Welcome, dearies, to... ...The Week of Predilections and Pet Peeves at Prinsiana!
This week, I shall be discussing my tastes in film, music, sports, writing, and who knows what else (food? people? sofas? drinkable liquids?) using a simple likes/dislikes listing method, except that I will be using the words "predilection" and "pet peeve" because I like their alliteration with "Prinsiana."
We shall now start with movies.
Predilections:
films that have numerous audacious, original set pieces, even if the films themselves aren't necessarily cohesive (Amélie, Babe: Pig in the City, Moulin Rouge, Jesus' Son)
films based on improvisation, whether the improvisation is seen on screen (This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman) or not (every Mike Leigh film, but best noticed in Naked and Life is Sweet)
Iowa films (Field of Dreams, The Straight Story, Hybrid)
films with long, unbroken tracking shots (Goodfellas, Magnolia, Touch of Evil)
films filmed with what seems to be a single handheld camera (Rosetta, The Celebration, The Idiots)
romantic comedies where, with ten minutes to go, it isn't at all apparent if the appropriate couple will get together (Boyfriends and Girlfriends, Broadcast News, The Aviator's Wife, The Apartment; Eric Rohmer in general, really)
films out of chronological order (Memento, Exotica, Out of Sight)
films concerning ethical quandaries (La Promesse, Afghan Alphabet, A Moment of Innocence)
films with slightly tweaked naturalistic acting (Secrets and Lies, Truly Madly Deeply, Housekeeping, first segment of Mystery Train, last segment of Chungking Express)
films with intentional language faux pas (Steve Martin's response to Campbell Scott's "How's your sister?" in The Spanish Prisoner, among other moments; Wally's "Did you ever see that play Violets Are Blue?" in My Dinner With André, among other moments)
films about sibling relationships (Hannah and Her Sisters, You Can Count On Me)
documentaries indirectly about people's idiosyncrasies (Gates of Heaven, Crumb, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills)
films with Brooke Smith in a major role (Series 7: The Contenders, Vanya on 42nd Street)
Pet Peeves:
scatological humor
films that have no characterization and also do not make narrative sense (Drowning By Numbers, The Element of Crime, Snatch)
films with actively dislikable protagonists (Barfly, Barton Fink)
earnest documentaries that pretend not to take a side but actually do (Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Came to Town)
romantic comedies where there is no way, nope, not gonna happen, that party A would fall for party B (Benny and Joon, Autumn in New York)
films where it is obvious the writers worked extra hard to come up with a scene where the lead actress could be topless (Swordfish, The Whole Nine Yards)
Lasse Hallström films (The Cider House Rules, Chocolat)
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
