Films at the Weekend

We instituted a family movie policy last summer where we watch at least one film per weekend. Our library system has a wonderful selection of classic films, and we've taken full advantage of it. We also joined Film Streams, primarily for the live simulcasts from the Met during the season, but we've taken advantage of it for other films as well.

Danny has a better attention span than the typical nine year old, which has enabled us to watch longer films. We try to balance dramas with musicals, horror with comedy, and so on. Sometimes those overlap in the same film, but we are trying to give him a varied selection.

Here's a shortened list of some films we've watched recently-feel free to add suggestions in the comments.

Macbeth (the Orson Welles, and a newer one)
Richard III (the Olivier one)
Henry V
The Towering Inferno (which was much better than I remembered)
Camelot (which was much worse than I remembered-and LONG!)
Bandwagon
Bringing Up Baby
The Most Dangerous Game
The Railway Children (a PBS version that was just OK. Should have sought out the original)
Shirley Chisholm, Unbought and Unbossed (excellent documentary)
To Kill a Mockingbird
12 Angry Men
John Dies at the End (hilarious)

I should probably follow a theme, and use this as some sort of film study programme, but I don't want to suck all the joy out of watching a movie by making it schoolwork. At Danny's age I was already staying up late to watch old movies on my (very) tiny black and white television, and sneaking off to catch stuff at the film society when I was supposed to be at the library (don't act like you never did that). I was a little film obsessed. What's more, I had adults aiding and abetting my film addiction and permitting me to see films I should never have been let into (except for Midnight Cowboy, which I really wanted to see, but knew there was no way I would be let in to an X rated film. I finally saw it years later, and couldn't believe it had an X rating at the time). I probably shouldn't have been permitted to see Rosemary's Baby when I was in grade four. I did learn to be wary of the strange elderly neighbours, so perhaps there was a lesson in it after all.

So what about you? Do you get together with your family/friends to watch movies at the weekend? Have you watched anything interesting lately you'd like to share?