movie night

Fridays have been designated pizza and movie night at our house for several years. This means we will have anywhere from two to six people gathered around the tele, usually sipping suds of one type or another (microbrews for adults, root beer for kids), anticipating whatever is their ideal engaging and entertaining movie. The most difficult part of this night is figuring out what movie to watch. On nights when it's a family movie night, this decision is especially difficult. Finding a good "family movie" is challenging! I use the term "family movie" loosely, since some of our choices may not really fit the bill of being family friendly in everyone's eyes. We don't let our 11-year-old daughter view violent movies, and she doesn't want to see a lot of romance... ewww... but we figure it's often easier to have her close her eyes and sometimes ears, than rule out a movie entirely because of a questionable scene or a few bad words. Some of the movies out there that are so-called "family" movies are impossible for us to suffer through. So with that said, here are just a few of our favorite family movies: Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Shrek, Chicken Run, Cold Comfort Farm, Funny Face, Legally Blonde, The Devil Wears Prada, Raising Helen, Princess Diaries (1 and 2), Little Miss Sunshine (this one's not for young children, it's the only R rated movie we've allowed our young one to see) if you haven't seen it, it's a must, hilarious!

We have one of those Apple TV boxes that allows you to rent movies directly from your TV. The choices have been slowly expanding to include some of the old classics, one of our favorite genres. My husband ran across Night of the Iguana, a film based on a screenplay by Tennessee Williams and directed by John Huston, 1964, starring Ava Gardner, Richard Burton and Deborah Kerr. Since it was just the three of us, and our daughter was working on a school paper, she saw this one only in fragments. Great story, photography, acting, it always left you guessing, not at all predictable. This movie helped put Puerta Vallarta on the map as a destination resort.




Reverend Shannon (Richard Burton) and Maxine (Ava Gardner) in Night of the Iguana












Last night's fare included homemade pizza with a pesto base, topped with caramelized onion, roasted red pepper, roasted garlic, portobello mushroom, mozzarella, and a smidgen of goat cheese (chèvre).