Movies

Three day weekends are awesome.  They give me the chance to spend time with my family in Cheyenne.  (We're going to the shooting range tomorrow.  Can't you see how happy I am?!?!)

Anyway, today after church, my Dad and I were talking about our favorite movies.  Can we take a minute to appreciate that one of his favorites is "The Little Mermaid?"...(Pause and wait a minute.  I'm serious.)

Good-- and by "good," I mean to say "wholesome"-- entertainment is hard to come by.  There's so much smut on television and in the theaters that I wish we'd stop endorsing.  Movies aren't evil, though.  Through movies I've learned a lot of valuable lessons, discovered powerful role models, and developed unhealthy crushes on fictional characters.  (Captain America, anyone?...  No?...  OK, more for me then.  Will Turner from Pirates of the Caribbean?...  All right.  I'll take him too.)

Here's a list of my Top 5 favorite movies:

5.  Meet Joe Black
It has nothing to do with Brad Pitt being in it.  (Although, I would be lying if I said I didn't think Mr. Pitt has done a wonderful job of aging well.)  There's only one scene to be wary of:  The rest are totally family appropriate.  The best part of the movie (spoilers) is when Anthony Hopkins' character asks if he should be afraid to die.  Death (aka Brad Pitt) responds by saying, "Not a man like you."  It leads me to wonder what kind of monuments I'll leave behind when I pass away.  I can leave behind a massive estate, a happy family, or I can leave behind both of those things.  It's nice to know that wealth, whether in money or relationships, doesn't have to corrupt a person.

4.   Slumdog Millionaire
Stop judging me, Pharisaical Mormons.  I don't watch rated R movies, but when I do, I make sure that they're entirely appropriate and only rated R because whoever did the rating was too lazy to actually watch the movie and assumed it would be rated R because it came from a different country.  I love Bollywood movies, particularly the comedic ones.  However, Slumdog is the only foreign film to make my favorite all-time movie list.  I love the fact that someone who has every right to be bitter, to hate the world, to be selfish, and to seek revenge on others chooses not to do so.  It taught me that true goodness should not, and cannot, be corrupted by circumstances.  A truly amazing person knows how to rise above their circumstances even when it isn't the easiest thing.  This film also shows the true and gruesome consequences for those who choose to become bitter and vengeful.  (Les Miserable also taught me this lesson.  The movie would have made the list, but I liked the Broadway production a little bit better.)

3.   Lord of the Rings:  The Return of the King
One does not simply discuss their love of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in one paragraph.  It's a classic example of good vs. evil.  And evil does exist.  I don't care much for philosophy that leaves morals and ethics open for discussion.  Right is right, and wrong is wrong.  Truth is truth, even if no one believes it.  And truth is worth fighting for.  Goodness is worth keeping.  I just love everything about this movie.  The music, the cinematography, the acting, the writing.  I love it so much, I can even tolerate that it could end about 15 minutes before it does.  (PS:  Yes.  I know.  I'm a big fat loser nerd who likes elves and hobbits and wizards and Aragorn.  I already know.)

2.  Nicholas Nickelby
Not many people have heard of this one.  It's based on a Charles Dickens novel.  (He's one of my favorite authors, by the way.  He has great insight into human character and society.)  I highly recommend this one.  Character development is very well done.  (My dad just said so.  He's helping with this one.)  Dickens has a very common theme in many of his stories:  Wealth is not based upon possessions and power.  Wealth is based upon relationships with others.  (Thanks, Dad, for the insight.)  I also appreciate that Nicholas Nickelby is a young person who isn't afraid to stand up to those in authority when those in authority use their power to abuse others.  If you haven't seen this movie, watch it now.  I think it's on Netflix.

1.  Mulan
Yes, my favorite movie is a Disney cartoon.  Yes, I realize how childish that makes me look.  In my defense, I could have chosen some sophisticated movie like Citizen Kane (that I'm convinced most people don't really like, but they pretend they do so they can sound important during cinematic discussions).  At least I didn't choose something incredibly stupid like Mars Attacks or The (Freaking) Notebook or anything that has Jim Carey in it....  At any rate, back to Mulan:  Any movie that has musical numbers in it is a plus.  Make that a Donny Osmond musical number, and I'm one happy camper.  However, there's more to it than that.  I so much identify with Mulan.  She doesn't really fit with her culture, and while mourning her inability to fit into that culture, her father tells her simply, "What beautiful blossoms we have this year.  But look, this one is late.  But I bet, that when it blooms, it will be the most rare and beautiful of all."  The love that Mulan shares with her father and family is what drives her to go against the societal norms.  In so doing, she grows into the person she was meant to be all along.  Some of us just grow differently than others, and that's all right.

So, there it is.  That's my movie list, and I'm sticking to it.