With the recent torrential rains, holiday hangovers, and that pesky flu/cold/death bug floating around, a lot of you have probably been spending more time on the couch or in your beds recuperating, or at least lounging. Lucky bastards. We all have our little rituals we go about when we are down for the count. Some people eat dodgy take-out Chinese or gut-busting pizza, make salty canned soup, listen to dreary music, or pop in their favorite movies.
I know when I am hungover, sick, or blah, I have my poisons. Hungover Craig watches This Is Spinal Tap, which is like greasy Mexican food for my soul. When I am sick and or dying -- at least I think -- I watch The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years and when I am blah and restless, the only thing that cures my malaise is watching Daniel Plainview chew scenery and beat down Eli Sunday in There Will Be Blood.
Coming up a close second to Blood is Lost in Translation. After the first minute or so of Scarlett Johansson laying in bed in only a night shirt and underwear, whatever sort of bad day I may have had is forgotten.
I asked my friends -- my dear Facebook friends who put up with me posting random YouTube clips for 12 hours a day -- what their go-to movies were. They don't even need to be the most critically-acclaimed films, heavens no, they are the ones that hit that sweet spot in your brain.
The mentions of porno flicks and illicit substances -- which are perfectly natural and legal with a doctor's note in California and Colorado -- have been omitted, though they are understood and appreciated.
Light-hearted fare always helps soothe a rough day, including Steven Spielberg's softer non-alien related pictures, and musicals with people singing their faces off and twirling in place. Oddly, their was no mention of the great Disney or Pixar works from my little focus group. No one wants to watch Up and let out a good cry? To each their own. Once when I was recovering from hernia surgery, I watched Stand & Deliver three times in a row. Maybe it was the painkillers though.
This Is Spinal Tap, That Thing You Do!, Moulin Rouge, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Hamlet 2, The Princess Bride, What About Bob?, Groundhog Day, The Terminal, Catch Me If You Can, Monty Python's Life Of Brian, Raising Arizona
