AndyBlog

Desert Island DVDs - Here goes...

Thanks to Ian for starting this off. Please read his article for the full set-up, but essentially here are my five “watch-'em-again-and-again” DVDs.

I wanted to include Austin Powers here, I really did. I am a massive fan, and I use the catch phrases all the time but.....  Well, I simply do not revisit the films much. Just the odd time. So, in the rules of this exercise, I cannot include him. Had it been my top five all-time films, then maybe.

[1]

Airplane - The Movie

This is my most-watched movie of all time, along with Airplane 2 - The Sequel. I have lost count how many times I have watched this film. If you had asked me, I would have predicted that my most-repeated viewings would be of serious films - the theory being that comedy gets old.

Well, for me, this did not. This film broke the mould when it appeared in the 80s. The humour was completely madcap, and the key to its enduring appeal for me is that so much is going on on screen at any one time.

There's a primary joke, and anything up to five other jokes in the background. For me, that's more than enough. Enough classic moments and catch phrases to fill a young man's life, and it did.

[2]

Office Space

More comedy, this time from the madcap brain of Mike Judge, creator of MTV's Beavis and Butthead. Not to be confused with our own “The Office”, this film deals with one man who has simply had enough of the way modern life in a computer company is treating him. His girlfriend is cheating on him, everyone agrees, and after a dose of hypnosis he finds himself in an altered state where he simply does not care. He discovers that “not caring” brings him everything he thought he wanted.

I watched this film 26 times straight when it aired on a Dutch TV channel which I happened to receive at the time. Maybe the notion of escape appealed to me. Maybe I just liked the great part played by Jennifer Aniston.

I suspect the real truth of my ability to watch this film again and again is the richness of the characterisations and the simple truth of the story. Some of the action sequences, and the music that accompanies them are reminiscent of The Matrix.

Bottom line for me is that this is a comfort film. I know what happens, but I love to /see/ it happen. The triumph at the end is truly satisfying.

[3]

Monty Python - The Life of Brian

Much has been said about this film, mostly by people who, at the time, had not seen it. I disagree with anyone who thinks this film is a negative religious statement. I seriously doubt whether it is a religious statement at all. Of all the python films, this one seems to have the strongest plot-line and the film is more enjoyable as a result.

It is, nonetheless, a truly brilliant piece of writing that includes many lines which have fallen into the language that we choose to call English. After all, what have the Romans ever done for us?

I could go on, but won't.

[4]

The Matrix

I never lose my sense of awe and wonder when viewing this film. It is truly a complete work in its own right. Sure, the other films are great, but this one is better than great.

As Neo emerges from the depths of delusion into an unsettling and unsatisfactory reality, we journey with him and learn t glory in his new-found super-powers. Everything in this film is so perfect, and so perfectly brought to life. It epitomises stylish film making, and never fails to be visually amazing.

I find myself drawn into the same emotions each and every time I watch, and they are good emotions. The film urges me on to be my own Neo, to make a difference and to fight for what I believe in.

I embrace that completely.

[5]

Twelve Monkeys

When I first saw this film I was aware that I was watching something extraordinary, but i wasn't sure what.

With the benefit of many viewings and much talking, I believe I know most of the basics. That said, each time I watch I enjoy a different element of this timeless classic. Bruce Willis turns in an amazing performance in the lead, ably assisted by a young Brad Pitt and numerous others.

The film intrigues me still, and this is its key in respect of me watching it time and time again. I find it sad, troubling and yet somehow strangely hopeful.

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Thanks for reading my Desert Island DVDs.  I hope you at least understand why I made my choices. I care about your choices, should you wish to share.

Thanks, Ian, for starting it all off.  :)

Something's Gotta Give

Plot Summary for Something's Gotta Give (2003):
Harry Langer (Nicholson) is an aged music industry exec with a fondness for younger women like Marin (Peet), his latest trophy girlfriend. Things get a little awkward when Harry suffers a heart attack at the home of Marin's mother Erica (Keaton). Left in the care of Erica and his doctor (Reeves), a love triangle starts to take shape.

Obviously, this is the film that I watched tonight.

I though I'd write a few words about it before the memory fades and more “important” things come to bear.

I think it's a great film. Often quickly classified as a “chick-flick”, but offering, in truth, far more than 'Mills and Boon' cheap thrills and pointless emotion.

Nicholson, plays a character who always has younger girlfriends - more like one-night stands, actually. The crux of the film is that he falls for the mother of one of his girlfriends and has not got a clue what to do.

It ends up that the mother teaches him more about love and sex than all his previous girlfriends ever had. What changed was that in her, he found someone with whom he really connected, both emotionally and physically - and that made the love-making better than anything he had ever experienced.

I suppose it's a comforting thing, really. Despite it's apparently potent allure, beauty really is only skin deep. Nothing can compete with the strength of that special emotional connection that we call love. The physical act of sex is but one part of a bigger picture, which fails to mean a whole lot without the bond of love.

So, I'm grateful for my own experience the love thing.

And a little relieved.

They all go wrong

All those wonderful films that end with the guy getting the girl and going off into the sunset. It always looks so perfect - so incontrovertibly fantastic.

I have news for you - it always goes wrong. Horribly wrong.

I know this because when we see a sequel, how often is the relationship in tact? Almost never. So, it doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination to realise that none of them work out. They simply can't. It's good for a while, then it goes wrong.

So we're OK.

A quick hello

Hello.

Everythings going pretty well at the moment.

Diet: Holding
Legs: Improving slowly

So move along - I'll not write lots of wibble to keep you reading.

The Passion Of The Christ

I did promise some form of fuller review of The Passion Of The Christ some time ago. I had elegant and fast expanding views about the film which I thought it would be clever to share with you in my usual slightly smug and arrogant way.

Needless to say, I forgot.

Since the film is now gone and no-one is talking about it any more, it seem facile and churlish to proceed with my intended review. All I will say is this: It was nice that people had an opportunity to talk about the life of Jesus in a constructive way for once. Whatever anyone ever says about the film, it did set the agenda of conversation for a few days. Maybe that's enough.

That notwithstanding, I could cheerfully spend the rest of my brief time on this earth without watching another brutal flogging. One is sufficient.