A lazy, guilt-free Saturday
Writing by treason on Saturday, 30 of July , 2005 at 9:51 pm
A fun morning. Somehow T and I started a discussion of favorite actors. That means, essentially, actors we like and actors everybody else likes and we don’t. T and I both ask: What is with the whole Leonardo di Caprio thing? Marty Scorsese sees something I don’t, obviously. Maybe it will hit me later - when he’s older.
I digress. Anyway, we threw out dozens of names and movie titles and offered reasons why some performances were ground-breaking and others were not. We talked about where these people are now, what happened to their careers, the good choices and the bad. It wasn’t always about talent. Sometimes it was a matter of did-you-take-the-time-to-actually-read-this-script? Or more often, where’s-the-agent-who-cares-
about-you-and-your-miserable-career?
It occurred to me that I have favorite actors, but I do not have a favorite. A number one. And then it occurred to me that when I was younger I had very definite opinions about favorites. Favorite color, food, song, rock band, TV series, actor, actress, outfit, shoes, restaurant, drink, book. The only favorite I’ve had since childhood that hasn’t changed is my favorite movie. I have been in love with The Lion In Winter for damned near forty years. When did it come out? 1968? Now that’s consistency. Marriages don’t last this long.
I think the only other favorite I have is National Review as favorite magazine. And for precisely the same reasons I love The Lion In Winter. It’s well-written, dramatic at the right moments, and hysterically funny at the right moments. Sometimes both at once. I like that.
But the conversation also reminded me that there were some very good movies in the 80’s. No one gives them much thought now, but after college I had cable movie channels and I recorded everything. Film students study the golden age, and the important films by important filmmakers of the sixties and seventies, but do they study the eighties?
We talked about actors and movies that I haven’t thought about in years. Then we drank a lot of beer and watched Donnie Darko - another guilty pleasure. There’s a scene where Donnie’s dad is asleep in front of the TV - it’s late at night and the station has signed off for the evening. Signed off. Remember that? The flag, the national anthem, then…
I remember for some time stations showed restful nature scenes - ducks swimming to classical music…some French composer whose name I’ll think of six hours from now…no, wait, it’s Debussy — and I would intentionally stay up just to watch that because it was restful but sad and disturbing at the same time. Don’t ask why.
Anyway, when did that stop happening?
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