My Favorite Movies

Perhaps my favorite movie of all the ones I've ever seen. It's not just a Christmas movie. It's the story of every human being that had big plans to leave home and see the world, only to have life interupt their plans. George Bailey has to learn the hard way that he really has had "a wonderful life" and a meaningful one. "Remember George, no man is a failure who has friends." George's guardian angel Clarence shows him what the lives of his loved ones would have been like if George had never been born. Through this George is able to see what he means to his family and friends, and what they mean to him. "Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" It's a timeless lesson told by a master (Frank Capra) storyteller. Jimmie Stewart gives a great performance (George Bailey)as does Donna Reed (Mary, George's wife)and Lionel Barrymore (the evil Henry Potter) and Henry Travers (Clarence the guardian angel). One bit of trivia is that the Sesame Street characters "Bert and Ernie" take their names from the duo in "It's A Wonderful Life" of Bert (the police officer) and Ernie (the cab driver). It's easy to lose this film amongst all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, so sometime just try renting it during a less hectic time of year and watching it uninterupted by a thousand commercials. It's worth the effort.

Loved this movie! Loved the music. It was extremely funny in some spots, and very poignant in others. One of my favorites of recent movies I've seen.

It was a good movie. I nearly always like a Tom Hank's movie. I remember seeing a 60 minutes story a long time ago about the man Hanks' character is based on. I suppose that story was my introduction to Osama Bin Laden and his mujahideen. I like the way the movie shows how we dropped the ball after driving the Soviets out of Afghanistan. It was that failure that helped lead to 9/11. Good story ripped from recent history. Love the bit about rehab: Charlie won't go there cause they don't serve whiskey in rehab. Roberts and Hoffman are really good, and I thought Amy Adams was too.

I really liked this movie. It's a dark one, but a story well told. The director, Sidney Lumet, uses several flashbacks of the same scenes to tell the story from each character's perspective. Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant as usual, and Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, and Marisa Tomei are really good also. It's not a "feel good" or a "date" movie. It's dark and sad, but it is a well-told story.

I love history and I love the way Clint Eastwood told this part of our history. I saw it right after seeing "Letters from Iwo Jima". I liked this movie a lot more. "Letters" is much harder to follow because of the subtitles (that may have been because it was one of my first experiences with them.) but I liked "Letters" too. Eastwood is just one helluva director. Who would have thought?

Overall I liked this movie, but it was hard for me to keep up because of the subtitles. I have little experience with them. It was amazing, I found myself sympathizing with the Japanese as they fought the Americans. That was no doubt the angle Eastwood was aiming for. I also loved how he told the story about the young man from Oklahoma who had a letter from his mother with him. After reading the letter the Japanese soldiers concluded that the Americans weren't the evil devils that they'd been brainwashed into thinking they were, but in many ways just like them. I've said it before, Eastwood is one helluva director/storyteller.

A great story about the power of a lie and the damage it can do to peoples' lives. Loved the way the same scene was told multiple times to show it from each character's perception. I also liked the way it ended, showing that sometimes the only way to have a happy ending is to write it yourself.

I loved this film in spite of the tough subject matter. It would be so hard to deal with a loved one having Alzheimers. The thought of someone you love dearly and have known for a long time not being able to recognize you would be agonizing. This is a wonderful movie about a couple facing that challenge. A lesson in unconditional love, and coping with a horrible situation.

I really enjoyed the movie as a whole, but found it difficult to watch the scenes where Daniel Plainview exploded like a bomb and went off on those around him, except when he drug Eli through the oil and mud...that was OK, but then when he bludgeoned him to death with a bowling pin at the end, well that was really hard to watch. I know there are people like that in the world, but holy shit! What a performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. He is definitely one of the finest actors around today. Overall, I liked "No Country For Old Men" better, but this was an excellent film too.