Sunday, August 23, 2015

100 Things I Love Most About the Movies

Considering that I did a rant on Friday and a link round-up on Saturday, I figured it was highly appropriate for me to continue my streak of doing what I say I'm going to do on the day I say I'm going to do it by having a GTKY Sunday article!  Recently Nathaniel over at the Film Experience (one of my favorite blogs) wrote an article about the 100 Things He Loved Most at the Movies after Allyson over at The Best Picture Project wrote a similarly-themed article.  I am enamored with this idea, and so I figured I would do the same, largely stream-of-consciousness (these are not in order, not definitive, are largely what first came to my head in a swirl of movie magic-love, and not all-inclusive, but they should give a bit of an indication of my adoration of the cinema).  Without further adieu:

1. Movie marquees-it's the world's greatest menu board.
2. Medium popcorn, M&M's, and a bottled-water, aka the greatest meal of the week.
3. That humming sound when the projector switches from the trailer to the actual movie.
4. The American Film Institute specials-the way that I learned about the cinema for the first time.
5. Oscar nomination morning
6. The Oscars themselves.
7. The scene where Ilsa talks to Sam about playing it "for old times sake."
8. Barbara Stanwyck in sunglasses.
9. Marlon Brando's arms in A Streetcar Named Desire
10. The costumes in Ran
11. Marilyn Monroe in a pink dress in Gentleman Prefer Blondes
12. Jeff Bridges downward gaze
13. Lauren Bacall's eyes
14. Michael Fassbender's neck
15. Trying to figure out what Bill Murray whispers in Scarlett Johansson's ears.
16. "Oh Jerry, let's not ask for the moon-we have the stars."
17. That moment when a new acquaintance realizes that I love movies not in the way normal people love movies.
18. The look on someone's face when they are describing their favorite movie memory...usually after I have to beg them to talk and then they cannot stop.
19. Jesse & Celine-sunrise, sunset, midnight.
20. "I wanted a killer from a world filled with killers."
21. The barn-raising scene in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
22. Sean Connery shooing the birds in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
23. The dance scene in Waterloo Bridge
24. The train scene in The Hours
25. Celia Johnson in Brief Encounter
26. Cate Blanchett's narration in Lord of the Rings
27. The dinosaurs in The Tree of Life
28. The scene in the woods in The Conformist
29. The title scene of Celine & Julie Go Boating
30. "You're wearing the thimble"
31. A guy you like taking your hand for the first time in a darkened movie theater.
32. "Open the pod bay doors Hal"
33. Janet Gaynor in Sunrise
34. The opening tracking shot of Touch of Evil...really all tracking shots
35. "Tradition!"
36. "John Doe has the upper hand"
37. The library in Beauty and the Beast
38. Every time I see the words "Composed by John Williams"
39. Zuzu Petals
40. When people clap sporadically at the end of a movie
41. "I wish I knew how to quit you"
42. Jean Hagen in Singin' in the Rain
43. "The Ludlows" theme from Legends of the Fall
44. When Jill comes home in Once Upon a Time in the West
45. The Annie Hall lobsters
46. Teaser trailers
47. "Hero" in Boyhood
48. The first trip to Neverland in Peter Pan (the 2003 version)
49. Lois Smith's scene in Minority Report
50. "Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"
51. Deborah Kerr's giant skirt in The King and I
52. Gloria Grahame in Crossfire
53. The moment of "I feel so in-the-moment and alive" every time I saw Titanic on the big screen as a teenager...and as an adult.
54. Orson Welles furiously clapping in Citizen Kane.
55. "Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattler, welcome to Jurassic Park."
56. Offenbach in Life is Beautiful
57. "Edelweiss"
58. Rooftop fighting in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
59. The scene in the woods in House of Flying Daggers
60. Barbra Streisand adjusting Robert Redford's hair in The Way We Were
61. Kissing in the rain...with an orange cat.
62. Nat King Cole singing "Starlight" in Sleepless in Seattle
63. The way that Maggie Smith says "succession of the Stuarts" in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
64. The walk down the stairs in Children of Men
65. Gregory Peck's ears
66. Shirley MacLaine's legs
67. Meryl Streep on the sea wall in The French Lieutenant's Woman
68. Frederick A. Young
69. The lights outside the Edina Landmark
70. "I'm Easy"
71. Kim Novak's hair in Vertigo
72. "I am big, it's the pictures that got small"
73. "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night"
74. The wood-chopping scene in Shane
75. John Wayne in a doorway in The Searchers
76. The way that my mom cries every time we watch Hoosiers together
77. My dad taking me to my first R-rated movie (Traffic)
78. The way that I caught my grandfather crying during Apollo 13
79. My brother and my annual awards shows
80. The reunion scene in White Fang
81. The title scene in Blow-Up
82. Kelly MacDonald's voice
83. The Pixar lamp
84. Faye Dunaway reading the "tale of Bonnie and Clyde"
85. Gene Tierney in Laura
86. Peter O'Toole blowing up the train
87. Audrey Hepburn's press conference in Roman Holiday
88. Ruth Hussey in The Philadelphia Story
89. Rouge City
90. Hogwarts
91. The words "Directed by Ingmar Bergman" in the opening credits
92. Brad Pitt, shirtless, in Thelma & Louise
93. "I had a farm in Africa"
94. The crispness of the night air after you've left a Saturday evening movie
95. The way that the weekend feels extra long when you see a movie on a Thursday night.
96. The Godfather Waltz
97. Lampwick's transformation
98. Kate Hepburn's lilt
99. Judith Anderson and Joan Fontaine by the window in Rebecca
100. "If I have to lie, cheat, steal, or kill, as God as my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"

Those are mine (as of this moment)-what are yours?  Share yours in the comments (or share a link to your list on a different blog and I'll include it here!).  And make sure to check out Allyson and Nathaniel's links and blogs up-top: they're awesome too!!!!

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