3.09.2008

Identifying with the Supremacy of Ultimate Movies

In between bouts of productivity, studiousness, and attempts at making the world a better place, I have sat this weekend mindlessly knitting and watching the Bourne movies: Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy, and Bourne Ultimatum. I have seen the first two approximately 132 times (only a slight exaggeration). Ultimatum, being relatively new to DVD, I've seen only four times.

Your task in the comments section: share those movies you can watch over and over, world without end. Amen. (It's Sunday.)

19 comments:

Cate said...

The Thomas Crowne Affair (new version), Amelie, Casino Royale, and The Slipper and the Rose to name a few. I love the Bourne movies as well!

Anonymous said...

The American President and all episodes of The West Wing (life is easier if I pretend Aaron Sorkin is actually running the U.S. government).

Meema said...

The American President (ditto, Stephanie)
Little Women
The Princess Bride
Much Ado About Nothing
Into the Woods

Anonymous said...

Predator (1 but not 2).

The Day After Tomorrow (Jakey goodnesss...)

Gone with the Wind

A Streetcar Named Desire (Brando was SO hot, and you know I'm just ten years from being Blanche DuBois.)

Underworld

Brokeback Mountain (though not since Heath died)

Young Frankenstein

Cold Comfort Farm

Gosford Park

Maurice

A Room With a View

Eat Drink Man Woman

And I could go on...

deb said...

Strictly Ballroom
Passionfish
Waiting for Guffman
Best in Show
This Is Spinal Tap
The Bourne Trilogy
The Italian Job (both versions)
Dave - and - Moon Over Parador (same plot)
Lone Star
Big Chill
Thomas Crowne Affair (definitely the new version)
Juno
Sneakers
Pleasantville
Grosse Pointe Blank
High Fidelity
Almost Famous
War Games (for its important therapy object lesson)

This is really a very very personal question you're asking.

If I admit to Revenge of the Nerds, are you going to admit to Drumline?

deb said...

to Stephanie:

Oh yes. West Wing. Aaron Sorkin. I was astonished at how bereft I was when West Wing was over. I hadn't realized just how much I went into the bubble every week, pretending that there was an articulate Democrat in the White House.

Counting the days. . .

Eric V. said...

Rear Window (original)
9 to 5
Cinema Paradiso

annw said...

SOOOO funny you should ask, as I spent my evening reading scholarship applications (shhhhhh! very secret committee) while watching Beautiful Girls.

As it finished, I ripped apart a Milk Duds box and scribbled on the inside a list of ten movies I have watched over and over. My criteria was that I had to not only love the movie, I had to have seen it enough to know most lines by heart.

The latter criteria knocked off several of my all time favorite films, but that was good because limiting the list to ten was hard. In order to make it, I also knocked off films I teach (Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, Come See the Paradise).

Beautiful Girls
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Say Anything
Notting Hill
The Shawshank Redemption
The Cutting Edge
Indiana Jones trilogy
Good Will Hunting
The American President
Working Girl

deb said...

Continental Divide
Usual Suspects
Compromising Positions (with my beloved boyfriend, Raul Julia, and Phil's girlfriend, Susan Sarandon)

Scott Rohr said...

Why do all the chicks love The American President?

Anonymous said...

When I used to do apherisis at the blood center (a 2+ hour process) I always watched a movie ... usually something 'comfortable.' I've probably watched The American President a dozen times with a needle in my arm. Thomas Crowne and Serendipity were other favorites.

A friend was told that a low platelet count could lead to depression so I don't take any chances. Romantic comedies are gold.

Oh, and I'll second Deb's list too.


phil

deb said...

I have been given permission to tell this story, and have taken full advantage of it:

You know how some men feel all nostalgic and get kind of misty when they see a baseball movie? Lotta guys will watch "Field of Dreams" or "The Natural" over and over, and relive the baseball of their youth.

Well, Phil has never been a ball-and-stick sports kind of guy. He likes wheels and internal combustion engines. So we saw "Cars" on the big screen when it came out. Toward the end, the young whippersnapper race car really needs the help of the crusty old retired stock car. It's quite a nail-biter. WHAT will happen? Oh my god, who will win???

I looked over and Phil was sitting next to me, wiping away tears - for the last 45 minutes of the movie. I swear to god I'm telling the truth.

Do I need to remind you that "Cars" is a Pixar movie? Phil cries for cartoons about cars.

We shouldn't really be surprised that he loves "The American President" as much as the girls do.

And yes, I love him a lot.

Anonymous said...

My dad is a BIG, tough man: 6'4", 20 years in the Navy. He LOVES "The American President", possibly even more than I do, but I wouldn't call him a chick if I were you.

It is, however, entirely possible that he wept volubly while watching "Cars". I'll have to ask my mom.

Anonymous said...

Rounders, O Brother, Where Art Thou, Holy Grail, Best in Show, American Beauty, Fargo, Little Miss Sunshine, Shawshank Redemption, Better Off Dead, Tommy Boy, Weird Science, Dodgeball, 40-Year-Old Virgin

That's a good start, don't you think?

annw said...

In reference to the American President fetish, which I cannot explain beyond "I don't know, I just like it," may I ask why guys (present company most likely excepted) watch Major League over, and over, and over? It's UNWATCHABLE.

Eric V. said...

^^^ Major League?

Clarification needed: straight guys? Except, of course, for Tom.

Anonymous said...

The American President: witty repartee and the trimph of Goodocrats over Evilicans, with options for fantasy sex with the Most Powerful Man on Earth (as portrayed by Michael Douglas). What's not to have a fetish about?

annw said...

I FORGOT THE GOONIES! What's wrong with me?

Meema said...

Scott, have you seen it (TheAmPres)? The onscreen chemistry between Michael Douglas and Annette Benning is straight but great. I think Ms Stephanie hit the nail on the executive head.

Adding to my own list:
Monty Python [insert title here]
History of the World, Part I
High Anxiety
Young Frankenstein (can't believe I left it off before)
A Mighty-Best In-Guffman
The Breakfast Club