Today: And the Oscar doesn’t go to..

[tweetmeme source=”elizabethev” only_single=false] ..any of these movies, because they’re old.  Some older than others.  But they’re my favorites, nevertheless.  I’ve watched, and re-watched, and re-re-watched each so many times, I could perform a one-woman show on Broadway (in Southie, not the actual Broadway) featuring various sub-plots, characters and quotations.  If I had enough bronze and award-making machinery to create my own Oscars, they’d go to the following films.

While You Were Sleeping

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Featuring Peter Gallagher and his eyebrows before he/they became Sandy Cohen and his eyebrows, While You Were Sleeping taught me about the perils of  falling in front of public transportation, falling in love, memory loss, and lying.  In other words, this movie gave me a full life’s education.  Parents, don’t bother sending your kids to Boston College.  I bet if I skipped my years on The Heights and simply stuck to the $3.99 Blockbuster rental fee on movies like this, I would still be getting by.  Then again, I wouldn’t know how to say “small house” in Arabic, or be able to abbreviate For the greater glory of God in Latin.  I wouldn’t be able to read North African literature in French.  I wouldn’t have a scar on my left hand from a Spring Break-in-Montreal (no tan!) surfing-on-an-ironing-board incident.  And I would have no friends.

Little Women

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Even more so than the actual book, this film reminds me that sisters are fun to have around.  And sometimes they’re useful.  Like when you have a fever that you need “drawn down from your head.”  Or when you need help doing you hair, which has been singed off by a Revolutionary War era curling iron, resulting in your curls smelling like “burnt feathers.”  Needless to say, I know this script by heart.  My own little woman sister and I watched this movie so many times that when she was having a stressful day in law school recently, my immediate instinct was to ask if teacher had struck her, or perhaps put the limes out into the snow.  One more reason why this movie is genius: Christian Bale.  Also, I am glad we don’t call our mother “Marmee.”

Little Miss Sunshine

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My family, well part of it, took our first legitimate road trip in 2008 or whatever year my older brother graduated from law school.  Technically, only 2/3rds of the family participated– my sister was at Zach’s graduation and my brother was (obviously) waiting for us in Virgina.  My parents, younger brother and I tooted down 95 to Charlottesville armed with a trivia book, the 50 cds I burned for the sole purpose of terrorizing my traveling mates, GPS and snacks.  Fortunately, no one died en route, and therefore no one had to be hidden in the trunk.  I love Little Miss Sunshine for so perfectly illustrating that families are weird, and that this is not necessarily a bad thing.  And the soundtrack is spot on.  My favorite scene is when the grief counselor at the hospital fumes, “You are not the only person to have someone die today!”  Just brilliant.

Waking Ned Devine

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Ever the cliched human, I saved the best for last.  If you haven’t seen this movie, please slap your laptop closed with a flourish and get thee to a… wherever you get movies nowadays.  You will laugh, you might cry, and you’ll certainly wish you were Irish.  And riding half naked on a motor bike.    This film has inspired me to pretend to win the lotto on many occasions, in an effort to trick people into bringing me my dinner faster.

It hasn’t worked.  Yet.

Also On Tap for Today:

• I’m sort of excited to peep Paula Deen/Top Chef on my DVR
• My root beer is ready!
• If you’re more interested in the real Oscars, pop over here!

Which movie(s) do you know by heart?