Film meme

I got this meme from Avitable and, like him, have no intention of writing 31 different (daily!) posts on this - I'd be sure to forget a day and that would really piss off my possibly OCD self.

So here goes:

Day #1: Favorite Movie – Grease
Day #2: Least Favorite Movie – a tie between The Hole, Requiem for a Dream and American Psycho
Day #3: Favorite Comedy – The Full Monty
Day #4: Favorite Adventure – Jurassic Park
Day #5: Favorite Horror – Psycho
Day #6: Favorite Suspense/Thriller – Memento
Day #7: Favorite Animated Movie – Madagascar
Day #8: Favorite Guilty Pleasure – The Jazz singer (love me some Neil Diamond...)
Day #9: A Movie You Never Expected To Love – Breaking the Waves (heartbreaking)
Day #10: Biggest Let-Down – The Beach (the book was sooooo much better)
Day #11: First Movie You Saw In Theaters – Bambi (I think)
Day #12: The Last Movie You Saw In Theaters – Hereafter
Day #13: Favorite Documentary – none that I can think of
Day #14: Favorite Satire – The Life of Brian (does this count as a satire?)
Day #15: A Movie With Your Favorite Actor – Don Juan di Marco (Johnny Depp)
Day #16: Favorite Movie Based On A Book – One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (great film, but the book is even better)
Day #17: Favorite Movie With An Actor You Hate – Stalingrad (Jude Law - aarrrggh)
Day #18: Movie You Can Watch On Loop – Hairspray (the John Travolta/Christopher Walken version)
Day #19: Favorite Movie Based On A Historical Event – Sommersby
Day #20: Favorite Movie Based On A Historical Figure – A Man for All Seasons (old film, but a great one)
Day #21: Favorite Musical – Moulin Rouge (I would say Grease again, but I'm striving for variety!)
Day #22: Most Over-Rated Movie – Amélie (bugs the shit out of me, even though everyone else seems to love it)
Day #23: Most Under-Rated Movie – The Singer not the Song (Dirk Bogard at his finest)
Day #24: Movie With Best Soundtrack – Good Morning, England (excellent, excellent music all the way through - and a great film to boot)
Day #25: Favorite Black and White Movie – Casablanca
Day #26: Cheesiest Horror Movie – The Lost Boys (reminds me of my student days!)
Day #27: Favorite Oscar-Winning Movie – American Beauty
Day #28: Favorite Made-For-Television Movie – can't think of any
Day #29: Favorite Movie Based On A Television Series – can't think of one of these, either
Day #30: Favorite Re-Make – Hairspray
Day #31: Favorite Sequel – Ice Age 2

This is remarkably hard to do, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't give the same answers twice (not for all of these, anyway - though Grease would still be my favourite film!). But it really made me think...

Z

It has been said (by D and many others) that I have "dodgy tastes" in music, films, books, etc.

When it comes to music, I would prefer "eclectic" - I like classical, some jazz (not fusion though, drives me batshit), rock, pop, new wave, others 80s stuff, disco, indie... plus loads of others. Some of my favourites (and I'm proud to admit to all of these, nah!) incluse Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Neil Diamond, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cesaria Evora, Patty Smith, Adam and the Ants, and oh, I could go on forever - this is just CDs I've been listening to recently.

For films, I happily admit to loving musicals, from Gene Kelly and Bing Crosby (not so much Fred Astaire, but yeah, I'll watch them all the same) type stuff, to Howard Keel type things, right up to modern ones like (of course) Hairspray and Mamma Mia! The only "modern" musical I've hated, really hated, was "Dancer in the Dark", but that had a lot to do with my loathing of Björk and the ridiculous casting of Catherine Deneuve and the horribleness of the story.

For books, I like novels. Modern novels - funny ones, like Carl Hiaasen and Jasper Fforde, serious ones like Jodi Piccoult, detective ones like Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell, and "chick lit" stuff like the Shopaholic series.

But now, a new addition to my (very, very short) TV show list is one that is unanimously appreciated in this house: the 1950s Disney version of Zorro with the delectable Guy Williams. D loves it, and C and L are obsessed with Zorro - they're totally absorbed in the storylines, biting the nails at the "suspense" moments, fearful that Zorro will get caught (they're little girls, they haven't clicked yet that Zorro never gets caught!). They sing the theme song, they dream of Zorro and everything has to stop every Saturday and Sunday at 8.10 pm - missing an episode is unthinkable! I was pretty indifferent at the beginning, but now, I'm as hooked as they are! Guy Williams is perfect as both Zorro and Don Diego de la Vega, Sergeant Garcia is hilarious and Bernardo is both hilarious and very sharp... Yeah, it's a fantastic series! It's just a shame that so few episodes were made (we're up to episode 35 out of 39... I fear that weekends will soon no longer be quite the same!).

I stand by my "dodgy" tastes!

And oh, if you've never seen any other Zorro than Antonio Banderas, I heartily recommend you get your hands on the Guy Williams version!

Z