Alphabet Movie Soup
Over on another site on the interwebs, someone posted a thread about listing your favorite movies by alphabet letter. Here's my list, followed by commentary below:
As Good As It Gets
Breaking the Waves
Conversation, The
Days of Wine and Roses, The
Exotica
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Glory
Haine, La
In the Company of Men
Jude
Killing Fields, The
Longtime Companion
Magnolia
Nashville
One, Two, Three
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Quiz Show
Road to Perdition
Shawshank Redemption, The
Three O'Clock High
United 93
Velvet Goldmine
Whole Wide World, The
Citizen X
You Can Count on Me
Zodiac
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Yes, Citizen X bends the rules a little, but it's a fantastic movie, and I don't think I've seen any movies that begin with X. (Frequent readers of this blog know my views of comic book adaptations, so I'd rather leave X blank than put X-Men. Believe it or not, I actually saw the first one. Can't say I remember much from it, except that Bruce Davison, star of my favorite L movie, was in it. Oh, yeah, there was that freaky Xtro movie, whose VHS cover scared the shit out of my ten-year old self. Can't think of any other X movies--so Citizen X it is.)
I've only seen one movie that started with Q, and luckily, it's one of my favorites. Otherwise, I would have had an X-sized quandry on my hands.
Thanks, Yum. Turns out I've seen Quadrophenia, and how could I forget The Queen, with my favorite Tony Blair delineator, Michael Sheen? Still, Quiz Show is my favorite of the three Q movies.
V was hard. Turns out I don't love too many movies that start with V. Ditto J.
H was hard. I think I had a tie with La haine and Henry Fool. Could have gone either way. Sorry Henry and Simon.
Same thing with K--I went with The Killing Fields because technically King of Hearts is Roi de coeur, and I like to be consistent. And then I almost put Karakter. And then I thought, wow, I'm thinking too much about this.
U was a toss-up between United 93 and Urgh! A Music War, and I just couldn't justify a selection for Urgh!
As Good As It Gets
Breaking the Waves
Conversation, The
Days of Wine and Roses, The
Exotica
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Glory
Haine, La
In the Company of Men
Jude
Killing Fields, The
Longtime Companion
Magnolia
Nashville
One, Two, Three
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Quiz Show
Road to Perdition
Shawshank Redemption, The
Three O'Clock High
United 93
Velvet Goldmine
Whole Wide World, The
Citizen X
You Can Count on Me
Zodiac
-----------
Yes, Citizen X bends the rules a little, but it's a fantastic movie, and I don't think I've seen any movies that begin with X. (Frequent readers of this blog know my views of comic book adaptations, so I'd rather leave X blank than put X-Men. Believe it or not, I actually saw the first one. Can't say I remember much from it, except that Bruce Davison, star of my favorite L movie, was in it. Oh, yeah, there was that freaky Xtro movie, whose VHS cover scared the shit out of my ten-year old self. Can't think of any other X movies--so Citizen X it is.)
Thanks, Yum. Turns out I've seen Quadrophenia, and how could I forget The Queen, with my favorite Tony Blair delineator, Michael Sheen? Still, Quiz Show is my favorite of the three Q movies.
V was hard. Turns out I don't love too many movies that start with V. Ditto J.
H was hard. I think I had a tie with La haine and Henry Fool. Could have gone either way. Sorry Henry and Simon.
Same thing with K--I went with The Killing Fields because technically King of Hearts is Roi de coeur, and I like to be consistent. And then I almost put Karakter. And then I thought, wow, I'm thinking too much about this.
U was a toss-up between United 93 and Urgh! A Music War, and I just couldn't justify a selection for Urgh!
posted by Karim Amir | 6:03 PM
3 Comments:
Nice. You gave Three O'Clock High the prestigious 'T' slot.
Days of Wine and Roses, The
Nashville
One, Two, Three
Hmmm, these look like the type you might find on Turner Classic Movies. So I'll keep an eye out for 'em.
There's a "Bruce Davison should have got an Oscar for Longtime Companion" thread on his IMDb page. (Actually, there might be more than one, I didn't browse that thoroughly.)
Parts of the first X-Men movie were filmed just up the road from The Metro Toronto Zoo.
Xtro has been on my "must-see list" for quite some time now.
There's no 'X' without Xanadu, baby!
When in 'V' doubt... Voyage of the Rock Aliens.
You haven't seen Quadrophenia? How un-mod of you. ;)
Oh, and Mathieu Almaric's La Moustache is on cable this week.
Totally forgot about Quadrophenia. What's funny is that I was thinking last night how much of a Ray Winstone completist I've become without even trying. (I rewatched Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, and sat with d. as he watched that craptastic Indiana Jones movie, in which Winstone has a supporting role.)
Still, Quadrophenia has nothing on Quiz Show.
Seriously, Bruce Davison should have won the Oscar. Joe Pesci won that year, and as much as I love his "do you think I'm funny" speech in Goodfellas, he's got nothing on Davison's pivotal speech in Longtime Companion.
The "T" slot had some stiff competition: Tapeheads, A Thousand Clowns, Top Secret!, Trainspotting, and Truly, Madly, Deeply.
Nashville is considered by some to be Altman's piece de resistance. One, Two, Three is fantastic screwball comedy about a Coca Cola executive set in the early days of a divided Berlin, and The Days of Wine and Roses might be the heaviest movie I've ever seen, for lack of a better descriptor. I've actually seen all three on TCM.
I just took another look at Ray Winstone's filmography. No way I'd ever become a completist. My God, that's a loooonnnnggg filmography.
Emmanuelle Devos, who was in Kings and Queen (she was the "queen"), stars in that mustache movie. Sounds odd...
On the Ladies and Gentlemen DVD commentary, Diane Lane and Laura Dern mention Ray Winstone's appearance in Indy 4. I can't remember the specifics, but they basically can't believe they're the same dude.
Quills is another one. Oh, and The Quick and the Dead. The Quiet...
Yeah, "T" rules: Tomboy... Uh, I'm sorry, I can't rattle them off like you can. :D
Tapheads! Damn! I still haven't seen that flick.
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