Friday Fire: What Movie Genre Is Your Favorite?
Not to be confused with this. I gotta tell ya, I’ve been anticipating The Watchmen for quite
some time now. Mizzo Jr. hits me up daily just to talk about it he’s so excited. I’m a scifi guy. I’ve always been the cat who wonders what’s out there and science fiction fuels my imagination. War of the Worlds, Mission to Mars, Dune…The Matrix trilogy…yeah that’s what I’m talking about. It’s the kid in me, but it’s also the cops and robbers hood in me that dropped my stick and looked to the stars. You can name movies if you want, but I’m more intested in the genre and why that particular category piques your interest. Have a nice weekend.
Crazy as it sounds, I’m a fan of the well-written drama with a hint of unintentional humor and romance. There’s something about seeing realistic stories played out on screen where people truly bicker, cheat and break up that draws me in every time.
But I’m talking about good movies only: Closer, Unfaithful, Love Jones, Rounders, Lucky You and Lucky Number Slevin. Those are a few that come to mind.
Mine is Comedy all day long!!!
I collected comic books as a kid, so it’s only fitting that I would enjoy the comic flicks. But I also like comedy.
I like movie plots with unpredictable outcomes (i.e. The Usual Suspects, Shawshank Redemption, etc.).
Y’all know I’m a Drama Queen so I love dramas. I also like comedies.
Coming to America is one of my all time favorites. It never stops being funny.
Primal Fear is right up there too.
I’m also a fan of movies where someone plays a character so convincingly you forget they’re acting.
i.e. Sean Penn, I Am Sam. He was ridiculous in that movie.
I like to see great actors give great performances. Like De Niro in Raging Bull or Marlon Brando in The Godfather or Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Denzel Washington in Malcolm X.
I also like to see great directors at the top of their game like Martin Scorsese in Goodfellas or Tarantino in Pulp Fiction or that dude who did City of God.
I like movies that make me think or keep me guessing like Pan’s Labyrinth or The Usual Suspects.
And, naturally, I like movies that make me laugh like Old School or Zoolander or Tropic Thunder or Wedding Crashers.
Sci fi all day. I like some pop sci fi, but those once in a decade movies like
Children of Men, Sunshine, and Gattaca.
I like sci fi because its like we are reaching for what we dont have right now.
I heard they are making one of Orson Scott Card’s books into a movie. If it is done correctly that will join the pantheon of good genre remaking sci fi.
I don’t think I have a favorite, I like it all.
Let me bring you my top 15 movies list. these are my favs.
1. Goodfellas (Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro)
2. JFK (Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones)
3. The Sand Pebbles (Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough)
4. Star Wars: A New Hope (Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill)
5. Caine’s Mutiny (Humphrey Bogart)
6. Rebel Without A Cause (James Dean)
7. Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee, Samuel L Jackson)
8. Platoon (Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen)
9. 2001:A Space Odyssey (Kier Dullea)
10. Cool Hand Luke (Paul Newman, George Kennedy)
11. The Great Escape (Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough)
12. Schindlers List (Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes)
13. Citizen Kane (Orsen Welles)
14. The Treasure of Sierra Madre (Humphrey Bogart, William Huston)
15. A Clockwork Orange (Malcolm McDowell)
That being said, I love hundreds other movies, in fact just last night I saw a movie I fell in love with, In Bruges. Amazing story, great dialogue, interesting psychoanalysis about what murder does to realistic people.
But yeah, a LOT of movies of of my top 15 are amazing movies, those are just my top 15. I have like a top 250 if I had the patience to type.
Co Co, if you liked him in I AM SAM, you would LOVE Sean Penn in Mystic River. PERFECT in that movie. Sean Penn is the best actor of our era, and by that I mean his best acting has been in the past 15 years. Denzel is also SOLID, in Glory when he cried while getting whipped without blinking, when he was just staring hate and understanding for his place…I teared up for real. Zel is so powerful in X as well. I also love Shawshank, beautifully acted and scripted film. Idk, I’m a movie buff, I could talk for ages about ‘em.
My favorite type of movies are the bootleg movies because……ummmm never mind I see you are talking about favorite genre…..LOL!!!
Well then that would be sci-fi too…….
Please hollywood please when you make Voltron the movie don’t make it crappy.
I am still hot that Megatron didn’t turn into a gat in transformers the movie.
Origin,
I feel you on Megatron, you might not want to watch the sequel. Megatron is rumored to be an alien tank.
I heard that Voltron was in the pipeline. Live action, I presume.
I don’t think I can name 15 favorite movies, there are too many.
@ Justin,
I like Leo’s body of work since Titanic. Matt Damon hit a nice lil streak after Bourne put him back on; The Good Shepherd, The Departed.
I will also throw Kevin Bacon in there. He has done some masterful dramas.
I’m done.
Stank-O,
Agreed on Leo. Although he did have a good acting part before Titanic in The Basketball Diaries. Hated Titanic, horrible movie. But him in the Scorcese films (Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed) as well as Blood Diamond, Body of Lies, Revolutionary Road, he’s really stepped his game up. He’s also scheduled to be in another Martin Scorcese film about insane asylums. No joke.
Kevin Bacon was VERY strong in Oliver Stone’s JFK epic as the gay prostitute. Also solid in A Few Good Men.
The good to great movie is my favorite movie genre. As long as a film is done right and touches perfection for me by engrossing me in the plot then I’m a sucker for it. I can watch anything from a 30′s WB gangster movie like ‘The Public Enemy’ to ‘The Wrath of Khan’ to ‘Batman Begins’ to ‘Closer’ to ‘Superbad’ so I can’t limit myself to one particular type of movie.
Last night was a good example for me because I watched both ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Watchmen’ and believe me I got my money’s worth for both of them.
It’s a great time to be a movie buff because even though there’s much crap out there that technology is almost on par with the imagination of creators so what’s put on film isn’t cheesy. Combine good filmmaking, great story, exceptional action, and mix. Sit back and enjoy.
I don’t know if “great dialogue” is a genre, but that is my main thing. my favorite movies all have great dialogue. I think that the downside to improved special effects and new action movies is that dialogue has greatly suffered. Give me “12 Angry Men” in one room for an entire movie anyday before a cool blow-up or car chase. Silence of the Lambs separates itself from other flicks from that genre because of dialogue. Technology or gore shouldn’t replace a scriptwriter just aid one. that is why I loved “Saw I” but didn’t care for the follow-ups.
Sci-Fi: The original Star trek had great dialogue and was thought provoking. Can’t wait for the “prequel” in May. not saying that I’ll go on the first day in my spock ears or anything, but it should be good.
From Justin’s list Goodfellas, JFK, Do The Right Thing, and Platoon were all had great writing. also loved Good Will Hunting. Forgetting many others right now.
I like brooding foreign films from back inna day. Ingmar Bergman (Through a Glass Darkly, The Seventh Seal, etc) was That Dude. Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon) was That Dude. Gillo Pontecorvo (The Battle of Algiers) was That Dude. Etc.
I also like the type of independent Black cinema which produces political masterpieces like Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle, Ivan Dixon’s Spook Who Sat by the Door, Melvin Van Peebles’ Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song, and Mario Van Peebles’ Panther, Sun Ra’s Space is the Place, among many others.
Finally, I like horror movies. But I prefer the exploitation/grindhouse horror from the 70s and early 80s (the Italians – Fulci, Argento, Brava – mastered this genre, much moreso than the Americans – Craven, Carpenter, Hooper – although the American films from this era are also good). However, I am not a fan of these bullshit Hollywood remakes or “homages” from the likes of that culture crook (and racist) Tarantino.
I love Lucio Fulci. He is the true Italian horror maestro. My favorite film is Gates of Hell aka City of the Living Dead. I love it when the chick pukes up her entrails. Gore horror never gets old.