Free This Week for 2019 Mother’s Day — 50 Must-See Movies: Mothers

Posted on May 6, 2019 at 7:00 am

Copyright Columbia Pictures 1994

 

In honor of Mother’s Day, my ebook 50 Must-See Movies: Mothers will be free on Amazon from Monday, May 6 to Friday, May 10, 2019.Image

No relationship is more primal, more fraught, more influential, more worried over, more nourishing when good and more devastating when bad that our connection to our mothers. Mom inspires a lot of movies in every possible category, from comedy to romance to drama to crime to animation to horror, from the lowest-budget indie to the biggest-budget prestige film. A lot of women have been nominated for Oscars for playing mothers and just about every actress over age 20 has appeared as a mother in at least one movie. From beloved Marmee in “Little Women” (three great movie versions, a modern-day adaptation, and a PBS miniseries, and a forthcoming film directed by Greta Gerwig) and Mrs. Brown in “National Velvet” to mean moms in “Now Voyager” and “Mommie Dearest.”  Oscar winning classics and neglected gems, based on real-life like Sally Fields in “Places in the Heart” or fantasy like Dumbo’s lullaby-singing elephant mom, these are all must-see movies.

 

 

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Great Christmas Movie Moments

Posted on December 24, 2018 at 8:51 am

All of these movies are classics, and here are some of the highlights.

The Bells of St. Mary’s

This adorable Nativity play is endearingly natural and the enjoyment we see in Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman seems entirely authentic. The play’s dialogue was indeed made up by the children themselves, with the lead played by the son of the film’s musical director, not an actor.

It’s a Wonderful Life

George Bailey tries so hard to resist falling in love with Mary but when they are so close, he just can’t help it.

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas story, and the Mr. Magoo version with songs by the team from “Funny Girl” is one of my favorite versions. Here the Cratchit family celebrates with joy.

White Christmas

Two ex-GIs turned successful entertainers pay tribute to the General who did so much for them.

A Christmas Story

Any scene from this classic is worth including on a list of best Christmas movie moments, but I’m going to go with the very sweet final scene, with the family finding itself in a Chinese restaurant after their dinner suffers a catastrophe.

Miracle on 34th Street

A little girl who does not believe in Santa Claus learns he might be real when she sees Kris Kringle (Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn) with a war orphan who does not speak English.

An Affair to Remember

Yes, it would have been so much more sensible if she just told him the truth. But we still love the ending of “An Affair to Remember.”

Claymation Christmas

This is just plain adorable!

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Best Opening Credits

Posted on May 19, 2017 at 6:43 pm

Opening credits tell you what world you are in. Saul Bass, the all-time great, created brilliant animated opening credits for films like “Anatomy of a Murder,” “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World,” and “Psycho.”

This month’s release of “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2” inspired IndieWire to ask critics about their own favorite opening credit sequences and a couple mentioned “Catch Me if You Can” with Steven Spielberg’s tribute to Bass, designed by Kuntzel and Deygas and with an edgy John Williams score.

Other classics they mention include Rosie Perez dancing in the opening credits of “Do the Right Thing,” written and directed by Spike Lee.

A favorite of mine is from “Deliver Us from Eva.” It is a great introduction to the characters and mood of the piece, and as my readers know, I really like gloves!

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