Friday Five: Movies

Jan says:
Whenever daughter MJ comes home on breaks from college, I get to go to movies, which has me thinking about motion pictures. Plus, it is fun to watch rented dvd's at home, which my husband prefers.Share your preferences, opinions, and recommendations about movies! Choose 5 types of movies to discuss:
action
thriller
mystery
drama
comedy
foreign
animated
children's
science fiction
western/cowboy
?
Bonus: Tell about the first movie you ever saw and/or the last one!

Drama: Is this the best category for Lord of the Rings? I think Return of the King is my all-time favorite movie. Amadeus would fit here too. Some dramas are not to my taste; I don't really care for spy movies (except Sean Connery Bond films--they don't count as drama), war movies, etc. The Scientist was amazed that I fell asleep watching The Hunt for Red October.

Foreign: I'm going to lump "thriller" in with "foreign". I am thinking of an exciting and stylish French film, Diva, from 1982. Haven't seen it since it was new--might have to check for it on Netflix.

Romantic comedy: This is my "escape" category. When I'm tired, stressed, a little blue, this is what I want to see. Moonstruck, When Harry Met Sally, What's Up Doc?, Return to Me, It Happened One Night, The Philadelphia Story, on and on...

Romance: Two of my very favorite romantic films are Sense and Sensibility and Enchanted April, but you wouldn't really call either a comedy. I'd put The Turning Point in that category, too (or maybe just drama). If you enjoy dance (or just want to admire the young Baryshnikov), don't miss that one.

Comedy: Sometimes I just want to laugh. I love Ghostbusters ("When someone asks you, are you a god, YOU SAY YES!"), Young Frankenstein, and one of my all-time favorite films--such a period piece now--A Hard Day's Night. Sometimes we rent stuff that's both dumb and hilarious--a few weeks ago we enjoyed Rock and Roll High School. Hey! Ho! Let's go!

Animated: Classic Disney, of course. And I enjoyed Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, years ago. We watched both Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle to see what all the fuss about Miyazaki was about, and I'm sorry to say I still don't know.

And speaking of classic Disney, my mother always told me the first movie I saw was Cinderella, but the first one I remember was 101 Dalmatians! Most recent? We are in the middle of The Soloist--maybe we'll finish watching it tonight.