Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Guilty Pleasures Installment #1: Movies

We all have 'em. These are the movies we watch in the privacy of our bedrooms. Maybe a friend comes along for the ride but most of the time, it's a solo event. Usually watched via the laptop with a pair of headphones plugged in when we know that our roommates/boyfriends/girlfriends/parents/siblings are going to be away for a good 2+ hours. We don't wanna scare them by revealing that we secretly still watch that godawful Disney movie or have a more, ahem, kinky facet to our personality. Or that despite our well-known penchant for Wes Anderson and Stanley Kubrick films, we secretly love teen flicks with shitty dialogue.
Everything on this list above? Applies to me completely and believe me, there is not a whole lot I can do anymore that would shock a person. Truth. Below are my favorites and the reasons behind each one.




She’s the Man

*Amanda Bynes is one of those girls in Hollywood that I always feel should be in more movies than she actually is. Her comedic timing is spot-on and she embodies the essence of the ideal girl next door. I say, get the girl some meatier scripts ASAP.

*Alex Breckenridge makes a great jealous ex-girlfriend. Monique is attitude with a capital A.

*My favorite lines include "Chew it as if you have a secret." the advice that Julie Hagerty gives Viola (Amanda Bynes) as she gnaws into a chicken leg during the debutante dinner.

*And the dancing "I get to take a shower" sequence. I laugh every time and the laugh, my friends, is genuine.

*And everything related to the "Do you like cheese?" discussion

*David Cross plays the principal. Some fictional schools get all the luck.

*I have listened to the commentary for this movie more times than absolutely necessary. Is it weird that I think the commentary is funnier than the movie? Listen to it and see if you agree.

*This film is very loosely based on "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare. I must stress that because unlike certain movie and book adaptations that mirror one another closely, this one is not one of those and must never be cited in a British Literature paper. Not that I ever did that or anything...

*The Veronicas, The Faders, and even one of my personal favorites Goldfrapp are all included on the soundtrack. The Faders "No Sleep Tonight" must be the new teen girl anthem, it gets playtime during the first "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" film too.

*Am I the only one who first thought at first glance that the hairdresser Paul bore a striking resemblance to Jude Law? Hence one of the reasons I compulsively watched this movie all throughout the Winter of '07.



Secretary

*I really don't even remember how I heard about this movie at all. I don't remember how I stumbled upon it in Blockbuster either. I'm thinking that the DVD jacket and movie poster reeled me in. I mean, c'mon now. That picture is sexy and the tagline of "Assume the position" could not have been more perfect to accompany it.

*This movie seriously disillusioned me that one day, I the misfit young girl could wind up getting a secretarial job for an older, more eccentric man with James Spader facial features. This man would subject me to verbal abuse and eventually that would spiral to getting spanked in the office, chaining my arms up while carrying my boss a cup of tea and delivering letters via crawling on my hands and knees with the letter in my mouth. But despite all of this, he would still love and care about me and would eventually save me from marrying a nice guy who was a dud.

*Maggie Gyllenhaal's wardrobe was awesome. Pencil skirts, nylons and fitted blouses everywhere. Love it.

*There is attention paid to color in this movie big time. In Mr. Grey's office, the flower 'aquarium' is gorgeous, with many pink hues. Lee's dream/fantasy sequences are also filled with very bright, eye-popping shades.

*"I'm your secretary." If you walk away from this movie with any line of dialogue memorized, this will be it. I also have the whole peas and mashed potatoes at dinner line down pat too. This is what I do with my life when I'm not in school or at work.



George of the Jungle

*There is no determining where I got my love for this film from. We did watch it in the 6th grade and that was the first time I saw it. I can assure you though, my great enjoyment for this movie had nothing to do with finding Brendan Fraser to be attractive. I was still heavily in my Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane in "Sleepy Hollow" phase and not even a shirtless jungle man was going to pull me free from that one.

*Once I actually arrived late to my friend's house because GOTJ was on TBS and I didn't want to miss it. Depressingly enough, this sort of behavior from me as a middle school/high school student was recognized and accepted with my friends, bless them.

*Last year I realized that Ursula was played by Leslie Mann and this caused me to rewatch the film again because Leslie Mann is all sorts of crazy amazing.

*The sequel is a big steaming pile of crap. Don't watch it.

*Thomas Haden Church literally has perfect hair in this movie. I was in awe of it.

*Along with Mrs. Doubtfire, these two movies made me stop dreaming of living in New York and started up a San Francisco fantasy dream instead. I think The Sweetest Thing also deserves a cut in that as well. Come to think of it, every now and then that one is also one of my guilty pleasures but only in pieces, not the whole film.



Havoc

*This is the mother of all guilty pleasures in film for me. Not only does it contain terrible dialogue and follows a formula but somehow, it managed to rope in big name actors who normally wouldn't be caught dead with this kind of film on their resumes.

*And by big names, I mean Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Bijou Phillips is also in this film, she of one of my other favorite craptastic flicks, Tart.

*Filthy rich teenagers from Pacific Palisades act ghetto and gangsta because according to Hathaway, "We are totally, fucking bored." They get a taste of their own medicine when they start hanging out with actual drug dealers who push these Daddy's girls to the brink. The amusing part of the whole thing is watching Hathaway and Gordon-Levitt along with their pals talk in Ebonics. No matter how much bling and Baby Phat you dress them up in, their pedigree keeps them from being able to pronounce 'aight' in the right way. Only Bijou Philips seems to be able to pull it off. That's my girl.

*I'm pretty sure that Josh Peck from "Drake and Josh" plays Bijou's little brother at the breakfast table. I haven't IMDB'd it or anything but it looks an awful lot like him.

Love to you all,
Heather

3 comments:

Unknown said...

ADORE She's a Man use to watch it like twice a week, Channing Tatum looks so fine....ah drool.
XOXOX
Libby
http://fashionconfectionairy.weebly.com

Unknown said...

i love shes' the man too..and george of the jungle!

i actually watched it recently for some tarzan halloween inspiration hahaha

Anonymous said...

My guilty pleasure is the '87 film, "Can't Buy Me Love." I would never admit in public that I've seen that film. lol.