Alphaville

I originally typed 'Movies, A to Z' in the title field, above, but then, checking back on Mark Gibson's blog, where I got tagged for this thing, I see he titled his post on this subject that, so, er, I'll call mine something else.

The rules are these:

1. Pick one film to represent each letter of the alphabet.

2. The letter "A" and the word "The" do not count as the beginning of a film's title, unless the film is simply titled A or The, and I don't know of any films with those titles.

Commentary: I understand the intent of this rule, but in application it comes up stupid and wrong a great deal of the time. For example, I loves me some A Few Good Men, and the notion that that film should be listed under F instead of A is idiotic. But, whatever.

3. Return of the Jedi belongs under "R," not "S" as in Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi.

Commentary: Of fucking COURSE it does. Anyone referring to THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK or, for the love of God, STAR WARS, as Star Wars Episode anything should be summarily bastinadoed. But then, I'm the kind of surly curmudgeon who doesn't believe that Episodes 1 through 3 and 6 are 'real' STAR WARS movies, anyway, so what do you want from me?

This rule applies to all films in the original Star Wars trilogy; all that followed start with "S." Similarly, Raiders of the Lost Ark belongs under "R," not "I" as in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Damn straight.

Conversely, all films in the LOTR series belong under "L" and all films in the Chronicles of Narnia series belong under "C," as that's what those filmmakers called their films from the start. In other words, movies are stuck with the titles their owners gave them at the time of their theatrical release. Use your better judgment to apply the above rule to any series/films not mentioned.

4. Films that start with a number are filed under the first letter of their number's word. 12 Monkeys would be filed under "T."

5. Link back to Blog Cabins in your post so that I can eventually type "alphabet meme" into Google and come up #1, then make a post where I declare that I am the King of Google.

Commentary: If you'd also link back to The Miserable Annals of the Earth, I will give you a cookie. It's a dried out nasty cookie I just found down in between the cushion and the left arm of the recliner, and you don't want it, but I will give it to you anyway. Or, actually, I won't, but only if you link to me. Okay?

6. If you're selected, you have to then select 5 more people.

Commentary: I don't know five more people, so I'm passing on this part.

Now, given that the rack containing all our movies is about four inches to my right as I type this, this should be eeeeeeeeasy --

Animal House (This could have just as easily been Apollo 13, All That Jazz, An Officer and A Gentleman, An American Werewolf in London, Addam's Family, Angel Heart, or Arsenic and Old Lace, but for some reason Animal House is appealing to me most right now)
Big Country, The (I like very few Westerns, but the ones I like are very GOOD Westerns)
Color of Money, The (I nearly went for Can't Buy Me Love and/or The Commitments, but this may be Scorcese's best overall movie, so...)
Dawn of the Dead (we have very few movies that start with D, and while I like Dazed and Confused just fine, I like the original Dawn of the Dead better)
Extreme Prejudice/Eight Men Out (two very different movies, both favorites, I ain't pickin', watch 'em both)
48 Hrs, although I'm real tempted to put up Frequency, too, and A Few Good Men
Goodfellas narrowly beating out GalaxyQuest, Glory, Groundhog Day, and Glengarry Glen Ross
How The Grinch Stole Christmas, shut up, it's a movie if I say it's a movie
It's A Wonderful Life
Johnny Handsome, okay, so I like me some mid-list Walter Hill movies, sue me
Kiss of the Dragon, because Kill Bill is just waaaaaaay too self indulgent
Last of the Mohicans
Miller's Crossing because it has to be, but Man Who Shot Liberty Valence is barely the thickness of a wet kleenex behind it and... and... what about Monty Python and the Holy Grail, oh, God, I don't know, I don't know...
Nobody's Fool
O Brother Where Art Thou, with a blast of the pool table warp drive to Ordinary People, also
Predator 2, Prestige, and Primer, because I say so
Quiz Show
Robocop, Rocketeer, Road Warrior, Reservoir Dogs, Reanimator, Raising Arizona, and Run Lola Run
Shaun of the Dead, but, you know, Sommersby is good, too
Terminator. And This is Spinal Tap.
Unbreakable, although Unforgiven would have made that a tough choice if Mark hadn't already used it
Victor/Victoria
Wolfen
X-Men
Year of Living Dangerously
Zathura

Wow, and I only had to Google for a 'v' and a 'z'. And we actually own 'Zathura', it's just on the shelf where Super Adorable Kid's movies are, which is why I didn't see it when I looked.

Okay, that killed twenty minutes... thanks, Mark!