Hurts So Good

I just watched the newly released trailer for The Fault In Our Stars.

You guys, I can't.

I'm already crying. And yet, on the day the movie comes out, I will go, probably first thing in the morning to see it. I know this movie is going to make me miserable. It's going to make me have lots of feelings about life and love and death, lots of hopes and regrets, lots of thoughts on injustice and overall questions of why these things happen. But I will be there, tissues in hand, ready to have red eyes the rest of the day.

One time someone told me that they hate watching sad movies because life is too hard as it is. I get that. But I tend to disagree. In fact, if anything, I think I use sad movies as an acceptable excuse for me to cry about real life. On the daily, it doesn't seem socially appropriate to cry about the things that really make me want to cry. But if I watch a sad movie, the tears can release, and I can just blame it on the movie. Anyone feeling me on this? Or am I the only one out there who willingly watches sad movies?

Oh well. Here's an abbreviated list (cause, let me tell you, I cry at a lot) of movies that are guaranteed to make me cry every time.

1. Beaches: I love how loud and self-involved and diva-like Bette Midler's character is through the entire movie. I love the realness of their friendship, complete with arguments and periods of silence. But the gem of the movie is at the end when she uses all of that attitude and gumption to get Barbara Hershey out of the hospital and to the beach, and that damn song plays, and I just lose it.

2. Fried Green Tomatoes: If you ever want to hear me audibly and uncontrollably sob, this is the movie to show me. The movie only works because it shows the depth of the friendship that Ruth and Idgie have. This is one of my pet peeves with Thelma and Louise...which I could get to in another blog. But the point is, that we see these two grow up together and go through some really hard stuff. So the care they have for each other is obvious and has been shown time and again throughout the story. There are a lot of tough moments, but at the end when Ruth is dying and she asks Idgie to tell her a story, GAH. I love Idgie's reluctance. She recognizes the heavy moment and knows she should probably say something important, but she can't deny her friend's request. She finishes her story and sees Ruth and the rest is a blur due to the fact that I'm always crying so hard at that point, I have no real idea what happens exactly at the end.

The original drunk kitchen.

3. Inception: This may seem like a weird choice for a crying movie. And maybe it's really a trick of the music, but even with the crazy (and what some would call confusing) plot, and the action packed snow scene that lasts a little too long, there is a sentimentality running through this movie that is genius. The entire goal is to have a man change his mind about something. With all the guns and chases, in the end when Robert opens the safe and sees the paper windmill, I lose it. Yes, it's all fabricated. I know, I know. But it just goes to show that the heart is what makes change. Even though that's my favorite moment, I also love Leo's speech to Mal at the end about why he has to let her go. It's so raw.

4. The Pursuit of Happyness: I love NOTHING more than a story about an underdog who gets what he deserves. I can't help it. I root for people who don't have the same advantages as others. And especially if they are willing to work to change their lives! Anyway, this story is painful on so many levels, but the payoff is fully there at the end when he gets the job. The look on Will Smith's face is one of the best acted moments in cinema history. I cry right along with him every time.

Also, this moment.

5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: I could never put a normal rom-com in this list. Sure, I have some that move me, but if I'm gonna pick a romance, it's not gonna be a conventional one. ESOTSM captures what it's like to go through a break up, what it's like to fall in love, and what it's like to want to forget someone. It's an enlightened movie that circles back on itself and somehow manages to fill me with hope and hopelessness all at the same time. The moment that makes me cry every time is when Jim Carrey's Joel is having his memories extracted, and there is one where he and Kate Winslet (Clementine) are in bed, and he says, "Please let me keep this memory. Just this one..."

Honorable Disney Mention: UP. The first ten minutes are torture.
Honorable Sports Mention: Any sports movie really. The scene is the same in all of them.
Honorable Traditional Rom/Com Mention: While You Were Sleeping. The end when she confesses.
Honorable Period Piece Mention: Sense and Sensibility. Emma Thompson is so composed the entire movie, then she loses it.

Do you like a good cry? What are your "go-to" movies that bring you to tears?

The New "Best" Movie of All Time

During my unintentional hiatus last week, I read an article that said Citizen Kane has been replaced as the greatest film of all time, by Vertigo.

What the what.

I disagree. Get ready, there will be spoilers.

I wish my memories could be captured in snow globes.

Citizen Kane, while old and black and white, is the film that changed film culture! It's the story (loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hearst) of a man who says, "Rosebud" on his deathbed. We get flashbacks that sweep over his life to see him become quite successful, achieving the American dream even! However, Rosebud is a mystery to those around him and they wonder, could it be a lost love...who could it be? In the end we learn that Rosebud was the name of his sled when he was a child. A memory of the only truly happy time in his life. The movie represents an internal awareness that films had not really addressed at that point. Rather than a focus on the materialism and external nature of what's important, Citizen Kane got to the heart of the matter. Aside from being narratively smart, there were cinematic moves that created mystery, drama, and built story in a groundbreaking way. It's been the best film for decades.

Until last week. When the poll was taken, the critics decided that Vertigo trumped Citizen Kane this year.

Um. Really? Vertigo?

Maybe it's not such a wonderful life.

First of all, everyone knows that Rear Window is the best Hitchcock movie ever made! And IF I had to pick a second, it would be The Birds or even Psycho before Vertigo! These clueless critics claim that their decision was based on some kind of meta "this is a critic's film cause of something dreamlike and something else reconstructing and something else ideal...." (that's not an exact quote) oh and also something about how cruel love can be and how it can turn us into something we are not...

Are you kidding me?

The shift in this new choice is meant to reveal the shift in film culture. Supposedly we are reaching a place where people choose movies based on their own personal leanings, based on what the movie means to that person. It sounds emotional rather than educated or even experimental. I've been choosing movies based on emotions for YEARS! But I am not a film critic. My job is not to take an objective view to see what rises to the top.

If I were to choose the BEST movie of all time based on emotion, these would be my top 5.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Inception
Shawshank Redemption
Sense and Sensibility
Saved

These 5 (among a TON of others) move me, personally. Even so, this does NOT mean I think they are the best movies ever made! Maybe they are too long or too predictable, or too antagonistic, or too "indie." And so if I were going to have to choose a BEST of all time, I would try to look at more than just what made my heart stir or what I could relate to.

I really don't have anything against Vertigo. And maybe some of you can leave some comments defending it or helping me to come to a place of peace with this decision. I think what really bothers me  about this new choice is that Citizen Kane is a movie about inner happiness. The entire message is that you can have it all, but that won't make you happy! I mean what more culturally RELEVANT message can you deliver after a year of having it all conversations! Vertigo is about debilitating fear, lies and obsession, deceit, manipulation, becoming someone/pretending to be someone you are not, and the consequences of all of that. What does this new choice say about where we are in society? Can we just go back?

Rosebud...

True Romance: A Movie Review

It's rare for me to venture back to the movies of the early 90's to watch something that someone suggests. At this point in my life, I kind of think I've seen all of the quality ones, or at least heard of them and have some awareness of what I'm missing. 

Brilliant.

It's also rare for me to add a new movie to my favorites list. The last movie I added to the list was Inception, and that took writing multiple blogs on it to work out why exactly I loved it so much. I eventually landed on these three things: The concept was brilliant. The emotional content was brilliant. The music was brilliant (and I was probably manipulated by the swells and chords). Even so...it made the list. 


Last night I was Face-Timing (such an awkward way to say that) with my friend Joni and we were sharing about some of our favorite movies as we often do. She mentioned the movie, True Romance. I had never heard of it and she was shocked. She went on to list all of the people in the movie. You can read for yourself here:

Star. Studded.

I assured her I would try to find it and watch soon. She insisted on sooner than later. It happened to be for rent on iTunes and so I kicked back tonight on my couch and decided to watch.


True Romance was made in 1993, at the height of Christian Slater's career. And in this movie, he is as great as I remember him being when I was 14 and completely in love with him. Patricia Arquette comes out of nowhere for me. I have never really paid much attention to her, but in this movie she's adorable and strange. The two of them together are kind of magical. Oh, and Gary Oldman. Oh wow!

I can't even...

All of the acting is great, but the brilliance of this movie is the totally unexpected dialogue. It's off the wall and crazy and yet, completely believable. The storyline itself is pretty simple: couple in love, a little in over their heads with a drug deal, trying to make it out alive. It's violent for sure, and there's some pretty offensive language, so you've been warned. But it's so so so good. It's ironic and comes full circle in all the right ways. 


One of the things that caught me off guard was that some scenes are so full of tension that you will want to watch The Hurt Locker afterwords so you can relax. One in particular scene is a confrontation between Hopper and Walken. In your gut you know what's coming, but leading up to it is turmoil. I found myself smiling in awe, but looked down to see that I had crushed a handful of popcorn to bits while watching.

3 Words...You're So Cool.

I know this is all very vague, but when I start to tell you the details of a scene I find that I don't want to give it away at all! I think this is the same feeling Joni must have had when she was stressing that I just "have to watch it." She couldn't really seem to pinpoint the greatness, but assured me it was there.


I'm sure True Romance is not for everyone. I honestly had doubts that it would be for me. But after seeing it today, I am proud to announce that I have added it to my list of favorites. I'm a little ashamed that I have missed it all these years. If you get a chance, check it out.


Oh, and don't get me STARTED on the soundtrack....