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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Degrees of Separation... the movie version

I like to watch movies on the weekend. Especially on Sunday, while I'm doing statistics homework, or relaxing after church. Its hard for me to pick out which movie to watch, though, because I don't want to be the person who watches the same movies all the time (those movies, btw, would be: Stranger than Fiction, Love Actually, Notting Hill, and the Italian Job). It seems wasteful to own a lot of movies and then only watch a few of them.

The problem is that sometimes I'm not sure what movie I'm "in the mood of" (as we say in my family), and other times, I'm ambivalent about all of them.

And so it goes that I invented this whole "degrees of separation: the movie version" game. The goal is to put in a movie that I like and then match something about that movie to the next one - it can be a time of year (i.e. summer or chistmas), a topic (i.e. caper), or - and this is my favorite and the real reason its a degree of separation game - an actor or actress that stars in the film. I'll be honest, if I start with the four movies listed above, I have a pretty wide berth to pick a LOT of movies as my second choice. Love Actually is chock-a-block full of celebrities who get a lot of work, and StF has some ubiquitous actors like Emma Thompson and Will Ferrell. But here's how it works (using only movies i actually have in my house):

Start with Stranger than Fiction - starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhal, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman and Queen Latifah. (I actually just watched this today and so that is why we're starting with it)
can lead to.....
2nd Movie: Much Ado about Nothing - starring Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Keanu Reeves, and Denzel.
which can lead to...... Love Actually (if I stick with an Emma thee-parter) or Harry Potter (3-6)
OR, StF can lead to...
Beauty Shop (with the Queen and Alicia Silverstone) which leads to Clueless (starring Alicia)
OR StF can lead to Wedding Crashers (in which Will F. has a small role) which can lead to The Notebook or Mean Girls (both starring Rachel McAdams).


You get what I'm talking about, right?

Now I will agree that when it comes to old movies - like Say Anything, it gets a little harder. I love John Cusack, but don't own all of his movies, and sometimes you have to really work to get from one movie to another. The key is to start with one of the older movies instead of trying to work your way back to it.

But its fun. I love the idea that I can create my own fairly obscure triple-feature of movies that I already know I like.

Your assignment: Create a triple feature for yourself and your household and then post it here! I want to see how creative you can be in variety of movie types. For example, you could go from The Italian Job (starring, among others, Jason Statham) which leads to The Pink Panther (starring Steve Martin and Beyonce, in which Jason has a small role alongside Kevin Kline) to Dave.  See - you have an action/adventure, slapstick comedy and a romantic comedy in one sitting!

Off to your assignment, my friends. And then let's here your triple features!

1 comments:

Sarah Martin Werntz said...

okay here's my triple feature (If I had an entire weekend...and can i include a TV series?):

An entire season of Arrested Development (or maybe all three) which stars Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat...and few others.

Then Juno, with Jason Bateman and Michael Cera, and Ellen Page

And finally Whip It, with Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat (from Arrested Dev!)

Or...if myles was home we'd probably watch a triple or quadruple feature of all Judd Apatow movies/TV shows that feature most of the same cast in each one - starting with Freaks and Geeks (TV series) that first starred the young Jason Segel, Seth Rogen, James Franco...and then move to I love you Man, Knocked up,Forgetting Sarah Marshall or Pineapple Express. Living with a man has certainly expanded my movie knowledge!!