Kai of The List is a man of my own heart, for many reasons, but not the least of which is that his favorite movie is also one of mine, namely the film in the title above.
Stay tuned throughout September for nuttiness and zaniness of all varieties - click here for the full lineup, and click here for prior entries (which won't do you much good today, what with this being the first - madness!).
It’s time for a new entry into our REASONS MOVIES RULEseries. Wherein we give you 10 reasons a cult film, be it awesomely good or so bad it’s awesomely good, deserves to be given some respect. This week’s entry: FIGHT CLUB.
I'm very excited to induct Fight Club into this series for 2 reasons. For one, it happens to be my favorite film of all time. Second, I'm doing this as part of Blog Cabins'30 Days of Crazy Blog-o-thon. Here's 10 of 1,000 reasons this movie rules. Enjoy:
10. QUOTES.
NARRATOR: Bob had bitch tits.
MARLA:I haven't been fucked like that since grade school.
NARRATOR:Everyone was always asking me if I knew Tyler Durden.
TYLER:How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?
NARRATOR:I felt like destroying something beautiful.
TYLER:You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.
NARRATOR:This is your life and it's ending one second at a time.
I could go on for days but I'll stop there. Though, I do need to mention...
9. ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIE MONOLOGUES EVER.
"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off." --- Tyler Durden
8. BRAD PITT AS TYLER DURDEN.
Brad Pitt has proven he's a good actor. However, when he's given free reign to play ape shit insane (as in films likes this and 12 Monkeys), Pitt proves he's one of the best at his game.
Also, I'm of the opinion that Pitt's abs should be credited seperately in the final credits because... DAMN!!!
FUN FACT: If you watch closely, you'll notice that as the film progresses, Edward Norton loses more and more weight while Brad Pitt packs on more and more muscle! Compare the opening and final scenes!
7. THE MAN WITH NO NAME.
Many people don't realize this but Edward Norton's character, in the book this film was based on, was never given a name. This is kept faithful in the film. In the film's screenplay, his character is called Jack in reference to a series of articles Norton's character reads in old magazines he finds that attempt to explain the human body to children (I am Jack's Obdula Oblingata). This, however, is not his name. On IMDB, he is simply reffered to as Narrator. They play off this nicely in the film when "Jack" gives Marla his number. She attempts to ask his name but the scene is cut short by a passing bus.
FUN FACT: If you look at Norton's name tags as he attends all the 12 step groups at the beginning of the film, each one features a different name (Cornelius, Rupert, etc.)
6. A HUMMINGBIRD COULDN'T CATCH TYLER AT WORK.
Fincher puts all kinds of small touches on this film that help cement it as the classic it is. One I will save for number 1 (below), but be on the look out for things like the opening card that flashes before the FBI warning (shown above), the billboards popping up all over town (Did you know that you can use motor oil to fertilize your lawn?) and the nice big cock!
5. THE BOOK IS BETTER???
Nope... while the book is fantastic, this is one of the few instances where I'd call a tie. The great thing is that the film deviates enough from the book to find it's own voice while retaining everything that makes the book great. I will say though that I read the book in one day... it's that good! If you have the opportunity, definitely give it a look!
4. THE RULES.
You may want to beat the living hell out of someone but you must follow the proper edicate: 3. IT'S ALL MAN, BABY!
This film has everything a guy wants in a film. In fact, this film has so much balls, it borders on homo-erotic!
2. THE TWIST.
Tyler and Jack are the same person! I'm instituting the 10 year rule. Plus, I kind of hope I spoiled it for you cuz if you haven't seen it you don't deserve consideration. Easily one of the best twists in movie histroy!
As mentioned above, Fincher adds several small things in the film to set this up without screaming it to the audience. For instance, in the scene where Tyler tells Jack to "Just let go!" and the car crashes off the side of the highway... while Tyler is driving the car, after the crash, Jack actually gets out on the driver's side. Insinuating he was driving the whole time... FUN FACT!!!
1. THE MESSAGE.
There are a lot of films out there about coming of age that take place in various generations. However, I have never seen a film other than Fight Club that details the transition of young adult (20's) to full fledged adult (30's+)... and it does it well. It also sums up all the internal struggles of my generation in a way I've never seen.
FIGHT CLUB TRAILER:
Tomorrow: Dave unleashes a dozen monkeys (aka he talks about 12 Monkeys).
6
people have chosen wisely:
on "30 dAyS oF cRAzY: Fight Club"
My favorite movie ever, and one of the objectively top 10 movies of all time. As mentioned above, it has EVERYTHING.
You mention that the movie is about he transition from young adulthood to being a full fledged adult. But I believe this to only be a small part of the overall message. At it's core this movie is about how modern 1st world society, and all the so called culture and materialism have led to the demasculinization of the modern male. So much so that many of us, deep down in the places we dont talk about, yearn for more savage and barbaric times.
Hi! Fletch... I must admit that at first I hesitated to read this review...because I own the film, but I haven't watch it yet...(I know, I know, with "yet" being the operative word and what are you waiting for!) After reading this review, I plan to add it to the watch soon list. I must admit this review is very interesting and very well done too!
My top film of the 90's believe it, or not. My only problem with its cult classic status is that a lot of the film's cerebral messgae has been lost in exchange for the, "holy shit those dudes are beating each other down" portion of the film. I've written more about it here if you care to take a look.
The "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school," was actually a replacement line because the studio thought the original line was too raunchy.
The orignal line was "I want to have your abortion." Fincher was pissed that they wanted to cut the line and shot the "grade school" line because he thought it was even more offensive, but the studio okayed it.
I remember hearing that. Both lines are awesome imo and thanks to DVD commentary and the internets we get both. If only they had worked both into the film.
6 people have chosen wisely: on "30 dAyS oF cRAzY: Fight Club"
My favorite movie ever, and one of the objectively top 10 movies of all time. As mentioned above, it has EVERYTHING.
You mention that the movie is about he transition from young adulthood to being a full fledged adult. But I believe this to only be a small part of the overall message.
At it's core this movie is about how modern 1st world society, and all the so called culture and materialism have led to the demasculinization of the modern male. So much so that many of us, deep down in the places we dont talk about, yearn for more savage and barbaric times.
Hi! Fletch...
I must admit that at first I hesitated to read this review...because I own the film, but I haven't watch it yet...(I know, I know, with "yet" being the operative word and what are you waiting for!)
After reading this review, I plan to add it to the watch soon list. I must admit this review is very interesting and very well done too!
Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee ;-D
My top film of the 90's believe it, or not. My only problem with its cult classic status is that a lot of the film's cerebral messgae has been lost in exchange for the, "holy shit those dudes are beating each other down" portion of the film. I've written more about it here if you care to take a look.
Just read your review Fitz, good stuff!
The "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school," was actually a replacement line because the studio thought the original line was too raunchy.
The orignal line was "I want to have your abortion." Fincher was pissed that they wanted to cut the line and shot the "grade school" line because he thought it was even more offensive, but the studio okayed it.
I remember hearing that. Both lines are awesome imo and thanks to DVD commentary and the internets we get both. If only they had worked both into the film.
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