<p>avoiding work, your disfunctional family selection reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Home for the Holidays. Great cast, poignant, funny, hard to watch in spots, I recommend it to everyone.</p>
<p>alwaysamom,</p>
<p>HFTH is a good one, and given that Thanksgiving is right around the corner, a timely suggestion.</p>
<p>Another candidate for this list is Spanking the Monkey</p>
<p>how about famous movies about school</p>
<p>some favorites: To Sir With Love
Dead Poets Society</p>
<p>by the way son goes to dartmouth and ive never seen Winter Carnival
the movie, if any of the ccers runs across it on tv …email me or copy it(ill pay costs)
…i dont see it available on ebay, amazon etc
<a href="mailto:isacc@aol.com">isacc@aol.com</a></p>
<p>On AMC this morning (and I don’t know how I could have forgotten about it): A Tree Grows in Brooklyn starring Peggy Ann Garner (superb), Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, and James Nolan. What a great film! It was Elia Kazan’s first as a director. Dysfunctional family, yes, portrayed unblinkingly for the time (1945). Now I want to re-read the book.</p>
<p>A good school film: “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” Not great but I liked it anyway: “Mona Lisa Smile” with Julia Roberts, Marcia Gay Harden (terrific actress), Kirsten Dunst (ditto, imho), and Julia Stiles (wow, I find her annoying). I think the best part of the film is the recreation of a top women’s school from the 1950s - lots of interesting details.</p>
<p>agree with frazzled about Mona Lisa Smile…is it good or just the time in our lives with college campuses being top priority…
also in that movie is jake gyllenahalls (spelling) sister with a good performance…julia roberts is as usual terrific…and the location and music just great…</p>
<p>Breakfast Club</p>
<p>Mr. Holland’s Opus</p>
<p>The Milagro Beanfield War - (Yay, doddsdad!) 1988, Drama/Comedy. Based on John Nichol’s novel. Takes place in a dusty, New Mexico, small town. Little guys vs. big development. Stars/co-stars: Chick Vennera, Richard Bradford, John Heard, Christopher Walken, Sonia Braga, Ruben Blades, Daniel Stern and Melanie Griffith. What makes it special? Mystical theme; Academy Award-winning musical score; Christopher Walken makes a great villain. Rated R, for language, I guess. No sex or violence. </p>
<p>Waking Ned Devine - 1998, Comedy. Takes place in a quaint, small town in Ireland. One of the locals (Ned Devine) hits the lottery and croaks from the shock. A couple of his old cronies come up with a plan to con the lottery board and collect his award. Stars/co-stars: Ian Bannen, David Kelly, Fionnula Flanagan, Susan Lynch, James Nesbitt. What makes this movie special? Great characters, great dialogue, superb scenery & music. PG, watch for old, naked guys.</p>
<p>The Bourne Identity - 2002, Action/Thriller. Based on Robert Ludlum’s novel. A guy (Matt Damon) washes up on shore on an island in the Mediterranean and has no idea who he is or why he’s been shot. He realizes that he’s being hunted down by assassins, and as it turns out, he’s pretty good at defending himself. The story is about how he continues to fight the bad guys while he’s trying to solve the mystery of his true identity. Stars/co-stars: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Clive Owen, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Gabriel Mann, Orso Maria Guerrini. What I liked about this movie: Graceful, choreographed, creative fight scenes; an interesting espionage story; good chase scenes. Rated R, for violence. Just a lot of face pounding and a few explosions.</p>
<p>more good school movies…
High School…“The Blackboard Jungle”, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” (well ok, my brother is in it so of course I think its a great movie), and “Stand and Deliver”</p>
<p>College…I’ve never seen it,but I guess “Animal House” would fit in this category</p>
<p>“Rated R, for violence”</p>
<p>I don’t get the ratings sometimes</p>
<p>The Station Agent
is rated R
why I dont know
good movie though
great character development</p>
<p>I second several of the nominations here:</p>
<p>1) Anything by the Coen Brothers:
Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo (incredible movie), Big Lebowski, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Oh Brother Where Art Thou (the Odyssey set to bluegrass), Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers (the original with Alec Guiness or Peter Sellers is even better, but it’s interesting to see Tom Hanks “do” Alec Guiness). These guys make movies for grown-ups and have put together an amazing body of work.</p>
<p>2) Anything by Quenten Tarantino. Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2. Movies for sickos, but incredible filmmaking. Pulp Fiction deserves its recognition as one of the great movies of all time. Film making doesn’t get any better than the burger joint dance scene with Travolta and Uma Thurman.</p>
<p>3) The funniest movie ever made: Dr. Strangelove. And, of course, anything else directed by Stanley Kubrick, including the triple-R rated “Eyes Wide Shut” with Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise.</p>
<p>I’m quite fond of subtle, well-directed slow-paced movies that make you think. A few that really stand out are:</p>
<p>a) two films by Canadian director Atom Egoyan: The Sweet Hereafter and Felicia’s Journey.</p>
<p>b) I second the October Sky recommendation in this category.</p>
<p>c) A movie by a young filmmaker, John Schneider, called, “All The Real Girls”. I think this may be the most realistic portrayal of first love I’ve ever seen. It’s a interesting companion to October Sky at least in terms of mood.</p>
<p>Here is a grabbag of stuff our family has given 5-star ratings on Netflix:</p>
<p>Apocalypse Now
Apollo 13
The Apostle (Robert Duval as an evangelist – his favorite film)
A Beautiful Mind
Being John Malkovich
Best in Show (and Waiting for Guffman and Spinal Tap)
The Birds (Hitchcock)
Bonnie and Clyde (watched it twice recently, a great movie that is surprisingly disturbing)
Braveheart
Bulworth (terrific political satire/Warren Beatty)
Cast Away (Tom Hanks on a desert island)
Catch Me If You Can (well made, entertaining)
Chicago (modern musical, daughter loves it)
Citizen Kane
Cold Mountain (I give an extra star to anything with N. Kidman)
Donnie Brasco (Al Pacino AND Johnny Depp in a ganster movie!)
A Fish Called Wanda (Hilarious British comedy)
Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks doesn’t make many bad films)
Good Will Hunting
GoodFellas (Scorcese directed gangster movie with DeNiro and Pesci)
The Green Mile (Tom Hanks again, touching prison movie)
Hotel Rwanda (have a crying towel handy)
The Ice Storm (I second this recommendation)
Lost in Translation (surprisingingly touching film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Nicholson at his best)
Philadelphia
The Pianist (I think this is harder to watch than Schindler’s List. It is SO personal)
Psycho (the original Hitchcock)
Saving Private Ryan (Hanks again)
Schindler’s List (finally out on DVD)
Seabiscuit (nicely made blockbuster film)
The Shawshank Redemption (Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, superb)
Silence of the Lambs (wow, is this scary)
A Simple Plan (Bridget Fonda/Billy Bob Thornton – fantastic “mystery” – don’t miss this one)
Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thornton’s tour de force. This may be my favorite movie of all time).
The Usual Suspects – lives up to its cult status, great thriller
White Oleander - very well made film, kinda painful to watch</p>
<p>I am such a happy mother because my son put Notorious, Rear Window and Vertigo and Shawshank Redemption and Gallipoli and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and On the Waterfront on his top lists. He is 14. We must have done something right…Oh and Monty Python and Airplane.</p>
<p>Foreign films we watched with our kids. </p>
<p>Recommend renting Central Station from Brazil…we took a 12 year old, and the central character is actually a 13 year old homeless boy cast by the Director. What a way to see the country…the characters take a trip across the nation. My sons learned a lot from this film.</p>
<p>Indochine
Camille Claudel (sculptress who was a mistress to Rodin)
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring (grand story-telling, epic, mysterious, greatest French actors)
Wings of Desire
Alexander Nevsky</p>
<p>“Mystic Pizza” seminal Julia Roberts and 2 other great actresses
“Cries and Whispers” Bergman’s best. Forget the self mutilating scene. Watch the elegy by the priest.
“Bridges of Madison County” Clint Eastwood is a great director
“Picnic at Hanging Rock” very mythical and moody, fresh twist of a treatment to mystery
“A Death in Venice” if you like slow art-house movie
“The Graduate” like it more now that I have children in college
“The Wedding Planner” despite write-down by critics this is a wonderful Jennifer lopez vehicle
“Schiller’s List” required watching for every high-school grad
“Private Ryan” another landmark spielberg achievement. Openned up many crucial issues ( should we shoot the prisoner? cowardice and redemption, risk lives to save lives )
“Philadelphia” Tom Hank is the best. Still remember the powerful Maria Callas opera scene.</p>
<p>By the way, motion picture academy voting members should be shot for selecting the light-weight, frivolous “Shakespear in Love” over the monumental “Private Ryan”. Beside being out-weighed by the important human conflict presented in “Ryan”, who can stand watching the beautiful Gwen Paltrow in disguise with a mustache for 2 hours ?</p>
<p>The Joy Luck Club
Schindler’s List
The Color Purple
Devil in a Blue Dress
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte
Moonstruck
Cast Away
Godfather I, II
L.A. Confidential
A Time to Kill
Daughters of the Dust
Saving Private Ryan
The Patriot
The Shawshank Redemption
I am Sam
The Green Mile
A Beautiful Mind
What’s Love Got to Do with It
The Out of Towners, (60’s version)
Fried Green Tomatoes</p>
<p>*I love those good old southern sleepy murder love story type stories the best. :)</p>
<p>I agree with Philadelphia
but I hated Forest Gump so much that I have not seen Hanks in anything since.( not even Toy Story) The only reason I even sat through it is because my husband was enjoying it.
So I didn’t see saving Private Ryan, although I did see Shakespeare in Love and if you liked that movie I would recommend Stage Beauty with Billy Crudup and Claire Danes ( and rupert Everett as King CharlesII)</p>
<p>I also agree with Wings of Desire-</p>
<p>Yike, I left out these must see’s…</p>
<p>“Play Misty for Me” Clint Eastwood was as good the first time out as director as he is with recent oscar winners. He created such genuine atmosphere so thick and real you can bottle and take with you. Carmel and California’s monterey pennisula never more beautiful. Nice Roberta Flak soundtrack, Lovely Donna Mills and good old-fashion thriller. What more can you ask for ?</p>
<p>“Nashville” Americana panoploy, a mural circa early 70’s. Lily Tomlin and Keith Carradine were great, but so were the high-strung Barbara Jean,played by Renee Blakely (why hasn’t she made more movies aft this ?) just a name a few among a great cast.</p>
<p>“The Red Violin” a hidden find even thought I think the ending left more to be desired, but still a rare gem of a movie.</p>
<p>Finally, agree that “Forest Gump” is just plain stupid.</p>
<p>…well I like Gump.</p>
<p>Misty kinda kicked off the genre of wacko women in psycho-thrillers.</p>
<p>While I wouldn’t say I “hated” Forrest Gump, I just didn’t see what all the hype was about (people seeing it 20 times or whatever). It was OK, but once was enough for me. Then again, I hated Pulp Fiction and for years thought I was the only person on the planet who felt that way. But I’ve met a few others since ;)</p>
<p>Favorite zany comedy: Rat Race. I think I laughed until I cried the first time I saw this.</p>
<p>has a Fish called Wanda already been mentioned?
so funny
especially if you like John Cleese.
& Kevin Kline-
and Michael Palin
and Jamie Lee Curtis
- A tale of murder, lust, greed, revenge, and seafood*</p>
<p>Some of my favorite films…</p>
<p>Magnolia
Halloween
North by Northwest
Goodfellas
2001: A Space Odyssey
Gone with the Wind
The Insider
Amadeus
The Naked Kiss
Adaptation
LA Confidential
Batman Returns</p>