Hilariously Frank: 20 years, 20 films, 20 memories

[megladon8]

So I've been pondering a thread concept for quite a while, as I haven't had a thread in, well, am even longer while. I didn't really want to venture into a "favorites of this or that genre" as several other posters have done things like this (and much better than I ever could). I also didn't want to do a "favorites of a certain year/decade" because, again, it's something we've seen done a lot. Bottom line: I wanted to do something unique to myself. Something different.

As I've said a few times, I consider many of the people I've met and conversed with over the years to be friends (from my beginnings at RT in 2002, into the various incarnations of MatchCut, Suntory Times and the Axis). So what about doing something with that? What about sharing memories the way Id share them with friends, touching on personal moments in my life that are sometimes funny and sometimes sad. Sometimes even hilariously, uncomfortably frank.

Throughout this thread I will share 20 of these memories, each tied to a specific film, and each tied to a year of my life. I will go through every year from 1990 to 2009, sharing the most memorable film-watching experience I had, and what made it so important. Many of these are happy memories with movies I love to this day. Some of them are sad memories. Some of the movies are utter trash but still had some lasting effect that I remember (even if it wasn't directly the movie itself that made it so memorable).

Because I am finding some years' films to have less material for me to write about without digression into needless rambling, I am going to be working with the years as follows: my first entry will be the first year, 1990, then the second entry will be 2009, the third entry will be 1991, the fourth entry will be 2008, and so on. It helps me spread out the writings more evenly, since some of the earlier years' memories are obviously not as vivid as stuff that happened just last year.

First entry will be up tomorrow evening!

[Ezee E]

Sounds interesting. Look forward to it.

[MadMan]

If I recall correctly, I first encountered you on the old Axis forum. Good times, man, good times.

[Dead & Messed Up]

It'd be even better if your name was Frank.

But it isn't.

Oh well.

Very much looking forward to this.

[B-side]

:)

[Morris Schæffer]

I remember your animated Halloween avatar from RT.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I like this idea, meg. Looking forward to the list.

[chrisnu]

This should be good. :cool:

[Spinal]

Excellent thread concept.

[megladon8]

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3617/braden1990.jpg

Year: 1990
Age: 3

The Canterville Ghost (TV) (1985 / William F. Claxton)

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/2176/cantervilleghost.jpg


I was a child of VHS. We (still) have hundreds of VHS tapes upon which are recorded movies, TV shows, concerts, anything you can imagine. Some of my favorite tapes were ones that my dad had made us in the mid-80s, consisting of re-runs of his favorite childhood show, "Looney Tunes" (aka "The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show"). But what was perhaps my very, very favorite tape among all the ones we owned - the one I re-watched the most times, sometimes 4 or 5 times a day - was a tape with various family horror specials. And it began with a 1985, Family Channel-aired rendition of Oscar Wilde's classic tale, The Canterville Ghost.

Let's not mince words here - this movie scared the living hell out of me. Hearing the howls of Sir Simon de Canterville, and the clanging and smashing of his armor as he marched around the house while the family tried to sleep...this movie only re-affirmed my young mind that ghosts are real, and there could even be one (or some) in my own home. Many nights were spent hiding under the covers (oh, that age-old childhood logic of "if I can't see it, it can't see me").

Not only did the movie incite terror in the young megladon8, but it was also one of the first to make me cry (which I admittedly still do a lot with movies). When the young Virginia lays flowers on the grave of Sir Simon de Canterville, not knowing that he is watching this small, innocent act of kindness and understanding...I cried. And I cried every time I watched it, which was a lot. I still remember both programs recorded onto the tape after it - The Halloween That Almost Wasn't, followed by "A Raggedy Ann and Andy Halloween Special".

I don't know if this is the film that introduced me to (and peaked my interest in) the supernatural, the grim, the horrific and fantastic. Or maybe that was already in me, and this was simply a film that connected with me at such a young age. But while many other films throughout my childhood would frighten me (The Bride of Boogedy and Halloween, to name a couple), this is the one that sticks out in my mind as the very first.

The Canterville Ghost - the first movie to really scare me.


And while I'm here, I can't pass up the opportunity for the first of a few honorable mentions. And that is...


Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987 / Sidney J. Furie)

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/2830/superman4d.jpg


This was my undisputed favorite movie of my whole childhood. I actually never saw the original (and greatly, greatly, infinitely better) Superman: The Movie until I was about 14, so this is the one I grew up loving. Even the superior parts 2 and 3 of the Christopher Reeve series remained unseen by me until I was a few years older. To me, this was Superman, and very special to me.

I had Superman pajamas, which I would frequently wear outside the house so I could pretend I was able to fly. I would accompany my mom to do the groceries, wearing a jacket over top of my Superman 'jammies so I could tear it off the way Clark Kent did as he was about to take off as Superman. Then I would run around the aisles of the store for a few minutes, the cape billowing behind me, and return to my mom where I would tell her with absolute straight-faced certainty that I had been flying.

I cannot tell you how many books, stories and comic strips I wrote and drew about Superman. And I still have a hard time putting into words just how important Superman was and still is to me. I find the character and mythos to be genuinely inspirational.

So while 1990 was the first time I watched Superman IV, it definitely wasn't the last. And don't worry, I know now how, well, lacking the movie is, but I can't lie and say that I dislike it. It will always be special to me.

[Ezee E]

Like the way this is going. My brother and I reenacted Ghostbusters until the tape broke. We did the same with the dragon fight at the end of Cinderella.

[Heidi]

My parents had a grudge against the movie industry. They thought that film, television, and other entertainment media in general were a) destroying the fabric of society (my mother) or b) a total waste of time (my father).

Due to this fact i grew up with 3 movies (the only ones i had), and continuously watched those on repeat.
1. Disney's Beauty and the Beast
2. Neverending Story
3. Home Alone

Sad state of affairs imo. I blame them for the fact that i still have not seen a lot of 80s and 90s classics.

[Mara]

We did the same with the dragon fight at the end of Cinderella.

Sleeping Beauty?

[number8]

Shit yeah, I watched Canterville Ghost.

[Mara]

Shit yeah, I watched Canterville Ghost.

I've read the story.

It's... not scary. It's funny.

[Ezee E]

Sleeping Beauty?
D'oh!

[megladon8]

Like the way this is going. My brother and I reenacted Ghostbusters until the tape broke. We did the same with the dragon fight at the end of Cinderella.


I love memories like these :)

My brother and I also used to play a lot of video games together. Just about all of my NES memories involve my brother and I in the basement of our old house.

[megladon8]

My parents had a grudge against the movie industry. They thought that film, television, and other entertainment media in general were a) destroying the fabric of society (my mother) or b) a total waste of time (my father).

Due to this fact i grew up with 3 movies (the only ones i had), and continuously watched those on repeat.
1. Disney's Beauty and the Beast
2. Neverending Story
3. Home Alone

Sad state of affairs imo. I blame them for the fact that i still have not seen a lot of 80s and 90s classics.


Those are three good childhood movies, though :)

Disney's Beauty and the Beast is still my very favorite Disney production.

[megladon8]

Shit yeah, I watched Canterville Ghost.


The same version? Really?

You're officially the first person I've met outside my own family who has seen that version.

[number8]

Yep. The one with Brian Austin Green, right? Saw it on VHS.

[megladon8]

Yep. The one with Brian Austin Green, right? Saw it on VHS.


Yes, and Richard Kiley as the ghost.

Wow, I can't believe someone else grew up with this movie. Cool.

[balmakboor]

This thread has me thinking back over my history with the movies. I just came across this:

"By 2003 DVD sales and rentals topped those of VHS..."

And I thought, "No way! DVDs replaced VHS a lot longer ago than that. Didn't they?"

I remember while I was in college that I hurried back to my dorm room one Sunday evening because The Shining was showing on television -- heavily edited and interrupted constantly by commercials -- and I was in heaven. It was my first chance to see it since it played in theaters three years prior. The notion of watching a movie in your home, uncut, uninterrupted, and at your convenience was pretty much science fiction at the time.

[number8]

Something to ponder: I have never been alive while home video was not available.

[Dead & Messed Up]

This thread has me thinking back over my history with the movies. I just came across this:

"By 2003 DVD sales and rentals topped those of VHS..."

And I thought, "No way! DVDs replaced VHS a lot longer ago than that. Didn't they?"

I remember while I was in college that I hurried back to my dorm room one Sunday evening because The Shining was showing on television -- heavily edited and interrupted constantly by commercials -- and I was in heaven. It was my first chance to see it since it played in theaters three years prior. The notion of watching a movie in your home, uncut, uninterrupted, and at your convenience was pretty much science fiction at the time.

Yeah. I had a similar moment last night. I added a movie to my Netflix queue on my computer, it immediately showed up on my Wii, and I started watching, and I briefly remembered the excitement of waiting for Beauty and the Beast to come out on video. Back then, the times from cinema to VHS were often well over a year.

[balmakboor]

Something to ponder: I have never been alive while home video was not available.

I remember when this store down the street got in these new Betamax machines that were about the size of a microwave oven. You could rent one and three tapes for the weekend for $25.00. My roommate took one look at it and thought I was insane. I was hooked on the idea of home video from that weekend on. I was almost 22 at the time.

[Heidi]

Those are three good childhood movies, though :)

Disney's Beauty and the Beast is still my very favorite Disney production.

it's 100% my fav disney movie. not only because i've seen it a million times, but also cause its one of the only disney movies that isnt ghey, and is actually kinda deep imo. neverending story is also dope as hell. the texture of the dogs skin still disturbs me though lol.

[D_Davis]

I too remember renting our first Beta player. Then I remember my grandma buying an early top loading Beta player. So I also remember a time without home video.

[Spun Lepton]

My family was an early-adopter of a VHS player. I was the envy of all my friends for a while.

[megladon8]

We used to own a beta player but got rid of it pretty quickly when we (and by "we", I mean my dad) realized VHS was taking over.

To this day, the only movie I've ever seen on beta was Masters of the Universe. I still remember the day we rented it.

[Winston*]

Only movie I have any actual memory of seeing in my pre-school years is Milo and Otis at the theatre. Weird.

[Mara]

We bought a VCR when I was about eight, and it caused a fight between my parents, because my mother thought we couldn't afford it. The only VHS we owned was a copy of Ghostbusters.

I remember a couple of weeks after we bought it we went to the video store to rent a movie, and I was completely overwhelmed. I didn't know there were so many films in the whole world. I went around reading all the backs of the boxes and the posters on the walls. I remember some of them to this day.

We rented Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Since then it's been our official family movie.

[megladon8]

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3598/2009k.jpg

Year: 2009
Age: 22

[REC] (2007 / Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza)

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/4055/reckw.jpg


Fitting that my first entry be about my introduction to (and discovery of my love for) the horror genre, and my second entry be the last movie I've seen that has truly terrified me. Last year everyone was a-buzz about Paranormal Activity, which I certainly found to be an effective and inventive little haunted house story, but it didn't touch [REC] in terms of masterful tension. In 10 years when people are still talking about The Silence of the Lambs as being the very definition of cinematic tension, I will be talking about this Spanish horror whose final 10 minutes were almost unbearable. Funny how both films featured first person night-vision camerawork in their climaxes.

I saw [REC] in New York City, on Jen's little home television. It was March 9th, nighttime, and we weren't really sure what to expect. To be honest, I think both of us were trying desperately to lower our expectations, having been terribly disappointed with several horror recommendations which had been made to us previously in the trip. I also distinctly remember how odd it was that the DVD was available in Canada for nearly 3 months before it became available in the USA, so I had purchased it before I came down and brought it with me. And the second it was over, I went on Jen's computer and ordered a copy for her to be sent from Canada. We both knew right away this was going to be a favorite.

Jen and I still laugh about how tightly we were holding each others' hands during the final half hour or so. And how we could feel each other holding back jumps and startled yelps during that final 10 minutes.

While Jen and I do try to get to movies in theatres as often as possible, particularly while I'm in NYC and there's such an array of theatres and movies being shown, we've never felt that the home viewing experience was inferior to theatres by default, and this is one of the greatest examples of why we feel this way. Jen's TV is a mere 19 inches, and we frequently heard cars driving by and kids stomping around in the apartment upstairs, but it didn't detract from the experience at all. Perhaps it's because we were in a little apartment building similar to the setting of the movie, that we found it so effective.

No matter what the reasoning was for it being so terrifying, it's a viewing we won't soon forget.

[Heidi]

watched [REC]
first time i jumped out of my seat in a looong time
sick movie

[megladon8]

watched [REC]
first time i jumped out of my seat in a looong time
sick movie


AWESOME! Do you mean, like, you JUST watched it?

That's so cool. I'm so glad you dug it.

[Heidi]

yep
like i JUST watched it
i laughed a lot at the beginning, as i do with all horror movies, but by the ending i was sitting at the edge of my seat like a loser LOL

kid in the attic, and the possessed communion girl have nightmare potential. It's rare that something actually scares me, so serious points to theses guys. I like how they used the catholic angle to try and explain the "disease" in terms of devil possession. The religious-symbol saturation of the penthouse really set the tone for the final moments of intensity.

[Grouchy]

Yeah, [REC] is frightening shit. The best of this "home video" Horror movies that have become a trend.

I'm reading. Go on, man.

[megladon8]

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2325/b1991.jpg

Year: 1991
Age: 4

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991 / Michael Pressman)

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/9445/tmnt2c.jpg


Seeing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II with my dad and brother is the earliest memory I have of seeing a movie in the theatre. It's funny to recollect on the details I do and don't remember. I remember the line we stood in to buy the tickets. I remember the colour of the metal barrier in front of the theatre door before they let us in to take our seats. I remember where in the theatre we sat. But I don't remember anything about the movie. That is, I don't remember the movie from that night - I've seen it several times since. I remember what the weather was like that night. I even remember driving by one of those enormous fields of power lines that look like giant metal wire-frame constructions in the early stages of computer animation. So many memories from this viewing, but so few of them directly related to the movie.

The theatre we went to was located at the West Gate shopping centre, just outside of downtown Ottawa. The shopping centre is still there, though I believe the theatre isn't. I think it is now a 24/7 photo developer. It's an area we drive by quite frequently, as it's the quickest route to my grandmother's house. It's also about 4 blocks away from The Royal Ottawa - our mental hospital. So it makes sense that my family knows the area quite well.

I was 4 years old when we saw this movie, and unfortunately for me, I had been born just a year or two too late to be really into the TMNT craze like my brother was. So the viewing was certainly more for him than me, though it was still quite an incredible, overwhelming experience. I was quite a sickly child and so I didn't get out very much. I don't think we went on opening night, but the theatre was packed. I had never been around that many people - strangers - before in my life. It was frightening, exciting, nerve-racking.

I still consider this the best of the Turtles movies (and what a compliment, eh?). While my brother had read many of the original black-and-white comic books which were actually quite dark and violent, "my" Turtles were the Hanna/Barbera kind. The light, funny, pizza-eating surfer dudes. Even so I never would have considered myself a fanatic of the characters or universe. I even have friends who are just one year older than me and to whom the Turtles were an enormous part of their childhood. It's incredible how small the generational gaps have become throughout the 20th century - while my brother is just 4 years older than me, it has always felt like we were from completely different worlds.

To end a nostalgic ramble, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II (like many films to appear on my list) is certainly more memorable a viewing for me due to nostalgic reasons rather than quality, but it is nonetheless important in my history as a movie buff.

[megladon8]

I think that is the only TMNT movie I have ever seen.

That's the one where Shredder creates those two grotesque, boar-like henchmen, right?


Yessir.

It's really not very good. It's one of many films I still love purely for nostalgic reasons.

[Dead & Messed Up]

The second turtles film really did gun for the same tone as the children's comics and cartoon show, and I remember thinking it my favorite at the time. Nowadays, I'd give it ten points for David Warner, ten points for the pre-fight donut, five points for a mutagen that somehow gives Shredder's suit more spikes, and negative fifty for Vanilla Ice rappin' 'bout ninjas.

EDIT: This, along with Mac and Me and Masters of the Universe, makes me think a written apology to my parents is in order.

[megladon8]

I think this is indeed a good idea for a thread, as I imagine it would be rather fun to take the time to reminiscence on such memories.

It would also be interesting to see someone broaden the scope a bit to include television shows. Here's what comes to mind: The Secret World of Alice Mack, Sliders, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Batman: The Animated Series, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, etc.


"Batman: The Animated Series" is still bloody fantastic. One of the best shows in TV history.

[Ezee E]

lol, I recall almost nothing about the film but I find this amusing nonetheless.
Not only does he get more spikes, his helmet completely changes among other things. Pretty awesome indeed.

The Turtles don't stop him though. He kills himself by showing how awesome he was about to be. Kind of a letdown really.

[Raiders]

That's the one where Shredder creates those two grotesque, boar-like henchmen, right?

Not boar-like, a turtle and a wolf which was UBER-LAME because they should have just made them Beebop and Rocksteady and as a child growing up playing these games and watching these cartoons to have two mutant henchmen who are NOT Beebop and Rocksteady is just wrong.

[dreamdead]

My memories of the cartoon are pretty hazy, too, but I also recall the turtles having some kind of human friend with a hockey mask... his name escapes me right now. Did he show up in this film or was it one of the others?

You're thinking of Casey Jones, played in the first and third film by Elias Koteas. At least someone's career didn't list these films as his career highlight. I have no remembrance of why he never appeared in the second film...

[megladon8]

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3512/image19vz.jpg

Year: 2008
Age: 21

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974 / Jorge Grau)

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/9914/lscl.jpg


By 2008 I felt I had pretty much exhausted the list of "classic horrors". Of course - as any of us movie buffs know - I'm always going to be finding little forgotten gems, and filling in small holes. But my "exploration", if you will, of the genre was pretty much over. I was well acquainted with most all of the horror movements and sub-genres, from silents to giallo to slashers, so it was quite a surprise to me when Let Sleeping Corpses Lie ended up being an even rival to the very best of Romero. Smartly written, tightly paced, beautifully photographed, and most surprising of all, creepy as hell. Jorge Grau's film had Jen and I floored right from the first viewing and has since been in our DVD players many, many times.

It was the summer of 2008 and I was in New York City. Like [REC] a year later, this was another horror Jen and I watched at night on her little 19 inch tube TV. And again, like [REC], it was a DVD I had purchased in Canada and waited to watch until I was with Jen in NYC. We try to see as many movies for the first time with each other - we're nerds, and we make great memories this way.

I think the first thing we were taken aback by was how low-key the movie was. Up until the final massacre, there are only really 3 or 4 zombies in the film. And like the best of Romero's films, the zombies served not only as a physical terror, but as a means of communicating the film's environmentally-minded themes. To tell you any more than that would spoil the movie, so take this write-up as a strong recommendation to see it for yourself. It really is quite good.

There is also a scene in a crypt which had Jen and I genuinely creeped out. The film is shot beautifully, and this scene in the crypt is the perfect showcase for Grau's patient eye, watching the characters go mad with fear as death moves oh-so-slowly towards them. It's fantastic.

While it may not have been the hands-down best film I saw in 2008, I consider it the most memorable (hence why it's on this list, d'uh!). It reminded me that I will never, ever have seen everything. There are always treasures yet to be found.

[megladon8]

Don't worry everyone, the "hilariously frank" entries are coming very soon.

[megladon8]

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/4403/braden1990b.jpg

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An Unknown Porno (Sometime in the '80s / Longjohn Von Throbbincock)

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/2982/sfwg.jpg


I chose a SFW-porno shot to illustrate this entry.

I also edited the image I used (of myself at age 3) from my 1990 entry, as this occurred in 1990 and I felt it warranted an entry unto itself.

It was an unusually warm day in early April. My mom was pregnant with my sister, and at that stage where she could be going into labour at any moment. It was a huge strain on both her back and her already dwindling immune system (her body didn't handle the last two pregnancies all that well), so she spent a lot of time in bed. My (older) brother and I were good kids, so she'd set up the VCR and NES for us so we could just have some movie and gaming fun while she went and lay down for the afternoon.

My brother and I were eager for something new to watch so my mom gave my brother a few bucks to walk to the Videoflicks down the street and rent a movie for us. Sounded like a great plan. My brother and I loved adventure type movies - you know, "Indiana Jones" and the like. So he went there hoping to get something like that, which he did.

So we put it on and it was okay. I know that, even at my tender age of three, I thought there was something weird about it. The acting was...weird. And it all just seemed really fake, especially compared to the incredible productions that were the Indy movies. Then a scene came around where a young blonde woman lies down in front of a fire and proceeds to have several men rub oil all over her naked body. Then they all do...well...other things to her.

Later that night at dinner time, my dad was home from work and my mom was at the table with us all eating. They asked us what we watched and we just said it was "some adventure movie."

Then my dad asked me what my favorite part was, and I said "the part where they rubbed oil on the girl's boobies."

I like to think of that as my introduction to the magnificent, miraculous wonders that are those big fleshy things we know as breasts.

Now, to this day I still cannot seem to find what the title of the movie was. I THINK it was something referring to King Solomon's Mines, but I don't know. And while this story has become one of our family's regular funny stories, I still can't help but wonder what the video store clerk was thinking renting a hardcore porno to a 7 year old.

[jenniferofthejungle]

That could be my favorite one so far. :D

[chrisnu]

Not boar-like, a turtle and a wolf which was UBER-LAME because they should have just made them Beebop and Rocksteady and as a child growing up playing these games and watching these cartoons to have two mutant henchmen who are NOT Beebop and Rocksteady is just wrong.
Tokka and Rahzar. I'm not sure why I remember that arcane detail.

[Dead & Messed Up]

You weren't at RST Video, were you?

:lol:

[megladon8]

You weren't at RST Video, were you?

:lol:


No idea what that is. I assume it's an American video chain??

[Dead & Messed Up]

No idea what that is. I assume it's an American video chain??

It was the chain Randal worked at in Clerks. My favorite laugh in the flick is when he adds "Happy Scrappy Hero Pup" to a list of extremely pornographic videos.

[Scar]

It was the chain Randal worked at in Clerks. My favorite laugh in the flick is when he adds "Happy Scrappy Hero Pup" to a list of extremely pornographic videos.

JSmE7mhmCUY

[megladon8]

My most sincere apologies for abandoning this for so long.

I'll get it started back up soon. The last few weeks have been incredibly stressful to say the least.

[Dead & Messed Up]

My most sincere apologies for abandoning this for so long.

I'll get it started back up soon. The last few weeks have been incredibly stressful to say the least.

No worries dude. Hope everything's going alright.

[Sven]

No worries dude. Hope everything's going alright.

.

[megladon8]

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/4344/scankf.jpg

Year: 1992
Age: 5

Hook (1991 / Steven Spielberg)

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/4902/hookg.jpg


1992 was a pretty big year, and I remember only a few certain things. 1992 was the last year I spent in the house I was born - not that I was actually born in the house, but you know what I mean. I spent the first 5 years of my life there. Early on in 1992 my family also went on the first (and only, to this day) vacation we'd ever been on - it was to Florida, where my grandparents (maternal) would go almost yearly. We went for a week if I remember correctly, staying in a little rental property where my grandparents would shack up.

I still remember the day we arrived most distinctly, and I'll tell you why. We arrived at the little condo in a rental van with all of our luggage and my parents told me brother and I to go play in the back yard while they took care of my little sister (born just a year prior) and unloaded the luggage into the house. So in the backyard my brother and I explored - the grass hadn't been cut in a few weeks so it was quite high. I decided to just plop down on the grass and enjoy the sun. Suddenly I felt quite a sting in my pants, on my bum. Then another. Then a hundred more.

I had sat right on a fire ant nest.

So, while everyone else went to the beach, my mom and I stayed home in the condo for the first two days of the visit, I in a bathtub full of cold water and her running back and forth from the kitchen, fetching ice for my bum and spoonfulls of Benadryl to keep the swelling down.

After that, though, the trip was fun. I saw DisneyWorld and it was as magical as it could be to a 5 year old in the early '90s when Disney movies were events - that's pretty magical.

So what does this all have to do with Hook? Well, nothing really. Except for it being 1992, the last year in the house I was born and raised 'til the age of 5 in, and my very last memory of that house was watching Hook in the front family room.

It was a beautiful summer evening, early enough that it was still sunny but late enough that the sun had turned to an array of pink and orange light shining in through the drapes of the room.

I also have an amusing memory related to this movie which didn't occur in 1992 but is nonetheless worth sharing. It must have been '94 or '95, and my brother and I had just finished watching it. I was absolutely amazed by that chubby kid who was able to roll across bridges and down flights of stairs, and decided that his technique must be flawless and copyable. So I tried to do it down the 14-step flight of stairs in our new house.

And that was the first time I ever had the wind knocked out of me.

[megladon8]

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2286/n5804812924243856540.jpg

Year: 2007
Age: 20

Memories of Murder (2003 / Joon-ho Bong)

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/9251/momsv.jpg


I will not mince words here - Memories of Murder is one of the most haunting, devastating films Jen and I have ever seen. What I've seen described as "a Korean Se7en" is actually much more harrowing and humanistic than Fincher's inarguably dark and sick masterpiece. It tells the story of Korea's first formal investigation of a serial killer, and how the investigation was pretty much hopeless right from the start. It's frightening, powerful, and at times even quite funny. It's an incredible movie.

And I watched it while eating bowl after bowl of kimchi.

Bowl after bowl after bowl of kimchi was consumed on the cold winter night (shortly after Christmas) in which Jen and I watched Memories of Murder. I remember this distinctly because I don't think I've ever had such bad heartburn. Mix that in with the heartache of the film's tragedy and man, I was just abusive to my heart that night! Before you start in on me, yes, I am aware of the fact that heartburn does not actually have anything to do with my heart.

This is a memory in which the film was more memorable than the events surrounding it. No rolling down the stairs and winding myself, no trip to Florida, no crapping my pants with fear - it was just an incredible film viewing experience for Jen and I, and one we reflect on quite frequently.

Certainly not one of the more entertaining entries on my list, but it's memorable for me all the same.

[jenniferofthejungle]

I will never forget that one either, Braden.

I have to disagree with you on one aspect of it. There was a scene that scared me so much I felt physical terror. I'm not exaggerating a bit. It was the scene in the rain where the girl looks around and sees nothing, but then we see the killer in the field.

Heartbreaker of a movie, and a solid 10 for me. I'll never forget it.

[megladon8]

I will never forget that one either, Braden.

I have to disagree with you on one aspect of it. There was a scene that scared me so much I felt physical terror. I'm not exaggerating a bit. It was the scene in the rain where the girl looks around and sees nothing, but then we see the killer in the field.

Heartbreaker of a movie, and a solid 10 for me. I'll never forget it.



What are you disagreeing with?? I totally agree :)

[jenniferofthejungle]

What are you disagreeing with?? I totally agree :)


Sorry, I was disagreeing with your "no crapping your pants with fear" comment.

[megladon8]

A quick peek at some of the hilarious situations I'll be talking about in upcoming entries:

How I discovered masturbation...with a zombie movie!

The first time a girl touched my wang!

Getting caught trying to rent an R-rated movie at the age of 9!