Bloody steak...

...bloody film?

Clarabela at justchickflicks has asked the interesting question why Men LOVE certain films.

But she starts out with the date-night-scenario - dinner and a movie - involving a bloody steak and an even bloodier film; which made me ask myself quite another question:

Have I been dating only WEIRD men? (Don't answer that!) Or have I been just incredibly good at vetoing crap - sorry - unacceptable films?

When I think back of films I've gone to see with boyfriends, it doesn't actually look too bad at all. Of course, maybe my memory does not serve me well, it all seems so long ago!! Maybe I've completely blocked out any action/horror movies I had to endure? (1)

No 1: Did we ever even make our way into the cinema?
No 2: 'Papillon' I remember, and that he was incredibly fond of cartoons. (2)
No 3: 'Lord of the Rings', 'Taxi Driver', 'The Empire strikes back', 'Midnight Express'
No 4: 'La Cage aux Folles' (3), and various James Bond films (4)
No 5: Roman Polanski's 'Macbeth', 'Blazing Saddles'

I'm married to the last one, and comedy and Shakespeare still play a dominant role. Probably not surprising after acting in school productions and studying English as part of his first degree. He will watch any costume drama, his favourite film is 'Brazil' and while not completely averse to what he calls 'boys' films (his own definition: involving car chases and/or guns) and not at all interested in what he calls 'porn for women' (5) (soaps and anything involving shopping - he moaned all the way through 'Sex in the City', and I don't mean Samantha type moaning!), he does not want to see blood, gore and horror. Doesn't see the point of it.
Although my boys (20 and 14) play unnecessarily brutal games on their Play-Thingy (X Box currently, but in the same way that a father I know called every boyfriend of his daughter's 'Bob', I might as well give it a more generic term as these things also seem to need frequent up-grading) -- in terms of films, they both list 'Amélie' amongst their favourites.

So, not everything is lost! We all love JB, Brazil and Amélie, and none of us love (or even like or rate!) Scarface and The Godfather, and I'm not even sure we know who Will Ferrell is.

Then again, none of my boys/men like their steak bloody. (In descending order: medium rare/doesn't like beef/well done.)

PS: I didn't have a photograph of a bloody steak, and I couldn't work out how to upload someone else's. Probably just as well, it's not a pretty sight!
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(1) Nah, I can see all my friends shaking their heads vigorously, "You never endured any action movies!!"
(2) This fascination did elude me at the time, and even though something has happened (my BH would argue it's probably the depleted oestrogen levels, also accountable for being a lot better at throwing and catching than in my youth....) whereby I do now find them very funny, Clarabela's last paragaph on a comedian reminded me that there must be differences in female/male types of humour. There is a certain silly-absurd element which tickles them, but leaves me cold, while there are other strains of humour that have me in stitches, but don't do anything for them.
(3) Some people will only be familiar with the '96 American re-make The Birdcage.
(4) He totally converted me to JB. At the time, it was Roger Moore, and the films were so tongue-in-cheek that I could forgive the genre. AND ever since, I have probably seen every JB film as soon as it came out, except for the last one. Oooh, and I so agree with Clarabela, I LOVED Pierce Brosnan as JB.
(5) Actually, that's what he calls House Make-Over shows, all that easy peasy carpentry and other DIY that give women the totally wrong impression that men LOVE IT.