Movies

Consider this page to be perpetually incomplete. Perhaps there is just an outline here waiting to be fleshed out. There’s always more to add, but it was lasted updated on: [8/5/2020]

There is so much to say about movies, but for now here is an incomplete list that I enjoy in no particular order. I don’t watch movies nearly as much as TV shows, but an individual movie often stays with me more than a whole season of most TV.

• Hello, My Name is Doris
  Sally Field plays an older woman who realizes that she can live life any way she wants. It’s inspiring, and sad, and happy. I cried.
• Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
  Gregory Peck never fails. He plays a journalist who moves to NYC and, for the sake of a piece on antisemitism, pretends to be Jewish.
• Mrs. Doubtfire
  I watched this movie on loop when I was little. The VHS tape got a workout.
• What Dreams May Come
  A Robin Williams movie that should be more widely acclaimed. I cried.
• Independence Day
  Such rollicking fun!
• How to Train Your Dragon
  The soundtrack to this movie is what really made it for me.
• Mulan
  I say “Would you like to stay forever??” in my head at men on the street all the time.
• Legally Blonde
  I wrote my common application essay about Elle Woods.
• Jurassic Park
  Also rollicking fun.
• 9 to 5
  I love the song, and the musical, and the movie is no exception.
• Netflix’s Self Made (it’s a miniseries)
  Octavia Spencer. Nuff said.
• Battlestar Galactica (miniseries)
  No bears or beets here, but the image of all the atomic detonations from space was quite a feeling.
• Interstellar
  Soundtrack. Space stuff. High concept. Love it.
• The Martian
  Like the book, rollicking fun. Plus space stuff, which is always good.
• Hidden Figures
  Space stuff. Math stuff. Compelling protagonists.
• Contact
  Space stuff, you guys.
• Gravity
  You can never get enough space stuff.
• Carol
  I saw this movie because I was taking a walk around Boston Common in late 2015 around midnight. I saw that there was a late showing of this movie in the theater off the Common, so I dropped in. I was moved tremendously by the story.
• Good Morning Vietnam
  Robin Williams for the third time on the list.
• Holding the Man
  A story of heartbreak during the early AIDS epidemic and the stuff of broken dreams. The beauty of the ending needs the poignancy of the rest of the film.
• The Way He Looks
  A happy little love story.
• Happy Death Day
  I don’t remember how I came to be in the theater watching this one, but I often went to the Boston Common theater when I lived in Boston with no plan, so I’m sure I just picked this one. But it was a delightful sort-of-horror movie. Definitely rollicking fun.
• The Dark Knight
  I remember being so thoroughly glad that the good guys and bad guys didn’t die in predictable ways. It made the stakes in the story real. I was so surprised. And the Joker!
• Starship Troopers
  Space stuff, and rollicking fun obviously.
• V for Vendetta
  The 1812 Overture will never be the same.
• Mr. Right (with Anna Kendrick)
  I didn’t even know this movie existed until Netflix showed it to me, but it’s full, rollicking fun.
• Ladybird
  I empathized with Ladybird in a lot of ways; and the lives of her parents are heartbreaking. The whole movie and script are great, and if you have a heart you will produce tears.