Nyarlo.net

luke got this survey from a friend, who said he could do it about movies. number five says to pass this shit on, and he says i have to do it about movies too. so here we go.

(you can see his answers here.)

1. The total number of movies I own:

good question. i’m not keeping count. let’s try to break it down… probably 25-50 vhs movies, mostly bad scifi. the remastered star wars trilogy, from right before the special editions, pan-and-scan vhs. all three wallace and grommet shorts. a bunch of tapes off tv; 10 or so tapes chinese/korean music video shows, about as many of adult swim’s first year or thereabouts plus a bunch of samurai jack; the entire cgi starship troopers cartoon and most of beast wars seasons 2 and 3; and random other crap like the enterprise premiere and the first airing of the fellowship trailer.
then there’s my ever expanding dvd collection. as i’ve stated before, $10 dvds are the new cocaine. there’s so goddamn many of them at freddies and target, i can barely go to either of those stores without buying a couple movies anyore. i try to limit myself to a couple each paycheck. i need to spend more time watching them. probably 50+ dvds by now…
i’m terrified of the inevitable announcement of hd-dvds that actually replicate the detail projected up on the big screen. oh well, life rolls on.

2. The last movie I bought:

probably the blame! anime shorts, although technically i bought those a few weeks ago, just received it most recently. bought would be the two-pack of napoleon dynamite and pcu at costco for $20.

3. The last movie I saw:

theatrically, kontroll. very cool. highly recommended.

4. Five movies/DVDs that mean a lot to me:

i can never pick just five. my favorite list on my sg profile is this: fellowship, star wars, princess bride, christmas story, harvey, mononoke, blues brothers, fight club, amelie

let’s try to break down a top ten…

dune — one of my earliest memories is watching paul ride the worm in our old living room on dekum, so i must have been about three. suffice to say it’s been a lifelong influence. having now read the books, the movie doesn’t even come close to getting all the details and nuances of politic right, but it managed quite well to capture the feel of the books, and it had a totally solid visual sense. there’s no way to adapt a book like that into anything approaching even a three hour epic, so if i were to do it, it’d be a full series, one season per book or thereabouts. and probably two for the first book.

star wars — by the time i was a conscious entity i’d already seen them so many times i can’t even remember the first. i don’t think i need to explain why i like them. i can’t pick one, the trilogy counts as a single entry in my mind.

matrix — blew my mind in the way star wars must have to 18 year olds in ‘78.

unico — the saddest anime ever, one i watched repeatedly as a kid, and one made even sadder by blurry memories and a complete lack of a dvd release. i need to see these again.

princess mononoke — before lord of the rings came out, this was absolutely the best fantasy movie i’d ever seen. it still holds up as rock-solid, and the subtitled version is better, although i still have a fondness for the dub since we opened it at my theater and had it for months.

fellowship of the ring — i hadn’t read the books. there was no disappointment. this movie was, and remains in my eyes, perfect. the extended edition actually marred, the first time through, the pacing and musical cues of a few sequences that were re-scored. ultimately the longer cut is far superior now that i’ve read the books and etc. even so, i got all the theatrical cuts on dvd for the trailers, but fellowship is the only one i’ll ever actually watch again.

the star trek movies — i’m a geek who doesn’t pick sides. i love star wars and star trek equally, to the point that many of my story ideas of late involve saving both franchises from their recent depradations. 2 and 4 are obviously the best, with 1 and 6 in second place. watching 2 through 6 is a rare cinematic treat of a continuing storyline with much loved characters that stays strong til the end. but in many ways, i prefer 5 to all the others, because it’s got some of the best interplay between kirk, spock, and bones, and the story is just as absurdly epic as the rest.
classic star trek has a different vibe than anything past next gen; space was still wild and full of unknowns. most of it was unexplored. there was a feeling of mystery about it. it was epic. it was huge. klingons were bad and kirk was a god.

fantasia — my first exposure to what animation was truly capable of, beyond slapstick and singing cats. the concept in fantasia 2000 that it could have been/almost was a continuing series sort of dropped my faith in people in general.

my neighbor totoro — best described by my friend eric as ‘the friendliest movie ever made’. this is a well deserved adjective, and one of two movies about which i would honestly say if you don’t like it, i don’t like or understand you. the other would be harvey.

amelie — the best love story i’ve ever seen. it turns out i’m something of a sap for this kind of thing, and jeunet’s dreamy imagination has never been put to better use. and i love all of his movies, although i’ve not see the new one. god bless mont martre.

5. Tag five people and have them do this on their blogs:

rye bread
woebegone
chaz
kt
scott