Favorite Movies

This is a subject that can have so many answers, even if one breaks movies into categories. After so many years in the theatre business, I have seen my share of movies. I love most of the old movies of the 30s and 40s, and watch them often on TCM. I have A LOT of great movies on DVD. If I was forced to get rid of all of them except two, I would choose to keep "Mr. Holland's Opus", and "The Majestic". Both are relatively modern movies, but they spark just about every emotion in me while watching them, and I view them more than any other in my collection.

What are your favorite movies? List them by category; Comedy, Drama, Action, Sci-Fi, etc.

I'm a movie buff who goes to movies quite often and especially likes older classic movies of the 1960s and the 1970s. I'm looking forward to corresponding more with everybody here in the future. My favorite movies are as follows:

A) West Side Story is my alltime favorite movie, hands down. The tops for me.

B) There are other movies that I enjoy greatly, in no particular order, although none of them hold the same special place in my heart regarding movies as West Side Story. Here goes:

Georgy Girl

French Connection

Sound of Music

Wizard of Oz

Dirty Harry

Midnight Cowboy

The Warriors

A Hard Day's Night

Lawrence of Arabia

Easy Rider

I do not have a DVD player, nor do I intend to get one, at least not at this point in time, and I prefer watching great films like the above on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low.

MPol: Thank you for joining our group. I'm looking forward to more post from you. I encourage you to fill out the profile so that we can get to know you better.

Regards,
Gary
gy2020,admin

ps: Have you had a chance to check out our tv show on justin tv? Go to the website and Justin is at the bottom of the home page. http://www.satheatres.com You can also enjoy 180 pages of theater history in San Antonio.

Hi, Gary.

Thanks for the welcome. I've admittedly never heard of Justin TV, nor do I live anywhere in Texas, but all the postings about the various theatres, etc., look interesting. I'm looking forward to corresponding with you more often in the future here on this board also.

MPol wrote:Hi, Gary.

Thanks for the welcome. I've admittedly never heard of Justin TV, nor do I live anywhere in Texas, but all the postings about the various theatres, etc., look interesting. I'm looking forward to corresponding with you more often in the future here on this board also.

I also want to let you know about my two major web sites.
San Antonio Theatres: Now and Then, http://www.satheatres.com has 180 pages of theatres in San Antonio and around Texas.
The other site is Direct 2 Hollywood, with hundreds of links to movie star web sites. Go to http://www.direct2hollywood.com/
Have fun at both sites. Enjoyed the chat.

One of my resent favorite movies has been "Brave Heart" with Mel Gibson. I love the story and the action. I am like a little child with this movie. I have probably watched it 20 times. And still love the movie. A prequel would make a good movie. What happened with the young William Wallace when he went with his uncle after his father died? What were his experiences in Europe?

Although I didn't get to see Braveheart when it first came out, I saw it several years later when it came back as part of a 'Motion Picture Mondays' series that was then being played at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts in Boston. It was well done, and I sat next to a woman who'd painted half her face blue for the occasion!

One thing I'll admit, though; Braveheart was the first and last movie I saw with Mel Gibson in it, because I felt that his anti-semitic screeds were way too offensive for my tastes.

Another recent movie I enjoyed was August Rush.
Here is a trailer of the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5ab6RtA-KE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prucjHyKrUI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW3lF9W0g6o&feature=related
The movie is about a young boy and his parents and how they were able to get back together through music.

I watched the youtube picture of the August Rush trailer. It sounds like a wonderful movie, although kind of sad.

btw, I'd never heard of the movie August Rush until now.

What're the chances of it coming back to an indy/arthouse movie theatre? Just curious.

MPol: It is a very recent movie, 2007. It has come out on DVD and it was on Dish Network not long ago. I don't know what the possiblities are? It's very uplifting at the end, though not very likely. Fun movie to watch. I really liked the movie, so much so, that I bought it.

Since I don't have a DVD player, and have no intention of getting one at this point in time, I guess I may just hold out and make occasional suggestions for August Rush to the indy/arthouse movie theatres in my area. Thanks again for the heads up, Gary.

Why do you have no intention of getting a DVD player? They are GREAT! DVDs are inexpensive, and have great picture quality and added features.

A.) I'm not that much of a TV-watcher, at heart. I only watch TV when something very special comes on television during a given night or week, depending on whether it's a movie, or a series.

B) Imho, nothing beats seeing a great movie, particularly golden oldie-but-great classic films on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low. No matter what anybody may say or think about DVD's and how great all these elaborate home-theatre systems are, the experience is really not the same as in a movie theatre's great big, wide screen.

C) I like to get out of the house on an occasional evening and share the movie experience on a great big wide movie theatre screen with a whole bunch of other people, whether I know them or not. It makes for at least a temporary community that way.

D) I begrudge staying home and watching movies on TV. That's the way I am. Being single, living alone and liking it that way are an advantage, as is holding annual memberships to two indy/arthouse movie theatres in my area.

I agree with you whole-hearedly about the big screen, and theatre experience, but so many of my favorite movies are not shown in theatres since the advent of home video. It's great to be able to see them any time the mood stikes me.

The type of people that frequent movies today also tend to make the experience less enjoyable. Cell phones going off, obnoxious patrons, and poor screen presentations at the plexes make me wish I was at home watching it in peace without scratches on the film and pops in the sound track, or being around a bunch of selfish scumbuckets in the auditorium.

The days of professional theatre people are gone. There are few good projectionists left, and ushers are extinct. That's one of the reasons I no longer am in the theatre business.

The problems that you have cited on your latest post, imho, are a big part of the reason that, with rare exceptions, I avoid the large multiplex cinemas like the plague. along with the insultingly awful movies that those large multiplex cinemas play. I have found, however. that the problems of cellphone use, excessive talking and other selfish, boorish behaviour by the movie theatre audience seems to be far less of a problem in the indy/art-house movie theatres (what few are left in our area, and, mostly likely, in the United States, generally), most likely because they play far better-quality movies in the indy/art house movie theatres. Holding yearly memberships to two indy/arthouse movie theatres helps. Even in the rare event that cellphone use, excessive talking, etc. does occur in the audience, all somebody has to do is to drop the offender(s) a hint, and they'll stop. A couple of years ago, for example, when I attended a midnight showing of The Warriors, a woman who was clearly drunk off of her butt kept kicking the back of my chair. Finally, after a couple of times of telling her not to do that, she stopped.

There are only two movies that literally made me fall out of my seat laughing. The first one was "Blazing Saddles" (the campfire scene), and the other was "Planes, Trains, And Automobiles" (when Steve Martin washed his face). I know this shows that my sense of humor is somewhat basic, but I can (and have) watched these movies dozens of times. I quote lines from "Blazing Saddles" more than any other film. I find new things to laugh at, because the laughs come fast and furious, and I miss some while laughing at the previous joke!

I, too enjoyed Blazing Saddles, although it's not a movie that I'd care to see more than once. With rare exceptions, outright comedy, especially slapstick, perhaps because of the way in which I was originally hardwired together, don't generally move me to even crack a smile, let alone laugh out loud. I guess that's just me, however. The Charlie Chaplin movies don't get played in movie theatres any longer, which is kind of sad, in a way. It also makes me wonder whether or not the complete stoppage of golden oldie-but great classics such as West Side Story and other fine classics from playing in movie theatres altogether could be far behind. Steve Martin used to have a program called "Laugh-In", which I could never get into. (The Rowan & Martin Laugh-In") Again, that's just me.