from Tracey G.

In honor of September being the ninth month, we decided our Favorite Movies post would be nine movies each! We plan on doing (or attempting it anyway ?) a post every month of “X amount” of things that correspond to the month number. This should be interesting!

And now our first one… ?

It’s been awhile since I’ve watched a movie just for me – or I should say as an adult, lol. Once Harry was born, I really didn’t have the time like I’d used to – and now what movies I did (and still do!) watch are mostly kid movies. Which, that’ll have to be a whole post unto itself because there’s been a lot that I’ve really enjoyed!

I have a pretty decent sized movie collection, variety of old VHS (that I slowly but surely want to replace with DVD’s) and lots of DVD’s. I have a criteria before I buy a movie though, it has to be one I want to watch over and over and not get bored with it, lol. There are few on my list that I don’t own, but now that I think about it – I should!

1. Practical Magic – I loved the book and I love the movie with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, I swear I can recite the lines right along with them!
2. Enchanted – I can’t help it, it’s enchanting! I love the scene where Amy Adams sings while cleaning up the New York apartment, and all the various “street” and “city” critters come to help!
3. Gladiator – I’ve loved Russell Crowe forever, and I love him even more in this movie, I can watch this story over and over and I still enjoy it.
4. Titanic – Yep, I love Leo and Kate in this story, even though I know the ship sinks (a line Jeremy is fond of teasing me about as to why I’d want to watch a movie where we know how it ends) I just flat-out love the story of Rose and Jack!
5. Ever After – This has to be one of my all-time favorite Drew Barrymore movies and I’m guaranteed to teary-eyed at the same parts EVERY SINGLE TIME, I mean you think I’d be prepared by now…
6. 50 First Dates – I had never been much of a Adam Sandler fan in his early career, but when I saw a couple of his comedies and then THIS movie came along, I was hooked. And add in Drew Barrymore and it’s even better in my opinion!
7. The Patriot – There is something about this movie, gets me every time. I love period stories (see Gladiator above) and anything dealing with the Revolutionary War, I’m in. Toss in Heath Ledger (taken from us way too soon), and I’m all set.
8.  A Knight’s Tale – This wasn’t an ordinary Knight’s tale, lol, I was instantly enamored of the way the film makers blended a medieval storyline with contemporary rock music! It was unexpected, but very, very cool. Oh yeah, and Heath Ledger.
9. Snow White: A Tale of Terror – This isn’t your childhood story of Snow White, lol. This is probably more like how the original one went before it was Disneyed up, lol. We all know that the original “fairy tales” were a lot darker than we’ve been presented with! But Sigourney Weaver kicks butt as the Evil Queen and I love that the 7 Dwarfs are actually a den of thieves (some with hearts of gold), one of my favorite movies from way back!

And in closing, let me just say this is by no means all of my faves, this list was culled from a HUGE favorites list, lol. It needed to be pared down to just 9, it was a struggle let me tell you! But, it also provides me with lots more favorite movie lists! (Books will be just as difficult!!)

from Kris B.

I have to start by saying that movie watching is not my “go to” form of entertainment.   I haven’t seen most of the blockbuster movies. In fact, I may be the only person who has not seen all of the Harry Potter movies even once, forget multiple times.  This probably makes me culturally illiterate.  So be it.  Lol!

My biggest problem with watching movies is that when I finally settle down and sit still in a dark place, I tend to fall asleep.  When my girls were little and we’d go to the theater to see a movie, the girls’ would call it “mom’s $7 nap.”  (Movie tickets were cheaper back then!  Now, with all the home movie viewing possibilities, I do a little better with staying awake.  Sometimes for me to see an entire movie, though, I do have to hit rewind a time or two.

My other issue with movies, probably because my down-time seems so limited, is that I am picky about what I will watch.  I don’t like violence of any kind.  I don’t like movies that are scary or depressing.  I don’t like science fiction and fantasy.  I know.  You are probably thinking, no wonder she doesn’t see very many movies; she is too darn picky!  I like movies that either make me think or make me happy.  Bonus if they do both!  Confession here: I am a sucker for chick flicks.

I was surprised that when I began writing down my list, I actually had more than nine from which to choose. 🙂 I had to do some thinking when are began culling my list.

All that said, here is my list of my nine all-time favorites.

1. 84 Charing Cross Road – It’s about books.  It’s about letter writing.  It’s about human relationship. It stars Anne Bancroft.  All of these are things that speak to me.  I was so taken by this movie that when I went to London for the first time, I had to find 84 Charing Cross Road.  It was a Pizza restaurant in 1998.  The movie, based on a true story, takes place between 1949 and 1968. I was crushed, but life goes on.
2. It’s Complicated – This movie, starring Meryl Streep (one of my favorite actresses) and Alec Baldwin, whose characters are a long-divorced couple, is about their ongoing relationship that is, well, complicated.  The movie came out in December of 2009, right after I had gotten divorced.  Like the characters in the movie, Jane and Jake, my relationship with my ex was also complicated so this movie spoke deeply to me.  It’s one of those that made me both think and laugh.
3. August Rush – A passion for music is the thread that weaves this story together, a thread that weaves through my life as well.
4. Immortal Beloved – The less familiar details of Ludwig von Beethoven’s life are chronicled in this movie based on Beethoven’s personal letters.
5. The Sound of Music – I Think that my attitudes about movie going may be genetic.  This is the one and only movie that I ever went to with my mother.  It had just been released and I was five years old.  I watched it again in 2005 when my youngest daughter was cast in the role of Liesel in the stage production of this show and I was the property manager for that production.  The fact that it is about how music brings people together doesn’t hurt either.
6. Where to Invade Next – The title of this film is misleading.  I am a fan of most of Michael Moore’s documentary movies as they shed light on many of the social issues facing the world today.  In this optimistic and really gentle movie, Moore travels to other countries “invading” their lifestyle and looking for the positives that he can bring back home.
7. To Kill A Mockingbird – I am generally not a fan of books that become screenplays; this one is an exception.
8. Vision – This is a German film, with subtitles, that chronicles the life of Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century Benedictine nun.  The movie shows the strength of a woman in a time when this was overlooked.
9. Christopher Robin – I had to amend my list after seeing this movie a few weeks ago.  I am a lifelong fan of Winnie the Pooh and the writings of A. A. Milne. Simply stated, this is a movie about rediscovering that childlike joy in life that is often snatched away by adulthood.  This movie is beautiful and provocative.

Just for fun, after compiling my list of nine favorite movies, I did an online search for IMDB’s “must see” movies.

If you are curious, here is their list of 40 movies you must see before you die.

Let’s just say that either I am going to live forever, or I have a lot of movie watching to do!  I have seen ten of these…maybe.

It’s fun to see that we didn’t have any overlaps in our favorites list! But that diversity in no way dampens the fact that we’d be totally happy to grab a beverage (coffee!) sit down, watch a movie and share a bucket of popcorn (or two) together! ?

Leave us a comment and let us know what your all-time favorite movies are.  If you happen to watch one from our lists that you haven’t seen before, we’d like to know about that as well.

Happy Friday!