Time Stand Still

At my house, we're a bunch movie freaks. We have our favorites and have no problem watching them over and over again. If there's one thing that my beloved family knows it's this: When certain movies come on the tv, everything stops and noone should speak to Mommy and actually, noone should speak over the tv. If I'm cooking dinner, it'll have to wait...or Daddy can finish making it. Laundry, phone calls, crafting, and the likes all come to a screeching halt for those flicks which I simply cannot pass up.

They're listed here in no specific order. Some of them are the obvious cinematic masterpieces that demand attention. Others are films that are good but not exactly on the top ten lists of leading critics and others still will make you cringe with embarrasment for me. But they're my favorite flicks and when they're on, the worlds shuts down.

All About Eve (Bette Davis, Anne Baxter)
Margo Channing (Bette Davis) is an aging star of the theatre (pronounced thee-ah-tah) who is befriended and then stabbed in the back by the innocent looking snake in the grass, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter). The dialougue is fun, fast and smart. The characters are fabulous and Bette Davis dominates this film. Her voice, her faces, her attitude all drive this movie like a runaway freight train. Fasten your set belts indeed!

RoboCop (Peter Weller, Nancy Allen)
Yes I know, this is one of the "what?!?" films. But come on, it's fun. It was made in 1985 and audiences were still willing to suspend their disbelief in order to have some fun. The characters are real people, no 22 year-old world famous neuro-physicists with 40 years experience under their belts. The film's take on the future is sometimes silly, and sometimes on the mark. And come on...RoboCop. Tell me he's not cool.

12 Angry Men (Henry Fonda, E.G.Marshall, Jack Klugman, Lee J. Cobb, Jack fielder, Ed Begley)
Another classic masterpiece! Henry Fonda is the single voice of dissention in a room of 12 jurors deciding the fate of a young offender. He may be right, he may be wrong, but he stands to convince the jurors that life and death decisions can't be made on a whim. The performances are awesome. It's got its share of 'gotcha' moments. Lee J Cobb's and Joseph Sweeney's characters just might be my favorites.

Gone with the Wind (Vivian Leigh, Clark Gable)
Folks who have never seen this film are missing a great epic story. It follows Scarlett O'Hara, a spoiled rotten, capricious southern belle from her glory days on her father's plantation through the Civil War and it's aftermath. Though coniving and ruthless, she is a true heroine leading friends and family through hardships. Through it all, she obesses over 'the one that got away'. The energy between Leigh and Gable is so great!

Predator (Arnold Schwarzenegger). US mercernaries get more than they ask for when they go looking for a lost squadron in a South American jungle. A strange and dangerous creature is killing them off like a hunter, like a predator. It's 80's machismo at it's best. Guns, muscles, sweat, curse words and hunting.

OverBoard (Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell). Another spoiled rotten rich girl gets her come-uppance in the best way possible. After getting amnesia, Goldie Hawn's aristocrat character is whisked away by Kurt Russell to be his Home-maker. Goldie is as cute as ever and is hilarious as a cold hearted snob.

Idiocracy (Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph) Crude and declasse, this film makes a funny but sad commentary on the current and future state of civilization. Luke Wilson a slacker enlisted man and Maya Rudolph a prostitue are used for a top secret military cryogenic experiment. When they awake well past the 1 year proposed date of the experiment, they find a world in which intellect, morals, culture and decency are quite literally a thing of the past. Wilson is immediately crowned the smartest man in the world and tapped by the President to solve of this society's ills.

There are others to be sure, but these are the ones that make time stand still!