336. Movies

Movies are an easy topic to discuss. It’s probably one of the first lines of discussion whenever I meet someone new. They are accessible and most everyone likes them. (Of course there are always weird people who don’t care for them. I find it hard to talk with them.) I haven’t summarized my favorite movies on this blog ever, so it’s some easy content to pump out. Here are my favorite movies that I can watch repeatedly.

Grumpier Old Men: This one is better than the original. I love it for the slightly more risque jokes and the performance of Burgess Meredith is fantastic. I didn’t really appreciate how legendary all of the actors in the movie are: Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Anne Margaret, Sophia Loren, Burgess Meredith. Those are some actors with chops. It’s also a Minnesotan movie. The references, the culture, the stubbornness are all in full display in the show. The storyline is hit or miss, but I don’t think anyone watched the movie for the storyline. My high school roommate Greg and I used to joke that this was the movie about our life in a few dozen years. I could watch this over and over and quote it repeatedly.

The Sandlot: This one is a similar reasoning. It’s not an Oscar-worthy movie. However, I have good childhood movies from it. It was the ideal childhood movie. The characters are fun and relatable, it’s got great quotes, and a hot female that the guys pine over. I remember when I worked at a summer camp when a kid asked me if I had seen Sandlot 3. I told him that i didn’t even know there was a Sandlot 2. During our senior year in college my buddies and I tried to do the Sandlot gang, but we failed miserably. I guess it’s just something that just shouldn’t be replicated.

The Blues Brothers: I wanted to be Jake and Elwood. The story of the two guys “on a mission from God” to save a school is amazing. Much like the other two movies, it’s extremely quotable. I love that about this movie. The music is also great two. Illinois Nazis. Rawhide. Ray Charles. Carrie Fisher using a bazooka. The one drawback is that it’s a really friggin long movie.

The Departed: I first watched this movie in my freshman year in college. All of my friends loved it as well. It sort of became the movie for our floor. We’d quote the Alec Baldwin character and talk in Boston accents. I started to love it more after I moved to Boston. I remember watching it in 2014 and realizing that I knew most of the references in the movie.

Good Will Hunting: This is another Boston movie that I loved. One of the best compliments I ever received was when a friend of my said that I looked “so Good Will Hunting” when we were out in Boston. I’ll take that as the ultimate compliment. I love the themes at play and how it balances the worlds of academia and the working class. No other film that I’ve seen does it that well.