List-Mania: 15 Movies

Day 13

I'll admit that the constant blogging and 50,000 novel writing is taking a bit of a toll on me. Instead of typing, I am just staring at the computer screen while singing Pendulum songs. Now I did store up some future columns but stupidly I didn't write any new List-Mania columns. So I was looking around and found something I wrote awhile ago. It was one of those Facebook Note thingys. You were supposed to take about twenty minutes and list 15 movies that stuck with you. I wrote them down but never published them, until now. I could have listed the best Friday the 13th movies to celebrate today but I just couldn't get into it.

Now before you judge me and poke fun or laugh, remember, these movies are NOT necessarily my favorite movies (although there are a few), these are movies that stuck with me; ones that I cannot shake and easily forget. They are not in any order.

Aliens:
Science Fiction to me was all about Star Wars and the old Battlestar Galactica television until my dad and I rented this movie one night. I knew little of what it was about and I remember sitting impatiently for the aliens to finally come out. And then all hell broke loose when they did, I was at the edge of my seat. When the movie was over (and my heart was still beating like mad) my dad shoved his hand in his shirt and acted like an alien was popping out of his chest. And I about peed my pyjamas! I watch this movie quite a lot and is one of my all-time favorite movies.

Devil's Rejects:
I like Rob Zombie's music and my brother-in-law went and saw his first film. House of a 1,000 Corpses was not a terrible film but it offered no surprise to me. When the sequel rolled out, Eric and I went to see it too. Now this is definitely not one of my favorite movies but one that stuck with me for weeks after I saw it. It was brutal and hard to watch at times but it surprised me. I found myself starting to feel sympathy for the bad guys. By the ending of the film I liked them and felt bad for what these evil, EVIL people were suffering. At the beginning of the movie you hate these guys and you want the cop to get them. Then there is a shocking role reversal. the cop treats them like they had treated their victims. It left me with an empty feeling. The last 9 minutes are set to the song "Free Bird" and there is no dialogue. The ending totally stuck with me, I cannot hear that song and not think of the Devil's Rejects.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:
My dad loves Clint Eastwood and this was one of the first Western movies I saw. My dad had the soundtrack on LP and we listened to it over and over again. A lot of scenes from the movie I can still picture in my mind like I saw it the first time. The suspense at the scene of the graveyard was so awesome.




12 Angry Men:
I saw this in high school and I thought I was going to be bored to tears and I was so wrong. This movie made me become interested in the Judicial Branch and Political Science in general. I was so impressed by the acting and story, this movie proved that a story is all you really need to make a captivating movie.




Strange Brew:
Being Canadian and growing up with SCTV this was a "must-watch" film. When I think of funny movies, I think of this one first. Even though I have not seen it for a couple of years, I can still quote it.






Star Wars (Original Trilogy):
Where would my childhood be without this film? This was my first movie I saw at the theatre (I was 3) and boy did it change my whole childhood. I still love Star Wars as much as I did as a kid. The Empire Strikes Back is still my favorite. I used to play the Hoth scene over and over, it was easy during those cold Canadian winters. I could write a whole blog column just about Star Wars! I saw this movie a couple of times when it was re-released as a Special Edition too.



Silver Bullet:
Scary movies don't scare me much. But this movie scarred me and werewolves really freak me out. I saw this when I was a kid and it scared the hell out of me. I will never forget the scene when the werewolf tore open that pregnant lady right in the beginning. Believe it or not, I have seen it since and it still freaks me out even though it is pretty tame by today's standards.



Untouchables:
The baseball bat scene. Do I need to say more? The music, the sets, the acting, everything about this film to me was so perfect. And the scene when Sean Connery is shot, such an agonizing scene. I still love this film.







X-Men:
I love comic books and the X-Men are one of my favorites. When I heard they were making an X-Men movie I held my breath. I went in thinking it would be so crappy and I was blown away by how good it was. When Wolverine first popped his claws, I knew this was a winner. I took my friend Joel and he felt the same way. X2 is superior to this but this certainly raised the bar for comic movies.



The Professional:
My friend highly recommended this movie and I finally relented and saw it. And I was drawn in. I like movies where I don't see the ending coming. And I thought for sure I was going to see a happy ending but felt so helpless when it didn't come. And there was something to Leon, he almost seemed supernatural. And when the psycho cop catches Mathilda in the bathroom? So tense!



Army of Darkness:
I had no idea that this was related to the Evil Dead movies but after seeing the trailers I wanted to see it bad. I missed it in the theaters since no one I knew wanted to see this. So I rented it years later and wondered "What the crap am I watching?" to myself. Was this comedy? Horror? Action? It was Bruce Campbell. Oh how I wish I was Bruce Campbell. Now it is a cult classic in this household and one of my favorite movies.



Edward Scissorhands:
Confession time! One of my celebrity crushes is Winona Ryder. But she is just one of the reasons why I love this film. I feel like I have been transported to another realm when watching this film. So surreal, unique and beautiful and yet so hauntingly sad.





The Matrix:
This totally takes me back to my college days. My friends saw it so many times and tried to get me to go but I wouldn't. I thought it was just another action type flick but I finally relented and saw it. One of the few movies that were filled with "oh crap!" moments. Totally took me by surprise.





Blade Runner:
I saw scenes from this movie when I younger that stuck with me, especially the scene where Deckard kills the lady replicant in the streets. It was many, many years later I finally saw the whole thing. A lot of scenes stick out, all involving Roy. When he crushes Tyrell's head while sticking his thumbs into his eyes was a defining moment. But the end of Roy was especially hard hitting. His gentle speech was truly touching and stuck with me.



The Birds:
This movie introduced me to the world of Alfred Hitchcock. Only he could make something so mundane like seagulls so terrifying. It was spooky enough that birds would attack you but when you see Annie dead on the porch with her eyes plucked out. And I love the ending so much, it doesn't try to explain things, it doesn't tell you what happened, it just ends with them escaping. Or did they?



Honorable Mention
Night of the Living Dead:
I love zombies even though they freak me out. I remember watching this movie on TV with my dad on Halloween. We were both drawn in. What made this movie great was not the zombies themselves (even though the little girl in the cellar was chilling) but it was how the survivors dealt with each other. I don't want to ruin the ending because I highly recommend watching this movie, even if you are not a horror buff, you need to see this movie! But the ending I didn't see coming and it was shocking!