing a depth and a realness about the Parisian underworld while still acknowledging that world's respect for love.

It's not my first choice for a romantic and depressing movie (that would be Titanic), but I still enjoyed it very much.

Oh, and my guilty pleasure movie today was The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. I just got back from the theatre. I preferred Moulin Rouge.

16th Birthday

Today is my 16th birthday. No one in my immediate family forgot, so that makes me one up on Molly Ringwald. What now, Ringwald?! What now?!

Anyway, today I had a movie marathon. Among other things, I watched one of my favorite movies: The Princess Bride.

Just like Some Like It Hot, this movie is perfect. It's so sweet, innocent, hilarious, and simple that I cannot resist.

A rip-off of a fairy tale, The Princess Bride is a fairy tale in its own right. Buttercup (that's right, Buttercup) and Wesley live in a medieval society called Florin. The film follows them as they are united by true love and separated by pirates, evil princes, Italians with revenge schemes, Andre the Giant, and so much more.

Sarcastic and brilliant, the movie makes fun of its genre while still upholding its chief principles: friendship makes all things possible and love conquers all. It appeals to the childhood love of fairy tales while allowing us to say "Yeah, I hate stories like that... mushy love stories... hyuck hyuck....."

Some Love Some Like It Hot

Billy Wilder is, in my opinion, an absolute genius. He took a simple comedic theme, a burlesque movie featuring men in drag, and made it into the best comedy of all time.

Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis are caught in the Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago. A bassist and a saxophone player, they decide that their only escape is to join an all girls band... as girls, of course. In the band, they meet Sugar, played by Marilyn Monroe. Sugar has bad luck with men. What continues is nothing less than absolute hilarity. Basically, Tony Curtis seduces Sugar with a Cary Grant spoof/tribute character, Jack Lemmon lets a rich old dummie try to marry him, and the pair scramble around like mad in the process.

Billy Wilder and Jack Lemmon are an unbelievable pair, and the movie is simply perfect. It has a permanent place in my heart, just as it has a permanent place on my DVR.

Jaws

Sorry about the last couple of days. Internet troubles have stopped me from posting, but not from watching my movies.

This first entry is for the movie I watched on July 26th: Jaws. This movie and I have a history. When I was four years old, my dad and I sat down in our living room and watched Jaws. I was doing splendidly with the guts, the blood, and the gore of the movie. I was alright. Until Quint.

For those of you who haven't seen Jaws, the movie focuses on a beach town. The new sheriff, a boatsman that makes his living hunting sharks, and a marine biologist whose speciality is sharks, all go hunting a monster Great White that has been terrorizing the sweet little beach town. They go out on Quint, the shark hunter's boat, The Orca, and track the beast. It comes to a confrontation.

The horrible, gigantic beast gets it's entire front half onto the end of the boat. Gnashing it's huge teeth, those empty eyes prepared for the kill, it tips the boat so that Quint slides right into his mouth. At four years old, I sat in complete fear, my eyes as wide as the horizon is Kansas, as I saw Quint flail in the air, his body broken in half, the scene drenched in blood. 'I was terrified,' as the wonderful wizard of Oz would say.

For years, I couldn't take a bath without being in constant fear. I couldn't even sit on the toilet without thinking that Jaws was going to come up and eat me. I couldn't even sleep on a water bed.

So if you enjoy getting the life scared out of you as you hide under a blanket with football helmets stitched on it, then enjoy Jaws. Now that older, the movie doesn't scare me near as much, of course. Now, I actually quite enjoy it.

Even though I'm still afraid of taking a bath.

Making Up

So sorry, my non-existent readers, for missing my blog entry yesterday. Just so you know, I DID watch a movie on the list: Home Alone. Today, I watched When Harry Met Sally. My only excuse for not entering a blog for Home Alone is because I was tired. So, to make up for this lapse, I will be doing a double blog today.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part 1: Home Alone

Home Alone is the best holiday movie ever made. Say what you want about It's A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story-- Home Alone tops them all.

Here's the premise, and I'll keep it simple: a kid, Macaulay Culkin, is accidentally left home alone when his rather large family all leave on a plane for Paris. Thinking that his wishing them gone cause his family to disappear, Culkin lets loose in a hilarious assortment of ways. Here's the conflict, okay: Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, too of the world's worst cat burglars, have their eyes on Culkin's house to rob. Culkin, however, puts up a fight and defends his house from the thieves the best way a kid knows how: with marbles, a zip-line, some garden shears, an iron, and a blow-torch. It's a little graphic sure, but in a hilarious way that only John Hughes, the writer for this movie, could have pulled off.

Directed by Chris Columbus, this movie gives kids a hero and parents a laugh. It's a Christmas classic, and a great movie any time of the year-- even the end of July.

My guilty pleasure movies for today were The Wedding Date and 10 Things I Hate About You.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Part 2: When Harry Met Sally

Nora Ephron is truly a beautiful writer and, when paired with Meg Ryan, simply unstoppable. They worked together in When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail, all of which are staples in the romantic comedy encyclopedia.

So here's the plot: Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Ryan) drive together to New York after graduating from the University of Chicago. On the trip, they discuss whether or not men and women could ever just be friends without sex getting in the way. Deciding they can't be friends, they part ways in NYC. The film follows the pair over twelve years as they search for love, fail, and meet up with each other at regular, accidental intervals. Eventually, they do become friends. But guess what gets in the way?

Anyway, the film ends in one of the best speeches ever delivered, as far as romantic comedies go.

When Harry Met Sally is a very well-written, lovable, seamless romantic comedy, pulled together with some great scenes of New York City that would make Woody Allen envious, a perfect soundtrack (thank you Harry Connick, Jr.), and some great comedy via Billy Crystal.

I have no dirty pleasure movie today-- When Harry Met Sally is all I need.

X-Men

Today, I watched X-Men. Now, I know that X-Men is not the confirmed classic that Goldfinger is. However, I enjoy X-Men much more than I have ever enjoyed a Bond movie.

I have seen X-Men before, just as I have already seen many of the 501 movies I must see.

The film begins with Marie, "Rogue", a girl who, when she touches people, drains them of their life force. She runs away and hitches a ride with Wolverine, mutant (a superhero) who has the power to heal rapidly. His body is fused with a metal called adamantium, giving him retractable metal claws.

Wolverine becomes Rogue's protector as they join forces with the X-Men, a group of superheroes that run a school for superhero children. The school is run by Charles Xavier, a telepathic. He and his group are waging a war against Magneto, an old friend of Xavier's. The basic conflict is this: the government wants to force mutants to expose themselves, Magneto decides to turn the world's leaders into mutants, and the X-Men are trying to stop them.

Hugh Jackman is simply badass (pardon my French) as Wolverine. His charisma shines through, and creates a memorable, unique character. Though not the best acting I've ever seen, he makes a great action hero.

The movie is a fast-paced superhero movie, without becoming too much about gadgets, super-powers, or a tragic past for Wolverine.

It's cool, all right. But what about the story? It's unique, I'll give it that. While outside the comfort zone of many, I find the story on a great par for superhero movies. The resulting theme is also fairly deep for a superhero movie: as Magneto, the villain, said, "mankind has always feared what it does not understand."

Ultimately, it is not my favorite superhero movie (that would be Batman Begins), but it is a great superhero movie.

My dirty pleasure movie today was Run Fatboy Run, starring Simon Pegg.

Goldfingah

Okay. I'm the first to admit that I am not the biggest James Bond fan in the world. I've just never been all that interested in the movies. Sure, Sean Connery is very suave as the iconic action hero, and sure, they are a part of classic filmography.

However, I'm simply not interested. And I wish I could say that Goldfinger changed my mind. But it didn't. It just reinstated in me that old belief that Bond movies have almost nothing to bring to the table for me. They're the kind of action movie that makes my mind wander, and then I sit there, confused. I comfort myself with the only positive things I can find in old Bond movies: the bad action scenes, the fashion fopas, and Sean Connery.

As a female, I am attracted to Connery on a basic level. He is at his best in Goldfinger, and that's all there is to say about it.

I don't know. In the past, when people tell me 'You've got to see this movie' and 'You're gonna LOVE it', I feel some obligation to him/her, and I at least pretend that I enjoyed it. But I can't with Goldfinger. Maybe it's because I'm spoiled by the fast-paced action of some of today's Bond wannabees like The Transporter or basically anything else with Jason Statham.

What it comes down to is this: Bond just isn't my thing.

But anyway, I got one more movie down. That makes 497 movies to go!

P.S. My guilty pleasure movie today was "Addicted to Love." Meg Ryan and Matthew Broderick. Check it out.

Heart of Darkness

About a year ago, I started watching Apocalypse Now. I had just seen Midnight Cowboy, so I was weary of psychedelic mind-trips. Because of Martin Sheen's opening scene, I thought that the movie was about him going crazy. What I didn't realize is that the movie is about everyone going crazy.

Crazy in Vietnam. I had always been impatient with Vietnam war veterans, thinking that their war lacked the glamour and prestige that came with WWII. After this movie, however, one has the utmost respect and sympathy for those that made it through the Vietnam war. After all, Marlon Brando's line, "the horror," does encapsulate the film very well.

I hate summarizing, but Martin Sheen's Captain Willard, an off-duty army soldier, is assigned to kill Marlon Brando's Colonel Walter E. Kurtz. Kurtz has gone rogue in Vietnam, working his way into Cambodia with a loyal band of followers, killing all that stand in his way. He has gone insane, the military says.

But what the point of the movie is, I think, is that everybody went crazy in Vietnam. Kurtz just went so crazy that people couldn't deal.

So yes, I started watching this movie about a year ago. I got about twenty minutes in, up until a man was screaming in pain, his leg blown to pieces, begging God to help him. While not by any means gory, Apocalypse Now has some scenes that just make the blood curdle, and make wary eyes look elsewhere.

Apocalypse Now is not for the weak, it is hard, rough, and yes, a mind-trip. It shows the intensity of the insanity felt by all in Vietnam.

Though on a much different track than the lovely French films that I've watched the last two days, Apocalypse Now is chilling and, for lack of a better word, deep.

Oh, and my guilty pleasure movie today was 'Never Been Kissed.'

Day 2: Movie 2

For my second day of this 501-movie-long movie marathon, I'm watching Amelie, another great French movie.

Five minutes into this movie, it became one of my favorites. Audrey Tautou is divine as the title character, giving Amelie an innocence and magnificent radiance. The movie is a lovely story, beautifully filmed, surrealist in action but simplistic in principle.

The colors of this movie, as simple as that sounds, are splendid. The balance that can be seen is just unprecedented in my mind and gives the movie an other-worldly quality.

Almost like the fairy tales of childhood, Amelie is, in essence, a love story. This movie is really for people that are quirky or people that like people that are quirky. It is engaging, lovable, colorful, well-written, well-filmed, and charming.

This is a beautiful movie, and I LOVE it!

Au revoir!

P.S. My dirty pleasure movie today was "P.S. I Love You."

Beginnings

Hey there Internet,

I am now jumping off the proverbial cliff. I am now beginning a blog.

Some info about me: as of this moment, I am 15 years, 11 months, and 21 days old. I am watching "Definitely, Maybe" (yay multi-tasking!).

I hope this doesn't sound too "Julie & Julia," but I am embarking on a quest. A quest through the 501 movies labelled 'must-see' by various authors of the 501 Musts series. I will finish these movies by December 30, 2011.

No, I am not fulfilling one of my credits by watching "Definitely, Maybe." I have already finished my movie-of-the-day: "Beauty and the Beast" or "La Belle et la Bete" from (1946).

And here, the conditions of my blog-ship come through. For all of these 1001 movies, I will never lie about my thoughts on the movie in question.

So here are my thoughts, honestly: like most old movies, there are the lagging points. But customary lagging points aside, I found the movie to be a French gem. Just as charming and heart-warming as the Disney version I've known since childhood, "Beauty and the Beast" is beautiful in it's own right. And I must say, the titles are my favorite part. The absolute simplicity of the director writing the titles out on a chalk board is simply perfect. His message to us, the audience, is full of French charm. He asks to just be like children, to trust him, and to believe. And then he writes the magic words: "Once upon a time."

It's a charming movie, and a charming beginning to what I hope is a rewarding endeavor.

So here I go, unto the breach.