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.

One of the all time great movies. Streep and Redford are a perfect match. After seeing the movie I thought I wanted to read the book. Usually I find the book better than the movie, but this was an exception to that rule. Streep elevates a boring story into one of the great movies of all time.

Put Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews together with a script and you usually ended up with a pretty decent movie. This was no exception. A great concept played well by Andrews, and Robert Preston is one funny guy as the gay cabaret performer Toddy. James Garner, Alex Karras and Lesly Ann Warren provide lots of laughs as the Chicago gangster confused about his sexuality because of his attraction to Andrews' character, who is supposed to be a man, his gay bodyguard, and his squeaky-voiced bimbo girlfriend. Great musical numbers too.

Ok, so maybe Jim Garrison's conspiracy theory isn't the correct one (I still don't think Oswald acted alone.), but this is still a great story filled with great performances by Costner, Sissy Spacek, Laurie Metcalf, Joe Pesci, Tommy Lee Jones (He's good in whatever movie he's in.), and a host of others. I loved it, even if I didn't exactly believe Garrison's version of the events.

I loved this chick flick. It's just a good story, and the movie is filled with good performances. Of course I love movies set in the south.

Most guys don't like chick flicks, so I don't know why I do. Seems like every one that I like is set in the south, and has an all star cast. I thought it was a really good movie. I loved how the flashbacks explained the conflict between the daughter and the mother. Ashley Judd was better than usual in this one, and Ellen Burstyn is always good. Sandra Bullock isn't bad either.

Another chick flick that I love. A southern tale, and a great story. Kathy Bates is great in anything she does, as was Jessica Tandy. Mary Louise Parker and Mary Stuart Masterson are really good also.

Loved this movie as well. Again, set in the south (Houston). I usually love anything Larry McMurtry touches.

Another Larry McMurtry story, and a great one at that. I grew up in a small town in southwest Kansas, and had grandparents who lived in the Texas Panhandle near a small town. Peter Bogdanovich captures the desolate atmosphere of a small Texas town completely. I felt like I had walked down the streets of "Anarene" Texas myself. Parts of this movie can be depressing, but sometimes the emotions a movie makes you feel aren't always cheerful. This is one I could see a hundred times and not get tired of it.

I don't usually go for scary movies, but this one is way different. I think what makes it scary is that, especially being a Christian, and having the evils of hell and the devil pounded into my skull from the time I was old enough to walk into a Sunday School class, watching a little girl be possessed by one of Satan's demons is all too believable. This is another movie that I find timeless. It holds up as well today as it did in 1973.

You one ugly mudderfocker! Arnold and crew were pretty cheesey in this one, but I was thoroughly entertained.

De Niro reminds me of Schwarzenegger's Terminator character because of his relentless pursuit of his prey. There is no creepier moment in modern cinema than when the camera pans down underneath the attorney's car to reveal De Niro's character hanging from the driveshaft as the car speeds down the highway. Now that's relentless!