Sunday matinees (May 25, 2003)

Started thinking about movies yesterday on the way in to work. Some of my favorites (Not in any particular order and it’s not a top whatever list) are listed below. There are so many more but these are the ones I was thinking about yesterday.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - This is probably my all-time favorite movie. You might see subtle flaws in it if you’ve seen it as many times as I have but that’s OK. A great deal of joy had to go into making this film. It is quite evident onscreen. It is a bigger-than-life action adventure (My favorite kind of movie and Hollywood is simply not making enough of these for adults).

Almost Famous - This one is about my generation, its music, and its values. I like this one for its little moments. There are so many of them.

Casablanca - Claude Rains quite surprising and completely satisfying “Round up the usual suspects” is still the all-time greatest movie line.

Pulp Fiction - For the John Travolta scenes because most of them also contain Eric Stoltz, Uma Thurman, and Samuel L Jackson.

L.A. Confidential - Joyously seedy. Contains this great setup: Kevin Spacey’s last words, “Rolo Tomassey”.

The Godfather (Parts 1 & 2) - DeNiro’s Vito Corleone was as good or better than Brando’s and I don’t think these two movies could have been any better than they were. I haven’t seen the third one.

Kelly’s Heroes - Kind of a guilty pleasure.

Blade Runner - Another joyously seedy film. Harrison Ford strikes the right tone as the conflicted protagonist and all of the characters around him are terrific.

Fifth in the mirliton series below:

Blog of the day here.

Quote from said blog: "Day nine without the truck. The Rav4 has become increasingly useful for hauling large objects, large quantities of recyclables, and plowing through really deep mud puddles. Side note: it even handles well at around 90."

We'll see what this gets us. -Rob