List: Movie Mom’s Favorites for Halloween

Posted on October 2, 2010 at 8:00 am

Many
thanks to Jennifer Kachler, Adam Donald, Daniel Sheppard, Brian Gonzalez, my homegirl
Laine Kaplowitz, and everyone at the fabulous Bethesda Row Theatre.

Related Tags:

 

Elementary School For Your Netflix Queue Holidays Lists Movie Mom’s Top Picks for Families
List: Halloween Movie Tricks and Treats!

List: Halloween Movie Tricks and Treats!

Posted on October 27, 2009 at 10:00 am

Halloween gives kids a thrilling opportunity to act out their dreams and pretend to be characters with great power. But it can also be scary and even overwhelming for the littlest trick-or-treaters. An introduction to the holiday with videos from trusted friends can help make them feel comfortable and excited about even the spookier aspects of the holiday.

Kids ages 3-5 will enjoy Barney’s Halloween Party, with a visit to the pumpkin farm, some ideas for Halloween party games and for making Halloween decorations at home, and some safety tips for trick-or-treating at night. They will also get a kick out of Richard Scarry’s The First Halloween Ever, which is Scarry, but not at all scary! Witches in Stitches, is about witches who find it very funny when they turn their sister into a jack o’lantern. And speaking of jack o’lanterns, Spookley the Square Pumpkin is sort of the Rudolph of pumpkins. The round pumpkins make fun of him for being different until a big storm comes and his unusual shape turns out to have some benefits.

Kids from 7-11 will enjoy the classic It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and the silly fun of What’s New Scooby-Doo, Vol. 3 – Halloween Boos and Clues. Try The Worst Witch and its sequel, about a young witch in training who keeps getting everything wrong. Kids will also enjoy Halloween Tree, an animated version of a story by science fiction author Ray Bradbury about four kids who are trying to save the life of their friend. Leonard Nimoy (Dr. Spock on the original “Star Trek”) provides the voice of the mysterious resident of a haunted house, who explains the origins of Halloween and challenges them to think about how they can help their sick friend. The loyalty and courage of the kids is very touching.

Older children will appreciate The Witches, based on the popular book by Roald Dahl and Hocus Pocus, with children battling three witches played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. And of course there is the deliciously ghoulish double feature The Addams Family and Addams Family Values based on the cartoons by Charles Addams.

The Nightmare Before Christmas has gorgeous music from Danny Elfman and stunningly imaginative visuals from Tim Burton in a story about a Halloween character who wonders what it would be like to be part of a happy holiday like Christmas. And don’t forget some old classics like “The Cat and the Canary” (a classic of horror/comedy) and the omnibus ghost story films “Dead of Night” (recommended by the New York Times’ A.O. Scott), and “The House that Dripped Blood.”

Happy Halloween!

Related Tags:

 

For Your Netflix Queue Holidays Lists Movie Mom’s Top Picks for Families
A Very Brave Witch

A Very Brave Witch

Posted on October 12, 2009 at 8:00 am

A-
Lowest Recommended Age: Kindergarten - 3rd Grade
MPAA Rating: NR
Profanity: None
Alcohol/ Drugs: None
Violence/ Scariness: Some spooky moments
Diversity Issues: None
Date Released to DVD: 2009
Amazon.com ASIN: B002FU8J8S

Here’s a great new DVD from my all-time favorite series, just in time for Halloween — A Very Brave Witch…and more Halloween stories. In the title story, a little witch who has been taught that humans are scary decides to find out for herself and ends up making friends with a little girl dressed as a witch and sharing a very special broomstick ride. “The Witch in the Cherry Tree” tries to outsmart a boy named David to get his cakes and “By the Light of the Halloween Moon”

Related Tags:

 

Animation Based on a book DVD/Blu-Ray Pick of the Week Early Readers Elementary School For the Whole Family Holidays Movie Mom’s Top Picks for Families

Great Movie Costumes for Halloween

Posted on October 14, 2008 at 9:00 am

Rotten Tomatoes has some wonderful ideas for the best (and easiest) Halloween costumes inspired by movies. It includes classics like Indiana Jones and Carrie, current hits like Nurse Joker and some good ideas for friends to coordinate like Gogo Yurbari and the Crazy 88 from “Kill Bill” and costumes that are so easy to make that you can pick up everything at Goodwill for under $5, like The Dude from “The Big Lebowski” and Jay and Silent Bob from the Kevin Smith movies. Happy trick or treating!

Related Tags:

 

Not specified
THE MOVIE MOM® is a registered trademark of Nell Minow. Use of the mark without express consent from Nell Minow constitutes trademark infringement and unfair competition in violation of federal and state laws. All material © Nell Minow 1995-2024, all rights reserved, and no use or republication is permitted without explicit permission. This site hosts Nell Minow’s Movie Mom® archive, with material that originally appeared on Yahoo! Movies, Beliefnet, and other sources. Much of her new material can be found at Rogerebert.com, Huffington Post, and WheretoWatch. Her books include The Movie Mom’s Guide to Family Movies and 101 Must-See Movie Moments, and she can be heard each week on radio stations across the country.

Website Designed by Max LaZebnik