I am packing for the aforementioned 10-day hunting/fishing trip to the Kenai Peninsula, and along with several knives, Motorola radios, foul-weather gear, and my trusty Winchester 30-30 lever action rifle (for personal protection), I am bringing a short list of DVD watchables for the four of us to enjoy after we've had a bellyful of salmon for dinner. Three of us are 41 year-old law partners, and the fourth is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist of older vintage. I have tried to find common ground as far as movies might go, but it hasn't been easy. This is the list I've come up with:
1. Alien - Ridley Scott's gothic horror tour de force in space.
2. Aliens - James Cameron's metaphor for Vietnam in outer space, with a dash of Eighties anti-establishmentarianism for good measure.
3. A Bridge Too Far - Joseph E. Levine's Seventies folly of a movie about a folly of a World War II campaign.
4. The Outlaw Josey Wales - Nevermind Unforgiven, this is Clint Eastwood's original western masterpiece. If you don't agree, I'll womp you with a knotted plough line.
5. Midnight Run - Robert De Niro's first and best attempt at making fun of himself.
6. The Thing - John Carpenter's Eighties monster movie set in the Antarctic. Appropriate for Alaska, I'm betting.
7. The Deer Hunter - One hit wonder Michael Cimino's meditation on friendship, guns, and suffering.
8. Man on Fire - Denzel Washington's South American revenge trope. His art is death and he's about to create his masterpiece.
9. Saving Private Ryan - Spielberg on war, part deux.
10. Predator - The greatest Arnold Schwarzenegger movie ever created
11. Superbad - Let's see how the psychiatrist from the sixties handles this one.
4 comments:
How about Desperado and Once Upon Time In Mexico? Blood Diamond? Maybe not. I would take The Unforgiven anyway. And 3:11 to Yuma.
Have a great trip! I can't wait to read about it!!
I like the last 3 movies you listed, Unforgiven alot. But if I had to choose between that and Josey Wales, Josey Wales, for my money is more entertaining.
Unforgiven is a brilliant lamentation.
I'm thinking "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "The Princess Bride" balanced by the entire George Romero filmography.
Maybe bring your chinese bootleg copy of "An Inconvenient Truth" just to fuck up the trip.
Kill something scary for me!
DRS is a great idea! Rock on.
Post a Comment