For today, I'm just listing the movies and a favorite quote from each. They're more or less in reverse order, with my favorite last, though tomorrow I might rank them differently.
If you want, you can guess what my choices say about me as a storyteller, and at some future point I'll blog about why each one is a favorite.
Dave
"I don't want to tell some eight-year-old kid he's gotta sleep in the street because we want people to feel better about their *car*. Do *you* want to tell them that?"
Master and Commander
"Name a shrub after me. Something prickly and hard to eradicate."
Lord of the Rings (Yes, the whole trilogy. It's one story.)
Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil.
Glory
"Give 'em hell, 54th!"
Bull Durham
"Baseball may be a religion full of magic, cosmic truth, and the fundamental ontological riddles of our time, but it's also a job."
The Shawshank Redemption
"I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."
It must be said that it's nigh-impossible to pick just ONE favorite quote from Bull Durham or The Shawshank Redemption. And the line from LOTR I actually quote most frequently is, "They have a cave troll." Just something about Sean Bean's delivery that made it stick in my mind for the only thing to say when a bad situation finds a way to get worse.
What about you? Are any of my favorites yours? Which movies would you take?
