The Rookie
Quaid and Rachel Griffiths, who is also pretty easy on the eyes.
This weekend I watched The Rookie for the first time. I gotta say, I loved it! I am a fan of sports movies in general (although not at all of actual sports), but this one was really an emotional titty-twister.
After a bunch of stuff about nuns and kids and baseball, it turns out that the lead is Dennis Quaid. I don’t know how you can NOT be totally on board with that kind of movie. I mean, that is a good lookin’ man, that DQuaid. I don’t know what he did to piss off Meg Ryan, but it must have been bad. He must have pooped in her socks. *
ANYWAY, he plays a fine-looking high school baseball coach/washed up pitcher. He makes a deal with his lovably rag-tag team that if they win District, he’ll try out for major league scouts. But they don’t win, and the movie is over in 20 minutes. JUST KIDDING! Of course they win, and he does try out, and even though he’s 20 years older than everyone else, he makes it! There are lots of corny Disney touches all over the place, but right when you are saying to your cat, “Ugh! Please! So cheesey.” DQuaid shoots you a look with his rugged tortured-yet-hopeful face, and you shut up.
Then, for the last half hour, you cry. Just non-stop eye-pee for 30 minutes.
If you ever thought you missed a chance at something important, see this movie. (But tell other people that you spent the day doing pushups and watching Platoon. This will be our secret.)
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In an only-barely-related note, I need some research help:
Dudes, what is your favorite romantic movie? Like, what really gets you in your gut, romantickally? Why?
Womens, what’s your favorite action movie or thriller? Why?
* Looked it up.
The bad news is apparently he’s a big cheater with an addiction problem. But the good news is he’s playing General Hawk in the GI Joe movie!
March 10th, 2008 at 11:48 am
That scene when he’s in the payphone telling Brenda he’s going to the Show is as much of a tear-jerker as when Kevin Costner plays catch with his dad in Field of Dreams.
As a guy, my favorite romantic movie is Annie Hall. Then again, the list is pretty short.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Forrest Gump – “I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is.” … kills me and I become a big friggin’ tool.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Dennis cheated on his wife, that’s what p*ssed her of.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Favorite Romantic Movie = Ghost. First movie I can remember ever crying while watching.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Top 5 romantic movies for guys:
1. Annie Hall
2. The Princess Bride
3. Grosse Point Blank
4. Love Actually
5. Groundhog Day
March 10th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Actually Meg was cheating on him with Russel Crowe, so there.
As for romantic movies I would say its a tie between Casablanca and Starship Troopers.
As for Dennis’s next move all I have to say is “Gooooo Joe!!!”
March 10th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Dear Eliza –
Been a blubbering faucet at plenty (hell I even teared up on a plane at the end of Big Daddy and last week at Spiderwick, for heaven’s sake), but it’s usually having to do with kids or personal sorrow or both (Philadelphia, North Fork — light’s out. Puddle.). But as fer’ actual romantic ones or ones with romatic parts that I liked, I always liked the romantic sub-plots in kult klassic Miracle Mile (Reese Witherspoon, Anthony Edwards), Groundhog Day, Gump, and I admittedly tear up at the end of Planes, Trains when we learn about John Candy’s wife (I guess this still counts…). Most romantic movies where the romance is the central point just blow. Completely un-moving.
p.s. – The dorm room clip doesn’t get less funny over time. Great. Thanks.
March 10th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Ok, coming from an Army officer who has been in combat and is usually a block of ice in most movies…
I’ve only really gotten leaky in one movie – Schindler’s List — but since that’s not a romantic movie (unless you’re perhaps of Aryan descent), I’d have to say that my eyes were getting pretty full in The Notebook. I’m an old-school unconditional love kind of guy, and so the ending was sad but in a good way.
March 10th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I’d have to say “Full Metal Jacket.” I tell ya, when Gny. Sgt. Hartman puts his hand at knee level at tells Private Pyle to choke himself, I get pretty choked up, too. If you read between the lines (and between the long, awkward stretches of silence and staring), don’t you think all of Kubrick’s films are romantic comedies? Am I the only one?
March 10th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
In Grease 2, when Michelle Pfeiffer sings “Turn Back the Hands of Time”…gets me all gooey….
March 10th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
I’m a big fan of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Lost in Translation – something that has a hint of tragedy or sadness to it.
Forrest Gump, while I’m not sure it’s a pure romance, is one of my favorite movies and makes me sad.
I’m not emo. Really. I watch sports – I swear.
March 10th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Annie Hall, but I also really really to need second Schindler’s List – It depends on how you define romantic really – the last few scenes of Schindler’s List leaves me with this feeling hope that brings out the tears like no other film.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Your little * comment made me cackle. Anyway, my favorite action movie is the Bourne Identity because that movie is when I realized I was deeply in love with Matt Damon’s arms. I also enjoy a good Mini Cooper chase scene. With Matt Damon in it.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Thanks for all the feedback, guys! Although, I don’t understand why Annie Hall is romantic. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, but I think it seems sort of cold and cerebral to me – what am I missing?
March 11th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
What keeps coming to mind is ‘Love Actually’… I’m not sure if this fits the criteria though. Looking back, a lot of it is heartbreaking. Maybe that’s a good descriptor for ‘romance.’
March 11th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Annie Hall ALL DAY. Manhattan, too.
Love Actually. Hell of cried.
Shakespeare In Love. Kill me.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
How come no dude has said “High Fidelity” yet? One of the very few book to movie ports that was actually halfway decent.
March 11th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Eliza, you have a very male-heavy audience!
My favorite action movie/thriller (after I AM LEGEND! Amirite people! talk about crapping in my socks!) are the Kill Bills (probably #1 over #2).
xoxo You are pretty
March 11th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Think DQ has cleaned up his drug act, but who can ever be sure? Always liked him– even in mediocre movies.
Favorite romantic movie= “The Enchanted Cottage.” It’s very sappy, but it still makes me cry. It’s a WWII era black-and-white film with Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire. Another one is “The Clock” with a young-adult Judy Garland and sweet Robert Walker (who died young). Both are 1945 films. I was not even 3 years old but saw them because I was taken to movies a lot; then I saw them again on t.v. in the 50s. Now they’re out there on cable and Netflix. Can’t shake those early impressions…
March 11th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Lonesome Jim and Garden State. I like the idea of finding a girl when least expected, who, through some inexplicable perseverance, falls in love with/saves you.
March 11th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Glennis –
It’s because I touched my boobs in a video. It’s like leaving raw meat in the alley – everyone comes sniffing around. And once you feed them one time they keep expecting it again.
Also, one is from my mother, who ignored the gender specific questions and answered what she wanted to answer.
March 11th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Seriously, THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE makes me SOB SOBBITY SOB SOB! Best chick flick of all time, hands down. So good, even guys dig it. Chris is a stone and even HE kept having to clear his throat when we watched it together!!
March 11th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
P.S. Please stop touching your boobs on camera. You’re putting the Skinner name to shame. Ahem.
P.S.S Like our mother, I only feel like answering the questions i feel like responding to…..sorrr-eeeee…….
March 11th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Amelie.
Good Will Hunting.
Not exactly a romantic film, but it brings tears: Dead Poets Society
March 11th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I like Sleepless in Seattle. The reason why…. It has to be because you actually see things from the male perspective and it’s real. It’s not cartoonish like 10-things I hate about you. Because no man would react like he does in that movie. But Tom Hanks plays a character that you can relate to.
So basically any chick flick that shows a realistic male point of view is great. Another great movie is “Cinderella Man” !!!! If you have not seen this movie, you must go rent it NOW. You relate to Russel Crowe’s character as he pains to provide for his family and the embarrassment he felt when he couldn’t.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Off the top of my head…
I really enjoyed Before Sunrise and Until Sunset. They just felt very real to me. Bittersweet, not ideal.
I love the awkward relationship development of Punch Drunk Love. And of course it doesn’t hurt that there’s a song from Popeye in it!
And Amelie is a damn near perfect fantasy romance for me. Quirky girl woos quirky guy, yay!
March 12th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hey… “Enchanted Cottage” IS a thriller movie… just depends on what thrills you. And there’s LOTS of action in “The Clock.” So there. Don’t mess with old ladies.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:18 am
O.k. “Bonnie and Clyde.”
Picky, picky, picky.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:42 am
I well up whenever the president does something statesmanlike in the west wing. and i’m not even a mercan. i’m aware the west wing isn’t a romance, i’m just a sucker for good statesmanship.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
i’m a girl.
i can’t even think of a thriller or action movie that i enjoyed enough to even remember having seen it! …do “psychological” thrillers count? i really reaaallly liked the movie “Frailty” and it had a decent body count – so it must fit into the “man’s movie” catagory… i don’t even know. the only movie i saw in theaters in all of 2007 was superbad so my opinion on things probably doesn’t even count for much. i do own The Net on DVD though! but…sandra bullock is for girls. sigh.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Thanks to those of you who mentioned “High Fidelity,” “Casablanca,” “Groundhog Day,” and “Spotless Mind” (had a girfriend go directly back to her ex- after I showed it to her) I’m left with just a few I own and will gladly show to a date: “Almost Famous” (the romance is a sub-plot, but really good), “When Harry Met Sally,” and “Serendipity” (John Cusack’s just plain cool).
March 17th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – i’ve never seen, read or heard the pain of desperately trying to hold on to Love more accurately expressed in all it’s awkward, gut-punching and unexplainable glory than in this movie.
2. Sleepless In Seattle – because Meg Ryan in her prime destroys every other girlfriend who was ever created.
3. Shakespeare In Love – because her soul was greater than the ocean and her spirit stronger than the Sea’s embrace.
4. It Happened One Night – because it was the original back-and-forth/ barbed wire banter/ they hate each other while they love each other couple. And it eventually led to David & Maddie, Sam & Diane, etc.
5. Meet Joe Black – What can I tell you? That’s life.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
that’s hilarious cuz glenn and i watched this movie and one of us cried at the end- i can’t remember. it was probably me, but it might have been him. he’s known to be touched by heroic sports movies here and there.
My fave action movies: Matrix- blew my mind. Fight Club-cuz they beat each other up. Kill Bill- cuz she kills bill, in such a badass way. Quentin Tarantino’s Planet Terror- cuz zombie movies rock. Bloodsport- a Van Damme classic.
March 19th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Die Hard. And Die Hard With A Vengeance. The latter mainly for the puzzles.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:51 am
moonlight mile with jake gyllenhaal and dustin hoffman and susan sarandon and ellen pompeo…
it’s a guilty pleasure. a little corny, but oh man, that courtroom scene is crazy terrific. and dustin hoffman’s portrayal of a grieving father is so bomb. oh man.
i don’t know if this counts as a strictly “romantic” movie, but science of sleep is i think the perfect movie and just so honest and sad and funny and everything a movie should be, i think.
August 26th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
@Paul D – Greatest movie of all time not just romance: The Princess Bride
Does African Queen count as a romance movie? If it does, I choose that. No greater romantic gesture than when Kathrine Hepburn stands up for Bogey at the risk of her own life…
August 16th, 2009 at 12:35 am
50 First Dates!