- all Star Wars films
- Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films
- all 8 Harry Potter films
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin
- Dumb and Dumber
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
- The Sandlot
- Happy Gilmore
- This Is Spinal Tap
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
This is a classic that everybody watches right before Halloween. This movie was big when it first came out in the 90s, and it has maintained a strong following since then. Everybody can relate to at least one character from the movie. The protagonist, Jack Skellington, is the guy that always works hard to make others happy, but consistently feels like a failure, when in reality, he is a 100% transparent person. We have all felt like Jack at one point or another in our lives. He wants to make the perfect Halloween for his town, and he finds himself in Christmas Town after going on a walk into the woods. Jack takes notice as to how Christmas Town focuses on the jolly and the uplifting, unlike the dark and somber environment of Halloween Town. I think the most innovative part of this movie is the animation. I read online that the old-fashioned way of animation was used for this film. In other words, the concept that was used is similar to taking a still photo of a frame, adjusting everything slightly, taking another photo, and so forth, until the entire movie was created. The process I can only imagine is laborious, but as a result, Tim Burton created a legendary classic film that we know as The Nightmare Before Christmas. The soundtrack is phenomenal as well.
This Is Spinal Tap
If you love hard rock and metal music like I do, then you will definitely enjoy This Is Spinal Tap. The entire film is a mockumentary and satire on the entire world of heavy metal. The band in the movie always finds themselves getting into problems that I bet many bands go through, such as going through a unusually large number of drummers, the public criticizing the music, and the one album cover of a new release being completely dark (it's an actual mirror for the album art). There's other random funny parts of the film as well, such as the one scene where an entire long-winded explanation of bologna sandwiches occurs. This is one of the most humorous movies I have seen, and yet it has been around a long time. A true must-see for all fans of rock and roll. But the numbers all go to 11...
Happy Gilmore
This was a movie from the prime of Adam Sandler's career. Everything about this comedy classic is awesome. Everybody who enjoys golf, comedy movies, and Adam Sandler has likely seen Happy Gilmore. Of course there's Carl Weathers as Chubbs. The Chubbs character is basically a revived Apollo Creed. Another interesting thing about Happy Gilmore is that Julie Bowen, the actress from Modern Family, plays Happy's girlfriend and public relations person. And of course Chris McDonald plays Happy's rival Shooter McGavin. Everything about this movie cracks me up. Now that I've played several occasions of golf, I appreciate this movie much more now, even though I have always enjoyed Happy Gilmore. Happy you ridin' the bull!!!
The Sandlot
You haven't heard of this movie? You're killing me, Smalls! I saw this in theaters with my dad when I was a 5-year-old back in 1993. Scotty Smalls is the dorky kid that wants to make friends after moving into town, and he is truly accepted by everyone when Benny the Jet Rodriguez stands up for him. The Sandlot is a true representation of friendship, courage, backing each other up, and having a good time with the people that mean the most to us. And what doesn't beat a movie with James Earl Jones in it? And Squints and the whole Wendy Peffercorn lifeguard scene. When I was growing up, I always thought about what it would be like to pull the stunt Squints pulls on Wendy Peffercorn. If you do a Google search on images of the actress who played Wendy Peffercorn, you will still see the natural beauty that she has. The music's also great in The Sandlot. In fact, everything about The Sandlot is perfect! I'm the great Bambino! You keep saying that. Who is she? Whaaatttt???? Whaaattt???? The Sultan of Swat! The King of Crash!!! The Colossus of Clout!!! The Colossus of Clout!!! Babe Ruth!!! The Great Bambinnooo!!! Oh my god you mean that's the same guy! Yes!!! Haha the great times I've had with this movie!
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
This is probably my #1 favorite Christmas/holiday film that I occasionally bring out when it's not the holiday season as well. To say that Christmas Vacation is bad is a mortal sin. If you haven't seen this film, get it right away, regardless of the time of year. Cousin Eddie's a classic character too! That there is an R-V!!!
Dumb and Dumber
I don't know about you, but I love Jim Carrey. He's one of the most unique and inspiring actors to me. Him and Jeff Daniels steal this entire show. The story is about two good-hearted losers who travel across the country to deliver a ransom briefcase to a woman (played by Lauren Holly). I frequently quote lines from this movie with friends of mine. I can't wait for Dumb and Dumber To to be released in theaters later this year. I'm definitely going to see that when it comes out. Hopefully it will be just as good as the original Dumb and Dumber. Many comedies don't live up to the hype, but for some reason, I am expecting great things to come out of the long-deserved sequel. Lloyd. Just when I thought you couldn't possibly get any dumber, you go and do something like this, and totally redeem yourself!!!
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
This is probably my favorite comedy out of the modern-day comedies. By saying modern-day comedies, I mean comedy films starting from the approximate time that the first American Pie came out. I love the concept of The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Basically the whole morale of the movie is that it doesn't matter what age you are in a situation like that. The entire movie makes a mockery of all the things that can be done to end the "problem". The advice given by each of Andy's (Steve Carell) co-workers is 100% bad advice, and that is a big part as to what makes this entire movie hilarious, and allows me to laugh hysterically every time I watch it. Once you get to the end, you realize that the creators of this film feel that the whole movie's concept is a satire, and that what the directors really believe is something that I think is pretty sensible in real life. Eventually we will all find who we belong with and want to marry and/or live with, even if it takes to 40-years-old, even though it probably won't take until 40 years old for many people. There's a lot of personal factors that come into play regards this situation. I'm not going to post quotes from this film on here, but this is another film where I recite quotes with friends of mine.
Harry Potter series
The books were an instant classic, and so were each of the movies as they were released. I remember going to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and thinking that we might not see a Harry Potter film for a while. All of the acting is great, and the entire concept is based on magic. There are important life concepts in the movies, such as friendship, how to fight evil, corruption based on evil, self-control, romance, and a whole ton of other concepts, that makes these films a classic. I go through many phases of watching all 8 of the movies in order from beginning to end. My favorite character of the series has to be Luna Lovegood though, because she's the different one, and is always genuine to Harry. Plus the character is good-looking, and never a backstabber. She represents the real-life person that is there for you when others are not, and also there when others are there too. She's also the one you could go out with, and play it fun with for a while.
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films
J.R.R. Tolkien is probably the most influential writer of all-time if you ask me. He was so dedicated to his writing and so organized, that what he initially intended to be just a children's story, ended up being perhaps the biggest phenomenon both then and now. There are only two Hobbit films that have been released in theaters so far, and the third one is coming out in theaters at the end of this year. I recommend seeing all of these films. And if you decide to get any version of both the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, get all of the Extended Editions. They are all worth the extra money, are highly enjoyable, and contain a decent amount of special feature documentaries, that will provide insight as to the creation of the movies.
Star Wars films
What true classics! Yes, even The Phantom Menace is decent, too. Jar Jar Binks wasn't a bad concept. The summer that the 1997 Special Edition Episodes 4, 5, and 6 were released, the only thing my brother and I watched were these Star Wars films. I grew up with a bunch of action figures from the series as well. When I was in 5th grade, I remember the first prequel film, The Phantom Menace, came out. I remember this being an insanely huge deal. People were cheering in the theaters when the Lucasfilm logo appeared on the screen. It was the coolest thing. And then Attack of the Clones came out, then Revenge of the Sith was released. YouTube video compilations have been made of Darth Vader in the black suit yelling "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!" I say that when something is hilarious wrong. For example, "Joey Jordison left Slipknot. Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"
Well, those are 10 of my favorites. I have a bunch of other favorites, but these are 10 of the best. You might see more posts regarding music in this blog, as I'm a music fanatic, but you'll occasionally see posts about things other than music, such as this one regarding movies.
Have a great Friday night! I'm hoping to write another entry sometime this weekend, but I could write one anytime. I'll talk to you readers later.
