Movies that we've watched more times than we can count.
Movies that we've watched more times than we can count.
They're not the best films in the world but by god, we love(d) them. Whether it's Hugh Grant's dorky dad dance in Love Actually or Will Smith's Bad Boys bad-assery, there's something about these films that has us hooked.
Bad Boys 2
A scene from the movie Bad Boys 2.
1000 years ago today, I was working on the helpdesk of the datacentre of a large New Zealand corporation, despite knowing nothing of data or centres. What made my frequent incompetence-based humiliation tolerable was a shared drive of pirated movies. Many were canonical titles: Apocalypse Now, Star Wars etc. I did not watch them. Instead I watched Bad Boys 2 at least 20 times. It is a critically reviled film, and is to Scarface what Scarface is to the Godfather: a grotesque, bloated exaggeration. But it is also possessed of a cocaine-blasted ambition and heroically stupid scale, so I will always love this very bad film.
I am addicted going to the cinema. In general love watching movies over and over and over. The current record holder for the most times I've seen a movie in the cinema is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, seen a whopping 11 times ... I've since watched it a further five times after it came out on DVD. Yes, I have a serious problem. However, the movie that I've seen the most, so many times I've lost count is 10 Things I Hate About You.
A scene from the movie 10 Things I Hate About You.
This is a TV movie favourite, I've worn out the DVD, when I was in high school we studied the damn thing in media studies. When I was in the States, I even went to high school where a young Heath Ledger serenaded Julia Stiles in the football stadium. Perhaps it's because the film is based on Shakespear's the Taming of the Shrew that makes the story of this high school rom-com so timeless. Even though it's getting pretty dated, it still fun to see all the late 90s fashion being toted about on screen. Not to mention a baby-faced Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I will always love this movie ... let me count the ways.
- Rachel Bache
Aliens
A scene from the movie Aliens.
Looking back, I'm not sure what had come over me. I'm not even sure how I found the time. But in 1991, my life was incredibly boring. So I made Aliens my life. This was my routine: school, home, Aliens. Every afternoon, at 3.30pm, at age 13, for an entire month, I'd sit down in the family lounge with four pieces of toast smeared in butter and golden syrup, and watch Ripley put on her yellow mech suit and battle it out with a bunch of otherworldly freaks. I didn't just love James Cameron's Aliens, I was completely overwhelmed and obsessed by it. In my spare time I'd dream Aliens. I filled sketch books with drawings of them. And a mate and I made one of Ripley's mech suits out of Weetbox boxes. I wore it, pretended he was Bishop, and tore him apart. For obvious reasons, we're not friends anymore. But because of this month-long binge, I won't hear a bad word about any Alien movies. Yes, even Alien 3. And yes, even Alien vs Predator. If it's got aliens in it, I'm there.
- Chris Schulz
The Witches
A scene from the movie The Witches.
Like most people, I suspect, my movie-watching stats skew heavily to childhood. This one would have been taped off the TV by my parents at some point in an act of extreme low-level piracy, and what a return they got on their blank VHS tape investment. I recently watched it again - always a risky move - and it stands up as every bit the classic my memory had hyped it up to be. Director Nicolas Roeg, better known for his cult grown-up films like Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell to Earth, was a perfect match for Roald Dahl's macabre storytelling, and the special effects courtesy the Jim Henson Company don't let the film down even 25 years on. Anyone who watched this movie as a child will have plenty of its unsettling scenes ingrained in their memories forever - the little girl disappearing from the painting, the witches' purple eyes, Anjelica Huston taking off her mask ... It's definitely worth revisiting.
- Calum Henderson
Love Actually
A scene from the movie Love Actually.
Confession: While most of my colleagues are writing about past indiscretions and youthful folly, mine is an ongoing obsession. Twelve years after Love Actually was first released, it is still one of my favourite movies. I watch it every Christmas and sometimes as a mid-year pick-me-up. It's the only film I've ever seen more than once at the cinema. I know it's riddled with plot holes and lacks any plausible timeline. And yes, Keira Knightley and Rick Grimes are incredibly annoying. But I don't care. I love its bittersweet, snack-sized stories. I love Colin Firth's bumbling grand gesture. And I love Hugh Grant's brilliantly bad dad dance.
