Sunday, July 5, 2020

Loves and Loathes

You'd think there would be an obvious tag for this one, after all, a lot of what goes through one's mind (well, my mind) on a given day is noticing things that we like or don't like, or as my title has it, things we love as opposed to things we loathe. So here is a list of loathes:
  • All of those movies where actors dress up in ridiculous costumes and engage in even more ridiculous fights while surrounded by supremely ridiculous CGI (computer-generated imagery)
  • Those other supposedly more "realistic" movies where a cast of Hollywood stars demonstrate their smug entitlement while an utterly unbelievable scenario unfolds. Examples? All the Ocean movies: Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen
  • Most movies with these actors: Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, George Clooney, Johnny Depp
  • Any sitcom with a laugh track
  • Any remake of a classic movie
  • The Android operating system
  • Most music written by Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler
  • Most pop divas: Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and BeyoncĂ©. I'm kind of neutral about Lady Gaga and Rihanna
  • U2
And a corresponding list of loves:
  • Gamelan music from both Java and Bali
  • Any film by Peter Weir, Clint Eastwood or Akira Kurosawa
  • Most films by Luc Besson
  • Most movies with these actors: Heath Ledger, Paul Bettany, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Bill Murray, Alicia Vikander, Denzel Washington and Jean Reno
  • Nearly everything written by these composers: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Shostakovich
  • Most songs by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen
  • The English Beat
  • Grigory Sokolov and Valery Gergiev
  • Northern Italian red wines: Barolo, Dolcetto d'Alba and Amarone della Valpolicella
  • Ice wine
I feel like I have left out a bunch of stuff from both categories...

Hard to pick a good envoi for this one, so I'm going with Weird Al Yankovic:


4 comments:

Wenatchee the Hatchet said...

since David Lynch let Dune be identified as an Alan Smithee film I suppose Villanueve doesn't have to worry about being accused of trying to remake a "classic" movie. The aim is just to adapt Dune without botching it completely. :)

Bryan Townsend said...

Alan Smithee is the pseudonym used when the director wishes to remove his name from a film, right?

I have always disliked Dune and all its horrid sequels--and the film(s) seem to measure up to the book...

Anonymous said...

@Wenatchee: And if Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 is any indication, Dune should be very good indeed.
@Bryan: Mr Clooney has been in a few Coen brothers films, and Michael Clayton was impressive. And these superhero movies are this generation's kitsch, every generation has to have some form of it I guess. Personally I find them unwatchable nonsense.

Bryan Townsend said...

I missed the new Bladerunner, so I guess I should give it a watch.

I think "unwatchable nonsense" covers it pretty well!