So I got a job at this uber-hip video store. Their specialty is silent/foreign/indie/obscure and otherwise hard to find movies. I’m going to get my stickers soon (“Brooke says: ‘Sass-o-matic!’”) to put on my favorite flicks, which shouldn’t be hard. But more importantly, I have to compile a list of 10 movies, either favorites (boring) or some clever/interesting list, and put it next to a polroid of myself. Like top 10 food movies. The owner’s put his dog’s picture up with dog themed movies, or with dog in the title. It’s cute. But I’m a obsessive nutcase about music and film, so mine has to be really wierd. And the purpose of the board is to give attention to films that might not have otherwise gotten the attention, ie: indie or what-have-you.
So I need thoughts on clever film lists. I’d put this in IMHO, but I don’t need actual opinions on films, just suggestions of categories. w00h00!
How about something like movies with Naked in the title? Like Naked Lunch and Naked Gun?
You see, it’s funny cause, well, noone’s naked in those movies. Well, maybe “Naked Lunch.” It’s been a long time since I saw it and, truth be told, my attention kind of wandered after the whole cockroach/typewriter bit.
I’ll think of more.
(You know, nowandzen.com sells t-shirts with the "swimming riddles Nietzsche quote on them. Thought you might be interested.)
I’ve got one: Top 10 Movies With Titles That mention shoes. It’s weird, there are a lot of great movies with shoes in the title, and you could a picture of your shoes up. No, I don’t have a shoe fetish, but I was just looking through my movies, and noticed the movie Sneakers, a great movie that doesn’t get much attention. Then I remembered The Man With One Red Shoe, with Tom Hanks. Some other shoe/footwear/feet movies: The Red Shoe Diaries The Barefoot Executive The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe (your store might have this one, as it is a french farce) My Left Foot The Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman Das Boot
Sorry, I know it’s a pretty crappy idea, but I thought I may as well pass it on.
One of my friends is a programming exec at Turner Broadcasting (TNT, TCM, and a couple of other nets, specifically). In the early days of TNT, they used to do “theme” days similar to the lists you’re describing, promoting them with the tag line “Look for the hook”; i.e., figure out what these films have in common. One September, they decided to make the whole month have a Labor Day connection by making each day’s theme a particular occupation (the day devoted to piano players had the internal name of “Pianist Envy”).
I suppose you could be oh so self-referential and come up with a list of ten films starring or directed or written by someone named “Brooke” or “Brook” (last names to count, of course, to give you a wide range of options). Or with the word “brook” in the title, though I can’t think of any offhand.
A list of films whose titles are film terms would also probably appeal to the cinephile set – Day for Night comes to mind, but I don’t know if you’d find nine more.
As a fallback, you could always have a Dick Miller film festival list. With over fifty movies to choose from, you’re almost sure to find ten that would make an interesting list. You could probably fill most of the list with films in which his character’s name is Walter Paisley, including Bucket of Blood, of course.
How about anything with Adam Ant. Those are pretty fricken obscure if you ask me. I actually sat through one. I was in Bahrain at the time, and it was about the only movie that was there that I’d not seen. I think it was called ‘Trust Me’ (had to check the IMdB for that one…]
That was a fun time. Someone brought Liar Liar, which I thought was funny until it became the ONLY movie that played in the movie tent. I bet at one time I could have recited every line in that movie exactly how it was… ugh…
Well, you could go with a “rural” theme, you know movies that are set in the sticks. Call the list “the pick of the hicks” or something. It could include :
Fargo
SlingBlade
Raising Arizona
Blood Simple
ect.
Or maybe go with a “one degree of Kevin Bacon” thing. This film stars _________ who was in ________ with Kevin Bacon. Perhaps you could think of a more obscure or interesting actor other than Kevin. “One degree of Sting” or “One Degree of Fozzie Bear” (think of all the cameos in those Muppet films).
Dirty Harry
The Maltese Falcon
Vertigo
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 version)
The Times of Harvey Milk
What’s Up, Doc?
San Francisco
Chan Is Missing
Greed
The Rock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
The Conversation
Barbary Coast
I Remember Mama
Bullitt
How about movies you’ve seen but couldn’t quite figure out what they were about?
I’d put Eraserhead on that one?
Or the top ten most twisted?
Tough Guys Don’t Dance Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills Eating Raoul (love that Paul Bartel) Blood Simple Blue Velvet (hey, did somebody lose an ear?) Boxing Helena Naked Lunch (my mom actually looked at me and said, Did that typewriter just turn into a bug? I had gotten her stoned…)
I’d say Eraserhead but I don’t think one director should have more than on flick per list. So, you’re on your own for the last three.
Winooski, Nemo? Absolutely not. I am a city snob, and Winooski is the butt of many Burlingtonian jokes. My friend the physist wrote a theory about any given bar at any given time in Winooski, there is a crack deal going down. Hah.
Good suggestions, I might go with agisofia’s suggestion or something close to it. Top Ten Strange and Slightly Surreal Movies. Fight Club, Three Kings, Eraserhead, Pi, Dr. Strangelove, etc.
Movies with Meat in the Title! Perfect for a New England college town!
KANGAROO STEAK (1930)
PARDON MY LAMB CHOP (1948)
ADAM’S RIB (1949)
PORK CHOP HILL (1959)
THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN (1965)
THE FAST LIVER (1968)
HOT DIGGITY DOG (1969)
DUCK, YOU SUCKER! (1971)
BIG BEEF AT THE OK CORRAL (1974)
MOTHER TONGUE (1979)
THE STORY OF THE DANCING FROG (1989)
I’d salivate a little more over A Fish Grilled Kinda or maybe a tender Clockwork Duck a la Orange. MP’s The Holy Grill might hit the spot as winter draws in.
How about a longest title list? Start with Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the Eight Dimension and go from there.
Or better still, Flaky John Lithgow vs. Serious John Lithgow. Flaky has Buckaroo Bonzai again, and The World According to Garp, serious would include Footloose and Terms of Endearment. And if you have a copy of his outtake from L.A. Story, I’d put that on the flaky side of the ledger.
How about a list of movies starring people who share the same RL names as Dopers?
I, for instance, have a role in a Canadian indie film entitled Scalpers, which I would very much like to see, if only for my name on the screen. So Swiddles, is this a rental store or can you buy them? If so, can you find a copy of Scalpers??
I’d chastise you for the demeaning stereotyping of a fine city, except that I mostly agree with you. But Winooski does offer three things: a good book store (at the Champlain Mills), good waffles (at Sneakers), and an excellent video store for renting hard-to-find videos. Regretably, I don’t recall the name, but it’s in a white building with a handicapped ramp, on the main street of Winooski approximately across from where the old Dairy Queen was (directions which obviously make no sense to 99% of the people on reading this). When I visit my family in New York, I drive over to Vermont just to rent movies there.
But if you tell us the name of your store, I promise I’ll check it out next time I’m in Burlington and I’ll be sure to ask the owner for the Sass-o-matic pick of the week.
Another attempt to influence the viewing habits of your customers:
The Rainbow Collection
The Hunt for Red October
A Clockwork Orange
Yellow Submarine
How Green Was My Valley
Blue Velvet
Chasing Indigo
Violet’s Visit
