Friday, May 7, 2010

Friday Five: Movies Only I Love

Today's Friday Five was inspired by the movie Crash, which I love.
And you hate.

Born in East L.A.: Not to knock Tommy Chong, but this movie's funnier than any of he and Cheech's collaborations. When Rudy, a Hispanic U.S. citizen, gets deported by mistake he has to figure out a way to make enough money to cross the border back home. This movie has catchphrases (Waas sapp-en-ing?), babes (Kamala Lopez), and Daniel Stern. What's not to love?

Dangerous Minds: I love this movie so much I based my thesis around it. "Hollywood's Depiction of Inner-City High Schools" was born because I've been obsessed with Dangerous Minds for the greater part of my life. I bought the soundtrack, multiple times. I read the book until it literally fell apart. I bought the soundtrack again when the CD came out. When it came to Dangerous Minds, I did everything EXCEPT see the movie. My religious parents banned R-rated movies so I was forced to wait two years until it aired on TV (edited for time and content). I still have the VHS tape I recorded on that glorious day. And while some people may love Dangerous Minds, nobody loves it like I do. Physically.

Brown Sugar: Why don't more people like Brown Sugar? I can understand why the general blogging masses might turn up their noses, but what about the general public? The opening to this movie is one of my favorites OF ALL-TIME. A carefully edited montage of hip-hop legends reminiscing about the moment they fell in love with hip-hop. And that leads into a New York City park sometime in the 1980s where the two young protagonists watch Slick Rick freestyle to Doug E. Fresh's beatbox. Maybe the movie's too "hip-hop" for most rom-drama fans and too rom-drama for most hip-hop fans.

For Love or Money: I'm the only person who loves For Love or Money. Want proof? The only screenshot I could find online was this one. And I made it. For this post.

Daddy's Little Girls: From Sirk to Haggis, I'm a fan of melodrama. So when Tyler Perry released DLG, I was first in line (the norm for Utah screenings of Tyler Perry movies). Yes, the music is manipulative and some of the villains are characterchures. But I applaud Perry for throwing subtlety out the window and just packing punch after punch (like Crash) until I'm so emotionally exhausted that I have no choice but to agree with your movie's ideals.

9 comments:

The Taxi Driver said...

I love Crash too but Tyler Perry is a cinematic travesty. I'd almost say Madea's Family Reunion is the worst movie of the decade. The one that almost worked for me was Why Did I Get Married, but Perry is such a horrible writer/director that I couldn't even give that one a pass.

Simon said...

I came to this post expecting to prove you wrong. But, besides a mild interest in Dangerous Minds, you're right. Congratulations.

Anonymous said...

Dangerous Minds - I could watch that over and over again. I'm not sure why :)

Heather said...

I've only seen the first two (and the only one of the the last three I'm interested in is Brown Sugar). But you let us borrow Born in East L.A., and Luke and I both liked it! The only thing (as far as I'm concerned) that's really unlikeable about that movie is when he sings "Born in East L.A."

Actually, there are two detestable things: 1) Tommy Chong singing "Born in East L.A." and 2) Whitney singing "Born in East L.A." trying to sound like Tommy Chong.

Alex said...

Well I haven't seen any of these movies so I can't prove you wrong, but I'm open to potentially liking them!

Billy Büscat said...

i quite enjoyed born in East LA, im sure its better than chongs 'solo' work but i dunno if its better than Cheech and Chong at their best. even as a teetotaller theyre can still crack me up. Up in Smoke is a prime example.

Daniel said...

We went over this when I posted the intro to Brown Sugar - you and I both know it's a classic. Possibly one of the best opening credit sequences of the last 25 years.

Fletch said...

I've seen Crash, which I neither love nor hate (I enjoyed it), but haven't seen a single one of these other ones. Never was under the impression that I was missing much, though...

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