Ten films that had an impact on you. It's this thing going around, which sounds akin to a disease, but it's not, obviously. You're initially to give no explanations or titles, just one photo from each of the ten films of your list. So, what films made my list of ten? Indiana Jones (1981 - 1989; 2008)- I believe this still is from Temple of Doom, but I used it to represent all of the films, though one could say that this particular one did make an impression on me at my young age, what with the Kali ceremonies; hearts being ripped from chests and bursting into flames, the opulent and grotesque dinner, the bugs. But I chose this, because from the time I can remember I wanted to be Indiana Jones. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) - This is a film that my dad insist I watch. There were others like Gunga Din or I Remember Mama, but this one right here got to me and I'm not entirely sure why. I'm not very sappy or sentimental, but perhaps because there's some saltiness (no pun intended) with this irreverent love story, is why I like it. Starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison (whom I had a major crush on as a kid) star in this film. He's the recent ghost of a ship captain who's still in his house, she's a new widow (with small daughter) who strikes out on her own and purchases this house at the turn of the 20th century. They become friends and he helps her write a book about what it's really like to go to sea. They quarrel because she wants love from this guy who turns out to be sleezy, so the captain fades away. She remains alone the rest of her life with no real memory of him, just faint traces like it was a dream, and when she dies asleep in his chair in her quarters, he comes back for her. The Parent Trap (1961) - This is probably my second most favourite film of all time. I love all of Hayley Mills' Disney films from Pollyanna to The Moonspinners (I even like her in older Disney things like her reboot of The Parent Trap in the 1980s and Good Morning, Miss Bliss; the pre-cursor to Saved By The Bell), but this is my absolute favourite. It's the film that made me fall in love with (non romantically) Hayley Mills, Brian Keith, and Maureen O'Hara (as well as their characters in the film). I wanted Hayley Mills to be my secret twin in the early 60's and Keith and O'Hara to be our parents. She was so cool, I kind of wanted to be her, at least more like her character of Susan Evers from California, or just Mills in all of her other roles during the sixties. That early 60's bit is important, because I also love the look and feel of this film; the vehicles, the colours, the styling, the costumes, etc. The Fountain (2006) - Besides being stunningly beautiful, this film just pulls at all of me. I remember seeing this in the theatre. The Sister and I's mutual friend really wanted to see it because... Spain. We knew nothing about it. Coming out of the theatre, I absolutely loved it. I didn't understand it, mind, but I knew I would own it so I could watch it a lot to figure it out. The Sister thought it was beautiful. The Friend was disappointed because it wasn't anything like she'd imagined it to be. I think it helps not knowing about a film before hand. No expectations. I did go out and struggle to find that film for sale and I have watched it six times since the theatre. I still don't fully understand it (it doesn't seem like any one else does either. Not really), but I understand a lot more than when I first saw it. Not to mention the score by Clint Mansell. It'll give you all the feels for sure. I understand the major theme Aronofsky is trying to communicate; that of nothing lasts for ever, death is imminent, death is purposeful and wonderful, death is creation. It's everything else that I don't know how to figure. Is it really that these two people have spent three life times together as a lot of people suggest? Or is it that in the "present" day that the female is coming to terms with her own death, but writing a story for her man (which is the past) and that the "future" is just all in his mind because he is dying? There are a lot of questions that this film brings forth, and I don't know what the author intended for it to all mean specifically. They're both good theories and I don't think that one reduces the other, though people from either camp will argue about that. You watch it and tell me what you think. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) - Sure it's kind of hokey being from Disney during the mid-century (I'm talking Kirk Douglas singing songs on his guitar), but as a child I was completely fascinated by this film though I didn't understand it at all. All I knew was that James Mason as Captain Nemo was F-I-N-E fine and that the submarine, the underwater diving, and the island were extremely important. But I neglected to realize that Nemo and his family had been enslaved on that island to work for the machine of war, and that he was trying to destroy anything to do with that machine of war. It's a moving story, and though I didn't understand it, I knew it was important. Besides the fact that the scene with cannibals gave me nightmares as a kid. I would be running out of that same tropical jungle and out onto the beach. Only there was no skip or Nautilus waiting for me in the waters, so I ran along the beach to some sort of safety, which turned out to be a rather unwell built camper trailer that I'd fling myself into while the cannibals peered in the windows and started peeling the metal like a can of sardines. The musical score (not the happy guitar music) is still hauntingly beautiful, the story line isn't too muddled and still holds up well (like all that camp didn't ruin Verne's story), the underwater scenes are still nice and it's still an enjoyable watch. The Dark Crystal (1982) - This might be my ultimate favourite film, simply because it is the first film I actually remember watching? But it has a good story line and outcome. It's the typical hero arc, but also "together is better". It's morbidly dark, which didn't bother me as a two year old (though it would bother some of my 13 year old friends), and it just captivated me endlessly. People like to think badly of me that this is my favourite film, but who cares about impressing them, right? They're just upset they can't readily say that something "for children" is still their favourite thing in their thirties and forties. Hint: it's not a thing "for children". Henson was in his forties when this film was made. He made it for all age groups and he felt that the story was important to tell. The Lady Vanishes (1938) - This is a Hitchcock film before he moved to Hollywood and came out with all the blockbusters that everyone remembers; North by Northwest, Vertigo, Rear Window, Psycho, etc.), based on a 1936 novel. The younger woman meets the older lady on the train across Europe. She goes back to check on her and the (old) lady has vanished. No one seems to remember her, so it's like it's all in the younger woman's mind. If you want a spoiler, it's that the older lady is a spy, which is a pretty bad ass idea even by today's standards, much less in the thirties. Women can be spies, but older ladies? If you're looking for a film that's high on action packed, this is not that film. It's got that slow, quiet style of the thirties. Where the only tension that is heightened is in the actors faces and voices and perhaps some overly dramatic hand gestures. But, I like that in a film. To me it's both comforting and intriguing at the same time. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - While I like all of the Star Wars films (yes, I'm not afraid to say it), the original trilogy will always be my favourite, with these new ones (not Rogue One) in second, and epi's I - III from the 90s/early 2000's coming in third. However, Empire is my absolute favourite. I love the frozen planet of Hoth, I love Han and Leia's outfits on that planet, I like Luke's journey with Yoda on Degobah, I like the introduction of Lando and Boba Fett. Cloud City is great. Return of the Jedi could have been a great story, but Lucas sort of muddles it up by making it more for a certain demographic. Read: children. He didn't have to camp it up so much just to appeal to kids, as kids were already interested and it sort of dumbed down the story line. It's like his bright idea at the inclusion of Jar-Jar Binks in epi's I - III; it was all to get kids interested in Star Wars and to sell toys and everyone hated that character, Lucas' target demographic included. You don't mess with a good thing, man. It's also the last film where Indian Jones didn't make an appearance. I get that Harrison Ford was having success (and probably fun, as he didn't care too much for Star Wars) with the Indiana Jones films. He'd also come into his stride. It's evident that in the A New Hope no one really knew what they were doing and thought the film would be stupid, but they were young and for some reason it worked. By Empire they'd figured out their characters and Ford had a character for Solo (there might have been a touch of Indie thrown in, but not much). By Return, Indian Jones is straight up in space. Ford had found an acting role that worked and he just punched that into any equation, including Star Wars. We all pretty much let that slide, because who doesn't like Indiana Jones, right (though he has no place in space), and it is Harrison Ford and the character of Han Solo and we all love Han Solo, so that's not even the main problem most people have with Return. (Though it's certainly not nearly as camped up for children as epi's I-III). Obviously from a hero arc pov, I really like Return of the Jedi and then The Last Jedi, because of Luke. He's mastered being a Jedi and saves his father completely the journey, and then while he's sort of given up, he goes ahead and gives it his all he's got and then dies, thus completely the final journey. A much better and far more noble death (a good death) than that of Han Solo in The Force Awakens. The Fall (2006) - It's set in 1915 Los Angeles at a hospital. The main male character is in hospital there because of the dangerous stunts of early Hollywood. He's in the men's ward. There's also the main female lead, a little girl, Alexandria, whose been there awhile for a broken arm, who's bored and curious and wanders into the men's ward and finds the lead guy, Roy. He's heartbroken that his sweetheart ran off with another man and the stunt in question was him trying to kill himself. He's suicidal and depressed, but Alexandria is so pestery that he tells her a story. It's all being imagined in her mind but you can see how it all changes depending on what she's feeling. The cool guy who is supposed to be her father is played by someone, then when she latches onto Roy, he's inserted into that role, which is no longer her father, but her hero. He's trying to entertain her at first, but the story switches to rescuing this beautiful princess (which is supposed to be his real life sweetheart), but the story that Alexandria is imagining and the one Roy is telling are two totally different stories and he kills everyone off... but she won't let that happen. She ends up trusting him and he uses her in an attempt to kill himself, which doesn't work and he only ends up almost killing her. Someone he's come to care about because of all the time they spent together. He realizes, basically, that love doesn't have to be bitter (because he's come to love the girl, not romantically, of course, but like a little sister). But besides having a bittersweet "present day" story line, the world they create in her mind is stunningly awesome. The Village (2004) - I hear a lot of flack about this film, or other M. Night Shyamalan films. I don't really see it; what all the hate is about? They complain he's in his films too much (he's the older ranger talking that in an ending scene, and you see his face reflected in the glass fronted medicine cabinet). They complain that his story lines have been done before. They complain about the lack of originality or plausibility of scenarios. I'm sorry, but I really don't see how people can complain about these things.
It's an excellent (and never before done) concept for a story. That this group of people have encountered way too much violence and senseless death and murders of loved one's, so they move to the middle of nowhere and set up a new home that is simple and free of greed, hate, envy, lust, and murder. Free of all evils. Except they do scare their villages into staying. Staying through fear, which sort of defeats the purpose of a happy and simple life. Which is an interesting concept in its own right, and is a very plausible means to creating perfection. And then someone is born without all of their brain faculties. He runs on instinct and can not reason. He becomes jealous and tries to murder; it's also found that he's been torturing animals because he thinks it's fun. So, their tiny haven has been struck, not from the mean modern day streets of crime-ridden society, but right from within. We don't find this out until the visually impaired heroine has to "go to the towns" for medicines. The would be murderer dons the creepy costume of the creatures from the woods and stalks the heroine through the woods in order to also kill her in his twisted game of cat and mouse, and she ends up winning by luring the "creature" to fall into a hole and die of his wounds there. She obtains the medicines from the ranger station as monies pulled together from the original founders secured a "nature reserve" in Covington Woods. The young ranger takes pity on her because she is blind and cut up and dirty and so out of time. He steals the medicine for her and her love will now not die of his serious wounds, and life will continue in The village as it has since the 1970s. I'm sorry, but how is that not a great story line and how is none of that plausible? I'm good at rationalizing things and seeing the glaring effects of improbability. But it's a fine line because complete reality and suspending reality when you are watching a film in order to be entertained. There are lee-ways in story telling. If you can't suspend reality just a fraction then why are you even paying to be entertained? How do these people explain the realities and probabilities of things like Star Wars? It's completely plausible that the younger ranger was so shaken up by seeing a blind girl, in old fashioned clothes, who looked like she'd been through hell and back, to help her without saying a word. That's totally believable. He's inexperienced, it's out of the ordinary and kind of scary for him. He can't wrap his head around her being there on the road, nor how she came out of the very protected "nature reserved". It's not uncommon for people in similar situations to simply run on autopilot and so him getting the medicine for her and helping her back over the fence sounds right. Now, we can't see into the future in this film. She makes it back with the medicine and tells her beau she's back. It's understood he will survive from his injuries before we see the medicine administered or anything else because this is where the film ends. Who is to say that that young ranger won't talk about what he saw one day? Some day soon or some day far into the future. Would anyone believe him? Depends on the time that's passed or how incredulous his claim is or how much people care to investigate even if they somewhat believe him. It was already established that the older guard could care less about anything other than getting a pay cheque. So, it's plausible that The Village would continue for at least a few years, if not another generation or two. People talk about the implausibility of The Happening. Though it takes place in the present and it goes against what we know about science it is about suspending reality here, y'all. There is already scientific evidence that plants can feel and communicate and defend. It's on minute levels, sure, but this is something science is experimenting with and figuring out now. Shyamalan just said... "What if..." and wrote you a story on if it were on a broader scope. What's not to be entertained by that. It's a what if, it's a great story, and it's to get you talking and thinking. You can't just say, "Plants are NOT out to harm us so that's ridiculous" and have done with it. Again, it's a what if story. Plus, with The Village it's autumn and slightly spooky, it's beautiful and the music is haunting. What's not to love. I watch it every autumn.
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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