This is kind of a difficult idea to convey, especially when I’m constrained by title. Most accurately, these are my 10 favorite movies that I’d cancel whatever plans I had for the day if I chanced upon them while channel surfing. You know these movies. The kind of flick when no matter what you’ve got planned to do in the next hour and a half, it gets put on hold to watch. Like maybe you’ve got plans to go to your friend Matty’s house in 20 minutes and want to burn some time; you’ve already seen those highlights on Sportscenter like a hundred times so you scan through whatever else is on and OH GOD, I guess I’m going to be late to Matty’s. …Like a day late.
It’s the kind of movie that doesn’t necessarily require you to be in a certain kind of mindset. The Matrix is an awesome movie, but maybe you’re not in the mood for that kind of an adrenaline rush right now. It’s also the kind of movie you can watch time and time and time again, even though at this point you pretty much know the plot development better than the director does. In special instances, this might even enhance your enjoyment of the movie.
When I start a TV channel of my own, I’m just going to round up a massive list of these movies and play them all the time. The channel would be called “Guess I’m Not Going Out this Weekend,” or GINGOW. Still has a better ring to it than the Versus Network, no?
Here’s my top 10 movies that I will absolutely stop everything to watch:
10. Galaxy Quest
“Never Give Up, Never Surrender.”
This movie should have been terrible. It had all the ingredients, specifically: Tim Allen. But somehow, it works. Pre-Snape Alan Rickman is delightfully antagonistic. The film has just the right amount of taking itself seriously and poking fun at Star Trek and other bad TV, which is appropriate because the plot of the film is about actors who find that, all of a sudden, they have to take their Star Trek-esque bad TV show very seriously.