I can identify with both:

and

First, fuck off, I love this movie. It’s good. Everyone is good in it. Gus Van Sant’s direction storytelling is tight and that screenplay is amazing.

On the topic of Ben Affleck, I think his direction on Gone Baby Gone more than proves that there is a storyteller inside him. The Good Will Hunting script did not, as some have theorized, fall out of the sky.

Chuckie. I identify with Chuckie because I like to think I’m the kind of friend that would rather lose a friend than see them unhappy. I “get” what he is talking about when he tells Will, in likely the most honest moment in the whole movie, that, “maybe I’ll get up there and I’ll knock on the door and you won’t be there. No goodbye. No see you later. No nothing.” It breaks Chuckie’s heart to watch his friend sell him self short, but fuck, he’s powerless to do anything about it, so all he can do is keep getting him drunk.

Plus, in the past, I’ve been the only asshole with a working car, so I’ve played Chuckie’s role of part-time taxi driver too.

Then, Will. I’m likely going to flash my huge, planet-sized ego (and likely some short-sighted over-privileged whiteness too), but I’ve always identified with Will’s battle to move beyond what the world has given him. I also know what it’s like to feel like there is something special in you, but not know how, or even if, you can let it out. I wear my need for a father-figure on my sleeve too. Will’s smart, but like he’s told in the film, he doesn’t have a clue on what to do with himself. No one understands why he just doesn’t do it: go to Harvard, be rich, be a genius— he’s so tightly wound in being from Southie, for being on the demolition team, for being what he is, he can’t figure out what he can be. 

Ever hear me talk about Detroit? You see what I mean?

Day 09 - A movie with the best soundtrack

Hackers. Hands down. I didn’t even have to think about it. It introduced me to a genre I still love today. It introduced me to many artists I still listen to today, and it has 2-3 songs that could appear in a top 25 favorite jams list. 

Day 10 - Favorite classic movie

This is a tough one for me because I, mostly by accident, have not watch many classics. I liked The Birds. I really enjoyed White Christmas. West Side Story is a hoot. I’ll say It’s a Wonderful Life.

Day 11 - A movie that changed your opinion about something

Another tough one. I’ll go with Fog of War. It didn’t change my opinion about the Vietnam War, it created it. 

Day 12 - A movie that you hate

I hate Empire Records. I’ve met so many people that love this movie and I just can’t figure out why. Is this what teenagers were supposed to be like in the 90’s? Precocious and half-retarded? And what’s with the cheesy lounge singer, sex subplot? I’ve seen it, more or less, three times and each time I try to figure out the appeal and each time I turn it off in a fit of confusion and rage. Also, what’s with Suburbia? That sucked to.

Day 13 - A movie that is a guilty pleasure

The Rock starring Nick Cage.

Day 14 - A movie that no one would expect you to love

Many people close to me know that I don’t watch horror movies. It’s something I picked up from childhood and it’s always stuck with me. There have been a number of occasions, however, that a scary movie has slipped through the cracks (network TV versions, especially). Knowing how much I dislike horror movies, people might be surprised to know how much respect I have for the original Halloween. When Meyers is following Jamie Lee Curtis, in the daylight, as she walks home from school? Brrrrrr! I still get freaked out.

Don’t ask me to pick one. 

• Mallrats
• Goonies
• Chasing Amy
• Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels
• Batman Begins
• Dark Knight
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Abrams
• PCU
• Ace Ventura
• Clerks
• Serenity
• Ghostbusters
• Fight Club
• Die Hard with a Vengeance
• Die Hard
• Dodgeball
• Talladega Nights
• Swingers
• Fifth Element (Drunky got this one too.)
• Good Will Hunting

Scooby-Doo

It’s not a favorite movie of mine or anything, but I caught it yesterday and it fits.

I picked it because I was genuinely surprised and delighted to find out the movie’s mystery villain. I thought it was a fairly brilliant stroke in the middle of a fuck-shit-stack of mediocrity.

Another thing, weren’t all of the kids in this movie supposed to be stars? What happened with the actors of my generation? Are they all talentless? Is it because they made 1,001+ shitty romcom’s for “slackers” that all went straight to DVD’s? Is it because of Jason Biggs?

1. I really enjoyed it.
2. I was a fan of the books though too.
3. I’m also not old.
4. I’m a comic book reader.
5. I’ve played video games for a decade or two.
6. Many elements in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World appeal directly to these video gaming and comic booking parts of me.
7. I also like Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Spaced), so I believe I would have liked the film despite numbers 4 and 5 above.
8. I’m annoyed the film didn’t make more money at the box office. Critics recommended it.
9. I’m also annoyed that I’m annoyed. I paid to go see it, enjoyed it, my stake in the film’s success is over. I played my part. If it didn’t do better, that ain’t my fault and there is nothing I can do it about other than tell others that I liked it, which I have.
10. But still.
11. I think there were too many preview screenings.
12. I think that as much as we’d like the actors in my generation and younger to be considered stars, they are not. We may be all tired of Michael Cera, but most people have no idea who he is, and aren’t going to see a movie with him. Downey Jr. is a star. Cruise is a star. They make people leave home and go to the movies.
13. The above points (11 and 12) are poor attempts to explain why no one saw this fun movie. I don’t know why no one did and I’m afraid its one of those situations where the studio, and other studios, won’t take risks on material or filmmakers because they learned some lesson from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

I was going to pick Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style, until my lady reminded me that the Battlestar Galactica relaunch is considered a TV movie.

If you’ve followed this blog (or my twitter) in the past few years, you’ve read about how much I loved this show enough. Here’s a search of the blog for Battlestar if you are at all interested in knowing how much I frakking loved this show.

A far second would be The Temptations movie that details the lives of the many men who would be called Temptations.

Its an interesting movie that, thanks to VH1, I’ve seen a thousand times. It chronicles the band’s early days in Detroit, to getting signed, to going to tour, to falling apart over and over and over and over again. Its a bummer of a movie to tell the truth, but enjoyable nonetheless.

I would really like to pick a movie that I thought I’d love, but ended up hating, but that’s too easy and there are too many to list.

This was a really hard one for me to decide. To help, I limited my choice’s to movie’s I actually own. Which led me to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has some of the most amazing action and martial art sequences to ever appear in film. It also has some of the most amazing acting performances. The scenes between Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh are… I can’t describe it! They display so much in the few lines and stares that they share in their scenes together. With a few awkward pauses and longing looks they tell a history, decades long, of battle, friendship, desire, and love.

Why is it sad? It’s sad because no one gets what they want. Every character in the film comes into it the story already having made tremendous sacrifices in their lives and they make even more in each minute. These sacrifices never led them to anything they actually want. All of these amazing people, who are capable of such tremendous feats, are hampered by their class, their sex, their abilities, and even their love.

There are no happy endings. There is peace and finality for everyone in the film, but no reward and no measure of happiness. 

Ever? EVER?

I feel like The Fifth Element gets a lot of cult love, but not the respect it deserves for being a sexy, sci-fi romp. I’m going to in another direction though.

Zero Effect with Bill Pullman, Ben “Pre-porcelian Veneers” Stiller, and Ryan O’Neal is genius. Its hilarious and compelling, and no one ever saw it. Except for me. 

Ben Stiller plays the consiglieri to the world’s greatest private detective and perhaps, the most brilliant man in the world and he hates it. Imagine your best boss— the boss that inspired you to work harder from their brilliance and dedication. Now wrap that in neurotic, pushy, scared-of-their-own-shadow, OCD saran wrap and microwave for 3 minutes. That’s Daryl Zero.

Its a great movie, despite being made in the 1990’s.

Scroll to the bottom of this AV Club review to watch one of my favorite scenes.