Weekly Theme

Weekly Theme for March 23: Hotels, Motels, Inns and Lodges

Sorry for the late entry y'all. I've been working out of town a lot lately and my hotel's internet wasn't working very well. Thus spawning a great......well, adequate idea for this week's theme.

How about all those films that take place in or around a hotels, motels, inns, b&b's or lodges.

Psycho scared the hell out of people when it came out.

Barton Fink and Dirty Pretty Things are a couple of my faves that I think everyone should take a gander at. The hotel in Barton Fink is pretty much a character itself.

There's actually quite a few right off the top of my head, but I'll check in with y'all later.......

Enjoy your stay.

Re:Weekly Theme for March 23: Hotels, Motels, Inns and Lodges

Undoubtedly my favorite film taking place in a hotel is The Shining. From beginning to end I love every frame of this flick. Another film based on a Stephen King story that also takes place in a hotel is 1408. The first time around the film kinda lost me during its uproarious second act, but after watching it again the other night, I was surprised at how amazingly chilling it actually was.

A significant portion of Some Like It Hot takes place at a posh Florida resort.

Lost in Translation was another film that mostly took place in a hotel. Actually most of the memorable scenes took place in the hotel: the fire alarm, the pool aerobics, the maniacal exercise equipment, the amazingly short shower spout, the karaoke bar, the flower arranging class, etc.

As implied by its name, Grand Hotel is all about the misadventures of a group of guests at a swanky hotel. At the hotel to escape, we get that great line from Greta Garbo, "I want to be alone!"

Last Holiday (I have only seen the remake with Queen Latifah) takes place in an insanely luxurious hotel in the Czech Republic.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a non-stop romp from hotel to hotel, trashing each room beyond all recognition.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall featured yet another luxury resort, this time in Hawaii and occupied by the lovely Mila Kunis (Kristen Bell isn't that bad either).

And of course Ocean's Eleven and Ocean's Thirteen (I barely remember Twelve) showed us the in's and out's of pulling a fast one on a Vegas casino - and just how insane those penthouse rooms that most of us will never get a chance to stay in look like.

Re:Weekly Theme for March 23: Hotels, Motels, Inns and Lodges

The first movie I thought of was a movie I've only seen about five minutes of, Wim Wenders' The Million Dollar Hotel.  Has anyone here seen all of it?

leeroy711:

Barton Fink and Dirty Pretty Things are a couple of my faves that I think everyone should take a gander at. The hotel in Barton Fink is pretty much a character itself.

mercurial:

Undoubtedly my favorite film taking place in a hotel is The Shining. From beginning to end I love every frame of this flick.

mercurial:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a non-stop romp from hotel to hotel, trashing each room beyond all recognition.

These are some of my favorites as well!  Good selections!  Fear and Loathing really allows me to live out my vicarious experience of totally trashing a hotel room along with the fear accompanying such manic behavior without actually putting myself in danger.

Has anyone seen.  I would also like to mention Mystery Train from the great Jim Jarmusch!  Several different stories all taking place around the same time in a hotel.

Another funny one with multiple stories in different rooms in the same hotel, each story done by a different director is Four Rooms.  It gets better as it goes.

Hotel Rwanda is another obvious one with the name in the title.  Hotels often being ominous places in movies I've found, this one is actually a sort of sactuary (although still dangerous)

Although if you really want to get away and relax, take a trip with Monsieur Hulot on his holiday with a resort hotel full of quirky people.

Or just scam your way into a luxery New York hotel with a tape recorded and some of your dad's credit cards like Kevin McCallister did in Home Alone 2.

Bergman's The Silence takes place entirely within a hotel as well I believe.

Hotels in movies are often interesting little microcosms.  Sometimes these microcosms are seen in apartment complexes as well.  Has anyone seen The Decalogue?

Re:Weekly Theme for March 23: Hotels, Motels, Inns and Lodges

I just watched The Darjeeling Limited (finally). Part 1 was great, I just love Wes Anderson's style. The rest of the film was more of a train setting, but I figured part 1 counts for this week's theme.

I would also like to mention The Royal Tenenbaums simply because of Royal's involvement with that one hotel in the film. :)

Other films that come to mind:

Smokin' Aces

Holiday Inn

The Great Outdoors (I consider the setting to be a lodge. :)

There's plenty more, but I don't like to include films I haven't seen, or that were already mentioned.

Re:Weekly Theme for March 23: Hotels, Motels, Inns and Lodges

Risselada:

The first movie I thought of was a movie I've only seen about five minutes of, Wim Wenders' The Million Dollar Hotel.  Has anyone here seen all of it?

 

I think I made it through about half of this one. At no point did I get the feeling that I had the slightest clue what was going on so I pretty much lost interest.

Re:Weekly Theme for March 23: Hotels, Motels, Inns and Lodges

leeroy711:

Risselada:

The first movie I thought of was a movie I've only seen about five minutes of, Wim Wenders' The Million Dollar Hotel.  Has anyone here seen all of it?

I think I made it through about half of this one. At no point did I get the feeling that I had the slightest clue what was going on so I pretty much lost interest.

Haha, I tried to watch it when it came out on cable and totally changed the channel not twenty-thirty minutes into it.

Re:Weekly Theme for March 23: Hotels, Motels, Inns and Lodges

Re:Weekly Theme for March 23: Hotels, Motels, Inns and Lodges

Identity took place at a Psycho-ish motel. Didn't really care for it.

The Devil's Rejects was yet another movie proving that staying in a rundown motel is a sure way to get cut up by psychopaths.

Nicholas Cage's character in Leaving Las Vegas was staying in a trashy little off the strip motel in Vegas.

The Motel was a great little coming of age story. Definitely worth checking out.

Joy Ride took place in random shady motels across the Midwest. Guilty pleasure flick for me about a psycho trucker. I know, I know.

Has anyone seen Bug? It takes place in a motel room the entire movie right? I've heard both good and bad - haven't gotten a chance to see it yet.

Re:Weekly Theme for March 23: Hotels, Motels, Inns and Lodges

I'm not remembering some sleezy hotels with psychotic criminals

One scene in From Dusk Till Dawn and another one in No Country for Old Men.

It makes me kind of afraid to stay in one again.

Oh and Leonard in Memento has been living in (and apparently renting several) hotel rooms for a while.

Has anyone seen Tape?  I'm not sure why I haven't seen it yet since Linklater's talky kind of dramas usually appeal to me quite a lot.  But I see this one takes place in a hotel room, a Michigan hotel room nonetheless.

Isn't there some movie where three famous people share a hotel room?  I think one of them is a baseball legend, and one of them was Elvis or Einstein or something.  Does anyone have a clue about what I'm talking about???