Have Some "Top of the Mind" Fun!
 December 21, 2006   |
Want to have a fun discussion around the water cooler or on a speed date (surely no one really does that)? Top of the mind, rattle off your favorite five movies. The answers may surprise you. Mine surprised me. It's easy to get uppity when naming the all time greatest anything - we tend to overshoot with hyperbole. In this case, however, I just asked myself, what are those movies that keep playing over and over and over and every time I see them, I have to catch at least a few frames? Even if I've seen the movies 100 times each.
(Photo cap: Anneliese Wolfgang aka Princess Leia©2006nvanschmus)
Here's what I came up with.
1. Star Wars, the original. (For newbies, it is now called A New Hope.)
When Joseph Campbell devotes an entire lecture series to the underlying social significance of Star Wars, you known you are looking at a Monomyth. Campbell who is known through The Power of Myth, the PBS TV series based on his books, was an eloquent voice in the evolution and cultural significance of mythology.
According to media critic Steve Persalls, Campbell's books, Masks of God and The Hero with a Thousand Faces, are premium guides to the concept of the Hero Cycle, "a course of events that occurs as a rite of initiation in every myth, pinpointing the need for mentors, villains, elixirs and jesters along the way. Each step can be traced in the adventures of Star Wars hero Luke Skywalker."
I'll wager Star Wars is the favorite movie of hords of myth lovers like myself.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl
Here we have the introduction, from scratch, directly on to celluloid, of a fantastic new larger-than-life character pulled right out of the quirky, creative mind of Johnny Depp.
In the past, most "super" film heroes have spent decades building a following on the flimsy pages of colorful newsprint-style comic books.
Captain Jack Sparrow, however, wasn't even a full-fledged figure on the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Walt Disney World. From a stick figure concept provided by the screenwriters, Depp created Captain Jack, a character who will be with us from now on.
Big grosses, big DVD sales, big fan base and big fun makes for an all-time movie favorite! Look for POTC3 in May, 2007.
3. Jaws
Jaws is on my list as a fovorite movie because those razor teeth and gobblin' choppers took a bite out of the summer box-office in 1975 and in so doing burped out the first of the summer blockbusters.
Jaws gets additional kudos for being a tour de force horror flick as well as being the big break for Steven Speilberg. 4. Die Hard It's difficult to parse the favorite movie action-adventurer category between Die Hard with Bruce Willis and The Terminator, starring Arnold (who needs no link) Schwarzenegger, both stellar genre flicks that shall never grow stale. Although, "I'll be back" is a catch phrase, so is, "Yippee kai yay M-----------." In an age of terrorism, let's give the nod to Die Hard. Alan Rickman is an all time best villain, only topping his slimy performance here by his portrayal of the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991's Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Oh, he's in those Harry Potter things, too. As for Bruce Willis, the 'Yippee-Kai-Yay" hero (aka John McClane) still has it happenin' with the release of Die Hard 4.0, Live Hard or Die Trying, currently slated for release on June 29, 2007. Now that's huge. 5. Wizard of Oz Ubiquitous, and rightly so. When it comes to The Wizard of Oz, nearly everyone has a personal imprint forever embedded in his or her psyche. Perhaps it's the first brush with abject terror at those flying monkeys, or the unofrgettable music or the indelibly colorful scenery; nevertheless, few will dispute that The Wizard of Oz is a one of a kind classic. "I'll get you, my little pretty!" Still gives me the shakes...There are many wonderful elements in this film; it merits an essay of its own. These are my favorite films. What are yours? Photo: Anneliese Wolfgang ©2006 nanci van schmus
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