Author Topic: Top 5 "Family" Movies  (Read 1096 times)

philip918

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Top 5 "Family" Movies
« on: September 16, 2019, 08:15:28 PM »
Not the family genre, but the five films you associate with watching with your family. Could be then or now. For me as a kid:

Legends of the Fall
Have a huge soft spot for this one, which could form a triumvirate with Dances with Wolves and Last of the Mohicans of 90's Americana films that were big in our household. The family drama, fateful romance, and prodigal son storyline is what drew my mother in. My dad loved all Westerns as well as mountain man stories in particular. The music in this is fantastic, it's beautifully shot in stunning locations, and the cast is stellar.

The Sound of Music
My mom's favorite movie and we played it very regularly. The hills are alive, man. Really want to rewatch this one. Expect to still love it.

Christmas Vacation
Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Billy Crystal were probably my dad's favorite film comedians. This, Roxanne and The Three Amigos are the comedies I associate with him when I was a little kid. And I watch this one almost every holiday season. I'm kind of surprised how few people like it. I think almost every scene has something funny in it.

Field of Dreams
Kevin Costner ruled the late 80's and early 90's and a movie about baseball set in Iowa was a homerun for my dad, brother, and I. Funny to think about watching a movie based on the nostalgia of playing catch with your dad when we were the age we were playing catch with our dad. Cat's in the cradle and all that. Just rewatched this earlier this year and it's weirder and even better than I remembered.

Beauty and the Beast
This was on heavy rotation. We had this and The Little Mermaid on VHS, so I have much stronger connections to these than Aladdin and The Lion King. One of the greatest films of all time. Certainly a great Disney era to grow up in.

philip918

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Re: Top 5 "Family" Movies
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2019, 08:36:13 PM »
Nothing? Has this one been done before?

pixote

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Re: Top 5 "Family" Movies
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2019, 08:50:27 PM »
I would’ve heart reacted to your post, even though it made me realize that I’m from a family with only It’s a Wonderful Life on its shared movie watching list.

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jdc

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Re: Top 5 "Family" Movies
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2019, 09:31:54 PM »
I was trying to think of 5.  My dad mostly falls asleep in movies.  I remember going to see Swiss Family Robinson in a drive in movie sometime in the 70's with my family.  And then there was the time we watched 9 1/2 Weeks in a motel room during my high school years while on vacation. That one was a bit awkward.
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1SO

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Re: Top 5 "Family" Movies
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2019, 10:14:38 PM »
I wanted to joke post 5 Fast & Furious movies, but I don't want you top think I'm considering the 5 perfect selections. Instead of personal films I watch with 'my' family, I was thinking of films that focus on the family dynamic. In that way, I prefer films were people come together as a family over ones that feature and actual genetic family, like Andy's toys in the Toy Story films or the nuclear-family formed in Terminator 2.

My top pick any any criteria would have to be The Godfather.
« Last Edit: September 17, 2019, 10:16:48 PM by 1SO »

MartinTeller

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Re: Top 5 "Family" Movies
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2019, 10:48:16 PM »
The only one I've got is The Wizard of Oz, which we'd watch whenever it came on TV. Oz was kind of a thing in our family.

smirnoff

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Re: Top 5 "Family" Movies
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2019, 10:15:03 AM »
Endless Summer 2 - We rented the hell out of this movie. As a kid I remember appreciating that the narration made my parents laugh, even though I didn't often get the joke. The delivery is really good. But it's a film with a good variety of sights and sounds, and there's just something we all seemed to love about it.

Not really a movie, but my Grandma had a copy of a stand up routine with Victor Borge we watched endlessly. It was either that or Rainman... those were the only tapes she had for some reason. We watched both frequently when the evening would go on too long and we were getting bored.

We watched Wind a lot, because we had a small sailboat. I think it's a good movie without a sailboat too though. :))

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Top 5 "Family" Movies
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2019, 03:14:47 PM »
What About Bob? is my dad's favorite movie so it got a lot of plays. Probably what first turned me on to Bill Murray.

Sound of Music is probably one of my mom's favorite movies so that one got a lot of playtime too. Turned me onto musicals, although as a young boy it was usually one I had to pretend to watch because I probably thought it was too girly.

When it came to Disney films, 101 Dalmatians got a lot of views. Was probably my favorite film as a child and my nickname was Rolly because I would constantly quote "I'm hungry mother, I really am" anytime I wanted to eat.

Live-action Disney was also a big staple of our family and The Ugliest Dachshund got so many watches. Last time I remember seeing it I winced at the racist Asian stereotypes and the comedic pratfalls are definitely lowest common denominator. There's no accounting for tastes when you're a kid.

And, of course, my family was a big Star Wars watching house. We'd watch all six of them even up to my high-school days. I still remember the first time seeing the original trilogy on VHS and then having to wait years for Lucas to rerelease it with dumb added digital scenes.

 

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