Cinematic experiences.

I love movies. Like, a lot. Actually, I'm a bit of a snob about my movie preferences. It goes so far as that I have certain friends and people I know who I completely ignore in terms of their film suggestions (because I know that their favourite films are She's All That or Step Up). I'm willing to watch cheesy, non-thought-provoking things and really enjoy them, but I cannot stand movies that aren't aware of their inanity.

Take, for instance, Honey (Jessica Alba, dance film, dance teacher overcomes sexism and misogyny to raise money for her dance studio and the impoverished kids in her neighbourhood). If it were to accept that it offers nothing intellectual or moral, I would not have such a grudge against it. Instead, it insists on itself like it can provide some profound epiphanies about life and self. No, and no.

Things I hate:

• Dance movies. Footloose, Step Up, Save the Last Dance, Honey (: !), and so forth. These are all ridiculous. The acting is worse than mediocre, and the plot is completely reliant on the choreography (which is at the best, sub-par to a well-directed/choreographed music video).
• Teen comedies. Namely: She's All That, Jawbreaker, Say It Isn't So. There are good ones (Clueless, more for nostalgia than actual quality, I think; Superbad; Mean Girls).
• Napoleon Dynamite. Overrated, overacted.
• "Spoof comedies": Scary Movie (all of them), Not Another Teen Movie, etc.
• Many other things... movies that take themselves too seriously, movies with singers or models as headliners (when they can't act, which is usually), movies with the Olson Twins, etc.
• The Notebook. On its own, it's a decent film. Taken with the hype it comes with (it came out when I was in high school--filled with girls who'd give anything to have a paramour like Noah, *swoon*!), and suddenly I loathe this film.
• Donnie Darko. Not as profound as one would make you believe.

Things I like:

• Robert DeNiro. The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Cape Fear, Awakenings. Brilliant actor, in my opinion (and the Academy's, and Scorcese's, and a boatload of actors who credit him as an influence; so if you disagree: Suck. On. That.)
• "Subtle" humour (as in, not slapstick or sitcom-like comedy): Juno, others I can't think of.
• Satire (Borat!)
• Judd Apatow (and related films): Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 40 Year Old Virgin, etcetera.
• Dramatic films that aren't just pretentious. Atonement, Shindler's List, The Pianist, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,
• Fight Club, Snatch, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, Almost Famous, American History X, Scarface, Psycho, Sid and Nancy, No Country for Old Men, Enchanted, The Silence of the Lambs, The Shining, Trainspotting, Chicago, A Streetcar Named Desire.
• A lot of other films that I've forgotten for some reason.

Anyway, what are your favourite movies? Why do you think that people still watch films like Scary Movie?

Cheers,

Daisy.