Confessions of a Movie Addict

I love movies. They're like legal crack for my mind. One of my favorite things to do is curl up in the dark with a good snack, a warm blanket, and a great movie. I love getting wrapped up in a good story and forgetting the real world for a while.

I've never been creative with any kind of visual medium - painting, sculpture, film, etc. So the complexities involved in turning a bare-bones idea into a finished movie that people will actually pay money to see just boggle my mind. When I think of all the things that have to come together in precisely the perfect way - editing, score, costumes, script, lighting, acting, directing, producing, casting, set design - well, it makes the truly great movies seem all the more impressive.

You name the genre, I'll watch it. Except musicals - they just don't do it for me. Something about total strangers spontaneously breaking into perfectly choreographed song and dance is a stretch for even my vivid imagination. I love movies that make me cry, and movies that make me laugh (though I prefer my comedies the way I do the meat on my chicken - nice and dark). I love movies with deep, philosophical messages that challenge me and lift my eyes above the mundane things of life, and I love movies with bulging muscles where lots of stuff gets blown up. Westerns, science fiction, fantasy (though there's precious few good ones in that genre to go around), horror, drama, chick flicks - I can't get enough. If I really, truly love a movie, I can watch it dozens of times and never get tired of it. When I was in high school, I watched "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" so many times I had every line memorized.

Below are some of my favorite movie lines of all time, in no particular order. Not all of the movies they come from are favorites of mine, and one or two I thought skated the edge of the downright ridiculous. A "shining" example (if you'll pardon the pun) is Shelley Duvall in the movie adaptation of Stephen King's classic book. Her performance almost single-handedly ruined what is otherwise a gloriously frightening and creepy film. Watching her wander the halls of the Overlook hotel all emaciated and with those bulging bug-eyes of hers (it's called hyperthyroidism, Shelley - see a doctor!) was like nails on a chalkboard.

But sometimes a certain line is so cool, the delivery so spot-on, that it sticks with you no matter what you may think about the rest of the film. That's the way I feel about these:

"Show me the money!" - Jerry Maguire

"The list is life." - Schindler's List

"Bueller...Bueller..." - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

"What's happenin', hot stuff?" - Sixteen Candles

"Get away from her, you BITCH!" - Aliens

"Go ahead, make my day." - Sudden Impact

"You've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?" - Dirty Harry (Dirty Harry gets double-billing because he's just that freaking cool.)

"I'm not going to be ignored, Dan!" - Fatal Attraction

"STELLA!" - A Streetcar Named Desire

"K-Mart sucks." - Rain Man

"Say hello to my little friend!" - Scarface

"May the force be with you." - Star Wars

"I was just in my office and I heard a ruckus." - The Breakfast Club

"Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!" - True Grit

"Shane! Come back!" - Shane

"What we got here is a failure to communicate." - Cool Hand Luke

"Heeere's Johnny!" - The Shining

"You have the handwriting of a serial killer." - Steel Magnolias

"Do I look like a guy with a plan?" - The Dark Knight

"Our arrows will blot out the sun!"..."Then we will fight in the shade." - 300

"As...you...wish...!" - The Princess Bride

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." - Gone With The Wind

"Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!" - Planet of the Apes

What about all of you out there? What are some of your favorite movie lines?