<p>‘danny deckchair’ and ‘look both ways’. . .from the land down under and both are great escape movies.</p>
<p>Nobody has mentioned Volver. Though I was never that fond of Penelope Cruz, she is wonderful and so well cast. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Am a fan of Almodovar, and an added bonus is the visual richness of the film, the colours.
I second Lost in Translation if you haven’t seen that.</p>
<p>Ohhhh… “Once.” Please, please see it. Kudos to whoever recommended it earlier… I’ve bought copies to send to friends. I listen to the soundtrack at work when I’m frustrated with all the engineering men I’m surrounded with all day long. It’s not a chick-flick, but it’s got compassion, and spectacularly honest music. Love, love, love that movie.</p>
<p>What’s it (“Once”) about, aibar?</p>
<p>About a Boy and
Little Miss Sunshine - two of our favorites </p>
<p>Sense & Sensibility - lovey stuff, beautiful scenery</p>
<p>To Kill a Mockingbird - never gets old</p>
<p>Last of the Mohicans - adventurous lovey stuff, beautiful people, even more beautiful scenery, and a wonderful soundtrack</p>
<p>Little Big Man - used to be a favorite of H and I, but haven’t seen it in years, and looking back I’m not sure it would age well</p>
<p>The Bishop’s Wife - silly and dated, but charming</p>
<p>I second that recommendation of Northern Exposure - one of the best ‘escapist’ series’ ever. I’d also recommend Twin Peaks, but only the first season or so. After that it got pretty silly (stupid) and I remember feeling gypped that after all the fun of trying to solve this plot twist or that, it seemed that David Lynch was just winging it all along.
If you have a lot of free time, try LOST. It may even be free online at ABC.</p>
<p>Amelie </p>
<p>Like Water for Chocolate</p>
<p>The Orphanage - in Spanish - decent new ghost movie</p>
<p>The Shining</p>
<p>O’ Brother Where art Thou</p>
<p>Silverado - ranchers and shoot’em up.</p>
<p>A little hard to explain… It takes place in the span of a week. An Irish busker guy and a Czech immigrant girl meet in Dublin. He’s playing guitar on the street corner, she stops to talk to him. She plays piano. They decide to record some songs together with a makeshift band. They’re dirt poor, but they’re absolutely incredible. It’s sort of a love story, but not overtly. My dad badgered me to see it for a good three months, and my husband and I finally went to see it at the dollar movie at the very end of its run in theaters just to get my dad to quit bothering us about it… Should’ve seen it earlier.</p>
<p>From what I understand, the director read the screenplay and tried to do the movie with actors and tried to fake the music, and it wasn’t working out at all. He ended up scrapping the actors and finding two incredible musicians, Glen Hansard (of The Frames, was also in The Commitments) and Marketa Irglova, who can act fairly decently, and they do a really amazing job. They wrote all the songs, too, and they’re just hauntingly good. “Falling Slowly” won best original song this past year at the Academy Awards.</p>
<p>Particularly recommended for those with musical backgrounds, but anybody who likes music will probably really like the movie.</p>
<p>On dvd -</p>
<p>Michael Apted’s “Up” series (7-up, 14-up, 21-up, etc. Very interesting.</p>
<p>Ken Burns’ The Civil War - again</p>
<p>Chirstopher Guest ‘mockumentaries’</p>
<p>A Mighty Wind
Waiting for Guffman
Best in Show
Spinal Tap</p>
<p>Oh - also with Peter Dinklage–
a nice little movie called “The Station Agent.” Different.</p>
<p>Nobody’s Fool with Paul Newman
Empire Falls (longer HBO) both from Russo books
Once-I agree terrific music
Northern Exposures-I’m finishing season 5 right now</p>
<p>The Thomas Crown Affair (with Pierce Brosnan & Renee Russo)</p>
<p>Oh and I also agree with 'Once" - loved it, especially because teenage musician boys recommended it to us. Oh, and if you can rent “The Tudors” first season, it is amazing.</p>
<p>Also second “Best in Show” and always love “Grosse Point Blank.”</p>
<p>aibarr & SJTH–I’m going to get “Once” for my (musically oriented) son; thanks!</p>
<p>thanks aibarr - that sounds like something we’d really like.
Will have to get it soon.</p>
<p>We second Spinal Tap - it’s one of the classics around here.</p>
<p>We also like “The Castle”. Sort of a sleeper set in Australia where a family’s home is about to be taken over for expansion by the local airport. The family lives right on the flight path but they think they’ve got it made & fight to keep their house. Very funny & heartwarming. Made by the same folks at “The Full Monty” I think.</p>
<p>“40 yr Old Virgin” is pretty funny if you’re in the right mood.</p>
<p>Seconding Westcoastmom’s “A Beautiful Mind” recommendation here. It’s a biographical, love-story, college-related (superior shots of Princeton’s campus), personal-recovery-oriented plot with a stunning performance by Russell Crowe. Superior film.</p>
<p>We also like “The Castle”. Sort of a sleeper set in Australia where a family’s home is about to be taken over for expansion by the local airport. The family lives right on the flight path but they think they’ve got it made & fight to keep their house. Very funny & heartwarming. Made by the same folks at “The Full Monty” I think</p>
<p>That reminds me of another movie [I</a> Capture the Castle (2003)](<a href=“http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0300015/]I”>I Capture the Castle (2003) - IMDb)
Written by the author of 101 Dalmations!</p>
<p>( I have seen A Beautiful Mind, but hard for me to watch- too much mental illness in my own family plus that implant scene 
)</p>
<p>Don’t miss “Casino Royale”.</p>
<p>Also - if you ascribe to the premise that you can’t be too much into what you’re kids are doing, try watching “Napoleon Dynamite”. You’d be hard-pressed to find a teenager these days who doesn’t know all the dialogue.</p>
<p>Surprizingly, we found that many of our kids’ friends’ parents (some are teachers) had not seen “School of Rock”.</p>
<p>Both of those movies are fun & worth seeing - even if you AREN’T a kid!</p>
<p>How could I have forgotten to mention “Galaxy Quest”!</p>
<p>Great fun!</p>
<p>“The Illusionist” with Edward Norton.</p>
<p>I also heartily recommend “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” and “Chocolat” for another couple of movies which are very different and entertaining.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions regarding “Once”. I’ll be looking for that one.</p>
<p>Don’t miss “Casino Royale”</p>
<p>The remake I am assuming?
;)</p>
<p>We did rent Napoleon Dynamite a while back, but didn’t watch all of it- even my D said it was a like a skit that went on way too long.</p>
<p>School of Rock was better than expected, except that we saw it on the train, and they had cleaned up the language for the little kids which mismatched the screen & the dialogue</p>
<p>Casino Royale does remind me however of another Peter Sellers movie. One that had me literally rolling on the floor. [Being</a> There](<a href=“http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078841/]Being”>Being There (1979) - IMDb)</p>