FQ: Guilty pleasure film
ROUTE 1 staff will take an INSERVICE BREAK on successive Fridays after this week's FRIDAY QUESTION. Staff will participate in work-study apprentice Annika's First Communion celebration and a little event I like to call MY BIRTHDAY (May 3). The blog will continue to be updated every day, so keep reading.
The ever-popular FQ will return on FRIDAY, MAY 11.
This week, ROUTE 1 readers answered the following FRIDAY QUESTION:
"Is there a film you probably shouldn't like, but you really do?"
Mary N.-P. -- "The Year of Living Dangerously," a 1983 film by Peter Weir, starring Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hunt. About the lead-up to the uprising in Indonesia with Mel Gibson as a foreign journalist. Don't know really how good it is, but I get completely wrapped up in it every time I watch it... I can feel the heat and tension (sexual and political) until the wild ending.
Steve M. -- "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective." And the Austin Powers movies.
Scout S. -- I have been thinking about this, and I can't come up with an answer at all.
This is the closest I can come:
I had to go and see "Titanic" when it was in it's last weeks in theatres, because I was working at an ad agency, and we were pitching to Reel.com. Their big thing was that they were about to offer the VHS of "Titanic" at a super low price when it came out on video, and we were tailoring our pitch to that fact. I needed to see the film in order to write pitch ideas, even though I actively didn't give a sh*t about the movie.
I had also just come out of a long relationship that ended poorly, though I was certain it was going to be a good, solid thing. Thus, I journeyed alone to see Leo and Kate's big adventure. And lo & behold, when he slipped off that piece of debris and sank at the end, oh my GOD was I bawling like a baby. Even that f*cking Celine Dion song got to me. What a big sucker. I've never seen the film again, but I *did* come up with the pitch that won our agency the account. I got fired a few months later, but that's a different story.
Mike M. -- All I can think of is "Napoleon Dynamite," but why shouldn't I like that?
Erik H. -- There are some compelling reasons why I shouldn't like "West Side Story:"
1) It was an immensely popular, mainstream success, with 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
2) Natalie Wood didn't get to sing her own songs.
3) Dancing guys.
There are even MORE compelling reasons why I LOVE "West Side Story:"
1) The collaboration between Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim is simply remarkable. I watched the DVD again last night with a critical eye and listened with a critical ear, waiting for a dud song. "Maria," "Tonight," "America," "I Feel Pretty" and "Somewhere" are not only the opposite of duds, they are stone-cold classics. Even a relatively minor song such as "Gee, Officer Krupke" is memorable.
2) There were two geniuses in the director's chair. Usually, two directors is a potential problem. Not here. Not when the two directors are choreographer Jerome Robbins and former star editor Robert Wise. Wise directed "Curse of the Cat People" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" before "West Side Story." Everyone appreciates how difficult it could be to turn a play into a film. Wise made it look easy in "West Side Story."
3) Dancing guys.
Back to Robbins and his genius: The first time we see the finger-snapping Jets members leap into a dance move while walking, it feels like a burst of excitement. It feels like "Wizard of Oz" when it switches from monochrome to color.
The ever-popular FQ will return on FRIDAY, MAY 11.
This week, ROUTE 1 readers answered the following FRIDAY QUESTION:
"Is there a film you probably shouldn't like, but you really do?"
Mary N.-P. -- "The Year of Living Dangerously," a 1983 film by Peter Weir, starring Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hunt. About the lead-up to the uprising in Indonesia with Mel Gibson as a foreign journalist. Don't know really how good it is, but I get completely wrapped up in it every time I watch it... I can feel the heat and tension (sexual and political) until the wild ending.
Steve M. -- "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective." And the Austin Powers movies.
Scout S. -- I have been thinking about this, and I can't come up with an answer at all.
This is the closest I can come:
I had to go and see "Titanic" when it was in it's last weeks in theatres, because I was working at an ad agency, and we were pitching to Reel.com. Their big thing was that they were about to offer the VHS of "Titanic" at a super low price when it came out on video, and we were tailoring our pitch to that fact. I needed to see the film in order to write pitch ideas, even though I actively didn't give a sh*t about the movie.
I had also just come out of a long relationship that ended poorly, though I was certain it was going to be a good, solid thing. Thus, I journeyed alone to see Leo and Kate's big adventure. And lo & behold, when he slipped off that piece of debris and sank at the end, oh my GOD was I bawling like a baby. Even that f*cking Celine Dion song got to me. What a big sucker. I've never seen the film again, but I *did* come up with the pitch that won our agency the account. I got fired a few months later, but that's a different story.
Mike M. -- All I can think of is "Napoleon Dynamite," but why shouldn't I like that?
Erik H. -- There are some compelling reasons why I shouldn't like "West Side Story:"
1) It was an immensely popular, mainstream success, with 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture.
2) Natalie Wood didn't get to sing her own songs.
3) Dancing guys.
There are even MORE compelling reasons why I LOVE "West Side Story:"
1) The collaboration between Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim is simply remarkable. I watched the DVD again last night with a critical eye and listened with a critical ear, waiting for a dud song. "Maria," "Tonight," "America," "I Feel Pretty" and "Somewhere" are not only the opposite of duds, they are stone-cold classics. Even a relatively minor song such as "Gee, Officer Krupke" is memorable.
2) There were two geniuses in the director's chair. Usually, two directors is a potential problem. Not here. Not when the two directors are choreographer Jerome Robbins and former star editor Robert Wise. Wise directed "Curse of the Cat People" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" before "West Side Story." Everyone appreciates how difficult it could be to turn a play into a film. Wise made it look easy in "West Side Story."
3) Dancing guys.
Back to Robbins and his genius: The first time we see the finger-snapping Jets members leap into a dance move while walking, it feels like a burst of excitement. It feels like "Wizard of Oz" when it switches from monochrome to color.
posted by erik hogstrom at 6:07 AM
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