In my family, literature and movies are serious issues. When I was younger I viewed anything that was not a masterpiece with disdain, aghast to be caught reading or watching, “garbage.” As I have gotten older, I have mellowed. Further I have redefined my perception of media.
There are movies and books that are excellent, but that I really don’t care for. There are movies and books that are excellent that I enjoy, though usually only once or twice. I own these books and movies and I recommend them to many and even loan them to a few. Then there are books and movies that I love and read or watch over and over again. They have many good qualities and I really enjoy them. They are like old friends and close confidants and sometimes even a warm hug of sorts. Then there are the books and movies I think of as “brain candy” or “guilty pleasures.” These are the books and movies that really are not very good literarily, plot or acting wise. Yet for whatever reason they touch a cord with my heart and I find myself focused on them, dreaming about them, even slightly obsessed for a period of time.
Having seen several meme’s of this type I want to share, briefly my categories and what they add… I’ll give my top five (ten of the old friends) of each…
Books
Excellent but Don’t Like
Scarlet Letter
Great Gatsby
Grapes of Wrath (turned off as much by people’s critiques as the work itself!)
A Separate Peace
Summer of My German Soldier
Excellent (!!)
Of Mice and Men
To Kill a Mockingbird
Hinds Feet to The High Places
Looking For Alaska
The Never Ending Story
The Good Stuff
Anything by Torey Hayden
Anything by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
DragonSpell
Harry Potter (any one will do)
Twilight and New Moon
Clan of the Cave Bear
Ender’s Game and Ender’s Shadow
Passion and Purity
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
The Secret Life of Bees
Guilty Pleasures
Historical Romance (Brain Candy and I am trying to cut back)
Warprize, Warsworn and Warlord
Stardancer, Starseed and Starmind
Valley of the Horses
Books based on movies (not the other way around)
Movies
Excellent but I don’t like
Saving Private Ryan
Titanic
Rocky
The Departed
Annie Hall
Excellent
Broken Down Palace
Forrest Gump
Apollo 13
Of Mice and Men (with Malcovich and Senise)
Dead Again
The Good Stuff
Sense and Sensibility
Murphy’s Romance
Serenity
Star Wars, Star Trek, you know, the geek stuff…
Tootsie
The Cutting Edge
Remember the Titans
The Sound of Music
Clueless
Love and War
Guilty Pleasures
The Love Comes Softly series
The X-Men Movies
The Santa Clause Movies (even and especially the 3rd one!)
Harry Potter Movies (Well acted and well written, but they only make sense if you read the books so how is that a good thing?)
Anything with Brendan Frasier, Drew Fuller, Billy Zane, Tom Welling, Bruce Boxlighter, or Sean Connery. Just because they are cute.
Oh, and The Ice Pirates.
The point of these lists is that I went to see a movie on Monday. I took Nana. We had a terrific time. We were the only ones in the theatre. This is a shame. The movie was called “The Ultimate Gift” based on the book of the same name (that I haven’t read, but am now going to.)
To be honest, the movie is not going to win any Academy Awards, but it was clean, sweet and fun. There was a message, a bit not subtle, and there were some odd holes, but it really was wonderful. I imagine it will become a guilty pleasure of sorts over time, but I’m OK with that. I highly recommend it.
Drew Fuller is adorable (the adult male kind), the little girl (she was in Little Miss Sunshine) is even cuter and they are so fun to watch interact. James Garner is always a joy as is Brian Denehey. Seriously folks, it may only be out for a little while (as evidenced by the empty theater) so go soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment