These flicks are the perfect diversion for a Thanksgiving
holiday, so settle down on the sofa, grab another piece of pie and
enjoy!
If you can manage to wrestle the remote
control from your football-loving family members, or are looking
for a way to avoid your Great Aunt Emily quizzing you about why you
are still single, or you just need a moment or two of piece and
quiet while you savor some hot cider, we’ve found 10 great
(celluloid) escapes.
Read 10 No-Fail Tips for the Perfect Thanksgiving
10. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
One of our rules should
probably be that if it’s possible to include a Peanuts movie in one
of these holiday lists, we’re going to find a way to do it.
9. The Myth of
Fingerprints
An entertaining little indie
flick starring Julianne Moore and Noah Wyle about a young man
trying to reconnect with his distant father and an old girlfriend,
and it happens over Thanksgiving weekend. A mixed bag, but
ultimately worth it.
8. The Ice Storm
Ang Lee’s adaptation of the
Rick Moody novel about a pair of suburban families in 1973 is dark
and powerful and heartbreaking, but a pretty incredible piece of
work.
7. Pieces of
April
Another indie, this one
stars Katie Holmes as an alternative young woman living in New
York’s East Village, whose family is coming to visit her and her
tiny apartment for Thanksgiving. The fact that she has a strained
relationship with her mother (who also is dying of cancer)
complicates matters. Patricia Clarkson, playing April’s mom, got an
Oscar nomination for her work.
6. Home for the
Holidays
Jodie Foster’s directorial
debut, it stars Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr. Sometimes
hilarious, sometimes painful, but almost always right on the money
when capturing the essence of family and the complications it
creates.
5. Brokeback
Mountain
Another Ang Lee offering,
maybe his best known, that brilliantly told the devastating tale of
two gay cowboys and the unhappy lives they each led. Oscar
nominations all around for Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal and
Michelle Williams.
4. Alice’s
Restaurant
There’s nothing quite like
watching Arlo Guthrie and some of his friends running around with a
bunch of garbage, fleeing from the police. A fun little
Thanksgiving adventure.
3. Holiday Inn
We don’t care that this silly little flick
doesn’t have much of a plot, or that it isn’t much more than a
bunch of terrific Irving Berlin songs held together by a thin
stream of scenes with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, we just love it
and can watch it over and over again.
2. Planes, Trains and
Automobiles
One of the late John Hughes’
lesser known films, it’s a little gem and the first real adult
movie he made after spending the ’80s in high school. Steve Martin
is terrific and the late John Candy is kind of mesmerizing as one
of the most annoying travel companions ever. The reveal at the end
of why he is the way he is will melt your heart.
1. Hannah and Her
Sisters
We won’t call it Woody
Allen’s best film (we think that’s Manhattan), but it’s
certainly up there. The warm and winning tale of Hannah (Mia
Farrow), her two sisters and their boyfriends and husbands never
stops being completely engaging, from start to finish.
Neil Turitz is a screenwriter, freelance journalist and the
editor of the entertainment news blog FilmNewsBriefs.com. He knows a
lot about movies and TV and is unafraid of sharing his knowledge
and opinions with complete strangers.
To read more from BettyConfidential |
How to Not Gain Weight This Thanksgiving &
Thanksgiving Without Turkey?
Get more BettyConfidential! Follow us on
Twitter,
Friend us on
Facebook, and
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!
