only intermittently obedient

I've copied my 2009 entry, and updated it with more movies, some tv shows, run times, and video links.

I'm back, and bossy as ever. When you've finished reading all the books I recommended, you can take a break and catch a good flick or binge a show. Here are nine the ones I insist you see.


Movies

1) Holiday (1938) - my favorite movie of all time. Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, Lew Ayres, and Edward Everett Horton. Hard-working young man Johnny Case (Cary Grant) takes a break from his labors to see what he's working for. While on holiday in Lake Placid he meets and falls for Julia (Doris Nolan), a lovely young lady. After arriving home in NYC, he cabs over to her place to meet the family. Surprise #1 – she's stinking rich. Surprise #2 – her non-conformist sister Linda (Kate Hepburn) is perfect for him. Their brother Ned (Lew Ayres), who likes a tipple, approves. The rest of the family – not so much. Johnny's best friends, Nick (Edward Everett Horton) and wife Susan (Jean Dixon), provide support and superlative comedic timing. Also, Grant and Hepburn do some acrobatics in the playroom.
95 minutes
Scene from Holiday


2) The Tall Guy (1989) – Jeff Goldblum's Dexter King is the second banana in Rowen Atkinson's one-man show in London's West End. He falls for Emma Thompson's Kate Lemmon, a nurse with a fondness for the color orange. After Dexter gets fired for getting more laughs than the star, he has to find a new gig. He lands lead role in a musical based on the life of the Elephant Man. At one point they destroy Kate's apartment with sex. Riotously funny.
92 minutes
The Tall Guy trailer


3) Enchanted April (1991) – two somewhat depressed Victorian housewives (Josie Lawrence and Miranda Richardson) decide to leave their dreary London lives and distant husbands behind and rent a small Italian castle for the month of April. They advertise for women to share the expense, expecting to be able to pick and choose the perfect companions, but only two apply; an elderly widow with firm ideas on how things should be done (Joan Plowright) and a beautiful flapper (Polly Walker) who just wants a break from being grabbed. Despite having seemingly nothing in common, they forge strong friendships, with each other and, unexpectedly, with their husbands (Alfred Molina and Jim Broadbent) who come to San Salvatore, one at the behest of his wife and the other looking for beauty. Breathtakingly gorgeous. Only took 15 years before it was available on DVD. WHEEE!!!!
95 minutes
Enchanted April trailer


4) Let it Ride (1989) – Jay Trotter (Richard Dreyfuss) is having a very good day. Well, sure, his wife Pam (Teri Garr) is going to leave him if he doesn't stop gambling. And, yes – his best friend and track-buddy (David Johansen aka Buster Poindexter) is a loser who couldn't pick a winner to save his life. Furthermore, Vicki (Jennifer Tilly), the pretty girl he meets at the track, doesn't fall out of her dress even one time (though not for lack of trying). Still, he can't seem to put a foot wrong when it comes to picking the horses. A sort of fairy tale about a loveable loser who makes good.
90 minutes
Let it Ride trailer


5) Gunga Din (1939) – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Cary Grant, and Victor McLaglen are three British soldiers in colonial India who have to stop the murderous Thuggee cult from sweeping across the continent. Armed only with their guns, an elephant, a native waterboy (Sam Jaffee), dashing style, and their rapier wit, they attempt to keep the world safe. And, ya know, find some gold and treasure for themselves. Action-adventure, comedy with lots of snark, and even (a very little) romance. If you've seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, some of this will seem familiar. I get the feeling that Steven is a fan.
117 minutes
Gunga Din trailer


6) Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (1990) – according to IMDB, Gary Oldman is Rosencrantz and Tim Roth is Guildenstern. The editors are quite possibly the only ones who are sure of that, including the characters themselves. Hamlet's two college friends, called by the King to discover what is wrong with him, wander in and out of scenes of Shakespeare's famous play, getting into trouble both onstage and off. Playwright Tom Stoppard wondered what these two minor characters got up to when they weren't in their very few scenes in the play, and this is what he came up with. Very funny, very clever, and the chemistry between the leads is phenomenal.
117 minutes
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead trailer


7) Dead Again (1991) – Kenneth Branagh is Mike Church, a PI doing a favor for the orphanage where he grew up. He's trying to find the identity of a mute woman found wandering the grounds. He can't bear to leave Grace (Emma Thompson), as he calls her, at the county mental ward – so he takes her home instead.
Hypnotist/antiques dealer Franklyn Madson (Derek Jacobi) is able to get her to speak, but it's not much help, as she is amnesiac except for memories of Roman and Margaret Strauss, a conductor and cellist from the 1940s whose love story ended in murder and execution.
Throw in Andy Garcia as a reporter and Robin Williams as an ex-psychiatrist, and you have a classic whodunit.
107 minutes
Dead Again trailer


8) Bringing Up Baby (1938) – the classic screwball comedy. David Huxley (Cary Grant) is a mild-mannered paleontologist who wants just three things; an intercostal clavicle – the last piece of the brontosaur he's reconstructing, to marry the very respectable Miss Bird, and a million dollar grant from society dame Elizabeth Random. Only three things stand in his way: George, a terrier with a taste for fossils; Baby, a leopard with a doppelganger problem; and Susan Vance (Katherine Hepburn), a flibbertigibbet, nominally in charge of George and Baby, who is also in the running for the grant (and the Grant) and who seems to have the inside track, since she's Elizabeth's niece. Fast talking, fast action - comedy at its very best.
102 minutes
Bringing Up Baby trailer


9) The Philadelphia Story (1940) – Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn) is about to be married, for the second time. Things get complicated when her first husband, C K Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) shows up with two friends in tow. Turns out they're not really friends – Macaulay Connor (James Stewart) is a tabloid reporter and Elizabeth Imbrie (Ruth Hussey) is his photographer. It seems that Tracy's father has been naughty, which makes it possible for tabloid editor Sidney Kidd to extort her cooperation. She tries to throw a wrench in the works by playing up the expected eccentricities of the wealthy, with the help of younger sister Dinah (the fabulous Virginia Wiedler). The wedding does not go off without a hitch. There are hitches aplenty, mostly due to sparks between Tracy and Dext that are far from snuffed out. Funny, touching, romantic and hilarious by turns. And a drunken Jimmy Stewart is a sight you have to see.
112 minutes
(Useless trivia - porn star turned legit actress Traci Lords got her nom de porn here. Okay, that's probably not true, but it makes a much better story than 'her best friend's first name plus Jack Lord's last.' whatever.)
Original The Philadelphia Story trailer
Modern The Philadelphia Story trailer


10) The Princess Bride (2020) – the original is, of course, awesome, but approximately 95% of Hollywood collaborated on a home version at the start of the first Covid lockdown. It's glorious.
68 minutes
The whole movie


11) Roxanne (1987) – modern take on Cyrano de Bergerac, with Steve Martin as a big-nosed fire chief who falls for Daryl Hannah's astrophysics student.
107 minutes
Roxanne trailer


12) All of Me (1984) – Roger Cobb (Steve Martin) is a lawyer who'd rather be a jazz musician, but will settle for making partner. Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) is his loony client, a dying (and spoiled) heiress with a plan to move her soul into a healthy body so she can finally experience life fully. There's a hitch, though, and they end up fighting for control of Roger's body.
93 minutes
All of Me trailer


13) Long Gone (1987) – Stud Cantrell (William Petersen) is playing for the Tampico Stogies when he meets Dixie Lee Boxx (Virginia Madsen). Hard to summarize, but great fun.
112 minutes
The whole movie


14) Cold Comfort Farm (1995) – There's nowt so queer as folk.
105 minutes
Cold Comfort Farm trailer


15) Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990) – Alan Rickman's Jamie is in love with Juliet Stephenson's Nina.

Then he dies.

Then he comes back.

Then he invites his dead friends around.

Then things get complicated.

106 minutes
Truly, Madly, Deeply trailer



TV

Pride & Prejudice (1995) – the BBC/A&E version with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
6 episodes, 50 minutes each
Pride & Prejudice trailer


Anne of Green Gables (1985) – in the late 1800s, siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert (Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth) send to the orphanage for a boy to help them work their farm on Prince Edward Island. Luckily for all involved, they get Anne Shirley (Megan Follows) instead.
3 hours, 19 minutes
Anne of Green Gables trailer


Wonderfalls (2004) – inanimate objects tell Jaye (Caroline Dhavernas), a philosophy major in a family of high achievers, what to do. Their tasks help her become a better person...while totally messing up both her job at the Niagara Falls gift shop and her personal life.
13 episodes, 44 minutes each
Wonderfalls trailer


Strange Luck (1995) – freelance photographer Chance Harper (DB Sweeney) has the strangest luck. He's always in the right place at the wrong time. Or is it the other way around? Still not available on DVD.
17 episodes, 44 minutes each
Strange Luck trailer
Strange Luck Episodes 1-15
Strange Luck Episode 16 ‘Blinded by the Son’
Strange Luck Episode 17 ‘Struck by Lighting’


Jake 2.0 – Jake Foley (Christopher Gorham) works at the NSA. In IT, but he's applied to be an agent. Several times. Unsuccessfully. Then he gets infected with nanites, and starts training as a real agent. Sort of.
I can’t find anywhere to watch it online, but it’s finally out on DVD. Check your favorite retailer.
16 episodes, 42 minutes each
Jake 2.0 opening credits

Someone linked this on a Reddit post. I clicked out of idle curiosity ('People really race Hot Wheels?').

I laughed like a loon and it was grand!

Seriously, even if you don't watch 'real' racing, give this a minute of your time. I'll bet you watch the whole thing. (Be sure to watch the next episode, too. It should be linked in the sidebar.)

I admit it, I'm obsessed with this song. The video's creepy cool, too.




Thanks, esteefee, for teaching me how to embed.  :D

I was looking (unsuccessfully) for a story where Danny and Grace take Steve to an ice skating rink, only to find out that he can't ice skate, when I found these fabulous stories instead. Funny, tightly plotted, and well-written. All gen, so far. (I really have to go to bed now.)

As far as I can see, this author is only on FF.net, not LJ, so I'm here to spread the word.

Here's Qweb's author page. Read 'em up, people -- and tell your friends.

Okay, brain twin,


Here are some h/c I think you'll enjoy, arranged by category. Gen or McShep as marked. Shep!whump or team!whump, also as marked. I figure there's no reason for either of us to be productive. :grin:


General: An Infirmary Christmas by wildcat88. 13,650 words. Gen, team.

AU: Near the Earth, to Touch by sheafrotherdon. 17,645. McShep, John.

Episode tag: Revised Diagnosis by alipeeps. 5,000. Gen, Sheppard.

Post Trinity: That Which is Broken by friendshipper. 60,000. Gen, Sheppard.

Alternate reality: Last Man Reshuffle by pir8fancier. 20,489. McShep, John.
--Bonus!! comment companion

Romantic: Your Inevitable Unhappy Ending by helenish. 14,301. McShep, John.

Familial: Brother's Keeper by titan5. 3.650. Gen, John.

Chemical: Advantage by resonant. 14,900. McShep, Sheppard.

ATA-related: The Color of Stone by friendshipper. 9,400. Gen, team.

In the city: Breathe by friendshipper. 12,500. Gen, John & Rodney.

On the planet: Only the Journey Matters by ga_unicorn. 7,500. Gen, Sheppard & OC.

At the SGC: Accident Prone by ladyra. 7,200. McShep, Sheppard.

Aquatic: Wide Open Ocean by setissma. 10,558. McShep, John.

Aerial: Zorro's Legacy by shepsreyna. 26,023. Gen, John.

Subterranean: A Candle in the Dark by friendshipper. 26,000. Gen, Sheppard.

Astral: A World of Hurt: Oxygen by alipeeps. 6,023. Gen, Sheppard.

Transformative: The Average Cat Does Not Do Long Division by beadattitude. 3,539. Gen (this installment), John, Teyla, Ronon, & Carson. :D

Psychological: Mea Culpa by kristen999. 12,000. Gen, team.

Biological: Grow up to Be Your Ruin by alipeeps. 10,000. Gen, Sheppard.

Historical: Something to Remember You By by hestia_lacey. 17,314. McShep, Sheppard.

Hysterical: Should've Been My Girlfriend by crysothemis. 36,000. McShep, John.

Winter: Eventual Thaw by zinnith. 5,300. McShep, Sheppard.

Spring: Where You Want to Be by semivowel. 13,000. McShep, Sheppard.

Summer: Water, Sweat, Scotch by liketheriver. 18,400. McShep, John & Rodney.

Fall: Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes by quiet_december. 1,800. Gen, Sheppard.

I typed these out for esophe's journal, then realized that they're the same books I rec for all the people I rec books for.  So I'm keeping the list here.  Feel free to ignore, but you'd really be missing out. 

( recommended reading list )

Here are Dean's legs and jacket to bend you to my will.

Stop reading my blatherings and go read this fantastic fic instead.  This assumes anybody's reading this, which is not likely.  Still, horses to water and all.

http://esohpe.livejournal.com/14570.html
esohpe's The Jared Padalecki Untitled Project (if you don't love it, you're just not trying)

http://ladyjanelly.livejournal.com/tag/homeless+jensen 
ladyjanelly's "In From the Cold" (a homeless Jensen AU, 19 chaps so far)

Edited to say that it's now complete.  And lovely.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2748108/1/Strangers_and_Angels
This is the first in reading's Strangers and Angels 'verse.  7 stories, varying lengths, each complete, and each a gem.  You can get the rest on her author's page.

Edited because she's written 2 more in the 'verse.