The “Dirty Dozen” was on at midnight Saturday on Channel 45. Great movie with solid performances all around, although it doesn’t really elicit any strong emotions in me aside from side-splitting laughter when Sutherland does his inspection as the “General.” ;)

A fifty year old movie that I recently saw on TV, that combined the traditional male/female romance plot with the two male buddy misadventure plot in the background, did a great job of holding the attention of both sexes I thought. "Roman Holiday." That could be the model for threading the needle--much like "When Harry Met Sally."

Like:

"n Weddings and a Funeral"
"The Truth About Cats and Dogs" (yes, it's a bit embarassing)
"Fierce Creatures"
Quite a few others, really, but it kind of depends on how you classify movies. (E.g., is "The Quiet Man" a guy movie or a girl movie?)

Dislike:

Anything with a Stooge or Chris Rock in it, most of the collected oeuvre of Laurel and Hardy, with exceptions allowed for short bits of brilliant comedy, most of Monty Python, Terminator n, Robocop n....

On the other hand, I like Die Hard III.

ps. You have an unclosed italic tag in the post. I've tried to close it, but don't know whether your filters will allow the html through.

Like:

"n Weddings and a Funeral"
"The Truth About Cats and Dogs" (yes, it's a bit embarassing)
"Fierce Creatures"
Quite a few others, really, but it kind of depends on how you classify movies. (E.g., is "The Quiet Man" a guy movie or a girl movie?)

Dislike:

Anything with a Stooge or Chris Rock in it, most of the collected oeuvre of Laurel and Hardy, with exceptions allowed for short bits of brilliant comedy, most of Monty Python, Terminator n, Robocop n....

On the other hand, I like Die Hard III.

ps. You have an unclosed italic tag in the post. I've tried to close it, but your filters won't allow the html through.

Sorry about the duplicated comment; the usual excuse applies.

I take exception to "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" being characterized as a chick flick. It's simply a damn fine movie. And "Red", "White", and "Blue" are not the first titles that come to mind when the word chick flick is mentioned either.

You are spot on about "Kelly's Heroes." I hated that movie when I first saw it as a kid and I still hate it today. Donald Sutherland's hippie tank commander character, who looks like he just came from an anti-war protest in 1970 (when the film came out), is so absurd that it's laughable.

Must take issue with Doug. How can you like "Fierce Creatures" and, I assume, "A Fish Called Wanda" and NOT like Python! Those films have Python all over them!

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is my favorite movie ever. Saw it when it first came out and have owned the VHS and now the DVD. Seen it dozens of times and never tired of it. Takes at least 5 watchings to catch almost everything, but I never figured out the witch's last words until I found the script on-line: "It's a fair cop."

My playful PC rebooted when I wrote the first version of this, after I had gone nuts and put down about 30 quotes from this veritable quote machine of a movie. I'll just leave with a couple this time.

"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries." "May we burn her?" "Bring outcher dead." "One, two, FIVE, no THREE!" "It's only a flesh wound." "It's only a harmless little bunny" "Run AWAY!" "It's only a model." "I'm Sir Gallahad, 'The Chaste!'" "Message for you Sir."

I'll have to do a Python entry on my blog. A Broadway version of "Grail" is apparently a smash, so my favorites from the past, The Kinks, Stones, Monty Python, are still chugging along long after they would really have to, but we are the richer for it.

Guy movies I don't like: Most of 'em. I understand the appeal of things blowing up, but give me plot and substance any day. James Bond movies are probably my main guilty pleasure in that regard.

Chick flicks I like: "Room With A View" just sends me. So many fine details to watch, and it was before I'd seen HBC naked so she carries off the whole hot and innocent youth thing very well.

Most chick flicks have the same problem vis a vis plot and substance vs. (romantic) wish fulfillment as guy films do vs the bombastic.

Movies that make me break down & cry: "Rushmore," "City Lights," a few more. I'm a big movie crier, though not as big a movie crier as I once was.

Wog: "Must take issue with Doug. How can you like "Fierce Creatures" and, I assume, "A Fish Called Wanda" and NOT like Python! Those films have Python all over them!"

The difference between Python movies and movies with ex-Pythoners involves narrative flow, plot, characterization -- pretty much everything that makes up a story. To use your example, I dearly love some of the skits in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". (My favorite is probably when Arthur meets the anarcho-syndicalists.) But it's not a story, it's a loose framework on which to hang a series of sketches. I want more coherence in a movie.

The other big problem I have with Python is that they beat every possible joke into the ground. The Python paradigm is 15 minutes of comedy crammed tightly into a 90-minute movie.

But somehow I suspect that explaining why something isn't funny (to me) works about as well as explaining why something is funny. Oh well, take it for what it's worth.

Guy films I don't like: Any Die Hard movie with the exemption of the first. Any James Bond film made after 1971.
Chick flicks I like: The Truth About Cats and Dogs and Matchmaker (I know they are two Janeane Garofalo films, but they are good... and the only good things she has done on film). Four Weddings and a Funeral.
But I refuse to watch even a second of Steel Magnolias!

"Von Ryan's Express - I read too many real POW escape movies to enjoy that one."
The book it was based on was very good, but Sinatra as Von Ryan was inspired casting. I also read my share of real POW escape books as a kid, but reasonable people can differ.

"Kelly's Heroes - Nope. Just...nope. I mean, cool tanks and all but...nope."
It was supposed to be absurd, which I think some of the other commenters missed - though I don't see how, given all the anachronisms. Personally, I think the scene with the Tiger tank commander is a hoot.

Chick flicks I love:

Sleepless in Seattle
Pretty Woman(sorry)
Hope Floats
While You Were Sleeping
When Harry Met Sally
Peggy Sue Got Married
My Best Friend's Wedding

Guy movies I hate or refuse to watch:

Any Tarantino movie
Any Rambo movie
Any horror movie
Any American Pie
Sin City

Tearjerkers:
Homeward Bound(I & II)
Babe
Hoosiers
Rudy

Chick flicks I love:

Sleepless in Seattle
Pretty Woman(sorry)
Hope Floats
While You Were Sleeping
When Harry Met Sally
Peggy Sue Got Married
My Best Friend's Wedding

Guy movies I hate or refuse to watch:

Any Tarantino movie
Any Rambo movie
Any horror movie
Any American Pie
Sin City

Tearjerkers:
Homeward Bound(I & II)
Babe
Hoosiers
Rudy

Chick flicks I love:

Sleepless in Seattle
Pretty Woman(sorry)
Hope Floats
While You Were Sleeping
When Harry Met Sally
Peggy Sue Got Married
My Best Friend's Wedding

Guy movies I hate or refuse to watch:

Any Tarantino movie
Any Rambo movie
Any horror movie
Any American Pie
Sin City

Tearjerkers:
Homeward Bound(I & II)
Babe
Hoosiers
Rudy

Sorry about that. I'm fairly new to commenting and my computer was being weird.