I'm in the mood for love

This is where my love affair of Marisa Tomei began. Saw this at the theater when it first came out and continue to love it. I've got more appreciation for Marisa's acting abilities in this one, too, as I've watched it in later years. When I first saw it, I was living in Minnesota (where it's based), and just thought that her character of Caroline was cute and wouldn't it be wonderful if I could be her Christian Slater. Now, though, having moved out of state and having developed an ear for hearing the Minnesota accent, I realize what a great job she did in nailing that accent. She sounded normal to me as a kid, and now I can appreciate why, because she picked up the "Yahs" and long "O"s of the accent, but without turning it into an exaggeration (like the wonderful "Fargo"). All the characters in this feel like real people, and it's funny, sad, and even frightening (the scene in the park is really intense). Oh, Marisa, you stole my (untamed) heart. Sorry.

The first time I watched this one, I never would have dreamed it would become one of my favorite movies ever. I expected a bunch of Farrelly-style funny but tasteless fat jokes and that was about it. And while the requisite fat jokes are indeed there, along with some other gross body humor, this is actually a really well-done movie about the difference between physical beauty and what's inside that counts. And whereas most such movies sum everything up by telling us that the ugly duckling just needed a good shopping spree and makeover, in this one the ducklings stay ugly, and it actually forces you to consider just what does ugly mean, anyway. A surprisingly touching comedy. Plus Jack Black calls Tony Robbins "banana hands", and that's just plain funny.

One of my all-time favorites. It really is amazing just how great this movie is. Every time I watch it, it astounds me just how many great lines there are in this and how many of them have since been woven into the fabric of everyday speech even now. You can't go wrong with a love story involving Nazis and Humphrey Bogart. Bergman is radiant, Bogart is at his Bogartest, Sydney Greenstreet is corpulentastic, Peter Lorre is weaselriffic, and my favorite, Claude Rains, is Vichy-wunderbar. A great date movie, a great World War II flick, a great movie for aspiring screenwriters to study, just a great movie!

I've seen this one more times than I can count. It's one of those popcorn flicks, you can watch it endlessly and it never gets old. It's funny, silly, Drew Barrymore is adorable, I think EVERYBODY has felt like Robbie Hart at one time or another, there's a great Jon Lovitz cameo, fun 80's musics and jokes, and I cry like a baby every time during the big finale on the plane. It's romance crack.

Breaks my heart every time I watch it. One of my favorite musicals, and also just one of my favorite movies. It's worth it just for the visuals alone, but the musical numbers are wonderful and seriously, what a flippin' great cast! Nicole Kidman is beautiful, always love to watch Ewan McGregor, but it's Jim Broadbent who's my absolute favorite. He's just so. . .expansive. David Wenham is actually really great as well as the couple's barrier to happiness. The scene where he sings "It's a little bit funny" still cracks me up. Excellent date movie, even if the date is just with your cats.

This is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. The acting is sub-par, the jokes are straight out of a junior high boys' locker room, and the special effects are not so special, but who cares? It's fun! The tunes are catchy and everybody seems to be having a good time, so you might as well, too. Most of it's nostalgia, I had a big crush on Kristy McNichol as a wee lad. A word of caution, it will take you several days to get the song "Pumpin' and Blowin'" out of your head. Your penance for indulging in a guilty pleasure.

God, I love this movie! It never fails to reduce me to a blubbering idiot several times throughout the movie, and by the time we hit the finale in the Bailey living room, I'm a wreck. George and Mary Bailey are the perfect screen couple, not sickeningly cute, with a small wry streak but basically two decent people who are perfect for each other. It's sentimental, but never really sappy, mostly because Stewart's portrayal of George Bailey has a bit of a dark streak in him. He gets angry, he lashes out, he can be bitter about his life. In short, he's a good ol' American human being, and it's that performance that anchors this one in enough reality to keep this from being eye-rollingly sappy. A truly timeless classic; in my humble opinion, one of the best movies ever made.

Next to "Pennies From Heaven", my favorite Steve Martin flick. One of those comedies that seems to have slipped under the radar, but it's really damn funny, full of the same absurd humor of "The Jerk", "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", and "The Man with Two Brains". Charles Grodin is absolutely hilarious as Martin's even lonelier best friend Larry. The scene where he complains about Michael Landon's hair is priceless. One of those rare movie gems that are a delight to discover.

Kudos to Tom Hanks for making his first directorial feature about the most fun, unpretentious flick you could find. Full of fun music and a great young cast, this is one of those you can watch over and over and has slowly become one of my favorite movies. It was also my first introduction to how damn funny Steve Zahn is. I don't know if they were ad-libbed or not, but his riffs at the Iowa State Fair and during one of the radio interviews still make me laugh just thinking about 'em. Fun, all-ages movie with a sweet love story to boot.

So wonderful! One of my favorites. The poetry of the dialogue as the angels listen in on their human counterparts is still one of my favorite screen moments. Bruno Ganz is wonderful as the angel, as is Peter Falk as himself. Just a beautiful movie. Whatever you do, please don't watch the sequel, "Faraway So Close".

A friend of mine turned me on to this one during an impromptu college reunion, mostly recommending it because it was filmed near my old alma mater in St. Cloud, MN. So I initially rented it just out of curiosity, but this has become a personal favorite. This is a slow, leisurely love story, perfectly mirroring the characters it's about, and also perfectly capturing Minnesota farm life in the early 20th century. This one's not about young passionate people yearning to break free; it's about a sturdy, dependable people, quiet and reserved, where love is an indulgence, where just quietly doing the right thing in the face of passive-aggressive community disapproval takes tremendous courage. The relationship between the two leads reminds me a lot of that of the mother and father's in "The Namesake". Love is not defined by words but by deeds and character. While it lacks the smoldering passions of "The Notebook" (another great romantic film), this one is just as romantic, and maybe moreso, because it depicts a more realistic romantic love.