Tag: 50 Day Movie Challenge

50DMC #3: Movie Seen Most Often

On July 1, 2011

The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.

Today’s prompt: What movie have you seen most often?

I was about to say the movie I’ve seen most often would likely be Rear Window, which I already used as my favorite, but it’s actually far more likely to be Oklahoma! Yes, the exclamation point is part of the title. These Oklahomans are serious about their state. Anyway, there was a time in my life, probably around ages 11-13 or so, when I watched Oklahoma! over and over and over. I had my dad hook up an audio tape recorder to the VCR so I could record the whole movie on tapes and listen to them when I couldn’t watch the movie, like in the car. Obsessive? Why, yes. Yes, I was.

I could recite the entire movie for memory at one point, and I was so into it, I had a couple of my friends doing it to. Apparently I was more of a leader as a child than I ever thought I was. I still have most of the songs memorized, and the dialogue comes back pretty quickly if I have a bit of a push. I have absolutely no idea how many total times I’ve seen the movie, but it has to measure well into double-digits, and if you include how many times I listened to those audio rips? Dozens. It’s been a while, though. Might be time to dust it off again. Or I could just go through it in my head. :)

The clip I would use is Ado Annie singing “I Cain’t Say No,” since she’s my favorite part of the movie (and my first introduction to Gloria Grahame, who’s now one of my favorite actresses), but the only high-quality clip of it on YouTube isn’t embeddable. Click on the image to go watch it on YouTube.

50DMC #2: First Movie in Theatres

By Jandy

On June 30, 2011

In Film

The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.

Today’s prompt: What was the first movie you saw in theatres?

We didn’t go out to theatres a lot when I was growing up; we mostly stayed home and watched old movies, for which I am now very grateful. I don’t remember missing it at the time or anything, either. I’m not sure which re-release it was, but the first thing I remember seeing in theatres was a re-release of Disney’s Pinocchio that my older cousin took me to see when he was in town. So, yeah, it was still an old movie. :) I’m pretty sure my first new release movie in theatres was Hot to Trot, which I thought was vastly inferior to Mr. Ed, as talking horses go. But back to Pinocchio.

Not sure I can remember much about it from that particular viewing, though I have, of course, seen it since then. I am pretty sure I have memories of the kids getting turned into donkeys, and that I found that much more terrifying than the giant whale. Rewatching it now, I can see why. I also remember seeing at a young age some show where people got turned into dinosaurs, and an SNL sketch where people got turned into giants. And I do remember going through a phase of being afraid that I was going to turn into something other than what I was. Huh. I never connected that before (though I really remember my fear being far more based on those other two shows than on Pinocchio).

50DMC #1 – My Favorite Movie

By Jandy

On June 29, 2011

In Film

The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions.

Today’s prompt: What is your favorite movie?

When you first meet someone and they find out you’re in to movies, it’s not long before “so what’s your favorite movie” gets asked. Nice of this challenge to just jump right into to the point and get it over with. I probably speak for a lot of film buffs in saying that in one way, you pretty much end up just choosing something to call your favorite when people ask, because really, once you’ve seen several hundred or thousand widely varied films, it’s difficult to be sure. Services like Flickchart help a lot, though, building a ranked list by asking you to simply choose between two movies over and over. In this case, my rote chosen answer and my Flickchart agree: my favorite film of all time is Hitchcock’s Rear Window.

It’s a film I’ve seen probably fifteen times, and yet if I ever happen to flip by it on TV, I’m going to watch it to the end, no question. There are just so many layers to it that even now, I’m seeing and focusing on different things every time I watch it. It’s a great mystery film as Jeff tries to figure out whether his neighbor across the courtyard has killed his wife. It’s a great suspense film as the murder gets a little too close to home. It’s a great experimental film as Hitchcock confines his camera in the room with Jeff, binding our perspective to his.

It’s a great romance as Jeff and Lisa muddle their way through their comfortable yet troubled relationship. It’s a great ethical think piece as we consider the implications, both negative and positive, of Jeff’s observing his neighbors. It’s a great character study as we explore Jeff’s personality and how it affects everyone around him. It’s a great meta-film as we notice how similar Jeff watching his neighbors from afar is to us watching the movie itself (and what a shock it is when Jeff’s “entertainment” threatens his loved ones and then himself). It’s a great comedy thanks to Thelma Ritter’s impeccable support and Hitch’s own sly wit. And it’s great because it pulls all these disparate elements together in such a way that they complement, comment on, and build on each other to create what I think is honestly a pretty much flawless film.

50 Day Movie Challenge

By Jandy

On June 28, 2011

In Film

This challenge has been going around on Facebook and a friend is doing it on his blog, too. Since I’m not that much of a Facebook person, and am always looking for good blogging motivation, I thought I’d take up his idea and do it here.

Basically it’s a set of 50 questions encouraging you to answer specific questions with a few paragraphs and a movie clip. I think the original challenge is more clip-specific, but some of my answers don’t have clips on YouTube, so I’ll do my best to use clips, but images may have to do in some cases. Lots of these questions are pretty tough, and lots of them could also have a different answer if you asked me next week. In any case, they’re all good for getting thoughts flying freely and discussion going.

Here’s the full list of questions:

1) Your favorite movie
2) The first movie you remember seeing in theatres
3) The movie youâ€™ve seen the most (repeatedly) in your life
4) Your favorite animated film
5) Your favorite documentary
6) Your least favorite movie by your favorite director
7) Your favorite movie soundtrack
8) Your favorite opening sequence
9) Your favorite movie ending
10) The movie that least deserved to win Best Picture at the Oscars
11) A movie you walked out on in theatres
12) Your favorite male performance
13) Your favorite female performance
14) A movie that made you cry
15) Biggest movie character crush
16) The scariest movie youâ€™ve ever seen
17) The funniest movie youâ€™ve ever seen
18) A movie that disturbed you
19) A movie youâ€™re surprised you enjoyed
20) A movie you thought you would love but were disappointed
21) A movie that most fans and critics loved (but you hated)
22) A movie that most fans and critics hated (but you loved)
23) A movie you think is critically or commercially overrated
24) The most beautiful movie youâ€™ve ever seen
25) The best-scripted movie youâ€™ve ever seen
26) The most embarrassing movie in your personal collection
27) An iconic movie that you still havenâ€™t seen
28) A movie you REFUSE to see
29) The one movie you think everyone should see
30) The last movie you saw in theatres
31) The worst movie youâ€™ve ever seen
32) Favorite sequel
33) Favorite remake
34) favorite series
35) Favorite book-to-screen adaptation
36) Most Uncomfortable Date Movie
37) A film you could never watch with your parents
38) Movie World that you would most want to live in
39) Favourite Musical
40) Favourite Movie Death
41) A film that you quote most
42) A movie that you would love to tour the locations for
43) Your favourite music scene from a non-musical
44) Your favourite comfort film
45) A movie that turned you on
46) A film you would like to remake
47) Currently unfilmed book or idea that should be a film
48) Movie Scene That Most Makes You Wince
49) A Movie that will always make you think of a special moment
50) Favourite Black and white film

I’m going to do my darndest to get one of these in every day, and I’ll link them from this post as I do them.