The Voices of Reason: Addictive Movies

The Voices of Reason: Addictive Movies
by Various Authors

It's 8:15pm. Your sitting on the couch after dinner, flipping through the channels, looking for something to melt your mind for the next 15 minutes or so before getting back up to do the dishes. When you regain consciousness, it's 11pm and you'll need a power washer and a putty knife to get the dried food off your dishes. Oh well, small price to pay for the pleasure of seeing a movie you've already seen twenty times.

Question: What is the one movie that, when you stumble upon it while channel-surfing, is the most likely to suck you in?

Vance Macdonald—This was tough to whittle down to one. I ended up going with The Blues Brothers, since it is essentially a string of (almost) standalone skits, so you can pick it up anywhere. (Others I considered: The Big Chill, Blade Runner, Joe Dirt, Breaking Away, Contact, Office Space, and Papillon.)

Ruth Torres—For me, it has to be The Breakfast Club. This is mostly because it reminds me of when I was in junior high.

Steve Finkelstein—Obvious choices for classic movies that I could watch endlessly on cable: Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Part II, Psycho, the original King Kong. (Side Note: Peter Jackson's current remake is quite good, with some brilliant sequences. However, at 3 hours, 7 minutes, it tends to be heavy-handed and overlong. The original film is one of the most exciting movies ever made; at nearly half the length of the remake, it doesn't waste a single frame.)

More current choices would be Chicago and Spider-Man 2, sterling examples of the superhero and musical genres.

Keep your eyes peeled for my next Babblog article, which will be my personal choices would be for the upcoming Oscar nominations, as well as my belated picks for the best of cinema ' 05. I've been A.W.O.L for awhile & I don't want to disappoint my ardent fan base :)

Mike Daniels—There are a few, but A Few Good Men always gets me to stick around or at least have the movie playing in the background if I'm doing something else while channel-surfing. Despite the fact that Tom Cruise has recently flipped, he plays a great role in this film with that boyhood charm that has so many ladies falling for him. And who could not love Demi Moore even with a lesser role? One of the best scenes and best lines in cinema history takes place at the end of this film, and, if nothing else, pulls the audience in to once again see Jack utter those famous words, "You can't handle the truth!"

Brenda McAlice—One of the reasons I hate watching television is that I hate getting sucked in. I guess if you find yourself channel surfing, there is a good possibility that you're looking to kill some time anyway, but it's rarely the amount of time that you actually end up wasting when you get sucked in to a movie. It's even worse when it is a movie that you happen to own, and could watch at any time. And worse still when you will stay there on the couch and continue to watch, even when it's on TBS, even with bad editing for explicit language and excruciatingly long commercials.

For me, The Shawshank Redemption is the movie that mocks me with its ability to suck me in. I am pretty sure that no matter how many times I watch it, Andy Dufresne will dig his tunnel to freedom and skip town for Mexico to later be joined by Red, but for some reason I have to stick around until the end to make sure. Stupid TV! Stupid Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, sucking me into your finely woven tale of triumph over injustice! Stupid me for sitting in front of the dumb-box, watching the same thing for the fiftieth time instead of doing something productive! Grrrr!

Dileep Rao—in response to what movie can I not stop watching when it comes on, I have a twofold response. First, by sheer inundation and my affection for the film, I have to select The Shawshank Redemption, (which was in a rotation that put it on at least thrice a week on TNT for a few years.

In terms of quality, though, I would select either of The Godfather films. I don't care when they come on, I can't help but watch them through. Except Part III, which catches me for moments but then deflates as I watch it...

Mark May—Lately, I have been watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy on cable. The movies were so rich that I have been returning to pick up what I missed (yes, I must be the only person without any of the DVDs). I also enjoy all the Charlie Kaufman movies.

In general, I usually brake for North by Northwest and Rear Window. The writing is terrific, the direction impeccable and the leading ladies are
stunning. I also have a weakness for The Princess Bride. There are so many scenes that I love watching endlessly - Miracle Max, Inigo Montoya finally facing the six-fingered man ("My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."), Wallace Shawn as he lisps "Inconceivable!". I never seem to tire of this movie.

Two more - The Adventures of Robin Hood, which has the best filmed swordplay ever, and Breaking Away, which always has me standing and cheering at the end.

Brant Wellman—I have to admit that I can get sucked into just about any movie on television when I’m in the mood. Whenever I turn on the television, I’m in the mood to kill some time (along with brain cells). However, there is one movie that no matter what the circumstances, I will sit down in front of and avoid doing anything else—the James Cameron masterpiece, Aliens.

This movie contained the essence of the “guy action film” genre when it first came out, and to this day there are few films that can compete with it when it comes to adrenaline filled action. I don’t think there is any other movie that was more frequently quoted while I was in high school and maybe even college. Yes, I admit, I was a bit of a role-playing geek during those years, and during those sessions the all-time most quoted line was definitely, “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.” Even if you don’t really get the role-playing thing and how well so many of those lines apply, you’ve still got to admit that it’s a lot of fun to say, “Stop your grinnin’ and drop your linen.”

Martell—Looking back, there are a few movies that fit this bill for me. For sure, The Shawshank Redemption is one of them, as it has managed to suck me in more times than I can count (including during a nice romantic Thanksgiving trip with my wife to Sonoma). When I was in high school, it probably had to be Back to the Future, and not just because the lead character shared a name with me.

But most recently, there has been another film that has jumped to the front of the list, and that is Ocean's Eleven. It's got everything—a great story, great lines, and a fantastic cast—and no matter how many times I've seen it (more than eleven, that's for sure), I still enjoy it.

To submit a topic for The Voices of Reason, or to be added to the VoR Shout Out List, send an e-mail to martell@babblog.com.