Monday, February 18, 2013

Favorite Movie(s)

If you're following along (a girl can hope) you know that I'm participating in Blogher's National Blog Posting Month...and it's kicking my butt. I thought choosing the shortest month would somehow make writing everyday go faster. Easy even. 
Not so, my friends. 
But I only have a few more days left, and we're going to make it work. Seriously. 
To do so, I'm ditching today's topic (most romantic read) because I can't think of one. Also, because most of the books I read lately are not romantic stories (wars, science fiction, memoirs). So here's a post I skipped because it wasn't ready...but look at how well that worked out for me. 
NaBloPoMo February 2013
Name the most romantic movie of all time.
Whoa! Talk about a tough one today! I don't proclaim myself as a movie buff (I have a hard time keeping all the names, actors, directors, etc straight) but I watch a lot more movies than the average person. Or maybe not, who knows?

I'm not sure I can boil it down to one movie. I'd have to give you a top five.
City of Angels will always be my guilty pleasure. It makes me cry every.single.damn.time. I can't help it- Mr. Cage is so forlorn, so hopeful. He doesn't make any weird freak-outs, he's not trying to be strange or demented or chaotic. There's no vampires, no bees, no witches. It's a touching love story, the soundtrack is moving and Meg Ryan is just so dang normal, she could be your sister, your cousin or your friend. You just can't help falling in love with both of them.

500 Days of Summer is a sadly sweet story wrapped in layers and layers of wit, quirk and spunk like Christmas Day trifle from your guilt-ridden aunt. Each scene reveals a little more to document the rise and fall of a relationship: part exploration, part revalation, so much hope and hurt and expectation. I love how the film tries to justify the rose-colored world that Joseph Gordon Levitt lives in, ultimately revealing that wishing something (or someone) was a certain way doesn't make it true.
The Notebook is possibly my absolute favortie romantic movie despite the fact I can't stand other Nicholas Sparks movie adaptations. I don't understand the following behind his books- I've read smutty romance novels with more substance. But The Notebook just clenches your heartstrings and refuses to let go. It's the sort of all-encompassing love that you wish you had, you admire and look forward to. Thankfully, this is also a movie my hubby will curl up and watch with me (and take notes!).

I wasn't always a Pride and Prejudice fan. I read this book because it was a classic (I felt super accomplished reading Jane Austen and Margaret Mitchell in fifth grade) and although I liked it, it didn't come alive for me until the movie. Mr. Darcy is SUCH a tortured soul in the way he falls head over heels for Elizabeth, that you can't help but root for their relationship to win out over all societal boundaries. Plus, this movie is gorgeous, so you not only fall in love with the story, but the landscape.
My favorite movie (of all time, not just romance movies) is a small independent film and Sundance 2011 winner Like Crazy. I guess I have a thing for romance stories that are stretched, inherently flawed and ultimately realistic. Their conflict is real, their dialogue is real, their body language, their awkward pauses, their resolution is so normal. If I myself haven't had that fight I know someone who has. It's not happily ever after or the perfect ending, but it's a reflection of life, it's ups and downs and it's versimilitude.

4 comments:

  1. I'm scandalized by your 2005 Pride and Prejudice over the BBC classic. Colin Firth is is absolute perfection. But then again, I think I have a Brit Addiction.

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  2. City of Angels is cool but... Nicolas Cage. He is a WEIRD guy. He wasn't back then... but now I know. And I can't unknow.

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  3. I love your choices and I completely agree! Except "Like Crazy" because I haven't seen that one yet. Now I'm going to have to watch it! The preview looked good.

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  4. Matthew Mcfayden is so scrumptious! (Look at my Brit leaking out...) But I haven't seen the Colin Firth one yet...

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Mrs. E