My favorite library

We have a fantastic Library in town, which I had not be utilizing properly for the first several years of us living here.  We've taken Ian down to the children's room (in the dungeon) several times, and when he learned to write his name, he was eligible to get his own library card.
When we got a Kindle, Jen started checking out electronic books that sync up nicely with our reader.
Off and on over the years, I had checked out feature films, children's movies, and documentaries.  I found the films produced by the local historical society to be particularly interesting, and they were well researched, written, filmed, and produced.  I especially liked watching the History of the City Fire Department, and History of the City Police Department.  I even appreciate that balanced approach to our Colonial Loyalist, the Count Rumford.

A couple of years ago, when we signed on with Netflix and had a seemingly endless supply to choose from, I thought it would be good for me to be more conversant in classic movies.  My first set of criteria was it needed to win a "Best Picture" and not be rated R.  That gave me a pretty wide set, but didn't allow anything more recent than 1990 or so.  (Academy has been giving awards to more dodgy/intense films recently...)  One of these days I'll summarize what I've seen and what I liked off that list.

After the "Best Picture" kick, then I opened it up to "Best Actor" films.  Then Carey Grant for a while.
This summer, after some disappointment in Netflix not having what I want, I decided to use the Library's shelves  and look for titles that I had heard of but never seen.  This represents set of the films shelved C-H that I watched (August-October).  For the record, VLC playback software has a feature so you can watch a film faster than it's recorded pace.  I've found that watching at 140% speed significantly shortens screen time, but is still easy to follow.

So here is my list.

Title	Year	Acclaim	Joe's Very Brief Comments	Stars
12 Angry Men	1948	AFI Great Heroes	Henry Fonda, loved how he held to his benefit of the doubt on the Jury.  Watched this after serving Jury Duty.	5
All the King's Men	1949	3 Acad Awards	Frustrating to see a well intentioned man spoiled by political aspiration to fix government	4
Charge of the Light Brigade	1936	1 Acad Award +2 Nom	I enjoyed this film, though was disappointed to find out this rendition of the disastrous charge was not accurate.	4
Clash of the Titans	2010		Fantasy film.  I did good just to make it through.	1
Coal Miner's Daughter	1980	Acad Award + 7 Nom	Sissy Spacek did a fantastic job showing Loretta Lynn's climb to stardom.	5
The Color Purple	1985	Pulitzer Prize, 11 Noms	Watching this just hurt.  Some aspects of the black deep south was just terrible, but that is not the South I know.	3
Don Quixote de Orson Welles	1972-85		Torture.  I turned this one off after about 20 minutes.  I can see why Orson Welles never finished it.	0
East of Eden	1955	1 Acad, 3 Noms	Family trauma with a son that can do no right, inherently "Bad" allegorical. (Second half of Steinbeck's novel)	4
The Egg and I	1947	Nom. Best Actress	Newlyweds quit city job and move to country to take up egg farming.  Pa Kettle is a hoot!	5
Eight Men Out	1988		Baseball movie highlighting the 1917 world series.  Now I can sympathize with the ball players.	2
Far from the Madding Crowd	1967	1 Nom , 2 BAFTAS,	Really enjoyed this movie about a capable shepherd who loves the prideful heir to an estate. Thomas Hardy novel.	4
Far and Away	1992		Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Irish Oklahoma Land Rush.  Very rich plot.	5
A Farewell to Arms	1957	1 Nom	War Movie, Secret Marriage of a soldier to a nurse.  Stereotypical Hemingway.	4
The Field	1990	1 Acad Award	Irish tenant farmer gets a bit out of control at wanting to win the auction for the land his family has always worked.	5
The Fountainhead	1949		Architect stands to his morals, will not design something below his aesthetic standards, resulting in periodic poverty and ridicule.  Ayn Rand.	5
Fairy Tale: A True Story	1997		Girls see and photograph Cottingley Fairies, provide positive distraction in WWI England	3
The Five People you Meet in Heaven	2004		Mitch Albom's NYT Best Seller, gave alot of food for thought about how our life is interconnected with other people's life.  Accountability for actions.	4
Free Willy 2	1995		Just for the fun of it for movie night with Blake and Ian.  Ian is now a fan of orcas.	2
Funny Face	1957		Beat Poetry type with Audrey Hepburn.  Not a great movie, but I appreciated a dance scene in the movie.	2
Gallipoli	1981		Mel Gibson.  Australian vim/vigor to serve as soldiers in WW2, ultimately in a terrible campaign in Turkey.	4
Gentlemen's Agreement	1947	Won 3 of 8 Oscars	Gregory Peck.  A look at anti-semitism with a spin...A writer goes under cover as a Jew.	5
Gigi	1958	9 Acad Awards	Girl learning to be a woman.  Looks like alot of awards, but this movie didn't appeal much to me.	3
Get Low	2009		Curmudgeonly hermit man plans to hold a funeral party for himself, and wants to confess to everyone.	5
The Great Escape	1963		Huge in Pop Culture.  A top Christmas Movie in England, a very whistle-able theme song.	5
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly	1966		Sergio Leone, the father of the Spaghetti Western.  Hope to never watch this one again.	2
The Grapes of Wrath	1940	2 Acad, 5 Nom,	Henry Fonda, Based on Steinbeck Pulitzer Prize, The Joad family looking for work in Dust Bowl Depression times.	5
Gunfight at O.K. Corral	1957	2 Nom	Wyatt Earp and his brothers trying to bring peace to an unruly town.  Appreciated the Doc Holliday character.	5
Hello Dolly!	1969	3 Acad, 4 Nom	Very clever musical with plenty of cheesiness, two poor boys go to town to have fun, on a day off work.	3
Hairspray	1988	Grand Prize at Sundance	Yeah, not a fan of this one.  High school chubby girl makes it on TV dance show and fights for de-segregation.	1
Hamlet	1948	4 Acad, 3 Nom	I didn't recall this plot from reading it in 10th grade English.  Quite a tragedy, eh?  Quite the turn of events!	5
A Midwife's Tale	1952	PBS	About Martha Ballard, who kept a daily journal for years and years.  Studied and recreated some of the facts by historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich	5
Les Miserables	1952		My first time going through the full plot of this one.  We so often hear the first 15 minutes of the plot retold.	4
My Life as a Turkey	2011	PBS	I loved this!  A man studies imprinting of newborn animals.  He basically is a "Turkey Mama" for over a year.	5

So if I wanted you to experience what I felt during those fall months watching 33 movies, I'd recommend: 

Best Documentary: My Life as a Turkey

Best Historical Fiction: The Grapes of Wrath

Best Commentary on Humanity: The Fountainhead

Best Biography: Coal Miner's Daughter

Best Script: 12 Angry Men

Best Action/Romance: Far and Away

Best War Movie: Gallipoli