Saturday, December 02, 2006

These are a few of my favorite things

Somehow I've become known for my negative opinions on things like movies, guns, music, fake boobs, and various other things. I think I've figured out why that is. If something sucks, I'll say so in a nanosecond. Generally, if I like it, I won't talk about it all that much. There's just so much worthless crap in the world that I don't have enough time to comment on everything good that counteracts the garbage.

That being the case, I thought it might be fun to list some of my favorites, rather than all that stuff that I dislike. Now, this list is totally variable. My favorites are always subject to change, and the lists may vary in length, as well. I should also admit that I infuriate some liberal tree hugger with my opinions. They're dual purpose like that, which I appreciate. These may be in numerical order, but chances are they're not exactly in a set order. I may explain why I love 'em, I may not. Several of these are timeless enough to not require explanation.
Favorite Movies, Comedies:
  1. Caddyshack. One of the two movies that changed my life...or at least my sense of humor
  2. Stripes. This is the other one
  3. Ghostbusters. Are you seeing a trend here yet?
  4. Strange Brew
  5. Team America: World Police
Favorite Movies, Action:
  1. Pirates of the Carribean. Might as well make this all of them, even if the last one's not out yet.
  2. Heat. This one's worth watching just for the epic gunfight outside the bank
  3. The Ghost and The Darkness. The only movie to give me the same tingly sensation that bear hunting did.
  4. Bad Boys II. A lot of profanity, but such a well constructed buddy flick that I can't help but love it
  5. The Buccaneer. I wish this one was released on DVD. Its one of the greatest pirate/freedom type flicks of all time. I love this movie!
  6. Traffic. Had some goofy parts to it, but unlike Syriana, it made some sense and managed to tie the ends up pretty cleanly.
  7. Gladiator. It has epicality.
  8. 13th Warrior. I'm not generally an Antonio Banderas fan, but he was good in this one. This is one of those movies that I throw in to watch over and over again when nothing else sounds good.
Movies, western:
  1. Rio Bravo. Its John Wayne. All John Wayne movies rule.
  2. El Dorado. Essentially the same story as Rio Bravo, but I still dig it the most. John Wayne for president, post humously.
  3. Silverado. The best blending of comedy and drama in just about any genre. It both trancends and defines the western.
  4. Tombstone. This movie caused an epic road trip to the town. Good times.
Movies, Sci Fi/Horror:
  1. The Fifth Element. I love this movie. Its got everything, including Milla.
  2. I, Robot. Between the effects and the story, its pretty engrossing. enjoyable fun.
  3. Serenity. I'm not a huge fan of the series; I didn't see most of it. The movie's good fun, though, and the dialogue is unique.
  4. Underworld. Stylish, and with Kate Beckinsale in leather. Don't get no better...except with a sequel
  5. Underworld The Sequel.
  6. Shaun of the Dead. I'm not a huge zombie movie fan, but this one's unique and funny.
  7. Predator. So much to love about this flick, it can't be listed here. Just not enough space. Get to de choppah!
Movies, War:
  1. In Harm's Way. This star-studded epic really does deserve a top spot
  2. Three Kings. Sort of a war movie. Wierd and quirky.
  3. Band of Brothers. A series rather than one film, but its awesome.
  4. Blackhawk Down. Not a documentary, but a decent representation, according to those who were there, of the events in Somalia.
  5. The Patriot. Good flick to make you feel good about being an American.
  6. Master and Commander. Sort of a war movie, but different enough to earn a spot.
  7. Hamburger Hill. Good performances from several actors that you know now but probably didn't know then.
Others:
  1. The Quiet Man. John Wayne in Scotland as an American getting back to his roots. Quite good.
  2. Braveheart. Long, but entertaining
  3. Blade series. Sort of horror, but mostly action. Entertaining.
  4. Hollow Man. The effects are amazing.
  5. Hatari. Yeah, its another Duke epic, but even with the love story and song(they always did that back in the day) its a great story.
  6. The well known Steven Segal movies of the 80's and 90's (Marked for Death, Under Siege, etc). They're my guilty pleasure.
  7. Miracle. I remember this when it was happening. Its such a perfect snapshot of that time in history. Go rent or buy it, its great
  8. Lords of Dogtown, and Dogtown and Z-Boys. These both document events that happened in my youth. In a way, I was a part of this history, although not with them.
  9. Riding Giants. Another Stacy Peralta documentary. I learned a lot from this movie, and it was very entertaining. I didn't ever surf (I was heavy into Boogie Boards and body surfing, but never surfed, oddly enough) but this one kept me all the way through.
Favorite bands: I'm not gonna bother to break 'em out by style, I'm just gonna list 'em.
  1. Red Hot Chili Peppers. They still bring the funk, even when Flea isn't slapping.
  2. Demon Hunter. Really heavy, but musical
  3. Old Van Halen: never got tired of it. Everything they did with DLR was pretty great. Everything else was not worth owning
  4. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: Really funky jazz, with an unusual mix of instrumentation.
  5. Mighty Mighty Bosstones. How can ya not like a band that has a song called "Haji"?
  6. U2 up until Rattle and Hum. Their facination with heroin references turned me off, but I love all the stuff before this.
  7. Stevie Ray Vaughn. He left us too soon.
  8. Living Colour. No better description than "unique".
  9. Parliament Funkadelic: Just started getting back into this band. They bring the funk, but keep it ultra smooth.
  10. Testament. Underrated, and fantastic. Far better than their contemporaries
  11. Anthrax with John Bush. I know a lotta people like the old stuff, but they weren't anywhere near as good with Joey Belladonna. Armored Saint was a great band because of Bush.
  12. Evanesence. There's something both soaring and haunting about Amy Lee's voice, and the band can keep up with her. I think I have a secret crush on the hot goth-ish chick.
There's a lot more, but I suspect you've been bored with this for a little while already. ;)

4 comments:

Josh said...

Dude, how could you leave "We Were Soldiers" off of your war movies list when I know that its one of your favorites? Getting old?

And I still say you dislike fully 50% of what everyone else likes, just on principle alone.

Haji said...

I like that movie, and it'll be well in the top ten, but its not really a favorite. I really dig the deleted scene where the LT finds out about the SGM's MOH, though.

40% of that 50% is crap. The rest I just don't care for.

aughtSix said...

The Patriot? Ugh. Tried too hard to be Braveheart--a guy movie with enough of a love story to sorta-kinda be a chick-flick, too. Unlike Braveheart, it didn't pull it off and just ended up being a sappy movie with some war thrown in.

Other than that, I didn't disagree with anything else, too much. Lots of stuff I haven't seen, so I might have to update the Netflix queue.

Haji said...

I never said my favorites were timeless masterpieces of the cinematic art...well, except for Strange Brew. Its formulaic, but the performances were good enough that its fun, and dudes get offed with an indian battle axe. There's a lotta good action in this one, plus the timeless advice to "aim small, miss small". I dunno if that actually works; it doesn't for me. Sounds good, though!