A List of Cinematic Firsts

I get a little sentimental this time of year. More on that later. Here is a list of film related firsts throughout my life.

1. First Film in a Theater
Or at least the first film I remember seeing in the theater. 1987. The Princess Bride. My aunt took me. We saw it at the mall. The ROUSs scared the crap out of me. Awesome. [Edit: After speaking to my mother this morning, I've learned that she took me to two films prior to this: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock in 1984, because she couldn't find a sitter, and The Care Bears Movie in 1985, of which I have a very vague memory. See more below.]

2. First VHS Tape
We really dug Hayley Mills' films when I was a kid. At least three of them. In Search of the Castaways was one of those three. I can't tell you exactly when we got our first VCR and a tape to play with it, but I do know we watched this a lot once we did. Now I barely remember a thing about it. [Edit: My mom also said she thinks the first VHS tape she bought was White Nights, but this was probably the first kid appropriate one she bought.]

3. First DVD(s)
The day after Christmas in 2002, I left for a two week trip to London. For Christmas I got a portable DVD player, which blew my mind because they were so expensive, and because I didn't even have a regular one yet. To accompany me and my new toy (which was the envy of all my travel companions) I also got two of my favorite teen comedies, Clueless and 10 Things I Hate About You (plus the first season of "24"). At least the long flight was made easier for a few hours.

4. First Blu-ray
Our first Blu-ray player wasn't the best. My husband actually installed one on his computer and hooked it up to our t.v., but unsurprisingly it wasn't the high definition I was expecting. I had to test it out on something and a random purchase of Mr. Stark's first outing was it. Later I bought a proper Blu-ray player and finally saw what all the fuss was about.

5. First Movie Review
The reason I get all gooey this time of year is that 6 years ago I started blogging about movies, just to keep track for my own sake and to pass the time. I never imagined it would escalate into everything it has become, but I'm thankful for all I've learned and the friends I've made around the world. Read it here, at your own risk.

Top 5: What Keeps Me Coming Back

What is it about certain movies that you feel the need to watch them repeatedly?  Either because they really stuck with you and you can't explain why and other people don't get it, or there's something about the film that has a special resonance with you and you just have to keep getting some.  Here are my Top 5 films that I can't honestly explain well enough to convince anyone else to like them as much as I do.  Now, many of them aren't bad films (some might be) but they're definitely not widely revered, mostly just by me.

5. Stuck on You - This is easily the worst movie on this list, but it didn't stop me from purchasing it because it hadn't been on TV recently enough so I could watch it again.  Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon are conjoined twins.  They're adults and live and work on the East Coast, running a diner, and acting in local theater - or at least Kinnear is an actor.  Damon gets dressed in black and stashed behind scenery when possible.  They go to LA to try to make Kinnear's big break, which he gets on a TV show with Cher.  Damon's pen pal also lives in LA and she finally meets them.  I think the thing I like about this film is their complete acceptance that it's possible to be literally attached to someone and yet have a separate life.  They sustain the concept the entire time - it's completely improbable.  I love it.

4. Date Night - This movie mostly comes down to the comedic gags - jumping in the boat on Central Park and having it go 2mph, wearing their clothes backwards to look cooler, the two cars getting stuck together, Mark Walhberg not wearing a shirt, Tina Fey counting to 3.  There is just enough context to all of these events that bring the film together, but it's still not an amazing movie, but I watch it over and over again.

3. Yes Man - Jim Carrey probably does his best transformation in this movie than in almost any - since it's super contrived, I'm not surprised.  Carrey makes a pledge at a self-help seminar to say Yes to everything that's offered.  Sometimes this is taken as needing to tell the truth all the time (even when people didn't ask you anything - The Invention of Lying), but thankfully, Carrey mostly just chooses to use it to say yes to lots of opportunities and they end up changing his life (and the people he gives small loans to).  It really shouldn't work as a movie, but I still love it.  Bradley Cooper and Zooey Deschanel make the funny things he does sweeter.

2. Larry Crowne - I sense the reason I like this one is because I wanted to see myself as Julia Roberts because I too had just started teaching at a community college just after seeing this movie.  Tom Hanks is Larry Crowne, a veteran who is fired from his job as a working at a big box store and has to go back to school to get a degree.  He joins a scooter gang, takes Roberts' class on communication, and is crazy cute figuring out how to be a totally different version of himself than he expected.  When Roberts finally can't stand her husband and gets out of the car and watches him get arrested for drunk driving while Hanks gives her a ride home on his scooter, I giggle with her.

1. Knight and Day - This one I probably have the most trouble either justifying or defending.  I neither love Tom Cruise nor Cameron Diaz, nor do I hate them.  But I must say I love the odd screw-ball comedy they pull on in this one.  It's their banter through the silly, over-the-top action sequences that makes me smile like an idiot at the screen.  Diaz is accidentally on a plane that was meant to be an attempt to kill CIA rogue agent Cruise.  He kills everyone on the plane, lands it safely, and makes out with Diaz (see, over the top).  After that, he knows that Diaz will be in danger so he goes back to find her and keep her out of trouble. They end up kidnapped, on the run, etc.  It's ridiculous, but I really, really want to go watch it again right now.

A sad little fact is that combined I've watched these movies a total of more than 50 times.  What do you watch that you can't explain or defend, but can't stop watching?

Top 5 Fairy Tale Movies

Disney has taken on most of the famous European/American fairy tales that most children know - though do they know them from being told, or seeing the Disney movie we'll never know.  From The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc. they've covered the genre quite well.  Thankfully, they are actually timeless stories that can be retold and actually stand up to the retelling (though not all the time).

Here are my favorites (which is not to say they're good, but there are parts of them that I like because of some twist on the story

5. Ever After -  A retelling of the "true" story of Cinderella, the young woman raised by an evil stepmother with terrible stepsisters.  In Ever After, Danielle (Drew Barrymore), is the servent in her own home.  She is well read, and eventually meets the Prince (Dougray Scott).  She fights with him about changes he can make with his power -opening libraries, helping the poor, sponsoring artists (DaVinci), etc.  It's kind of a feminist re-telling of Cinderella, but I like it every time.

4. Tangled - This is probably the best recent Disney animated fairy tale.  It returns to the great musicals they produced when I was a kid.  The over-the-top nature of Rapunzel's hair allows for an extremely tall tower.  And the change they make that her hair is magic - giving eternal youth, and that's why it can never be cut and why she was kidnapped by a witch.  Yes, she is rescued by a guy, hardly a Prince, but she knocks him out too.  They're kind of equals except that he has street smarts that help get her what she wants.  Zachary Levi as Flynn Rider - con man - cracks me up.

3. Hook - Seriously, if you were a child during any part of the 1990s, this movie is magic.  We're willing to admit it's also pretty terrible, but I would have done anything to play in the treehouse they built for the lost boys.  The kid, Jack (Charlie Kosmo), is insanely annoying to watch today, but back then he was pretty great.  The colors, the hope, etc. make this movie a joy.

2. Shrek -  The first of the recent movies attempting to make-over the fairy tale.  Shrek is an ogre who becomes the hero.  It's a fairly ham-fisted attempt to tell a new story, but I think that's because it was so cleverly crafted that we've just accepted that it always was a fairy tale that needed to be mixed together an retold.  Unfortunately, the overuse of the characters have given a poor taste to the franchise, but the original is still pretty magical.

1. The Princess Bride - Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, mosters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles... need I say more?

What Stuck: Favorites of Years Past - 2010

Welcome to a new bi-weekly series. A popular trend at the end of the year is to list "best" films one saw in the previous 12 months. But chances are those lists change over time, as more films are seen and the true favorites are weeded out as the Blu-rays fly off the shelves for multiple repeat viewings.

So now I'm looking back, year by year, sifting through what has really stayed with me since making that initial "best" list, if one was made at all. I accept something as a favorite if I've watched voluntarily (not for a review/blogathon/podcast, etc.) more than once and I've spent money, or asked someone to spend money, for a copy to place on my movie shelf. Also, there's no definitive countdown number for every year; so a list could be one movie to twenty, though it's probably more an average of seven. So starting back with 2010, because it's still too soon for 2011 and 2012, here we go...

Easy A

I'm surprised just how much I still like this movie. Of course it mostly rests on the shoulders of the lovely Ms. Stone, and the very entertaining "adults" in the film, but it's one of those to watch just to feel good for 90 minutes. It was given to me as a Christmas gift that year, though I didn't ask for it, but I've watched it numerous times since and I'm pretty close to changing my Holy Trinity of Teen Movies (Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You and Mean Girls) into a quartet.

Winter's Bone

Honestly, these smaller, indie dramas rarely make any favorite list of mine, but Ms. Lawrence's coming out party has managed to stick around. Everything about this mystery set in rural Missouri feels completely genuine without being difficult to watch, and that's a rare thing to say. Plus the performances of Lawrence and Hawkes are unstoppable.

Black Swan

Shockingly, this one barely made the list. Why? Because I've only watched my copy once. It's not that I hadn't been chomping at the bit to give this dark ballerina story another spin, but I didn't have time until very recently. I love everything Aronofsky (I've even watched the difficult Requiem for a Dream at least 5 times!) and should never put two years between viewings of his films.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I

It was the beginning of the end of an era for us HP nerds. Some haters complained that nothing happened for two hours and it was an incomplete film, but I soaked up every minute without seeing any issues, because I had, you know, read the book and knew there wasn't going to be action every ten minutes. And in case you weren't aware, it plays beautifully back-to-back with Part II.

Inception

My love has slipped a little with multiple viewings, but, like all things Nolan, it's still just so damn cool. On my initial viewing, I honestly thought it was a lot more depthful than it really is, so I don't get something with each watch, like I hoped. But each viewing is still a lot of fun, so it evens out.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

It's still so much ridiculous fun, it should be illegal. I actually asked for a copy for Christmas in 2010, but didn't get it because it was sold out everywhere in town. (Got the copy of Easy A instead, so not complaining.) My mind still melts at its humor and video game style. It's a sensory overload in the best possible way.

The Social Network

Despite all the fun, mystery and nostalgia that 2010 offered up, it's still this drama about a group of young, rich asshats that still wins the year for me. Written smartly and directed coolly, the movie's characters and stories should annoy me, if not downright piss me off. Yet I get lost in it's great performances and stunning style every time. What a damn fine year for film.

In case you're curious, here's my initial list from 2010.

Best of the Rest: Ranking Everything Else I Saw in 2012

Having already counted down my favorite and most despised films released last year, I thought I'd give some love (and hate) to all the other films I managed to watch in 2012, made a thousand times easier since I kept track. In total I saw 374 films, 245 for the first time. Out of that 245, only 47 were 2012 releases, so they won't be included. I'm also not including the 2011 spill over I caught up with at the beginning of the year. Still, I was left with nearly 200 films to dig through and simplify into a spot on a list.

10. Underworld 3 - Since Kate Beckinsale wouldn't come back for another sequel (at the time), they thought a prequel with an annoying Rhona Mitra would be a good alternative. It wasn't. Everything we learned in snippets of flashback from the first films was more than plenty to fill in the backstory of the war between the vampires and the lycans, but for some reason they felt it necessary to stretch that out into 90 lazy minutes of dull action and night shots. As much as I love Nighy and Sheen, this was just painful to endure.

9. Dream House - When I first saw the trailer for this "haunted house" story, I figured there had to be more to it since it seemed to give away a BIG reveal. Nope. The trailer more or less blatantly spoils the entire film, which was not intriguing or scary, but just dull. If Craig and Weisz's marriage came together as a result of this film, that's worse than a shotgun wedding, folks.

8. Sweet November - A failed attempt of a manic-pixie-dreamgirl, Charlize Theron tries to save Keanu Reeves and his "whoa" style of acting by spending just one month together with zero commitment. A horrifically sappy story that just wouldn't end. The only entertaining bit was Jason Issacs in drag.

7. The Hot Chick - Rachel McAdams switches bodies with Rob Schneider. Do I really need to go any further with this explanation?

6. Funny Face - One of the most painfully sexist films I've seen and a horrible musical to boot. Some of the set design and costuming were nice, but unfortunately all the other crap got in the way because Lord knows all us girls want is to be fashion models romanced by a photographer 30 years our senior. [/sarcasm]

5. Swordfish - A shamelessly trashy action film about computer hacking. John Travolta has bad hair and Halle Berry is needlessly topless. Hugh Jackman looks kind of good, but that's about it.

4. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy - Everyone kept telling me this was a good Will Ferrell movie, so I took a chance and realized I can't trust people. It's the same shtick as all his other films.

3. Catwoman - No Gotham. No Selina Kyle. Just Halle being more or less possessed by a cat spirit, so she can become a burglar and stop an evil Sharon Stone from making face cream. No...really.

2. Bad Boys 2 - It's twice the one-liners. It's twice the explosions. It's twice the Bay. Uggghhh. Ohh, and there's actual rat sex. Where do you get your clever ideas, Michael?

1. Troll 2 and Birdemic - It's not really fair to pick on these two due to their notoriety as poorly made films that have turned into cult sensations, but I'm going to anyway. But unlike the rest of this worst list, I don't regret watching them because they're actually fun in the shameless awfulness.

10. Enduring Love - Not a fantastic film, but one that sticks out in my memory as having an intriguing story and very good performances. And the first 5 minutes are simply stunning.

9. The Burning Plain - A young Jennifer Lawrence tearing up the screen before any of us knew who she was. And a nice mystery spanning three separate story lines that come together in a heartbreaking way.

8. The Girl in the Cafe - Tragic romance on a very small scale because love and politics simply don't mix. Bill Nighy and Kelly McDonald are stunning together.

7. The Savages - This was such a great look at the "epidemic" of old age and how it can affect an entire family. The story and characters were written with an honesty rarely seen.

6. Gosford Park - Once I pushed through the first 30 minutes of character introductions, I really enjoyed this sort of murder mystery that boasted a who's who of British actors, mixed with some serious drama and witty comedy.

5. Vertigo - Not at all what I thought it was about. I was caught off guard by the story and a nice dark turn for Jimmy Stewart too.

4. In the Valley of Elah - A film that worked on many levels: losing a child, the state of the military, sexism. I certainly appreciated the quiet, beautiful performances from Theron and Jones.

3. Lost in Translation - Finally finished and I'm not sure why I had held out so long. Watched it twice this past year to make sure I really did like it...and I do.

2. Blue Valentine - A harsh look at a struggling marriage that makes me appreciate my own even more. Brilliant performances by Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling, but not great for repeat viewing too often.

1. A Clockwork Orange - It took me 11 years, but I finally finished it. I haven't liked the few other Kubrick films I've seen, but this masterpiece more than makes up for it. I almost pick up the Blu-ray anniversary special every time I visit Best Buy, but haven't made the commitment yet. It's too much awesome contained in one film.

My List of Shame

Every movie lover has famous, beloved movies they haven't seen, for one reason or another.  Length, availability, topic, etc. keep one from seeing movies deemed wonderful, or at least that garner a spot on "Top" lists.  Since every now and then it's good to show off your shame in an effort to correct it, I am willing to show you my top movies I'm ashamed to not have seen.

1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (No. 5 on IMDB 250 list, not on AFI top 100 list)
2. Seven Samurai (No. 17 IMDB)
3. Sunset Blvd (No. 33 IMDB, No. 16 AFI)
4. Apocalypse Now (No. 36 IMDB, No. 30 on AFI 100)
5. Lawrence of Arabia (No. 65 IMDB, No. 7AFI)
6. Singin' in the Rain (No. 85, No. 5)
7. Metropolis (No. 89 IMDB)
8. Rashomon (No. 90 IMDB)
9. Raging Bull (No. 97 IMDB, No. 4 AFI)
10. The Maltese Falcon (No. 117 IMDB, No. 31AFI)
11. Scarface (No. 130 IMDB)
12. The Deer Hunter (No. 132 IMDB, No. 53 AFI)
13. Dial M for Murder (No. 166, IMDB)
14. The Wild Bunch (No. 198 IMDB, No. 79 AFI)
15. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (No. 213 IMDB)
16. A Fistful of Dollars (No. 218 IMDB)
17. All Quiet on the Western Front (No. 227 IMDB)
18. King Kong (No. 250 IMDB, No. 41 AFI)
19. The Grapes of Wrath (No. 23 AFI)
20. Easy Rider (No. 84 AFI)
21. Bringing Up Baby  (No. 88 AFI)
22. The Last Picture Show (No. 95 AFI)
23. Do The Right Thing (No. 96 AFI)

I know it's not a round number, but those are them.
There are few dozen others I haven't seen, but I'm not ashamed, and don't plan to make an effort to see them.  Either because I've seen small parts and really didn't want to finish (A Clockwork Orange) or I know they'll scare me (Psycho, Pan's Labyrinth, The Exorcist) or likely upset me due to violence (Full Metal Jacket, Rosemary's Baby).  There are also many that I don't know enough about them to be ashamed (Das Boot, Bicycle Thieves, Downfall, Stalag 17, Sleuth, Barry Lyndon, The Best Years of Our Lives, Sullivan's Travels, Nashville, Intolerance).  These last, I do feel like I should make an effort to at least learn something about them before I decide not to see them.  Otherwise, I've seen about 300 of the 350 movies on those two lists.  Hopefully I'll knock a few of these off the list in the next year.  I'm sure there are also some iconic movies that weren't on either list that I also haven't seen, but I had to stop somewhere.  You can basically assume I've seen very, very few horror movies, many of which are incredibly iconic, but will screw with my ability to sleep for way too long to be worth it.  What are the movies you're actually a little ashamed to admit you haven't seen?

Top 5: Pop Culture Politicians

I'm a sucker for a patriotic movie (see my review for Argo).  So I've been inspired by the current election (which thankfully ends in 2 weeks!) to explore some politicians in pop culture.  This is a fairly cursory list, but go with it.  They're not necessarily real, nor held a real office, but they're some of my favorites.

1.President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) The American President - I'm a devotee of Aaron Sorkin, so this one gets me every time.  It's the long speeches, and the fact that he's willing to fight for the environment that makes Andy the best President ever - and of course, he goes after the girl

2. Senator Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - I'd like to think anyone can be in Congress and change the world.  However, I do know that it likely isn't possible.  But Jefferson Smith gives us hope (pretty much whatever your political party because the main baddy is such a caricature).  And he's played with terrific earnestness by Jimmy Stewart.

3. President Dave Kovic/Bill Mitchell (Kevin Klein) Dave - I've seen this comedy about a body double for the President who gets to step up to the big show only to have the world fall down around him.  Kevin Kline is so sweet playing Dave and trying to pretend to be the President.

4. President Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) Frost/Nixon - Langella's portrayal of an incredibly complicated President who will eventually be only remembered for the scandal that stupidly adds "-gate" to anything our society screws up.  However, through Langella we see that there was so much more to the man, and ultimately, the President.

5. High Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt) V for Vendetta - He was nothing if not sure of himself.  Hurt's "Big Brother" character on a huge TV screen yelling at his subordinates makes for such a good villain that you almost have to admire his authoritarian nature.

Honorable Mentions: Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), Board of Supervisors Milk, Senator Lillian DeHaven (Anne Bancroft) G.I. Jane, President Beck (Morgan Freeman) Deep Impact.

No Slings, But Lots of Arrows: Awesome Archery Moments

Forget avengers, dark knights, hobbits and Djangos: 2012 is the year the bow and arrow made a comeback in a big way. Three of the year's top ten earning films (so far) featured a hero and a couple of heroines armed and ready with a weapon that, according to Wiki, predates written history. And t.v. seems to be jumping on the bandwagon with shows such as Revolution and the aptly titled Arrow.

In honor of Hollywood bringing back the "guns" of yesteryear, here are some of my favorite archery moments in film, but to keep it interesting, I've skipped over any version of Robin Hood and all of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Sorry, Legolas.

[Spoiler Warning]

Man on Wire How does one get a 450-pound cable across a 200 foot wide gap, 1,368 feet up in the air in the middle of the night? Such a question was just one of many obstacles facing Phillipe Petit as he planned his 1974 high-wire walk between the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. But you don't become that eccentric (to put it mildly) without a few smarts, and in the end, Petite had one of his co-conspirators shoot an arrow across the space with fishing line attached that was tied to a system of ropes that eventually grew strong enough to pull the entire cable across for Petite's mind-blowing, heart-stopping act.

The Fall

I wasn't a fan of Tarsem Singh's The Fall and I couldn't give you any details about plot or characters these four years later, but I can tell you that, as with most (all?) Singh films, it is quite visually delicious. One thing that has always stuck with me is when Roy's (Lee Pace) tall tale to young Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) begins to unravel and the heroes begin to fall, Otta's (Marcus Wesley) death, being held off the ground by the countless arrows shot into his back, was just beautifully tragic, evoking both extreme pain and yet an odd peace. I definitely need to give this one another chance.


300

"Our arrows will blot out the sun!" It's true; in one of many visually stunning scenes from 300, the Persian army rains down enough arrows on the tiny group of Spartans to almost turn day into night, but as Stelios (Michael Fassbender) quips back, "Then we will fight in the shade." And that they do.

Sin City

Deadly little Miho. Either with a sword or an arrow, she (Devon Aoki) always hits her mark. The great thing about bad guy Stuka (Nicky Katt) taking one of her arrows through the chest is the humor that follows, as he seems more comedically shocked than actually hurt. The next one he takes through the forehead, however, wasn't quite as funny...to him at least.

The Lost Boys

Death. By. Stereo. There are several ways to kill a vampire, but few are cooler than Sam's (Corey Haim) savvy archery skills that pinned bloodsucker Dwayne (Billy Wirth) to an old school stereo system, resulting in the vampire's sparkly electrocution and subsequent explosion, and all to some wacky 80's hair metal. And without blowing a fuse...awesome.

Top 5 x 2 Time Travel Movies

When I started to come up with this list, I started to argue with myself about what actually consistutes a time travel film.  There were 2 major categories in the ones I deemed the best.  First, there are those where we know something about both time periods.  We meet people who are literally out of their own time.  The first 5 represent those.  In particular, you must know about BOTH time periods.  Looper wouldn't qualify much for this list because we see almost nothing of the future.  Terminator is a bit of a cheat because we NEVER actually see the future, but everything that happens in the past is tied to what will happen in the future.  The other category involves repeating time, as opposed to being part of two times.  As these are fairly iconic movies, I'm only giving a single line to describe the time travel.

1. Back to the Future - Marty McFly uses the Delorean to travel back to 1955 and meets his parents and influences the future.
2. Twelve Monkeys - A convict tries to gather information about a virus that devestated humanity.
3. Midnight in Paris - A writer is transported back to his favorite time period, the 1920s in Paris, and interacts with his literary and artistic heroes.  * Bonus because this goes back in time twice to the 1890s too.
4. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - Two high school students use a magic telephone booth to travel throughout history and steal icons and bring them to a high school presentation before returning them.
5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day - John Connor sends a Terminator back in time to protect his younger self to ensure that Skynet never gets built.

The second category of time travel involves repeating a sequence of time in an effort to have time come out differently.

1. Galaxy Quest - Easily the shortest redo, the Omega 13, lets them go back 13 seconds to prevent everyone from being killed.
2. Groundhog Day - Best movie that should be sappy but isn't as Phil Connors learns to be a good person by reliving Groundhog Day (Feb 2) about 10,000 times.
3. Run Lola Run - 3 parallel universes where Lola runs to try to stop bad things happening to her boyfriend and by her boyfriend.
4. Sliding Doors - What happens when you miss the subway and your day has the chance to go in 2 directions, but ultimately if you look far enough into the future, you might end up at the same point anyway.
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - The time turner allows Harry and Hermione to go back in time and save 2 different lives, but still lets Wormtail get away.

What other genres of time travel should I consider?  Also, I haven't seen MANY of the most famous time travel flicks, so forgive anything lacking, but definitely make an argument for why I should see it.

I'd Buy That for a Dollar: Top 5 Songs Downloaded from Films

I am not what one might call a music lover. It's not that I don't listen to music; that would be silly. It's just that if I hear a song I like, I download it. I don't care to drop money on a full album I may or may not like to get one damn song. I don't seek out the new and obscure. So this digital age is perfect for a non-collector like me. And one of my favorite things is discovering songs through film soundtracks. And sometimes it's not even discovering new music, but the way a song is used in the film sticks with me to the point I HAVE to have it.

In fact, a couple of movies I've been to this summer inspired this post, because as soon as I left the theater, I immediately flipped on iTunes in the car and downloaded songs I had just heard in the movie.

So here are five of my favorites I've downloaded over the years. This list is strictly from films (t.v. shows and trailers would be two entirely different lists for another time), they were not, to the best of my knowledge, written for the films, and they are songs I downloaded individually, without the rest of the soundtrack. And I apologize for any crappy fan-made videos, as they were all I could find in some cases.

5. David Brubeck's "Take Five" - Pleasantville


I know I heard this song long before seeing Pleasantville, but it was only then that I decided to get on IMDb to check the soundtrack list so I could go and download it. It's not even a big moment in the film, but just playing nice and mellow in the background when Tobey McGuire walks into the diner where he works. Still, I had to have it.

4. Three Dog Night's "Never Been to Spain" - Scotland, PA


It's no secret I LOVE this crazy adaptation of Macbeth, particularly the soundtrack, most of which is made of Bad Company titles. However, near the end when everything is unraveling for Mac and Pat, this less played Three Dog Night tune blares over the mayhem, and it was somehow just a perfect fit.

3. Radiohead's "Talk Show Host" - Romeo + Juliet


I'm not sure iTunes was actually around when I saw Luhrmann's take on literature's most infamous star-crossed lovers, but this Radiohead tune was our introduction to the the young Mr. Montague. No doubt my raging teen hormones for a young Leo kept this one in my brain over the years till iTunes became my regular music source.

2. The Subways' "RocknRoll Queen" - RocknRolla


I was completely obsessed with this song for like a year. Seriously, I had it has my ringtone AND my alarm to wake up to every single morning. I love the film as a whole, but the scene where Johnny Quid beats the hell out of the bouncer outside the club as the band rages on is one of my favorites. No, I'm not attracted to violence in film at all.

1. Nick Cave's "O Children" - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1


If I were to make list of favorite moments from the Harry Potter film franchise, it would be an impossible task because there are too many. However, no doubt the scene when Harry and Hermione dance to "O Children" during an extremely bleak period of the seventh film would make the list. Some think it was a wink to H&H shippers, but for me it was just a nice couple of minutes for the two besties to smile while facing such depressing odds of saving the world.

Jess' Scary Scale

As anyone who listens to Reel Insight or used to read my old blog, Insight into Entertainment, knows, I don't really like being scared.  But I feel like I'm constantly breaking that rule, so I thought I would explain in a little more detail how I rank scary movies and what really turns me off that often appears in "scary" movies.   I'm such a nerd that I have been thinking about the whole thing as a series of decisions and points (I'm a professor so grading rubrics have become a fact of life).  Ultimately, a movie has to have a score below about 20 before I'll consider seeing it, but a low score in some categories can offset a high score in others.  Also, note that I'm not really talking about movies that would show up as just horror movies (Saw, Hostel, etc.), I won't be seeing those at all. These are for movies that involve at least a little bit of each of these categories. What would your scoring be?

Thrills (1-5) - This is the only category I can handle a 5.  This category usually involves a fair amount of plot in order to keep it going, even if there is a ton of suspense and tension.  That can offset a lot of the other categories because there is something I can focus on other than being afraid.  A movie like Se7en would get a 5 in this category, but Jurassic Park would too and few people would consider that a scary movie.  Se7en has a TON of plot with the investigation and biblical connotations to keep me thinking while they're showing me other scary things. Also, the thriller aspect is not continuous for the entire film - moments of humor or calm are necessary to drive the number down - I can handle it.  That's why I don't think I would like something like Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street too much sustained suspense.

Violence (1-5) - There are huge differences in what different people find awful about violence.  Some people can't watch any violence against animals.  I have trouble watching sexual violence for very long (that's what did in Monster for me), and scenes with a lot of stylized torture aren't my bag either (there's a scene in Pride and Glory where he stabs someone down the throat and holds it there, ewwww).  So this is a fairly odd category with lots of wiggle room.  Talking about various torture techniques can scare me more than watching it (the trailer for Silence of the Lambs gave me nightmares for years, the actually movie only for 3 nights).  Most "scary" movies I like don't tend to have a lot of violence.

Gore (1-5) - I can actually handle a fair amount of gore.  Cabin in the Woods only bothered me when the "Redneck Zombie Torture Family" actually did a lot of their torture.  The rivers of blood that flow later didn't phase me much.  Also, the nice thing about most gore-filled scenes is that they can be blocked out by closed eyes or sped through with fast forward.  If there's too much gore - or if that gore becomes a creature (see below), it will turn me off.

Creatures (1-5) - I'm fairly unique in the fact that creepy puppets or strange monsters will often scare me more than serious gore or even violence.  I can't watch most of Guillermo del Toro's creatures from Pan's Labyrinth or even Hellboy without getting the hibbie jibbies.  Ghosts and the thrills and jump scares they provide don't often bother me, but when that ghost is actually a little girl with no face and creepy skin, I'll have trouble watching at all.  "The Gentlemen" from Buffy creep me out big time.

Jump scares (#) - Basically, if a movie has more jump scares, the kind where someone actually jumps back or up in their seat, possibly grabs the person next to them or puts up a hand to avoid the screen.  This happens when something unexpected shows up and the director has decided you need to be given a huge dose of adrenaline as you fight the urge to leave the theater.  If there a  lot of these kinds of moments, eventually I can't stand it and likely won't finish the movie.  I don't like being startled enough to make that worth it.  My gold standard here is Jurassic Park: watching the dinosaurs jump out and startle you is offset well by the music and running away that follows it.  There are about 5 jump-scares in this that in a dark theater will raise you out of your seat a bit.

Example Movies I've actually seen:
Jurassic Park - Thrills (5), Violence (2), Gore (1), Creatures (2), Jump scares (5) = 15
Se7en - Thrills (5), Violence (5), Gore (3), Creatures (0), Jump scares (3) = 16
Prometheus - Thrills (4), Violence (2), Gore (2), Creatures (3), Jump scares (2) = 13
Underworld - Thrills (3), Violence (3), Gore (3), Creatures (3), Jump scares (2) = 14
The Others - Thrills (5), Violence (1), Gore (1), Creatures (1), Jump scares (5) = 13
Sean of the Dead - Thrills (3), Violence (3), Gore (4), Creatures (2), Jump scares (2) = 14
Silence of the Lambs - Thrills (5), Violence (4), Gore (3), Creatures (1), Jump scares (3) = 18

Let me know what about these movies bothers you, or why none of this bothers you.  Sometimes it doesn't bother people at all.  I'm just one of those it does.  Maybe I'll grow up someday and it won't scare me anymore.  Stay tuned for a second installment of this post looking at strategies I use to get through really good movies that I think will be really scary.

Sympathy for the Devil: Top 5 Cinematic Satans

Last weekend, Mick Jagger was the host on "Saturday Night Live".  He did a much better job than I expected - he was funny, self-deprecating, and totally in on the joke.  Try to watch some of the sketches he did, it was pretty amazing.  Anyway, he also sang with Foo Fighters and Arcade Fire, including "Sympathy for the Devil."  But since this is a film blog, I thought, in his honor, I'd do my Top 5 portrayals of the devil in film.  I did cheat a bit in my sympathy and included my choices for death/the grim reaper.  Also, you have to remember that I don't really watch horror (or actually scary) movies, so please feel free to help me fill out the list with your choices from other genres.  And in a perfect example of "great minds think alike", a similar post was done yesterday at Anomalous Material - what are the chances?!

5. William Sadler in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey - There's enough makeup on him in this Bill & Ted sequel that you might not be able to recognize William Sadler.  You definitely would recognize him from The Shawshank Redemption as Heywood.  Bill and Ted have to outwit the Grim Reaper and get back to the land of the living and save the future.

4. Ray Walston in Damn Yankees! - I'm guessing no one who reads this will have seen Damn Yankees! but I don't care.  Ray Walston became famous for many roles including Mr. Hand in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.  Damn Yankees is a 1955 Broadway musical and 1958 film about a man who can't stand that the Yankees never win.  He makes a deal with the devil to become a young man again and play for the Yankees and help them win the World Series.  Of course he realizes there is more to life than whether his team wins, but the devil uses a lot of wiles, including Lola, to keep the deal going.

3. Elizabeth Hurley in Bedazzled - This is a painfully bad movie, but Hurley as the Devil is pretty awesome.  Brendan Fraser makes a deal with Hurley for 7 wishes to try to win the love of his life in return for his soul.  Of course, the devil doesn't exactly play fair when granting his wishes, leaving Fraser trying to fix the problems with more wishes.   She's sexy, she does mean things with a huge smile on her face, and she's horribly acted, but it's hard not to watch.

2. Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black - This is one of my favorite Brad Pitt performances.  Sadly, it takes place in the middle of a really long, mostly boring 3+ hour movie.  I love watching Pitt discover what humans are like through Anthony Hopkins.  He's innocent and beautiful in his own right and portrays this journey of  discovery well.  There's a scene where he talks to an old woman in the hospital with a strong dialect that I love and watch repeatedly when it's on TV.  Does make you rethink how good you want to be if Brad Pitt is waiting for you on the other side.

1. Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate - This was the movie that came to mind first inspiring this list.  Pacino plays John Milton (um, that should have been a clue that he's not right) who hires hotshot young lawyer Keanu Reeves to work for him.  Of course, things go wrong pretty quickly because, of course, Pacino is the Devil.   Reeves' wife, Charlize Theron is threatened when Reeves decides he might not want to do everything the Devil tells him to do.  I love when Pacino goes a little nuts towards the end with his big monologue explaining what's going on.  Classic Pacino.

The Female Avengers

Ever since Rachel mentioned that during the climactic scene in The Avengers, Scarlett Johannsen is holding an itty bitty gun while all the other Avengers (men) are holding weapons, shields, or are actually gods.  This was a little sad for little girls looking for a role model of a superhero.  While Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff does a good job throughout the movie, particularly her opening interrogation scene, I think she could have been better backed up by some more kick ass women.  One of the things about The Avengers is that only Thor actually has real super powers.  Captain America is supernaturally strong, but he's not magic.  Tony Stark is really smart and crafty, but not endowed with anything beyond that power source in his chest and obviously the suit. Hawkeye's powers are fairly obvious, and the Hulk is mostly smart until he becomes a nearly uncontrollable monster.  So here is my group of female Avengers Black Widow could have called upon to save womankind. I have collected them from throughout comics, films, and entertainment.  Feel free to suggest others or argue my choices.

1. Katniss Everdeen - If you haven't read all of the books yet, this might seem like a weaker choice for a person to save the world.  In the first Hunger Games novel, she's mostly really good at saving herself.  But by the end of the trilogy she could give Hawkeye a run for his money.  She's also smart enough to be a leader, but willing to work for a group.  Also, her loyalty (while divided) never wavers so she'd be an ideal Avenger if her motivation was clear.

2. Buffy Summers - As strong as Captain America and able to wrangle monsters like the Hulk, Buffy would be an incredible asset.  As she grew up, she's been better able to work with others and it might help her psyche to know there are others around her that are freaks that have these extraordinary abilities.  Also, her knowledge of the supernatural/underworld would probably come in extremely handy.  And you know the Scooby gang wouldn't be far away if needed.

3.  Storm (Ororo Munroe) -  It wasn't until I was trying to put this list together that I realized Storm really is the female equivalent of Thor, but even better.  While Thor has the hammer and can control thunder (and perhaps the lightning that accompanies it), Storm can do all kinds of things to control the weather.  Storm rarely has to get involved with hand to hand combat, but she's definitely badass enough to fight her way through anything.

4.  Lara Croft - In some ways Lara would bring the Tony Stark with the billionaire playboy philanthropist element. Lots and lots of money, toys, technology, and she's wicked smaht.  However, she's also insanely connected within the world of villains and other rich crazies, so her knowledge as well as money and jets and scuba gear would definitely come in handy for any fight.  She is incredibly badass in hand to hand combat, but it's usually in a most clever way.

5. Kaylee Frye - If you haven't see the Serenity/Firefly universe, this might be lost on you.  But in terms of having their backs, Kaylee is heads and shoulders above Jarvis/Tony Stark.  She can fix/create any machine necessary.  She would be the one sent in to breakdown the machine that was set up to end the world in The Avengers.  She would also benefit from all the female companionship as she's the youngest amongst this group and has the most potential to become the greatest asset to the ladies.

Honorable mentions:  Minerva McGonagall - she should be on this list, but at her age, she's a bit fragile to really kick ass.  Catwoman - she's seriously badass, but the crazy kept her from becoming a serious contender.

Let me know who else I've missed.