My Two Favorite Thanksgiving Movies

Posted on November 26, 2013 at 8:00 am

I admit it.  I’m not a fan of “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,” which always strikes me as nasty and mean-spirited.  For me, the two movies that best sum up all that is stressful and complicated and wonderful about Thanksgiving are:

Pieces of April Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, and Derek Luke star in this story about a girl estranged from her family who makes Thanksgiving dinner for them.

What’s Cooking? Four different families prepare for Thanksgiving, each dealing with its own family drama. Look for “The Good Wife’s” Julianna Margulies and “The Closer’s” Kyra Sedgwick.

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For Your Netflix Queue Holidays

Thanksgiving Classic: “What’s Cooking?”

Posted on November 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm

This is my favorite Thanksgiving movie, the story of four families preparing for their Thanksgiving dinner, directed by Gurinder Chada (“Bend it Like Beckham”) and starring “The Good Wife’s” Juliana Margulies, “The Closer’s” Kyra Sedgwick, and two of my favorites, Alfre Woodard and Mercedes Ruehl.

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Holidays Trailers, Previews, and Clips

Steel Magnolias Remake Coming to Lifetime October 7

Posted on September 24, 2012 at 8:00 am

I’m very excited about the upcoming remake of “Steel Magnolias” coming to Lifetime on October 7.  Like the beloved 1989 original, it has an all-star cast with Queen Latifah, Jill Scott, Phylicia Rashad, and Alfre Woodward.  The movie was based on a play by Robert Harling, a tribute to his late sister, who believed, like Shelby (played by Julia Roberts in the original), “I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”

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Remake Television
What’s Cooking?

What’s Cooking?

Posted on November 24, 2010 at 8:00 am

B+
Lowest Recommended Age: Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some sexuality, brief language and a perilous situation
Profanity: Some strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs: Drinking and smoking, character gets intoxicated
Violence/ Scariness: Child in peril, gun
Diversity Issues: A theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters: 2000
Date Released to DVD: November 21, 2011
Amazon.com ASIN: B000092T3G

My favorite Thanksgiving movie is What’s Cooking?

The Star-Spangled Banner plays over the credits and we see a classic Thanksgiving poster, only to find that it is on the side of a bus that carries very few passengers resembling its smiling Caucasian family. A very diverse group attends a school Thanksgiving pageant and then we follow four of the families, Jewish, Latino, African-American, and Vietnamese, as they celebrate this most American of holidays.

Co-writer and director Gurinder Chadha is an Indian woman raised in England, and she brings a sympathetic outsider’s eye to the stories of the four families, emphasizing their similarities more than their differences. All four of the families love each other, keep secrets from each other, want acceptance from each other. And all of them drive each other crazy, just like everyone else.

They watch football and the Macy’s parade. They cook. They have kitchen triumphs and catastrophes. They say things like, “You’re so thin!” “Give Grandma some sugar!” “I haven’t called because I’ve been swamped with work.” “That’s a very…unusual recipe.” “Dad, you remember that I’m a vegetarian, don’t you?” and “You never listen to me!” They love to see each other but they can’t stop fighting with each other. As one character says, “I guess you can’t call it a family if someone isn’t speaking to someone else.”

The Jewish parents (Lainie Kazan and Maury Chaykin) struggle to accept their daughter’s lesbian relationship (with Julianna Margulies of “The Good Wife”).  The Latino mother (Mercedes Ruehl in a beautifully warm-hearted performance) wants to introduce her new boyfriend to the family, and her estranged husband has been invited to dinner by their son. The Vietnamese family is coping with a son who has been suspended from school, a daughter who has a condom in her coat pocket, and an older son who is too busy to come home from college. And the African-American mother (the always wonderful-Alfre Woodard) struggles with a demanding mother-in-law and a painful rift between her husband and son.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWA91OcPa7U

Chadha handles the multiple story lines and large cast with an expert hand, cutting back and forth to underscore the similarities and the differences. We see potatoes prepared by hand, mixer, spoon, and food processor and the assortment of turkey presentations is one of the movie’s best treats. Chadha has a good feel for American diversity — the video store owned by the Vietnamese family has shelves for videos in Talalog, Farsi, and Korean. We get to see a replica of the the all-white Thanksgiving poster with a Latino family.

The stories can get a bit melodramatic, especially a close encounter with a gun near the end of the movie, and the stories veer from archetype to stereotype at times. But there is much to enjoy in its situations, characters, and performances, especially by Woodard and Ruehl, two of the finest actresses in movies, and it holds a lot of promise for future projects by Chadha.

Parents should know that the movie has some strong language and sexual references and encounters, including adultery and homosexuality. Characters smoke and drink. A child is in peril, and it gets very tense. The movie also includes family confrontations that may be upsetting to some people.

Families who see this movie will have a lot to talk about concerning family communication. They should discuss why so many people felt that they could not tell the truth to their families, and how they would respond to some of the crises faced by the family members in the movie. They may also want to talk about some of their favorite Thanksgiving memories.

Families who enjoy this movie will also enjoy “You Can’t Take it With You,” an Oscar-winning comedy about a very eccentric but loving, family.

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Comedy Drama DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week

Scholastic: A Night Before Christmas (with Hannukah and Kwanzaa)

Posted on December 7, 2009 at 8:00 am

A-
Lowest Recommended Age: All Ages
MPAA Rating: NR
Profanity: None
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Mild peril
Diversity Issues: Diverse characters
Date Released to DVD: 2009

My very favorite series has a special family treat for the winter holidays. Clement Moore’s classic poem about Santa Claus is read by Anthony Edwards. Theodore Bikel reads “In the Month of Kisley,” a delightful Hannukah story about a poor but happy family who teach a wealthy man the meaning of the holiday, featuring some clever insights into family happiness and a very wise judge. In “Seven Candles for Kwanzaa,” the Pinkney’s story and illustrations teach us the values of family, history, and community that each of the nights of the holiday symbolize, with Alfre Woodard narrating. Ed Martinez tells us about how Maria might have lost her mother’s ring in the “Too Many Tamales” she is making for Christmas dinner (Spanish and English narration). The set also includes three other Christmas stories: “Max’s Christmas,” “Morris’s Disappearing Bag,” and “The Little Drummer Boy.”

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