Products

Holidays 2006: Movies

By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: Dec 15, 2006
Category: Beyond Classification

Why buy a DVD when Netflix is so cheap and easy?

I’m with you. I see a movie, its images burn into my head, and it’s on to the next.

But then there are movies you want to share with friends. Or press on other movie-lovers. Or just watch again for your own pleasure and edification.

Somehow “movies on demand” never has those films. And renting a film for someone else seems…small.

So here’s to a small collection of special films. Some are cheap enough to be stocking-stuffers. Others are rare. All have touched me, made me laugh, made me cry. I hope you get as much pleasure from them as I have.

ANIMATED PERFECTION
The Snowman: one of the most beautiful films ever made, this story of a boy and a magic snowman will play again and again in your dreams.

COMEDY
Entourage, Seasons 1 and 2: HBO’s Hollywood posse may seem shallow as glass, but beneath the jokes and the ambition is an acute study of right conduct in a value-free age.
Little Miss Sunshine: truly funny and life-affirming, one of the best films of the year.
Bad Santa: bad, bad attitude that will convulse cynics and free-thinkers.
Eddie Izzard: the funniest cross-dresser on the planet.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle: This time around, Cheech and Chong are a brilliant med student and a financial whiz. But the marijuana is unchanged.
Local Hero: a lovely, gentle comedy set in Scotland, with humor as subtle as a great single malt and a gorgeous soundtrack by Mark Knopfler.
The Castle: want to take a chance on an Australian comedy you’ve never heard of? You won’t be sorry.

POLITICS
Battle of Algiers: the feature that looks so real you’d swear it’s a documentary. In French, with subtitles — but the meaning is clear in every frame.
Bloody Sunday: how a peaceful march in Northern Ireland became a tragedy

THRILLERS
Arlington Road: What if terrorists aren’t all swarthy? What if they look like you — and live next door?

SPORTS
Without Limits: At last — a sports hero who’s not just a hero, but an artist: the great miler Steve Prefontaine.
Glory Road: Long before it became a no-brainer, a Texas basketball coach fields an all-black team. It would be nice if a billionaire carpet-bombed the Middle East with this wonder film.

FOREIGN
The Conformist: Bernardo Bertolucci’s triumph about a World War II collaborator; politics has never looked so scary, sex has never looked so political.
L’Atalante: Jean Vigo’s masterwork, a beautifully made, surprisingly simple love story.

TOO GOOD TO PLEASE A CROWD
Off the Map: They live outside the money economy in New Mexico. They have nothing. So why does it seem like they have more than enough?

FOR GROWN-UPS
Dodsworth: He retires, she cheats, and nobody pulls a gun or knife in this class domestic drama. Directed by the great William Wyler.

FOR KIDS
We Are…the Laurie Berkner Band: “I’m gonna get you/you’d better run/I’m gonna get you/Here I come!”

HOLIDAY
The Nutcracker: choreographed by Peter Martins, then artfully animated.