Movies for Mom

[auntiehill]

Was just having a phone conversation with my Mom, who will turn 87 in a few weeks. She was feeling a bit bored, a bit down and stir crazy, and was looking for movies and tv shows on Netflix and Amazon. My Mom is a very smart woman and is surprisingly with it for her age. She loves sci-fi/ fantasy and is in fact the one who introduced me to Star Trek when I was a kid. She asked for recommendations for upbeat, smart movies or tv shows she can find on Netflix or Amazon.

I suggested About Time, Lady Bird, Hidden Figures and Love, Actually.

She does not share my love of Wes Anderson movies, sadly, but she is generally open to anything, as long as it's not too stupid or adolescent. Her favorite TV shows lately include "The Witcher" and "Frankie and Grace."

I asked if she was watching anything new and she said, "Well, I've been watching 'Lucifer' but it's not that great. "

Anyone have any other suggestions for Mom?

 

[RandyS]

If she likes sci-fi, introduce her to TIMELESS. It's a two season time travel show from a couple of years back. I generally prefer older stuff from the 50s through the early 2000s, but this one hooked me from the beginning.

 

[Jayson1]

If she loves musicals I would suggest Crazy Ex Girlfriend the tv show.

Stay Tuned ins on Amazon. The movie with John RItter and his wife transported into a devil version of the tv landscape from the 80's.

Swiss Army Man=A great movie that is hard to describe. It's sweet and very weird as well.

Saving Mr Banks=Takes some liberties I suspect in terms of what was real but this is the one were Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney

Sherlock-The one with Bennedict Cumberbatch


Jason

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I recommend Bells Are Ringing. But then, I will recommend Bells Are Ringing to absolutely anyone who will listen! It's a 1960 musical comedy about a woman who works at an answering service and gets involved in the personal lives of her customers, including an alcoholic playwright played by Dean Martin. It was specifically written to be a vehicle for Judy Holliday and it shows. She's got some of the best comic timing I've ever seen and it's an absolute shame that this was her last movie. (She died of cancer a few years later.) Looks like it's available on Amazon.

 

[auntiehill]

I recommend Bells Are Ringing. But then, I will recommend Bells Are Ringing to absolutely anyone who will listen! It's a 1960 musical comedy about a woman who works at an answering service and gets involved in the personal lives of her customers, including an alcoholic playwright played by Dean Martin. It was specifically written to be a vehicle for Judy Holliday and it shows. She's got some of the best comic timing I've ever seen and it's an absolute shame that this was her last movie. (She died of cancer a few years later.) Looks like it's available on Amazon.

Thanks! I might have to find that one for myself!

 

[fireproof78]

She might enjoy Tolkien movie, though not sure what platform it is released on.
Also, she might like Carnival Row, which is an interesting fantasy style series.

 

[auntiehill]

She might enjoy Tolkien movie, though not sure what platform it is released on.
Also, she might like Carnival Row, which is an interesting fantasy style series.

Yeah, she's seen those and really liked them.

 

[Owain Taggart]

What about Supergirl? I've loved the character development in that one.

One that recently came out, and I don't know where it would be available outside Canada, would be James Vs His Future Self. Imagine your future self travelling to the past to warn your past self not to invent time-travel, and that's the gist of it, and it's mainly a drama and an exploration of life. His future-self is played by Daniel Stern. It was actually filmed locally to me and in fact the climax is in a location quite familiar to me.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6739796/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

[Avro Arrow]

One that recently came out, and I don't know where it would be available outside Canada, would be James Vs His Future Self. Imagine your future self travelling to the past to warn your past self not to invent time-travel, and that's the gist of it, and it's mainly a drama and an exploration of life.

But did his future self try to convince him to sign up for Freedom 55?

This doesn't seem to be available on DVD. Where would one watch it?

 

[Owain Taggart]

his doesn't seem to be available on DVD. Where would one watch it?

I dunno, I caught it on-demand, so one would hope it's on a on-demand service elsewhere.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

One that recently came out, and I don't know where it would be available outside Canada, would be James Vs His Future Self. Imagine your future self travelling to the past to warn your past self not to invent time-travel, and that's the gist of it, and it's mainly a drama and an exploration of life. His future-self is played by Daniel Stern.

If the future version is played by Daniel Stern, then shouldn't the younger version be played by Fred Savage? Jus' sayin'.

 

[Owain Taggart]

If the future version is played by Daniel Stern, then shouldn't the younger version be played by Fred Savage? Jus' sayin'.

Heh, took me a few, but I got 'inner-monologue' bit. Funny They did a fairly good job with the casting because the younger actor is a fairly good likeness to Daniel Stern.

 

[amp]

I don't have Amazon on Netflix so I'm not sure what's available there. But here's a list of some upbeat movies that I think are worth checking out. Some are pretty obvious but others are more obscure.

Upbeat Scifi
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Contact
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Martian
Shaun of the Dead
Wall-E


Upbeat Non-Scifi
Amelie
Bringing Up Baby
Dick
Doc Hollywood
The Gods Must Be Crazy
Hot Fuzz
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
The Lady Eve
A League of Their Own
Libeled Lady
Mister Roberts
My Cousin Vinny
O Brother Where Art Thou
Roman Holiday
School of Rock
Shakespeare in Love
The Shawshank Redemption
The Sting
Tampopo
The Wedding Banquet
While You Were Sleeping

 

[auntiehill]

I don't have Amazon on Netflix so I'm not sure what's available there. But here's a list of some upbeat movies that I think are worth checking out. Some are pretty obvious but others are more obscure.

Upbeat Scifi
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Contact
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Martian
Shaun of the Dead
Wall-E

Pretty sure she has seen all of these....but not sure about Shaun of the Dead. I'll ask her about that one.

Upbeat Non-Scifi
Amelie
Bringing Up Baby
Dick
Doc Hollywood
The Gods Must Be Crazy
Hot Fuzz
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
The Lady Eve
A League of Their Own
Libeled Lady
Mister Roberts
My Cousin Vinny
O Brother Where Art Thou
Roman Holiday
School of Rock
Shakespeare in Love
The Shawshank Redemption
The Sting
Tampopo
The Wedding Banquet
While You Were Sleeping

Amelie! That's a good one. I'm fairly certain she's seen the others--at least most of them, but I don't think I've heard her talk about Amelie. Thanks for reminding me; that's a very good suggestion.

 

[Owain Taggart]

If she doesn't mind foreign movies, I just thought of another one. Seducing Dr Lewis, which is a French small-town comedy from Quebec, and there's also an English language remake called The Grand Seduction, but I personally prefer the original over the remake as I feel it has more charm.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

A couple other lesser known movies I might recommend:

The Damned United. It's kind of a sports movie but more of a character study. It's based on a true story about Brian Clough's failed stint as the coach of the Leeds United soccer team. You get to see how his ego snatches defeat from the jaws of victory and makes everyone hate him. He gets fired but it's still a happy ending because he reconciles with his estranged partner at the end. It's a really fun performance from Michael Sheen. And Colm Meaney plays his arch rival!

Tonight You're Mine. I've only watched it once, so I'm not sure how it holds up, but I remember liking it. It's a romance set at a rock festival in Scotland. A pair of feuding musicians are handcuffed together by a random stranger, so they have to learn to tolerate each other.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

If she doesn't mind foreign movies, I just thought of another one. Seducing Dr Lewis, which is a French small-town comedy from Quebec, and there's also an English language remake called The Grand Seduction, but I personally prefer the original over the remake as I feel it has more charm.

Just watched the trailer for The Grand Seduction. Looks pretty entertaining. But I'm stunned that, even for a trailer, they couldn't cobble together enough clips to make it look like Taylor Kitsch can act.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Just watched the trailer for The Grand Seduction. Looks pretty entertaining. But I'm stunned that, even for a trailer, they couldn't cobble together enough clips to make it look like Taylor Kitsch can act.

I can't remember as it's been too long, but it might have been one of the reasons I preferred the original over the remake. In the original, the doctors is middle-aged and played by an older actor.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

For a strange sense of humor: 8 Heads In A Duffel Bag, Little Nicky, any Bruce Campbell movie.

 

[auntiehill]

I think you missed the part where I said "smart movies."