There are things that we remember from our youth ( or while I was still ‘under 30’) that should be left in those musty corners of our mental garage. Just like the old cassette tape I found during one ‘Spring Cleaning’ out there, hearing the Split Endz again – or 38 Special just doesn’t make me “feel” the same thirty years later. Same thing tonight. A little casual dinner on the couch while watching the beginning of “Highlander” – the one with Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert. (I recognized the villain, but I can’t remember his name.) The effects are so rudimentary and the dialogue is rather lame – Sean Connery sounds a Scot but is supposed to be Spanish; however, Chris Lambert – he’s got one of those Kevin Costner-like non-accents due apparently to limited ability to speak English.
Even the swordplay and beheadings are cheesy. I am trying to figure out why that movie spawned sequels and a television series. Men in kilts? Swords? Perhaps it is the decades in the Navy that have colored my judgement. I often let reality get in the way of plot on a lot of alien, superhero, or alien versus battleship dramas. I should have read Mental Floss ‘s review here before I realized a few minutes in that watering the plants and picking up the dog poop was a better use of my time.
I offer a list of dropped must-have guy movies (or TV collections) of the last 30 years. Some I don’t get why I liked them in the first place. I don’t have either on DVD or nor recorded on the DVR:
- Top Gun (I still can watch Minority Report – for Max Von Sydow ) Cruise movies annoy me
- Die Hard (sequels) ( the first was a classic, then they just kept coming)
- Highlander ( love Connery, but fast-forward 20 years to see how comic book-type movies are made WELL)
- Smokey and the Bandit ( Gleason’s last films, but such a dumb plot!)
- Battlestar Galactica (1978) (Lorne Greene still Cartwright for me !)
- Star Trek (only one of those movies I’ll watch again is Wrath of Khan with Monteban – I saw the original TV episode and loved the movie.) However, the reboot movies with Chris Pine are great!
- Talledega Nights ( now I wonder why I thought Ferrell was funny)
- X-men after the first one. I cannot keep up with the comic book plot jumps)
- Outlaw Josey Wales ( I prefer the Eastwood movies he’s made since 2000)
- Taken. I liked Liam Neeson’s portrayals in Star Wars, the villain in Batman Begins, and Taken -even Love, Actually. Then he just annoyed me with his Taken sequels and his anti-gun off-screen preaching.
I think I need to watch Gladiator, Lone Survivor, and any of the movies that Sam Elliott was in. Testosterone, guts, courage and attitude. What we need now more than ever are heroes: dads who want to raise their children responsibly, people who recognize the effort and support the work of cops, volunteers to help our senior citizens and young people who don’t want a hand out, or a “safe space”.
Truths, Half-truths, and Sea Stories 