Must See

To Kill A Mockingbird~Gregory Peck sets the bar for heroes and fathers. Classic. Buy it and watch it again and again.

Little Miss Sunshine~Yes, a whacky family with lots of problems but in the end, they stick together like a team and they work toward a common goal.

The Bucket List~Touching, humorous adventure of two terminally ill patients discovering themselves, life, and death. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. What more could you want?

The Savages~Wow! At a time when many of us Baby Boomers are going through caring for our aging parents, this movie strikes a chord. A brother and sister must deal with their aging father’s homelessness and dementia while also going through their own personal challenges, complicated by two facts: 1.) they were abandoned by this same father at an early age; 2.) they are both just about to find themselves after many years of floundering.

Under the Tuscan Sun~ I like movies with strong, independent women.  This was one of those.  It is based on the semi-autobiographical novel written by Frances Mayes.  After the break up of her marriage (which in reality is not as portrayed in the novel), Frances Mayes goes to Italy on a group tour.  She is captivated by a villa that the bus drives by and stops the bus and leaves the group.  She buys the villa which is in very bad condition.  She embarks on the journey of getting the house fixed up and livable, learning the Italian language and customs, and dealing with her dissatisfaction with her personal life.  What happens is magical.

Chocolat~ This is another one of those movies that I saw as one with a strong and independent woman.  Vianne Rocher is a single mother.  She comes to a small village in France to begin a new life with her young daughter, Anouk.  They are not accepted by the very religious and traditional citizens of the village.  The only ones that accept her are those that are outcast themselves.  When gypsies come to town, everything changes.

Mona Lisa Smile~Set in the 1950’s, this movie portrays the life of a single woman who leaves her life in California to teach at Wellesley, an all women’s private and very prestigious university in Massachusetts.  The town she arrives in is very unaccepting of single women who don’t fit the traditional roles they are used to.  As a feminist, Miss Watson is outcast when she begins to challenge her young students to go after what they want and to be their own person.  The place is not ready for feminism but Miss Watson manages to plant seeds!