Movies Over and Over


I can't handle doing a top ten movies list.


There are way too many that are way too good.


However, there are a set of movies distinguished by the fact that, whenever I see them on TV and decide to watch for a minute or two, I cannot then stop watching, regardless of whether I've seen them a hundred times before.


Here's a few of them, I'm not saying they're brilliant and I'm not saying they're the best... I'm just saying that, when they come on, I can't stop watching them:

Body Heat

As Good as it Gets

It's a wonderful life

Finding Neverland

Goodfellas

Misery

Blade Runner

A Shot in the Dark

Dirty Harry

Fargo

Blood Simple

GlenGarry Glen Ross


There's loads, I'll add a few more...

Jean De Florette

The Magnificent Seven

Treasure of the Sierra Madre


Do you have any movies that you will always stop to watch? I hope none of mine are on today.

I've got things to do.



33 comments:

Reese said...

I love the Bourne movies. I don't sit and watch TV too often. I haven't even seen the third one yet. My husband is the movie addict. Here are the movies he will drop everything to watch, no matter what point of the movie is on.....
Riddick
The Last Samurai (sp?)
Any of the Matrix movies
Constantine
Any of the Xmen movies....

(They aren't even that good!)

Beamer said...

I love Fargo and a few others on your list. (I don't have it in front of me)

Have you ever checked out IMDB?

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=3899533

My IMDB voting list.

Beamer

Anonymous said...

I always stop to watch any Brandon Fraiser movie, I love Blast from the Past and the Mummy movies. It's not even that I'm even a fan, I just like those movies.

CelloBella said...

True Lies is one I always get sucked in by... and (I know it's daggy) Love Actually.

:)

Anonymous said...

Every Kevin Smith film, Lola runs, the old StarWars movies ...

I could write on and on, it depends pretty much on the mood I'm in, I guess.

Greets Julia

Kathy said...

Shawshank Redemption
Rudy
The Firm
Office Space
Legally Blonde (I'm terribly embarrassed to admit that. I don't know why I like it. I just do. Is that OK?)

Matthew S. Urdan said...

Why yes, there are. Thanks for asking.

1. National Treasure
2. Titanic (wipe the smirk off your face now, Ken.)
3. Any Star Wars
4. Superman I, II or Superman Returns
5. Batman Begins
6. Any Pixar Movie
7. Kill Bill Vols I and II
8. The Day After Tomorrow
9. The Sound of Music (Ken! You're smirking!)
10. ABBA: The Movie
11. Schindler's List
12. Troy
13. Hellboy
14. Sleepers
15. The Seventh Sign
16. Alien
17. Rodan
18. Mothra
19. Contact
20. Maverick
21. Godfather I or II
22. Deliverance
23. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
24. Indiana Jones
25. Poltergeist
26. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
27. A River Runs Through It
28. Dances With Wolves
29. American Flyers
30. Spiderman

Debbie said...

I love Body Heat, could watch it on a continual loop.

Now, I am really going to embarrass myself, (the things I do for you Ken) I just love any of the old Shirley Temple movies.

Oh gee, going to get help now

Dave King said...

Just reading down your list, I felt a poem coming on. I'm off now, to see if I can do something with it. Thanks.

Ken Armstrong said...

Hi Dave, just reading down Matt's list... I'm off now to the toilet. :)

More comments-on-comments later, I just couldn't resist getting in under your own.

Good luck with the poem, that kind of thing makes my day! :)

Unknown said...

Ok, this is embarrassing, but I can't change the channel if either of these are on:
Smokey and the Bandit
Cannonball Run

Rachel Fox said...

This post is a joint self-humiliation project I feel...

'Goodfellas' (which is fantastic, obviously) is on so often (about once a month?) and if I ever flick over to it..that's it...there we are with Henry, watching the helicopters...Likewise 'Shawshank Redemption' (c'mon Tim, keep digging!).

But to join in with the confessions...if I ever flick to...'Pretty Woman' (oh god...) that's it, I'm there till the end. It is so corny and Richard Gere is so slimy...and yet...I can't turn it off!

x

Ken Armstrong said...

This is great, thanks all, I love the confessional tone the comments are taking on, keep 'em coming.

Some the ones in the comments that could easily go onto my own list are:

Goodfellas, every month on TCM, Rachel.

Shawshank Redemption - how *did* he get the poster back on the wall after he went thru?

Matt's got some great one in there;

Hellboy - I've only seen it twice so far but I *will* watch it next time it shows up - he's like Tom Waits with sawn-off horns.

If I come to Titanic when Kate is getting drawn then I usually stick around - it's a 'feral thing' (reading back, I *could* rephrase that last one but no...). Likewise for 'True Lies' Cellobella - if I come in when Jamie Lee is mauling the bedpost, I may well stay.

I don't know 'Mothra', will have to look it up.

Shirley Temple, no, I'm not ready to admit I re-watch Shirley Temple movies, I'm in enough trouble as it is.

Here's a little true story not intended to offend anyone, so here's hopin'.

When I was young, my granny used to watch Shirley Temple films with us on Sunday afternoons. When they ended, she would sniff indignantly and say, 'She grew up and turned into a Protestant, you know'. :)

Carole: When it came out, 'Smokey and the Bandit' was the absolute perfect picture for me and all my teenage pals. Burt was so cool, Sally was adorable, all the gags worked, the kiss on the bridge was a collective damp-dream and the world was a younger simpler place. "Eastbound and down, eh?"

And, Dear Rachel, the fact that you would come over here and write down 'Pretty Woman' just endears you to me ever more (in a remote, literary fashion. obviously). I liked Pretty Woman too, I liked the way she laughed when he snapped the jewelery box on her fingers.

Any more, Guys?

Anonymous said...

I have this with a number of movies but the wierd thing is, they usually arent't great movies like academy award type that this happens with. Very often its the guilty pleasure type that I do this with.

Jena Isle said...

Hi Ken,

Some of these movies I haven't watched. Mine are old-fashioned in a way; The Sound of Music, Ten Commandments, The Notebook, The Butterfly Effect. Star Wars Series,
but I want to watch the movies you mentioned.

Thanks for sharing.

BTW, I voted for you at BUZZ UP. Good luck.

Jena Isle said...

Can I add more? I forgot my action/adventure movies - the Jason Bourne series, Independence Day, Titanic, Where Eagles Dare, Playing for Time, The James Bond movies...there you are...at least ten of them. There are still many more.

All the best.

Rachel Fox said...

As well as the guilty pleasure aspect I think it's something along the lines of 'it's been a crap day and the world is a disaster and I disappoint myself too often BUT... I know this is a good film and it will make me feel better...even if only for a short while and even if that is not an answer to anything!'

Conchita said...

Some that I can remember:

— Walk the Line
— StarDust
— Contact
— Lord of the Rings trilogy
— Forrest Gump
— Bruce Almighty
— Schindler's List
— Mrs. Doubtfire
— Amelie
— Any Star Wars
— As Good as it Gets

Jim Murdoch said...

Even though I own practically all of them, if I chance upon a Woody Allen film I'm quite likely to stop whatever I'm doing and watch till the end. L.A. Story and The Man With Two Brains are another pair that spring to mind.

Debbie said...

Ken,
your granny and my Nama would have made quite a pair!

I do love anything by Mel Brooks, I love to laugh. Men dancing also makes me giggle. So put on Men In Tights and I am mesmerized.

Kat Mortensen said...

A very campy vampire flick with David Bowie, called The Hunger. It's quite a sexy film featuring Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon in quite the compromising situation.

Apart from that, I will always stop to watch The Shining, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Great Escape, The Godfather 1 or 2, Patriot Games, Fatal Attraction, Harvey, The Wild Bunch, Dead of Night--any Hitchcock film.

I do love Dirty Harry - the 1st one is the best and Treasure of the Sierra Madre IS brilliant.

Kat

hope said...

Sometimes it's not the movie but the actor that makes me sit down. For instance I've never cared for James Bond movies [unless Q was explaining gadgets] but I'll watch anything with Sean Connery. Ditto David Strathairn...I just watched "The River Wild" with Meryl Streep and it wasn't because she was in it. You can add Gerard Butler to the list too.

Okay, so my guilty pleasure is a "It's a Wonderful Life." I'm a sentimental sap.

And Ken, as for the jewelry box snap in "Pretty Woman", I once saw an interview where Julie Roberts admitted why; they'd done the scene several times the "right" way and it was boring. So Richard Gere did this out of the blue, making her reaction genuine.

Ken Armstrong said...

Oh Hell, I'll just sit down and gladly watch all of your movies too!! :)

Jena: The Notebook is one that crops up a lot in your lists. I haven't seen the movie but the novel was one of quite a few I took on my hols this year. It wasn't quite to my taste - a touch too saccharine for me - but it was well-written and morally-romantic, if that makes sense. It reminded me of the book 'The Bridges of Madison County' which evoked similar feelings in me.

'It's a Wonderful Life' simply can not be switched off if it's on. It always surprises me at how dark it was willing to be. I love it though.

Jim: I can't agree on 'LA Story' maybe I need to see it again. But I *so* love 'The Man with Two Brains'. I remember being in polite company watching it and, in one scene, Steve Martin is asked whether he would consider putting the brain of his true-love into the body of a Gorilla... He thought carefully, then replied along the lines of, 'Naw, I could never f*** a gorilla'. I laughed so hard and the polite company were singularly unamused.

Thanks Hope, I figured the 'Box Snap' was a bit impromptu, Julia's reaction completely won me over - 'difficult to act that I'd say.

And Rachel sums it up so well, an old familiar movie is like a warm blanket and some cocoa on a wet and miserable day.

Anonymous said...

ok, here's a couple more.
I will always always always stop to watch the Princess Bride and Speed. I know a weird combo.

Fiendish said...

I've never been a movie person, which is inexplicable, since I feel like I should love movies. I mean, I do. But just not the way I do music or books or some TV programmes.

Anyway... if any of the below appear on TV, I won't be able to stop watching them.

Almost Famous
Dirty Dancing
Superbad
Juno
The Incredibles
Catch Me If You Can
Amélie (may be my favourite film of all times)
Strictly Ballroom
Casablanca (may also be my favourite film of all times)

I'm sure there are more. This list did give me a craving to watch Almost Famous again, though. Guess it's time to dig up the old DVD.

Matthew S. Urdan said...

If I could add my $0.02...LA Story is amazing....I absolutely loved it and really, it's the only Steve Martin Movie I really liked. The scenes when the highway signs light up and basically give Steve Martin those Cher in Moonstruck "Snap Out of It!" moments are some of the best moments in cinema. And for that matter, so was Cher in Moonstruck.

Other movies that I'll always find myself watching are:

All the Harry Potter Movies, Jaws, Wuthering Heights, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, The Ten Commandments, Spartacus, Braveheart, Gladiator, Ever After, The Lord of the Rings--all of them, and Shakespeare In Love.

Ken, did you find out about Mothra yet? You need to put that one high on your list.

Ken Armstrong said...

Oh yeah, The Princess Bride is a good one! Would there have been 'Shrek' without that movie, I wonder? That's the second William Goldman penned Screenplay I've spotted here in the comments list. 100EC to the person who comments by naming the first... maybe I've missed another one?

Fiendish: The DVD boxset we just watched over the last week - 'Pushing Daisys' was *so* influenced by Amelie, it was quite untrue.

That settles it, I'm going to watch LA Story again, I will report back on it.

Anonymous said...

I always get sucked in by the Bourne movies too. Oh, and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Don't know what it is about that last one.

Jim Murdoch said...

Yes, Ken, do give L.A. Story another go. It is not as in-your-face as a lot of Martin's stuff and benefits from it. My favourite scene is where we see him describing this work of art in great detail only to find ourselves - when we do get to see it - faced with a huge canvas of red paint. BTW I finally got to see Shopgirl a couple of weeks back and I was very impressed. It's the film version of his book (which I have not read but my daughter raved about it) and he gives the most restrained performance of his career. Just to be clear, it's the film as a whole that I loved, not simply his performance.

Anonymous said...

GlenGarry Glen Ross? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

Anonymous said...

I'll likely forget all of mine before I get them typed, but here goes........

Schindler's List
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Firm
Clockwork Orange
The Hunt for Red October
Serendipity
Body Heat
Romancing the Stone
The Philadelphia Story
Basic Instinct
Saving Private Ryan
Braveheart
Somewhere in Time
Gladiator
The Last Samurai


2 most embarrassing:
Pretty Woman
Top Gun

There are more, but I don't remember the names.

R. Brady Frost said...

Session 9 is a good scary flick when you're in the mood for something eerie.

Willow is a good watch, especially for those who enjoy the Lord of the Ring series.

Spirited Away is an amazing cartoon for both children and adults alike. It has a wonderful message. I'm glad Pixar worked with Studio Ghibli to bring this fantastic tale to us.

12 Monkeys is a great film that seems to get better each time you watch it.

Momento is an inspiring film that can give you a new look at ways to write stories. Very enjoyable.

Chat Blanc said...

Of course I'm obsessed right now with The Usual Suspects! ;) But for sure, Dogma and Office Space suck me in every time. I'm warped obviously! ;)