ROTTEN TOMATOES: Five Favorite Films with Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida Comments

Five Favorite Films with Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida

by Alex Vo | June 25, 2009

Summary

We have Dave Eggers. He broke into the mainstream with 2000's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the idiosyncratic Pulitzer-nominated memoir about his journey to and living in San Francisco with his brother. Eggers followed that up with several more books, the script to Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are, and founding McSweeney's, a book publishing arm (also the name of his quarterly literary journal). We have Vendela Vida, who has written two acclaimed novels: And Now You Can Go and Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name. And Vida, alongside husband Eggers, acts on the board of 826 National, a nonprofit network of writing and tutor centers for children and teens, and edits The Believer, a monthly magazine of alt-culture interviews, think pieces, op-eds, and reviews. Together, Eggers and Vida wrote the screenplay to Sam Mendes' latest movie, Away We Go (currently playing in limited release), starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph as a young wayward couple, who travel the nation in search of a permanent home for themselves and their unborn child. and Rotten Tomatoes spoke with Vida and Eggers for their collective Five Favorite Films. Back to Article

(1-23 of 23 posts) | Reply

shane f. writes:
on Jun 25 2009 04:51 PM

An Interesting list. This is what '5 fav' films' should do, put us onto some good films we may have missed.

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Bob S. writes:
on Jun 25 2009 05:14 PM

THIS. IS. AN. AWESOME. LIST. I would expect nothing less from Eggers (not as familiar with wife Vida), whose stuff I have loved since I read his book A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (simultaneously one of the best and most descriptive titles of anything ever). This is one of my favorite 5 Favorites!

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tomwaitsjr writes:
on Jun 25 2009 05:23 PM

In reply to this comment (#2517305)
Good Point, Shane.

Of these, I've only seen Local Hero and Lost in Translation.

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ledawg1138 writes:
on Jun 25 2009 05:36 PM

Interesting. The films seem a little pretenious (I may have spelled that wrong), but I haven't heard of most of these and look like they're worth checkin' out.

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Dave J. writes:
on Jun 25 2009 06:33 PM

Lost in Translation is kind of plotless but I can see how it could be an influence on there newest film. It's nice to see Local Hero on the list. And the others by what they've stated may be worth checking out.

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steve s. writes:
on Jun 25 2009 08:12 PM

eggers and vidatook took this seriously.great analysis of their picks.
good job.

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man in the water writes:
on Jun 25 2009 09:31 PM

Lost is one of my absolute favorite films, what they just said about it is perfect and how I feel, it is very poetic. I gotta see Together. The scene she described sounds hilarious. Big fan of Harold and Maude, so I will have to check out The Landlord. Thanks Vida, and Eggers for the many recommendations!

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LinoBrocka writes:
on Jun 26 2009 02:31 AM

Finally no The Godfather

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Lovely Rita writes:
on Jun 26 2009 04:52 AM

Good to see some love for Bill Forsyth and Local Hero. I also love his Gregory's Girl. After That Sinking Feeling (really bad film) I never saw another of his films - wonder what became of him?

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Jacob D. writes:
on Jun 26 2009 06:50 AM

Pretentious. Lame. Eggers.

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David W. writes:
on Jun 26 2009 07:25 AM

Lost in Translation, interesting choice. I have seen them all except, "Raising Victor Vargas."

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gm1200 writes:
on Jun 26 2009 12:52 PM

Well...nobody can say these folks didn't know their audience when they sat down for this interview...bet their movie is like that too...

Haven't seen any of these except maybe twenty minutes of Translation...and that 20 minutes tells me their entire list is bogus if they included that snore-fest.

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Colyn B. writes:
on Jun 26 2009 06:05 PM

Lost in Translation is an excellent addition to any list. Such an amazing and somber film.

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Xynotyro writes:
on Jun 27 2009 10:56 AM

poopoo on you for calling Translation a borefest...why is anyone reading this if they think these guys are pretentious.

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Bob S. writes:
on Jun 27 2009 09:57 PM

In reply to this comment (#2517781)
If you can't be bothered to finish watching a film, I don't think your opinions carry much weight. What if you turned off THE USUAL SUSPECTS half an hour in?

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thedownstar writes:
on Jun 28 2009 09:20 AM

finally, a list of "favorites", not of what an artist considers to be the "best"

great list

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dbruman writes:
on Jun 29 2009 02:37 AM

This is amazing. Two fantastic lists one after another. First with Thu Tran, and now with Eggers and Vida.

Both fantastic lists that give examples of movies that are their FAVORITES.

Wonderful to finally see some artists express themselves rather than bolster themselves.

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stevegilpin writes:
on Jun 29 2009 09:58 AM

I really like what they had to say about Lost In Translation. What a great movie! Excited to rent Away We Go whenever it comes out on DVD.

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Alexcar writes:
on Jun 29 2009 11:52 AM

I didn't like Victor Vargas.

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Landon B. writes:
on Jun 29 2009 01:19 PM

Lost in Translation is an amazing movie - It's so ridiculous to say 'nothing happens in it' - it's a character study. They did a good job in describing exactly why it worked so well. It puts you in a headspace. 'Marie Antoinette' was also really good, very underrated for some reason.

I tried reading a Dave Eggers book, but I couldn't get into it. The term 'white liberal guilt' kept popping into my mind.

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dahluzz writes:
on Jun 30 2009 06:42 PM

OK, now THIS is a Top 5. Of course we've all seen 'Lost in Trans,' but the others I had only heard about and would probably have continued to miss. And all of these picks have real insight into why they were selected.

Maybe it's just a matter of asking the right people what their faves are. You ask a hack like Fred Durst and you're gonna get cookie-cutter responses that he thinks will give him cred. If you ask sharp people like these guys, you'll actually get some answers worth reading (and that we haven't seen a hundred times before.)

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armyofninos writes:
on Jul 26 2009 07:23 PM

Good list.

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Blake J. writes:
on Oct 20 2009 11:04 PM

They did a really good job of explaining why Lost in Translation is so good, and why alot of people don't get it. I haven't heard of most of these, I'll have to check them out.

(Reply to this)

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