Monday, January 17, 2005

Movie Meme, yet again

Here's something fun, seen most recently over at Sarah Jane Elliott's: you're supposed to pick one dozen movies that are near and dear to you, list a line or exchange from each, and then strike them out as readers identify them. Since I'm always up for a blogging meme, here we go. Identify, folks!

1. "Thy dawn, O Master of the World, thy dawn;
For thee the sunlight creeps across the lawn,
For thee the ships are drawn down to the waves,
For thee the markets throng with myriad slaves,
For thee the hammer on the anvil rings,
For thee the poet of beguilement sings."


Scott Spiegelberg picks this one; it's from the Bond film -- the best ever Bond film, actually -- On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Teresa di Vicenzo recites this poem to Blofeld toward the end, after she has figured out that the Red Cross helicopters approaching Blofeld's secret hideaway are actually her father and Agent 007 coming to the rescue.

2. "Please respect my wishes and go."
"Madam, I shall respect his."


Darth Swank picks this as being from Amadeus, and he's right. It's always amazed me how this scene, near the end of the film, makes me feel sympathy for Salieri, even though he has pushed Mozart literally to his death.

3. "On your feet, Killearn. You and I have business."

Oh, fine. I'll put Nefarious Neddie out of his misery. This line is from Rob Roy. Matt seems to have a huge hangup over Jessica Lange's chewing of the scenery in this film, and while I do grant that she overacts, I do not believe that she does so to the ultimate detriment of a film that features outstanding performances by Liam Neeson and Tim Roth, and that also features one of the best sword fights ever filmed.

4. "Monsieur Neary, what do you want?"
"I just want to know that it's really happening."


Michael identifies this one, although not in a way that makes me confident that he's seen the film in question. Anyway, it's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

5. "Now you see, that's exactly the kind of crap that people are always trying to lay on me. It's not my fault you wouldn't play catch with your father."

This, as Chris knows, is from Field of Dreams. This used to be my ultimate favorite baseball movie, but now I flip a coin between this movie and Bull Durham.

6. "Hey, I didn't know that the Forest Spirit made the flowers grow."

This is from Princess Mononoke, as 'Wheels' demonstrates.

7. "VIRGIL BRIGGMAN BACK ON THE AIR"

Yup, it's from The Abyss, which is too often overlooked in the roster of fine SF films. In fact, I think it's far better than director James Cameron's much-admired Aliens. Sarah nails it.

8. "We are not gonna do this! We are not gonna bounce off the walls and end up right back here with the same problems!"

Before succumbing to a massive hissie-fit in comments, Nefarious Neddie identifies this film as Apollo 13. This is still Ron Howard's finest effort. I still get nervous during the splashdown sequence.

9. "You'll be fine. Just be yourself."
"Be myself."
"And compliment her shoes."
"Her shoes?"
"Yeah. Girls like that."


Leo nails this one: The American President. This movie is still my favorite thing that Aaron Sorkin ever wrote. It's one of my very favorite romances.

10. "Led Zeppelin didn't write songs that everybody would like. They left that to the BeeGees."

Leo also identifies this one: it's from Wayne's World, which I consider to be one of the best comedies ever in the "misadventures of two dumb guys" genre.

11. "You don't want to be in love, you want to be in love in a movie."

Sarah also gets this one right: Sleepless in Seattle. The Rosie O'Donnell character says this to Meg Ryan in a moment of frustration with Ryan's fixation with the movie An Affair to Remember and her fixation on the guy she's only heard on the radio.

12. "You Spaniards have a gift for hospitality when your guests are in chains."

This one is finally identified, by Charlie32, as being from the Errol Flynn swashbuckler The Sea Hawk, which happens to be my favorite Flynn film of all. Thanks for playing, everybody! We have some lovely parting gifts out back, like the home version of Byzantium's Shores....

Knock yourselves out, folks!

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