February 20, 2007

Playing Favorites


I have been tagged to list my top ten favorite movies, so here goes:
-Nightmare Before Christmas
-Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
-Blow Up
-Dirty Dancing (the anti-Antonioni)
-The Last Unicorn
-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
-A Few Good Men (it's just really well made, damn it)
-Let's Get Lost
-West Side Story
-The Dark Crystal

Runner-up honors to Sleeping Beauty, The Constant Gardner, and (most recently) Pan's Labyrinth.

Please note that I didn't think about objective issues of cultural significance; I just picked movies that I love. In no particular order. I could put less fantasy on the list, but I'd be lying.

Maybe if I'm lucky, I can coax Angela and Bernie and Don into answering this question.

While I'm spreading the media gospel, I should mention Josh Ritter and his new(ish) album, The Animal Years. He's got some nice live performances floating around on YouTube, particularly a whole set at Easy Street Records in Seattle. I recommend "Girl in the War" and "Idaho."

All that love, all those mistakes;
What else can a poor man make?
So I gave up a life of crime--
I gave it to a friend of mine.
Something else was on my mind,
The only ghost I'm haunted by,
I hear her howling down below:
Idaho, oh Idaho...


Yeah, that's right, I'm quoting lyrics at you. I will soon regress into the teeny-bopper abyss of reporting on an interview with Johnny Depp in the latest issue of SASSY magazine, and pondering the latest bangle styles at Claire's.

7 comments:

Dan said...

The Dark Crystal is one of my all-time favorite movies too. (Old school) Muppets kind of make the world go 'round, :).

BTW, I found my way to your blog after enjoying your work at the 32poems website. Good luck with getting your manuscript published.

Cheers,
Dan

Valerie Loveland said...

I got Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (on VHS!) at a thrift store but I haven't been able to watch it yet.

Don said...

Very good choices, especially The Last Unicorn and The Dark Crystal. These movies have had lasting impacts on me, crazy as that might seem. I saw The Dark Crystal from my birthday with some friends and it totally enveloped me in its world (a werid, odd one). The Last Unicorn can still make me a little misty; I've seen it in reruns more times than I can count (as well as Stripes and Private Benjamin, which didn't quite make my list).

sam of the ten thousand things said...

Enjoyed your list Sandra. Blow-up is an incredible choice. Antonioni is a great one. Also like Eternal Sunshine and A Few Good Men.

Seth Abramson said...

I loved The Last Unicorn so much growing up, I ordered the soundtrack from Germany when I was in college, 'cause you couldn't get it stateside. Jimmy Webb's "Man's Road" and "The Last Unicorn" are on my iPod right now, in fact. :-)

S.

Sandra said...

I'm so glad to find a friendly poet/fan club for movies like The Dark Crystal and The Last Unicorn.

I saw Blow-up in a movie theater with Roger Ebert. He had a remote control for the movie projector, and periodically he'd "pause" and make comments. It was amazing.

Dan, nice to make your acquaintance! So glad you liked "Cherry Tomatoes." As for the manuscript, here's to hoping, you and me both...

Cheers, Sandra

Greg said...

No need to apologize for quoting Josh Ritter. That's an excellent CD from a very fine musician. Another Josh R I like very much is Josh Rouse. Try here:
http://www.joshrouse.com/

Great blog. I'll link to it the next time I update mine.