Your 'Best Picture" Award

INGRID THOFT

Last night, "The Shape of Water" was awarded the “Best Picture” Oscar at the 90th annual Academy Awards show in Hollywood.  This film was a feast for the eyes and a grown up fairy tale about love, acceptance, and the meaning of "humanity."  I really enjoyed it, but that's not always the case when it comes to the "Best Picture" winner.

It seems that the “Best Picture” often goes to the movie deemed “most important” by the Academy.  Movies definitely play a role in moving forward cultural conversations and societal norms—isn’t that, in fact, one of the main benefits of any art form—but movies are also forms of entertainment.  Sometimes, we just want to escape the woes of the real world and lose ourselves in an alternate reality. 

We’ve discussed our favorite bad movies on Jungle Red, but I’m wondering to which movie you would award your personal “Best Picture” award?  My vote goes to "Raiders of the Lost Ark."  It has everything that a best picture should have:  adventure, action, a social conscience, romance, exotic locations, Harrison Ford, and it stands the test of time.  The official Best Picture winner in 1982?  “Chariots of Fire," which was a terrific movie, but not one I’ve watched multiple times.

Which film gets a shiny gold statue from you, Reds?

RHYS BOWEN:  One I thought had everything was "Out Of Africa."  Incredible romance and those gorgeous African scenes. Of the current crop I was impressed with "The Darkest Hour" and my daughter loved "The Shape of Water."

JENN McKINLAY: I'm not a huge fan of award shows because I feel like these people give themselves an awful lot of accolades and they're not exactly curing cancer, but I digress. If I had to pick my best movie, it would be "Field of Dreams." It had so many layers. I just loved it. Side note: I would absolutely follow James Earl Jones anywhere, even into the cornfield. I adored "Out of Africa" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark," too, but Shoeless Joe's story wins out for me.

Ray Liotta and Kevin Costner in "Field of Dreams"

HALLIE EPHRON: I know I'm going WAY back to a movie that came out before I was old enough to even go to the movies, but I still love: "Born Yesterday." It stars Judy Holliday who was the most divine comedienne. A sort of precursor to "Pretty Woman" except the guy is a gangster and she outs him. Then, of course, "Some Like It Hot." And "Singin' in the Rain." Another much darker oldie: "Diabolique" with Simone Signoret: a man's wife and his mistress conspire to kill him and the corpse disappears. The scariest bathtub scene in moviedom.

IPT: "Singin' in the Rain" is one of my favorites, too!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Oh, I love "Born Yesterday," too! ("It's car-TEL!")  But that is the world's toughest question.  For big movies, "The Godfather" is incomparable--I could watch that a million times, and see something fabulous and different every time.  But I also love "The Philadelphia Story," (and "High Society.")

I will watch "Working Girl" any time it's on--I think Melanie Griffith's character is  touching and empowering, and every time the Let The River Run theme comes up at the end, and you see her pure happiness soar compared to the vastness of New York City..ah.  I guess I love ugly duckling stories, because I am also fond of "The Devil Wears Prada." And! "Desk Set." And "Adam's Rib." But best movie of all time?  I need to keep thinking.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Ingrid, I love "Raiders of the Lost Ark!" I also love the first Star Wars, clunky dialogue and all, but such fun. "Out of Africa" was one of my picks, too, Rhys. And "Field of Dreams," Jenn! "Field of Dreams" is my daughter's favorite movie ever, but for me, "Bull Durham" is right up there with it. But, at least for the moment, my final Best Movie comes down to two that I can't choose between. "The Holiday," written and directed by Nancy Meyers, staring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black, with fabulous supporting actors including Eli Wallach, great music by Hans Zimmer, funny, sweet, smart, and romantic.

And--"The Big Easy" starring Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. Mystery, suspense, romance (sexy!!!), humor, great dialogue, great New Orleans atmosphere, and GREAT music. Anyone who has never seen it should do it now.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm so glad we're discussing picks from all movies, because the only things I've seen of this year's nominees has been "The Post" and half of "Dunkirk." (Ross and I went to see it, but the sound was SO LOUD he called it quits after forty minutes, poor guy.) I tend to spend my money on flicks that need a big screen: superhero movies or splashy thrillers. I wait for others until they come out in DVD or streaming.

That being said, my award-winner would be the original "Die Hard." It's an almost perfect example of storytelling. Every little beat from the early part of the film turns out to be relevant later. No dangling threads, nothing not in service to the plot or characters. And despite being the very definition of an action movie, it's still completely focused on the people at the center of the story: the scared, vulnerable hero; his steel-spined business executive wife; the ordinary schlub cop; and of course, Alan Rickman playing his villain just shy of over the top. Love it, and we watch it every year on Christmas Eve.

Your turn, Readers.  What is your "Best Picture?"

We want . . . a shrubbery

HALLIE EPHRON: In moments of duress (as in when one of us, I'm not saying who, has done something like forgotten where she parked the car), you might find me looking at my husband and saying, "Don't panic!" He'll look back at me and raise the ante with a louder: "DON'T PANIC!" And then in unison we will clutch our (respective) heads and shriek "AAAHHH!" Hopefully no one is watching.

Okay, raise your hand if you recognize the source of this snippet of movie dialogue that breaks the tension and shortcuts the finger-pointing . . .

Give up? Okay, It's from "Chicken Run" a wonderful Claymation movie from the folks who bring us Wallace and Grommitt.

Here are a few other family favorites that get hauled out on appropriate occasions:

- "They're he-re..." (Poltergeist)
- "InconCEIVable!" (The Princess Bride)
- "Do or do not. There is no 'try.' (Empire Strikes Back)
- "Snap out of it!" (Moonstruck)
- "We want . . . a shrubbery." (Monty Python)
- "Walk this way." (Young Frankenstein)

Do your family ritual include similarly silly phrases pulled out of the odd movie, TV show, or book? Share!

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh that's completely hysterical Hallie! How I wish I could see the two of you in the parking lot!

Here's the one our whole family would recognize instantly--it comes up the instant we have a concern about how much something costs.

"There's GOT to be a way to earn twenty-thousand dollars!" (The Brady Bunch movie)

And from EB White, reading The Trumpet of the Swan, when someone strikes as unusually large: "He's no canary."

Gosh, they don't sound so funny standing on their own, but we crack up every time--and it brings us right back to the first time we heard the line.

HALLIE: "He's no canary." I love it. How did I miss reading The Trumpet of the Swan. I love White's Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web.

"Some pig!"

JAN BROGAN: What a great topic, Hallie. And I love, "he's no canary." Of course, there's the ubiquitous "I'll have what she's having" from When Harry Met Sally, which we often say with a sly smile in a restaurant. And lately, since we've been so completely engrossed in Downton Abbey reruns awaiting the new episode (only two days away) we've been asking each other if we're going to "dress for dinner?"

But the term we use most is "protector hood." Somewhere in some movie, or some TV show, someone used this phrase to describe those moments when what you are watching or experiencing is so embarrassingly bad, you just want to hide under a blanket or "protector hood." My husband and I use that term frequently, as in "this is just protector hood material." And sometimes we even apply it to politics!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Along those lines, there was a moment when I knew Jonathan and I were made for each other.

It was very very early on in our "relationship." We had driven from Boston to New York, to visit his mother, I think. and in the days before GPS, we got completely lost.

We wound up somewhere in Brooklyn, some skeevy creepy part, not the fun hip part. Lost as pie.

We were under a graffiti-emblazoned overpass, deserted, at twilight, and it was terrifying.

"Four little words," I said to Jonathan. Thinking that he'd have no idea what I was talking about, and I;d have the fun of explaining.

Jonathan didn't miss a beat. "Bonfire of the Vanities," he said.

Yup. Exactly what I'd been thinking.

RHYS BOWEN: My kids and grandchildren are all Monty Python fans and my grandsons spent all of Christmas quoting lines from The Holy Grail--including "We demand... a shrubbery." And for years my kids have insulted each other with "Your father was a hamster and your mother smelled of elderberries."

But the real family catch-phrase comes from British comedienne Catherine Tate and it's a cockney girl who says "I'm not bovvered. I'm above it."

ROSEMARY HARRIS: So funny...those lines are everywhere.

When we're leaving the house it might be "Leave the gun, take the cannoli" (The Godfather). Used a lot as we are in and out of the car constantly.

Others include -
"You're not too smart, I like that in a man." (Body Heat)
"Are you talkin' to me?" (Taxi Driver)
"You think I'm funny? I amuse you?" (Good Fellas)
"He was my BOYFRIEND!" (Young Frankenstein)
"As you wish!" (Princess Bride)

Clearly these lines are useful for all occasions.

And how could I forget - "We're gonna need a bigger boat." (Jaws) Used for everything that may be too small.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We've used many of the above. But we're bigger on movie and TV theme songs. Something scary? Jaws. Something creepy? Theme from the X-Files. Something other-wordly? Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

And Rick loves to test me on the first couple of bars of old TV themes to see how fast I can identify them. But his favorite is the them from Rawhide, with re-worked lyrics, as the dogs' favorite play-time song. "Rolling, rolling, rolling, get them doggies rolling, rawhide!"

Glad to know everyone else is as silly as we are . . .

HALLIE: Oooh, Rawhide. Was Clint Eastwood adorable as Rowdy? Which suggests yet another blog for another day.

We'd love to hear what snippets of dialogue or theme songs have taken root in your life.