Movie Confessions Blogathon

You could say I’ve done this to myself; that in my blind desire to do every blogathon that comes my way, it would someday bite me in the ass.  So it is with the latest blogathon I was invited to.  The amazing Nostra of My Film Views invited me to participate in his Movie Confessions Blogathon wherein I have to answer a slew of questions, embarassing and otherwise, related to my film habits.  I know I penned and posted my Guilty Pleasures a few months back but this is worse!  I admit to some pretty heinous things!  With that I ask that you visit the website via that handy clickable link and compare my pain with the other contributors.  Let’s get this over with!

**Note the pictures attributed to this post will direct you to Amazon.  If you’re interested in purchasing any items please do so via the links as a small percentage goes back into the blog!  Thanks and enjoy my suffering**

Which classic movie don’t you like/can’t enjoy and why?

I watched Gone with the Wind for the first time last year and couldn’t stand it!  Sadly, this pains my best friend the most because she adores this film and constantly rolls her eyes when I go on about how awful it is.  Keep in mind I don’t despise the film itself.  The film is the definition of “epic,” the costumes are beautiful, the story is strong, and Clark Gable is an amazing Rhett Butler.  No, I can’t enjoy this movie for little Ms. Pain in the Ass Vivien Leigh.

No I couldn’t stand the sheer hatred I had bubbling for Scarlett O’Hara.  Scarlett is just a bitch!  She’s unlikable and I never once felt any compassion for her.  She starts off the film spoiled rotten, complains about everything, treats people like garbage (even her best friend Melanie whose husband she wants to steal) and why…all for the sour milk appearance of Leslie Howard.  Watching three hours of her griping about her life just made me want to smother her with a pillow (and this coming from the girl who loves Showgirls!).

Which ten classic movies haven’t you seen yet?

In the interest of time, space, sanity (and finding pictures) I’ll just list them off.

1.  Citizen Kane

2.  The Godfather Part 2

3.  Any and all Buster Keaton films

4.  Duck Soup (and any other Marx Brothers films)

5.  The work of Charlie Chaplin

6.  Mr. Deeds Goes to Town/Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

7.  The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

8.  Lawrence of Arabia

9.  2001:  A Space Odyssey

10.  Star Wars past A New Hope

Have you ever sneaked into another movie at the cinema?

This isn’t technically a lie:  I have but I don’t do it anymore.  Not because I got caught (I didn’t), but because I don’t have the time anymore to devote to two movies in a row.  

Which actor/actress do you think is overrated?

In terms of actress I’d have to say Angelina Jolie.  She had a few good roles early in her career (“the crazy years”) but with the exit of her body mass went her talent.  She’s so brittle that I don’t think she has enough strength to act anymore.

I might take crap for this but I find Jimmy Stewart to be overrated.  He’s good, but in the films I’ve seen I don’t see any diversity!  He’s the same lovable bumpkin.  Note this could change as I see more of his work but for now: overrated

From which big director have you never seen any movie (and why)? 

That’s easy and probably sad for me to reveal but I haven’t seen any Akira Kurosawa films.  I could take the easy way out and say it’s because their subtitled but I’m really not a fan of Asian cinema in general.  I don’t like martial arts, the samurai stories, and/or anime, it’s just not my thing.  I get told a lot of directors imitate and use Kurosawa as an influence but I just haven’t mustered up the interest to see any of his films.  Sorry!

Which movie do you love, but is generally hated?

I did a whole post devoted to this question so I’ll just direct you to Journeys in Classic Films Guilty Pleasures.

Have you ever been “one of those annoying people” at the cinema?

Depends on what you mean by annoying?  I’m assuming you mean a talker/giggler/commenter during the feature…..yeah I have.  Generally though I have a few rules when it comes to this though.  If there’s a great distance between me and the others in the theater (I generally sit at the bottom of the theater and if there’s one or two people at the very top) it’s okay for me to discreetly talk and/or giggle.  If it’s a midnight show to a popular film then you can’t be surprised if people talk.  Or if it’s a horror movie and the group of dumbass teens behind me are talking then I’ll go with it.

Did you ever watch a movie, which you knew in advance would be bad, just because of a specific actor/actress was in it? Which one and why?  

You gotta hit me where I live?!  If you looked in my DVD collection over 50% would be bad movies with a certain actor.  You can tell the various crush phases I’ve gone through based on the movies I own!  I have enough bad movies from certain actors I organize said movies by actor….so let’s just say it’s hard for me to pick just one.  To answer this question I’ll go with the last purchase I made in this arena.  This was a movie I praised before it hit theaters.  I said it was going to be awesome because it had not one, but two actors I’ll sit on broken glass to look at.  Cut to seeing it in theaters and it was garbage but that didn’t stop me from giving good, honest money to buy the DVD which I will still pull out if I need a fix.

You can’t blame me.  We’ll never get the chance to see Josh Brolin AND Michael Fassbender in a movie together!  It’ll never happen…so the movie’s garbage but it’s an iconic event!  Trust me, you don’t want to know what other movies I’ve endured for the actors I love.

Did you ever not watch a specific movie because it had subtitles? 

Aside from the Kurosawa answer I gave above subtitles don’t really bother me.  If the movie’s bad I might not pay attention and then I’m lost but I’m more mature now, I don’t immediately turn my nose up at subtitles.

Are there any movies in your collection that you have had for more than five years and never watched?

That would require me to go through my movie collection which is scattered between my bedroom, my mother’s bedroom, and our garage.  In a nutshell I’d say yes as the majority of my movies are scattered and I don’t like to go hunting.  I’m really lazy when it comes to movies, if it’s not right at my fingertips I have to REALLY want to watch it to search for it.  I will say that I have a Cary Grant box set I’ve had for three years and haven’t watched.

Which are the worst movies in your collection and why do you still own them?

Again see the above answer to give an overview of why this is difficult.  Many of the films in my Guilty Pleasures article are movies I own so no need to rehash those.

Do you have any confessions about your movie watching setup at home?

I’m starting to wonder if Nostra is a cop?  You don’t expect people to actually answer this one right?  I could say that allegedly some of my stuff isn’t legal (I won’t say whether that’s films or equipment).  Hmmm….I think this is a trick question.  What’s the rules of entrapment?

Well that’s all the confessions I have.  I feel a bit better to have unburdened myself.  Now to go back to organizing my “Actors I Love” DVDs by shelf and genre!