3.14 Reasons Why Movies Are More Important Than Pi

I spent about 22/7ths of a moment thinking about headlines for this post and almost settled on “What Is Your Favorite Movie?”

It is a solid headline. It is easily understood and something that will generate comments, discussion and conversation. Smarter people than I  might leave it alone and let it run, but I prefer the road not taken.

Why take the cable car up the mountain when you can spend a bit more time hiking through the brush and blazing trails where none might have existed before. It is kind of funny because I am  generally not an advocate of reinventing the wheel when you don’t have to.

But this time around I didn’t feel like it. This time around I wanted to try something different, so I did.

Besides, I wanted this post to be more than just our favorite movies. Stick around and I’ll share more with you about why.

My Favorite Movie- Casablanca

I don’t remember the first time I watched Casablanca, but I remember when it became my favorite movie. I was twenty-something and trying to figure out how a woman had found a way to surgically remove my heart without the benefit of a scalpel.

Old Jack was very bitter about this breakup which is probably why I loved the scene below so very much.

Actually there are many scenes in the movie that I love. I am not sure if I can pick just one. What I can tell you is that as I have aged I have gained a deeper appreciation of the movie. I never grow tired of it.

I love movies that make me think and feel. I love the 1,938,933 lines from movies that people quote for years afterwards and laugh/smile about.

GlenGary Glen Ross isn’t just a movie to me. It is a snapshot of some of my former jobs, colleagues and bosses. It makes me see. It makes me feel. It makes me remember.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO_t7GtXO6w 

Movies and Blogging

This is where we drop off clever and pick up simple. I like movies because I like stories. I like creating stories to tell be they written or spoken. I like hearing/watching/reading stories.

On a professional level my focus is almost always on how to tell a captivating and compelling story. How do I help the company create a connection between itself and its prospective customers. What can I do to help people see why they should buy/hire/purchase a particular/product service.

I suppose it is fair to say my personal interest intersects with my professional, with the distinction that one day I want to sell enough books to support my family.

Storytelling can make that happen. The big question is can I write that tale? Can I come up with something that you can’t stop reading because you have to know what happens.

Movies are a source and resource for that.

Sometimes I watch a movie and am completely underwhelmed by something that looked like it should have been amazing. Sometimes when that happens I try to figure out what went wrong.  Was it bad acting? Did they try to cram too many thoughts/ideas into a two hour time frame? Did it suffer from bad special effects?

It is not hard to take those ideas and apply them to blogging. If you wanted to you could create a dozen or more posts based upon those ideas. You could create an entire series with it.

Maybe I’ll try that one day, but not now.

That is not the purpose of this post. This one is about sharing a few thoughts about movies and a couple of clips from some of my favorites.

It is not a complete list.

Nor have I provided you with all of the reasons why I love movies or all of my dreams. This is more of a stew, but that is ok.

It served its purpose.

But I can’t finish this without asking you to share some of your favorite movies in the comments. Feel free to share as much or as little as you would like.

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5 Comments

  1. Tracie July 13, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    Movies are my thing – and my favorites list is too long to try to share. But the one movie I can watch when I’m happy or sad or frumpy, and still get something out of it is Philadelphia Story. It is always good, always classic. 

    • TheJackB July 14, 2012 at 8:05 am

       @Tracie 
      Hi Tracie,
       
      Movies, books and music all fall into a category of too many good ones to list for me. If I was really pushed I could probably narrow down a list to somewhere between five and ten favorites, but it would be hard.
       
      I have only seen pieces of Philadelphia Story. I need to make a note to watch the whole thing.

  2. Hajra July 13, 2012 at 7:43 am

    Movies are way better than any entertainment…. that is what I will stick with. 
     
    As for favorite movies, I have loads of Indian movies as favorites. From the West, I love Forrest Gump. I mean, there hasn’t been a better person on screen ever! 🙂 Basically I am in love with Tom Hanks, so whatever he does gets me all interested! 🙂
     
     

    • TheJackB July 14, 2012 at 8:04 am

       @Hajra
       
      Hi Hajra,
       
      Could you please name three Indian movies that you really like? Are they films that I could watch/understand?
       
      Tom Hanks is great. I haven’t ever seen him in something that I didn’t like. That’s not to say he didn’t appear in some bad movies because he did, but there was usually enough in them to make them relatively enjoyable.

      • Hajra July 14, 2012 at 8:24 am

         @TheJackB If you could get them with subtitles; then maybe you could. Three on the top of my mind are : A Wednesday (a movie that shows a common man plot the murder three terrorists because he is tired of living the life of constant fear of terrorism); Mother India (this movie was Oscar nominated movies in the foreign category; it shows a single mothers struggle in raising her two sons in a poverty stricken melodramatic era, instilling them with moral values and despite all her sacrifices ends up killing one of her son for the end of a greater moral good) and Phir Milenge ( a woman’s struggle after being diagnosed as HIV +) 

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