Movies, Movies, Movies

Have you ever felt this way?  (Warning: contains strong language)

Neither have I!

Actually, this clip is from one of my all time favorite films, A Fish Called Wanda. I love watching movies because they're a great source of entertainment and distraction. I recently requested responses to a movie survey that I created to find out the movie habits of other movie watchers - a truly fascinating undertaking. The survey questions posted were: how often did the respondent watch movies; what is their all time favorite movie; worse movie; favorite guilty pleasure movie; and whether or not they had ever walked out on a movie and asked for money back.

1.  62% of the respondents watched movies 'moderately often' which shows that they actually have a social life! Well done, you! The other 38% watched movies 'extremely often' - no worries, that's my response too. Yeah, I don't have a social life.

2.  The list of 'favorite all time movies' ran the gamut - from comedies to dramas: The Princess Bride, Titanic, The Shawshank Redemption, Shrek, The Replacements, Harold and Maude and Chasing Amy. Now personally I agree with The Princess Bride, The Shawshank Redemption and Shrek. But Chasing Amy? Ugh! That movie actually makes my list of one of the worse movies I've ever watched. Titanic is a tough call for me. I thought the first 2 hours were horrendously bad. I barely could make it through them, but the last hour was brilliant... well, not the entire hour:  I loved from the moment the ship hit the iceberg until Kate Winslet ridiculously couldn't scream for help but had enough air to blow a whistle. What the...???  Okay, I really didn't like Titanic. It's tough for me to name just one favorite movie. There are just too many.

3.  The list of worse movies: The English Patient (fo' shizzle!), Jackass, Hut Tub Time Machine (just the title makes me not want to watch this movie; a shame because I love John Cusack), Elektra, A.I. and Wagons East. No complaints from me about this list.  Pretty much, it is right on the money. For me, the worse movie was The Blair Witch Project... or Moulin Rouge.... or Boxing Helena... or The Piano... or... well, never mind. My list again is too long.

4.  Guilty pleasure movies had the most fascinating responses!  Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Staying Alive, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Footloose (1984), Dirty Dancing, Miss Congeniality, Grease and Pretty Woman. Actually, I like most these films and agree that they're all great guilty pleasure movies.  For the record, mine is Down Periscope. I don't know why, but every time this movie is on, I MUST watch it! It's juvenile and stupid and yet I cannot help myself.

5.  50% of the respondents said that they had walked out of a movie theater because a film was unwatchable, but no one has ever asked for their money back.  I have walked out of an unwatchable movie (i.e., JFK), but I, too, would never ask for my money back. In my opinion, it's always a luck of the draw if a movie is worth the $10-$20 ticket price, and you can't blame the theater for an unwatchable film. Though I have always wanted to ask the production company for my money back, but I've never actually tried it.

The most interesting thing about the list of movies that were provided is that they're all fairly recent films. The earliest movie listed, Harold and Maude, is from 1971. Generally speaking, the movies made in the past 30 or 40 years are superbly better than many earlier movies; from the quality of the material to how acting has improved over the years and the improvement in production. A short list of some note-worthy movies from pre-1970 are: Battleship Potemkin, Bringing Up Baby, Gone With the Wind, Citizen Kane and The Wizard of Oz.  There are a many, many more, but these are some of the best, in my humble opinion.

A sincere thank you to everyone who responded to my survey. Feel free to continue to respond, as I'd definitely be interested in hearing from more movie watchers.  For all A Fish Called Wanda fans who would like to view The Full Otto, check out this video (I dare you not to laugh):

A well deserved Oscar for Kevin Kline!!!