NaBloPo: A Big Ol' Movie Round Up

 

Ah the aftermath of Thanksgiving.  The downside to our big family get togethers is that everyone tends to take home what they brought so it's hard to put together leftovers.  We have turkey, gravy, and rolls.  Last night we made a batch of mashed potatoes to add into the mix.

By now you surely know how I feel about turkey, so I took a pass and pulled a serving of gochujang pasta with meatballs out of the freezer.  The fellas will get another meal or two out of the turkey and then we'll freeze up the rest and I'll bring it back in a turkey pot pie or something like that at a later date.

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Stepson #2 has been rocking the movie selections lately!  He selected The Sting for our family viewing last night, largely motivated by the soundtrack.

This morning Grace linked to this list of 19 Classic Movies to Watch With Your Family on Thanksgiving.  Since I'm in a movie kind of a mood, I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents on the list - hey this one is a lot easier to achieve than watching all 100 of the AFI's top movies.  I think that 8 of these 19 movies are phenomenal, one is one my "wanna see it" list, and I'd like you to weigh in on a handful of these movies that I'm curious about.

Here's the snapshot:

And here are the 19 movies - go to the source article for links to the trailers and where to see them online.

1. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.  Rating: See it! I just recently heard the Unspooled podcast on this and I wouldn't mind rewatching it if the opportunity came up.  We saw it a while back with the boys.
2. O Brother Where Art Thou.  Rating: meh.  I only saw it once a long time ago and I remember being pretty bored.  Fun fact, the title was inspired by a 1940s movie.
3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Rating: meh.  OK, now that everyone has thrown their computers across the room in rage and stopped reading this post, yes I love Monty Python in general but I'm more a fan of the show and less of the movies.  I haven't seen this in a billion years and yes I'm adding bonus points for 'tis just a flesh wound.
4. Risky Business.  Rating: I wanna see it!  I should clarify that as someone who grew up in the 80's of course I've seen it, but it's been a while and it keeps coming up on my radar so there is a high likelihood that I'll be rewatching it soon.
5. When Harry Met Sally.  Rating: See it!  In fact, I just did for the first time since the 90's not that long ago.
6. Cast Away.  Rating: See it!  I haven't seen it since it came out and I don't plan to rewatch it anytime soon, but from what I remember this one lived up to the hype.
7. Michael Clayton.  Rating: Should I see it?  Seriously, I'm asking.  The plot recap sounds good and it's on Amazon Prime so it's an easy one to see.  The only negative is that I'm not much of a George Clooney fan.
8. Daughters of the Dust.  Rating: Should I see it?  It's one of The Great Classics That Everyone Says You Should Watch, though I can't recall anyone that I know IRL saying "OMG, you have got to see this movie!".
9. Casablanca.  Rating: See it!  Especially if you never have or if it's been a while.  Here's my recap and rave from the last time that I saw it.
10. Goodfellas.  Rating: See it!  I only saw it because it was on the AFI Top 100 List and it was a wow.
11. The Passion of Joan of Arc.  Rating: OK but...  Look I love silent movies with a passion so on the one hand I'm just glad to see one on the list at all, and from what I remember it is a great and profound movie BUT spoiler it's a bit heavy to kick back with on a holiday weekend and sorry but as far as I remember it was also a bit long and tedious and also everyone kinda knows the ending.  How 'bout replacing this with any of the other silents on the AFI Top 100 list...Buster Keaton's The General, Charlie Chaplin's Gold Rush, City Lights, & Modern Times, or Sunrise?
12. The Godfather Trilogy.  Rating: Meh.  I watched all of the Godfather movies sometime around New Year's Eve sometime in the early 2000's during a bout with stomach flu so the association may be why I'm not a fan (and why I had plenty of time on my hands to see not one but three movies that I wasn't that in to).  To me these movies feel like a really long and really boring version of The Sopranos.  Plus we've already got Goodfellas on the list.  My vote is to dump Godfather and replace it with The Sting since I just road tested that as a Thanksgiving weekend movie.
    
13. Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. Rating: meh.  Saw it a billion times as a kiddo, never been tempted to revisit it as an adult.  But tell me - am I being too harsh?  Should I take another look?  I don't have anything against it besides being sick of the "tell me" meme.
14. My Neighbor Totoro.  Rating: no opinion.  I've heard of it but don't know anything about it and I'm not feeling the urge to learn anything further.
15. Singing in the Rain.  Rating: See it!  One of the best movies of all time.
16. North by Northwest.  Rating: See it!  You know how I feel about Hitchcock.
17. An American Werewolf in London.  Rating: See it!  I only saw it because hubs picked it for one of our date movie nights a while back and I loved it.  I think it's a great candidate for a holiday weekend movie.
18. Heathers.  Rating: Should I see it?  I like the plot recap.
19. Fist of Fury.  Rating: Should I see it?  This sounds like a good candidate for a family movie night for sure.

Your turn: what do you think of this list and of my ratings?  Any inputs on my "should I see it" list?