This is just a sampling of some of my favorites...
They are a CRAZY mix!
I have arranged them in no particular way~
(Hee hee!!!)
~Just in the order I thought of 'Em!

I would love to know what YOUR favorites are.
Feel free to E-mail me or just put them on my Guest Book.....

A childless couple unable to adopt decide that a couple who just had quintuplets won't mind if they steal one of the babies. Thus begins the Coen brothers' madcap romp RAISING ARIZONA. Holly Hunter stars as Ed, a cop who is devastated when she learns that she cannot get pregnant. Nicolas Cage is her husband, H.I., an ex-con who wants nothing more than to make his wife the happiest woman in the world. So if she wants a baby, she's going to have a baby, one way or another.

Heading up the supporting cast of bizarre characters are John Goodman and William Forsythe as crazy cousins who have just busted out of prison, Sam McMurray and Frances McDormand as Ed and H.I.'s swinging friends, and Randall "Tex" Cobb as a motorcycle madman hired to rescue the baby. RAISING ARIZONA is the Coen brothers' most consistently funny film. Carter Burwell's score, replete with infectious yodeling, is relentless, Barry Sonnenfeld's cinematography is beautifully wacky, and the manic dialogue is the brothers' most quotable. The film is a treat for the ears and the eyes, a one-of-a-kind sensation from a marvelous pair of filmmakers.

You gotta LOVE the Coen Boys!!!

Grosse Point Blank:

John Cusack stars in a darkly humorous comedy about a remorseful hitman.
Grosse Point Blank is one of those rare, wickedly off-beat, dramatic comedies that make you believe Hollywood still has something refreshing to offer. The premise is simple, yet complex: John Cusack plays a late-20-something native of Grosse Point, Michigan named Martin Q. Blank who has spent the last 10 years of his life as a professional assassin. For five of those years, Blank was on the payroll of the federal government as part of Army Special Operations. For the last five, he's been solo -- a rare, "lone gunman" in an ever-shrinking world of political intrigue where most hired guns have gone the way of the co-op: Unionized assassinations, with bosses like Grocer (Dan Akroyd) at the top of the food chain. When Cusack's Blank refuses to join Grocer's death squad -- thereby keeping assassination prices competitive, rather than "take 'em or leave 'em" -- it's almost inevitable the two will meet via the cross-hairs of their respective weapons.
In the film, Blank has come to realize that his life is worth more than the tidy fees he's accumulated over the years. He begins to have doubts about his true calling, with his previously absent conscience making sudden inroads into turning his life around. Yes, he begins to feel the first stirrings of remorse -- with each previously faceless, quickly forgotten hit nagging at the back of his brain.
The opening scene features Blank talking on a headset with his administrative assistant Marcella (played by sister Joan Cusack) while he uses a high-powered rifle to take out an opposing assassin sent to kill someone Blank's been hired to protect (sort of). During the course of their rather animated conversation, Marcella reads Martin his mail, telling him he's received an invitation to his 10-year high school reunion back home in Grosse Point, Michigan. Martin, of course, has no intention of attending. He left home for several reasons, and what remained was his broken-hearted high school sweetheart, Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver). Martin, it seems, jilted Debi on the night of their senior prom and never returned. He disappeared without a trace, becoming somewhat of a local legend because people expected so much out of him -- or so he's told by Mrs. Kinetta (Belita Moreno), one of his former teachers, when he mysteriously returns to his old school, Grosse Point High on reunion eve.

Though largely a film about redemption, Grosse Point Blank is filled with twisting and turning, dark, humorous passages. A running joke throughout, especially after his return to swank Grosse Point, features Martin telling everyone he meets that he's been a professional assassin the last 10 years -- with no one believing him, of course. When he is first reunited with Debi, who's become a rock and roll DJ in her hometown, Martin is interrogated on live radio by his former love -- who's obviously stunned and shocked to see him. The scene is especially delicious because Martin ends up on the wrong end of a smoking gun, never quite knowing what to say to the woman he loved, not quite knowing how he can explain his disappearance or his sudden return. There are other moments in the film, too, that are almost classic. Upon his return to Detroit, Martin hops into a Lincoln and heads back to his old neighborhood, obviously hoping to catch a glimpse of his old house. What he finds, however, is that the property has been bull-dozed and replaced by a convenience store. When he goes inside, Martin's shocked demeanor -- carried to perfection by Cusack -- speaks volumes. What makes this scene hilarious is a shoot-out with a rival assassin that takes place while the convenience store clerk -- headphones clamped to his ears, blasting out his favorite rock and roll -- plays a coin-operated game of Doom, oblivious to the carnage around him.
Cusack, who co-wrote and co-produced the film, is perfect in the role as the assassin looking for "fulfillment and truth." His sharp wit and talent for understated comedy is a refreshing alterative to the frenetic pace of a Robin Williams, for instance.
Once Martin is reunited with Debi, they immediately "reconnect" as buried feelings bubble to the surface. For Debi, Martin's sudden disappearnce was a nearly life-altering event that resulted in years of therapy, a failed marriage, and general emotional distress. For Martin, his career choice was equally life-altering: Somewhere along the way, he tells her at one point, he decided he wanted to kill someone -- so he joined the Army. Very early in his career, military analysts realized he had the rare and unique ability to disable his conscience and sense of morality -- essentially making him a perfect candidate for a government assassin. Martin's undergone his share of therapy, too, mostly under the care of Dr. Oatman (Alan Arkin), who has a real problem treating Martin after learning of the young man's profession. Arkin is terrific as Oatman, the fearful, bluntly critical psychiatrist who tells Martin that attending his high school reunion will be good therapy, as long as he doesn't try and kill anyone.
Martin and Grocer share comedic moments, too. The two meet one afternoon to discuss "business," each driving identical, black Lincoln's, each warily circling the other -- ready to draw and fire his respective weapon. Grocer, it seems, considers Martin a threat and desparately wants him to join his group of assassins. Later, the two meet at a small diner in Grosse Point -- both men in town to pull off a hit on the same man, no less -- with more dramatic results.
Later in the film, we learn that Blank and Grocer have been sent to Detroit to kill the same man, Debi's father, Mr. Newberry (Mitchell Ryan). In the end, Blank's conscience wins.
Grosse Point Blank is distributed by Hollywood Pictures and features original music by former Clash star Joe Strummer. The soundtrack is awesome and appropriately 80s with songs by The Clash ("Armageddon Time," "Rudie Can't Fail"), Violent Femmes ("Blister in The Sun"), Echo & The Bunny Men ("The Killing Moon"), plus other classics from The Specials, The Pixies, The Cure, and many others.

Synopsis: When his parents go out of town, an upper-middle class high-school senior meets up with a hooker on the run from her pimp. She moves in with him, they fall in love, and then she helps him turn his house into a weekend bordello as part of a "Young Entrepeneur" school assignment. He nets the top prize and gets into Princeton, the college of his choice.

And Who will ever forget a 19-year-old Tom Cruise dancing around his living room in his underwear???

An inhuman, invincible cyborg (lifelike robot) from the future year 2029, the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), is sent back to the present - Los Angeles 1984 - to eliminate the woman, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) who will one day be the mother of a son (an off-screen John Connor) who will lead a rebellion against the evil cyborg leaders of Earth's future. At first, the killing machine mistakes other 'Sarah Connors' located in a Los Angeles telephone book for the real one and eliminates them. Another time traveler to 1984 is Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), a nuclear holocaust survivor who has been sent by Connor on an opposite quest to save innocent Sarah's life and ensure the conception and delivery of a son (who becomes a resistance leader and his future boss!).

As they escape from the relentless Terminator in an underground parking garage, Kyle explains to Sarah what is involved:


Kyle: The Terminator's an infiltration unit, part man, part machine. Underneath, it's a hyper-alloy combat chassis - micro processor-controlled, fully armoured. Very tough. But outside, it's living human tissue - flesh, skin, hair, blood, grown for the cyborgs...The 600 series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy. But these are new, they look human. Sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to wait till he moved on you before I could zero him.
Sarah: Look, I am not stupid, you know. They cannot make things like that yet!
Kyle: Not yet, not for about 40 years.
Sarah: (disbelieving) Are you saying it's from the future?
Kyle: One possible future. From your point of view. I don't know tech stuff.
Sarah: Then you're from the future too - is that right?
Kyle: Right.
Sarah: Right. (They struggle together and she bites his hand in her attempt to escape.)
Kyle: Cyborgs don't feel pain. I do. Don't do that again.
Sarah: Just let me go!
Kyle: Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

For Me...this is the Best one!!!....Although, I'll have to check out the "Terminator 3" coming out this year! (2003)

 *****UPDATE*****

The "Terminator 3" was probably my least favorite one of all of the Terminator movies...bummer!

It is about the thirty-year mother-daughter relationship between two women: brunette Emma(Debra Winger)and her devoted, blonde, widowed mother Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine). Before the opening credits, the film portrays Aurora as a worried, newbie mother who checks on her baby every five minutes in the middle of the night and imagines the worst. In the baby's bedroom, she stares at the crib of her infant daughter and imagines crib death: "Rudyard, she's not breathing." She shakes her baby out of its quiet and peaceful sleep, causing the infant to wail - and Aurora to claim: "That's better."

Later, as a young adult, Emma rebels against Aurora's attentions, and against her advice marries literature student Flap Horton (Jeff Daniels). As the independent-minded, individualistic Emma is getting in the car with her family to move from Houston, Texas to Des Moines, Iowa, away from her managing mother, she tells her:
Mama, that's the first time I stopped hugging first. I like that.
As they suffer from unpaid bills, young mother Emma also discovers that her feckless husband, a college literature professor, is unfaithful and sleeping with one of his graduate students, and she retaliates with her own brief affair with a timid Iowa bank officer Sam Burns (John Lithgow).
Meanwhile, Aurora dodges the womanizing flirtations of her next-door neighbor, a boozy, beer-bellied, over-the-hill, former astronaut Garrett Breedlove (Jack Nicholson), even though she has turned 50 and is now free to date. They have a nervous love affair - on their first, much-delayed luncheon date, he boldly tells the proper, well-mannered and stiff Bostonian woman wearing a frilly pink dress:
Breedlove: You're just going to have to trust me about this, this one thing. You need a lot of drinks.
Aurora: To break the ice?
Breedlove: To kill the bug that you have up your ass.
In an unforgettable scene after lunch, Aurora and Breedlove ride in his silver Corvette as he drunkenly steers with his feet, sitting on the open roof and yelling: "Breedlove at the helm! Just keep pumping that throttle!" Soon after he cries: "Fly me to the moon," he is projected from the car into the water of the Gulf of Mexico. She splashes out in the knee-deep water to apologize and ask "How are you?" Characteristically, he jokes:
If you wanted to get me on my back, you just had to ask me.
Although they kiss, she fights back when his hand reaches for her breast inside her blouse, and accuses him of ruining their time together by getting drunk. When they arrive back home and she invites him in, he replies: "I'd rather stick needles in my eyes." Their barbed conversation continues:
Aurora: I just didn't want you to think I was like one of your other girls.
Breedlove: Not much danger in that unless you curtsy on my face real soon.
Aurora: Garrett! What is it that makes you so insistent on shocking and insulting me? I mean, I really hate that way of talking. You must know that. Why do you do it?
Breedlove: I'll tell ya, Auror-eye, I don't know what it is about you, but you do bring out the devil in me.
Although she considers Breedlove "arrogant, self-centered, and yes, a somewhat entertaining man," she phones him up and invites him to her bedroom one evening soon after to look at a Renoir painting as a pretext for sex (after fifteen years of celibacy): "I'm inviting you to come over and look at my Renoir." He quickly interprets her meaning: "You're inviting me to bed." And she responds: "Yes, it happens to be in my bedroom." Again, he cajoles and cackles: "Is the Renoir under the covers?" The self-indulgent, horny playboy deliberately stalls and carries on a double-entendre conversation:
Breedlove: Do I wanna come to your bedroom? Let me think, uh.
Aurora: Do you?
Breedlove: Just, just give me a minute...It's a tough one...Yeah, OK, I guess so, sure, why not?
Aurora: I'll see you in a bit. Now, if I don't answer the bell, that means that the back door's open.
Breedlove: The back door's open! (She changes into a thin nightgown and surveys her body in a mirror as he arrives in his swimming trunks) Hi - I was doing laps when you called. Lucky for us, I only did eight.
Aurora: (pointing to the Renoir) This is it! This is the Renoir.
Breedlove: I like the painting. I like everything in here...
Although she calls herself a "grandmother," they clench and kiss voraciously. They stand on opposite sides of her bed for a final confrontation - and the strong-willed Aurora wins:
Breedlove: I like the lights on.
Aurora: Then go home and turn them on.
The lights go off.

In the heartbreaking, unexpected, tragic, cathartic and touching finale, Emma is hospitalized and dying of cancer. She is slowly reconciled with her mother during her terminal illness. In a stunning hospital scene, Aurora runs completely around the hospital desk while yelling at two hospital nurses to give her ailing daughter a pain-killing shot:
It's after ten. I don't see why she has to have this pain...It's time for her shot. Do you understand? Do something! All she has to do is hold on until ten, and it's past ten. She's in pain. My daughter's in pain. Give her the shot. Do you understand me? Give my daughter the shot! (She gets the desired reaction, and then composes herself) Thank you very much.
Emma says a final goodbye to her two young sons Teddy (Huckleberry Fox) and Tommy (Troy Bishop) in her Lincoln General Hospital room just before her death. After she has makeup applied to her face to cover her pale pallor, she speaks to them, but is unable to break through to her distant, over-critical oldest son Tommy:
Emma: You both of you have beautiful eyes and your hair is too long. I mean, I don't care how long it gets in the back, but keep your bangs cut, OK, it's too long.
Tommy: That's a matter of opinion.
Emma: Just keep it short, all right?
Tommy: Are you getting well?
Emma: (She shakes her head no) Look, I'm sorry about this but I can't help it, and I can't talk to you for too long or I'll get real upset. I want you to make a lot of friends. And I want you to be real nice to the girls 'cause they're gonna be real important to you, I swear.
Tommy: I'm not afraid of girls. What makes you think that?
Emma: Well, you may be later on.
Tommy: I doubt it.
Teddy: Why don't you shut up?! Shut up!
Tommy: You shut up!
Emma: Ted, give me a kiss, come on. (She kisses Teddy) (To Tommy) Tommy, you be sweet. Be sweet. And stop tryin' to pretend like you hate me. I mean, it's silly.
Tommy: I like you.
Emma: OK then, will you listen especially close?
Tommy: What?
Emma: Listen real hard?
Tommy: I said 'what'?!
Emma: I know you like me. I know it. For the last year or two, you've been pretending like you hate me. I love you very much. I love you as much as I love anybody, as much as I love myself. And in a few years when I haven't been around to be on your tail about something or irritating you, you could...remember that time that I bought you the baseball glove when you thought we were too broke. You know? Or when I read you those stories? Or when I let you goof off instead of mowing the lawn? Lots of things like that. And you're gonna realize that you love me. And maybe you're gonna feel badly, because you never told me. But don't - I know that you love me. So don't ever do that to yourself, all right?
Tommy: OK.
Emma: OK?
Tommy: I said, 'OK.'
After a hug from Teddy and a reluctant kiss from Tommy, she asks Teddy as he leaves the room: "I was so scared. And I think it went pretty well, don't you?"
Soon after, she expires with one final glance at Aurora as Flap sleeps unawares. Aurora blames herself: "I'm so stupid, so stupid. Somehow, I thought, somehow I thought when she finally went that - that it would be a relief. Oh, my sweet little darling. Oh dear, there's nothing harder."

After the funeral, Garrett supportively pays special attention to Emma's long-neglected son:
Garrett: I understand you're a swimmer. Me too.
Tommy: But you're an astronaut, right?
Garrett: I'm an astronaut and a swimmer. Good-lookin' suit there. Wanna see my pool?
Tommy: Well, I don't know if the time is right and all -.
Garrett: Oh, I think it is. Come on, I'll show you the internationally-infamous Breedlove crawl. Just a little stroke I picked up out in space.

Don't cry for me Argentina
For I am ordinary, unimportant
And undeserving
Of such attention
Unless we all are -
I think we all are
So share my glory
So share my coffin

- The musical returns -
the best of Broadway hits the big screen
Directed by Alan Parker.
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Lyrics by Tim Rice.
Starring Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce, Jimmy Nail.
The long-awaited movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's award-winning musical Evita is a must-see for everyone. The film succeeds in reproducing the original musical with intensity and integrity. Madonna sparkles in the title role, showing that her talent is unlimited and constantly growing into new fields and depths, and Antonio Banderas surprises us with his musical talent in perhaps the finest role of his life.

Evita tells the story of Eva Duarte, an ambitious young actress who fell in love and married Juan Perón, becoming the first lady of Argentina as well as the most adored and remembered figure in the nation's history. An inspiring leader, Eva Perón permeated the common worker movement and even the feminist movement, acquiring the love and allegiance of all of Argentina. Supposedly, the people of Argentina loved her so much, they ignored her husband's injustices as president.

The original musical tells her story through Che, a cynical omniscient character who follows Evita's rise to fame. At the center of the story is the relationship between Evita and her husband Juan Perón. They support each other for their own purposes as well as for each other. Though Perón tries to care for her, she's too headstrong to return his sentiments, though to the end, she's faithful to him and to her cause of bringing him power and prestige.

In all the hype over Madonna, people lose sight of what's truly remarkable and noteworthy about Evita, namely the musical itself, one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's most successful endeavors. The original production of Evita opened in the United States in 1979, starring Patti LuPone (Life Goes On) in the title role and Mandy Patinkin (Dick Tracy, Chicago Hope) as Che. It was awarded the New York Critics Drama Circle award for Best Musical, as well as an astonishing seven Tony Awards, with honors going to Hal Prince's direction, Patti LuPone in the title role, Rice's lyrics, Lloyd Webber's score and the musical itself. Since its opening, Evita has run continually in productions around the world. By far the musical's best known number, "Don't Cry For Me Argentina," is one of the most recorded songs from a theatrical production of all time, with no fewer than 66 different versions to date.

Alan Parker's film version of Evita is powerful from the start, and though the blend of music and cinematography is awkward at first as the audience adjusts to the film's style, the screen eventually explodes in an astounding blend of sight and sound, especially engaging in the Casa Rosada scene. The use of flashbacks and montages is just one of the excellent ways in which Parker takes advantage of the potential of his medium to add depth and understanding to the musical. However, there were times when Evita tried too much to be a movie rather than a musical where the film visual didn't match the music well enough. "Buenos Aires" was particularly disappointing - for a number that is so completely upbeat and excited, the visual was drab.

Lloyd Webber's music is performed and jazzed up terrifically without losing faith to his original score. Though the songs may sound modernized, very little has been altered and they are actually quite true to his style. Many of Lloyd Webber's musicals have included rock music, such as his rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, and the brilliance of his Evita score is brought out in the film score. "Goodnight and Thank You" was particularly fantastic - the music was powerful and the scenes were done with excellent humor.

Also outstanding are two new additions to the musical, one of which is Che's tirade "The Lady's Got Potential," an upbeat solo sung with flare by Antonio Banderas. "You Must Love Me," the single released before the movie's release, is another new song whose poignant meaning becomes clear when viewed in the context of the movie. A beautiful addition to an already powerful score, it reveals Evita's vulnerable spirit despite her past strengths, showing her most honest confession in the film and perhaps in her life.

Doubts about Madonna's performance was at the heart of all the pre-release discussion, which may have been unnecessary since her portrayal of Eva Perón is amazing and almost flawless. Dressed in glamorous gowns and even a pair of brown contact lenses, she is elegant and striking as the first lady, and though she seems to lack confidence at first, her stage presence grows as Evita's popularity grows. Her invitations to Perón in "I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You" show her sultry side while being subtle and never overtly sexual. The film doesn't exploit what Madonna's infamous for, but rather allows her to set a new standard in her history as an entertainer. "A New Argentina" and "Rainbow High" are perhaps the best examples of how much her voice has grown and surpassed all of her past work. Through Evita, Madonna truly moves us with her energy and strength.

Just as stellar as Madonna was sexy man Antonio Banderas as Che, a performance which showed his amazing talent and versatility. Banderas's accusing eyes and fierceness fit the role of Che perfectly, which may be why an actor with more singing and theater experience wasn't cast in the role. We almost wish we saw more of Banderas singing in the movie since he's such a delight to watch. However, since his accent is so sharp and much of the story is told in his lyrics, some people unfamiliar with Evita may have gotten lost, though the visual component of film does an adequate job of continuing the story. One of his most remarkable moments in the movie is the "Waltz for Eva and Che," a complicated confrontation between Evita's idealism and Che's cynicism which was beautifully done with shifting settings, using film to its advantage.

Is Evita is a movie or a musical? It's both, and since we haven't seen movie musicals in a long time, Evita breaks new ground and sets a new standard quite successfully. The music is fantastic and the performances are excellent. Madonna has truly reached a higher level of stardom with this film, showing her stretch of talent as well as surprising us with depths we've never yet seen.

Critics keep talking about how Eva Perón's story matches Madonna's own rise to fame. Forget about all that. After experiencing Evita, you'll forget everything about her past. All you'll know is that she's giving all she can to the role of her life and she succeeds. Madonna may even no longer be known as the Material Girl, but rather now as Evita, the queen of the people and the silver screen. You must love her.