Maybe it’s Quint’s tale of being on the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the way you can tell he’s drunk in some shots
You know I couldn't get in a swimming pool without a brief moment of panic thanks to this poster, right?
and sober in others. Maybe it’s the scene right before when the men are comparing scars and Brody seems for one moment to consider putting his appendectomy scar up against Hooper’s shark bite. Maybe the “You’re gonna need a bigger boat” moment.
Most likely, it’s the fact that due to the constant failure of the mechanical shark, Steven Spielberg found brilliant ways to build suspense by implying a giant, terrifying shark rather than actually showing it for the first half of the movie.
Combine all this with some fantastic performances from the stars and a script heavy on the humor and you get a movie I can never pass up. Jaws is something I will watch every single damn time I stumble across it on TV. Considering that for a few years there it seemed like TNT and TBS were trading off showing it every other day, that’s a lot of viewings. In a pre-DVD world, when channel surfing was alive and well, I probably watched Jaws 30 times. It’s just *so good*.
Jaws surely tops my list of “Anytime” movies/TV shows.
Can you guess the close second? Come on now, this IS a geek site for, among other things, Joss Whedon fans.
That’s right: Firefly/Serenity. Thanks to the SyFy channel, and if I’m not mistaken….that other weird new network that sometimes runs Buffy too, there are plenty of opportunities for a Cap’n Mal fix a few weekends a year. I’d start listing lines and moments from this one that I love, but with 13 episodes and a movie at play, it’d get a little long winded. Let’s just stick with this one, that tickles me for some reason I can’t quite explain: “Well, my days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.”
...Is anyone else confused by the fact that there are two Jaynes, Mals and Zoeys, but no Wash or Book or Kaylee?
There are others. The Professional (Natalie Portmen and Jean Reno, not the 2010 movie), The Ring, The Exorcist, Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, The Crazies (OK, pretty much any zombie movie or scary little girl movie, I guess). There are some movies I wish I had the opportunity to watch over and over, but no one shows them anymore. I just watched Night of the Comet on Netflix On Demand. That’s one of those B movies I could watch over and over and still get a kick out of. Also, the old classic Split Second with Rutger Hauer (not to be confused with some other movie called Split Second from 1953). OK, it’s not really a classic, but I did name my first car Durkin after a character in that movie.
Zombie Role Play. Somewhere, there are people who do this as foreplay. You know it's true.
As for why I don’t just watch these things on DVD instead of TV, well, there’s there’s something different about it when it’s on TV. It’s the little rush of an unexpected pleasure combined with the fact that I know others are watching it too. It feels…shared. Like a favorite song on the radio instead of on CD (or…iPod, right? We do the iPod thing now).
I know Bex has a list of these too – maybe she’ll post her own, maybe comment here. What about you? What are your “Anytime” shows/movies?
Written by Rachel Proffitt
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I will watch Lord of the Rings anytime. And I do mean any time, and I’d also lump batman begins and any sitcom that I already know is awesome in as a anytime viewing, but I don’t even have cable…so this is kind of a weird subject for me.
Oh! Me too for LOTR.
I grew up without cable. Never had it until I was in my early 20′s. My mother has always been very anti cable TV.
But I think I’ll have to do my own post about my must re-watches because there are a few. Spoilers! There will probably be a One Tree Hill type guilty admission in the mix (maybe two!). Embracing embarrassing myself here.
This is why I rarely turn on the TV.
It’s Buffy every time for me. I discovered it late, when I was doing my postgrad, and my housemates cleverly decided to get cable. Have watched the entire opus from start to finish numerous times since and could rave about it forever.
Firefly’s a goodun too, which leads to much hilarity in our house as my brother in law is the spitting image of Cap’n Mal (s’true!)
Husband’s choice is Dr Who – including all the old series. special recommendation = talons of weng chiang with tom baker.
oh and sorry meant to mention the two must watch films which are shown regularly here and never fail to please – old Hammer classic Witchfinder General and even better, and one of the finest british films ever made, The Wicker Man. That also has the best soundtrack, a brilliantly spooky take on british folk music created by an american composer, paul giovanni.
Don’t even talk to me about the travesty that was the Nicholas Cage remake.
whew, for a second there I thought you were talking about the nic cage remake the whole time…scared me.
Yes! How so very creepy the original Wicker Man is. Look forward to investigating the Witchfinder General and Fools and Horses.
OK, Rachel, you’ve piqued my interest. I hated the Nicholas Cage version of that movie too, but had no idea there was ANOTHER version out there. I do like the premise, so I’ll give it a shot.
I think this snippet sums it up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs32ULToWW4
Forgot that part
My mother is especially bad about this, but I’m guilty of it too. Together, our list has Lord of the Rings, Shawshank Redemption, Band of Brothers, The Crow, Kill Bill, Blues Brothers, The Fifth Element, Master and Commander, V for Vendetta, and any new series Doctor Who. Plus there’s ones like Fight Club and Dogma that either we’ve got tired of, or they’ve stopped airing every other weekend (I’m looking at you, Comedy Central) or both. Oh, and we continue to be drawn to any Stephen King, Star Trek or Twilight Zone marathon like moths to a flame despite sitting through each many times before.
80′s ‘Flash Gordon’, ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’ always get me to stop surfing…. And let’s not forget ‘The Princess Bride’