“Fantasies are more than substitutes for unpleasant reality; they are also dress rehearsals, plans. All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination.” ~ Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

Day 7: Your Favorite Movies


I love movies. It's a sickness. Movies and t.v. ... t.v. and movies ... I could settle in for days with movies and bad t.v. and never want for anything else.  I grew up with brothers, so I have that side of being a guy's girl in me, meaning that of course I love a great action movie or an interesting thriller movie and I adore the raunchy comedies out there (i.e. Wedding Crashers, Old School, Dodgeball, Semi-Pro, Dude Where's My Car, the Fridays, Van Wilder, SuperBad,Dazed and Confused, Animal House, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) anything really that can make me laugh until I cry.  I have an addiction to Christmas movies and could watch them in July. They make me happy and think back to the holiday I love the most. The English teacher side of me must see any movie made based on a book. I must read the book first and then see the movie to prove to myself (and it is always true) that books are always better than movies. However, I love a lot of the Nicholas Sparks and James Patterson books turned movies, and would be content with a movie marathon comprised of them for a couple days. I am terrified of horror movies. It doesn't matter how bad they are and if they're completely unrealistic, I am still horrified by them, which ultimately is the point ... right? Either way I am an adult who can't sleep alone in the dark, so adding a scary movie into that equation never works. With that said, when Scott took me on our first date he picked a scary movie (The Hills Have Eyes) and I would never want to take that experience back even though I never want to see that movie again.  Movies that really get me, though, are the traditional chick flicks. I love romantic comedies. I even love romantic movies that don't end in the happiest ways.  I'm not the type of girl who needs a lot of romance in my actual relationship, but I really like to fantasize about romance and how it works for the people in movies and books.  I love it all from the love stuff that seems so real to the cheesiest stuff that is most clearly set up ... it all gets me and makes me smile. It takes me away from real life for a minute and lets me fantasize about how life can be great in a fantastical way. I love that outlet. I love that for a little while I can dream about happiness, smiles, and love that always works. Of course I always come back to reality and when I look at everything I have I'm glad that reality is always where I end up.
Some of my favorite movies that remove me from reality are:
How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days, The Notebook, The Proposal, Sex and The City, Runaway Bride, and many many more. I could sit and watch movies like this all day, but my absolute favorite two are:

Love & Basketball: I mean who doesn't want to have someone tell them, "I've loved you since you were eleven and the shit won't go away." How sweet is that? How beautiful is it to know that someone has cared about you for almost their entire lives? When I day dream I always to immediately to that fantasy.
And my ultimate favorite movie ... the big winner is:

Yep ... Pretty Woman. It has been my all time favorite movie since the day I saw it when I was ten. I even had my prom dress designed in the likeness of this dress. Now, I will say I love Julia Roberts so that helps my love of the movie, but ultimately I adore it because Vivien is no pushover but she still gets the fairytale. And I think that if a girl wants the fairytale ... then she should get it. The best part of this movie though is the fact that it isn't just the girl letting someone rescue her. When Edward goes to get Vivien back he says, "So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?" and Vivien says, "She rescues him right back." This proves that fairytales come true everyday, but the best ones are where both people get saved.