Bad taste key to landing job at Apple
Is Blacula your favorite movie? How about the Peter MacNicole classic Dragonslayer? Well, if the answer was “yes” to either of those questions, you may want to send your resumé in to Apple, because apparently having horrible taste in movies is a big plus in landing a job there.
A quick look at the “Staff Favorites” section of the iTunes movie store is a veritable “Who’s Who of WTF?”.
Above: Apple Staff “favorites” include Blacula, Barbarella, PopEye, and King Kong (1976)
Really? Barbarella is your FAVORITE movie? What is your favorite scene in the 1976 remake of King Kong? Now, I’m as big a fan of Frank Adu and…um… Joseph Attles(?) as the next guy, but would I rank Across 110th Street as one of my FAVORITE movies?
I really can’t get my mind around this list. I know, different strokes, for different folks, but pretty much any episode of Diff’rent Strokes is better than any of these movies. I grew up in the 80’s, and have a soft spot in my heart for the Robin Williams adaptation of Popeye (also on the list), but I will be the first to admit that it both sucks and blows, and would never place it on a list of recommendations that could potentially cause someone to waste their hard earned money.
Open letter to Apple. If this list is not being taken seriously, then don’t have it at all. It reeks of “cool kids” trying to out Tarantino-ing each other by picking the most obscure and “kitchy” movies they can think of. Before ANY Apple employee recommends a movie on iTunes, they should first be forced to produce the physical DVD from their personal collection to prove they truly love it.
Popeye was better than the Diff’rent Strokes episode where Dudley got molested by that bike store guy.
Barely.
Chill out… They have a pretty limited catalog to work with. It wouldn’t be very interesting if the staff picks were the same movies as the top sellers.
And Blacula is a “classic” among the grindhouse/so-bad-it’s-good types.
their selection isn’t THAT limited. Lord of War is better than all of them.
“What you talkin’ about, Willis?”
Seriously, where’s ‘Eraser Head’, ‘Spinal Tap”
and ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space?’ True classics
Staff favorites are about showing clients what’s there that they may not otherwise buy. After purchase, clients learn not to trust staff.
It’s the way of the world. Can I interest you in some of my favorite spandex man panties?
Aren’t there only like 350 movies to pick from? Besides the PIxar movies, what’s an apple employee to choose?
These are clearly labeled as “staff favorites.” Sorry they aren’t yours but they aren’t meant to be. I love Popeye, Dragonslayer, Barbarella, and The Dead Zone too. It isn’t claimed that these are “the best” movies on iTunes.
Nostalgia is one of my key ingredients for picking my favorite movies and it probably is for these folks as well.
Maybe this article shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It reeks a bit of snobbery and “I want people to judge me based on my taste in movies.”
What’s wrong with Blacula? It’s the epitome of 70’s blaxploitation and really not that bad of a movie. William Marshall does a great job with pretty lame material. I rank above Waterworld and Biloxi Blues!!
hmmmmmm… Dagonslayer… Cool (No , really!)
If it was good enough for Ralph Richardson…
be cool,
Pie
Check this…
http://ilovemymac.net
I totally love Dragonslayer. It’s haunted me since I saw it as a child in the 80s. The soundtrack is phenomenal, the naturalistic cinematography superb, and the acting is totally great. Sir Ralph Richardson plays one of the best Warlocks I have ever seen in film. IMO much better, because far less camp, than any of the Warlocks in the over-rated and inferior Lord of the Rings. Yep, I said it, I believe Dragonslayer is superior to Lord of the Rings.
I studied to be a film maker, went to NYC film school and graduated with an award for consistent excellence in film making, so I think some would say I have good taste.
When it comes down to it though, everyone has different taste, and I think it’s lame to slam work that you obviously just don’t get.
Popeye has an amazing soundtrack written by Harry Nilsson. For that alone I’m glad the film continues to get some attention.
NYU Tisch film school. Sorry for the doulbe post.
Wow Rowlings.
WOW.
It’s very obvious you’re a child of the 80’s. Each of those movies you cited was an original. At the very least Dragonslayer’s casting MacNicol as a leading man was a singular notion. They broke convention and challenged what was expected in a movie. Each of these is justifiably a “cult classic.” Barbarella was a 90-minute paean to mind expansion and counter culture. And a mainstream release at the same time. Blackula was an empowering “blaxploitation” film that turned conventional “white” character and plot conceits on their head – and was a clear cross-cultural phenomenon. Popeye was the usual unusual from Robert Altman. This was the first live-action movie that tried to be a cartoon, not the opposite. And the makeup, scenery, and special effects all stayed true to the original cartoons.
I realize these aren’t the same quality films as the St. Elmo’s Fire / Short Circuit / Polica Academy movies you grew up on, and that Jane Fonda and John Philip Law don’t have the same visceral chemistry as Ally Sheedy and Steve Guttenberg, but if you start watching movies for what theyare, and not what you expect them to be, it will be a much more rewarding and enjoyable experience.
And here’s two more (from the 80’s!) for you to look up: Eating Raoul (don’t watch it as “just” a sit-com), and Liquid Sky. That last one will challenge you as much or more than Barbarella.
I suspect they’re just trying to bring attention to and sell some of the really awful movies in their catalog. calling it “staff favorites” is pretty unethical if that is the case. but really, this article is like the who’s who in you really give a $&@#?
Where did you learn to spell, Dr. Macenstein? It’s résumé, not resumé.