List o' Films

I'll start off this conversation with a list, because I like lists. I recently saw on Facebook an app to list one's 5 favorite movies to watch over and over. I had a hard time with thinking of 5.

I have to start with Sense & Sensibility, the Emma Thompson version. In high school I had a teeny tiny television in my room with an old VCR, and I would watch that movie over and over in the evenings. When I'm sick, it's a comfort, and when I'm otherwise engaged, it's a calm background of familiar sounds. My favorite part is near the end when Emma Thompson's character bursts out into unexpected tears. I always get choked up there.

I put Meet Joe Black next on my list, but, in retrospect, I can watch it every once in a while, but it's the music I really like. Thomas Newman (the composer for the movie) has his own little section on my iPod that has music from Meet Joe Black, Little Women (the Winona Ryder one), and Road to Perdition. In fact, he has two sections on my iPod: one for himself and one titled "Tom & Jane" that includes select pieces from his work and my two favorite Jane Austen movies (the previously mention S&S and the most recent P&P).

Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally are two of my favorite romantic comedies. In fact, I also like that other Tom/Meg movie, You've Got Mail. I also enjoy the previous remake of that original storyline with James Stewart called The Shop Around the Corner. I can watch those anytime. It's so easy just to sit down with old friends like Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

Speaking of older films, I always laugh at The Thin Man movies, and can watch those repeatedly. Another absolute favorite older movie that I like to come back to on a regular basis is an old Greer Garson classic, Random Harvest. You spend a good half of the movie wondering when and if they're ever going to get together again.

Actual movies that I can watch over & over must include holiday films. That brings me to The Muppets' Christmas Carol. I guess it's mostly sentimentality for watching the movie together with my sister and re-creating the fight between the two kids in the bottom corner of the screen during the song "It Feels Like Christmas". (Watch it. When the big guy starts singing, watch the bottom left corner. Cute. Funny.) I've been known to pull that out in July when the Texas heat is unbearable and I'm starting to miss the spirit of the holiday season. But that's just me.

I wouldn't be truly me, though, if I didn't admit that anytime I come across the Star Wars movies, I almost have to stop and watch it. And Dirty Dancing. Ok. That's it. For now.

So, Claire, tag.
Share your thoughts.