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Yet another Netflix treasure, I've not seen this since it came out (ummmm, 26 years ago). This is one of those intelligent mainstream films that just don't get made anymore. Albert Brooks is wonderful, I don't know why he isn't in more, he's a fantastic actor. Of course some might say his high point is being the voice of Marlin in Finding Nemo but I think this comes close.

Holly Hunter is also a complete joy. She's one of my favourite actresses; smart, cute and funny. I have issues with the William Hurt character, he just isn't very nice and I don't think Jane would be interested in him. Is he really that handsome? I don't get it.

Now, a confession, all this time I thought Albert Brooks directed this but it was James L. Brooks. You can see why I was confused. He also directed Terms of Endearment (which I can't watch without becoming a basket case) and As Good As It Gets (which I've never seen but it's on Netflix so it's only a matter of time). The guy has only directed six films one of which is an Adam Sandler film called Spanglish. Truly, Hollywood works in mysterious ways.

This is still an excellent film. It is clever, thought-provoking and it has Joan Cusack. That makes two Joan Cusack films in a row! Joan with big hair, again:

Love her. I am considering having a Joan Cusack season.

Finally, it has Lois Chiles in it. Her from The Way We Were, Moonraker and Dallas. Did you know she had a relationship with Don Henley? Never say I don't educate you.

Dances with Wolves

When this film came out in 1990, yes 23 years ago, I loved it. I went to see it twice at the cinema, bought the soundtrack and basically wanted to be a Sioux. I've not seen it for years but it was on TV so I recorded it and watched it again. Despite what you may think of Kevin Costner, this is an amazing achievement. I watched it with TeenBoy who had never seen it before.

It is long. Really long. But it doesn't feel long at three hours. Yet again, I was drawn into it all. Two Socks the wolf! Stands With A Fist! Wind In His Hair! Kicking Bird! Smiles A Lot!A big debate was had about our Sioux names, no strong conclusion was made on mine but TeenBoy is Tickles Fish. The scenery is spectacular and the buffalo scene is still impressive. All was going well until TeenBoy said, Kevin Costner now looks like he should be in Bon Jovi.

Ruined. Ruined I tell you! I couldn't stop laughing and it's true, he does morph into Bon Jovi in an alarming fashion. This is a brilliant film and now I want to watch Last of the Mohicans where I have absolutely no complaints about Daniel Day Lewis's resemblance to a hair band member at all.

It's a very sad film and although it's roughly drawn with cliches - Sioux are all good and noble people, white men are evil - it's done in a way that you don't really care. And we have enough westerns with the white men being heroes anyway.

I still want to be a Sioux as it turns out, and live in a teepee and sit around a campfire. I wouldn't be so hot on the fighting and lack of running hot water though so just as well.

Top Ten Female Film Characters

Sisters unite! It's time to celebrate our favourite celluloid women. This list was, naturally enough, difficult. There are plenty of female characters I enjoy but who are, well, a bit wet when it comes down to it. Tracy Lord in High Society is a good example. Grace Kelly is at her most glorious, has some wonderful lines and she's a likeable character but she's all about the men in her life. I wanted my list to be a bit more kick-ass, a bit more feminist, a bit more fierce if you will. There is no order to this list and so we start with the fiercest of them all.

Sarah Connor: Terminator 2

This changed everything. I remember everyone in the cinema gasping when she came on screen; pretty little Linda got some muscles! And she got hard because she had to. Her breaking out of the mental institution is one of my all-time favourite scenes in cinema. Nobody understands that we're all about to die! Looking at a list of some of my favourite films, it's depressing to realise there are few female characters to emulate. Women are usually there to simper, look pretty and be rescued. Sarah Connor was a breath of fresh air. She strides around this film like she owns it.

Susan: Desperately Seeking Susan

Played to perfection by Madonna, every teenage girl of the 80s wanted to be Susan. She was so cool. Her clothes, her attitude, her living out of that suitcase, her swapping her jacket for the rhinestone boots, her wit: "this has to be a cover-up, nobody's life could be this boring!" She didn't need men, she knew what to do with them but she didn't need them. Sometimes I still wish I could dress like Susan.

Marie: When Harry Met Sally

Rob Reiner hit gold with this casting, who wouldn't want Carrie Fisher in their rom com? I adore Carrie Fisher, I want to be friends with her, I know we'd get on just darlin'. As Marie, she gets all the truly great lines in this movie. My favourite is "somebody is staring at you in Personal Growth!" The best scene is the lunch with the girls when Marie goes through her cards of men for Sally and folds one over saying 'married!" I am breaking my own rules a little here as she is a bit desperate for a man but only because of the stupid married man she's been having an affair with, "he's never going to leave her!" However, I am going to make an exception because once she meets Bruno Kirby, it's all wonderful.

Baby: Dirty Dancing

Baby was an activist, a detective (she worked out who was stealing the money!) and she stood up for her beliefs. Most of all Baby learned how to dance and deep down I believe if Patrick Swayze was teaching me, I could dance like that too. She gives as good as she gets with Johnny ("spaghetti arms!") and Jennifer Grey has never been better. I like to imagine that Baby would have married a human rights lawyer and lived in Greenwich Village. No, I don't think her and Johnny would have lasted, it's a classic summer romance!

Mia: Pulp Fiction

It's fair to say that Mia is no role model but man alive, is she cool. From the moment she talks into that microphone and Dusty Springfield is playing, you know she's going to be awesome. Uma Thurman oozes sex appeal in this and just looks so classy. No plunging short dresses for her, just a simple white shirt and black trousers but has anyone ever worn an outfit so well? She has some wonderful lines: "why do we feel it necessary to yak about bullshit in order to feel comfortable?" and she dances a dream. Ok, ok, she overdoses on drugs but I am willing to overlook that. She isn't afraid to stand up to Vincent and therefore she makes my list.

Rizzo: Grease

I am not sure an explanation is even necessary however to avoid any doubt, here goes. She dates Keneckie, she rules the school, she wears tight black clothes to school and a crazy red dress to the prom, she chucks milkshakes around, she thinks Sandy's summer romance sounds like a drag, she feels like a defective typewriter, she knows there are worst things she could do than go with a boy or two and she sings Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee with gusto. No character in a high school film has ever been better than Rizzo. And nobody could have played her better than Stockard.

Vickie: Reality Bites

While Lelaina drips around the movie being angsty about her work, her love life, Troy etc, Vickie works at The Gap and steals all the good lines. She's hilarious, just looking at her face makes me giggle. "He's so cheesy, I can't watch him without crackers" "I'm late for a jean-folding seminar, let's locomote!" Because of this movie, I will watch anything Janeane Garofalo is in. She's fabulous and so is Vickie.

Trinity: The Matrix and Matrix Reloaded

The Matrix is just a fabulous film from start to finish. Everyone in it is on top form but nobody is quite as cool as Trinity. She is icily efficient and totally on top of everything. She's also good in the sequel but gets a teeny bit drippy however she is with Keanu so she's forgiven.

Thelma: Thelma and Louise

It's very hard to pick Thelma over Louise. Obviously both of them are great but for me, Thelma's journey is more interesting. She starts as a rather pathetic, downtrodden housewife and ends up robbing a store at gunpoint. "My husband wasn't nice to me and look what happened!" She discovers that actually she's hot, she's funny and she's got a talent for being on the run. And she gets to have sex with Brad Pitt.

Scarlett: Gone with the Wind

If I had to pick one favourite from this list, it would be Scarlett O'Hara. Scarlett isn't always very nice, in fact often she's downright mean and nasty but she's such a survivor. She keeps her promises, she loves her mother and she provides for her pretty hopeless family after the war and yes, she has to make some tough decisions to do it but it's do or die in this land. She marries a man she doesn't love to ensure she has a roof over her head and that Tara can survive. She delivers Melanie's baby with a war raging around her. So I won't hear a word against Miss Katie Scarlett. She is the original feisty woman and much as we love Melanie, we'd all rather be Scarlett surely?

Who have I missed? Tell me.

Forrest Gump

I remember when Forrest Gump swept the Oscars beating Pulp Fiction, Tarantino said "why doesn't everyone realise Forrest Gump is a black comedy?" Well, Quentin, I realised. I am unashamed in my love for Forrest Gump, I genuinely believe it to be a great film. I think Tom Hanks thoroughly deserved his Oscar. And I think it's technically brilliant; the way they edit the old footage so Forrest meets the presidents is brilliant.

It was on TV last night and so I watched it again having not seen it for years. It's simply great entertainment and I think my favourite bit is how well Forrest does in the army. "Forrest, you're a goddamned genius!" I also love Bubba talking about all the different ways you can shrimp.

It has a fabulous (if obvious) soundtrack and all the supporting actors are very good too. Gary Sinise as Lt Dan, Robin Wright as Jenny. Hell, I even like Sally Fields in this!

Here is my favourite bit.

Titanic

Two posts in one day. I thought I'd spoil you all.

Now then, I am always honest with you and I am not ashamed to admit that I love Titanic. I love it so much that I am listening to the soundtrack as I write this. The soundtrack I bought back in 1997. That I still have on my ipod.

Over the last two evenings, I've been watching Titanic (it's too long for one viewing on a school night) with Teen Boy and I'd forgotten how captivating it it. Yes, it's cheesy, it's got some terrible lines (how many times do they say 'Jack' and 'Rose' to each other? No need to actually answer that) and it's very long. Nonetheless, from the moment it starts I am transfixed. James Cameron is a fantastic director. Terminator 2 is still one of my favourite movies. Nobody does bang for your buck like Cameron. When that boat goes down, you feel like you are drowning with it. Maybe I get too involved.

Specific things I love about this movie:

1. The scale. They built a replica of the ship! Well half a replica. Having watched it, you do feel like you've been aboard the Titanic.
2. The soundtrack. See above. I don't like the Celine song though, I do have some limits to my bad taste.
3. Kate Winslet. Hard to imagine anyone else throwing themselves into this quite like Kate.
4. Leonardo Dicaprio. Beloved of teenage girls everywhere, he's perfect in this. I like Leo, he's a good actor.
5. Kathy Bates as the Unsinkable Molly. I'd like to have seen more of her.
6. Billy Zane! Billy Zane is in it. Wearing eyeliner. Say no more.
7. The action. Once that iceberg hits, it's non-stop action and it's fantastic. The way the water rushes in. The bit where she has to go and save Jack from the handcuffs. Heart in my mouth.
8. The hats.
9. Gloria Stuart. Pure class.
10. All the underwater footage of Titanic. It never fails to move me.

I'll stop at ten reasons. That's quite enough.

I can't pick one scene as one scene alone is just bad. You need the whole film. So here's a trailer.

Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind was a key part of my childhood. My mother took me and my sister to see this at the cinema when I was about nine or so. All I could fixate on were the dresses - so flouncy and pretty! The scene where Scarlett is getting ready for the barbecue is just perfect and look at the dress she wears.

It's divine. I don't really know any little girl who wouldn't have been entranced. And I love this scene:

In the book it explains that Scarlett sits there and not at a table as you can only have two sides at a table and she wants the men to be all around her! Genius.

It took a little longer for me to appreciate everything else about GWTW. The very definition of an epic movie, it's as watchable today as it was 70 years ago. If you've only ever seen the film, you could be excused for being puzzled as to why Scarlett is so in love with Ashley Wilkes. I have nothing against Leslie Howard but he is not right as Ashley. In the book, Ashley is much more attractive and dashing and crucially, younger. I am rereading the book now. I don't know how many times I have read it but I never grow weary of it. I am reading it on my Kindle which is a revelation as the book is rather heavy. Despite having read it numerous times, I am still hooked. Margaret Mitchell has a beautiful writing style and the story zips by. In one chapter Scarlett gets married, widowed and has a baby! Talk about a pacey read. If you've not read it and you have any interest at all in the civil war, American history generally and like a good love story then give it a go. It's a very easy read. But be warned, it's tragic. Much more so than the film.

Back to the film. They had to cut so much from the book - Scarlett actually has three children. There is a scene they change from the book inexplicably and it has always annoyed me. It is when Melanie gives her wedding ring first to The Cause in Atlanta. In the book, Scarlett gives her first because she doesn't care as she never loved Charles. Melanie moved by her generosity then gives hers. Of course Rhett can see straight through it all. Why do they change this in the film? I don't like it when films change the book for no reason whatsoever. That aside, it's a great movie and forms part of my family's in-jokes. My sister and I pull each other's hair like Scarlett does to Sue-ellen at the beginning of the film: "oh hush up!" We will say to each other "Scoot up the stairs!" as Scarlett does to Mammy. As I've said before, we're hilarious.

I have many favourite scenes in GWTW. There is the entire barbecue scene which depicts such a gloriously decadent way of life. There is the scene where Rhett proposes to Scarlett" "I can't wait my whole life waiting to catch you between husbands!" There is the scene where Scarlett decides to make (well Mammy makes it) the dress from the curtains. I have always loved this and look how clever they are:

If I had to pick one scene above all, it would be this one. The look on Scarlett's face when Rhett bids for her is priceless.

The story of GWTW is of course the story of Rhett and Scarlett. Why can't she see he is in love with her from day one? Why does she pine for wet Ashley? Why can't they talk to each other when they lose Bonnie? It's a tragedy to be sure. In the book the description of the kiss when he says goodbye to her and goes to join the war is unbelievably hot. The film can never quite capture it although it has a good go.

Vivien and Clark - perfect casting for a perfect film.