What are some of your favorite movies to watch and why?

Finished, I too found Game Change fascinating, and watched it several times as I did Too Big to Fail, also based on actual events as Bernanke, Paulson and the titans of the financial industry jousted and tried to address the impending financial collapse, while the latter category also looked out for its own interests.

Was your husband a Force Recon Marine? I'm wondering if you and he have ever watched Executive Decision? I've watched it several times as well.

glasshalffull, I think the reason we all like to watch these movies is because if they're any good they provide a temporary escape from our lives and all the stress entailed in being a caregiver. It's a nice break. one movie my husband and I watch repeatedly is called Game Change with Woody Harrelson and Julianne Moore, Ed Harris does a great job as John McCain...this movie is based on the Obama vs McCain campaign. Sarah Palin, as we all remember was McCain's running mate. We feel Julianne Moore should have won an Oscar for her portrayal of Sarah Palin. I think part of the reason I watch this movie incessantly is because it was the first time in my adult life that I was unable to vote in a presidential election because I was in the hospital receiving my stem cell transplant. Some small part of me feels like things could have been different if I could have voted. I know how ridiculous that sounds but I still remember vomiting while the nurses ran through the hallways saying we have a new president. I think the chemo was only part of the reason for my illness that night. You mentioned you like The Day After Tomorrow. a funny side note the actor that played the President of the United States was my neighbor at the time. He is a Yale grad. He is actually a very interesting person. A couple other really good true stories are The Informant starring Matt Damon... You won't believe it's a true story but it is!! Also Catch Me If You Can with Tom Hanks... Another excellent true story. My husband doesn't like to waste his time watching fiction, & I tend to agree with him. reality is just so fascinating why waste our time with WiFi, etc. Of course this is just our opinion. more recently Captain Phillips was excellent with Tom Hanks playing the part of the captain of the cargo ship
The Mersk from Alabama, which was hijacked by Somali pirates. The part where our Navy SEALs came in and took care of business made me want to stand up and cheer!! My husband is a former Marine and he was the Marine equivalent to a Navy SEAL during his career so it is especially interesting watching these kind of movies with him because he can always tell me what their next move is going to be and why. If you are dealing with Alzheimer's in your family, as we did with my beloved mother for many years, a little known film called Away From Her was extremely well done. Julie Christie plays the lead female role and Olympia Dukakis, and everyone else was amazing as well. This movie we felt was very realistic, and gut wrenching at the same time. That's what Alzheimer's is. Probably the worst disease in existence. Definitely the most cruel.

I have always loved the Grapes of Wrath movie. I grew up listening to my parents and grandparents talking about living through the Oklahoma dust bowl era and coming to California in search of work and better living conditions. I have several pictures of the tent camps they lived in.

IloveMom, I love comedies, too. But not comical comedies like Airplane or Police Academy. I prefer movies like Speed, Miss Congeniality. I still laugh when I watch Adventures in Babysitting. I can still watch re-runs of The Secret Garden. I rarely watch movies now. My attention span is not like it used to be.

I still have in my bedroom the VHS (boy, I need to go and get the DVD versions) of = Citizen X (Russia's serial killer, so sad he killed soooo many children) .
= The Lost Battalion (Rick Shroeder, US battalian surrounded by Germans during WWI)
= A Thousand Heroes (UA232 crashed in 1989... I still cry when I watch this.)

I like comedy.. Can't watch anything too harsh anymore. I need something to get me laughing..Night at the Museum movies are fun. Airplane is funny. Cooking shows...I know how to make toast now :)

Got it! It's DUSK TO DAWN. Tarintino film, Keitel, Clooney, take on vampires in desert road house bar. I think they've just come out with a sequel. It's not for the squeamish.

Another great flic, SHAUN OF THE DEAD. Best zombie spoof ever! Brit film with the two lovable slackers who save the day.

Windy...Don't know....but love Harvey Keitel.....is it "The Cleaner"?....Don't think I even knew George Clooney was in a Taratino movie....really?

Up here at the end of the earth, we just used an antennae for years until broadcasts went digital and we lost most of the stations. Used to even get Green Bay WI. Could watch the PACKER REPORT on Sun morning. So, had to get the d*mn dish. We get Netflix DVDs when the stage coach comes through...

Black dog, what's the Tarantino movie with George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, shoot em up vampire, bloody mess in an old roadhouse?

ha!ha!....you guys are too funny....I have never had cable....refuse to pay for it....yeah, I have "antenna TV" and, yesss....it sucks big time but I do get both Detroit and Canadian channels so....a pretty decent choice....considering it's FREE....yes, I know some don't have a choice, so I'm lucky...very...just to throw out some viewing thoughts.....ever seen New Tricks, a Brit thing, I've got the DVDs....a bunch of very retired Brit detectives who go back to work for a very ....hmmmm....let's just say very good looking, younger (but not really all that young herself, which I love) Sr Detective....? Quite good.....Also, anyone checked out "Headhunters"?....movie based on a Jo Nesbo novel...delicious noir if you are into that....and, finally, yesss, people will not like me for this, BUT, Resevoir Dogs.....yesss....Quintan Tarantino....early....perfect killers, perfect crime, perfect cross and double cross....and on and on.....sorry, because, yes, it's violent, but I just love a good cross and double cross.....

Yea Flyer, Highway To Hell is much more intellectual than Ice Road Truckers. We're at the end of the earth with direct tv. We were going to cancel cause they kept raising the fees so they offered a cut rate, bottom of the barrel deal for about half the cost and the Weather Channel disappeared. So no more HWTH. I mean, even the cheapest motel has the friggin weather channel!

I'm also an ICE ROAD TRUCKER fan, use to watch it faithfully.... it's been awhile, while scrolling through the channel menu I see it is still on and current. Is Alex [the guy with a dozen kids] still driving, I remember he had an heart issue?

Also liked it when the cast and screw went to India to film driving there. Oh my gosh, and we think our traffic is a mess here !!

I also liked HIGHWAY FROM HELL about tow truckers up in Alaska, very interesting show. Can't find it anymore, it use to be on the Weather channel, but FiSO cancelled the channel :(

Jeanette! ICE ROAD TRUCKER? Get the F. outta here! That's just so KEWEL! Remember the Waylon and Willie song? Don't let em pick gitars and drive them ol trucks , make em be doctors and lawyers and such.......Possible one of the best ever lines in a country song.......

Black Dog.....will you marry me? No..wait. Did I actually type that? My wife would cause lots of trouble, but you just ran through all my favorite movies, like forever! Oh yea. Blood Simple. A masterpiece. We've been watching lots of Orange Is The New Black lately. Great stuff but after each episode I just want to take a long hot shower.

OMG, Jeanette....you are an even more remarkable and interesting woman than I already thought you were.....and I thought I had some weird and interesting jobs over the years (working for the county coroner, interning as a VD epidemiologist)...hope you were well paid!
Windy, totally w/you on Dr. Strangelove (a classic) and Fargo (one of my all time favorites). Watched Fargo again, on TV, several years ago w/Mom back when she was still living in her condo, before the dementia.....she was pretty "meh" on it but not surprising since she prefers the old "Classics" from the 30-40-50's and musicals, which she mostly watches now.....
Vividly remember "discovering" Blood Simple, the Coen bro's first big film release. Told everyone I knew....see this film....dark, noir, hilarious and quirky '88, maybe....add most of Hitchcock (for sure The Birds and Rear Window), The Usual Suspects (incredible Kevin Spacey), No Country for Old Men (another Coen bro's), American Hustle (more recent, hilariously brutal take on the real ABSCAM con), Glengarry Glen Ross and one of David Mamet's early ones w/Joe Mantegna, House of Games (another great, entertaining con game w/a twist).....OTOH, I loved Tremors....what a great, over-the-top just fun movie, didn't even know there were sequels, but would add Arachnaphobia (w/John Goodman as a hilarious pest remover) for pure over-the-top scary fun....gave it to a friend of mine and she was p.o'd.....said she didn't sleep for days....jeez...I just thought it was fun!
Re: TV....unbelievably, I (admittedly terrible cook) am into cooking shows....lots of PBS and Masterchef...I find them comforting.....unbelievably bored w/most series after a few episodes, although I did like a recent one about 2 detectives, set here in Michigan, can't remember the name (Grand Rapids isn't right)....anyway, I thought it was pretty well done, good leads, some interesting stories.....but I'm more of a reader....speaking of which, check out the movie, Winter's Bone based on an excellent book, young Jennifer Lawrence (excellent and award-nominated) and for once, the movie lives up to the excellent novel. Hope you are all enjoying a lovely Saturday evening movie....to your taste, of course!

Oh Eddie,, I have to laugh about Maury! A friend was over one day , and my car was in the shop where hubs worked. She and I watched "Who's my baby daddy" for a few hours and went to get the car.. We walked in and all the guys asked how our day was. We said "We were watching Maury and we hate all men"... They were just laughing so hard! Although we probably should have said "Some women are just WRONG"!

Windyridge, believe it or not, I once was a "Ice Road Trucker". I hauled several ATCO Units up and down the haul road in Alaska. Some of those so called hills, used to scare the beejesus out of me, not to mention stopping to take a pee while a black bear looked at you. haha, those were the FUN days. The other 3 on your list.... ZzZZzz

For sleep aid, in this order:

ICE ROAD TRUCKERS

NASCAR

BASEBALL

GOLF

All better than any sleep drugs known to mankind.......

To manage my anger, martial arts movies with a moral content soothe the beast in me. They wear me out. When I want to pamper myself I watch Lifetime all day. But the fridge has to be stocked with sugar and fat. When I'm edgy, I watch tawdry shows like Caso Cerrado and Maury, with their negative DNA results and twisted, dysfunctional relationships. If I'm sick, Law & Order marathons and sci-fi. ... Caregiving might be the epicenter of our lives, but there have to be enough "me" times when it's all about you. If you think this is selfish, you're either working on martyrdom or just plain hating.

Bookluvr, me too, that is what I do watching a movie. Perfect example was the modern day slang used in an old, historic movie setting before those words were used. The movie makers call this artistic license to cover for their failure to edit.

I don't watch movies at all. I have no patience to watch it through. At least with a book, I can skip pages until I reach the good parts. Then get confused because I skipped something important, and backtrack to read the pages I skipped.

Plus, I'm a pain in the b*tt when watching movies. I'm busy muttering, "That's impossible! No one can do that!" Watched Narnia with my nieces/nephews, I was muttering throughout the movie (in the theater), "They just got their powers and suddenly know how to use it?!" After the movie was over, I declared to my nieces/nephew that I will no longer watch movies again. Or on another movie, "That phrase was not common on those times! That's today's modern slang!"

I did watch Still Alice on the airplane. As I was watching it, I couldn't help thinking of mom. I cried while watching it. Poor mom. She must have known she was going crazy and that's why she went crazy accusing us of stealing from her and trying to make her crazy. I've never really cared to watch movies - unless it's comedy. I've watched Legally Blonde several times. The first time I watched it, I hated it. But, the more I watched it, I started liking it and laughing. But I don't like it enough to go and watch the part 2.

Anyone watching Orange Is The New Black? Pretty blond girl goes to prison with all the underclass. Can be rough to watch but amazing show......

Send my daughter loved Burn Notice! I was in the ER once for 8 hours, and daughter was sitting with me.. and we watched a BN marathon. (Thank goodness for TVs in the cubbies!) I really liked it too.

Glass, you would enjoy talking with my husband about what's wrong with movies. He is always mentioning whether the character has arched. Buf then, not allowed to talk during the show!!!!

I enjoy pointing out far-fetched discrepancies in the script or plot. Just like in breaking news today: DT gave a speech in Nh today. Isn't that nice the donald is interested in the nursing homes. Did anybody hear, did they keep him? To quote DT in the Serta commercials with the sheep: "Where's your dignity?". No one I have asked remembers that commercial, maybe because Serta fired him. Really, he is talking to sheep! Where is your dignity, donald?

Glasshalfful, remembering some of those movies I too have watched before! Not sure of the exact names, but the freezing world one was intense!
Do not watch scary movies as a rule, but intense is good if I've run out of other things to watch and I just want to watch something DH is watching. We have popcorn too.

Pamz, my favorites are t.v. episodes, the ones I can watch 2-3 a night. One is 'Bones', the other was 'The Good Wife' , and in agreement with what someone mentioned before, that show was good until politics took over the legal focus.

Another favorite was 'Burn Notice', loved the team, an ex-FBI agent, psycho girlfriend "Should we shoot them?", and Michael Weston's mother!!!

Windy, thanks for the heads up on the two hotel movies. My husband puts it up there and refuses to tell me the name of what I am watching until later! His reasoning is unclear, however, have watched the movie 'Gaslight'.

Pamz, glad that you were able to see at least one of the movies. Did not occur to me that 'Second Best' indicated that there must have been a 'First Best Hotel.

Dinner happened, the movie was never continued...crazy-making, having to beg to see the movie. Should not mention this, but 'movies' have become a source of irritation in this household. Going to really whine about this later on another thread.

Finished, and what a creative ending to "Away from Her"! That movie led me to contemplate the rationale behind not being able to see a loved one in a facility for was it 30 days or more? That is, in my opinion, such a self-serving and controlling policy.

No, I was talking about a movie called "Away From Her", it is about a couple experiencing Alzheimer's. in my humble opinion it is a very realistic portrayal of the progression of the disease and the effects it has on the loved ones. My husband, however, is very fond of the series black sails.

If we were talking about TV shows... and now I will...LOL I love Black Sails!!
I DVR it when we get Showtime free, and rented the first season from the library. I also love Ripper Street and used to watch Copper!

Away From Her was definitely helpful for me because my mom had Alzheimer's and it was an extremely visceral portrayal of what goes on between two married people when one begins to become increasingly symptomatic. The movie shows how heartbreaking it is for the rest of the family. In this case, the Husband...very realistic.

Just got through watching "Karate Kid".... lot of lessons in that movie.... for some reason my ribs are hurting now :P