Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thursday Thirteen.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  Hope you guys all have fun plans for today whether it be enjoying delicious food with family and friends, watching some football, or just relaxing.  My family and I are keeping it small and simple this year (a nice change from our usual plans).  So it will just be my parents and I eating dinner and then heading to the movies.  Not sure what we will see yet, but I'm excited to have pumpkin pie (my favorite!!) and see something fun.

Anyway, it is Thanksgiving but it is also Thursday, which means Thursday Thirteen time.  This week I decided to keep it festive and holiday-appropriate so I have compiled a list of my thirteen favorite Thanksgiving films.  Enjoy!

1. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - This one is the epitome of the Thanksgiving film, and even more then thirty-five years after it's original release it is still just as popular and enjoyable.





2. Home for the Holidays - This 1995 comedy marked the directorial debut of Jody Foster.  It's about a single mom who just lost her job and is now flying home for Thanksgiving.  The film is full of hectic, argument-filled Holiday fun.





3. The New World - Although this is not literally a Thanksgiving film, it is about the pilgrims and history of what became America.  After all, there'd be no big meal today if it weren't for these early settlers.





4. Dutch - Dutch Dooley agrees to drive his girlfriend's 12-year-old son home for Thanksgiving.  The boy seems to be a stuck-up know-it-all, but as the two road-trip from Georgia to Chicago they eventually bond... and make it home just in time for the Turkey dinner.





5. Pieces of April - In this 2003 film, a daughter invites her dying mother and estranged family members to her apartment for Thanksgiving dinner.  Despite some major obstacles - including a broken oven - April still manages to assemble dinner while also learning to appreciate the importance of family and friends.





6. What's Cooking? - Amidst family tensions, four households in LA's ethnically diverse Fairfax district come together to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Each family has their own crises - a gun, an affair, a boyfriend, and a pregnancy - and these issues come to a head around the table.





7. The Ice Storm - This is certainly not the typical feel-good Holiday film, but it will make you thankful that those people aren't members of your family.  Set in a 1973 Connecticut suburb, middle-class families  find their lives out of control.  This is an excellent film... one of my favorites!





8. Planes, Trains, & Automobiles - This Holiday classic stars Steven Martin and John Candy as a hilarious duo traveling home for Thanksgiving.  Martin is the perfect tightly wound man while Candy is just an obxious slob who seems to make everything go wrong.  Hilarious and Holiday-appropriate, what more could you ask for?





9. Grumpy Old Men - Two elderly bachelors, who have been neighbors for years, carry on a rivalry and argue over basically anything and everything.





10. Tadpole - This coming-of-age tale is about a 15-year-old boy who falls in love with his step mother.  And the boy is arriving home for Thanksgiving so it's a holiday movie in my book.





11. The House of Yes - A mentally unbalanced young woman goes into a murderous rage when her twin brother returns home to reveal he is engaged... and never told her!  Not my favorite movie per se, but still fun and very holiday-themed.







12. Hannah and Her Sisters - Woody Allen's classic film takes place between two Thanksgivings, and intertwines stories of an extended family.  The story in told in three main arcs, with almost of it occurring during a one-year span beginning and ending at Thanksgiving parties hosted by Hannah and her husband.





13. Miracle on 34th Street - Now of course this one is also quite Christmas-y.  But it does include a good amount of Thanksgiving action.  Plus, what Thanksgiving is always a good time to start preparing for the entire holiday season... including Christmas!  Just make sure you get the 1947 version... non of that remake nonsense, please.





What are you favorite Thanksgiving movies?  Oh, and anyone have fun plans?

8 comments:

  1. Wow. You're list is bizarre and random. WHAT'S COOKING? What the F is that? Haha. Have you really seen all of these? I'm worried...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Catherine - Wow, thanks for the kind words. I don't think it is bizarre... What's Cooking is an f-ing good movie. It's only on TV like all the time. And yes, I have seen all of these. Jealous?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes!!! Planes Trains and Automobiles is one of my favourites!!! GREAT Holiday movie :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. You've reminded me to dig out some movies to watch tonight!
    Have a great Thursday!
    http://iamharriet.blogspot.com/2009/11/thursday-thanksgiving-13-facts-and.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice list; I haven't seen a lot of those movies (but then I don't watch a lot of movies, either!). Thanks for visiting my blog today.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, there are quite a few here I haven't seen yet. I'll have to check them out!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've seen Charlie Brown, Grumpy Old Men, and Miracle on 34th. Good list!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hannah and Her Sisters is one of my favorite movies of all-time. It's Woody Allen at his most optimistic and always leaves me with a warm feeling inside.

    I love A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving too--it's my favorite animated Peanuts special.

    Some terrific choices...

    ReplyDelete