Underrated: favorite movies with a twist

I've been fascinated by how much money movies make for a while now. Part of it is the phenomena of the flop, a movie that had a huge budget but proved not to be a blockbuster. The other is what I like to call the hidden gem or the small budget hit, which is a movie that isn't expected to do a lot at the box office, but turns out to be a huge, huge hit. I can think of several like that: Black Hawk Down and 300 jump to mind. I think those got huge because Hollyweird accidentally made a movie that most people can relate to, as opposed to the dreck they usually serve up with their left wing messages and agendas. That's a post for another time, I think.

What I have been interested in lately are movies that may or may not have been hits at the time, but have been forgotten or pushed to the back because of new material and holiday movies coming to the theater. Some of my favorite movies are classics, or huge blockbuster hits that are older now and neglected. Still others are films that were never big hits, but turned out to be great little movies. TNT calls some of these The New Classics, but some are just classic in and of themselves, regardless of when they were issued.

Since you know already that I'm working towards a list, here it is! I decided that only choosing five total would be more work than I want to put in on a day off, I decided to choose some categories. These may or may not be in order.

Older Action Movies. These can be war movies, gangster flicks, or anything else that pretty much has guns as a central theme. lol!

1. Black Hawk Down. It was a huge hit, but it's such a great demonstration of the American spirit that I have to include it. It should not be forgotten.

2. Hatari. Even though it's not a Western, this is one of my top six John Wayne movies. Red Buttons and many of the character actors that are seen in John Wayne movies are here, and the story is flat out fun.

3. The Big Hit. It's the quirky movie on the action list. Its about hit men, but its part comedy, quasi-love story, and revenge flick all in one.

4. The Buccaneer: Probably my all time favorite movie that doesn't star John Wayne. The cast is epic, the story huge and sweeping, encompassing both a pirate story and a story of the founding of America. What's not to like?

5. The Longest Day. There just aren't that many stars in a movie anymore; it's too expensive. This film is huge, epic and has more stars than fit on the Hollywood Walk of Stars.

Comedies. These had a profound effect on my sense of humor, and I still find them hilarious. Many of these were hits, but they should be considered must-see flicks.

1. Stripes. Deep and profound effect on my sense of humor. While it lacks heavily in realism, it makes up for that in just plain funny.

2. Ghostbusters. The first was funniest. The ending of the second was bad. It is said that there will be a third, with the original cast having singed on to do it.

3. Strange Brew. I think most people don't get Bob and Doug McKenzie, but I still find this movie funny. I have a couple of the McFarland Toys Bob and Doug playsets, too. They're awesome.

4. The Hangover. This one's way over the top and not for everyone. If you're not easily offended, though, it's a terribly funny movie.

5. Ski School. The second one sucked. This one had a particular spirit about it that was pretty dang good. With a "b" movie like this, it's easy to go over the top and ruin the suspension of disbelief, but they minimized that with this flick. It just makes me laugh.

Others. These are movies that I dig but can't fit in just one category. There's cop stories, actioners, sci-fi, and..."other".

1. The Fifth Element. Its not just that I'm a Milla fan. This is a great story with some innovative tricks thrown in. Its funny, it's action packed, it's just plain entertaining.

2. Shaun of the Dead. It's a zombie movie with greatness involved. It's a new classic.

3. In Bruges. It's all kinds of quirky. Not everyone will love it, but if you're kind of into the Guy Ritchie thing, you might dig this.

4. Public Enemies. This didn't do quite as well as it should have. Fantastic cast, and it's different. Normally, a film like this is either from the cop's or robber's POV. This one goes pretty much right up the middle. If you didn't see it, you should have. It releases to DVD in about a week or so.

5. Appaloosa. You have to ignore Renee Zellwegger in this one. Its not about her anyway. This is a great cowboy story of The Reckoning.

6. The Proposition. Another off the beaten path Southern Hemisphere Western. This one's set in Australia. Its a story of choices and family. Powerful and intricate.

7.Bad Boys II. Its a guilty pleasure, and I like it better than the first. I hope they can get together to make a third.

8. Zombieland. Again, not a perfect movie (there will be a LOT more zombies walking around), but very entertaining, and one of the greatest cameos EVER. Like the girl said, "He just gets me". If you don't know what I'm referring to, you have GOT to see this one.

9. The Ghost and the Darkness. Well cast, memorably performed, and classical in subject matter. This one was a moderate hit, but I fell in love with it from the first showing. I got the same rush from the suspenseful moments as I did when I thought I had jumped a black bear while hunting.

These kinds of posts are always changing and variable, because there's always movies I can't remember at the time I'm doing this. I'll have to start taking notes and keeping track of ideas. I'm just not quite there with this list. I'll revisit this later.

Left 4 Dead 2: the song from the commerical

Funny how different a whole song is from the bit used in the commercial. Here's the video that predates the commercial...or they would have used game footage. I would have.

This consecutive music video thing wasn't planned and I don't think it's a trend...yet...I just wanted a record of this song. I like heavy, bluesy rock.

Remember the Classics: Hadji Girl

I know this song is a few years old now, but I believe in remembering the Classics.

The Latest 419 Scam: A New Twist

I haven't gotten one of these in a while, which I thought was unusual. Maybe they know that the messages interest me and are trying to formulate new angles to keep me entertained. This one is different in that there's a link in it to what I presume is a news article (I didn't click it) and there's also a PDF that came with this that I didn't open. The article I presume to be regarding the death by accident of the account holder in the message. That's the twist, and I haven't seen one of these before. Interesting.

Good Day,

It's my pleasure to contact you over this transaction and I hope for your assistance on this
Matter.

I discovered a dormant account in my office as a group director with a bank here in London; presently the account is dormant and there is no claim since Nine years from now, and the rightful owner Mr. John Koffie died in a plane accident as shown on the link below.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

It will be of my interest to transfer this money worth Twenty Four Million United States Dollars in an account offshore. If you can assist me in getting this money transferred out of London then invest with it and also establish partnership.

Email me if you think you can handle such amount and kindly remember that this is very confidential.

I wait to hear from you.

Regards

Charles Vanzandt.

It is unlikely that Charles is related to the Van Zandts of Lynyrd Skynyrd fame.

Hand to Hand Death: Combat MMA

Where did it all go? Did I even have a weekend?

I don't know where my time off went. It was there on Friday, right about 6:00 p.m., and now it appears to have been absconded with. There was the promise of hours away from work, and now we'll have to check with accounting to see if there's nefarious activity afoot here.

Some of this time is accounted for: there was a reasonable amount of sleep, and some time preparing food. Part of Saturday was consumed by shooting an IDPA match-finishing 5th out of 9-and a little more time was spent at Zaxby's with Taylor, solving all the problems with the government and the armed forces. If all of Sunday had been taken away, that much of Saturday was just about enough. State of Play was viewed, and ultimately found wanting. Of course it was; it's a Hollyweird movie.

Oddly enough, the missing time was continued on to Sunday. An hour and 15 minutes was spent at church, another 40 to 45 minutes were consumed at Wally World. Some small part of the day was used keeping tabs on Football and NASCAR. A full hour and a half was frittered away at the Laundromat. The rest of the time, though...appears to have defected. It has been reported as AWOL until further notice.

Here it is, 8:30 p.m. on Sunday evening, while The Prisoner continues to make little sense and I miss Mad Men already, and I can't quite figure out where my whole weekend went, even though it was completely devoid of alcohol or medication. Weird.

Religion of peace? Ft. Hood is making me rethink my opinion

The events at Fort Hood this week have been very much in the fore of my mind. There was at least one LF forum member that was reported to be in that area, so the situation hit closer to home. Thankfully, he's been heard from since and was not involved. However, the reaction from the leaders of Islam are making me rethink what I thought about Muslims.

I used to believe, or at least want to believe, that there was a difference between Islam and Militant Islam. I don't know a lot of Muslims; being a Christian I don't have a lot of contact with them in my daily life, and certainly not in my spiritual life. So, what I know of Islam has been gleaned through my own limited research and what I have observed of it through the news.

Islam is called the Religion of Peace. That sounds great on the surface, but if the definition of peace I have been told is accurate, that becomes very troubling. According to what I've found, "peace", in terms of the Muslim definition of the word, means "the world under Islamic rule". Till then, there is no peace. We're certainly in the midst of that right now.

Because Islam doesn't come out against, and denounce as being against the teachings of Islam, fanatics like the murderer in Texas-I refuse to publish that waste of skin's name-makes me think they're in favor of it. Because they decry only Islam being painted in a bad light and not acts of murder and terrorism, I'm coming to the conclusion that there's no difference between Militant Islam and the rest of Islam. It appears they may be one and the same. I need to do more research, but as the Magic 8 Ball would say, "signs point to yes".