Saturday, December 06, 2008

Movie Question

I decided last night to order "The Wire," beginning with season one.

No, I've never seen it, not one episode.

But hold your gasps until I ask my question for the weekend!

"The Wire" isn't the only apparently huge hole in my tv/film life. My students were shocked, SHOCKED!! that I have seen none of the "Star Wars," "E.T.," or "Indiana Jones" films.

Off the top of my head, also unseen: "Boyz in the Hood" (I pieced that together from various clips and people's stories of the film), "Do the Right Thing," any "American Pie," "Citizen Kane," "Rocky I through MMXLV" or whatever, "Love Jones" which I began and couldn't get into, to be honest, "Love and Basketball" in sequential order, "Fatal Attraction," "Gone with the Wind" (don't want to), any episode of "Grey's Anatomy," or "Lost" and I'm stopping there, whew.

So what's the gaping hole in your motion picture repertoire?

15 comments:

chiefbroad said...

I, too, have not seen the Star Wars trilogy, save for Return of the Jedi, which I saw when it came out (don't remember much). I tried to watch the trilogy about 10 years ago when it was aired on USA, but I was bored, to be honest.

Other classics I have not seen: Gone With the Wind, Wizard of Oz (from beginning to end), Casablanca, and many others from the AFI's Top 100 list.

elle said...

Hi Tobey!

I just saw Casablanca this year.

Jay said...

Gaps I don't want to fill: Lord of the Rings. I saw bits and pieces of the first one but never saw the whole thing and haven't seen any of the others. I've never seen any of The Sopranos (don't want to) and will never see Schindler's List. Also never seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show (the movie; I've seen the stage play).

Gaps that I want to fill: Spike Lee's ouevre- never seen any of his films and I would like to. The last three Batman movies. Crash.

elle said...

Jay, I've been poking around your blog and it's so good! If I ever finish re-doing the damned blogroll...

I've never seen any of the LOTRs either and don't want to. And only one Harry Potter (that I REALLY liked) and have read none of the Harry Potter books. I've seen bits and pieces of The Sopranos on A & E, never a full episode.

I've seen much, but not all of Spike Lee. Did not see Batman Begins or Dark Knight (though I will rent it Tuesday).

Jay said...

Thanks, Elle! I just added you to my blogroll (meant to do that last weekend and forgot, so thanks for the reminder). And this is an interesting line of thought - we may actually have some evenings to spend together coming up, and I think I'll fuss with my Netflix queue and get the Batman movies.

The History Enthusiast said...

I've never seen "A Christmas Story."

My parents were pretty strict with us when we were kids, and so for some reason we weren't allowed to see this (I think because there is swearing). I watched a few minutes of it during the last Christmas season, but I couldn't get into it. I think it's one of those movies you need to see as a kid if you want to fully appreciate it.

There are probably other holes too, but I can't think of any at the moment. You should definitely watch Indiana Jones! I just LOVED those as a kid (although "The Temple of Doom" was stupid).

elle said...

Hey!

No "A Christmas Story" for me either, though I really don't know why.

k8 said...

There are many movies I haven't seen. Of those I have seen, I have to say that Indiana Jones is fun. I liked Do The Right Thing. I haven't seen LOTR b/c I have issues with films of books I've read. It rarely feels right.

Do you like Hitchcock films? Good stuff!

As for tv, I keep meaning to rent the dvds for Homicide: Life On The Street. I loved that show!

elle said...

k8, I've seen some Hitchcock television (I remember his voice and seeing his silhouette/face outline) but no movies that I know off, though I've read detailed synopses of Psycho.

Didn't watch homicide much, but I love the Munch character on SVU.

comebacknikki said...

Oh, I looove Love & Basketball - it's such a good movie! :)

I guess the biggest two I haven't seen are When Harry Met Sally & Fatal Attraction. I've seen enough clips of each & heard/read many conversations, so I know what happens, but I've never actually sat down and watched either.

elle said...

I know the orgasm scene and that's about it :-P

Love and Basketball is a big hit in my family/with my friends, so that's why I mentioned it.

Kevin Andre Elliott said...

Y'all are killing me! I now realize that I have spent WAY too much time in front of a TV/computer screen. LOL!

I mean, most of what's been mentioned here, I've watched dozens of times. I've easily watched EVERY episode of The Wire 5 times each; I lurves A Christmas Story. No Christmas is complete for me without watching it. Hell, I spent a week watching all of the Star Wars movies in chronological order. Just because.

The exceptions: Gone with the Wind and It's a Wonderful Life. Both I've made a conscious decision NOT to watch, ever.

Lest you think too poorly of me for spending all of my time in front of a TV, I should remind you that I was an English major, so I do read books too. :)

Virginia Pickel said...

I recently decided to use some of my Netflix rentals to see some "horror/thriller" movies I've never seen. Friday the 13th & Nightmare on Elm Street are the 2 I've watched so far. They were pretty dumb...I guess they were much better back in the 80s. :-P

RageyOne said...

I'll join the list of folks that haven't seen the all of the Star Wars movies. I think I saw the first one, as a kid, but I don't recall it all. Others that I've seen: "Gone With the Wind," "When Harry Met Sally," "Citizen Kane," "The Sound of Music," and probably most of the stuff on AFI's Top 100.

I was forced to watch all there of the LOTR movies one day by friends. It was okay, but I'm glad I didn't go to the movies to see them.

I am also not really into television series so I've not seen "The Wire," "Gray's Anatomy," "Boston Legal," that prison show, "24," or anything that is basically serialized. I saw one episode of "Sex in the City" once because friends were convinced I would like it. Not so much.

thefrogprincess said...

My mother was really strict so I probably watched four or five movies in my entire childhood. The only movie I remember her actively banning was "Sixteen Candles," which was going to be played at my friend's sixteenth birthday party, which meant I couldn't go to the party. But casualties of the no-movie policy were many of the already-mentioned: ET, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Sound of Music, Pride and Prejudice, Top Gun, Risky Business, the list goes on and on. Chances are if a movie was made before 2001, I haven't seen it. If it was made after 2001, I may have but chances are still lower than most people because I'd rather spend my time watching TV (which I also didn't watch much of growing up) than spending 2-plus hours watching a potentially bad movie.

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