Monday, August 16, 2010

NetFlix Feeds the Movie Buff in Me...by Lisa Mondello


I love movies as much as I love books. Whether the story's on the page or the big screen, it doesn't matter. I can't get enough, especially if it's a story I really, really love!

I'm a busy mom of 4 teenagers. If you're a mom at all you know that your day is pretty long and TV time usually happens around 10:30 or 11:00PM. At least for me it does. Having a DVR has given me the freedom to be able to get work done AND watch programs that I don't want to miss. When I sit down, I usually want to watch something on HG-TV or a good movie. (Usually a good movie.)

That's why NetFlix is my best friend. Like me, my youngest daughter is a movie buff. She loves all the old classics. (I remind her that some of those "classics" really aren't THAT old.) So when I look at my NetFlix queue and see Gone with the Wind or Casablanca on it, I get excited. I know I didn't put it there and when it comes in, it will be fun to share it with my daughter. I then want to tell her about more movies she's probably never heard of. African Queen with Kate Hepburn, The Sound of Music (one of my personal favorites!), anything with Al Pacino (she's a huge fan) or funny classics like What's Up Doc with Barbara Streisand are all fun to watch together. We both love WWII romances too and really love Shining Through with Melanie Griffith and Michael Douglas. Occasionally we come back to 2010 and have to watch something with Leo in it. (Let's face it. It's not a hardship and there are a ton of great movies to choose from like Blood Diamond and Shutter Island.)

When I find a movie I love, I watch it over and over again. I want to see how the characters develop throughout the story, how they interact with the other characters, the dynamics of family and friendship and how each scene contributes to the overall story until we get to the happy (hopefully) ending. Okay, sometimes it's not so happy. I can live with that as long as it's not totally depressing. I eventually stopped looking for a piece of driftwood for Jack Dawson because Rose did go on to live a full life after surviving the sinking of the Titanic.

I usually drive my husband crazy though. "How many times can you watch Out of Africa or A Walk in the Clouds?" I don't know, but apparently a lot because he's begun hiding the TV Guide on me so I won't know when they're on. I try to balance things out by watching Serenity, another personal favorite, or some other Sci-Fi movies that we both love. Although we're all big Sci-Fi fans in this house, I usually have to remind him that Steeple Hill books don't have aliens in them. But as soon as I get the okay from my editor, he'll be the first to know!

Share your favorite movie with me. My NetFlix queue has a lot room on it and I'm always up for discovering a great story that I've never seen. My daughter and I thank you!

Until next time, many blessings, Lisa Mondello

11 comments:

  1. Wonderful post, Lisa. I'm behind the curve and just recently signed up for Netflix. While the convenience of the DVDs delivered is great, streaming through the X-Box is our new best friend.

    I've been going one by one through episodes of Quantum Leap on the streaming. (The writing on that show was just so smart!) But as far as movies go, you hit my all-time favorite with Casablanca. I'll have to go see if that's available for streaming and if not, add it to the regular queue.

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  2. I need to figure out Netflix, but do I have to go to the post office to mail back?
    And, how do you use Xbox? I have a Wi.
    I'm in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding and You've Gone Mail mode most of the time.
    I have a five year old. Last movie seen: Toy Story.

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  3. Connie, you've reminded me that I can watch instant movies on my Wii! Hmm, I'm going to have to put more movies in the queue.

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  4. You can use your Wii, Pam. Oh and have you seen UP yet? What a funny and adorable movie!! I started watching that by myself one day and was laughing...by myself...and then one by one I had the whole family in the room with me watching it. (Just so you know how wide movie interest runs in this house, the same thing happened when I put on the movie Help!) Very cute movie. And my youngest is 16!

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  5. Lisa, I had forgotten about "What's Up Doc?" That was one of my favorites.

    I love all the Rogers & Hammerstein musicals, can't seem to get enough of them. The Unsinkable Molly Brown is another of my favorites.

    Favorite classics that quickly come to mind are To Kill a Mockingbird and Shenandoah.

    More recent favorites are Seabiscuit, Catch Me If You Can, Big Fish, Steel Magnolias, and Fried Green Tomatoes. I think you'd really like Big Fish.

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  6. We are being encouraged by our son and daughter to join the netflix crowd. Its giving my husband the excuse to buy a new toy, a blue ray player.

    I love so many movies in so many genres. The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, Fools Rush in with Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek, the Rock with Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage (not for the faint hearted)!

    I think I am with Pamela though, most of the time I like sweet and light.

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  7. We just finished watching the Blind Side. I cried again. My son gave us a NetFlix subscription for a birthday one year. We love it.

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  8. Wow, you've all given me some great suggestions! Some I've already seen...several times. They're keepers. But I'm heading over to add a few more movies to the list. I haven't seen The Blind Side yet. I've heard nothing but great things about that story.

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  9. I also love Netflix!

    I've actually found we probably watch more episodes of TV shows! We love The Office reruns. :)

    Pamela, you can go online and order a disc so you can run it through your Wii. My daughter does that. I actually bought a Roku box to stream through our home network so we can watch it on the main TV.

    Yes, I loved Up!! And Blind Side made me cry as well. Great movie.

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  10. I did the free trial for Netflix. We rented some bombs--like Sherlock Holmes. I think I blocked the others from my mind because I don't even remember them. I'd rather see my movies at the theater. There's just something about that big screen.

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  11. 第一次來這裡 愛上你的部落格 感謝你的分享
    Translation: First time here love your blog Thank you for sharing

    From Lisa Mondello: Thank you so much for stopping by! 從麗莎蒙德洛:非常感謝你停止了!

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