Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Top Ten Favorite Food Movies






(In reverse order)






















Supersize Me
Mostly Martha
Big Night
My Big Fat Greek Wedding


Patti said...

Where's Mantango?

FilmWalrus said...

An excellent point. I think "Matango: Attack of the Mushroom People" has always been particularly effective for me because of my overpowering hatred of fungus as a food.

Unknown said...

I find it brutally unfair to write off Volver's "restaurant," since that's such a big part of her journey and independence. Also, hello, her mom cooks meals from beyond the grave for the elderly neighbor.

Katie rules: Food movie indeed.

(also, who tf owns a restaurant in Notting Hill? That's not even a good example! Erg! Erg!)

Mad Dog said...

I find it incredibly easy to write off Volver's restaurant, since she gained it through trickery.

Also she can't sing.

FilmWalrus said...

I chose "Notting Hill" intentionally because I thought it clearly didn't belong. The point was to stress how nebulous the designation of "food movie" is and how easily it could be abused to include anything.

Perhaps some more realistic edge cases might be "Do the Right Thing," "Spitfire Grill," "Diner," "Good Burger" and "Coyote Ugly." I think you can begin to see why including every film in which an eating/drinking establishment figures prominantly could be problematic. I personally like "Volver" a lot and feel that it could be easily argued as a contender, but I chose not to out of irresponsible whimsy (or "personal preference" as I sometimes call it).

I know how you feel though. It is how I feel everytime somebody tells me a movie isn't "noir" that I say is. Here is my definition of film noir: eh, it feels like noir...

Patti said...

Brian, who do you come up with your lists like this? Do you just sit down and think about every movie that might fit certain criteria, or do you have to look at a list of every movie you've seen?

FilmWalrus said...

Usually the idea to make the list comes from a series of coincidences that makes me start wondering about trends. If I end up seeing three clocktower showdowns in a month, I get to thinking about the cinematic history of clocktower showdowns. Then I mentally skim through my brain (or imdb or a previous list) and rank the clocktower showdowns I've seen. Then I look around for any canonical clockwork showdowns that I haven't seen and try and watch them.

I periodically update about 50 lists that I have yet to post. When they get ripe, I write em up and ship em to market. I have about five lists in active pursuit right now (filling out the ones I've yet to see), but the topics will have to be a surprise.

Mad Dog said...

One day they'll diagnose the list-making disorder you have.

MisterE said...

Other food/sex classics:
'Jamon Jamon'
'La Grande Bouffe'

Elaine said...

Do you consider "Waitress" a food movie? On one hand, the main character isn't a obsessive perfectionist chef/restaurant owner, and I'm not certain her food had THAT much in common with her journey (except really as commentary on her situation).

But it did have a lot of food.

Mmm, pie.

FilmWalrus said...

I'm sure "Waitress" would count, but I haven't seen it yet. I also have not seen "Mistress of Spices" "The Grand Buffet" or "Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Paris?"