In honor of the Academy Awards last night and in honor of Lord of the Rings and Peter Jackson, I present the next ten movies on my list. I know all of you are waiting with bated breath to see my picks–still in alphabetical order, of course.
21. Driving Miss Daisy (1989) This movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1989, and Jessica Tandy won Best Actress. It’s about the friendship between an elderly Southern Jewish lady and her black chauffer. Third Daughter says it’s extremely boring, but I like old people and relationship movies.
22. Emma (1996) Jane Austen is the best novelist ever, and even though I don’t care much for Gwyneth Paltrow, but Jeremy Northam is good as Mr. Knightly. We watched this one at a REACH retreat last year, and all the moms enjoyed it.
23. Fantasia (1940) Classic Disney. Surely, just about anyone in North America who hears the music to “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” thinks of Mickey Mouse and his broom.
24. Father Goose (1964) Another Cary Grant movie, this time with Leslie Caron on a deserted Pacific island during WW 2.
25. Father of the Bride (1950) Spencer Tracy makes a better father than Steve Martin, more twinkle-in-the-eye. And Elizabeth Taylor is beautiful as usual.
26. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Anyone who isn’t a LOTR fan by now just doesn’t get it, and I probably can’t explain it. Suffice it to say that Peter Jackson and all the cast and crew of all three movies deserved all the Oscars they won last night and then some. If you think the movies are good (and they are), the books are even better. Frodo lives!
27. Fiddler on the Roof (1971) Tevye the Jewish milkman talks to God and tries to understand his wife Golde and looks for husbands for his six daughters.
Perchik: Money is the world’s curse.
Tevye: May the Lord smite me with it. And may I never recover.
Tevye: As the good book says ‘Each shall seek his own kind’. In other words a bird may love a fish but where would they build a home together?
28. Finding Nemo (2002) I’m Dory. “Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming . . .”
29. Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) Jessica Tandy again, in a nursing home sharing her memories with Kathy Lee Bates. It’s kind of a mystery, reminiscence, Southern, chick flick with zero romance, sort of feminist but not too.
30. Funny Girl (1968) I can’t stand Barbra Streisand, and I love her singing and acting. In fact, there are at least three Barbra Streisand movies on this list, and in one of them she doesn’t even sing much. In this one she does sing, and she plays an insecure Jewish actress who becomes rich and famous but never can quite believe the the Ugly Duckling has turned into a Swan.
All good movies. You should see them, Eldest Daughter. What’s your score so far? How many out of 30 have you seen?