Favorite Christmas Movies

This list was pretty easy to make, since there are only a handful of Christmas/holiday movies out there. And of course, these are mostly associated with holiday traditions and fond memories :)

1. White Christmas - I have watched this every year since I was born, as a family we would watch this while stringing popcorn for the Christmas tree

2. Elf - I mean, Will Farrell and Zooey Deschanel's voice am I right? And it's probably one of the most quotable movies of all time!

3. It's a Wonderful Life - Again I have watched this movie almost every year since I was born, it's my dad's favorite.

4. You've Got Mail (yes I consider this a holiday movie...and I'll take this one over Sleepless in Seattle but both are good!)

5. While You Where Sleeping

6. Home Alone

7. The Holiday - I adore Kate Winslet in this movie, I've been there

8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon, bc I am not a big Jim Carrey fan and I like the original Dr. Seuss poem)

9. The Santa Clause

10. Die Hard

Arthur Christmas, and A Charlie Brown Christmas were VERY close cuts.

Scrooged, Love Actually, Jingle All The Way, and Holiday Inn just didn't do it for me.

I will admit I have not seen, Christmas Vacation, Miracle on 34th street, A Christmas Story, or The Nightmare Before Christmas all the way through so take my list with a grain of salt if those would be your top picks :). I think I have mentioned every Christmas movie I know!

Squads, Couples and Duos

Let's talk TEAMWORK! We all know that two heads are better then one, so I am compiling my favorite Squads, Couples, and Duos. Because there is multiple categories I am cutting it down to 5 each this time.

Favorite Squads
1. Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia (Rey, Finn, and Poe are a great follow up)
2. Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey (Friends)
3. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley
4. Captain Mal Reynolds. Zoe, Wash, Jayne, Inara, Kaylee, Simon, and River (Firely)
5. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Eleven (Stranger Things, if only I had a group of friends like that as a kid they are adorable - and shout out to Dustin for being the best!)

Favorite Couples
1. Chuck Bartowksi and Sarah Walker (Team Bartowski makes an amazing squad as well)
2. Tim and Mary (About Time)
3. Jim Helpert and Pam Beesly (The Office)
4. Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt (April and Andy are a close second)
5. Nathan Scott and Haley James (One Tree Hill)

Favorite Duos
1. Cory Matthews and Shawn Hunter (yep better then Cory and Topanga, and let's not forget the bromance between Eric and Feeny)
2. Troy and Abed (Community, that show was hit and miss for me but they had the most epic season finale's)
3. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (BBC Version)
4. Brook Davis and Peyton Sawyer (One Tree Hill)
5. J.D. Dorian and Christopher Turk (Scrubs)

I would like to note that both each show has so many great squads, couples and duos, but I decided to refrain but using the same show in every category haha. I mean character development and relationship dynamics is the heartbeat of every story, so any good story is gonna have endearing characters with great chemistry.

Disney and Non Disney Animated Movies

Ok childhood memories or HUGE! They are so important and shape and define our personality, I could go on outside of animated films and get into Disney Channel and Nickelodeon shows as well as non animated kids movies, but I'll save myself the embarrassment and leave it at these :)

Animated movies, Disney/Pixar and

Disney Movies
1. Tangled (because you know...Zachary Levi and that lantern scene I mean c'moon)
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Toy Story
4. The Lion King
5. A Bug's Life
6. Sleeping Beauty
7. Emperor's New Groove
8. Monster's Inc
9. Aladdin
10. Inside Out

Up did not make my list, but the first 15 minutes of that movie is just so good, had to give it recognition. Oliver and Company, Little Mermaid, The Incredibles, Wreck It Ralph, Zootopia, and Finding Nemo very close cuts (disclaimer I have not seen Finding Dory yet). I did enjoy Frozen, especially the music but it wasn't one of my favorites.

Non Disney Movies
1. Iron Giant
2. Megamind
3. The Lego Movie
4. Anastasia
5. Balto
6. How To Train Your Dragon
7. Despicable Me
8. Hoodwinked
9. An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
10. Cloud With a Chance of Meatballs

The Secret of NIHM scared my as a kid, and I was not a fan of Shrek (I know those are big ones for people)

Musicals and Artists

Music is one of the most important aspects of a film. It gives character and emotion to a movie. I mean John Williams music makes StarWars, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park that much better. So I thought I'd compile a list of favorite musicals, artists and soundtracks. (I skipped composers because there only 3 they stood out to me, one of them being John Williams of course)

Favorite Musicals
1. Singing In the Rain
2. Newsies
3. The Sound of Music
4. Moulin Rouge
5. Mary Poppins
6. Summer Stock
7. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
8. West Side Story (I don't like the Romeo and Juliet story line, but the musical numbers are just that good)
9. Sister Act
10. Meet Me In St. Louis

Quick shout out to Doris Day and Barbra Streisand since none of their movies made the list but they have such incredible voices! Also, The King and I and My Fair Lady did not make the list, but those will always hold a special place for my because they remind me of my mom.

Favorites Artists
1. Ben Folds (The Luckiest was the absolute perfect song for About Time and he is my favorite artists overall)
2. The Head And The Heart (because Rivers and Roads is just epicly emotional for the end of Chuck)
3. Coldplay - Fix You (from Scrubs)
4. Augustana - Fire (from the mix tape Matt makes for Julie in Friday Night Lights) and Boston (from Scrubs)
5. Regina Spektor (The Call at the end of Prince Caspian wrecked me)

Favorite Soundtrack
1. Once
2. (500) Days of Summer
3. The Graduate (I just love Simon and Garfunkel) 
4. Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1
5. Garden State

My Perspective on Film

I have always been fascinated by movies and television and what popular film and T.V. says about our culture. I think the movies and T.V. shows a person likes says a lot about them. We determine whether we like or dislike something based on how it makes us feel, the different emotions they bring out stem from our personal experiences and personality. There is nothing like that feeling when you say "I love that movie" and then someone responds "me too!" - instant connection. You know you can relate to that personal and start a wonderful conversation. That is why I wanted to start this blog to share thoughts and ideas and start conversations! I am going to do 10 top 10 lists in different categories, trying to post about once a week.

So I thought I would start with some of my favorites, just to give a foundation of where I am coming from on my perspective of film. This list is based on what I find to be my go to movies and shows to re-watch over again or most quotable.

Favorite Movies (New - after 1970)
1. About Time
2. Star Wars A New Hope
3. Moulin Rouge (I can only watch this movie every once in a while when I need a good cry)
4. You've Got Mail
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Order of the Phoenix would be second, both of which are not even my favorite HP books)
6. X-Men Days of Future Past (my top Marvel movie as of right now)
7. The Hunger Games - Catching Fire
8. Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth version of course)
9. Anne of Green Gables (Road to Avonlea was great too!)
10. A Knights Tale

Favorite Movies (Old - before 1970)
1. Libled Lady
2, After The Thin Man
3. The Philadelphia Story
4. Wonder Man
5. Bringing Up Baby
6. My Favorite Wife
7. Little Women
8. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
9. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
10. Up in Arms

Favorite TV Shows
1. CHUCK (absolute favorite hands down)
2. Parks and Recreation
3. Friends (HIMYM was great, but let's face it, it can't compete to the original squad)
4. Boy Meets World (Full House and Lizzie Mcguire where huge for me in my childhood but I had to go with BMW)
5. Gilmore Girls
6. The Dick Van Dyke Show
7. One Tree Hill (the last two season where rough though... and yes OTH over The O.C. but I do love me some Seth Cohen!)
8. Friday Night Lights (Team Matt Sarascan all the way) 
9. The Office
10. The Carol Burnett Show (shout out to variety shows, not to mention she was a pioneer for women in comedy, and Vicki Lawrence is greatly underappreciated)

If you made it through this post, thank you for indulging me in my little project, and please feel free to share and comment on your favorites!