I’m a movie geek.  I watch a ton of movies all the time.  I can list off several actors ‘and actresses’ resumes by heart (well, not their ENTIRE resumes).  I have a very small but growing collection of action figures from my favorite movies like my Dr. Frankenfurter action figure AND rubber duck.  Yes, I own a rubber duck that looks like Dr. Frankenfurter – y’all are jealous you don’t have one, admit it!  I also love my Pulp Fiction Lego People I keep on my desk at work.  They came with guns that you can put in their little Lego hands, but I don’t display those since that’s probably inappropriate for the workplace.  I really like that the Vincent Lego (the one without blood on his suit) could double as John Taylor from Duran Duran (who knew they would look so similar in Lego-form?).  When are they going to come out with Duran Duran Lego people?  Methinks I need to write to someone’s suggestion box.  I also have an action figure of The Bride from Kill Bill from the scene where she’s fighting Elle Driver.  She’s bloody, holding her samurai sword in one hand and Elle’s eyeball in another.  Classic!  It’s in our office so I’ll have to find a more appropriate place for it once Lark’s old enough to figure out what it is.  I can picture it now, “Mommy.  Why does that woman have an eyeball in her hand?”  

Perhaps the geekiest thing I do with movies is once I find a movie I really really like, I have to see it a billion times.  I’m not sure why.  Perhaps it’s an addiction.  And the movies never get old.  The very first movie I watched a billion times was when I was very young and VCRs were new and there was a war between Beta and VHS.  I  was probably around 8 years old.  It was Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band starring George Burns, Paul Nicholas, Frank Howerd, and wait for it… The Bee Gees.  I absolutely loved that movie and watched it over and over and over and over again on the trusty VHS – the first version where the tapes were huge.  It was an easy movie to memorize since the only dialogue belonged to George Burns between songs.  

A few years ago I watched it again to see if it had the same appeal.  When I was young, I thought it was a truly great movie. What wasn’t there to love?  You had The Bee Gees, Beatles songs, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, a girl named Strawberry and a guy named Mr Mustard.  What kid doesn’t like characters named after food?  As an adult, I find it a “so bad it’s good” movie.  There are movies that are so bad, you can’t help but love watching them, marveling at their badness.  So although I have a different appreciation for the movie, I still like it, but I rarely watch it.

Another movie I’ve seen a billion times is, surprise, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  I’ve only seen it a few times at the theater, but a million times at home.  In fact, I was one of the stupid people who paid the full asking price of $80+ when it was first released on video.  Now you can find it for $15 on DVD.  Who knew?  I must have thought it was going to be like a Disney movie where they release it for a limited time and if you don’t own it by the deadline, you’re screwed.  

I remember the very first time I ever saw Tim Curry as Dr. Frankenfurter.  It was love at first sight.  I was 5.  I was watching Sneak Previews with Siskel & Ebert and they were reviewing the movie and discussing how it had become a midnight sensation.  Then there he was singing Sweet Transvestite in all his sexy lingerie’d mighty bad self.  He had me at (throw water at camera) “Well you got caught with a flat well, how ’bout that?”  It was a combination of his makeup, his voice, and that he was wearing women’s underwear that fascinated me.  You don’t see guys like this every day when you’re in kindergarten. I attribute my penchant for drag queens to this moment in my history.  I had that image in the back of my mind for years.  Through MTV, I saw videos and clips from the movie and it excited me. The possibilities!  I had to see this movie!  

The opportunity finally presented itself when I was either 16 or 17 at an old theater called The Blue Mouse.  I’m not sure, but I think I took my 13 (or 14) year old brother with me.  I took him at some point, I just can’t remember if it was the first time I went.  The movie was all I dreamed of and more.  

Through the years I acquired lots of memorabilia.  I bought the soundtrack. Okay, I didn’t only buy the soundtrack, but also the soundtrack that included audience participation, Rocky Horror CD specials including obscure material from Tim Curry and other members of the cast.  I bought the Roxy theater soundtrack.  I still have the “Lips” poster around here somewhere. I saw the sequel Shock Treatment since I just had to know what happened to Brad and Janet after they got married, but sadly, I’ve only seen that movie twice. 

There are probably hundreds of movies I’ve seen multiple times.  One only has to see the size of our DVD collection to believe it.  As an adult, there’s only one set of movies that are approaching Sgt. Pepper & Rocky Horror status.  Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2.  I can’t get enough of those films!  Quentin Tarantino is a genius!  What do I love most about them?  It’s a sick and twisted love story that you don’t realize is a love story until Volume 2.  Even cold-blooded assassins can love, but expect their love to be as sick and twisted as their jobs require them to be.  The fight scenes are awesome. The dialogue is awesome. The soundtracks are awesome.  And now I own both films on DVD and Blue Ray. Ya baby!!!! 

This is just a brief introduction to my movie geekdom.  I’ll write more movie related posts in the future so stay tuned…