This is something some friends and I started to put together a couple of years ago, but never really got going on. For now, I'm just copying our emails discussing the guide.
Subject: RE: Film Guide
An obvious category is
horrible movies that are excellent
- Road House
- Stone Cold
- Men At Work
- The Big Hit
- Action Jackson
- Flash Gordon
- Gladiator (1992,
with Brian Dennehy, James Marshall, and Cuba Gooding, Jr.)
- That one I saw at Tauhert's house that time (He
knows the one)
- Too many more to list...
Another chapter (or set of
web pages) would be on the evolution of some of our favorite actors.
- Bill Paxton going from bit parts
("Stripes", "The Terminator") to brilliant co-starring roles
("Weird Science",
"Aliens", "Near Dark") in classic movies to big-name
star of big-time
Hollywood assembly-line crap
("Twister", "Mighty Joe Young").
- A similar treatment for Matthew Broderick
("Godzilla" and I swear "Election" was worse
than you think).
- A similar treatment for Nicholas Cage
- Uma Thurman (I'm STILL pissed off about that
stupid Batman movie she was in!)
- Trace the horrible downfall of Judd Nelson (though
he did play a psycho in some recent
made-for-TV movie)
- Trace the utter disappearance of Emilio Estevez.
(Note that I certainly haven't given up on Bill Paxton. I guess he deserves the money. "A Simple Plan" was a good enough movie, but he didn't really bring anything special to his part, but maybe he'll be cool again in "U-571" or "The Vertical Limit".)
Actors who you always see
and recognize but never know their names:
- Brion James (Don't know if you guys know, but he
died last year.)
- Robert Davi
- That guy who played the biology teacher in Fast
Times and the angry ghost in Ghost.
Christmas movies you used to love, but have seen so many times in the last 5 years that you don't even watch them all the way through when they come on network TV anymore:
- Can't think of any here...
A list our National
Treasures:
- Mario Van Peebles
- Chris Elliott
- Wings Hauser
- Rutger Hauer (some Nation's anyway)
Sexiest Disney characters
in order:
1) Pocahontas
2) The one from "Hunchback of Notre Dame"
that was voiced by Demi Moore
3) Mulan
4) Jasmine ("Aladdin")
5) Belle ("Beauty and the Beast")
6) Mary Poppins
7) Ariel ("The Little Mermaid")
8) Lady ("Lady and the Tramp")
9) Minnie Driver's Jane ("Tarzan")
10) That Cow thing that hung out with Goofy in the
really old cartoons
Prolific and Excellent Soundtrack Contributors:
- Mark Knopfler (Princess Bride, Local Hero)
NCAA Tournament style
bracket of Who Could Kick Whom's Ass. Start with 64 tough guys.
Final Four(tm) might be:
- Van Damme
- Schwarzenegger
- Segal
- Chan
Or maybe it should be
characters instead of actors. Then it might end up:
- Angela Bassett's ass-kicking character from
"Strange Days"
- Gene Hackman's character from "Unforgiven"
- Vin Diesel's character from "Pitch
Black"
- The "Ripley" clone from "Alien
Resurrection"
Maybe these next categories are too "main stream" for our guide, but --
Excellent movies no one
(Except Tauhert) has ever heard of:
- Cadence
- Where the Day Takes You
- Cronos
- The Replacement Killers
- Orphans
Excellent movies everyone
has forgotten:
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
- Nosferatu
- Westworld
- Showdown in Little Tokyo (and its not even that
old!)
Movies that everyone loves,
but are actually horrible:
- Forrest Gump
- Titanic
- Shakespeare in Love
- A Fish Called Wanda
Movies recommended by
friends that were so atrocious (the movie, not the friend) that you felt
like sending your friend a bill for two hours of
your life:
- The Rutles
Movies that you've always
hated, but all your friends like and maybe someday you'll
give a second chance (the movie not your friend):
- A Fish Called Wanda
- The Rutles
Movies you waited forever
to see, then loved and kicked yourself for waiting so long:
- Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying
and Love the Bomb
- Blazing Saddles
- Drunken Master
- Young Frankenstein
- Apocalypse Now
Movies you waited forever
to see, then were horribly disappointed by:
- FDR: A One Man Show by Chris Elliott
- Showgirls (this wouldn't fit the category if I had
seen it on opening day as planned)
Movies you've waited
forever to see, still haven't seen, but just *know* you're gonna love:
- Slapshot
- The Pink Panther movies
- Das Boot
- The Hudsucker Proxy
That's my input for now. Let's keep the ball rolling!
Wayne? Andrew? Gerry? Beuller...?