This Is This

So with the grip regained after steering into the skid of a bank holiday weekend, I say welcome back. If you’re anything like me, which is a broad category to start with, then as you’re getting older, you’re growing a little stuck in your ways.

A bit staid, a tad settled, somewhat jaded perhaps. The stick’s not yet in the mud, but it rests against the dirt while the storm clouds conspire, sad and heavy with purpose, as if trying to find the words to deliver some bad news.

Yes, it’s a thin distinction between a groove and a rut and it dawns on me that I actually like a lot of films that other people don’t like. I work with a lot of people who are simply brilliant. By that I mean very clever, rather than shiny, although some of them are quite shiny.

Trouble is, people who are clever often turn into those clever people, who “find Scorcese predictable” and who talk about “Robbie Williams’ trite pastiche.”

?, right?

I, on the other hand, am too old (cough 35 hhrmmp) to care what other people think that what think is cool, so I do not conceal that I think Man In The Moon is a great film, or how there is something about Huey Lewis’s voice that I love.

So

Cheesy Films That I Like That Lots Of Other People Don’t Like
(what is it with the titles these days? See GWYSWOLAAOLAATTCNW)

Anyway

Fandango
Judd Nelson and Kevin Costner are great in this bittersweet road movie about youth. There a lot of films about youth, but not many which are bittersweet.

Star Wars
More cheese than a vegetarian picnic.

Field Of Dreams
And cheese. Heh - fields of cheese. Cheesefields. Yeah.

Hannah And Her Sisters
I’ve said before how much I love this film, and it’s so cheesy, but the characters are great and the script is tight and believable.

Rumblefish
It’s Camus for kids - none more cheesy, but Dennis Hopper plays the proud father with of which nothing left to be proud (technically) while Matt Dylan chases a legend he doesn’t need. “Somebody ought to put the fish in the river.” What? Cheese.

Smokey And The Bandit
East bound and down… Rolling up and trucking… Brilliant. I don’t normally like the cute thing, but Sally Fields in this? Sure. Goldie Hawn I could happily leave for dead though - she’s just fucking irritating.

Fifty First Dates
I like the minor characters in this - the Hawaiian cook, Adam Sandler’s cheesy friend and Drew Barrymore’s dad. Same with Along Came Polly because I like Ben Stiller, but Alec Baldwin and Hank Azaria make it for me.

Back To The Future
Oh, come ON. Who doesn’t like this? “Dad. Dad-dad-io.”

I like films that span lots of years:
Blow
Goodfellas
Little Big Man
Boogie Nights
Walk The Line
Godfather
Etc

and biographies:
Bird
Patton
The Benny Goodman Story
Backbeat

But NOT Lady Sings The Blues, because Diana Ross can’t act, she’s crazier than a biscuit full of hats and Billy Holliday didn’t sing the blues.

Tomorrow: Ice ice baby

Also on This Is This
“Avez vous du Sonny Rollins?” I said, pronouncing Sonny Rollins in an English accent, because that’s how you say Sonny Rollins.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 7:30 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed, or you can skip to the end and leave a comment yourself.