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Archive for the ‘Movie Mania’ Category

Take me home, to my video store

Posted in Movie Mania, Not sports? Tough!, tagged , , , , , on December 27, 2019| 2 Comments »

How much do I love this movie? So, so much.

This whole Coupeville Sports gig? Just killin’ time while I wait for the inevitable return of video stores.

I mean, it has to happen, right?

Yes, I’ve been wandering the desert for a decade now, with my 15-year run (1994-2009) in movie nirvana having ended before many of the current CHS freshmen entered kindergarten…

But I have to keep the dream alive.

Some day people will wake up, really look at how few films Netflix and other streaming services really offer, and we shall return to the days of Videoville renting 500 VHS tapes on a Friday night.

Or, some hipster with WAY more disposable income than myself, and a burning desire to toss money into the wind, will come along and say, “Hey, let’s be ironic and open a video rental store.”

And, when that happens, I will be there, waiting, like Silent Bob himself, who yes, I know, I sort of, kind of, look like.

Endless stats and long stretches of sitting on butt-busting school bleachers will fade, and I will be paid to once more yammer on endlessly about some weird-ass foreign film you have no intentions of ever seeing.

Yes, it starts off with dozens of Japanese school children holding hands and jumping in front of a speeding bullet train, and no, it makes no sense at all at any point from there, but … Suicide Club!!

The movie you didn’t want to watch in 2001 and still don’t want to watch in 2020.

Heathens.

Or, I know you’re going to rent Jurassic Park … but first, can I tell you the good word about Bottle Rocket?

Yes, I know 98% of the town of Coupeville hated it.

Sometimes 98% of a town can be wrong.

So there.

But anyways, just because video stores died doesn’t mean I became any less obsessed with films and yammering on about them.

So, for the three people out there who care, pop over to the link below and discover my picks for the 100 best movies to hit during my decade wandering in exile.

These are the films I would have been pestering you to rent between 2010-2019 if someone were still paying me to sit around and watch movies all days.

 

https://letterboxd.com/davidsvien/list/best-of-the-2010s/

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Am I an idiot?!?!

Posted in Movie Mania, tagged , , , , , , on August 3, 2016| Leave a Comment »

If you can ID all of these movie scenes, you may officially have movie mania.

   If you can ID these eight films (which are all on my Top 1,000), you may officially have movie mania.

Was it a waste of time? Possibly.

The gauntlet was laid down, though, and I had to respond.

Let’s jump back here for a moment and set the scene.

For those who don’t know, I spent 15 years being paid to watch movies as a small town video store manager.

I miss it, every freakin’ day.

Before that, and after that, I have watched a few films.

And by few, I mean I stopped counting at 10,000, and that was a long, loooooong time ago.

I killed many a brave VCR and DVD player in their day and am in a constant battle with Netflix, as its algorithms try (and fail) to pin down my movie tastes.

There are certainly some folks out there who have seen more movies than I have, or who have more film knowledge, or better taste.

Or who at least THINK they have better taste.

But I’ll take my movie mania and put it up against just about anyone and feel like I have at least a shot.

No “could of been” here. I am a contender.

So, last week, when director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) announced his picks for his favorite 1,000 films of all time, I was intrigued.

I agreed with a lot, I disagreed with some, and, while I’ve seen most of his picks, there were some gaps for me. Something to work on.

But first, I took the challenge. The implied one, at least.

It wasn’t as if Wright leaned out across the internet and smacked me in the face with a dueling glove. Yet…

But the challenge was there. Could I go through my movie history and pull together my own Top 1,000 list?

Of course I could. I live for such meaningless challenges.

Later, after much mind-numbing work, a lot of knockdown drag-out brawls with myself (I, apparently, can be a pain in the rear at times … who knew?) and a stubborn refusal to let go of The Cat in the Hat (there is no rational defense), I arrived at the finish line.

They’re my favorite 1,000 films (for today at least), if not necessarily the 1,000 greatest films of all time. Everything is subjective.

So, take a moment, pop over and look at my list (it’s alphabetic, not ranked #1-#1,000, cause that would be insane), see how many you’ve seen, marinate in my obsession and then, maybe, go create your own list.

Or go outside and get some fresh air. That works, too.

http://letterboxd.com/davidsvien/list/1000-or-bust/

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I really, really want your DVDs!!

Posted in Movie Mania, Not sports? Tough!, tagged , , , , on January 27, 2015| Leave a Comment »

This is our cultural heritage. Especially "Croczilla." Do not let them go quietly into that good night.

   This is our cultural heritage. Especially “Croczilla.” Do not let them go quietly into that good night.

There is a time in all of our lives that has a special glow in our memories.

For me, it is the 12+ years (Oct. 4, 1994-Dec. 31, 2006) I spent as manager at Videoville, the Coupeville video store that held its own against Blockbuster as countless other Whidbey movie outlets fell under less-than-friendly fire.

Top of the Hill Video (1 and 2). Quality In-House Video. Crazy Mike’s Video. Sunset Home Video. Coupeville Video.

At some point, I had a rental card for you all (and so many more).

But, like a good independent video store champion, I can state that not once did I ever rent a movie from Blockbuster. NEVER. EVER.

Videoville survived and thrived for longer than most for many reasons.

Being connected to Miriam’s Espresso helped.

Having a strong employee base and an owner (Miriam Meyer) who basically let us run wild as long as we didn’t burn the joint down or kill too many customers was huge, as well.

We couldn’t match Blockbuster’s new release wall in sheer numbers, but we beat them in selection.

Our foreign and documentary sections — my children — were the best on the Island. There is no doubt about that.

Blockbuster moved product.

We cared about movies and we made people watch Bottle Rocket and The Young Poisoner’s Handbook and The Limey and Box of Moonlight and Ichi the Killer (whether they wanted to or not).

Now, of course, video stores are all but dead, and it is a tragedy, one of the greatest of our lives.

You can argue that people have more choices than ever before, more access to films than at any point in the history of the motion picture, and that is true.

But it is impersonal, it is cold and removed and, frankly, Netflix and its computers do a terrible job of recommending movies for people to see.

It is super easy for them to say “Hey, Guardians of the Galaxy is fun!,” (it is — I saw it six times in the theater) but the next time their algorithm points you to Margaret’s Musuem or Rover Dangerfield or Samurai Fiction will be … never gonna happen.

In the years since Videoville, I have bounced through a number of jobs, all of which pay the bills but do little to stoke the inner fire.

It’s not their fault. They’re … jobs.

Videoville was a once-in-a-lifetime experience where I was paid to goof off for 12 mostly-transcendent years. It is, and probably will always be, my gold standard (especially since I am a lifelong movie fanatic).

Back in real life, I went a number of years without owning any DVDs, until, recently, a friend cleaning out her house suddenly gifted me with 150+ of them.

Since that point, realizing more and more people are throwing their movies away (I recently pulled 67 out of a dumpster at my aunt’s apartment complex) as they fully commit to a digital world, I have put the call out.

I want to retain a piece of my past. I want to build a secret, underground Videoville (I still have the original store sign in the weeds behind my duplex), a solid testament to what once was.

It’ll never be a store again, but it will endure. In some fashion.

Currently the collection sits at 667 DVDs and is growing.

Which is where you, the ones who are still reading at this point (even if you are rolling your eyes), come in.

Do you want to reclaim space in your house again? Have you been enslaved by Netflix and downloads?

Send your movies (rom coms to ’80s slashers, I want ’em all) my way (no VHS, sorry, my duplex is, after all, a duplex and not a 30-room mansion) and I will give them a retirement home with a view of Penn Cove.

Help me honor the past and keep the memory of it alive into the future.

Entrust me with the task of keeping a golden age alive. It is my one true destiny.

DVDs can be dropped any day of the week at Christopher’s on Whidbey (103 NW Coveland in Coupeville, next to the Post Office). Help keep the dream alive!!

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How I saw 90 movies (but only paid for 40)!!

Posted in Movie Mania, tagged , , , , , on December 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Pay the man, see the show.

Pay the man, see the show.

Was it worth it? Yes, yes it was.

When I found myself with an unexpected chunk of loose change in early Jan., there were 27 “better, smarter, more grown-up” things I could have done with the money.

Like save it. And … once my sister gets done rolling in the aisles, laughing, we can continue.

Instead, after several years of debating whether I could pull it off, whether I could justify the expense at the start, I marched into the Oak Harbor Cinemas, my home away from home since 1989, and plunked down $325 for a piece of plastic.

Then I went in and watched Mark Wahlberg get shot to Heck in “Lone Survivor” and started to have second thoughts.

The card — the 2014 Annual Pass — gave me unlimited movies for a year, good at both Oak Harbor and its sister theater in Anacortes. It was the “golden ticket” I had always wanted through countless movie summers.

But there’s a huge difference between being 18 and living off the goodwill of others and being 43 and having every single damn person in the world expect you to pay your own bills (ehh … overrated).

But, it was my 25th anniversary. The money had fallen into my lap, and I’ve never not squandered fallen money (probably a bad trait…) and if I didn’t face down the challenge now, when?

Spoiler alert: I won.

Eleven months later (even brought low for the last seven days by illness, preventing me from seeing the four current films in the theater), I have accumulated 90 ticket stubs, which would have cost me $755.25.

That’s right. I more than doubled my output, having so far made a “profit” of $430.25.

During that time, I saw 75 new films (the other 15 were repeat viewings). Some were great, others sucked the air out of my very soul.

So, no different than any other of the past 24 years.

My year (so far):

Lone Survivor
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Philomena
The Nut Job
The Lego Movie
The Monuments Men
August: Osage County
Ride Along
RoboCop
A Winter’s Tale
3 Days to Kill
Son of God
Nebraska
American Hustle
300: Rise of an Empire
Mr. Peabody and Sherman
Need for Speed
Mr. Peabody and Sherman (#2)
Divergent
Non-Stop
Muppets Most Wanted
Divergent (#2)
Noah
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Rio 2
Transcendence
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Heaven is for Real
The Other Woman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Godzilla
God’s Not Dead
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Blended
Godzilla (#2)
Maleficent
Maleficent (#2)
Edge of Tomorrow
Neighbors
Edge of Tomorrow (#2)
The Fault in Our Stars
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Jersey Boys
A Million Ways to Die in the West
Maleficent (#3)
Transformers: Age of Extinction
22 Jump Street
Tammy
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (#2)
Planes: Fire and Rescue
The Adventures of Hercules
Lucy
Guardians of the Galaxy
G of G (#2)
G of G (#3)
G of G (#4)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Into the Storm
G of G (#5)
G of G (#6)
When the Game Stood Tall
The Expendables 3
G of G (#7)
The 100 Foot Journey
Let’s Be Cops
The November Man
A Dolphin Tale 2
The Maze Runner
Chef
The Equalizer
The Boxtrolls
As Above, So Below
Fury
The Judge
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Day
Gone Girl
Alexander … (#2)
Nightcrawler
The Book of Life
Interstellar
Interstellar (#2)
Nightcrawler (#2)
Big Hero 6
Mockingjay
Horrible Bosses 2
The Penguins of Madagascar
Birdman
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Dumb and Dumber To

I detested every fake, insulting moment of “God’s Not Dead” and wanted to punch the dying lead character in “The Fault in Our Stars” (repeatedly).

“Ride Along” and “Horrible Bosses 2” were laugh-free bombs, maybe, but nobody came close to getting punched.

Overall, though, it was a pretty good year.

My Top 10:

10) Three Days to Kill
9) Interstellar
8) The Penguins of Madagascar
7) Nebraska
6) American Hustle
5) Edge of Tomorrow
4) Maleficent
3) The Grand Budapest Hotel
2) Guardians of the Galaxy
1) Nightcrawler

BUT, BUT … you saw “Guardians” seven times. How can it not be #1?

The same way I have seen “Raiders of the Lost Ark” a katrillion times. It is my FAVORITE film of all time, while I would pick “Chinatown” as the BEST film of all time.

“Guardians” will never, ever get old, the same as “Raiders.” It is “Raiders” for this generation.

But, just because you won’t want to crawl into the muck with Jake Gyllenhaal quite as often as you blast off with Rocket and Groot doesn’t diminish “Nightcrawler” in the least. It is the BEST film of the year.

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“That’s for if you wanna blow up moons!!”

Posted in Movie Mania, Not sports? Tough!, tagged , , , on August 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Yes, it is that flippin' awesome.

Yes, it is that flippin’ awesome. (Image copyright Marvel)

James Gunn,

Thank you.

You made me 10 years old again, and that is amazing.

Let’s take a moment and hop back to 1981, when a 10-year-old David went to see a brand new movie, a little thing known as “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

My brain blew through the back of my head, bounced around the theater like it was wired on too much chocolate (which it was), ran screaming down the aisles, gave wedgies to as many theater patrons as possible and then flopped back into my cranium, exhausted and happy.

I was never the same after that.

Fifteen years in a small-town video store (1994-2009), and some 20,000 movies viewed later (including a nasty little gem you wrote called “Tromeo and Juliet”), my love affair with the thing they call cinema continues unabated.

But your new movie, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” took me to another dimension.

From the moment Star-Lord made his Indiana Jones entrance, merrily skippin’ along, kickin’ lil’ alien creatures in the rear to the tune of “Come and Get Your Love,” I was a goner.

There is no rational way to describe my utter love for your film.

It is 121 minutes of complete joy and wild invention pumped directly into my brain, and I can not, will not, be rational about it.

Others can dissect the film. In the words of Rocket, “You just wanna suck the joy out of everything.”

I choose to mainline it.

A snarky raccoon blasting away with a laser gun as he and his ride, a talking tree, lead a prison breakout.

Star-Lord’s epic smile when someone, anyone, finally calls him by his nickname.

The opening in the hospital, which makes me cry just thinking about it. My mom, who went to many movies with me, would have enjoyed this film greatly.

“We … are … GROOT!!!”

The mix tape.

The cameo in the post credits scene.

That character’s much-maligned movie is now, and was then, a hell of a lot of fun and people who take a dump on it can sit and spin. If he’s really coming back, I’ll light a stogie in tribute.

Lil’ Groot dancin’ to the Jacksons.

The Kevin Bacon shout-out.

Every freakin’ moment, frankly.

I walked into the theater a 43-year-old guy who has seen way too many movies. I left it a 10-year-old.

It’s a beautiful thing, man.

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