Liz's Big List o' Awesome TV Show & Movies
Pretty much all the "favorites" and important movies/shows I could think of.
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- DirectorCharles E. Sellier Jr.StarsLilyan ChauvinGilmer McCormickToni NeroLittle Billy witnesses his parents getting killed by Santa after being warned by his senile grandpa that Santa punishes those who are naughty. Now Billy is 18 and out of the orphanage, and he has just become Santa himself.I was an extra in this movie when I was three -- I have the screen cap to prove it.
(in Utah in the eighties, it was seriously easy to just be in random movies -- see "Troll 2.")
This is your classic eighties tits-n-ass slasher movie. How my mother ever got conned in to letting me be in it? No idea, but it's kind of a neat icebreaker when talking to other horror movie buffs since it has the distinction of breaking a taboo and making Father Christmas kill people in (then) new and interesting ways. - DirectorBradley BeesleyWayne CoyneGeorge SalisburyStarsWayne CoyneSteven DrozdMichael IvinsI am no longer a follower of the Flaming Lips, but I was also in this movie for two seconds and (like #1) have the screen cap to prove this it.
- CreatorPaul PlaydonRick RosnerStarsErik EstradaLarry WilcoxRobert PineThe adventures of two California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers.C'mon, people, classic!!! My dad and I used to watch this together. In fact, I faked sick many many times just to be home so we could do so.
- StarsMark HarmonFrederic ForrestGeorge GrizzardThe story of serial killer, Ted Bundy.Creepy as it may be - also another one I faked sick (two days in a row since it was a "movie of the day" two-parter played back in the day when local cable only got that ONE Dfw station) in order to stay home and watch with my dad.
ALSO -- I grew up with a weird fascination toward serial killers and this guy is all kinds of interesting AND since I was born in Utah, he has actually touched the lives of a couple of people I know. - DirectorTim BurtonStarsMichael KeatonJack NicholsonKim BasingerThe Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker.Age: 8
This movie has many distinctions: first declaration of "favorite movie" that I can recall, first celebrity crush (Michael Keaton), first insane number of multiple viewings while said movie was still in the theatre (I think I saw it maybe a dozen times... many times it seems like I ended up seeing it instead of getting my allowance for that time frame).
Thanks to the mind's strange ability to act computerlike and recall things for you even though you don't even really know you know them anymore (like hearing a song on the radio that you haven't heard in YEARS and still being able to sing along without even realizing you are doing so), you can still pop this movie in and I will recite [probably] the whole thing for you. - DirectorDavid LynchStarsKyle MacLachlanVirginia MadsenFrancesca AnnisA Duke's son leads desert warriors against the galactic emperor and his father's evil nemesis to free their desert world from the emperor's rule.Age:7 or 8
I have no idea how I even discovered this movie, but it ruled my world for years. It was my first declaration of "Favorite Movie" ("Batman" was favorite "new release" this was "favorite that had already come out" - it was a VHS discovery) as well as my first introduction to the amazing man-beauty of Kyle Maclachlan.
And (Sorry, Mom) "Star Wars" be damned, it was my first introduction to the truly mind-blowing power of science fiction. - CreatorDonald P. BellisarioStarsScott BakulaDean StockwellDeborah PrattDuring an experiment into time travel, a scientist finds himself trapped in the past, "leaping" into the lives of different people, sorting out their problems and changing history in hopes of getting back to his own life in the present.Favorite episode: "Catch a Falling Star"
- CreatorMark FrostDavid LynchStarsKyle MacLachlanMichael OntkeanMädchen AmickAn idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.Age:9-10.
Greatness level: Obsession.
How I even started watching this show when I really should have been watching "Ninja Turtles" or "Power Rangers" or whatever was age appropriate at the time, I have no idea. But at this time: this was the greatest show I had ever seen EVER.
I've watched it many times since then and I honestly think something is lost in the translation now that I'm an adult. It seems like it made a whole lot more sense to me THEN.
It also had two added advantages: Kyle Maclachlan is one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever laid eyes on and it gave my mother and I something to discuss even when things were tense between us. - DirectorKen RussellStarsRoger DaltreyAnn-MargretOliver ReedA psychosomatically blind, deaf, and mute boy becomes a master pinball player and, subsequently, the figurehead of a cult.Age: 11. First introduction to the concept of "rock opera." Mind. Blown.
- DirectorFranc RoddamStarsPhil DanielsLeslie AshPhil DavisJimmy Cooper loathes his dead-end job and his working-class parents. He seeks solace with his mod clique, scooter riding, and drugs, only to be disappointed.Seen around the same time as "Tommy," a little bit after.
Second introduction to "rock opera" and, in my opinion, THE perfect teen angst movie. I dare you not to have felt helpless, hopeless and alone like Jim at some point when you were young. - DirectorJim SharmanStarsTim CurrySusan SarandonBarry BostwickA newly-engaged couple have a breakdown in an isolated area and must seek shelter at the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-n-Furter.I dare you to be a misfit thirteen year old, hear the statement "don't dream it, be it" crooned at you from your TV screen, and not have it make an impact.
Requiring no further embellishment from me, I will simply say this movie means friendship and acceptance to me and has at several times in my life when I really needed it. - CreatorChris CarterStarsDavid DuchovnyGillian AndersonMitch PileggiTwo F.B.I. Agents, Fox Mulder the believer and Dana Scully the skeptic, investigate the strange and unexplained, while hidden forces work to impede their efforts.Age: 12-21.
Greatness level: UBER ULTRA OBSESSION (two seasons of Twin Peaks versus NINE of this)
Filled the void in my life left by the lack of "Twin Peaks" though I didn't really know what it was like to love a show until the invention of the X-files.
It satisfied two things for me: my weirdness quotient and well, it was kind of like girl-porn. It portrayed this magical unicorn of a male/female relationship between Mulder and Scully: one built first and foremost on respect and mutual admiration (a thing not exhibited to me at all as a kid and a thing observable only in a fluctuating manner as an adult in my own relationships). I can always tell how well my personal relationships are doing based on how much X-files I need to watch. - CreatorChris CarterStarsLance HenriksenMegan GallagherTerry O'QuinnA former FBI profiler with the ability to look inside the mind of a killer begins working for the mysterious Millennium Group which investigates serial killers, conspiracies, the occult, and those obsessed with the end of the millennium.Like the X-files only "blacker than the blackest black times infinity."
I was only 15 and pretty much already determined the world would end soon so this show gave me NIGHTMARES.
Actually got a chance to ask Lance Henriksen how he got this role out of his system once it was over. He went to Hawaii... and got tattoos. He showed me one - it was a tribal sea turtle on his arm.
EPIC. - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesAlex DeLarge and his droogs barbarize a decaying near-future.First movie I went to great lengths to see which involved deceiving my parents (since I wasn't allowed to see rated R movies.)
Smuggled it over to my friend Tara's house and we watched it there. I think we were probably hs freshman.
Its brilliance stands alone and requires no further exposition on my part. - DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsPaul MercurioTara MoriceBill HunterA maverick dancer risks his career by performing an unusual routine and sets out to succeed with a new partner.Favorite Movie: Age 11 (seen and captured on crappy VHS w/ Starz: Free Preview!)
Why? Because I was a closet romantic far before I ever admitted to boys no longer having "cooties" in my estimation.
This movie was big and bright and beautiful (and foreign!!! ooooohhhh accents...) And it featured something hugely appealing: a clumsy, ugly girl turning in to a beautiful, graceful girl and getting the boy.
What's this? A tiny twinge of hope? - DirectorTony BillStarsChristian SlaterMarisa TomeiRosie PerezA waitress hardly notices a shy busboy who secretly loves her; until one night she's attacked and he comes to her rescue. From there a relationship sparks but one secret could mean disaster for these fated lovers.Ah... love + death = whole new levels of romantic tragedy. *high school girl swoon*
- DirectorJon TurteltaubStarsSandra BullockBill PullmanPeter GallagherA hopelessly romantic Chicago Transit Authority ticket booth operator is mistaken for the fiancée of a comatose patient.Celebrity Crush: The Freshman Edition -
Yep, I had it hard for Bill Pullman.
Another concession toward my secret romantic nature and the idea that maybe the person you want will end up wanting you back (whether that actually works out or not, in this case.) - DirectorTim PopeStarsVincent PerezMia KirshnerRichard BrooksThe spirit of the Crow resurrects a car mechanic seeking revenge for the murder of his son.First date w/ ex husband - part 1 of 2.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerRichard StanleyStarsDavid ThewlisMarlon BrandoVal KilmerAfter being rescued and brought to an island, a man discovers that its inhabitants are experimental animals being turned into strange-looking humans, all of it the work of a visionary doctor.First date w/ ex husband - part 2 of 2 (we saw them @ the Abilene mall back to back.)
- DirectorArthur HillerStarsPeter O'TooleSophia LorenJames CocoThe funny story of mad but kind and chivalrous elderly nobleman Don Quixote who, aided by his squire Sancho Panza, fights windmills that are seen as dragons to save prostitute Dulcinea who is seen as a noblewoman.My mother raised me on musicals, but I have taken this for my own and it occupies a spot in my holy trinity of musicals. The idea? That you can choose nobility and make yourself something better than you really are.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsTed NeeleyCarl AndersonYvonne EllimanFilm version of the musical stage play, presenting the last few weeks of Christ's life told in an anachronistic manner.Second entry on the musical "holy trinity." Age: 15. I was in a production of JCS at the local community theatre and it was the most religious experience I've ever had. The idea that Jesus could have been a real person with real thoughts and feelings was a revelation.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJohnny DeppHelena Bonham CarterAlan RickmanThe legendary tale of a barber who returns from wrongful imprisonment to 1840s London, bent on revenge for the rape and death of his wife, and resumes his trade while forming a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett.Third entry on the musical "holy trinity." See 'Fast Sofa' entry for my preoccupation with the idea of inevitability. The watcher observes: these characters could have stopped at any time and steered away from their terminal course. From the characters' prospective, was that even a choice or were they hurtling toward something completely out of their control?
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyMichael CurtizStarsFredric MarchOlivia de HavillandDonald WoodsIn 18th-century Italy, an orphan's debt to the man who raised him threatens to separate him forever from the woman he loves.First date with Doug - how do you delineate? - current spouse, husband #2... the non-ex husband. :-)
- DirectorSalomé BrezinerStarsJake BuseyCrispin GloverNatasha LyonneRick loses his girlfriend to his friend when he spends a night with his favorite porn star. He moves out, picks up a weirdo and goes on a wild road trip to find the porn star again.The "journey tale" is as old as story telling itself, but this one is special to me. One of my favorite ideas when reading books or watching movies is inevitability. Characters drawn toward an end that they could have changed at any point... or could they?
(contains Crispin Glover... love him long time.)
The character of Jules is so profoundly changed at the end that it's easy to wonder how there was really anything else for him besides what ultimately happens. - DirectorPeter HowittStarsGwyneth PaltrowJohn HannahJohn LynchAfter personal and professional setbacks, a woman experiences an alternate reality.How much are we really affected by circumstance and the choices we make? It's not a particularly productive way to live - I know - but "what if?" is a concept never far from my mind.
I am basically married right now because of a flat tire. For someone who deals constantly in "what if," it's incredibly easy to ask: what if my tire didn't go flat that day? what if that nail hadn't ended up in my path? Why that trip, that road, that day? etc.