Happy Mother's Day Movie List

I'm not very good at getting original gifts for Mother's Day (and usually don't have the cash anyways) so cleaning the house is about all my mom can expect from me today. But I do have a blog so I'm gonna post her 10 favorite movies. In no particular order (because just getting her to narrow the list to 10 was enough of an ordeal without her having to organize it), and with several appearances from films in my Top 100, here are my mom's favorite 10 movies (as far as she can remember):

• The Way We Were (1973): Let's get this out of the way early: My mom is a huge Streisand fan. Huge. Ask her what kind of music she likes and she'll hem and haw and the only fact you'll be able to discern is that she loves Barbra Streisand. She's pretty keen on '70's golden boy Robert Redford as well. And who wasn't? Hubble Gardener is completely gorgeous. Truth be told, I love this one too. Streisand's passionate Katy is one of her best performances. The title song is sentimental, but effective. And the girls on "Sex and the City" all love so it must be great!
  
• Monsters Inc. (2002): I didn't know my mom liked this one that much. At least not enough for a desert island Top 10 list (which I had to really explain to her in order for her to just tell me the must-have movies and not the ones she likes, just, you know, okay.) I presume her regard has a lot to do with Boo, the cutest cartoon girl ever, and her adorable laugh. (Wait, she just informed me that she also thinks it's very clever, with the closet doors and all, and that she likes how Sully learns that he's actually scaring the kids and feels bad about it. Look for "reform" to be a big idea later on the list.)
  
• Rear Window (1954): My mom's a total Hitchcock junkie, which is actually very good taste. (I really don't give her enough credit for that; I assume most people have lesser tastes than myself, which is the only acceptable attitude for self-declared cinephiles to take, isn't it?) But really, the list could have just been 10 Hitchcock movies and it would have been pretty close to the mark. But this really is one of her favorites, as well as one of mine. Somehow Jimmy Stewart watching all the action happen through binoculars from wheelchair never gets old. Plus mom really likes Grace Kelly, thinks her character is "spunky" and really likes her wardrobe (which seems unusual for my mom to even notice, so kudos!)
  
• Pride and Prejudice (2005): Damn mom, stop picking movies I like. I've already written about them! As mom put it, this is a movie she can watch "any time, all the time." She's never sick of it. I don't blame her; the love/hate romance that develops between Elizabeth and Darcy is a true blue classic. Mom's also a big fan of the recent OPB miniseries "Jane Eyre," which for my money, presents the only version of Mr. Rochester that was ever worth all the effort. Toby Stephens is actually damn sexy in the role. Mom and I watched that mini at least 4 times in the 3 months after it premiered.
  
• Far and Away (1992): All anyone ever remembers about this is that Tom Cruise has a crappy Irish accent. I suppose that's true; it's definitely not an award winner. But he and Nicole Kidman have really great chemistry (another love/hate relationship) and I enjoy the tension in their class differences. I actually remember seeing this one in the theater (probably one of my first "grown-up" movie experiences; I was about 10 at the time?), and I saw it with both of my parents. The credits feature that great Enya song (yes, Enya - we love her) "Book of Days" which directly led to my purchase of "Shepard Moon" for my 11th birthday. You can pretty much guarantee my mom will always be in the mood to watch this one.
  
• Beauty and the Beast (1991): I also saw this in the theater with my mom (and her best friend and all the kids - it was a full group endeavor), and as I've said before, nothing is as magical as the opening prologue of this film. That beautiful score playing while telling the story through stained glass panels was sublime. Mom likes it because Belle isn't just a fairy princess; she likes to read, dammit! And mom's also a sucker for the Beast redeeming himself. And in another show of good taste, her favorite song is the clever and operatic opening number "Provincial Life" which is probably is most fun to sing along with (except for maybe "Gaston" which is my personal fave).
  
• Notorious (1946): Her favorite Hitchcock. It took us a really long time to track a copy of this one down so I only saw it for the first time this past year. I liked it so much I wrote a Check This Out blog about it. Mom likes seeing Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant play slightly against type (they were usually so charming that it's initially a little off-putting to see them be so callous to one another) and once again she's attracted to the idea of characters who redeem themselves. She also finds the whole plot involving Claude Rains as a Nazi sympathizer particularly compelling. (For those of you who were wondering, her short list also included Hitchcock's Rebecca, Dial M for Murder, North by Northwest and Shadow of a Doubt.)
  
• The Fugitive (1993): My mom's a nurse so she works with a lot of doctors and she is just relieved to see a nice doctor in Richard Kimble finally portrayed on film. :) Obviously this movie has more going for it than that, like a great action/thriller plot, Harrison Ford's humble performance as the harried everyman, and a great ensemble cast of "characters" led by Tommy Lee Jones brillinat portrayal of Sam Gerard. I, of course, love this one too. And I am still unable to adequately explain why. This film's perfection just defies my comprehension.
  
• Funny Girl (1968): More Streisand. Proving herself one of silver screen's most adept comedienne's, she won Best Actress for her portryal of Fanny Brice, the early 1900's songstress who became a Ziegfield folly. And Streisand is charming. Look at her then, with her creamy skin and violet eyes (I know that supposed to be Liz Taylor's bag, but there are scenes here where I swear Steisand deserved the title) belting out vulnerable emotion in "People" and "My Man", only to turn and deliver pratfalls and adept comedic timing while singing, skating and dancing. It's truly a tour-de-force performance and mom's prerequisite musical on the list.
  
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003): I think this is one she really likes to watch with dad. There's enough suspense and action to make this a guy movie (although my dad's tastes are much broader than that - he has 4 daughters, they'd have to be) but it's really a character study. As a family, we love the A&E Horatio Hornblower flicks about the Royal Navy, and Master and Commander is right in line with that, only sporting more spectacular scenery and a lot more portentious gloom. At it's heart it's about the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) and Doctor Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), their differing ideologies and their complementary bond. Really is a great flick for married couples - a little something for everyone.

So, Happy Mother's Day Mom! And next time I give you flack for not "knowing" as much as me, or for having inferior taste in film, you can just throw this list, which includes at least 5 movies from my top 100, back in my face and tell me to shove it!

(But I know my mom will probably never read this because she still can't figure out how to use a computer search engine! So HA! I win! :) )