Guilty Pleasures

Ten Movies that are just plain fun

© Bryan Zepp Jamieson
9/29/05
http://zeppscommentaries.com/Sociology/movies.htm

Let’s take a little break from politics. The GOP is doing a splendid job of self-destructing, and it’s only a matter of time before the lockstep unity breaks down and they start forming circular firing squads, and then it will REALLY be fun writing about politics.

Instead, let’s talk movies. Not the ten best movies I’ve ever seen, although some on the list would fit in that category. Nor is it the ten worst, although that would be fun to write about, except that I never seem to remember the really bad movies. Maybe it’s a survival mechanism. Anyone who has sat through Travis Twat’s “North of Eden” knows there are some truly bad movies out there. (Names changed to protect the guilty.)

These are my favorite movies that were just plain the most fun to watch, and are worth watching more than once, even though the plots aren’t always sublime, and nor is the message of any great importance – as a rule. They are the sort of movies Artie the Pearl would dismiss as frivolous, and Paulie Five Fingers would glower and admit that, all right, damn it, he DID like that movie.

Remember: not best, not worst. Most fun.

10. The Fifth Element

Luc Besson is a very uneven director, but he shines in this one, using visual segues in a way that would be a credit to Alan Moore (and he would have been a good candidate to do “The Watchmen”). Bruce Willis is genuinely funny, Milla Jovovich is funny and sexy, and Chris Rock steals the show. Proof that good science fiction doesn’t have to take itself seriously.

9. The Incredibles

I had to spend time debating whether to pick this or Shrek, and finally decided on “Incredibles” just because the humor is slyer and more sophisticated, and Eddie Murray is always annoying by some point in the second reel. In a movie that has startlingly strong characterizations for a cartoon, the standout character, the costume designer voiced by one of the film-makers (who’d never done any voice-over work before) is, in her own way, as memorable as Mae West.

8. The Truman Show

Jim Carrey supposedly dreams of being taken seriously as a dramatic actor. “Truman” showed that he can be taken seriously as a comedic actor. Sometimes that can be a lot harder to achieve. Ed Harris, who possibly IS the best dramatic actor in Hollywood, is chilling in this, while not detracting from one’s ability to enjoy the film at all. Director Peter Weir is shameless in plucking at our emotions, and it works beautifully.

7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Slim Pickens riding the bomb down just by itself makes this a must-see. Chances are this is one of the two movies on the list that everyone has seen. If you haven’t seen it, go rent it tonight. Directed by Stanley Kubrick, with Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden and James Earl Jones. They foresaw the Putsch administration.

6. Major League

This should have been a dumb farce about baseball. The characters were formulaic, the plot predictable and pedestrian. But director and screenwriter Dennis Ward has a style very similar to Peter Weir’s, especially in use of music and in providing an on-stage audience. Inspired performances from Charlie Sheen, Dennis Haysbert, Bob Uecker (yes, Bob Uecker) and Wesley Snipes, combined with a genuine love of baseball, make this a thoroughly enjoyable flick. It might have been higher, but it’s marred by a tiresome relationship thing with Tom Berenger that eats up far too much time.

5. Pleasantville

Gary Ross did the screenwriting and directing, Steven Soderbergh produced. It’s a teen movie that is trying to make important points with a sledgehammer, a mixture that sounds ghastly, but it works well here. Critics tended to dismiss the movie as something of a gimmick because the director gradually blended color in on a black-and-white screen to reflect the growing enlightenment of the town and its people, but along with being genuinely funny, it has moments of breathtaking beauty. AND it has an important message. Joan Allen is particularly memorable as the 50's sitcom mother who learns the joys of masturbation.

4. The Princess Bride

Rob Reiner’s best. From the William Goldman novel. Silly, endearing, and filled with terrific character acting. The casting in this is spot on. Quite a few of the well-known actors in this will find that this film may have been their most memorable role. Cary Elwes as Westley, Wallace Shawn as the Sicilian (“Inconceivable!”), Mandy Pantinkin (Montoya “You keel my father, prepare to die!”), Andre the Giant as, well, a Giant, and Billy Crystal as Max the Miracle Worker are among the most engaging characters you could ever hope to see.

3. Fool’s Parade

Jimmy Stewart’s best role. If I had to list the five funniest moments I’ve ever seen in a movie, four would come from this one. (The fifth? See #7 on this list) If you are one of the lucky ones to have seen this 1968 masterpiece, I’ll quickly recite key points from each: “If thine right eye offend thee, pluck it out”; “They wouldn’t let me join the DAR”; “I’m just an average American, trying to cash a check”; “Fetch the stick!” Incredible, standout comedic performances in this 1930s period piece by George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Anne Bancroft. This gem is out of print, and I hope they bring it back someday.

2. The Abyss

If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend getting the Director’s cut on DVD, since the theatrical release left some fairly important plot elements on the cutting room floor. Even with the cuts, it’s a great action/science fiction movie. James Cameron directed, with Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who create a wholly convincing love story in the midst of utter mayhem involving a worldwide nuclear crisis, a deranged navy SEAL, aliens, a nuclear bomb set to go off nearby, undersea chase scenes, and a mouse that breathes underwater. Trust me; it all works beautifully. A movie that manages to be heartwarming and terrifying, often at the same time.

1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Jack Nicholson versus Nurse Ratched. Based on the standout Ken Kesey novel, an American masterwork. Directed by Milos Foreman. Kesey supposedly hated the film adaptation, wouldn’t have anything to do with it. Normally, when a writer hates the movie adaptation, he’s right to do so. This is an exception to the rule. Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd got their starts in this movie. This movie proves that great cinematic art doesn’t have to be remote and austere.

So there you have it. My top ten guilty pleasures. They’re all fine movies in their own right and nearly make up for “Independence Day.” And I bet I get more mail from this one than anything else I’ve ever written.

Honorable mentions: Badder Santa, Bandits, Blood Simple, Blues Brothers, The Cool and The Crazy, Eating Raoul, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Graduate, Galaxy Quest, How to Get A Head in Advertising, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World, Mars Attacks!, MASH, My Name is Nobody, Network, Porco Rosso, Shrek I & II, , Titanic, Uturn, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Witches of Eastwick.


[What, no Casablanca or The Sting? Sure, I like those movies, but everyone picks those. This is MY list.]