Here's a list from the daily check-in thread -- movie first, then who recommended it. Please add any others you enjoyed.
Groundhog Day When Harry Met Sally While You Were Sleeping Airplane Hopscotch -- Kathi37 Local Hero --Kathi37 Last Chance Harvey -- Weejun Quigley Down Under -- Texas Joe Weekend at Bernie's -- Nancy B
Both of these starred Robert De Niro, one of my favorite actors:
Awakenings--a drama that dealt with people suffering from an incureable "sleeping sickness" who were temporarily cured. This movie always touched me because I knew my husband might have inherited AD, and I think it would appeal to AD spouses particularly. It is based on a book by Dr. Oliver Sachs, a famous neuroscientist.
Midnight Run--comedy that also stars Charles Grodin
Whoa ! ! ! Someone just sent me this 4-minute video from a 1944 movie. The first minute looks like an Andrews Sisters imitation, but then... hoo-ee ! ! ! !
Awakening - was great, 7 Pounds was excellent, but you really have to pay attention Continental Divide - is my all time favorite Bringing Down the House - Love Queen Latifa RV - was great The Notebook - has been on TV alot lately and I stay up tooooo late watching it Everytime
The two I recommended are older classics..Hopscotch has Walter Matheau (sp?) at his best and Local Hero is Burt Lancaster in a light vein about a take over of land in Scotland..this is just a wonderful film. For all of us dog lovers, don't forget about Tom Hanks in the hilarious dog film...Turner and Hooch.
By the way, I intended the focus of this thread to be for movies for the CAREGIVERS to watch for stress reduction ! ! ! Remember about trying to take care of yourself too?
The movies I like to watch over and over again are old movies. I love Arsenic and Old Lace, The Philadelphia Story, The Bishop's Wife, It's a Wonderful Life and pretty much any comedy with Cary Grant.
Okay, if it's just for caregivers to "get away", my absolute "chick flick" favorite movie is "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour.
If anyone has seen it, you'll know what I mean when I say that when Dana Reeve died, I pictured her and Chris together like the Jane/Christopher characters at the end of the movie.
Not necessarily just for caregiver stress relief, other movies are fine to list too -- just suggesting that we keep the focus of this thread on movies for the CAREGIVERS to watch.
"Somewhere in Time" -- great idea, that's one I keep forgetting about that everyone seems to like.
Speaking of Dolly, I love to put in "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" just for the music!!!! She sings "I will always love you" which she wrote and Whitney Houston made one of the biggest hits of all time; the other songs are great as well!
I love
Second Hand Lions w/Robert Duvall & Michael Caine The American President w/ Michael Douglas Dave w/ Kevin Kline Pillow Talk w/ Doris Day When a Man Answers w/ Sandra Dee & Bobby Darin Man's Favorite Sport w/ Rock Hudson Charade w/ Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn Father Goose w/Cary Grant McLintock w/ John Wayne Hatari w/John Wayne The Last Holiday w/ Queen Latifa The Sound of Music w/ Julie Andrews Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid w/ Paul Newman & Robert Redford The Sting w/ PN & RR Ironman w/ Robert Downy, Jr. The Fugitive w/ Harrison Ford Operation Petticoat /Cary Grant
And about 250 more!!!!! I LOVE MOVIES!!!! Musicals, comedies, mysteries, Sci Fi, political intrigue
Mary, in that case you will like Conspiracy Theory, comedy/action adventure/political intrigue all rolled into one. What makes it really funny is the opening scene where Mel Gibson is spouting off all the conspiracy theories -- and now we know that he actually believes a lot of them in real life ! ! !
Mary, have you seen "Von Ryan's Express"? A gripping WWII movie w/ Sinatra. Great, but sad ending, so not particularly for caregivers. But if you're in super spirits and can't be dragged down by a sad ending, it's super viewing.
Yes, TJ, I did see Von Ryan's Express and enjoyed it. I also watched "The Great Escape" this week and always enjoy seeing it.
Shanteuse, I saw Conspiracy Theory, and wasn't sure until almost the end whether is was a comedy or a drama! I loved the stars and the ending made the whole movie make sense! Signs, too.
I also am a big Bruce Willis fan, whether the Die Hard series, Armageddon, Fifth Element, or Sixth Sense.
Clint Eastwood had several political intrigue movies that I enjoyed too.
And Men in Black with Tommy Lee Jones; Steven Segal's earlier movies (not the last few); Soldier with Kurt Russell; Overboard with Kurt and Goldie; Private Benjamin with Goldie; The FIrst Wives Club;
Well, as you can see, we watch a lot of movies! We went to the theater and saw "The Ugly Truth" with Kathryn Hiegel and it was great!
I'm looking forward to "Julie and Julia" this next week. (cooking - food - entertainment all in one!)
I can tell you that when I saw the movie when it first came out, it scared the heck out of me. I was supposed to meet a girlfriend that night to go out but was to scared to drive the car by myself. My husband thought it was hilarious that it freaked me out so much--wanted to know if I thought it was under the seats :)
Years later when my son was about 8 we went to Disney World and one of their rides was about the movies and during that ride the Alien came down out of the ceiling and kind of drooled on you. I thought my son was going to pass out right there. If he could have climbed back into me he would have. His sister thought it was hilarious too. Has her father's sense of humor, I guess.
Saw it last night. It is incredible. However, I must warn you: it is not just some typical Disney-type thing with lovable little animals. It is much more "adult" themed and even though it IS uplifting and just so well done (for instance, there's a very quick laugh-out-loud sight gag near the end that they spend most of the movie setting up), it has some things in it that are very serious and hard to watch when you are dealing with grief. I found myself thinking about it all day today.
lol on the ChickenJoe. I am the same way, no thanks. eeek
A few of my all time favorites....
Medicine Man -with sean connery. Great flick, perfect mix of comedy and tragedy.
Ladyhawke- a unique love story. Brings out the against all odd romantic in me
50 first dates- Cracks me up every time.
Rain Man - watched this the other days with the kids. Still gets me.
I really like Robin Williams... Awakenings- I agree, great movie! Patch Adams What Dreams May Come Mrs Doubtfire
I love westerns, most all of them! But John Wayne is my favorite and I can watch his movies over and over
Another great western that is unique and one of my favorites is - Puragatory- great cast, sam shepard, randy quaid, eric roberts
Caregiver movie, Dad- with ted danson. I haven't seen it since it came out in the late 80's but that scene stuck with me.... the scene where he picks his Dad up and carries him out of the nursing home.... OMG, I can so feel those emotions now :(
I will have to put my thinking cap on to remember some others I really liked.
I heard an interesting piece on Netflix the other day on NPR's On The Media. It seems that Netflix has an award to go to whoever designs the best predictor of what kind of movie someone will like: If you liked Awakenings, then you might like... (whatever). Reason being that you join Netflix and want to watch, say, 50 movies you've missed,and then after that.. what?! zSo you stop ordering and eventually drop out. So every time you return a movie you get a screen that says: People who liked Movie X also liked xxx... The more that people DO like a movie recommended in such a way, the better for Netflix.
It's pretty easy to predict that someone who likes one Robin Williams movie will like another.. but how do you get people to order movies that don't have familiar actors in them..? One movie that absolutely confounds them is Napoleon Dynamite. People either love it or hate it and no one can predict which it will be!
For me, finding TIME to watch movies by myself is a problem. I'm usually too sleepy at night to start one at eight..
Okay, I'll fess up that my very favorite movie after "Casablanca" is one you've probably never heard of -- "Sibling Rivalry." It was either New York Magazine or the NY Times that called it a "black comedy about sex and death that makes you feel guilty as you laugh hilariously." Carl Reiner directed a stellar cast including, surprisingly, Kirstie Alley who is fantastically good in this, Bill Pullman, Jamie Gertz, Carrie Fisher, Sam Elliott, Scott Bakula, Frances Sternhagen. Not for everyone, but it seems surprisingly sweet now, and because most of the actors (like Scott Bakula and Sam Elliott and Bill Pullman) were not yet famous, it's got a real innocence to it despite... well, don't want to spoil any of the surprises in this amazingly slick screenplay.
I have just discovered that www.hulu.com has some complete movies that you can see online for free. (They also have tons of TV shows.) There are lots of excerpts from movies so you have to look to find the complete ones, but the price is right, and if you're home and unexpectedly have time to watch something, it's a great resource. LOTS of classic old TV shows if you have a half hour or so.
Be very careful if you go to some of the other free TV sites online. Some of them are known to put viruses and spyware on your computer, especially the Chinese ones (sina.com) and some of the others. Hulu is owned by NBC and some other big companies, and they are about as safe as you can get.