"Mind if I go in and watch television?"

   Here are the titles of the movies in this post:

1. Anastasia (97)
2. Interstellar (14)
3. Les Miserables (12)
4. The Phantom of the Opera (25)
5. Secondhand Lions (03)

   Watch all of these movies, and love them.

   Anastasia includes such rousing numbers as "In The Dark of the Night", which leads to the question: WHY are villian's songs so dang catchy? Take, for instance, the delightfully sing-along-able "Be Prepared" from The Lion King, and let's not forget Ursula's belted tune "Poor Unfortunate Souls", which I have sung, with bravura, to/at my sister on more than one occasion.  And how can I even talk about this without mentioning the equally dastardly and infectious "Kill the Beast"? This problem is rampant. Rasputin's song makes me want to get up and dance, and it's about putting a curse on Anastasia, who I am cheering for. What in the world. I wasn't allowed to watch Anastasia when I was a wee bairn, too much weird Rasputin stuff, so I watched it with relish (sorry, mom).

   When I sat down to watch Interstellar I turned to my friend and said "how much do you bet that this was filmed in Iceland?" and he said "I think they filmed it in Alberta, actually." Turns out we were both right: the earth scenes are definitely Alberta and at least one of the space locations is definitely Iceland. We are all winners. Some people have expressed disappointment in this movie and Christopher Nolan, but I like it just fine. Exceptional performances all around. Just suspend your disbelief for the inaccurate science, as one is wont to do while consuming science fiction. It's mostly about Space Dad Feelings, how can you go wrong.

   Do I even need to talk about Les Mis? Every time I watch it I try to steel myself and every time I shed at least a tear at the end when Jean Valjean is in the chair and he's dying and Fantine comes and sings and oh my gosh, so beautiful. Also: I get that people are all agog over them singing live but let's put this into perspective: musicals usually run eight shows a week, all live singing (duh) and without the luxury of re-doing a take. It's cool, but it's not that cool.

   My plans for All Hallow's Eve were "do nothing" UNTIL a friend of mine alerted me to a showing of the silent Phantom of the Opera accompanied by live organ music and folks: it was mind bogglingly amazing. Please be a new Halloween tradition, I beg of you. It's the way silent movies were meant to be watched and it was a most excellent experience. As an added bonus, silent movies are hilariously over the top and dramatic. Side note: if you have a friend who suggests things like silent movies with organ music, hold on to that friend.

    Do you want more movies with more Dad (or Dad Approximate) Feelings? Then after you get home from watching Interstellar you can toss Secondhand Lions into the ol' laser disc machine and ka-blammo, you got it. Also features: lions (obvi), sleep-walking, a pig that thinks it's a dog, story-telling, the Foreign Legion, and much more. Also: Michael Caine! Have you seen the video of Michael Caine doing an impression of people who do Michael Caine impressions? It's great.