You’ll have to bear with me today. I’m a little silly and punch-drunk due to the grueling time at the PITADJ (pain-in-the-a**-day-job). it is the busiest time of the year for me and I’m down two out of the four folks on team due to maternity leave – so yeah, I’m a little stressed and a lot tired.
Which leads to the fact that I had no idea what to write about today. Not. A. Clue. So, I do the one thing I always do when I’m stuck (ignore the Main Man shouting “spend money” in the background) – I watch movies. And I usually go back to favorites, the tried and true – no, new shockingly disappointing flicks for me – I want one that I know will deliver every time.
So, I had a little movie marathon and lost even more sleep but felt a little more human. And, I felt a little inspired creatively – which was very good for the writing.
The first flick was ‘Romancing the Stone” ( and , no, we are not going to talk 
about the possible remake with Katherine Heigl who hasn’t made anything decent since she finished “Roswell”). The movie about a romance novelist Joan Wilder and the guy, Jack, who helps her rescue her kidnapped sister and is constantly upstaged by the amazing Danny DeVito. Awesome movie.
At the end Gloria, Joan’s agent is reading her latest-post-sex-with-Jack novel and is sniffling as she says:
Gloria: Joanie you are now a WORLD CLASS hopeless romantic.
Joan: No, hopeful. Hopeful romantic.
Sigh . . . aren’t we all in this business?
Okay, next on the agenda for my personal film festival was an indie adaptation of the classic Pride & Prejudice. Now, no one beats Colin Firth as Mr.Darcy but 
Orlando Seale fills the role nicely in this movie. It’s bright, cheerful, offbeat and quirky and set in UTAH. It always makes me smile.
One of the best performances is the gal who plays Lydia – who in this version is a husband-hunter following a how-to guide that has all the single girls taking it for the gospel truth. In one scene, Lydia is disgusted with Elizabeth and Jane’s moping around after Darcy and Bingley and she lets them have it at the grocery store, saying:
“Oh, this is just great girls. Here we’ve just spent 20 minutes picking out the perfect array of romantic items, and what do we come back to find? Two kegs of ice cream, pills for cramping, pills for bloating, and six super size boxes of Tampax? Why don’t we just put up a big neon sign that says, “Men, run for your lives! Menstruating monsters approaching!”
Brings back lots of college memories . . . .
Finally, I ended with my favorite movie of all time: Say Anything.
Now, this movie spawned a 10-year obsession with John Cusack for me. How could you NOT love Lloyd Dobler? The high school everyman who woos, charms and gets the beautiful valedictorian to fall in love with him – classic romance.
Of course, he gets his heart broken and the scene is gut-wrenching because you want Lloyd to get the girl. If he can’t get the girl then any guy who isn’t Brad Pitt is destined to die alone with lots of cats.
So, you have Lloyd in a phone booth. Its’ pouring rain and he’s called his sister to tell her that Diane, the love of his life, has broken up with him and given him a pen so he can write to her. Harsh.
So, he delivers the best line of the movie and rips your heart out:
“I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.”
Sigh . . . .
I don’t care what you think about the hairdos and parachute pants – the 80’s were a beautiful thing.
So, at the end of all that film goodness, I felt better. Relaxed. And, I had a post to write for you guys.
What are your “go-to” flicks?
Robin Mermaid
Robin,
I have amazingly never seen any of those three movies, and you have done a great job enticing me to watch them. You should make this a regular feature on one of your blogs!
Thanks P.H! I do talk about movies once in a while on my “Burning Up the Sheets” blog. You’ve gotta watch ‘Say Anything” – great movie.
P.H. – you should definitely watch Romancing the Stone. The best scene is the opener. I won’t say more but boy does it make me laugh!
Robin, I’ve never seen that version of Pride and Prejudice but the other two are classics. I’m a huge movie buff so I have a lot of go to’s depending on what I’m trying to write, or if I’m just trying to pull myself out of a bad week and I need a laugh. I love “10 Things I Hate About You”, “Zombieland”, “While You Were Sleeping”, “Braveheart”, “The Patriot”, the Kevin Costner version of “Robin Hood” because Alan Rickman is so awesome as the villian, and “The Waterboy”. There are others but I just can’t think of them right now. 🙂
I LOVED The waterboy! so funny
My go to movies are usually humorous–some 80’s flicks too: Real Genius (young Val Kilmer–ohhh yeah!), Top Secret, Weird Science (any of the 80’s films).
But I’m also a big softy–my very favorite romance (even my hubby likes it) a true cult film–“Somewhere In Time” Jane Seymour, Christopher Reeves on Mackinaw Island at the Grand Hotel–time travel-romance at it’s finest! Love it! Love the music, love the premise, etc. Grew up near the filming location in northern Michigan so I can relate.
Lately my tastes are kind of mellow–I love being inspired. Kate and Leopold (love the chem. between Hugh and Meg), The Ugly Truth (purely for Gerard Butler when he realizes she’s wearing a pair of panties with a special tool at a dinner–his reactions are priceless), Phantom of the Opera (same–Gerry) and another good one, While You Were Sleeping (Bill and Sandra’s chem is great!)
God now I’m craving a movie weekend. It’s starting to thunderstorm, my girls and friends are driving down to Ren Faire (hopefully better weather for them) and may just have to break out the movies and popcorn.
Thanks for the inspiration Sister Mermaid Robin!
Oh, “Somewhere in Time” – Chris Reeve was so handsome.
Say Anything is an all time favorite of mine. Don’t forget some other 80s classics: Sixteen Candles, Ferris Buehler, Desperately Seeking Susan (I know, I know but I love this movie), When Harry Met Sally, Dangerous Liaisons (killer) and the one I always have to stop and watch when it’s on TV: Bull Durham.
Don’t forget ‘The Breakfast Club”!!!
Oh my God, I forgot Dirty Dancing. Crap, how could I forget that. 🙂
“Nobody puts Baby in a corner.”
God, Patricvk Swayze had abs you just wanted to lick!
Any post about movies is a great post to me!
Last night I came home to see that Clueless was on – that’s such a fantastic, well-done movie. Other favorites are Star Wars (originals but particularly Empire), Office Space, Drop Dead Gorgeous, any Alfred Hitchcock movie and Leonardo DiCarprio. Okay, Leo’s not a movie but yum, yum, yum.
Robin-Mermaid, couldn’t agree more about Katherine Heigl. Have you seen Bride & Prejudice? It’s a Bollywood version of P&P and it’s fantastic.
I LOVE B&P! And, “Bend it Like Beckham”? One word – Jonathon Rhys-Myers . . . oooh!
You hit two of my favorites for romantic comedies-Say Anything and Romancing the Stone, but I love The Best Man with Ty Diggs and right now I’m working through my obsession with Leverage, which I just discovered (Parker and Hardison) – I know TV but I did say obsession:)…fun post. Thank you.
I Loved TBM too! Haven’t watched Leverage . . . need to check it out.
Hey Robin Mermaid, love this post. 80’s will always have a special place in our hearts for sure. I’m gonna have to give a “feel good” shout out to The Neverending Story, Desperately Seeking Susan and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. I have no idea what any of those have in common but if I were ever to walk back in time, those would be what I’d grab off the video rental shelf. And I’d feel better in an instant!