Sean liked film. He hadn’t gone to the cinema all that often since he was a child, but he watched a lot of films on television, often with his mum and me, or on the computer. He liked to discuss them afterwards (or sometimes while they were on – a practice that had to be curbed). He often drew attention to technical aspects, such as very long tracking shots; he noticed things that most people wouldn’t (without being taught them in a media class). I think he could have had a career in film-making – he had a great eye.
Sean was an enthusiastic admirer of certain actors, such as Robert de Niro, Al Pacino and Daniel Day Lewis, and would watch anything with one of them in it. Conversely, he had a deep and abiding loathing of Clint Eastwood. He wasn’t very keen on rom-coms either.
When I try to remember films that Sean particularly liked, ones that pop into my head are The Big Lebowski, Good Will Hunting, The Shawshank Redemption, The Deer Hunter, Donnie Darko, American Beauty, Bob Roberts, Scarface … there were many others.
He thought it was very important for a film to have a good soundtrack, and that Forrest Gump was unbeatable in this respect. I remember he remarked on the clever use of Dylan’s ‘All Along the Watchtower’ in American Beauty (as opposed to Hendrix’s classic but over-exposed cover version).
The following are some tracks from soundtracks of movies he loved.
The road to God knows where ... Brendan O'Brien 
I hate rom-coms too. 🙂 I do like Eastwood, though. Some of his work as a director is truly excellent, including Flags of our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima and Gran Torino. I particularly liked Million Dollar Baby, though I’m not keen on boxing movies. It wasn’t at all what I expected. Perhaps Sean and I could have had a good old barny about the merits and demerits of Eastwood!
Hello Ana. I liked Million Dollar Baby too. I’m not sure whether Sean saw it … he knew a lot about boxing and would probably have found fault with it.
He was scathing about Eastwood mainly as an actor. Gran Torino earned his unmitigated scorn; he thought it was clichéd and sentimental and Eastwood was terminally wooden. I had to agree with him about that … the four of us didn’t manage to watch the whole thing, I think.
Yes, I’m sure you two could have had a lively discussion about ol’ Clint. 🙂
Another film Sean loved, I now remember, is Edward Scissorhands.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley was on television over the weekend, and I remembered that this was another of Sean’s favourite films.