Better Off Dead

Better Off Dead was perhaps one of the greatest teen movies from the 80's. While there are several movies I could mention from this genre, this one is definitely my favorite. I list it as a favorite mostly for sentimental reasons, but also because it's probably one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.

Let's start with the sentimental...

Better Off Dead reminds me of my childhood, specifically Christmas Eve. It was tradition when I was younger to watch this movie with my siblings every Christmas Eve night, why? Well, we don't know either, but we just started doing it. I honestly can't think of a recent time where my family has been able to sit together in the same room without some kind of drama breaking out, so this reminds me of the days before all the drama began. 

We even used to sing together or I would sing while my sister played the guitar or piano and everyone else would watch. When I was younger, I LOVED singing so much. I used to sing and dance all the time...anything to be the center of attention. I loved to make my family laugh and smile. Singing, dancing, sarcasm, making joke gifts, etc was my way of seeing happiness from them. One day, it just stopped working. My family just wasn't happy anymore and there was nothing I could really do. I felt like I failed them. That was such a hard thing for me to handle at a young age.

Anyway, that was quite the tangent, but this movie reminds me of the time when we all used to get along each other and we used to love watching movies together, especially quoting our favorites. This was one of them.

There are so many funny things about this movie. It really is probably one of the most quotable movies ever. Plus, John Cusack is so damn funny in this movie. I have run into so many random people who can quote this movie. There was a guy in my high school art class and while working on projects we used to say lines from this movie and laugh hysterically. It was even funnier when my Chinese teacher asked if I had seen it. After that, anytime we ever saw each other, we said lines from that movie.

My favorite scene from the entire movie is the math class. That entire scene really is the epitome of me in any math class. The teacher is up in the front saying God knows what, other people get what he's saying and they are oh-so fascinated and I'm sitting there lost like "What the hell is going on?" and then getting called to the board to solve a problem. I really wish I could find a clip of it, because anytime I see it I laugh hysterically. I can only find a clip of the last part of the scene with Lane's friend which is a fantastic line, by the way...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEhH_XgRs68

And who can forget the greatest excuse to get out of paying the paperboy?...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jITC4h2De1M

In case you don't know how to ski, here's a handy clip for you as well...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEHZJNQ5Y4A

The mom's outfits from this movie are totally what my mom wore when I was younger. The mom in this movie is a total quack job, but she's so sweet and awkward that she's absolutely hilarious. Check out this dinner scene where she tries to introduce more ethnic foods for their french guest... her facial expressions kill me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpLMnk2qi8o

"Raisins, you like raisins!" Here's another scene with the mom. This scene made me laugh so hard I would cry. My mom was really big on trying new recipes when I was younger and this clip really was often the result... [1:25 on is the best part]

(P.S. My mom is actually a good cook, but she has made some rather interesting inventions in the past...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeRVB2XP19g

I don't know why I can't embed the videos into my blog anymore, but it won't work. It's kind of frustrating.

Anyway, awesome movie. Check it out if you haven't. It's hilarious.

Movie Madness

Currently I've got a list of 10 other movies to talk about.

Let's continue on, shall we?

The Last of the Mohicans

Did I ever mention how obsessed I was with Native Americans when I was younger? Well, I was. This movie made the obsession more severe. I don't think I appreciated the storyline of the movie until I was probably 11 or 12, because there was only ONE person that made me want to watch this movie...

Uncas

*Sigh* "...But we loved with a love that was more than love"... Oh man, I didn't know what his name was, but all I knew at my young age is I had found true love. I remember walking up to my dad while watching this movie and pointing to this guy and saying, "Dad? This is the man I want to marry." Oh, what an awesome child I was.

I was so jealous of his little romance with the white girl that doesn't really say a word during the film. However, I would say this then and I still say it now, the ending of this movie although a little depressing, is probably one of the best I've seen and the soundtrack is awesome too.

Indiana Jones & the Raiders of the Lost Ark

To be completely honest, I really should have started my movie blogs with this one. Raiders of the Lost Ark was my favorite movie when I was 3. It was the beginning of my massive crush on Harrison Ford and it also inspired my family to nickname me "Indy" just like the title character. I watched it every day and it gave me nightmares every night. My parents were sick of me having nightmares about the ending so they decided to hide the video from me so I would stop being scared. 

Ha ha! Joke's on them. No matter where my family members hid the VHS each day, I always found it. I would find it after 5 minutes of looking. I found it once in the spice cabinet. I found it hidden behind the books on the top bookshelf. I found it hidden in the vent. I found it hidden in my dad's drawer. You couldn't hide anything from me when I was little. I naturally knew where to look. I would practically climb everything, even the walls just to find it. When I found the movie, I would pop it in and watch it. Then if anyone was walking by, I'd turn it off until they went away and kept watching. For awhile, my family wouldn't know until I finished the movie and I was scared out of my mind. The conversations usually went like this:

Family member: "Jojo, why do you look so scared?"

Me: *trembling* "Uhh... I don't know what you're talking about."

Family member: "Did you watch Indiana Jones again?"

Me: "Pssh... no."

Family member: *skeptical* "Are you sure?"

Me: "I didn't watch it, okay?"  

Family member: "Okay, but why do you look so scared?"

Me: "I'm not."

Family member: "You watched it, didn't you?"

Me: *sigh* "Yeah. I did."

Family member: "JOH-ANNA! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE TOLD YOU TO STOP WATCHING INDIANA JONES WHEN IT SCARES YOU?"

Me: "But I like it!"

There's a part in the movie when the girl says "Oh. My. God." I was in the car once with my mom and my brother going to the store. I remember telling my mom "Hey, I learned a new line from Indiana Jones." My mom was like "Great, let's hear it." So I said "Oh my God!" She slammed on the breaks. My brother was dying laughing and she whipped around and said "Don't you ever say that again, do you hear me? That is BAD!" I laughed and said "But I don't understand why." She glared at me and said "It is considered breaking a commandment and God doesn't like when people use his name in vain! Don't ever do that again!" I don't think I've ever seen my mom so angry in my life. It was pretty funny.

I don't think I have watched Raiders of the Lost Ark in years and years so I honestly don't remember much about it except the beginning when the girl in his Archeology class wrote "Love You" on her eye lids and she closes her eyes so he'll read them. It always made me laugh.

I also remember that it scared the hell out of me when they open the ark. Yeah, the melting nazis part really scared the shit out of me, but I freaking LOVED the movie and Harrison Ford was very easy on the eyes. Mmm... Harrison Ford.

Coming To America

Let's try to escape the Disney route here. I've talked about my childhood obsession with The Lion King so it would only make sense to talk about my other favorite movie as a child which was very much connected to my Lion King obsession... Coming to America.

Now, you're probably asking "What the hell does Coming to America have anything to do with The Lion King?" Quite a bit, actually. Let me explain...

First, I need only say three words... James. Earl. Jones. He was the voice of 'Mufasa' and he plays the king in Coming to America. That right there made me a fan.

Second, Madge Sinclair. She was the voice of 'Sarabi' in The Lion King who was Mufasa's main squeeze/Simba's mother. She is the queen in the movie. What was my 7 year old thinking? "*Gasp* Mufasa and Sarabi are in this movie! I like it already!"

Third, The Lion King gave me a pretty nice Africa obsession too. And oh em gee, guess what? Part of this movie takes place in...Africa!

Fourth, Akeem (played by Eddie Murphy) pets an elephant within the palace grounds saying "Oh, hello Babar." There was a cartoon on TV that I loved that was about an elephant named Babar. The reference in that movie made me overjoyed. 

Well, after having four GOOD reasons to watch Coming to America, I did. I loved every minute of it. 

I must say that I watched the edited version on TV, which I believe is actually funnier than the unedited version because you can totally tell where the characters are swearing. My two favorite parts are when the taxi driver jumps out of his car and yells "You dumb jerk!" but he's really saying "You dumb fuck!" My other funny part is the McDowells robbery scene when Samuel L Jackson's character says "Who the heck is this air head?" when he's really saying "Who the fuck is this ass hole?" These scenes amused the hell out of me when I was little because it was so painfully obvious they were saying something else with their mouths were clearly saying other things. Ah, I loved it.

There are a million funny things about this movie and I quote many lines from it to this day.

One of my favorite lines of the whole movie is when James Earl Jones' character walks into the barber shop and the jewish guy who is also played by Eddie Murphy starts petting the lion fur on him and says "This is beautiful! What is that velvet?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-eb61BLIWw

I also love the Soul Glo advertisement. I sing it all the time when I need to smile since it's hilarious...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyBKKVrUVIU

The "She's your queen to be" song is a classic. I always almost peed my pants laughing as a kid at the end when he has that straight face afterwards...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F582K7fMDQA

Oh, I could go on forever about Coming to America. I LOVED this movie so much.

Sorry

I have not been posting as often as I hoped I would. I've been busy with school and I've been sick. I might be going to the doctor tomorrow because my cough is nasty, I'm losing my voice, and my tonsils feel like hell.

Anyway, since today is my day off, I have a little time to think of some more of my favorite movies from my childhood to write about to make up for all the days I've missed.

The Lion King

First, I need to say that I love all Disney movies, but The Lion King was the movie that honestly changed my life as a 7 year old. Up to that point, no movie ever hit me as hard as this movie. I remember my neighbor taking me to see this movie at the theater. From the opening scene, I had the chills. The animation impressed me. The music was perfect. I laughed. I cried my eyes out. I felt inspired. I wanted to watch it over and over again after I saw it.

Let's hand it to Disney for writing such a damn depressing movie with such a nice, positive twist on all the depressing aspects (unlike The Fox & The Hound which was the most horrifyingly depressing movie I have ever seen that leaves you with your heart torn to shreds). While most of the Disney movies of the 80's and 90's were fantastic, this movie is still the one that really stands out for me and it breaks my heart that Disney doesn't make movies like it used to. Disney doesn't make movies like The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty & The Beast, etc anymore. It's just sad. I'm not even talking about the animation so much as I'm talking about a plot that is still great even YEARS after it was first released.

This movie introduced me to the world of Hans Zimmer's music who is definitely my favorite composer. After I saw The Lion King the first time, I would sit at the piano and try to play "This Land" by ear because at 7 years old, it was the most beautiful song I had ever heard. Part of it had to do with the fact that it is the song that goes along with the infamous scenes when Mufasa tells Simba that the stars are kings who will always watch over him as well as the scene where Mufusa's ghost visits Simba. That scene was too much for me as a kid. I bawled my little eyes out. It still gives me the chills. If you're insane and have never watched the Lion King, here are the scenes I'm talking about: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw45nBcWNbQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZfeR-QE5io

I was so obsessed with this movie. My mom bought The Lion King on the first day it was released on VHS. I'm not kidding. Every day I would watch it, rewind it and watch it again over and over. I was so inspired by the movie that I decided it was important for me to write out the script in pencil on computer paper. I was only 7, but I would listen to a sentence, pause the movie, write it down and rewind to make sure I had it down correctly. I did this every day for quite some time...that is until I wore out the pause button on our remote as well as the VCR. To this day, my family still laughs about how my Lion King obsession was the reason the VCR broke. 

From watching it over and over again, I memorized the movie and could quote the entire thing. I still can. When people can't sleep, they count sheep or something like that. I close my eyes and watch The Lion King in my head because I know it that well.

My family was totally broke, but I had EVERYTHING Lion King growing up... toys, stuffed animals, books, coloring books, magazines, etc.   

I had this stuffed animal. If you squeezed him, he made a purring sound. 

My friends would tease me and call him the farting Simba. 

I was NOT amused.

I had a huge collection of Lion King Toys.

My Mufasa toy from Burger King was my absolute favorite! 

I got this Pride Rock playset for Xmas. I screamed when I got it. 

It was so cool. You could pump water through it and lock toys in the rib cave.

I didn't let anyone touch it. I was so afraid it would break.

Aren't you jealous yet? ;) 

Just kidding.

Everything I did revolved around The Lion King. It makes me laugh a bit how much I loved this movie and still do. What can I say? The movie kicks ass.

Did any of you enjoy The Lion King as much as I did?

My favorite movies from childhood

I've been watching a lot of movie clips on YouTube this week and it has kind of inspired me to do something different this month for my blog. I'm going to write a little each day (if I can) about my favorite movies from my childhood that played a huge role in my life. Some may be ridiculous, but I don't really care. It's nice to reminisce sometimes.