In the second of our “find people we love and ask them to talk about movies they love” piece its Jeffrey Lewis!
I’ve always heard that the man’s ridiculously approachable and good to fans but wasn’t quite expecting an instant affirmative reply and interview. Cheers Jeff!
Oh yeah, he’s also an awesome song and comic-writer who does a great line in Watchmen analysis. He’s damn funny to boot.
How do you go about deciding on your favourite film? It’s likely that the first film that comes to mind is something you decided on a while ago and haven’t thought over for a while, or something you watched recently that you remember you enjoyed. Does that make it the one?
And what should be the criteria? When I started thinking about this, I immediately came up with five or six candidates. Then I realised I was trying to ignore the blockbuster (Avatar, Star Wars, Titanic etc), or the traditionally more niche favourites (see Garden State, Eternal Sunshine) to try and show I’d really thought about it and wasn’t picking the obvious.
Then, trying to stop myself doing this I looked at the list of films that sprang to mind. They were all great films, to be sure, but my favourite film of all time? The film I was going to nail my cinematic preferences to the internet mast with. Was I really considering these ones?
In what we at ‘thisfilmison’ hope to be a continuing series, we find people that we think are just the bees knees and ask them all about movies and such. Then we copy and paste their answers for you to read. Because we’re nice like that.
When asked what my favourite movie was, I had a long hard think about what “favourite” means to me. My favourite movie changes on a weekly basis, depending what mood I’m in. But what is that one reliable film, that I can watch over and over again and never get tired of? To be honest there are many more credible and better movies out there, but for me favourite is the one film I put in my DVD player when I’m feeling poorly, had a bad day, just broke up with someone, or just bored. So, it is pretty clear this film has immense powers of cheering me up. Therefore fully deserving of my “favourite” film.
Ok so it’s an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel and one of the most beloved books of all time. I still have my A’level copy on my book shelf with all the notes written in the margin and fell in love with the story then, however I’m not a big fan of reading unless I have an excess of free time, so the film does the job in 129 minutes and it does it, so so well.
This is the film that I have probably watched the most yet I never tend to watch the entire film (I have seen the entire film as a whole many times as well), I have a habit of skipping the part where the relationship between Joel and Clementine starts to crumble.
This in itself a strange act to do in a film that is about getting rid of the memories of a relationship that has ended, I edit a film that is about editing life, I just don’t like to see the bitterness and the negativity between the two leads, in this case I am the child shielded from the divorce of their parents (for the record my parents are still together). I also think it may have something to do with the fact that my favourite scene in the film is the point that Joel realises that he doesn’t want Clementine erased, and it is the ‘ugly Clementine’ doll story that is what does it for me, the moment when she becomes vulnerable and lays herself out for him to see beyond the crazy hair colours and wacky ideas.
So what is your favourite film? We’ve all been asked it. We’ve all been asked it a lot. So much in fact that if you had a pound for every time you had been asked this question you could probably fund the filming and subsequent viral campaign for a fuck awful shaky cam horror film, which would ironically become the answer to said question for untold numbers of near-tards for about 15 minutes, or at least until the next brightly coloured ball entered into their field of vision. For such a simple and common question it’s an impossible one to answer.
Se7en
There are a lot of films, not many are good and an even smaller number would make it into your list of favourites, plural. But this commonly asked, informal question being posed to you, perhaps by someone you don t know very well, if at all, is asking you to identify, commit, and then carve onto their perception of you forever your favourite piece of cinema. (more…)
Now I’m not a superstitious man but I truly believe that since the moment of my conception I was destined to kneel at the jelly clad feet of ‘the Dude’. Back in 2000, during a particularly rambunctious Rugby match I broke my right shoulder. After an agonising and typically fruitless wait in the emergency room I was given a handful generic, pink pain pills and told to come back the next day.
The Dude Abides
Subsequently I spent that evening high as a kite and attempting to sleep in an arm chair. Later on, at a non-specific time, on a non-specific channel a film began with a title ambiguous enough to spark my wandering attention, the title of that film? The Big Lebowski. (more…)
For those that know me, Superman is my favourite comic, TV show, score, comic-book film nay, film. Period.
The root of my obsession is the original Superman movie from 1978 (four years and eight months before I was born.) I can’t remember how old I was when I first saw a man fly, but I remember watching it. I immediately got up on a small stool and jumped off it (obviously holding my arms in the typical Superman manner) luckily landing on my feet (although my Mum still says the head!)
The Man Of Steel
The reason the film appeals to so many, is that people relate to the humbling, stumbling Clark Kent. They idolise the superior Kal-El, especially when he’s seen in a flash of blue and red, flying through the night. (more…)
The Breakfast Club – Why it’s my favourite film
Hello and welcome, one and all. First off, I’m more used to writing book reviews than film reviews. Secondly, I don’t possess the easy wit that Owen has honed over the last couple of years. I can, however, use spellcheck, which may make this easier on the eye.
Don't you forget about me
I’ve chosen The Breakfast Club as my favourite film. It was a tough decision, and to be honest it’ll probably be different next week, but here we go. (more…)