There was a point in my life where I watched 3 or 4 movies a week. My family went to a little store where we got 2 for 1 coupons and I would get to pick one movie (over the objections of my brother) and my parents would pick the other. For the most part I tried to go for films that I thought would shock or awe me, and I used the previews of other questionable movies as the fodder for my selections. My parents ususally chose an equally unusual movie, culled from the New Yorker or some other esoteric source. I didn't watch many of the most popular movies out at the time, although over time and given the number of movies being watched, I eventually saw a good number of the decent action/adventure/mystery movies made in the last 30 years.
One of the nicest things about meeting my wife was she also loves movies, but of a completely different genre. She even used to work in a movie theater (which I probably would have enjoyed had I not had such an aversion to working). M introduced me to all the classics with Bogart and Grant and Hepburn, with a whole lot of romantic comedies mixed in. When we merged our DVD collections, it was black and white as to who owned what (if you're never noticed that comedies always come with white labels and action movies come with black ones, now you will).
We really like going to the movies. The theater options out here in the woods are actually decent, but for a truly excellent theater experience we travel closer to the big city to visit the 'premium' theater. For a roughly 50% markup, you get all the free popcorn and soda you can handle, a large leather chair (you get to reserve which seats you want) and best of all, a mandatory 21 age limit (they serve booze if you'd like). This means no teenagers and a healthy respect for being quiet throughout the movie. We took M's parents there for her mother's birthday and saw Charlie Wilson's War. I'm over 30 and I shouldn't get embarrassed when the movie I picked has lots of gratuitous nudity and drugs, but seeing this with my new in-laws still made me feel like the teenager who made his parents and grandmother watch Pulp Fiction because he thought Quentin Tarantino was a brilliant screenwriter and realizing they were offended by 80% of the movie. Charlie Wilson's War was all about plot and dialogue. I barely remember the score or special effects, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I made it a point to see who the screenplay was by so I could see what else they had written and get them into the Netflix queue. The credits rolled, screenplay by... Aaron Sorkin.
Holy Crap. I had no idea. It all made sense. If you only know Mr. Sorkin by his magic mushroom and crack busts and that TV show about Charlie Sheen's dad as President, you are missing out. I have to admit I boycotted the West Wing for years, until I caught a few reruns on A&E and I got hooked. I could identify which episodes he had written just by a few scenes of crackling dialogue about grain subsidies or beltway deception. If you still don't know what I'm talking about, if you want the truth, well then you can't handle the truth! (yep he wrote A Few Good Men)
A Few Good Men was one of those movies my parents rented and I watched and enjoyed, but I didn't know why, other than for the occasionaly soapbox tirade, delivered by a talented actor of gravitas. I looked up some other Sorkin projects and it was becoming clearer to me that I had always liked his work, I just didn't know it. Aaron Sorkin is one of the kings of the verbal smackdown. A few examples:
Jessup: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
This was my favorite rant from A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson holding court. Chilling.
Jed Hill: I have an M.D. from Harvard, I am board certified in cardio-thoracic medicine and trauma surgery, I have been awarded citations from seven different medical boards in New England, and I am never, ever sick at sea. So I ask you; when someone goes into that chapel and they fall on their knees and they pray to God that their wife doesn't miscarry or that their daughter doesn't bleed to death or that their mother doesn't suffer acute neural trama from postoperative shock, who do you think they're praying to? Now, go ahead and read your Bible, _Dennis_, and you go to your church, and, with any luck, you might win the annual raffle, but if you're looking for God, he was in operating room number two on November 17, and he doesn't like to be second guessed. You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something: I am God.
This was from a decent movie called Malice. Delivered by Alec Baldwin, who's handed out a few verbal beatings in his day (see Glengarry Glen Ross). This is the only thing I remember about that movie. Just to hear someone say that out loud... wow.
Gust (smashes his boss's window): My loyality?For twenty four years people have been trying to kill me! People who know how. And do you think thats because I'm the son of a Greek soda pop maker, or because I'm an American spy. Go f--- youself, you f------ child!
And then this is from Charlie Wilson. Not that I've ever wanted to smash my boss' window and drop f-bombs all over them, but it's nice to see someone else try it. Philip Seymour Hoffman gets to have the fun this time.
And of course the West Wing was full of these moments of great import, when one character would take a stand and then belt out this big speech and everyone would suddenly see they were serious and the discussion would be ended. My problem is, no one speaks like this. I mean we all want to, but how often in your life does a situation come up where you get to get to lower the boom on someone and they just sit there and take it? It doesn't happen. But it would be a lot cooler if it did...
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