Tuesday 19 November 2013

Guest Post #4

The final guest post in this series is from my real life friend and blog inspiration, Alex, of Inferior Design. She is one in a million and I'm dead chuffed she's my pal! Her blog is full of super interesting home stuffs that makes my room look like a shed. She's a busy lady, about to start her post grad (good luck!) so I'm so thankful she wrote this for me - and you! By this point I'll be gearing up to leave Bali and head on up to South Korea for a bit - keep up to date via my Twitter (@mmargaretssmith) and Instagram (@exxploring).

Thank you, Alex!

As you know me, I left this to super last minute and didn't have time to slot pictures in. Hope you don't mind! 

Maybe you'd sneak into the top ten. But there's just no room for you in the top five, sorry.
- High Fidelity (2000)
 
 
Hello there, everybody!  Alex of Inferior Design here, just doing a little guest post for Margaret while she’s off having adventures and exploring the world.  Not that I’m at all jealous…
 
As you all know, Margaret loves her films, and the two of us actually met whilst studying film at university together.  In honour of that, I thought I’d write this guest post about my top five favourite films and tell you a little about why I adore them so much, even after watching them to death.
 
1. Ghostbusters (1984)
If I was held at gunpoint and told to choose my all time favourite movie, I would pick Ghostbusters every time.  As I always say, it is essentially the perfect film, with something for everyone: action, comedy, romance, ghosts and – most importantly – a giant marshmallow man.  Bill Murray is brilliant as Peter ‘Back Off Man, I’m A Scientist’ Venkman, but I have a soft spot for Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis, who play the unintentionally adorable Ray and Egon.  As well as giving hilarious supporting performances, they also wrote the film’s script together, although supposedly Bill Murray improvised the majority of his character’s famous lines.  A few years ago I had the opportunity to seeGhostbusters at the cinema on a big screen, and it was amazing!
 
2. Some Like It Hot (1959)
Some Like It Hot is my childhood favourite, which sounds a bit odd really, considering it’s a film set in the roaring twenties (appropriate, right?) about two musicians running for their lives across America whilst being chased by ruthless and bloodthirsty gangsters.  The beauty of this and every Billy Wilder film, however, is that it can be interpreted and enjoyed on so many levels.  Even as a little girl I knew that Joe (Tony Curtis) was charming, Jerry (Jack Lemmon) was hilarious and Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) was mesmerising.  It didn’t matter that all of the (admittedly subtle) sex references went over my head, because they weren’t the main focus of the film, like they might have been in a more modern production.  Some Like It Hot ended up being one of the few films we studied at uni that I had actually already seen, so thanks for the early education, Mum and Dad!
 
3. High Fidelity (2000)
I remember discovering High Fidelity after taping it off the telly on a whim (back when people still did that) and then watching it obsessively for weeks.  Based on a Nick Hornby novel of the same name, the dialogue and voiceovers are exceptionally well written (mostly because they are taken almost word for word from the book) and John Cusack is brilliant as sort of hero, Rob Gordon.  If you love music and have ever experienced heartbreak, you will find something to relate to in High Fidelity.  It is also an extremely funny movie, featuring Jack Black (before he became a parody of himself entirely) and one surprising but impressive celebrity cameo, which I won’t ruin for you.  Also, if you have dreams of working in or owning a small record store, watch this film first, as it’s pretty damn accurate!
 
4. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
One of my old high school English teachers is to blame for my deep rooted love of Ferris.  It’s because of her that I saw the film, bought it on DVD, watched it approximately one billion times, lent it to my best friend (who also became obsessed with it) and then watched it with that friend another billion times.  I’m actually on my second copy of the DVD now, as I wore my first one out!  Everyone knows the story, so I won’t bore you with it, but essentially Ferris Bueller, played by Matthew Broderick, takes one last skivey day off school before his high school graduation.  Hilarity ensues.  Cameron (Alan Ruck) is my favourite character, but the script is very funny, and the whole cast do a good job of delivering it.  I could quote every word of this movie to you right now (and that goes for almost all of the films I’ve mentioned here!) but for some reason people get annoyed when I do that…
 
5. Shut Up and Play the Hits (2012)
A bit of a curveball for number five, but Shut Up and Play the Hits is one of the best films I’ve seen in the last few years.  Combining my enthusiasm for music and documentary, the film follows one of my favourite bands, LCD Soundsystem, as they prepare for their final show.  Ever.  Frontman and mastermind, James Murphy, attempts to explain why the band decided to quit while they were ahead in interview footage, which is edited around songs from the last (four hour long!) gig and footage of the slightly sad aftermath once everything is all over.  If you are already an LCD Soundsystem fan, Shut Up and Play the Hits is a must see.  If not, see it anyway and you will be converted!  I was lucky enough to see it for the first time at my local cinema and left feeling totally euphoric and inspired.  On one hand, it’s sad to watch something so successful come to an end before your eyes, but on the other it’s amazing to see what one person can achieve if they set their mind to it, and exciting to imagine what will come with the next venture!
 
Hopefully this list will have inspired you to watch some of these brilliant films, if you haven’t seen them already, or to re-watch them if you have!  There are so many more I could have added on, but as definitive top fives go, this one is pretty accurate.  Do any of these movies fall into your favourites list?

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