Ah, those wonderful movies

Hope A. Smith
Published: August 21, 2008

Movies are amazing, aren’t they? You can escape from your worries into a fantasy world. You can live the life of a Mafia boss without the consequences.

Or, you can be transported to a time in history. Movies tell many stories, some true and some completely fabricated. Each of us has our favorite movies — it’s hard to narrow it down sometimes. Two of my all-time favorites are “Goodfellas” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I’ve seen each of those movies at least 20 times and can recite lines from them.

With advancing age and withering patience, our mode of watching movies is via DVD or HBO. Nothing against movie theaters, but I can pause the DVD or television, plus my attention span is waning. Our daughter loves the full movie theater experience, and we caught the latest installment of “Indiana Jones” there. Considering the ever-present high cost of fuel, partnered with the price of a theater ticket and must-have popcorn and soda, purchasing a DVD actually works out to be a lot cheaper, too.

There are always the stand-by classics in the world of movies.

Few would argue that “The Godfather” trilogy is an all-time classic (although diehard “Godfather” fans would debate that “The Godfather III” should not be grouped with the first two).

American Film Institute created a list of the top 100 movies of all time. Capturing their No. 2 spot is a movie I watched, based on popular opinion that it is one of the all-time greats. The movie is “Casablanca,” and I have to tell you, I was not impressed.

That’s the thing with movies — a “good” movie is very subjective. Case in point — in my adolescent sense of humor, I loved “Dumb & Dumber.” My parents hated it. Our friend, Bob, and I can watch “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” over and over. My husband? Not so much.

It still amazes me that people see movies based largely on the reviews. A lot of times a movie’s success is based on those reviews. Remember “Waterworld,” starring Kevin Costner? It was one of the costliest films ever made back in 1995, and it was, by and large, a flop. My husband loves that movie.

When a movie is a runaway success, studios believe it is inevitable that a sequel should be made. For the most part, the sequel is never as good as the original. There are, however, some exceptions — Spiderman II and III were, by majority opinion, just as good as the first one. The desire to capture the magic of the original drives the spirit of the sequel. Who remembers “Exorcist II?” Not many, I’ll bet. But the original “Exorcist” was a real landmark in the horror movie genre, and the only horror movie to have been nominated for multiple Academy Awards and to win two.

The pop culture phenomenon has been greatly influenced by movies. Catch phrases, clothing and even TV shows have been brought about by various movies.

Lately, the phrase, “Not so much” (we use it all the time) was made popular by “Borat,” another guilty pleasure of a movie for a lot of us. Ever heard someone say, “Yep, that was a real Catch-22?” “Catch-22” was a movie from 1970, adapted from a novel by Joseph Heller. It describes a no-win situation — such as, “I pay into Social Security every week, but I probably won’t be able to collect it when I need it.”

Great actors are the foundation of any great movie, opinion or not. A great actor is one that can move from genre to genre. Take, for example, Robert DeNiro. He skeeved us out in “Taxi Driver” as Travis Bickle (You talkin’ to me?) and amazed us in “Godfather II” as a young Don Vito Corleone. He scared the hell out of us in the remake of “Cape Fear” and made us laugh in “Meet the Parents.” And he’s believable every time, no matter the character he takes on.

My hubby is out of town this weekend. That leaves our daughter and I to have a “chick flicks” evening on Saturday. We will relish in the tears of “Steel Magnolias” once again and “Fried Green Tomatoes.” “Thelma & Louise” is still a few years off for her. See you in the DVD aisle!

Hope A. Smith is an independent columnist and resident of Orange County. Her column appears Fridays. E-mail