In my interweb travels, I have picked up a fun little meme called "I know it's wrong, but I prefer..." (scientists are working round the clock to come up with a catchier name). Basically, you name a universally revered film, and then offer up the name of a similar but less-acclaimed one (same director, similar plots, etc) that you like better. The "I know it's wrong" element could reflect either actual guilt or just reinforce the fact that you're in the minority. So here are some of mine...feel free to debate, berate, etc., but offer yours in return!
I know it's wrong, but I prefer...
Of Kurosawa: The Bad Sleep Well to Rashomon
Of Ford: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance to The Searchers
Of Fellini: Nights of Cabiria to 8 1/2
Of Altman: 3 Women to M*A*S*H*
Of Bogdanovich: Paper Moon to The Last Picture Show
Of early Jimmy Cagney: Picture Snatcher to The Public Enemy
Of Jack Nicholson: As Good As It Gets to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Of hobos: O Brother, Where Art Thou? to Sullivan's Travels
Of absurd comedies: Zoolander to Airplane!
Of musicals with dramatic heft: Pennies from Heaven to West Side Story
Of Brontë adaptations: Jane Eyre (2011) to Wuthering Heights (1939) (and yes I realize those are two different Brontës)
Of 30s screwball comedies where a rich and daffy matron hires a hobo butler who falls for her daughter: Merrily We Live to My Man Godfrey
Of courtroom dramas: Either Judgment at Nuremberg or Inherit the Wind to To Kill a Mockingbird
Of 2009 animated films: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs to Up
Of early Universal horror films: The Invisible Man to Dracula and Frankenstein
Of expressionist German cinema: Pandora's Box to Metropolis
Of this year's releases: The Green Hornet (Hornet, not Lantern!) to almost any of this summer's blockbusters except maybe X-Men: First Class
What do you prefer, despite knowing (or being told) that's it's wrong?
