No offence to any of you two-leggers who have already posted, but I noticed a definite flaw in all of the blogs over the past two weeks.

No dogs.

Seriously – you think anyone wants to sit through a movie without a canine hero in the starring role? I think not! Consider these epic flicks and then tell me you don’t agree (if you dare…grrrrrrrr.)

Lady and the Tramp

Tail feathers and toenails but I LOVE that spaghetti scene. You know the one I’m talking about! It’s a classic. Just look at that picture. Doesn’t it set you to drooling? Hmmmmmhmmmmmm…I do love a good spaghetti dinner!

Because of Winn-Dixie

Take a look at that smile. Who could resist that furry face? There’s humour in those eyes and intelligence in those sharp pointy ears – puts me in mind of our ancestors. Nothing wrong with a little lupus lovin’ worshipping, you know what I mean? And this movie never ceases to choke me up. I mean how one dog can singularly change the lonely, desperate lives of an entire town – well, that’s masterful storytelling, isn’t it? I dare you to name a c-a-t with that kind of empathy!

Lassie Come Home

She’s my kissing cousin you know. Notice the family resemblance? (the dog, not the girl) Rippled ruff, long, lean nose and those ears with the cute floppy tips – scroll up and take a look at my picture again and you’ll see what I mean. And Lassie and I have the same high standard of loyalty. Kav’s always asking me, “Simba, if I fell down a well would you come and rescue me?” And I’m like “Woooooof! You betcha! Rescue is my middle name. Just show me that well and I’ll take it apart with my incisors. I’ll sharpen my toenails on it; I’ll grab it by the scruff of the neck and shake it into kingdom come. Arooooo….uh, what’s a well?”

Scooby-Doo

This one’s kind of scary, but you can always snuggle up with your human for moral support. And it’s howling funny as well! Arroooooo! In fact, I do a pretty mean Scooby Doo impression and I’ve noticed that when I Scooby Doo a squirrel the two leggers think it’s funny and I don’t get into trouble. See? Watching movies is educational too.

Simba is a Shetland Sheepdog entering his senior years. He enjoys lazy days snoozing on the sofa and catching the latest canine flicks with his human of choice. He loves a warm lap and a good massage and believes that the only good squirrel is a dead one.

Make Simba’s day (it can get boring home alone) and let him know your favourite canine movie.

Yep, just lost some of you . . . .

But seriously, did you know that in the last 73 years, 19 movie musicals were nominated for “Best Picture, and 8 of them won in that category?

Movie musicals run the gamut of comedy and drama, modern and historical, animated and a mixture of animation and live-action.

Who can forget the sweeping fight scene in “West Side Story,” or Eliza Doolittles transformation in “My Fair Lady?” Or that “Beauty and the Beast” was the first fully-animated feature nominated for a Best Picture Oscar?

Then there were the classics that won Oscars for such things as the musical score (Oklahoma, 1955), acting, costumes (The King and I, 1956).

Probably the most popular movie musical of all time is “The Sound of Music,” which was nominated for a whopping TEN Oscars, and won FIVE (Directing, Film Editing, Music score, Best Picture, and Sound).

In my research, I did find an interesting tidbit on the movie musical. In the 1950s and 1960s, they were a staple of Hollywood, and garnered Best Picture nominations nearly every year. By the time the 1970s arrived, they were waning. 1971 saw the nomination of “Fiddler on the Roof,” and 1972, “Caberet,” and after that? Nothing until the 1991 nomination of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” and then not another until 2001’s “Moulin Rouge” and 2002’s “Chicago.” I’m not sure what this tells me about society in general and the musical – that’s a treatise for another time, I’m sure, but I thought it was quite interesting!

In the last few years, musicals have made somewhat of a comeback with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera,” Steven Sondheim’s “Sweeny Todd,” and others. These huge Broadway hits have helped to bring the musical back into the public eye. After all, put Johnny Depp in a show, and it’s bound to be a hit!

I have a personal affinity for the movie musical. When I was very young, “Oklahoma!” was shown on television on a regular basis, and as I got older, “The Sound of Music” took its place as a standard. I’ve since had the opportunity to not only watch many more musicals through their availability on DVD and Netflix, but have been able to see the productions on the stage, which is an experience that can’t compare to watching a movie. Oh, I’m not saying it’s better or worse – just completely different!

And now? This weekend I finish up a run playing in the orchestra pit for a local production of “Oklahoma,” in which my teenaged daughter is playing the part of the feisty “Aunt Eller,” and my older daughter is stage manager. Oh, by the way, my older daughter was “Sister Margaretta” in “The Sound of Music” last fall.

I guess you can say musicals, in any way, shape, or form, are in my blood . . . Popcorn, anyone?

The movies we like to watch generally won’t be up for Oscars, unless you count special effects, but we go to movies to escape for two or so hours, to have fun. This year, we have our sights set on four must-see movies, ones our family of five will likely view together. As you can see by our list below, we tend to enjoy adventures and journeys. We like to watch movies with valiant heroes who battle evil villains.

The Avengers releases in theaters on May 4th. I guarantee we’ll be there as a family. Likely, at the midnight showing. Now, initially, I had no intention of becoming a Marvel movies’ fan. I went to Iron Man just because the rest of the family wanted to go. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then, last year my husband won four pre-screen passes for Thor, so of course I went, rolling my eyes at the thought. But, I loved it so much that when my daughter returned from college, the evening before Thor opened nationwide, the two of us  hurried to the midnight showing. (Ladies, if you haven’t watched Thor yet, I encourage you to do so. As you can see in the picture above, Chris Hemsworth looks mighty fine in his Viking duds.)

Speaking of Chris Hemsworth, you’ll also find him starring in Snow White and the Huntsman, a dark retelling of the Snow White fairy tale. This movie releases on June 1st. Chances are we’ll be at the midnight showing for that movie as well.

Later that month, on June 22, Pixar is releasing its newest movie, Brave. If Pixar’s involved, I know I’ll love the movie. I marvel at everything they come out with, from Toy Story to my personal favorite, The Incredibles. (How can you not love that mom from The Incredibles?) While the tone of Brave sounds a bit darker than other Pixar efforts, I’ve no doubt this one will be a winner. Hmm, I think we might have to catch a midnight showing of this movie too.

And finally, a movie I know my fellow Inkspers can’t wait for is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. If director Peter Jackson’s efforts equal that of The Lord of the Rings movies, this will be a movie to experience, not merely entertain. The Hobbit is coming out just in time for Christmas on December 14. Guess what, we’ll be watching this one at midnight as well.

Oh, I know, there are many more Movies Releasing in 2012 that sound interesting– Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds, Men in Black 3, The Dark Knight Rises, well you get the idea–but the four listed above are can’t miss movies for our family. The best part is, we’ll all go together.

What movies are you looking forward to seeing this year? Do you have a routine you follow? Any money-saving tips?

I think it started when I was a military brat stationed on overseas installations like Reykjavik, Iceland and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Television was pretty limited there, so every weekend, my friends and I headed out to the movies. I saw Star Wars in a plus movie theater – the largest I’d ever seen – in 1980 at a theater in Iceland. For weeks after, my friends and I would pretend to be characters from the movie as we played on the playground behind our house.

In Cuba, movies were an outdoor experience.  As long as there was no rain, there would be movies on weekend nights and unless it was an R-rated movie, my friends and I would be there.

That translated into my adult life as a love of the movie theater atmosphere.  I adore sitting in a theater, with a screen the size of my house playing a movie. I love the smell of popcorn and the strange-yet-familiar camaraderie of sharing laughs, tears, and terrors with strangers and friends and people who love the things I love in a movie.

Watching a movie on the television isn’t the same.  The screen is too small, and while there may be the smell of popcorn in the air, there isn’t that heart-stopping moment in the movie, punctuated by the soundtrack that literally jars your insides.

My taste in movies run to the loud side most of the time. Jurassic Park (the original, though the other two are ok) is one of my all-time favorites. I love the heart-shaking, earth-quaking moments in the movie that make you sit on the edge of your seat, even when you’ve seen it five dozen times and know exactly how it’s going to turn out.

When I’m not in the mood for something loud and explosive, then I want a story that will make me cry. Or laugh and cry. But rarely just laugh. Comedy that I appreciate is hard to find, and I’m just not into most of what is considered comedy these days. But if a movie can pull tears from me, then it’s usually something I’ll remember.

Fireproof left me in a puddle in a theater packed with people who were also mere puddles when it was over. We sat through the movie, then sat through the credits, and few people left before the screen went black.

Movies just don’t have the same effect on me at home.  And for the few that I watch that can draw some emotion from me sitting in my living room, no one shares that sentiment.

So, give me a theater full of strangers, sticky floors, and popcorn kernels. Give me loud, emotionally charged, or once in a while downright scary. And I’ll be happy. Until the next movie comes out.

Perhaps that is why the Oscars have had a Best Original Score category since 1934. After all, would Harry Potter and Star Wars be Harry Potter and Star Wars without John Williams’ memorable score? And would The Pink Panther be as pink without Henry Mancini? I think not!

While we might not know that the familiar tune that opens up the Indiana Jones movies has a name (The Raiders March), we certainly leave the theater humming it. More than that, we identify the tune each time we hear it or each time the movie’s title is mentioned. In that way, the score is as important as the catchy dialogue or the actor’s body language.

And while we might forget the names of the composers who spend hours trying to create the perfect theme for the hundreds of feet of film, we never forget what they make us feel. The tears they urge and the laughter they create with eight bars of notes and a couple of codas.

So here’s to John and Henry and Richard and Robert and all the rest! May the next generation of talent live up to the high standards you’ve created!

Now, for a bit of fun…Can you match the score’s composer with the movie? (Hint: The movie and/or the score was nominated for an Academy Award

1.         ____ Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone

2.         ____ Breakfast At Tiffany’s

3.         ____ Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

4.         ____ To Kill A Mockingbird

5.         ____ The Bridge Over The River Kwai

6.         ____ Rocky

7.         ____ Chariots of Fire

8.         ____ The Way We Were

9.         ____ Gone With The Wind

10.       ____ Dr. Zhivago

a. Vangelis   b. Max Steiner  c. Elmer Bernstein  d. Maurice Jarre  e. Marvin Hamlisch  f. Malcolm Arnold

g. John Williams  h. Henry Mancini  i. Bill Conti  j. Alfred Newman

Tune in this evening for the right answers!

Although not all of the below represent my actual favorite scary movies, I dug through the lists of Oscar nominations and come up with what I feel are the top ten scary movies, some that won and some that were only nominated.  Can you identify them by their loglines? (all courtesy of IMDb, the Internet Movie Database)

1. A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in a Paris Opera house, terrorizes the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégé whom he trains and loves.
2. A boy can communicate with spirits that don’t know they’re dead (and) seeks the help of a disheartened child psychiatrist.
3. A young FBI cadet must confide in an incarcerated manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims. (Hello, Clarice.)
4. Three unemployed parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service.
5. An American serving in the French Foreign Legion on an archeological dig at the ancient city of Hamunaptra accidently awakens a mummy.
6. A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people there in increasing numbers and with increasing viciousness.
7. A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer’s client, and subsequently encounters a young hotel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother.
8. Three teens discover that their neighbor’s house is really a living, breathing, scary monster.
9. A team of Commandos, on a mission in a Central American jungle, find themselves hunted by an extra-terrestrial warrior.

10.  When a child is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.

Other nominees respectfully include Jaws, Fatal Attraction, The Fly, and Se7en. Notice none of Stephen King’s movies made the list.

Most of these flicks will make the hair stand up on your arm and your skin crawl. Others will make you smile. All have left their marks on our psyche. Mwahahahahaha.

Okay, how well did you do? Here’s the answers:

1. Phantom of the Opera                                     6. The Birds
2. The Sixth Sense                                              7. Psycho
3. The Silence of the Lambs                                  8. Monster House
4. Ghostbusters                                                  9. Predator
5. The Mummy                                                    10. Exorcist

The same goes for my favorite comedies. The dumber the script and less brain waves required to follow the plot, the more I like it. This probably says little for my mental capabilities, but “I yam what I yam.”

High on my list of meaningless flicks is Mel Brook’s masterpiece “Spaceballs,” a spoof of “Star Wars” and “Star Trek.” You can’t possibly go wrong with Bill Pullman as Lone Starr, the clueless pilot of his flying Winnebago on a rescue mission to free Princess Vespa from the evil forces of Dark Helmet. In one of his most notable roles, John Candy gives us a stunning performance as Barf, the half man/half dog sidekick. (I’ve got you intrigued, now. Admit it.)

Now that you’ve hurried over to Netflix, check out “Coneheads,” the classic movie version of the Saturday Night Live skit, starring Dan Akroyd and Jane Curtin. Click here for one of my favorite parts of the movie—Connie’s tattoo.

Everybody needs to watch a good disaster spoof once in a while. If you haven’t seen “Airplane,” check out a copy. You’ll never look at your flight crew the same again.

As a kid, one of my all-time favorite TV shows was “The Brady Bunch,” so it’s only natural that when “The Brady Bunch Movie” came out in the 90’s, I was in Brady heaven. (I wasn’t a kid anymore, either. I know—I’m giving away my age.) I didn’t think the scene with Marcia getting smacked in the nose with a football could get any funnier, but it does—each time I watch it. And, of course, I can’t forget Jan’s incessant whine, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” (I told you I was warped, so you can’t say you weren’t warned.) 

For all you writers out there, if you haven’t seen “Funny Farm” with Chevy Chase and Madolyn Smith, this is a must-see. When Andy Farmer gives up his Manhattan sports writing job to live on a farm and write his novel, his life becomes every city slicker’s worst nightmare. For the small town/rural dweller, this show’s humor hits pretty close to home at times.

Many of my favorite movies have no doubt made the “Rotten Tomatoes” list, but for me they’re down right funny, and we all need a good laugh once in awhile. Many of them, however, just bring back memories. What are your favorite comedies? Who or what makes you laugh?

One of the key characteristics of love is sacrifice, and most romance stories (The Gift of the Magi comes to mind) include a great sacrificial moment to save the object of the hero or heroine’s love.

Have you seen Tangled – one of the newer romantic animated flicks? It has all the elements of a great story:

• Mystery
• Suspense
• Character Development
• A villain
• Romance (including the big sacrificial moment)
• And, of course, a happy ending

Another animated romance, which is quite possibly my favorite, is Beauty and the Beast. What a great story! But what makes it great? Both the hero and the heroine had to come to the point where they were willing to trade their own hopes and desires in exchange for the happiness of the other.

The Beast stepped out of the reclusive comfort zone he’d created and dared to hope for a brighter future with Belle. And Belle chose to look beyond the fairy tale hero she’d dreamed about and see the Beast for who he was inside.

It takes more than placing a dainty toe inside a glass slipper to create a real romantic story. I think that’s why some of the more recent animated movies have been so widely popular – they have actually delved deep into the development of a relationship, not just placing a kiss on the sleeping lips of a fair maiden the prince has never met.

What’s your favorite animated romance?

So, Dawn and I created our own list. Do you need a little extra romance this Valentine’s Day? Consider curling up with a tub of popcorn (significant other optional) to watch one of these heart grabbing favorites. With so many great romantic movies out there, this list is far from inclusive. Instead, it offers a little something for everyone. Here they are—in o particular order.

1. Somewhere in Time
2. Sense and Sensibility
3. Ever After
4. 50 First Dates
5. The Princess Bride
6. Chocolat
7. Titanic
8. The Lake House
9. Sweet Home Alabama
10. 16 Candles or Pretty in Pink
11. The Notebook
12. Ghost
13. Notting Hill
14. Bridgette Jones Diary
15. Gone with the Wind
16. Any Cary Grant  movie you choose
17. North and South
18. Sleepless in Seattle
19. While You Were Sleeping
20. Pride and Prejudice

Did your favorite make our list?  Do you have another romantic movie to
recommend? Let us know. We may need to make a stop at Redbox.

P.S. If you haven’t watched North and South, run –don’t walk– to Netflix. Although the title makes many  Americans think it is a Civil War story, this BBC miniseries is set in England. It is a marvelous, romantic story that you do NOT want to miss.

This year, my husband and I have been trying to watch all the movies which are nominated for best picture before the Oscars. So far we’ve seen three of the eight nominated and all three have been excellent. It made me think of all the great movies that didn’t win the Best Picture nod. Did you realize that Star Wars, Dead Poet Society, The Lord of the Rings, and Ghost were all nominated, but not selected?

Even if a film doesn’t go home with the top honors, they still find a place in our lives. We love to be swept away for a few hours and watching a flick with a tub of buttery popcorn is one of the most perfect ways to do that.

Just for fun, I wanted to start things off with a little quiz. Let’s see how many of these iconic Oscar winning movies you can identify on sight. Below, I’ve posted screen shots from thirteen different movies. Grab a sheet of paper and see how many you can identify. The answers are at the bottom.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

BONUS QUESTION: How much does an Oscar weigh?

Now, before you skip ahead and check your answers, were you surprised at what memories these movie pictures triggered? Could you recall who you went to the movie with or when you first saw it? For me, I often remember the movie’s theme song or the soundtrack.  Okay, I’ve made you wait long enough. Here are the answers.

Answers: 1.Sound of Music  2. Driving Miss Daisy  3.Ben-Hur  4 .A Beautiful Mind  5. Gone With the Wind  6. Rocky   7. Titanic  8. Forrest Gump  9. The Godfather  10. Gandhi  1. Casablanca  12. Out of Africa 13. The King’s Speech

Bonus: An Oscar weighs 8.5 pounds.

According to Purely Unscientific Oscars R Us party planners, here’s what your score means:

11-13 Break out your designer gown and throw an Oscar party on Feb. 25. You’re clearly a first class flick fan.

8-10 Give yourself a tub of popcorn and a pat on  the back. Movies may not be your life, but you’re not living in a jar either.

5-7 Obviously, you know that the book is always better than the movie.

1-4 Bless your heart, you’re probably too young to remember some of the classics.

So, how did you do? Will you be watching the Oscars this year? Care to venture a prediction?