5 Movies I Never Get Sick of Watching

After dinner I turn on the TV and The Sound of Music is on.  I have seen this movie a disturbing number of times.  Every time it is on TV an alarm clock goes off in my body that tells me to turn on the TV.  I have never sought out the movie.  It always finds me.  No matter what I'm doing I find time to watch some (most) of the movie every year.  I never get sick of it.  I know the songs and the dialogue better than the actors at this point but that just makes it that much more enjoyable.  Who knows what chord this movie struck in me.  I'm a band and musical theater geek so it feeds that part of me.  I love that the underdog beats out the rich socialite to get the man and live happily ever after.  I love the historical content of the movie; the danger makes the romance that much more intense.

I pulled myself away from Maria and the Von Trapp family long enough to think about what other movies have this effect on me.  I am a movie fanatic.  When I was single I went to the movies by myself almost weekly.  I also taped movies on my VCR (I know I'm old) and had a premium membership to Netflix.  I am lucky enough to marry someone who shares my passion for movies (one of the biggest decisions that we had to make as a couple was whose Netflix account we were going to get rid of).  I had never heard of Rotten Tomatoes or Entertainments Weekly before I met my husband and now they are both part of my movie review rotation.  Unfortunately, both forums have become extremely biased towards whichever studio is paying them to say how awesome their movie is or which movie would appeal to the average 12 year old.  Despite their pitfalls, I love reading about what new movies are coming out and following the buzz on new stars and filmmakers.   

According to Netflix I have rated 1,916 movies during the 12 years that I have been a member.  I have seen many more movies than this but not all of them are available through Netflix.  Independent films, foreign films and documentaries are some of my favorites to watch but I usually have to go to a local art cinema or catch them on PBS.  Out of all these movies, there are several that I have given great reviews to but that doesn't mean that I want to see the movie again.  Some of the best movies that I have ever seen, movies like Full Metal Jacket, Seven and Schindler's List are so intense that I can't imagine seeing them again.  The emotional toll of the first time is enough to last me a life time.  There are movies that I would not consider 5 star movies which resonate with me.  These may not be Academy Award Winners (though some of them are) but they are my favorite movies to watch and that's all that matters in this blog.

These are in no particular order.  I've already addressed The Sound of Music so next on my list would have to be October Sky.  This amazing movie features Jake Gyllenhal before he was a star.  He plays a young high school boy in a small coal mining town.  He has dreams of being an astronaut but his coal miner father doesn't see any sense in him wasting time on rocket science when he's just going to work at the mine.  It has everything I love: the young teacher that supports his dream who gets cancer, the temporary sidelining of his dream after an accident and of course triumph in the end.  The best part of this story is that it's the true story of Homer Hickum, an actual astronaut and Vietnam veteran.  The knowledge that this story is true makes it so much easier to cry at every failure and achievement that Homer experiences.

Next is The Wizard of Oz.  I think I have seen this movie more than any other movie.  When I was a kid we watched it on TV every year at the holidays.  If the weather was bad, we watched it at school during recess.  When they released a new color and digitally enhanced version of the movie for it's 50th anniversary in 1989 I received it as a Christmas present.  There are little people, a dog, witches, flying monkeys, magic, dancing and singing.  What's not to like?  Who hasn't been a cowardly lion at some point in their life?  Don't we all wonder what life is like somewhere far away from where we grew up?  Maybe every one's journey isn't this dramatic but it sure feels like it.  There are more pop culture references from this movie than any other movie.  How many times do we hear about Oz or the Wizard or the yellow brick road, Emerald City, etc in the media when discussing current pop culture?  This movie is the original fairy tale.

Next is Save the Last Dance.  Julia Stiles is my favorite actress of my generation.  She is beautiful but not in that traditional perky blonde next door way.  Ever since the TV miniseries The 60's I have been in love with her.  O was an amazing modern take on Shakespeare's Othello that didn't get any press.  I saw O because I loved the actors that were in it but I'm surprised it didn't turn into a big hit.  Shortly after O Julia starred in Save the Last Dance.  This movie is cliche.  It is teenage love.  We have seen this movie done with different actors and different circumstances but the same ending.  The interracial couple.  The dancing.  Girl gives up on her passion after her mother dies and moves in with her estranged father.  New school, new friends, new everything.  As she embraces hip hop culture and leaves behind her white bread former life she finds the passion that she had lost and gains a whole new support system.  No, you don't have to lose a parent to find yourself but you can recreate yourself and reassess your life after a major loss. 

The last movie on my list is Ever After.  This movie is the Cinderella story with Drew Barrymore in the lead.  The actors are cast perfectly.  The story is the same but different.  I cry every time.  I never get tired of this movie.  There is no singing or dancing or Disney mice or fairy godmothers but it still works.  It is an intelligent re-telling of a classic tale that works on every level and appeals to young and old alike.

Love Actually is a very close 6th on the list but it is more my husband's favorite movie than mine and I feel like I watch it because he watches it (but it is definitely a 5 star movie).  This list could have at least 25 more movies on it. Disney, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, dance movies like Drumline and Stomp the Yard etc. all get heavy play in this house. 

This time of the year is amazing for new movies released just in time to get their name into the Oscar nomination buzz.  It has been a long time since a new movie entered my movie Rolodex.  There are a lot of promising movies that came out this year (to be discussed in a future blog) but if the media gods don't put them in heavy syndication on cable/network TV then I won't see them again.  I don't buy movies.  I don't see movies in the theater multiple times.  The movies on my list obviously strike a chord with a lot of people or they wouldn't be in heavy syndication.  So check out your cable guide and set up your DVR.  I have seen 3 of the movies mentioned on TV in the past month.

I have to get back to my TV, it's time for the Von Trapps to put on their big performance and make their escape.  Ah the hills are alive indeed.                    

2010 Oscar Pics

About a month ago, I wrote down my Oscar pics for this year so I could compare them to the Academy Award nominations once they were announced. I saw forty of the movies that were released in 2009 but I didn't see all of the favorites. Here are some of the movies that I missed that other people have loved: Crazy Heart, Inglorious Bastards, The Hurt Locker, The Messenger, Invictus, A Single Man, The Lovely Bones, A Serious Man, and An Education. Nine and The Last Station are movies that received great reviews but which don't really appeal to me. I'm sure I'll see all these movies in the next year though Netflix or HBO and maybe they'll bump some of my favorites off the list. But until then, here is my opinion of the best movies and performances of the year based on what I saw.

My Best Pictures:
1. District 9- If you haven't seen it go see it. Great sci-fi movie with a great story and plenty of action and drama to keep you glued to your seat the entire time. No huge Hollywood names just fantastic directing and acting. It won't win because no one famous is in it but at least it got a Best Picture Nominations. I can't understand why no Best Directing Nomination.

2. Star Trek- Yes it lived up to the hype. I've never seen an episode of Star Trek in my life and I loved it. No idea why the Academy chose to snub this one in all of the major categories. Should get Best Picture and Best Director nods at a minimum.

3. Avatar- Great special effects. Not so subtle message within a good story. Not sure why there is so much controversy over this one. Well deserved nominations for Best Picture and Best Directing.

4. Julie & Julia- Who knew Julia Child and some random blogger could be so interesting. Meryl Streep has the best actress performance for sure this year.

5. Away We Go- A total surprise. Two comedy actors show that they can do drama. Great story about love and all the tough decisions that come after college. An Oscar Snub not a surprise for such a small market film.

6. Precious- Heart wrenching. Hard to believe Gabourey Sidibe has never acted before. A well deserved best actress nomination for her and for Mo'Nique who is a shoe-in to win best supporting actress.

7. The Blind Side- Yeah the movie had an obvious Disney touch to it but it was still a really good movie. I don't think the writers glossed over how difficult the transition was for an underprivileged black kid to move in with a rich white family in the south. I think they choose to focus on all the positive things that happened to him after he made that transition and I'm okay with that. We don't need a three hour epic cry fest for every "overcoming adversity" story out there. Sandra Bullock deserves the Best Actress Nomination but she should not win.

8. Up- Way to go Disney. Not just for the kids. A really good movie with some great voice actors and fantastic story. Thanks Academy for not overlooking an animated movie as a Best Picture nominee.

So the Academy agreed with 5 of my pics. Not bad. I did see Up in the Air but it wasn't nearly as good as everyone said it was going to be. If you want to throw a nomination to George Clooney for Best Actor I'm okay with that but there is no way this was one of the best 10 movies of the year. The other 4 movies that were nominated are on my list of movies I haven't seen yet and I sure at least 2 of them are better than or as good as the 8 best movies on my list. It's hard to argue with the Best Actor and Supporting Actor nominations with such highly acclaimed performances even though I haven't seen most of the movies. I just hope the star power behind Up In the Air doesn't get it more awards than it deserves.

The Hangover is a movie that people think should have been nominated for an Oscar but the entire movie was ruined by the previews and trailers weeks before the movie was even released. I saw the movie within a week of its release and there was not one funny scene that I didn't know about ahead of time. If it weren't ruined for me then maybe it would have made the list but a comedy movie isn't all that funny when someone has told you all the punch lines ahead of time.

The Oscars are the only award show that I watch religiously every year. I hope there are a few surprises and not just all the big names winning. I can't wait to hear about all the documentary, independent and foreign films that I have never heard of but will add to my Netflix list shortly after the broadcast. Happy movie watching.

Oscar Best Picture Nominees

The Academy Awards just decided to start nominating 10 movies per year for best picture starting with the 2010 ceremony. A lot of people are really upset about think because they think it will make it easier for movies that aren't as deserving to get an award. There were 573 movies released in 2008. Nominating 10 of these movies for Oscars represents 0.87% of the total movies released. I think that still makes it a pretty elite group.

Personally, I think having more movies nominated will give the Academy room to nominate all the movies that they love that no one else in America really liked without bumping out popular movies. Who's to say that comedy, action, cartoon, fantasy are all categories that don't deserve to win Oscar's? The movies are supposed to be all about enjoyment and I enjoy a good laugh as much as I enjoy a good cry.

My husband and I saw 42 of the movies released last year. Of those movies we came up with our top six of the year (in no particular order): Wall-E, Gran Torino, Slumdog Millionaire, Bolt, The Dark Knight and American Teen. The five movies nominated for best picture were: Milk, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We did not see 3/5 movies nominated for best picture but from what we have heard, all three are movies that we will love. Our friends tell us The Wrestler and Doubt, movies which we haven't yet seen, would have been deserving of an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a good movie. But it was too long and lost itself and the audience towards the end of the movie. It was not one of the best movies of the year but it had a very popular actor and some very good make up and camera tricks that made it an expensive movie to make. There always seems to be one movie nominated every year because of its big studio prestige or star power. The fact that this movie was nominated and Gran Torino wasn't is a shame. Clint Eastwood should have also been nominated for Best Actor and Director but Benjamin Button took up unnecessary space in both of these categories as well.

What if the Academy chooses the top 10 movies of the year and then the general public has the time between when the Oscar nominees are announced until a week or so before the ceremony to vote on which movie they think should win. These results are kept secret until the night of the Oscars. At the beginning of the show, the top 5 vote getters from the general public are announced. These movies are the the ones that are up for consideration by the Academy for best picture. This still gives the Academy the chance to choose which movie they think is best but it allows the general public to weed out movies that maybe shouldn't have been nominated in the first place. All 10 movies still get the prestige of being in the top 1% of movies that year and every one's happy.

But of course this will never happen because a bunch of power hungry, snotty movie executives have decided that they know better than the people who pay their salaries by attending all of these movies. Ideally, one day the public will get a say in this but I'm not holding my breath.

Trailers Gone Wild

I love watching movies. My husband and I go to the movie theater almost every week. We have an unlimited Netflix membership and our DVR is often full to capacity because we tape more movies than we can watch. One of the best parts about going to the movies is seeing all the trailers for upcoming releases. In the past few years the trailers have become spoilers for the movies they are promoting.

The last comedy I saw was "The Hangover". While it was a pretty good movie all of the funny parts were shown during the trailer and during the nonstop commercials for the movie leading up to its release. It was hard to really get into the movie because I knew what was going to happen. Whatever happened to the cryptic trailers that didn't tell you anything about the movie? I can understand wanting to drum up a little interest but you don't have to show the entire movie. It would have been amazing if Mike Tyson suddenly showed up on screen and no one knew he was going to be in the movie. But everyone knew and there was only polite laughter and not the huge response the film makers would have gotten otherwise. It's not a cameo if you promote the crap out of it in the trailer and during every commercial break.

Luckily, I watch a lot of independent and foreign films that don't get a lot of press in the mainstream media. I usually hear about these movies while listening to NPR or reading Time Magazine. When I see these movies I get the full movie experience. Sometimes I know little more than the basic plot of these movies. I am happy that Amelie, Little Miss Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire (and several others) were all movies that I saw based on NPR interviews and that I never saw a trailer or interview on Good Morning America about it until after I had seen the movies. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into in any of these cases but I was very happy with all three choices.

In addition to the movie trailers, I'm annoyed with television programs showing you a summary of the entire show immediately before the show comes on and at every commercial break. Seriously, stop it. I want to watch the show. I rarely watch live TV any more because I have to sing songs and put my fingers in my ears at every commercial break to avoid getting the entire plot of the 30 minute show. The DVR and the ability to skip all the commercials has saved my sanity but it still bugs me.

I don't understand the logic of all of these over previewing. Was there a demand for this? Who made the decision to give the milk away for free even though everyone was still buying cows? Grrr...