Thursday, September 01, 2005
Cling Film
Conversation snap-shot. The sad consequence of a little down time at work.
Me: "I'm compiling a list of my top twenty coolest films of all time"
Frank:" Hmm... What do you have at the top?"
Me: (Without hesitation) "Pulp Fiction. It has no equal. Vibrantly episodic, the snappiest slang-dialogue ever uttered, anywhere. The coolest thing on celluloid. Ever. In fact it'll never be bettered in the cool department. It can't be - Tarrantino re-drew the boundaries of film cool. He'll never be able to amaze again in quite the same way. And no-one else is in the same ballpark, the same league, even playing the same fucking sport. What about you?"
Frank:"Zulu"
Me: "Ok. Zulu. Zulu's good. Zulu's not cool though. I like Zulu. It's my dad's favourite film."
Frank: "Is it?"
Me: "Yeah. You know, every time I ring my dad, he's watching Zulu. Every time. I say 'high dad how you doing?' You watching Zulu? And he's watching Zulu. He sits there all day, and Zulu's on.
Frank: "It's a good film."
Me: "It is: 'Don't throw those spears ...', all that lot; and the malingerer, what was his name, Corporal Hook? Good film. Loads of heros. Fascinating true story. Not really cool though. Glengarry Glenross is cool " Always be closing - Always, be closing!" Fight Club is cool: 'The first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club. The second rule of fight club is, you do not talk about fight club. The third rule of fight club is, when someone says "stop" or goes limp, the fight is over.' Blade Runner. Mmmm. Cool. 'I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears... in... rain. Time... to die.' Very cool films. Bound to feature in my list. Any more thoughts about how your list would look?"
Frank: "Nah. 'cept Zulu."
Me: "I'm compiling a list of my top twenty coolest films of all time"
Frank:" Hmm... What do you have at the top?"
Me: (Without hesitation) "Pulp Fiction. It has no equal. Vibrantly episodic, the snappiest slang-dialogue ever uttered, anywhere. The coolest thing on celluloid. Ever. In fact it'll never be bettered in the cool department. It can't be - Tarrantino re-drew the boundaries of film cool. He'll never be able to amaze again in quite the same way. And no-one else is in the same ballpark, the same league, even playing the same fucking sport. What about you?"
Frank:"Zulu"
Me: "Ok. Zulu. Zulu's good. Zulu's not cool though. I like Zulu. It's my dad's favourite film."
Frank: "Is it?"
Me: "Yeah. You know, every time I ring my dad, he's watching Zulu. Every time. I say 'high dad how you doing?' You watching Zulu? And he's watching Zulu. He sits there all day, and Zulu's on.
Frank: "It's a good film."
Me: "It is: 'Don't throw those spears ...', all that lot; and the malingerer, what was his name, Corporal Hook? Good film. Loads of heros. Fascinating true story. Not really cool though. Glengarry Glenross is cool " Always be closing - Always, be closing!" Fight Club is cool: 'The first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club. The second rule of fight club is, you do not talk about fight club. The third rule of fight club is, when someone says "stop" or goes limp, the fight is over.' Blade Runner. Mmmm. Cool. 'I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tanhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears... in... rain. Time... to die.' Very cool films. Bound to feature in my list. Any more thoughts about how your list would look?"
Frank: "Nah. 'cept Zulu."
// posted by garroo @ 8:31 pm 
