Stupid Ways Movies Have Changed Your Life

Whenever I have to sprint for whatever reason, I'm thinking about Tom Cruise in one of his movies and doing my damnedest to bring his INTENSE INTENSITY!!!

So of course, I'm thinking about outrunning a sandstorm these days.

Ever since Broken Arrow, I use Christian Slater's method of handing his gun to Samantha Mathis if I'm handing some toy pistol to someone else.  (flip and twist to make it easier for the other person to handle!  COURTEOUS!)

I can't imagine that you do these observations every time, without fail. Like, for every book you pick up, you actually go through that thought process, since seeing the film?

If so, rock on. I think.

I'm hard-pressed to think of any cinematic hardwiring like that on my part, outside of Jaws keeping me from venturing out in the ocean (or unfamiliar waters in general) even to this day.

Haha, when going out to eat I too often find Wild Bill enters my thoughts when it comes time to choose a seat. I started a similar thread to this a few weeks back, "all I need to know about life I learned from the movies", and I mentioned how Val Kilmer's SPARTAN maxim is always on my mind when I'm out and about (in the city, always a reflection, in the forest, always a sound)

When I have to curl up extension cords, I always try to make it look as cool and effortless as Indy coiling his whip : P 

Does saying sumbitch a lot because of years of watching Smokey and the Bandit count?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnooj82 

Ever since Broken Arrow, I use Christian Slater's method of handing his gun to Samantha Mathis if I'm handing some toy pistol to someone else.  (flip and twist to make it easier for the other person to handle!  COURTEOUS!)

Which begs the question: How many toy pistols have you had to hand over since Broken Arrow?

The closest I ever came to accepting religion into my life was after seeing The Last Temptation Of Christ as a teenager. For a couple weeks, I'd seriously considered attending Seminary school & toyed with the idea of becoming a priest.

With this admission, one could fairly assess that I am not particularly bright.

Also, due to a childhood fascination with The Six Million Dollar Man, I squint my eyes like Lee Majors. I've had this mannerism for 30 years & have yet to kick it.

I saw Anchorman about seven times in the theaters. My then-girlfriend saw the movie about a year and a half after it came out, and was watching it while I was in the other room, when halfway through she said, "Wait a second: I'm dating Ron Burgundy."

I picked up more than a few stupid mannerisms from that movie, I suppose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

The closest I ever came to accepting religion into my life was after seeing The Last Temptation Of Christ as a teenager. For a couple weeks, I'd seriously considered attending Seminary school & toyed with the idea of becoming a priest.

 

With this admission, one could fairly assess that I am not particularly bright.

When I saw the film I said to my mom "it's the kind of movie that would make me want to be a Christian, if Christians were not the kind of people who picketed this movie"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schwartz 

 

Because of Deadwood, I always take a seat facing the door of a public place, if available.

I've always done this but it's not because of movies, it's because I grew up in South Auckland (think Compton or The Bronx but with fewer handguns and more machetes).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Princess Kate 

When I saw the film I said to my mom "it's the kind of movie that would make me want to be a Christian, if Christians were not the kind of people who picketed this movie"

Exactly. After seeing the film, I was left baffled by the vitriolic reaction "Christians" had to the movie. I've asked devout relatives if & why they might've had a problem with the film & I was told that, essentially, it showed Jesus as a man rather than the idyllic, storybook superman many self-described Christians grew up with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

 

Also, due to a childhood fascination with The Six Million Dollar Man, I squint my eyes like Lee Majors. I've had this mannerism for 30 years & have yet to kick it.

Heh, watching Clint Eastwood as the Man With No Name got me doing it.

I dumped my last two girlfriends because I didn't want to get attached to anything I wasn't willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat had I spotted the heat around the corner.

I think John Woo movies will have me making long 'whoosh' sound effects for any sweeping motion until the day I die gloriously in a hail of gunfire and doves.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

 

Exactly. After seeing the film, I was left baffled by the vitriolic reaction "Christians" had to the movie. I've asked devout relatives if & why they might've had a problem with the film & I was told that, essentially, it showed Jesus as a man rather than the idyllic, storybook superman many self-described Christians grew up with.

Precisely; the book was controversial for the same reason. I read it not long after I'd stopped going to church, and it was the first time I'd encountered a Jesus I could actually relate to. The film is great but the book is absolutely amazing. Even putting the religious aspect aside, it's a genius piece of characterization that, unfortunately, tackles the concept of 'JC as Man' head-on in a way that some Christians haven't wanted to hear.

As for the topic, I'll have to cheat slightly and say the BBC Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy miniseries, which led me to the books, and from there Douglas Adams. I credit that man with shaping mysense of humour, which has given me pleasure (And every now and again made me money) ever since.

And a stupid influence: I did spend a good chunk of my primary school years trying to perfect the skip/shuffle thing Bill Murray does in the plaza scene of Ghostbusters (When he meets up with Dana about Zuul). I never did perfect the Venkman Shuffle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schwartz 

That...sounds awesome, actually.

This was my local ... except Tem Morrison and Cliff Curtis weren't there. This is also why I never use juke boxes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Princess Kate 

 

When I saw the film I said to my mom "it's the kind of movie that would make me want to be a Christian, if Christians were not the kind of people who picketed this movie"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

 

Exactly. After seeing the film, I was left baffled by the vitriolic reaction "Christians" had to the movie. I've asked devout relatives if & why they might've had a problem with the film & I was told that, essentially, it showed Jesus as a man rather than the idyllic, storybook superman many self-described Christians grew up with.

I agree with both of you, although I actually am a Christian and not particularly theologically liberal either.  I just have a good understanding of what I actually believe and you can disagree with my beliefs all you want, but at least I know what they are and how to defend them without sounding like an idiot.  The Last Temptation of Christ is one of my favorite films and it has a lot to do with the portrayal of Jesus as a man, which he was in addition to being God.  Too many Christians don't know that they are supposed to agree with this concept because they don't have any idea what they say they believe in.  Fully man and fully God at the same time.  Not that hard to understand.  The movie stretches it a little, but it says at the beginning in plain text that it's a work of fiction, so I don't get why people make such a big deal.  American Evangelicalism is largely a joke anyway at this point, not offering anything different than Dr. Phil or the self-help section of a bookstore with a little mysticism thrown in.  I could say (A LOT) more about that but this isn't exactly what the thread is about.

On topic, as much as I really hate people constantly quoting Office Space because it really pisses me off when people latch onto something great and constantly regurgitate it ad nauseam, whenever I have a printer problem, I always say to myself, occasionally out loud and in character, "Why does it say 'Paper Jam' when there is no paper jam?"

Oh God, I have some really embarrassing ones.  I fell in love with Cooley High when I was a kid and wore my hair crimped.  Bought a bunch of black button-down shirts after seeing sex, lies and videotape.  The less said the better about my Star Wars obsession--it was probably pretty common--but it took me until my second year in college to give up my dreams of becoming an astronaut. 

This is kinda embarrassing but true, but I aped my kissing technique from Marky Mark in "Fear". I was young and A) had not even touched a girl yet, and 2) he looked like he knew what he was doing. I also try to fingerbang all my girlfriends on rollercoasters......whiplash be damned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schwartz 

Because of Deadwood, I always take a seat facing the door of a public place, if available.

I picked that up from Mob lore.  Not sure if it was a Godfather or a TV show or what.  Also the belief that any restaurant that didn't have windows on its front was a Mob hangout.

Not strictly movie-related, but some friend of mine pointed out that in the books, Conan always seemed to go left when he was in a dungeon or tomb or whatever, so he could follow the wall with his left hand and keep his sword free in his right.  So now, whenever faced with a choice of direction, we sagely intone "Conan always goes left" and proceed accordingly.

Jaws pretty much ruined my enjoyment of water for over a decade. In fact, I went to the beach this year and STILL heard the Jaws theme in my head as I walked into the ocean. Damn that movie!

In lieu of me making a horribly inappropriate joke in public, or as a "you bet your ass" confirmation, I do Hawkeye's whistle from M*A*S*H. Have since I was about 12. There's no stopping me.

I splash my face with warm water before shaving, and then cold water after, because of Miller's Crossing.

I live in the frigid North. I often envision cold to be something that can be fled from, courtesy of The Day After Tomorrow.

When I was in Brazil it was the first time I'd ever been in tropical rainforest and time after time I would peer out into the dense foliage and expect to see one of the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park. Is it stupid to be in one of the most legendary places in the world surrounded by the most diverse natural habitat on the planet and yet still have a movie animal or two running through your mind? Or is it just that there is no denying Spielberg's power?

Maybe it's an extension of how my mind works from when I was a young kid and I used to have to go out down our long driveway to put the milk money out (oh, times of yore) and when I'd turn at the letterbox to come back to the house I'd imagine there was a wolf or mountain lion waiting in the trees across the road and that as I broke into a sprint back down our driveway the beast sprang from the bush and began to gain on me. To a 10 or 11 year old me those animals were real man. And there are no wolves or mountain lions in NZ, those things came straight out of Disney wilderness movies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeI 

I live in the frigid North. I often envision cold to be something that can be fled from, courtesy of The Day After Tomorrow.

You know, it's not a great movie, but it's always bothered me when people slag off the film because of the "running from cold" meme

No such thing happened in the film

Air from the upper troposphere was brought down rapidly in a giant storm cell before it had a chance to warm up. They were running from super cooled air currents from the very top of earth's atmosphere. "Cold" isn't a force that one could run from. It's the absence of heat energy. Cold doesn't go anywhere, heat leaves to go where cold is

Quote:

Originally Posted by Princess Kate 

 

You know, it's not a great movie, but it's always bothered me when people slag off the film because of the "running from cold" meme

 

No such thing happened in the film

 

Air from the upper troposphere was brought down rapidly in a giant storm cell before it had a chance to warm up. They were running from super cooled air currents from the very top of earth's atmosphere. "Cold" isn't a force that one could run from. It's the absence of heat energy. Cold doesn't go anywhere, heat leaves to go where cold is

Why why why did I click show post?

Kate, do you remember the scene where they run towards the library and shut the door on an advancing cold front so precise you can see it? That. That's running from cold. I know science, and I know English, and sometimes they're not compatible.

Say, does that trick with the electrical socket from The Host actually work? Every time I think about that movie, I remember that scene, and I imagine myself running from people in an office building (don't ask why, they just are, okay?), and slickly pulling off that move to deftly evade them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeI 

 

 

Why why why did I click show post?

 

Kate, do you remember the scene where they run towards the library and shut the door on an advancing cold front so precise you can see it? That. That's running from cold. I know science, and I know English, and sometimes they're not compatible.

::sigh::

They're NOT running from any visible force. What we see is frost forming on structures, in reaction to the super cooled but thoroughly invisible super chilled troposphere air which our protagonists are running from

PS Do you live in a cold location? Because sometimes you CAN watch frost form right before your eyes if it's cold enough

I came to L.A. to make movies. That was pretty stupid.

Great thread idea.

I dunno if it's from watching Face/Off or Leone westerns, but whenever I'm wearing a coat that's waist length or longer, I sweep it away dramatically when reaching into my pants pockets, like I'm about to draw on some fool.

Also, this is from comics and not movies, but I always turn on light switches by literally flicking them with my thumb because Captain America did it once.

I've been wary of pawn shops since watching Pulp Fiction back in the day.

Because of Doug Liman's GO, I can't watch the Columbia logo (when it has its usual theme) in front of any other movie without expecting it to be interrupted by rave footage set to Fire Up the Shoesaw.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bradito 

I came to L.A. to make movies. That was pretty stupid.

Hah! Good call Bradito.

But making movies wasn't enough for ol' Bucho, I went to live in the Amazon because I wanted to be Indiana Jones. That was even stupider.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bucho 

 

Hah! Good call Bradito.

 

But making movies wasn't enough for ol' Bucho, I went to live in the Amazon because I wanted to be Indiana Jones. That was even stupider.

I am a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me, to push you out of the light.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bradito 

I came to L.A. to make movies. That was pretty stupid.

That ain't stupid. That's adorable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bradito 

I am a shadowy reflection of you. It would take only a nudge to make you like me, to push you out of the light.

My rampant stupidity dwarfs even those who dream of a fulfilling life in film-making. My delusion-fueled irrationality is the stuff of legend. My god complex is god-like.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeI 

I live in the frigid North. I often envision cold to be something that can be fled from, courtesy of The Day After Tomorrow.

Similarly, I live in California and know it's possible to outrun earthquakes, courtesy of 2012. Thanks for the peace of mind, Roland Emmerich!

Even though I grew up a city kid I wore a cowboy hat for a couple of months when I was about 15. Not because of John Wayne. Not because of Clint Eastwood. Not even because of Emilio Estevez.

Because of Wolfman from Top Gun.

When I get flustered, I automatically go into muted, venomous London gangster mode, letting out grizzle-toned outbursts of "Blooody 'ell. You f*cking c*nt. You f*cking muppet tosser".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schwartz 

I still catch myself doing a slower, more spastic version of Iceman's pen flipping thing from time to time.

Same here! And the flat top I wore from about 15 to 17 was total Iceman-wannabe do.

In other movie-influenced stupidity (or more literally, dumbness) I still to this day pull the face Lloyd is pulling in Dumb and Dumber as he emerges from his fantasy and realises Lauren Holly's headlights are actually the headlights of a rig. The one where his top teeth are on the top of his bottom lip in a half smile and his eyes are wide with joy but his brow is pulled towards a frown. The one where he's halfway between joy and confusion, which is pretty much how I live my life.

I work in a bank, so thanks to "Drag Me to Hell", I check the backseat of my car every night before I get into it. ESPECIALLY if I gave someone bad news that day.

Alan Cumming in Goldeneye got me twirling pens when I was 12. Haven't stopped since.

And yes, I am invincible!

Is that where that's from? Oh man, I've been doing that since I started swearing. I don't remember that at all. Probably where I got it on account of watching that movie dozens of times.

I shaved this

into the back of my head in the summer of '89.  Dyed it black and yellow.  Had a mullet at the time as well.  Went to Six Flags and must be in the family vacation photos of at least a dozen fellow park goers.  Those are just the ones who stopped me to have the back of my head pose with them.