I must say my all time favorite is It's a Wonderful Life. The story has so much meaning to me. Whenever I think at the end all the community coming to help George out with all the money to make up the difference in his Uncle's bookkeeping mistake. (Darned ol' Mr. Potter!) I can't help but always remember when I was a young teen and my Dad getting layed off from his job. He was a maintenance worker at a local hospital. He was given the boot just a few weeks before Christmas. With 4 kids and a mortgage was so much to bear before Christmas. The hard thing too is that he had already been diagnosed with Parkinsons disease (he was in his mid to late 30's). Well, he was loved by all the employees there. He was President of the Employee's Association and set up many wonderful outings to plays, comedy, etc.. So, when news got out one of his co-workers came over just about a week or two into December. He presented my Dad with a small gold papered box. Inside was $1800 CHC (cold hard cash)! He was moved to tears! All the employees pitched in money to help us out! WE were all excited and even fanned the money out on the ground and took a picture of it! So, whenever I see that movie, it brings me to tears of the goodness of people's souls coming to help a friend in need. The saying, "What goes around, comes around." always rings true with me! Love, Jules

We've actually made a great effort to see movies lately. I've seen three of your four. LF will go see the surfing penguin tonight with mommy (mine) while Ed and I go on a date. Spiderman 3: "Each of us is a blend of the two, the film suggests, and which one will guide our lives is the issue." You bet, even my seven year old got that, he commented on it as we left the theater. My boys really enjoyed this movie (action and effects) and I was nonplused by the whole affair. Mostly, with the plethora of characters, none of them really gets to flesh out as well as it could. I would've really liked to have seen more of the Sandman or Venom stories. Great characters, but just sorta jumped in both feet first. Shrek 3 Good, but not as good as 1 (but then they never are). Normally, I enjoy the tie-ins between music and allusions, but I either didn't get them this time, or they did not show up in this movie. I actually disliked the subplot on fatherhood. Since it is purely a kid movie, it seemed out of place and his anxiety about it, took away from the frivolity of the movie. I did like their Merlin and overall, a fun movie and ended upbeat. Pirates of the Caribean: I loved it. There is absolutely NO plotline to follow... kind of like summer should be, fun without a destination. Loved Barbosa and Jack Sparrow's dad (Keith Richards) better than Sparrow this time. His character goes off on an odd tangent, but then, so does the movie. Enjoyable summerfare, I agree.

Pidge, we saw the original some years ago, and enjoyed it. I see the film called Mostly Martha but I thought the title was Bella Marta when it was released in the US. Or maybe that was the European title. At any rate, I recommend the original.

I love spine-tingling scary books and movies, but no gore, serial killer or slasher movies. True to Leafy form, even when I was a kid I preferred scary movies with beautiful rooms in them--two of my favorites were "The Changeling" starring George C. Scott as a widower living alone in a creepy (but gorgeous) mansion, and "Audrey Rose" which featured the kind of NYC apartment I dreamed of when I was growing up in undistinguished suburbia. Think about it--nothing is scarier than thinking you might have to give up PRIME REAL ESTATE because of an unfortunate ghost/curse/reincarnation/demon possession. I loved the book Amityville Horror although it made it so that I was unable to go into Dutch capes, basements or attics for decades. And then to find out it wasn't true?! Heartbreak. I still remember the rooms from a movie I saw in the late 80's early 90's that was a murder mystery that somehow involved a pair of fancy German scissors, (?) also set in really beautiful rooms in a California mission style home--I want to remember the name so I can watch it again for the decor, but I can't! Anyone know what movie I mean?