I come in from stirrin my mash the other day and my wife/goat was watchin some damn show called :Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.
The basic premise (as best as I could tell) is that there's this fat redneck family that has a fat redneck kid that they put in them little girl beauty pageants. (and you can already tell she's gonna be a heifer when she makes it to high school). The entire family is white trashier than free meth fridays at the truck stop so it's apparently just a "let's laugh at the rednecks" type of sideshow.
here's a clip:
Yep............
Now this ain't a good natured look at southern folks ala The Andy Griffith Show,The Beverly Hillbillies or The Dukes of Hazzard, hell it ain't even a glossed over version of southernness like Designin' Women or Evening Shade. Nossir, this here is exploitation all the same.
When other folks derive self amusement and comfort by watching the exploits of those they think are 'beneath them" ain't that a sign that things ain't goin well? I mean, have we let yankee culture override our sense of southern pride so much that we are joining in when they call us retards, rednecks and dumb,ignorant white trash? Ain't that just lettin them win?
I don't know bout y'all, but i myself, have always believed in havin a healthy sense of humor and not taking yourself seriously, but this crap crosses the line. It's perpetuating the stereotype that all us southern folks ain't right.... but we are, hell, if it weren't for the south, what culture would the USA have? George Plimpton and Air Supply? You wanna live in that world?
I reckon I done talked bout movin pitchers enough to make me one of dem "Greatest of All Time" lists. so here we go!
(and this don't mean Favorite, it means Best (the difference being that Favorite means personal, based on emotion and such, but Best ,to me anyway, means it was superior in all facets, technically, emotionally, script, performances...etc.)
In other words, these are the movies I'd put in a time capsule if I could only save 20 (and my list is 20 instead of 10, cuz 10 ain't enuff!)
If I think it might be a little obscure, I'll put up a you tube trailer
In no particular order:
The Godfather/Godfather part 2-
These count as one , as they are purty much one 7 hr movie really. I can't really find a durn thang wrong with anything, in either one of em.
Apocalypse Now
It's powerful, surreal, impacting and the acting and writing is just stellar
Jaws
My favorite Spielberg movie and it just might be a perfect thriller, this movie may have been ripped off more than any other one in history
Lawrence of Arabia
One of the great performances in history, the landscapes, the scope, the beauty of the cinematography...
The Searchers The greatest of all the John Wayne Movies, and maybe the best John Ford movie ever, I could watch it every day and marvel at it's technique
Taxi Driver
If you've seen it ,you know why, amazing combination of score and film, the best movie about a city ever made
The Third Man The second best film about a city ever made, it's vivid depiction of Vienna in stark B&W is divine
The Seven Samurai Kurosawa's best film IMO, a nearly 4 hr masterstroke of adventure that never feels long
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Leone' changed the way we think of cinema, from his ability to turn a landscape to a closeup, to his use of score and long takes.
The Red Shoes
Powell and Pressburger at their finest, and it's just a story about ballet! but oh what a story!
Star Wars
It's here due to it's innovation and amazing storytelling, we all love it, but it's also an important film
Rear Window
I still don't know how Hitchcock pulled this off, one set, one POV, very few characters, but it's riveting and thrilling!
Schindler's List
very few people put this on their lists, and I frankly don't know why, name a more harrowing realistic glimpse of the holocaust that isn't a documentary?
2001
Kubrick blowing our minds, nuff said
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
another Powell and Pressburger film that is near perfect, it's light and airy, yet riveting and beautiful to look at
The Exorcist
so scary that some people have to shut down and laugh because they can't handle it, a perfect mix of mood, atmosphere and dread
Dr Strangelove (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb)
black comedy has never been this on point, it's a fantastic film that get's overlooked I think
Casablanca Bogie is awesome, Ingrid is beautiful, Claude Rains is gayer than ever, lol, no, it's just amazing it is!!
Rashomon
a film so important they named a condition for it, it's so good that I often think it's Kurosawa's best film instead of seven samurai
The African Queen
2 actors in a boat for 2 hrs, and you will want to watch it over and over
Honorable mention:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
8 1/2
La Dolce Vita
Blade Runner
Alien
Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Ikiru
Raging Bull
Goodfellas
Millers Crossing
Fargo
The Wild Bunch
Once Upon a Time in the West
North by Northwest
Psycho
Dead Man
Black Narcissus
Pulp Fiction
The General
I'm a big ole movie nerd as many of you know. But I've recently caught some more movies by one of my favorite tag teams, Powell and Pressburger. They made them a bunch of fancy ole pitchers during and after ole dubya dubya two, that were just fantastic.
here's a short list and the trailer fer each of em! (my wife/goat likes The Red Shoes, the best)
The Red Shoes
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Black Narcissus
A Matter of Life and Death
there's plenty more of em too! enjoy and when yer done,
