Every Day I Write the Book

Father Goose. When I was 10 my dad checked it out...

2012-02-25T23:54:23.986-07:00

Father Goose. When I was 10 my dad checked it out from the library and insisted that I watch it. I didn't want to because it was an "old" movie (from the 60's). But I watched it until I practically had it memorized. You can't go wrong with Cary Grant.

I second "The Secret of Roan Inish."

2012-02-25T20:26:44.479-07:00

I second "The Secret of Roan Inish."

If you can find "Breaking Away", try it....

2012-02-25T17:17:43.557-07:00

If you can find "Breaking Away", try it. Dennis Quaid is the only star that I can remember the name of that is in the movie. He was much younger in that movie. He was in one later called "The Rookie" that was pretty good too. I'm not sure about your littlest one, but you and the older ones might really like them. Have you tried "The Hudsucker Proxy?" It's different, but you might like it too. I loved "The Secret of Roan Inish". They speak with a heavy Irish accent that you have to get used to, but it is worth it. My last suggestion in "Babe". Just make sure you don't get Babe, Pig in the City. That was awful IMO.

I think your older kids would love Paper Moon--I r...

2012-02-25T11:33:43.812-07:00

I think your older kids would love Paper Moon--I remember watching it for the first time at about 12 or so, and have loved it ever since. Haven't watched it in a while, so I am not sure if there is anything too objectionable...
Also, our "Family Movie" for two generations has been The Great Race with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon and Natalie Wood.
Also from that time of my life--Haunted Honeymoon with Radner and Wilder and DeLouise.

Here is a list a good friend sent me a few years a...

2012-02-25T10:35:17.654-07:00

Here is a list a good friend sent me a few years ago...

Anything in the Love Comes Softly Series
Anne of Green Gables series
Becoming Jane
Any of the Shirley Temple Movies
The Princess Bride
Toy Story 1 & 2
Miracle on 34th Street
My Fair Lady
Fantasia
Father of the Bride
On The Town
Babe
Cool Runnings
Free Willy
Harriet the Spy
Homeward Bound
Honey I Blew up the Kids
Sound of Music
Pillow Talk
Singing in the Rain
The Music Man
7 Brides for 7 Brothers
Roman Holiday
Yours, Mine, & Ours (the original, not sure about the new remake)
Pollyanna
Milo & Otis
A Walk to Remember
Annie (original although Ms. Hannigan is a bit tipsy)
Angels in the Outfield
Black Beauty
D2 The Mighty Ducks
Emma (1996 version)
Iron Will
Lassie
Little Rascals
Little Women
Rudy
The Polar Express
Matilda
Searching for Bobby Fisher
Akeelah and the Bee
The Sister Act
Stuart Little
The Cutting Edge

Also Secondhand Lions, The Ultimate Gift, Flight of the Navigator, Nim's Island, Follow Me Boys, Ella Enchanted, The Happiest Millionaire

Movies for kids can be tough. And I hear you on th...

2012-02-24T22:23:23.052-07:00

Movies for kids can be tough. And I hear you on the cartoons. My kids are 5, 7, and 9, and animated movies are still high on the list.

I will say, hands down, best movie I have ever seen with my kids was the new Muppets movie...not sure what that says about me. But I loved the show growing up and they did a great job of making the movie reflect the original show, and still be fun and entertaining for todays kids.

Another surprise movie that I actually thought was decently cute, and funny, was Aliens in the Attic. But part of that is cause we are gamers here (just blogged about it in fact...) and they had some great humor. It may or may not be your thing.

Im not ready to watch movies with my kids that teach them life lessons, but I guess I should! We just really like to laugh. :)

ps. I really didnt understand The Fantastic Mr. Fox, have you seen it? I would love to read your review of it, because then I think I could understand...

I love Holes, Meet the Robinson's, Nanny McPhe...

2012-02-24T22:22:55.563-07:00

I love Holes, Meet the Robinson's, Nanny McPhee, Nacho Libre, Project Runway, Hugo was good, maybe Life is Beautiful when they are a bit older...

The Cosby Show rocks!

Ditto for Second Hand Lions - it's a perennial...

2012-02-24T20:34:19.376-07:00

Ditto for Second Hand Lions - it's a perennial fave with my grandkids. Hoot is good - so is Holes - so I Because of Winn Dixie - so is Bridge to Terabithia - the newer one. Also the newer Tuck Everlasting. Do you see an adolescent lit trend here??

Second Hand Lions, it has it all. Micheal Cain, RO...

2012-02-24T20:03:31.934-07:00

Second Hand Lions, it has it all. Micheal Cain, ROBERT DUVALL, and Hailey Joel Osment. One of my all time favorites! Note one offensive thing in it.

We love to watch old Stooges shorts with the kids....

2012-02-24T19:43:39.290-07:00

We love to watch old Stooges shorts with the kids.(I know...but we like them)Last Christmas we got The Egg and I then watched all of the Ma and Pa Kettle movies. The kids were surprisingly amused. Lately we have watched Rear Window, Vertigo and The Birds. They loved them. I recorded an edited version of Stand By Me and they enjoyed that, but DON'T buy the unedited version. Holy moly, I forgot how much cursing was in the original.

I looove My Neighbor Totoro. Just be open-minded ...

2012-02-24T18:29:59.876-07:00

I looove My Neighbor Totoro. Just be open-minded the first time you watch it. I remember as a kids watching movies like Goonies, A Field of Dreams (which made me as a 12 year old cry every time), and lots of old musicals, especially Oklahoma, Singing in the Rain, and South Pacific.

I so agree with you on the crappy anitmation movie...

2012-02-24T18:02:08.899-07:00

I so agree with you on the crappy anitmation movies...I think it's a crime that they make any money on movies such as Smurfs, Rio, and the like. I'm ashamed to admit we spent good money on Spy Kids 4, but I absolutely refuse to see "Chipwrecked". I have to draw the line somewhere!
We watched "Radio" with Cuba Gooding Jr., a while ago, and my 8 and 11 yr. old really liked it. I also decided to let them watch the new season of Amazing Race with us, hopefully there won't be too much swearing. My 8 year old is sensitive to that. We saw Hugo and I actually enjoyed it, but it got a little weird towards the end when it delved into the history of movie-making a little too much.

We also do a lot of musicals, but some can get rea...

2012-02-24T17:57:27.273-07:00

We also do a lot of musicals, but some can get really long...or old favs from my childhood (or earlier) like Labrynth, Never ending story, parent trap, the old freaky friday (this one does have some bizarre smoking and alcohol in though...love the 70's) and any of those old non-animated disney, Love bug, shaggy dog...

My kids love musicals interestingly enough. There...

2012-02-24T17:30:48.377-07:00

My kids love musicals interestingly enough. There favorites are:

The Unsinkable Molly Brown (mild cursing though)
Fiddler on the Roof
Bye Bye Birdie

My kids are 16,14,11 and 8.

I hear you on the crappy animation thing...over it...

2012-02-24T16:46:12.710-07:00

I hear you on the crappy animation thing...over it. But here are two that my kids and I have loved. The Fantastic Mr. Fox and My Neighbor Totoro (early Mayzaki.) Also, right now we are working our way through the TV show Merlin which they love.

I had one little who went through a Dumbo obsession phase, that was a long season.

My boys are 7, 5, and 2, so my list might not work...

2012-02-24T16:22:04.033-07:00

My boys are 7, 5, and 2, so my list might not work for your family. Here are a few we have used for family movie night:

Mary Poppins
Matilda (had to read the book first)
Star Wars Episode IV
Stuart Little (not my favorite -- by a long shot)
Milo and Otis
Homeward Bound

In the future, we plan to view:

The Princess Bride
Sound of Music
7 Brides for 7 Brothers
Flight of the Navigator
The Parent Trap
The Never Ending Story
Follow Me, Boys
The 10 Commandments (love me some Charlton Heston)

What about The Princess Bride? That's a family...

2012-02-24T16:05:39.784-07:00

What about The Princess Bride? That's a family favorite at our house. And bonus: it is infinitely quotable!

I love that movie. Didn't Diane Keaton direct ...

2012-02-24T15:52:58.651-07:00

I love that movie. Didn't Diane Keaton direct it? I think yes, which makes it even better.

I love love love Into the West. Fantastic and brilliant. Also, I have had good mileage with Miyazaki movies, including the sublimely weird Spirited Away and the weirdly sublime Princess Mononoke. I love Uncle Buck, but there's a teenager who is possibly going to have sex with a bad boyfriend. Narrowly averted, though. I dunno. And we have watched Raising Arizona more times than I can count, from when my kids were super little.

All right, I am adding Unstrung Heroes to my own l...

2012-02-24T15:16:08.914-07:00

All right, I am adding Unstrung Heroes to my own list. I'm not sure I'm emotionally stable enough to handle it, but the spoiler helps.

We're finding it highly enjoyable to watch The Cosby Show with our kids.

We really like "Bandslam." My husband an...

2012-02-24T14:56:14.517-07:00

We really like "Bandslam." My husband and I thought it was hilarious and all five kids (ages 13-3) enjoyed the music. Smart and funny.

In retrospect there are a couple of scenes in &quo...

2012-02-24T13:40:36.640-07:00

In retrospect there are a couple of scenes in "Millions" that might be inappropriate for kids, so my first comment was a little less than accurate. Sorry about that.

We really liked the new Muppet Movie. Also I think...

2012-02-24T13:28:31.680-07:00

We really liked the new Muppet Movie. Also I think Super 8 would be great to watch with the older kids.

I just watched "Millions" with my kids (...

2012-02-24T13:27:45.257-07:00

I just watched "Millions" with my kids (ages 11-19) last night. It's an English movie about two brothers who find a bag containing $200,000 of stolen money. There are a few nail-biting scenes, but it's not scary. There is no swearing, no violence and no sex.

I watched that with my kids last year. I forgot wh...

2012-02-24T11:12:02.999-07:00

I watched that with my kids last year. I forgot what a tear-jerker it is.

I let my kids watch Slumdog Millionaire. I know it's R but I've seen it three times and I though it was fine for my over-10 kids. There is pretty much no swearing or sex but I think it's really important that my kids see an authentic view of life in third-world countries.

Here is a movie you might be tempted to watch with your kids but DON"T: Splash. You remember it as being really cute and funny. it's got a ton of dirty parts! John Candy walks around with a Penthouse magazine for the first 20 minutes. And Tom Hanks and the mermaid have sex constantly.

I'll have to think of some more movies. We have a Clear Play which is great for movies like Groundhog Day that are great except for a few things here and there.

Haven't caught up on the most recent episode, ...

2012-02-24T00:18:01.944-07:00

Haven't caught up on the most recent episode, but I did watch the whole last season and the first episode of this one. I'm a little disappointed by the lack of zombies. I couldn't care less about Lori being pregnant, her relationship with Shane, Glen and whatever that chicks name is. All I care about is zombies. And the first episode of this season, there was literally only 1 zombie! I know they had to cut back last season due to budget issues, but seriously? How are you gonna have a show about zombies without zombies??? I'm so sick of the soap-opera drama. And I hate hate Lori. She's so annoying. But maybe it is due to the misogynistic attitude. Eh.