Netflix Goodies!

Just loaded up my Netflix queue! I just love Netflix! Based on my ratings when I watch movies it reccommends new ones for me, or suggests by catagory, etc. I just reviewed all the Oscar winners for Best Picture and added a few.
I just watched the top three movies, (and included reviews)- the others are coming soon.

Love getting that red envelope in the mail.... ;)

Laura
(didn't like... too forced and non-likable characters. Didn't finish)


2 The Stratton Story
Good ol' Jimmy Stewart and good ol' June Allyson as baseball pitcher Monty Stratton and his (perfect..lol) wife. Funny thing as these same actors were paired up as Glenn Miller and wife in the Glenn Miller Story.. had trouble switching from trombone to baseball bat. But nice, happy, inspiring movie and I googled Monty Stratton after I watched it and learned something new.


3 Command Decision
Really liked it- so did Bryan. All male cast. Clark Gable (love him...) and this WWII film was made after the war. First WWII film (so I understand) that showed the flawed relationship between the military/politicians/media. Yes! We saw some of the same issues we are seeing today.. Miliary trying to do their job, fat politicians trying to position it with the public and their careers and media (newspapermen) sometimes allies, sometimes not.
Recommend...

And these are coming to my 'theater' soon!






Leave Her to Heaven


Something the Lord Made


A Lesson Before Dying


Since You Went Away
UR Classics Now

So Proudly We Hail!


Schindler's List


All Quiet on the Western Front


How Green Was My Valley


A Man for All Seasons

I Remember Mama

What a sweet, lovely movie. I will have to Google this, as I bet is is autobiographcial of the daugther who narrated and said in the movie she wanted to be a writer. Reminds me of Jo in Little Women.

The movie was made in 1948 but is period set in San Francisco in the 1910-1920 period (I think). There are horses but a few cars. :-)

It is the story of Norweigan immigrants. Wonderful family. Hard working and NOT perfect. I loved the Uncle Chris character.

Oh, and Barbara Bel Geddes played the narrating dd Catherine... I kept seeing shades of the later Miss Ellie of Dallas fame!

Hope you enjoy!I Remember Mama

I Am David

A beautifully filmed powerful movie- loved it.

I Am David website

Oh, and one of my favorite actors played a central role.. Jim Cavezal!

The Wright Stuff

We all loved this American Experience documentary about the Wright Brothers.
For my son who is not into dusty history or long intricate books, we are finding well done biographies fit the bill perfectly.

From the Netflix site:

This compelling documentary chronicles how the eccentric Wright brothers -- two seemingly ordinary young men who ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio -- became self-taught aeronautical engineers and overcame the skepticism of the world to build the first successful flying machine. Garrison Keillor narrates and David McCullough hosts this program that originally aired as an episode of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series "The American Experience.

Dreams

Maria recently posted about her dream.. so I thought I would share one I had last night.

I will skip the confused jumbled part and get to the good part.

A bunch of friends and I were at a party of sorts in a house where there were some good and not so good things going on. I had come into possession of a gold coin. (Probably dreamed about the coin b/c last night before going to bed I watched The Bishop's Wife with Cary Grant, and he was an angel and gave one of the characters an old Roman coin.)

Well, as my dream friends and I came into a difficult situation at this gathering, I looked down in my palm and the coin's face began to show letters. I can't now remember what it said, but it was scriptual and was a message on how to discern that very situation and what to do/say. It changed 5 or 6 more times as the situation changed, and I showed it to two or three trusted friends, and they and I knew it was from God. Oh was a treasure, what a feeling to know God was guiding me directly like that.

Now that I think of it, the movie had a lot of influence on my nocturnal wanderings, as David Niven, the bishop, had a lot of decisions to make and the Cary Grant angel was sent to help him, but nobody knew he was an angel except the bishop. I know the bishop would have loved to share this with his wife, but could not. In my dream my faith-filled friends validated, so it was the best of all worlds... we had God guiding each step in some precarious social situations.

What a nice dream! And having Cary Grant in it was icing on the cake. I really like him. :)

(P.S. for those of you confused about the 'bishop' having a wife... it was Church of England. Boy, watching David Niven struggle with his personal life, his spiritual life, trying to build a cathedral, cowtow to the rich patron, and admit he had no time for his flock... makes me even more thankful we don't have married priests!)

Where Where You on May 5, 1977?

I was getting ready to graduate from high school in a couple of weeks and finding some time, no doubt, to go see the big new blockbuster-to-be: Star Wars!

Well, today we got to re-enact that!

A local homeschool mom called
Alamo Drafthouse and Theater and set up the movie. She then collected money from some 70+ homeschoolers, brought her son's DVD in and they played it for us in full feature format!

On top of that, we had waiters, yes waiters who would bring us our hearts's desires from the Alamo menu all during the movie, wearing black and ducking the screen.

Ok. Did you go to the original showing of Star Wars? Do you remember when the words came scrolling across and the audience cheered? Well, today, we had a whole bunch of moms, dads and kids cheering today... it was like deja vu! So fun.



The boys had long wanted to see this, as it was the 'original' I am told by them. When released on DVD it was cleaned and polished, added to and enhanced, a bit.

We saw the raw. And having seen some documentaries on Star Wars, and living with my two sons who have seen the documentaries multiple times and are very in awe of George Lucus' work, it was a real treat.



About 10 minutes into it, I was having a hard time engaging. The special effects were, shall I say, less than special.


I leaned over to S and asked him if he liked it- was it hokey? He said, "Mom, this is the original STAR WARS!"

Oh.

And it was good. Knowing the history I do about George Lucus and how he pulled this first movie (episode 4) off on a shoestring, it was good. And I must admit, I got into it. Well, I did take a bathroom break and ended up talking to a good friend I never see who had a new baby who is now 13 months and we talked for 10 minutes in the lobby... but I did get into it.

The last scene where Luke blows up the Death Star (sorry for the spoiler, any neophites out there), had me on the edge of my seat.

Awesome!

What a fun day. And now I want to go watch the documentaires again and see how George made the magic happen. It really was magic back then with little budget and no respect.

I always like George Lucas because I heard his mom let him skip school to make movies. That warms my heart. :)

I must admit, my favorite character was Han. And he was as onrey as ever. :)