Much to the chagrin of friends & family, there are a whole host of classic films I have never seen one minute of. Actually, that may not be true. Some of these movies loom so large in the collective consciousness that I know more about them than films I love that I have seen multiple times. The reasons for my not having seen some of these are varied. My dad loved movies and I can recall watching a ton of cool movies as a child but they don't seem to be any of the same movies that EVERYBODY my age saw when they were younger. I didn't develop a taste for movies and a desire to seek them out until, at the very least, 12th grade. I remember telling a girl I was seeing Senior year asking me what my favorite movie was and I said School Of Rock, simply because it was the last movie I had seen and show me a 17 year old boy who doesn't love Jack Black and hard rock and I'll show you a liar. She said Fight Club, which I hadn't seen but HAD heard of. Of course, I now love the films of David Fincher and I really wish I had a more quality answer to that question at the time (even though I don't have an answer still to this very day) because movies are so important to me now and I would have benefited from a better knowledge of cinema at an earlier age. The movies I loved as a young man were movies where the hero shot a lot of people and said cool one-liners. My tastes haven't evolved much since then but I still apparently missed out on some of the standard-bearers of the medium that even people who have bad taste in movies have seen and loved (My roommate was watching a Sarah Jessica Parker movie yesterday ["No, it really is good!"] so I have no qualms about calling people out on their bad taste). In my defense, I have seen a million fantastic movies that I will defend to the ends of the earth but usually don't have to because nobody I know has seen them. And it's not like I'm watching Tyler Perry's Madea movies all day, I know quality movies, I just have different tastes. Please share any thoughts, comments, concerns, etc. below and tell me how you can't believe that I haven't seen your favorite movie.
THE PRINCESS BRIDE
This one just seems annoying. I know what it's about, I know how charming everyone thinks it is but I have actively decided to not watch it and my life is perfectly fine.
INDIANA JONES (all of them)
My reasons for never having seen this are not so clear, as I recall the VHS tapes of at least one of these films somewhere in my house as a child, so I'll blame my parents for not popping this in at some point. Now, it just looks corny. A guy in khaki running around some caves chasing after Nazis, is that the gist of it? Maybe when I have kids.
STAR WARS (all of them)
Continuing with the corny Harrison Ford movies of yore, Star Wars was a favorite in the Einboden household, my brother was and still is a huge fan and continues to chide me for not having seen it. So big brother, why didn't you sit me down at the age of 12 and show me them? As some of you may know, I recently legitimately tried to watch them, I had all three of the originals lined up next to the tv but I didn't even make it off of Tatooine before I turned it off and switched to ESPN. Like I said, seeing them at the age of 27 for the first time is not the best way to see them. In all honesty, the first Star Wars film I will see will be Episode VII in Summer of 2015. Because of how much I love JJ Abrams. Are you mad yet?
JOHN HUGHES MOVIES (all of them)
High school was bad enough, and these movies do not seem charming or fun. When I was in detention with the likes of the jock, the cool kid, the nerd, the whoever else, it didn't turn out well. We didn't become friends or unite against the principal or whatever happens. There's just something about The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles and movies about high school in the eighties that don't click for me.
JAWS
I want to see this but I have a pretty large fear of being in a boat on a body of water, not to mention giant sharks. My question is, why didn't people just stay on land? Ironically, I have seen Sharknado.
HALLOWEEN
I have seen the Rob Zombie version so I'm pretty much good, right?
ROCKY
Not sure why I haven't seen Rocky, I'm sure it's full of boxing excitement and triumphant step-running but I'd rather watch Sylvester Stallone shoot people than punch them.
E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL
No thanks.
PIXAR FILMS (all of them)
I saw Brave recently for some reason, and by all accounts Up is a great film, regardless of animation or not, but there is a certain Pixar formula that doesn't appeal to me. It's all glossy, heartstring-tugging cuteness propaganda (eh, just go with it) that has a reputation that permeates everything they make. Again, maybe when I have kids.
TITANIC
This is the classic never having seen it, but have basically seen all of it. There's an old lady, the boat sinks, "I'm the king of the world!", a boatload (no pun intended. Actually, yes, pun intended) of money. I don't need to see this, and I certainly wasn't rushing out to see the re-release in 3D recently.
Different groups of people will of course have different criteria for what is considered great or must-see. These films listed above are mostly pop culture icons from eras before mine. I was talking with a friend who noted that he has seen all the old pop-culturally significant movies and shows but struggles to name contemporary well known actors, movies and shows. It's all subjective, it's all relative to our specific upbringing, tastes, interests, etc. etc. I was perusing AFI's Ten Top Ten lists and I have seen almost all of the Western, Mystery, Gangster and Sci-Fi films but almost none of the Epic, Fantasy or Romantic Comedies and that pretty much sums up my interests.
You see what we have here is just an outright refusal on your part to watch past pop movies. I would say this is fine because they're from a different era then us and speak to an entirely different generation.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think JJ Abrams is a terrible director, and I had a minor spasm when you reminded me that he was making the next Star Wars.
The early Medea stuff is hilarious.
Indiana jones is intended to be pulpy and hokey and i think if you go into them with that mindset you'll enjoy them more.
Star Wars is probably a losing battle, but i will say that your old D&D character i planned to have a whole Luke Skywalker arc and then be like "See you'll like Star Wars!" It wasn't a GOOD plan, but it was a plan.