Movie Meme

I picked this up at Semicolon, but I pluralized some of the questions:

The Oscars. Are you bothered? [American "translation": "Do you give a hoot?"]

More no than yes, though I generally watch some or all of it and particularly enjoy tributes to the classics and making fun of some of the stupid clothes people wear. (heehee) Honestly, I love movies, so I do like this sort of thing. I'm usually surprised at how well the ones I root for do (ahem, either it's a tribute to my good taste, or I start out with really low expectations). Generally I don't let the kids watch it, but call them in for interesting tidbits.

Which of the Oscar nominees, if any, have you seen?

I was surprised when I checked the list just now and found that I have seen four of them:

United 93
The Little Matchgirl
Click
Cars

A really good film you’ve seen recently, although nobody else has seen it or even heard of it:

I don't know about *nobody*, but I've recently seen Regarding Henry and Brideshead Revisited.

The worst film you’ve paid good money to see:

Parenthood (only movie I've ever walked out of)

Most pretentious film you’ve paid good money to see:

The Phantom of the Opera - most of my friends seem to love this movie/musical, but I hated it! I haven't seen the old one. Another movie I didn't like that everyone else seemed to (though it doesn't qualify as pretentious) was Babe.

A film you’ve rented on video or DVD and turned off very quickly, shouting “this is awful!”

Some obscure version of A Merchant of Venice (no, not the one with Jeremy Irons and Al Pacino). The BBC version of The Scarlet Pimpernel caused a similar reaction.

A film you know you should watch but you’ve never quite got round to seeing:

I don't really have any like that left on my list. There are a few I'd like to see from this year's Oscar list, though: Children of Men, The Pursuit of Happyness and Happy Feet. There are quite a few from the Ignatius Press catalog I'd like to see too.

Earliest cinematic experience:

I remember seeing Star Wars in the theatre - I was six or seven at the time.
I loved it.

Teenage movie memories:

Movies I particularly enjoyed in high school:
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (this was particularly funny from the perspective of an early homeschooler)
Anne of Green Gables
The Cary Grant movie marathon they played on American Movie Classics right after he died. I was just old enough to stay up REALLY late watching quite a lot of them. I looked it up on IMDB (another movie-related thing that I love) - the year was 1986.

Strangest cinematic experience:

My mom was staying with us before Frank was born so John and I went out to the movies because it was much closer (about half an hour closer!) to the hospital than our house and we weren't quite ready to go in. We saw Lost in Translation and about half of Return of the King before we finally decided to go in around 11 pm. It turns out we had plenty of time to finish Return of the King as he was born about four hours later - but it was our second time to see ROTK so it wasn't a big deal. We left after the "beacon fires" scene - which I particularly liked and wanted to see again.

Are there any films that you’ve been waiting to see again for years that have just vanished from the face of the Earth?

Young Tom Edison
My Wild Irish Rose

Your cinematic obsession that bores everyone else to tears:

My younger brothers tended to complain about "my" movies when I was in high school. They didn't tend to like black and white movies or romantic/costume-type dramas. I found out awhile later than my youngest brother recorded a basketball game over Anne of Green Gables sometime after I went off to college.

Someone else’s cinematic obsession that you’ve gone along with:

I don't have anything that really qualifies here. John and I are pretty compatible in the movie department - we both like a wide variety of genres.

Anyone from the world of cinema that you have a real love/hate relationship with?

Adam Sandler
Mickey Rooney

Favourite romantic movies:

You've Got Mail (I can't help it - it's about a bookstore!)
Brideshead Revisited
Pride and Prejudice (BBC)
Sense and Sensibility (Emma Thompson)
Emma (Gwenyth Paltrow - I didn't like the BBC one here)
Return to Me
The More the Merrier
The Philadelphia Story
Spanglish
Groundhog Day
Much Ado About Nothing

Favorite movie(s) based on a book:

Pride and Prejudice (BBC)

Movie that absolutely ruined a good book:

Caddie Woodlawn