Top 10 Favorite Holiday Movies

“Top 10″ lists are all the rage these days, and I’m a fan of them. I read them all, and some of them are much like my own. The holiday season is upon us and this is my favorite time of the year. There’s nothing I like more during this season, than to curl up on my couch in my warmest pajamas and fuzzy slipper socks, a glass of warm, spiced wine in my grip, and one of my favorite holiday movies on my tube. In my opinion, some of the best holiday movies are:

• A Christmas Carol (every version made)
• White Christmas
• Holiday Inn
• The Polar Express
• A Christmas Story
• It’s A Wonderful Life
• The Santa Claus
• Christmas In Connecticut
• The Man Who Came to Sinner
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Does your list look like mine? What’s missing? Check back next week for my top 10 favorite holiday family specials.

Movies to Scare a Nice Girl

With Halloween just around the corner, everyone pulls out their top ten or top five favorite scary movies of all time. While I agree with most of them, I wanted to share my own personal top ten list of movies that I love to pull out of my stack o’ DVD’s during this time of year. It’s become a tradition, in my home, to choose two or three from this list, on or around Halloween night, grab a glass of wine, some snacks and a thick blanket, and settle in for a spooky night. Oh yes, we do put the little ones to bed and turn out all the lights in the house.

Starting with the number ten spot:

10. Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist: A young family are visited by ghosts in their home. At first the ghosts appear friendly, moving objects around the house to the amusement of everyone, then they turn nasty and start to terrorize the family before they “kidnap” the youngest daughter. (Summary written by Rob Hartill) This film was made back in the 80’s and the special effects left a lot to be desired, but what I love about this movie is that it’s all about our childhood fears. Spielberg, that great storyteller, has taken everything that scares us and put it into one movie. The thunder storms, the clown, the closet, what lives under the bed, are all things that make up a child’s worst nightmares. Thanks for that, Mr. Spielberg.

9. Disney’s Hocus Pocus: More than 300 years ago, 3 witches were sentenced to die in Salem, Massachusetts and a boy was turned into a cat (a black cat, naturally). Now it’s Halloween, and the witches (who fly on [I kid you not] vacuum cleaners) are back. This time, they’ve got their eyes on immortal life and have turned their wrath on trick-or-treaters and it’s up to the 300-year-old cat to save the day. (Summary written by Steve Derby of sderby@sdeco.com.) Go ahead and laugh at me. While it’s not a scary movie, I love the Halloween-ness of it. It’s got witches, a black cat and Bette Midler.

8. The Others: It’s nearing the end of the Second World War and Grace Stewart lives with her photosensitive children in a large and silent house. After her previous servants went missing, Grace accepted the offers of work from three new servants. Since these three have entered the home, strange events occur, and Grace begins to wonder if it’s her sanity getting the better of her or if there is something much more in the house with them. (Summary written by FilmFanUk) It had been a very long time before seeing this movie that I had been left speechless at the end of any movie. This one was so cleverly done that I did not see the twist at the end; I didn’t even suspect what was going on. It was edge-of-your-seat, psychological, thriller. Nicole Kidman was awesome in it, as were the two kids who played her children.

7. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960): For Marion Crane, it’s been quite an eventful day. The day before, she had stolen $40,000 from her employer’s client, packed her bags and driven all day on her way to join her paramour several hundred miles away. Now, she is taking a relaxing hot shower after her long day’s journey. The remoteness of the motel suit her purposes perfectly. The only sounds heard are the chirping of the crickets, the splashing of the water, and her humming contentedly as the hot needles of water caress her aching shoulders. (Summary written by filmfactsman.) This was the first really scary movie I had ever seen in my life. Even though I have seen the movie multiple times and I know what’s coming, I still find myself screaming at Marion to not go into that damn shower. Anthony Perkins was singularly the creepiest crepp I had ever seen on the silver screen.

6. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?: Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, who’s career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. Now the two live together, their relationship affected by simmering subconscious thoughts of mutual envy, hate and revenge. (Summary written by filmfactsman.) Not only is this movie spooky, it has the dynamic duo of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. There’s nothing more I can add to that.

5. The Grudge: Karen Davis is an American Nurse who moves to Tokyo and encounters a supernatural spirit who is vengeful and often possesses its victims. A series of horrifying and mysterious deaths start to occur, with the spirit passing its curse onto each victim. Karen must now find away to break this spell, before she becomes its next victim. (Summary written by simon.) Horror without the gore. Just nail-biting, screech-worthy, psychological thrills.

4. The Ring: Rachel Keller is a journalist investigating a videotape that may have killed four teenagers (including her niece). There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. If the legend is correct, Rachel will have to run against time to save her son’s and her own life. (Summary written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.) This movie scared so badly that I actually slept with my bedroom lights on after watching it. In fact, we usually follow this movie up with a light-hearted, non-sensical, comedy.

3. Dark Water: Dahlia Williams and her daughter Cecelia move into a rundown apartment on New York’s Roosevelt Island. She is currently in midst of divorce proceedings and the apartment, though near an excellent school for her daughter, is all she can afford. From the time she arrives, there are mysterious occurrences and there is a constant drip from the ceiling in her daughter’s bedroom. There are also the noises coming from the apartment directly above hers, though it would appear to be vacant. Is the apartment haunted or is there a simpler explanation? (Summary written by garykmcd.) This movie has its moments that make you jump, but at the end of it, it turns out to be a very sad story. It’s a classic favorite for a dark and stormy night.

2. Disturbia: After his father is killed in a car accident, things unravel for Kale Brecht and he is placed under house-arrest for punching his Spanish teacher. Having nothing better to do, Kale occupies himself by spying on his neighbors. But one night, he witnesses what appears to be a murder going on in Mr. Turner’s house. Kale becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth behind these murders but, after a few unsettling run-ins with Mr. Turner, it becomes a matter of life and death. And the ominous question: Who is watching who? (Summary written by O.G.) This movie stars Shia LaBeouf, which means you will laugh…just before you gasp and don’t exhale until the end of the movie.

1. The Haunting (1963): Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigates Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity. With him are the skeptical young Luke, who stands to inherit the house, the mysterious and clairvoyant Theodora and the insecure Eleanor, whose psychic abilities make her feel somehow attuned to whatever spirits inhabit the old mansion. As time goes by it becomes obvious that they have gotten more than they bargained for as the ghostly presence in the house manifests itself in horrific and deadly ways. (Summary written by Doug Sederberg {vornoff@sonic.net}) Once upon a time, two little girls were left at home to babysit their younger siblings, while their parents went out to a party. When those parents came home late that night, the two little girls, who were watching a scary movie in the upstairs rooms and did not here the parents come home until they heard noises in the house they couldn’t identify, ran screaming down the stairs and into their arms. Those two little girls were my older sister and myself and this was the movie we were watching. The ghost had just been pounding on the bedroom door, where two women sat huddled under a blanket. To this day, whenever I watch this movie, I make sure I have a blanket handy because I know for sure, the chilling fingers of terror will surround me once again.

Care to share what movies are on your Halloween list?

Reading, Movies and Television Shows

True Blood, Merlin, Lipstick Jungle, Sex and the City, Vampire Diaries. These are just a few of the recent television shows that were based on books, and have become popular shows we love(d) to watch. Often, we watch these shows and then we want to go read the books. Sometimes we are disappointed that the books are not exactly  like the show, and visa-versa. However, there are enough of us around that can appreciate both.

I am an avid reader. I have been ever since I learned to read. I read Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse books before the series aired on HBO. I’ve read many books about Merlin. I was over the moon when I found out they were making a movie based on a beloved young adult series I had read while in my teenage years, The Lord of the Rings.   But what I wanted to talk about was how the two have effected my choices in what I watch or read. And not just me, but my family as well. The idea hit me when I took my two kids to the library, recently, and my 9 year-old son was looking for something for his book report. He has been watching Merlin with me every Sunday night since it premiered, and now he wants to read all about Merlin and Arthur.

Now, you may think this is not such a big deal, but let me tell you, my son is a do-er, first and formost. He’s an active little boy who doesn’t like to waste time reading when there is a baseball to be tossed or a make-shift ramp to ride his bike over. The very fact that he wanted to pick out a book to read thrilled me to no end. And not just one book, he found three! This little guy, who hasn’t kept still since he was still in the womb, stuck his pointy, sloaping, little nose into his books, when we got home, and didn’t come out until he had finished them, cover to cover. Granted, they were short stories, but it was a start! He was reading.

My daughter, by contrast, is a bookworm. She’s my Hermione Granger. Her candy store is Borders and her playground is our local library. She doesn’t need much motivation to get her to read. She’s 12 years old and reads at a 10th grade level. With her, it’s what she reads that influences what she wants to see on the screen. She read Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings before watching the films. She’s added Jane Austen to her list because she watched Pride and Prejudice and Emma on television.

The two avenues of entertainment compliment each other so well. They’ve been together for many, many years, and have had a very successful relationship. So why is it that Hollywood can’t seem to come up with anything other than sequels or remakes? There are so many wonderful stories sitting on bookshelves around the world that are waiting to be made. Crying out to be made into a movie or tv series. To be fair, I think Hollywood is slowly beginning to move in that general direction. What a delight when The Secret Life of Bees was released. I was tickled pink when they made Confessions of a Shopaholic into a movie. My kids were thrilled at Horton Hears A Who!. And now, as my son and I waited with bated breath for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night, we saw the trailer for a new movie, due out this October, called Where the Wild Things Are, bbased on a children’s book written by Maurice Sendak. My son did not exhale until after the trailer ended, and his eyes were as big as saucers.

I know there have already been many great books that have made it to the silver screen. But instead of yet another version of Saw, or a remake of a movie that was gold when it was first made, let’s get out the ole library card and find some new ideas. For now, I’m off to the library to get Where the Wild Things Are for my son.

Nice Girls Recommend: Oprah!

On Thursday’s episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, it’s a bevy of nice girls when the cast of The Secret Life of Bees stops by for a chat. Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo will sit down with Oprah to discuss the film, based on the best selling book, and answer viewer questions. Plus, Alicia Keys closes out the show with her hit song “Superwoman”! The film opens in theaters October 17.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBbVo3lFAnE[/youtube]