I’ve been going through my DVD collection recently and found a couple old favorites that are good for Fall, for rainy days, generally any time.
They aren’t perfect films and some didn’t age as well as other perhaps but I enjoyed them, they always make me smile and are well worth catching if you haven’t seen them already!
Actually, this one is really good for this time of year. It’s also why you don’t drink magic potions before you hear the downside. Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn play two vain women who find the secret to eternal life, beauty and youth. Bruce Willis is hysterical as the man between them who they may slowly drive crazy as they try to kill each other time and again even though they can’t die.
I watched this a couple years after it came out when I was first getting into films and remember thinking Meryl Streep can’t actually be funny can she? She can and the three of them… I’d love to see them work together again!
When the typical cold politician President suffers a massive stroke while having an affair his aides cover it up and turn to his one time double thinking they can pull the strings. Unfortunately Dave actually likes being President and he’s pretty good at it. Between this and The American President I preferred this one and I loved the relationship between Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver. Plus baby Ving Rhames!
Okay this might be controversial because I know a lot of people who hated the ending. But I kind of… loved it. The always awesome Ed Harris and company find themselves trapped in a deep ocean rig at the edge of a trench. I love the claustrophobia of the being trapped and the use of the great, vast unexplored ocean and what might be causing the trouble. Also there’s a subplot of a slowly unraveling soldier with a weapon that could kill them all.
This Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood is a little corny but it’s enjoyable fun for a Sunday with some hot chocolate and left over holiday pie. I kind of loved Robin Hoods relationship with the Christian Slater character. Morgan Freeman is always great. But I will always love this movie for introducing me to Alan Rickman (never interested in Die Hard) who was completely over the top but I never loved that character more.
I never liked baseball but for some reason I always adored this film. While World War II is being fought a league of female players takes shape. Geena Davis and Tom Hanks are the leads. I even liked Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell in this one in supporting roles as best friend players. I really enjoyed how they did the baseball in this and found myself interested in the games as well as the characters.
Fulfilled my love of stories about writing. Nicolas Cage plays a screenwriter who is having severe trouble adapting Susan Orleans The Orchid Thief. (Meryl Streep plays Susan.) I didn’t know anything going into this movie and honestly you should probably keep it that way because it just spins into something so totally unexpected.
I had no idea where this one was going and was wonderfully surprised. Plus great performances all around.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman play witch sisters under a curse where any man who falls in love with them (or any woman in the family) dies early. Sister stories. Witches. Magic. A great Halloween film when they find themselves haunted. Plus and considering I’m generally not on the romance train wagon Practical Magic has one of my all time favorite kisses.
Not to mention it just turned 20 this week and I kind of want to cry!
So those are some old favorites well-worth checking out.