Entertaining Diversions and Connecting Points

What are your top ten favorite movies?

I enjoy a “good” movie while at the same time recognizing movies for what I experience them to be: diversions and entertainment. There is nothing particularly wrong about being diverted and/or entertained as long as I recognize it. I do practice “being there” as I watch a movie, a practice that for me asks I engage here and now rather than disengage, letting my thoughts and feelings wander form the present moment.

Before I actually list the movies (with no commentary about why each made the list), I will say that, in general, my favorite movies are “good” because of the personal associations the movies have for me. They are tied to memories and they are connecting points. Here is my list:

• The Princess Bride
• It’s A Wonderful Life
• Encanto
• Jesus Christ, Superstar
• Galaxy Quest
• The Replacements
• Love Actually
• About Time
• Guardians of the Galaxy (any)
• Bride and Prejudice

Many of these movies get quoted like inside jokes with my wife, son, and daughter. Most were shared experiences and continue as connecting points around dinner tables and family walks. The exception to the rule (yes, I said “no commentary”) is Jesus Christ, Superstar which I appreciate for the questions it invited me to ask as a youth about Jesus; this movie I watch alone annually around/before Easter (at the suggestion of a friend, Sarah, who does the same!).

I still hold that movies are not a good first date (watching a screen rather than getting to know your date); later in a relationship, however, they are something to share, discuss, learn about/from, and enjoy. Movies can be and are for me, touchpoints in a shared journey.