I'm pretty sure this is the hardest question of all. How do you narrow it down?
So I just narrowed it down to my top two of each.
Actor
Tim Curry. He's one of the creepiest villains ever, but I really love his "against-type" characters, those characters you don't expect him to play. And Dr Poole in Oscar is one of his best against-type characters.
Tom Selleck. I just love the man. I'll watch anything that has him in it, no matter what the movie/show is. Plus, Josh is fine with me watching this debonair man because of his whole man-crush thing. Fine with me.
Actress
Joan Cusack. I identify quite a bit with Joan. Rarely the leading lady, generally the best friend, and usually one of the quirkiest characters. She's great. Who wouldn't want to do a movie with her? Uh, I mean, watch one of her movies. (I put Nine Months on here, not because it's my favorite movie but because the birth scene at the end of the movie is one of Joan's funniest scenes: "This is my moment!" Hilarious!)
Meg Ryan is my other favorite. I love so many of her movies, especially since I'm a sucker for romantic comedies. Meg is the queen of romantic comedies.
This was the most boring movie I've ever seen. Ever.
The only reason I watched it is because it was required for a cinema class I took at Utah State. To the movie's credit, this may be why it was so boring to me -- aren't things worse when they're forced upon you?
Basically, 2 1/2 hours of watching Germans in a submarine during WWII. And you can't even "close your eyes" and listen to the movie because you have to read the stupid subtitles.
Not even worth sticking a clip on here. If you're a glutton for punishment, find it on DVD yourself.
I'm not much of a dancer, but this movie makes me wish I was.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
This is one of the greatest movies ever. I remember watching this movie for the first time when I was about five years old and I was fascinated by it.
A man named Adam goes to town looking for a wife. Within minutes he casts his eye on a small, lively girl named Milly and he marries her to take her to the backwoods to cook and clean for him and his six brothers. In a nutshell, there's tons of dancing, singing, and swooning. Of course, Adam learns he can't just expect his wife to be his cleaning lady.
The choreography in this movie is phenomenal. Incredible. Amazing. Cinematic history.
I don't even think I'm exaggerating.
And, of course, everyone who watches this has their favorite brother or girl. My favorite brother was Benjamin. He had "heavenly eyes and just the right size." Funny, I also think that of Josh. I always thought it would be fun to play Dorcus on stage, especially since she pairs up with Benjamin. And I love the name Milly, so she's one of my favorites too!
This clip is the entire barn raising dance. It's a bit longer than most of the other clips I've posted, but soooo worth it!
Hollywood can never remake this one, I don't think. But I'd love to see the original remastered and in widescreen.
Actually, it began a couple years later when Annie came to HBO. My mom taped it for me. I watched it over and over and over and over.
I can sing the songs. I can quote the dialogue. I can mimic most of the choreography (I've never been much of a dancer).
I started watching this movie at such a young age that I didn't understand everything that was going on or was being said. As I got older I'd pick up on new things here and there: Miss Hannigan's "Bonus Iries" she sings about in one of the songs -- took me years to realize she meant "Buenos Aires." It became fun finding nuances in a movie I had seen hundreds of times before.
I know every bit of this movie. Wait. That's a lie. Someone taped over about 30 seconds of Mom's VHS copy during Annie's dialogue to Daddy Warbucks when she first meets him. I don't know what they say there. It's the only part of the movie I can't quote.
Movie synopsis: Orphan girl overcomes adversity and gets adopted by one of the richest men in the world during the Great Depression.
I've talked about this movie before. In case you don't remember, Carol Burnett is the most amazing person in the entire world and I've wanted to be Miss Hannigan on Broadway for most of my life. I also love Albert Finney, Bernadette Peters, and of course, Tim Curry.
I don't think it's a coincidence that I've already mentioned Carol Burnett and Albert Finney on this countdown.
In 1998, I began writing to Josh while he was on his mission. He was serving in South Africa, so our letters took about four weeks to reach the other person. It was a slow beginning to our friendship. But the last six weeks he was there we were allowed to email to each other. Nowadays it's not unheard of for a missionary to use email. Or even Facebook. But in the olden days getting to email once a week was a big deal.
That started out our courtship. Josh got off the airplane (after a couple days' worth of travel) and it didn't take long for me to know I was going to marry him. It was bliss. I was completely head over heels in love (still am) but I was letting Josh make the first move. I let him think he was in charge.
We spent everyday together after he got home. We spent most of Christmas Day and Night together. And, again, everyday after that.
Finally, New Years Eve came around. Josh and I sat cozily by each other on the cold Colorado night as we watched a movie together. After the movie was over, we stood out on the deck of my parents' home and braved the freezing night air as we watched fireworks explode over Pikes Peak. It was beautiful, serene, and romantic.
At least it would have been if our parents hadn't been there watching the movie and fireworks with us. As our moms kissed our dads, Josh and I stood there and awkwardly hugged as midnight struck. It was going to be our first kiss, but.... yeah. You get the idea.
So six hours later as I was about to board a plane to visit my friends in Utah, Josh walked me to the gate (yes, you could still do that back then) and there I let him kiss me. He'll tell you I kissed him, but I was very aware of letting him be the man of the hour.
I will always associate the movie we watched that night with our first kiss.
Godzilla
See? You kinda needed the story to understand why a sub-standard movie like Godzilla would make me think of kissing my husband. The acting was mediocre, at best. The plot was fairly predictable, after all there have already been about 60 movies starring the monster. And I can't even tell you how many times I've watched the movie since, or if I even have. But it is a fun memory of that night.
I remember that my dad got the Footloose soundtrack for his birthday in 1984. It was a vinyl record and I grew up listening to it and dancing around. I wasn't allowed to see the movie. I was in kindergarten, after all.
Seven years later my family moved to Utah. One of the first things my new friends told me was that the movie Footloose was filmed there. Just down the freeway a bit. Okay, like 60 miles, but still. I had moved to Utah with a bit of a bad attitude. I was 14 and had just moved away from my first long-term best friend (moving a million times will make long-term friends a bit hard to collect). But the thought of being able to see the mill from the movie from just off the freeway softened my heart a little.
It really didn't take long but I learned to love Utah. A large piece of my heart will always call it home. And often when I drive through American Fork I make sure I stop for gas at the Phillips 66 station across the street from the ever-famous mill.
I thought I heard a rumor that the mill is gone now. The Phillips 66 may be too. I really don't know since I haven't gotten to stop there much over the last couple years. But American Fork, UT, reminds me of Footloose and Footloose reminds me of American Fork.
The movie itself is about a bunch of repressed hick-kids that just want to dance. That's the gist, anyway.
Here's one of my favorite scenes. I love watching the cowboy learn to dance. Although I would've been mortified if the guy I was dancing with pulled out some of his final moves in the scene.
And just in case you hadn't heard, a new version of the movie is coming out in October of this year. It'll star some dancers in the lead roles (Kenny Wormald as Ren and Julianne Hough as Ariel -- Kenny is new to me and Julianne was on Dancing With the Stars until she left for her singing career). I don't recognize a lot of names on the cast list, but Dennis Quaid plays the Reverend and Andie MacDowell plays his wife. I'll watch it even though it was filmed in Georgia instead of the now overly-populated American Fork, but I'm not sure if I'll see it in the theater. I might wait til it's in the Redbox.
I decided to interrupt my movie challenge with some photo fun I had tonight.
Which kid is which?
Okay, it's an easy one, but thought I'd share my fun.
Plus, I found these treasures too.
The one on the left was taken of me in 1998 when my BFF Cindy and I went to Disneyland together. I thought this was a silly enough picture to send to the guy from my new ward that was on a mission -- the same guy whose mom tricked me into writing her son, a man I'd never met before. Said guy received this picture and thought it was the weirdest thing to receive, but decided to give me another chance. That former missionary is on the right with two of our four children. He's trying to make the same face I did 11 years earlier. Sorry, dear. Didn't quite happen.
Have you ever met my Grampa? He's a fairly large man and even at the tender young age of 83 he still has a pretty full head of hair. He joined the Air Force as soon as he could and flew in Korea, Vietnam, and the Berlin Air Lift. He intimidated me until I was about 20. Okay, maybe not that old, but to a little kid he's a gruff man. He's lived life, literally flown all around the world, and met some very colorful characters.
My dad, me (holding Emma), Grampa, Gramma in 2001
I know this because of his many stories. Many, many stories.
I love sitting and listening to Grampa tell his stories. I wish I could go and visit him and Gramma for a couple weeks and just record their stories. The oral history is amazing, but we need it written for future generations since oral histories rarely survive these days.
The movie that reminds me of my Grampa....
Big Fish
Basically, I've just given you the premise of this movie. It's a great one. One I like to watch a couple times a year.
