The Bigger Picture will be going hiatus for a little while. The last ten months have been a truly joyful experiment—we’ve cranked through more than a hundred movies together, if you can believe it! But I need to borrow the time from TBP to pour into a couple of other exciting projects, including the Spread (sign up for free if you haven’t already), that are taking off and need more of me.

This is truly a goodnight-and-not-goodbye situation. You never know when TBP will pop up in your inbox with a must-watch gem or an impassioned roundup; for now, it just won’t be on a weekly basis. Any time you need an idea for movie night, the TBP archives will remain open and ready to serve. (Paying subscribers’ monthly charges will be paused while TBP is on sabbatical.)

Before we bid this temporary adieu, I’m leaving you with a bangin’ list of some of our most popular posts, containing dozens of hit-the-spot family picks spanning whatever kind of movie your bunch may be craving.

From the bottom of my heart: thank you for joining our crew on this adventure!

Love,

Rachel

PS: Extra thanks to illustrator Mara Sprafkin, without whom TBP wouldn’t be half as much fun. You can find Mara here.

The Not-Final Countdown

10 Recs That’ll Rock You (and the Kids)

9 Cat Movies Even Dog People May Like

8 Christmas Movies We Watch Year-Round

7 Movies That’ll Rev the Kids’ Engines (in a Wholesome Way)

6 Adorable Orphan Movies

5 Baby-Led Movies That Will Make the Whole Family Go Gaga

4 Edge-Of-Your Couch Heist Movies

3 Meg-and-Tom Flicks Our Kids Watch on Repeat

2 High-School Classics

1 Cryogenically Frozen Love Story

Julie & Julia (2009; Starz): Going into this movie last spring break, our kids had zero clue who Julia Child was—or that anyone could be as annoying as food blogger Julie Powell as portrayed by Amy Adams. But somewhat inexplicably, this double-story flick about Child and the young woman who cooked (and blogged) her way through Child’s two-volume Mastering the Art of French Cooking was a massive hit with the youths. Don’t sleep on this one for movie night.

Mamma Mia! (2008; Peacock): Based on the jukebox musical, this ABBA-soundtracked, Greece-set rom-com starring a belting Streep as mother-of-the-bride Donna is a dorky, jubilant, 108-minute all-ages party. The paternity plot—who’s Donna’s daughter Sophie’s (Amanda Seyfried) daddy?—is slightly advanced for younger kids, if they notice it at all. This one’s a blast.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018; Sling): As is often the case, the Mamma Mia! sequel doesn’t hit all the high notes of the first as it goes back in time to Donna’s origin story, with Lily James stepping in as young Meryl. The result is totally fine if even cheesier than the original (a feat unto itself). I recommend it only for hardcore ABBA fans, Meryl diehards, and tween girls who relish a saccharine romance.

Out of Africa (1985; rent for $3.99): There’s more syphilis than you’ll find in most PG movies, but don’t let that deter you! Watching young Streep flirt with and fall for young Robert Redford in this turn-of-the-last-century romance is a true delight, as are the costumes and lingo. Even though it’s a period piece, this Best Picture winner would be a very different movie if made today, which in my opinion is part of the original’s charm.

Little Women (2019; buy from $9.99): When I first heard that Meryl had signed on to Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of my personal bible, I assumed she was playing Marmee March, which…fine? But no! Greta and Meryl had better plans! Streep is delicious as salty old Aunt March, the rich, wheelchair-bound pot-stirrer whose fabulous trips to France instigate quite a lot of plot action.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006; Starz): Streep’s Miranda Priestly gets credit for one of our family’s best movie nights ever. Read all about it here.

Music of the Heart (1999; rent from $2.99): Among my favorite details about this sweet, based-on-a-true-story fight for funding music education in a Harlem school is that it was directed by horror master Wes Craven. It’s also got a perfect trio of leading ladies: Angela Bassett, Gloria Estefan (in what was upon the film’s release highly promoted as Estefan’s big-screen debut), and a Streep with the exact wavy hair sported by my own elementary-school music teacher, Mrs. Mangum.

The Prom (2020; Netflix): I tried my best to sit through this stage-to-screen Hollywood-goes-high-school musical, but James Corden, bizarrely and embarrassingly cast as an over-the-top gay Broadway has-been, was just too much to bear. As Tony Award-winning, out-of-touch Dee Dee Allen, though, Streep gives it her campy all and almost rescues the movie for adult viewers. Our 11-year-old, meanwhile, adores this adaptation as-is and knows every word.

The Post (2017; rent from $3.99): My husband and I teach a very selective Journalism in Film class in our living room. And it gets pretty great reviews from its captive pupils. Spielberg’s The Post, in which Streep plays Katherine Graham to Tom Hanks’s Ben Bradlee during the publication of the Pentagon Papers, is a quiet movie for kids weened on films with more action, but it’s actually pretty great and can provide a lot of conversation fodder. (For a, um, gonzo journo-film pick, go with The Great Muppet Caper.)

Into the Woods (2014; Disney+: Though I preferred the Charlottesville High School stage version of this Sondheim classic, Rob Marshall’s movie adaptation is totally…alright? Streep plays the witch who seems to be always showing up, singing very loudly, and screwing with our protagonists. My dad and I may have fallen asleep in the theater on its opening weekend. But tween L.B. has watched it multiple times of her own volition!

The Meryl Movie That Scarred Me As A Kid So I Can’t Recommend:

The River Wild (1994; HBO Max): I will not be getting on a raft with Kevin Bacon ever again! But maybe you dig yelling and waterworks.

The Meryl Voice Performance That I Most Adore:

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009; Disney+): Meryl instills George Clooney’s canine partner with all the wisdom and elegance you’d expect.

The Meryl Film I’ve Never Seen But Illustrator Mara Sprafkin and 11-Year-Old TBP Correspondent L.B. Swear By

Defending Your Life (1991; HBO Max): L.B says this movie, which Mara says she watched repeatedly as a child and which stars Streep and Albert Brooks in some kind of life-after-death plot, is good but “soooo weiiiiird.”

Read more

Baby Mama (2008): Tina Fey plays the straight woman who’s desperate to have a child, Amy Poehler her wild-woman surrogate. Hilarity—and an unlikely friendship—ensue.

Beaches (1988): It’s not exactly what springs to mind when the category is kid-friendly content, but the tear-jerker friendship epic starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey kills at a low-key sleepover between two best childhood girlfriends. Though kills may be a poor choice of words.

Benny & Joon (1993): My sister and I loved this movie so much as kids that we named a short-lived pair of pet gerbils after its leads. For the past several years, the weirdo rom-com starring Johnny Depp at his quirky best and Mary Stuart Masterson would have set you back $3.99 for a rental. Now it’s available for “free” with your Hulu sub.

Can’t Buy Me Love (1987): If young Patrick Dempsey driving a lawnmower means nothing to you, well, stream this one stat! And bring your middle-school-and-up kids along for the ride.

Center Stage (2000): The American Ballet Academy is a hot box for rivalries and romances among teen dancers. This movie is cheesy and predictable, and you can see all the seams. And yet: It’s also an enduringly watchable classic that even the most stoic tween or teen (and their parents) won’t be able to resist.

Edward Scissorhands (1990): I could go on for hundreds if not thousands of words about Tim Burton’s tragic romance starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, and Dianne Wiest in maybe my favorite performance of hers ever—and one day I will! But for now I’ll keep it at this: Edward will blow the mind of any kid elementary-school age or older while the parents marvel at how this masterpiece was made more than thirty forkin’ years ago!

Evan Almighty (2007): Steve Carell’s namesake congressman finds himself in the position of the Bible’s Noah—as in Noah and the ark.

Garden State (2004): Got an emo teen under your roof? Show them that you get them by turning them onto this early aughts classic. The next thing you know they’ll have Imogen Heap and the Shins in their earbuds.

Heaven Can Wait (1978): Tight pants, body-swapping, Warren Beatty—this classic has all the 1970s hallmarks but is wholesome enough for a full-family watch.

The Princess Bride (1987): The story of Buttercup and Westley (and Iñigo Montoya, Vizzini, and the rest of the gang) is a near-perfect all-ages movie. Except for the part when Westley is attacked by that enormous rodent creature. Still gives me nightmares every time.

Roxanne (1987): We haven’t yet shelled out for Cyrano, but every time we see its trailer I find myself Googling and comparing the age differentials between its stars Peter Dinklage and Haley Bennett (18 years) and the leads of the same story’s 1980s-set adaptation Roxanne, Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah (16 years). But I digress! In Roxanne, Hannah is very beautiful; Martin is smart, and has a very long nose. The whole thing has a greed-decade vibe that occasionally veers into the typically inappropriate. It’s also really long. But if you’ve got fans of Splash and/or Father of the Bride and/or The Jerk at home, this is a fine pick.

Sense and Sensibility (1995): If you have a kid who likes a period costume and—for better or worse—a marriage plot as much as one of ours does, it’s hard to top this one, which stars Emma Thompson and earned Kate Winslet her first Oscar nod as Thompson’s younger sis.

To Catch a Thief (1955): One of our family’s favorite capers stars a very tan Cary Grant, a breathtaking Grace Kelly, and stunning French Riviera scenery.

The Addams Family TV show (1964-1966; IMDb TV via Amazon, the Roku Channel): Second-grade L.B. devoured all 64 half-hour episodes of the black-and-while original in a time span so compressed I’m going to decline to share the hard numbers for fear of parental judgment. The child couldn’t as much as look at the monstrous-looking, big-hearted butler without giggling and letting out an, “Awwww, Lurch!” She was an Addams lifer.

The Addams Family movie (1991; Netflix): To mark L.B.’s eighth trip around the sun, she was finally allowed to watch the ’90s movie. (She’d been asking for a while.) In an otherworldly stroke of serendipity, the movie happened to be playing on the big screen in our town for a single showing—on the Sunday afternoon following her birthday! Well, we went, we laughed, we ate too much popcorn, and we overreacted at every faux jump-scare. There were several adult jokes and a few risqué running gags that made me think twice about the outing, but they all flew straight over L.B.’s head, never once distracting her from the uncanny charms of Thing and Cousin It. Back then, streaming this rendition cost $3.99, curbing the rewatches we approved for L.B., but now that it’s free on Netflix, it’s no-risk viewing for Addams newbies.

The Addams Family Values movie (1993; rent from $3.99): For diehard and mature-enough fans, this bizarro sequel, in which Morticia and Gomez spawn a creepy, kooky, mustachioed baby, is a why not kind of watch. For young kids, it’s not worth the genuinely dark hijinks and sexual undertones (which too often become overtones).

The Addams Family and The Addams Family 2 animated movies (2019 and 2021; Hulu and rent for $3.99, respectively): As a longtime Addams stan, I’ll be the first to admit that this gang is hot IP. Still, I have zero need to actually watch the Charlize Theron- and Oscar Isaac-voiced cartoon remakes. L.B., however, watched them each as soon as they were available for streaming, and says they’re both “GREAT!” though she refuses to elaborate. Unlike her strong-willed daughter, my mother was conned by L.B. to screen the sequel alongside her; GrandDea’s review was similarly circumspect, “It was very cute,” she said with a closed-mouth smile. (GrandDea is usually quite the talker.)

What about The Munsters?!

I know this is the question on everyone’s lips. So here’s the deal: The Munsters (1964-1966; Hulu), which is bizarrely similar to The Addams Family in setup and aired on CBS at the exact same time the Addamses were rippin’ it up over at ABC, is totally fine! It’s even got a cute opening-theme sequence. It just doesn’t have the teeth—or Morticia-and-Gomez-fueled frisson—that you’ll find over at the Addams pile. Think of The Munsters as Jay Leno to The Addams Family’s David Letterman. Which reminds me: I need to show L.B. some high-quality Dave reruns!

Before you go, indulge in the MC Hammer-performed theme song for the 1991 Addams Family film. This was a thing!

Cool Runnings (1993; Disney+): Jamaica’s bobsled team is back at the Olympics this year for the first time since 1998! Which means now’s the perfect time to watch or rewatch this near-perfect, all-ages movie about how a team of aspiring sledders who’ve never actually touched cold weather sweated their way to representing their country at the Games. Just typing it gives me chills!

Miracle (2004; Disney+): Though TBP does not care for hockey, or even ice in our water glass, this based-on-true-events movie melts our heart every time. At the height of the Cold War, Kurt Russell’s Herb Brooks coaches an underdog US team to the 1980 Olympics where they overcome self-doubt and villainous Soviets by discovering the power of the human spirit. It sounds hokey—and it is!—but it’s also an excellent family sports film.

Munich (2005; Starz): Spielberg directs! Kushner scripts! Bana stars! Based on the Israeli government’s operation against the Palestine Liberation Organization after the massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich—you got all that?—this historical thriller doesn’t actually feature sporting events, but it’s an underappreciated masterpiece. It’s violent (do I need to go over the setup again?) and Bana smolders, so save it for older kids who can handle both.

The Cutting Edge (1992; Showtime, The Roku Channel): The best Olympics-centric love story ever told. Read all about it in TBP’s figure-skating extravaganza.

Without Limits (1998; HBOMax): This is the Prefontaine movie starring Billy Crudup, which is superior to Prefontaine starring Jared Leto. It’s a solid biopic, though not without a little sex, a little bad language, and a lot of tragedy. High school viewers—especially track stars—will particularly appreciate this one.

Chariots of Fire (1981, HBOMax): More running! Sure, sure this movie Green-Booked Raiders of the Lost Ark and On Golden Pond out of Best Picture. But the story of two British runners’ quest for the gold at the 1924 games is a classic for a reason—if the finale doesn’t make your heart beat fast, maybe sports and/or movies just aren’t your thing.

PS: Did you know that TBP is the #6 paid parenting newsletter on Substack!? Thank you for getting us here. If you’re so moved, we’d appreciate your help in cracking the top five. In other words, please tell your friends and smash that like button (the one up top that looks like a heart)!

Platinum Picks for Kids from 1 to 92

That Thing You Do! (1996; Hulu, Paramount+): The best all-ages movie ever is finally on major streamers, and TBP just so happy for all of us we might start belting out the entire soundtrack, of which we know every word. (It was released when TBP was a sponge-brained fifth grader, and gah we wore out that green-and-blue DVD.) The story of Erie, Pennsylvania, buddies who start a rock band and with the help of Tom Hanks’s management skills hit the big time is about friendship, love, ambition, and the 1960s. The script is slyly funny—snaps to Steve Zahn’s delivery as preening guitarist Lenny—and the cast has that “special something”: Tom Everett Scott is so charming as drummer Guy Patterson that Hollywood thought they had the next Tom Hanks on their hands at the time (his career has worked out differently, but I’ll still watch anything he does). Liv Tyler is at her loveliest as Faye, initially the girlfriend of lead singer Jimmy and eventually a much more central character. And you’ll want to hug Ethan Embry’s flighty, Army-bound bass player. Close watchers will also delight in the movie’s starry supporting cast, which includes Charlize Theron in her first major (though still minor) role and Rita Wilson as a bosomy cocktail waitress, plus Chris Isaak, Giovanni Ribisi, Bryan Cranston, Kevin Pollack, and Paul Feig. We first screened TTYD for our kids when they were three and seven, wondering if it would at all resonate. For the rest of the weekend, they played “band on tour” with their Playmobil bus, an activity that was followed by many moons of fanciful flights of starting their own real-life rock band. We watched it again more recently, once they were both in double digits, and while the Playmobil roadies were a thing of the past, the prevailing sentiment was the same: “That’s just suuuuuch a good movie, Rach.”

School of Rock (2003; rent from 2003): The runner-up for best band-centric family movie will make your kids drag their neighbor friends into your garage to divide up the parts (deciding who gets to be lead singer may get intense) and then ask you for drum lessons and amps over dinner. Read all about it here in TBP’s valentine to sticking it to the man.

Faux-Indie Fare for Elementary-Age Kids and Tweens (and Not Their Parents)

Jem and the Holograms (2015; Netflix): This movie should be right up TBP’s alley; it’s based on the ’80s animated series and has teenage-girl angst, fun costumes, and a one-two nostalgia punch of Juliette Lewis and Molly Ringwald (as the grown-ups). But it’s a really weak version of the star-is-born trope—surprising given that it was directed by Jon Chu of Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights—at least in my aged estimation. Our upper-elementary schooler, L.B., however, loves this movie, has for years. She even insisted on being Jem for Halloween one year, and she looked very rock’n’roll.

Vintage Tracks For Teens and Mature Tweens (and/or Their Parents)

Almost Famous (2000; Hulu): The top coming-of-age band movie is also now on Hulu. If you have a teen who hasn’t seen it, sit them down, press play, whisper “It’s all happening,” and leave them be. They’ll thank you.

Josie and the Pussycats (2001; rent from $3.99): A star-studded (for TBP’s generation at least) girl band navigates the tensions between art, commerce, and a villainous Alan Cumming. This pick was part of TBP’s slumber party roundup.

Dreamgirls (2006; HBO Max): A must-watch for anyone who falls into the musical/Supremes/Beyoncé Venn diagram of fandom.

The Sapphires (2012; Amazon Prime, the Roku Channel): A quirky Australian musical-comedy about a girl group that’s mentored by the winning Chris O’Dowd.

Jersey Boys (2014; rent from $3.99): The movie version of your boomer parents’ favorite Broadway show—directed by Clint Eastwood!—is a totally respectable jukebox musical about the Four Seasons for those who are into that kind of thing. Even those who aren’t may look up and realize their toes are tapping.

Sing Street (2016; Amazon Prime, the Roku Channel, Pluto): This obscure, ’80s-set Irish movie follows Dublin teen Conor as he goes through personal upheaval and starts a rock band. To be sure you pick up everything these kids put down, you may want to turn on closed captioning. Sláinte!

PLUS: A Bonus TV Episode for Everyone!!

The Brady Bunch, Season 3: Episode 16, “Dough Re-Mi” (1969; Hulu, Paramount+): Our kids have watched The Brady Bunch in its entirety twice. Humble brag, I know, I know. “Dough Re-Mi” is the best (available1) episode of the entire series; in it, the Brady Six record a “surefire hit song” written and led by groovy Greg, averting crisis when the brood finds a new part for Peter, whose voice is very noticeably changing.2 The song, by the way, is called “Time to Change,” and it is really something!

Are you into car culture? Ambivalent? Uninterested? These auto-related picks are worth gassing up for regardless.

The Gnome-Mobile (1967; rent from $3.99): TBP spends much of our life focus-grouping friends and strangers about what movies their families have seen and/or enjoyed. There’s one TBP-favored title that almost none of our targets have ever even heard of. That movie is The Gnome-Mobile. For years, TGM wasn’t available for streaming at all; our family just rented it early and often from NetflixDVD. (We’re realistic enough not to have suggested you also do this.) But now you can rent it from Apple, YouTube, et al., and your clan is in for a treat. Weird, sweet, funny, and rivaling only The Ugly Dachshund in its midcentury-California stylishness, the movie stars little Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber, a duo you’ll recognize from Mary Poppins and The Three Lives of Thomasina (meow), plus three-time Oscar winner Walter Brennan as their shouty businessman Grandfather. The mobile in question is a 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II, into which Grandfather and the kids pile for a road trip to Seattle, where he plans to sell 50,000 acres of timberland he owns. But all is not what it seems! Without spoiling it, I’ll assure you that it doesn’t have “gnome” in the title for nothing.

The Love Bug (1968; Disney+): Our kids hated the sound of this one—an old movie about loving a sentient car? But once parked in front of it, they lapped it up. If your little people are like ours, they’ll want to proceed to the multiple sequels, all of which are now conveniently streaming over at Disney+.

Viva Las Vegas (1964; rent from $3.99): Elvis’s second-best family movie (to Blue Hawaii) and Ann-Margret’s second-best family movie (to TBP obsession Bye Bye Birdie) showcases topnotch song-and-dance numbers, serious chemistry between its leads, and vintage wheels. Something for everyone! The plot centers on Vegas’s first-annual Grand Prix Race, but Lucky (Elvis) must raise money to replace his race car’s engine in order to compete. The flame-haired Rusty (Ann-Margret) plays a hot swimming instructor. There’s a scene on the track in which a closeup of Rusty’s hotpants fills almost the entire screen, during which upon his first viewing our then eight-year-old H.B. exclaimed, “Whoa! Look at that–” We parents quickly shot each other looks of fear and devastation; was he really already ogling women’s bottoms? “–car!!” he finished. There was some kind of race car in the background, and it was very flashy indeed.

Grease (1978; rent from $2.99): This classic loomed large in my childhood. The hand jive! The skintight pants! The gymnastically inclined hot dog! The pregnancy scare! This is what high school would be like!? Upon a recent rewatch I was surprised how small—even quaint—the whole thing felt. I was also surprised that “Greased Lightning,” set at the body shop, is the best musical number of the lot. The drag race toward the end is still my least favorite part, but you won’t be shocked to hear that it was a highlight for our male child.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968; Pluto, Tubi): The Kenneth Branagh-directed Oscar contender Belfast (recommend!) prominently features this vintage Dick Van Dyke-led flying car movie, which inspired us to watch it again ourselves. It’s darling but also long—two and a half hours—and not worth making tweens and teens sit through if they are prone to getting antsy. Screen Chitty for the little ones; whether or not you actually join them for a magical afternoon is up to you.

Ford v Ferrari (2019; rent from $3.99): This movie was pushed during its Oscar season as a car movie that even people who don’t like car movies would enjoy. I just…disagree? I mean, it’s always fun to see Christian Bale and Matt Damon (highly recommend the underrated The Last Duel starring Damon in a mullet and Ben Affleck in a frosted goatee for the adults!), but for the engine-agnostic among us it, well, drags. Our then-13-year-old H.B. loved it as did his father, while nine-year-old L.B. spent the second half coloring while kinda watching. Point being: If you like race cars, go for it!

American Graffiti (1973; rent from $3.99): There’s a period in the lives of some children where they will take in movies that even adults might pin as kind of boring. Lucky for us, our L.B. enjoyed a particularly lengthy phase like this, where she would sit rapt even in front of thinly plotted black-and-white films. American Graffiti, which is a car movie inasmuch as it’s about teens killing time in vintage rides and also involves an enigmatic babe in a Thunderbird, wasn’t built as kiddie fare—it’s a high-school hang-out movie more along the lines of Dazed and Confused but without all the drugs and stuff. But it’s very fun to watch as adults—George Lucas had a delightful cast to work with in his directorial debut—and if your kids are in that spongy sweet spot like L.B. was from seven until nine, it can count as family time, too.

Ask TBP: Can I show my kids Baby Driver?

TBP contributor James Burnett and I went to see this Ansel Elgort action-heist flick in the theater, and the whole time we kept thinking and/or saying (quietly) that we wished we could show it to H.B., then 11. The music was great, the assembly of the gang was a blast, and Baby himself was a charisma machine. But alas, this one is way too violent for sanctioned viewing, even now that he’s 15. If you’ve got a kid who craves action, the Ocean movies hit most of the same notes without the appetite for destruction.

The Cutting Edge (1992; the Roku Channel, Showtime): This classic about an injured hockey player assigned to be an Olympics-bound ice princess’s skating partner has it all: fierce competition, hot chemistry, villainous Soviets, the Pamchenko twist, and D.B. Sweeney. In fact, it may be TBP’s favorite sports movie of all time? (Note that we said “favorite,” not “best” or “greatest.”) Young Moira Kelly is perfectly cast and does the best work of her kinda weird career. To our fellow fans, we have two words: Toe pick. For those new to this rink: Focus!

Ice Castles (1978; the Roku Channel): The Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken of figure-skating cinema, this good-enough heartbreaker-on-ice inspired many a GenXer to beg their parents for skating lessons.

Blades of Glory (2007; HBO Max): Lars from Eurovision! Buddy from Elf! No actor can please a multigenerational crowd quite like a Spandex-clad Will Ferrell, and here he is on ice as Chazz Michael Michaels, top figure skater and…sex addict. Whomp whomp. Indeed, this is one worth heeding the PG-13 rating and watching with older kids only.

I, Tonya (2017; Hulu): The Margot-Robbie-as-Tonya-Harding biopic is a solid watch for the ages-14-plus set. The performances—Allison Janney won an Oscar as Harding’s abusive, wacky mother—are tremendous and the movie is as entertaining as it is tragic in that stranger-than-fiction kind of way.

The Wedding Singer (1998): Though our 15-year-old would argue that both Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore are rom-coms, I am here to insist that The Wedding Singer is the only true (and definitely only worthy) rom-com of Adam Sandler’s late-1990s run. With Drew Barrymore at her most charming, despite her awful 1980s hairdo, The Wedding Singer hits all the right notes.

Big Fish (2003): This tall-tale adventure—starring the very Scottish Ewan McGregor as the very Southern Ed Bloom—is a magical way to spend a couple of hours on a dreary afternoon. Albert Finney, Helena Bonham Carter, Billy Crudup, and Jessica Lange make for a sparkly supporting cast.

Annie (1982): Close TBP readers won’t be surprised to hear that the orphan-loving Baker/Burnett family owns this curly-haired classic musical outright. But we are thrilled that the rest of you can now watch it on repeat like we do!

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971): I’ve seen Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka more than any movie—including Bye Bye Birdie and Chicago and Call Me By Your Name, which is a lot! It’s just that good, and a true all-ages watch. For more modern types, the Johnny Depp-led Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also arrived on Netflix this month.

Free Willy (1993): Hold me / like the River Jordan / And I will say to thee / you are my friiiiiend! Lest you’ve forgotten, the 1991 Michael Jackson hit “Will You Be There” was about a boy’s friendship with a whale. If you’re interested in animal-human relationships or have a budding marine biologist at home, Free Willy is definitely better than Sea World.

Hook (1991): For years our family relied on biannual trips to my mother-in-law’s house in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, to watch the Robin Williams-as-Peter Pan classic via her solid VHS collection. Now it couldn’t be easier to stream. One reminder: This movie ain’t short—make sure you have time for two hours and twenty minutes of swashbuckling.

The NeverEnding Story (1984): One of our big kids hates anything that touches the fantasy genre. The other is an anime fanatic who can be found doodling unicorns and pegasusses. For the latter category of kid, NeverEnding Story will hit the spot. Even if you (like me) generally fall into the fantasy-averse camp, you’ll be surprised how tender and complete this movie still feels.

Wild Wild West (1999): If you are a parent who finds hammy late-1990s Will Smith a riot, this has family movie night written all over it. If you’re someone who’d rather hear “The Macarena” on repeat for the rest of her life if it meant she’d never again have to listen to “Wild Wild West,” or “Miami,” or “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It,” or “Men in Black,” again—then this is a great kids-only watch. (Phantom Thread comes to Netflix on the 16th; discerning parents can cue it up while the children hee-haw over James West and his band of schticky cowboys.)

New York Times Opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie is in this for the Arnold action:

“Jingle All the Way (1996; Hulu, YouTube, and Disney+) is not the best Christmas movie or even an especially good one, but it has a madcap energy that I find irresistible. Arnold Schwarzenegger is completely unbelievable as some kind of ordinary father but totally believable as a hulking monster who will do whatever it takes to get a ‘Turbo Man’ toy. And Sinbad gets to show off his physical comedy chops, which are legit. It is not hard to find flaws in Jingle All the Way, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy myself every time I watched it.”

For fashion designer Joseph Altuzarra, Christmas viewing is all about tradition:

“I might be cheating here, but every Christmas my family and I go through the entire Harry Potter series, all eight of them (2001-2011; HBO Max and Peacock). There is nothing inherently Christmasy about Harry Potter, although it is supremely heart-warming, and full of magic. But it is a tradition that I look forward to every Christmas, and that I look forward to continuing with my kids!”

Legendary advice columnist E. Jean Carroll likes a vintage Christmas rom-com with a dash of legal intrigue:

“Stanwyck! MacMurray! In Remember the Night (1940; YouTube), she's a thief, he's a prosecutor. They flee to Indiana. I rest my case! PS: This comedy is not to be confused with the MacMurray-Stanwyck classic Double Indemnity, as there is not an ankle bracelet in the entire film.”

Artist and fashion icon Beatrix Ost prefers her holiday fare with a wistful chill:

“Casablanca (1942; HBO Max) is a story filled with melancholy and longing—often the old year can bring that on with the uncertainty of the New Year knocking on the door. Play it again, Sam, she beckons. Like we all wish moments would come back.”

The Gregory Brothers’ Andrew Gregory has strong opinions about what to watch—and what not to:

"There are only 2.5 perfect Christmas movies, and they are, alphabetically: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965; AppleTV+), Home Alone (1990; Disney+), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946; Amazon Prime). And so, frankly, those are the only 2.5 you should be watching over and over again this season. Maybe throw in an Elf (2003; HBO Max) or two. Instead I would prefer to use this space to decry the valorization of the worst Christmas Movie of all time, A Christmas Story. Cynical garbage like this simply shouldn't be consumed during the coziest, warmest season of the year, especially when it is masquerading as a cozy, warm movie. It's not. It's a movie about how the world is a lie, and how the world sucks. Please don't watch it. Oh also: Please do listen to my new podcast, Punch Up the Jam—the first episode is out and it’s Christmas themed! Weird Al, my brother, and I talk about ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ for an hour and then make an improved version.”

That’s it for The Bigger Picture in 2021. We hope you’ll spend your break hunkering down with some of our movie picks—and maybe even brave the theater for West Side Story. See you in the New Year!

Titanic (1997; Paramount+): “Children, Are you ready for this?” I said to H.B. and L.B. as the camera panned to the depths of the ocean. Suddenly, I was transported back to a Friday night in December; the year was 1997 and my buddy Mollie Hederman and I had settled into our fourth-row seats at Flowood, Mississippi’s Parkway Place theater. We were there to mainline The. Greatest. Love. Story. Ever. Told. Over the next three hours and change, we would gasp at Billy Zane’s eyelinered villainy (“It is unsinkable…It is unsinkab… It is unsin….”); drool over Leonardo DiCaprio’s tan, childish bod; act casual when faced with Kate Winslet’s one massive breast; and weep and weep and weep some more. The injustice of it all! Of course, we were planning our next viewing as the credits rolled. All told, I spent around $50 of my hard-earned dog-sitting money (and as close readers know, I’m not even a dog person) watching and re-watching Leo and Kate Winslet steam up an old-timey car. Flash-forward to the year 2021, when at my urging, our kids reluctantly settled in. But two hours later they were captive to the saga of Jack, Rose, and that evil iceberg like the good red-blooded American children I knew they were. The special effects, though not what they were in ’97—Dunkirk this is not—still held up well enough to prompt some people to cover their eyes while screaming in horror. The scene where the poor mother in steerage tucks her children into bed, knowing that their cabin will soon be besieged by freezing water, made James tear up all over again. By the time Rose and Jack were bobbing in the Atlantic, with Rose using that door (is it a door?) for a raft, H. and L. were fully engrossed—right until the moment we abruptly paused the movie to get to a get-together at the grandparents’. The kids were peeved, and for good reason. The next day, they rewound to about the hour mark to make sure they were good and warmed up by the time they got back to the dramatic finale. Almost a quarter-century old, this movie still floats the boats of kids of all ages. (Though I should warn you that through adult-colored glasses, Titanic is not a great movie—the writing is atrocious, the casting kinda bonkers. In spite of it all, it’s really fun family watch.)

Romeo + Juliet (1996; YouTube): Speaking of Leo! Baz Luhrmann’s Miami-set, guns-as-swords take on the O.G. Shakespearean romance was—and maybe still is!—the coolest thing that ever happened to PG-13 movies and also my English class (thanks for reading, Ms. Spell!). The soundtrack, the chemistry between Leo and Claire Danes, the wild sets, John Leguizamo, it’s all incredibly transportive—though maybe not transportive enough if your group watches tend to include chatty family members (iambic pentameter requires focus). It’s okay to send your teen down to the basement to watch this one solo.

Twilight (2008; Netflix and Amazon Prime): The vampire love story that spawned a zillion sequels and even more copycats is a surprisingly lively choice for family movie night. Kristen Stewart—now an Oscar-nom lock!—and Rob Pattinson’s syrupy yearning between human and vampire will keep young swooners engaged, while the supporting cast, sometimes wackadoo writing, and general campy vibe make it entertaining for the whole crew.

In the Heights (2021; HBO Max): Can you imagine making the other 2021 musical involving star-crossed lovers, a large Puerto Rican cast, and epic dance scenes in el barrio, including at least one fire-escape duet? Director Jon Chu can! While In the Heights isn’t half the movie West Side Story is—and how could it be, really—our kids liked it a whole lot. Back in June, when we were all starved for Hollywood escapism, the grownups thought it was pretty fun, too.

Bonus Pick!

A Walk to Remember (2002; rent from $3.99): This saccharine romance is best reserved for tween and teen audiences. That is unless one of the parents has a long-held yen for high school-aged Shane West and/or Mandy Moore, presaging her turn as a brunette in This Is Us.

A couple years back we got some work done to our house that required temporarily relocating to a downtown apartment. The loft would have been very cool for one person; it was less cool for our six-creature crowd. Yes, two stubborn adults, two perfect children, and two filthy cats dwelled in what was basically a gigantic studio for an entire season. A few pretty great things happened while we were on top of each other, though: L.B., then eight, opened a renegade booth called Miss Little Banana’s Banana Bread Stand on the fringes of the farmer’s market outside our front door. (She cleaned up on tips.) The UVA men’s basketball team won the national championship. And both kids fell in love with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and the repeated ’90s pairings thereof, confirming our suspicion that they’re the most all-American children this side of the Mississippi. And that they have great taste, of course.

Sleepless in Seattle (1993; rent from $2.99): L.B. and I first watched this Nora Ephron classic together on a rainy afternoon. We didn’t talk much, with the exception of quick explanations about what the heck even were radio call-in shows and landlines. At the end of the hour-and-forty-five-minute movie, our widower Sam Baldwin (Hanks) and hopeless romantic Annie Reed (Ryan) were embracing atop the Empire State Building and L.B. and I were quietly weeping. Fast forward a couple of weeks and L.B. wanted to watch Sleepless in Seattle again, only this time she insisted on sharing it with her four-years-older brother. Both kids have since watched it yet again, and each time like to point out that Annie’s sidekick/best friend, Becky, is “that lady from A League of Their Own”—aka Rosie O’Donnell.

You’ve Got Mail (1998; HBO Max): Why didn’t anyone tell me how charming this movie is?! OK, the entire world did. Yet my alter ego (I call her Superior Svetlana) got in the way, and I didn’t watch Ephron’s Meg-and-Tom follow-up until circa two years ago. And yep, it’s a total delight. Fellow skeptics: Not only is this a dawning email-era remake of The Shop Around the Corner (1940; HBO Max), wherein a thinly veiled Barnes & Noble (run by Hanks’s family) tries to big-foot an indie kids’ bookshop (owned by Ryan), it’s a vehicle for tons of clever pop-culture references and some of my—and undoubtedly your— favorite actors: Dave Chappelle, Parker Posey, and Steve Zahn! Greg Kinnear, Dabney Coleman, and Chris Messina also show up. And it involves a journalism subplot—the best kind of subplot. Our kids didn’t get all the jokes, but they enjoyed the fizzy dialogue and the screwball plot. There may have even been some hollering at the screen (“That’s him! That’s the guy you’ve been emailing with!”). Plus: The opportunity for ogling of the Upper West Side in its most Ephronic glory, at least on the parents’ part.

Joe Versus the Volcano (1990; rent from $2.99): Long before I was an esteemed high-school employee of my local Video Library, I was an excellent customer, via my mom’s membership and my dad’s wad of Friday-night cash. Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley (a great writer with a spottier track record on the directing front), Joe Versus the Volcano is an absolutely bonkers movie, in which Hanks plays a burned-out worker bee who in some kind of metaphysical awakening ends up heading to Hawaii to jump into a volcano (I think as a sacrifice? I did rewatch it recently but this movie is so nuts that it’s hard to keep track of all the details). As a child, it was one of my go-to rentals. A few months back, as an experiment, I screened it for my husband and our kids. My husband, James, kept trying to intellectualize the whole thing (“It’s so Dada! Kids, do you know about Dadaism?” he’d say, confusing our children who sweetly still refer to him as Dada). H.B. and L.B. on the other hand were all in; the logic jumps and madcap plot swings and the fact that Meg Ryan (kind of?) plays more than one character didn’t faze them for a second. Their review? Yeah, really weird but also pretty good.

West Side Story (1961; rent from $3.99)

If you didn’t heed my call this summer, now it’s really time to reengage with Sondheim 101. As Sondheim fans mourn his passing, they’re also anticipating the arrival of the Tony Kushner-adapted, Steven Spielberg-directed remake of this canonical show, which hits theaters on December 10.

Gypsy (1962, HBO Max)

Rosalind Russell plays Mama Rose Hovick, the Kris Jenner of vaudeville, in this vintage adaptation of the Broadway hit. (Which makes Natalie Wood’s Louise the Kourtney Kardashian, though once you watch this one, you’ll see she’s more Laney Boggs from She’s All That.) Among my favorite trivia about Gypsy is that unlike in West Side Story, Wood does her own singing—which explains so much. The showstopper is “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” made famous on stage by Ethel Merman and performed here by Russell with a gusto Kris could surely get behind. But my personal highlight will always be the finale, “Rose’s Turn.” Just ask my 13-month-old, who has already heard me growl “Mama’s talkin’ loud. / Mama’s doin’ fine. / Mama’s gettin’ hot. / Mama’s goin’ strong” more times than she can count.

Sweeney Todd (2007, Hulu):

The movie version of the best slasher musical of all time stars Johnny Depp as the barber/serial killer and Helena Bonham Carter as his meat pie-making sidekick. This Tim Burton film is bloooooody, but Depp’s performance is A+ (like Edward Scissorhands grew up to be a homicidal hairdresser) and Sondheim’s tunes are, as always, killer.

Into the Woods (2014; Disney+)

As a fan of the stage musical, I can’t say I love Rob Marshall’s 2014 movie adaptation. Obviously Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt are delightful; Chris Pine’s and Billy Magnussen’s preening princes are a hoot; and was I happy to see Christine Baranski and Tracey Ullman? Of course. But the largest roles go to peak annoying Anna Kendrick and James Corden (as Cinderella and Baker, respectively), making the two hour-plus running time feel even longer. However, our theater-inclined middle-schooler L.B. ate up this version like she was creepy Wolf devouring good-intentioned Red.

Six By Sondheim (2013, HBO Max)

More of a superfan sampler than a Sondheim starter pack, the HBO doc deep dives into a half dozen of his most iconic songs, which Sondheim himself performs with shiny belters like Audra McDonald and America Ferrera. This one’s best for hardcore theater kids.

Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened (Netflix; 2016)

This shaggy documentary directed by Lonny Price—whom some of us will always know best as aspiring Broadway producer Ronnie Crawford from The Muppets Take Manhattan—is a love letter to Sondheim and the magic of Broadway. In it, the cast of Sondheim flop Merrily We Roll Along reunites 25 years after its Broadway bow. Though Merrily closed after just 16 performances, the movie follows the actors, including Jason Alexander, over the intervening years before getting the band back together again.

One fun Merrily fact that sticks with me is that Greta Gerwig loves the show deeply (her whole chat with Terry Gross is as good as you might expect)—so deeply that she made it a plot point in her wonderful coming-of-age movie Lady Bird (2017; Netflix), which our 15-year-old H.B. thanked me twice for recommending to him.

tick, tick… BOOM! (2021; Netflix):

Andrew Garfield’s got the Oscar buzz for the lead role of gone-too-soon composer Jonathan Larson, and as a Rent stan (I’ve seen it on stage just shy of 30 times), I’m totally on board for the hoopla. But the most winning performance in the movie is Bradley Whitford’s brief turn as Sondheim, Larson’s idol. In heavy makeup, the hammier-with-age Whitford really leans into the Sondheim of it all as he bestows upon Larson a little early-days encouragement. The result is candy for the musical-nerd viewer. I won’t spoil the rest.

Extra Credit: Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration (2020)

Sondheim’s 90th birthday occurred two Aprils ago, right as America went into Covid lockdown. But because the show must go on, the producers of his tribute concert scrambled, ultimately coming up with a celebrity-studded1 Zoomfest that due to tech difficulties only got going an hour late. Still, James and I watched the whole meandering shebang. Here, courtesy of EW, are a few highlights; plus, courtesy of Vulture, an investigation on who gets to call Sondheim “Steve.”

Bonus Reading: There’ve been dozens—probably hundreds?—of tributes to Sondheim published over the past week. My two favorites for those who want to spend more time thinking about the GOAT: Mark Harris’s “The Measureless, Omnipresent Influence of Stephen Sondheim” for Vulture, and Isaac Butler’s “Stephen Sondheim Solved the Puzzle to Being Alive” for Slate.

Hairspray (2007; Netflix and HBO Max):

Our 11-year-old L.B. has long had great rhythm and also a blazing inner fire for social justice, making Hairspray—the civil-rights dance movie—precisely her jam. The story is propelled by chubby Baltimore teen Tracy Turnblad’s dream of becoming a regular on an American Bandstand-like dance TV show, and unlike the John Waters original, this 2007 version is a full-out musical, with several bangers on its soundtrack—my favorite (though it’s hard to pick just one!) being “Ladies’ Choice,” belted by Zac Efron, who hilariously plays Tracy’s oh-so-smooth crush, Link Larkin. The entire shiny cast is aces: In a gimmick that actually pays off, John Travolta, in drag, plays Edna, Tracy’s shy, braised-meat-loving mama; Queen Latifah slays as “big, blond, and beautiful” DJ Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs1; Michelle Pfeiffer has soooo much fun as nasty bombshell Velma Von Tussle; and Christopher Walken is delightfully wooden as Tracy’s daddy-o, Wilbrr. And that’s just the parental units! James Marsden’s sparkly grin alone makes me snicker as he crushes the role of Corny Collins—he of The Corny Collins Show. Sweet, talented, pre-meltdown Amanda Bynes will make you wistful for what could have been. Brittany Snow rises to the occasion as Pfeiffer’s mini-me, Amber. And with no professional acting experience under her belt, Nikki Blonsky charms as Tracy, the upbeat integration activist with the best moves in town. But which of these bebopping coeds will win the Miss Teenage Hairspray contest?!

Hairspray (1988; rent from $2.99):

John Waters’s original, nonmusical tale of Tracy Turnblad’s ascension is a little rougher around the edges than its remake—as is Waters’s wont. The original Edna is played by Divine (an actual drag queen) while Velma’s role goes to Debbie Harry and Amber’s to Vitamin C (yes, that Vitamin C). But it’s hard to beat Ricki Lake’s Tracy, whose longing to be seen is palpable, even as she’s in on the joke.

Mad Hot Ballroom (2005; Showtime):

Do you like being charmed? Feeling hopeful? Smiling? If you answered yes to any of the above, Mad Hot Ballroom should be your next watch. The doc—which our family has watched multiple times—follows a handful of New York City elementary students as they learn the art of ballroom dancing and prep for a high-stakes competition. Like Spellbound before it, this film sticks the landing for viewers of all ages.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985; Hulu and Amazon Prime):

The best slumber party movie ever centers on SJP’s Janey Glenn, a military brat with the grace of a ballet dancer and the hormones of a teen girl. Egged on by her quirky pal Lynne (Helen Hunt), Janey tries out for a spot as a regular on Chicago’s Dance TV against Colonel Glenn’s wishes, and as luck will have it, she’s assigned hunky, working-class Jeff Malene as her dance partner. As Lynne says, “He’s a boy and he’s alive; What’s there to hate?”

Footloose (1984; Starz)

I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to type the opening guitar riff to “Footloose,” the song. Down-now-na-now-now-now-now-nowwww… ? No? OK, moving on. One of my favorite things about Footloose, the movie, is that it works for kids of any age: When ours were little, we’d just stream the dance numbers on repeat—huge win. When they hit early elementary, we’d show them the first hour and then skip to Kevin Bacon’s barnburner of a finale once people started getting restless. Now that they’ve both reached double digits we all love the whole hour and forty-five minutes. During every viewing, the premise that dancing is the devil’s movement and therefore NOT allowed in Rev. John Lithgow’s town has left our boogie-loving kiddos a funny mix of incredulous and intrigued—and the resulting conversations have been a real side benefit of this crowd-pleaser.

Gobble gobble: It’s that time of year!

Which means I’d like to thank everyone who’s part of the Bigger Picture family (that’s you!). What a wild first six months we’ve had together. Thanks especially to the paid subscribers among you—TBP literally wouldn’t be possible without your support. (If you find yourself enjoying TBP but haven’t yet subscribed, here’s where you do it.) An enormous thank you to in-house illustrator Mara Sprafkin—TBP would just be a gray box without you! An extra special thank you to everyone at TBP HQ: Correspondents H.B. and L.B., and my sensitivity reader, James Burnett. And a million thanks to faithful friend and advance-reader Allison Wright, who saves TBP from looking a fool on a twice-weekly basis.

This year’s fall break was long—five days long—and much of it dreary. Thankfully, 11-year-old TBP correspondent L.B. was up for an assignment: The 1978 film The Cat from Outer Space (Disney+), which thoroughly entertained her and her equally restless buddy from down the street for an hour and forty minutes.

TBP: Thanks for doing this, L.B.

L.B. No problem.

Let’s start with the basics: What’s The Cat from Outer Space about?

It’s about this guy, Frank, who believes in supernatural things. He’s brought into a meeting about this flying saucer they found and everybody tells Frank he’s crazy. Meanwhile, there’s a cat in the room and when Frank talks the cat perks up—because the cat gets what Frank is talking about.

Is Frank a scientist?

Yes, I think so, and really creative. He’s pretty young and he thinks in a new way—not like the others. The cat follows Frank, who goes to work and sees the cat and starts feeding the cat. And the cat starts talking to him. The cat tells Frank his theory is correct: The cat is an alien—but a cat. He came in on the UFO. Frank names the cat Jake. He brings Jake to his apartment. Then this lady knocks on the door and they plan a date-ish thing—I guess it’s a date, she’s his love. And then she leaves and as Frank and Jake start having a conversation Frank’s neighbor busts in. The neighbor’s wife kicked him out of the apartment because she wanted to watch a soap opera and he wanted to watch football. And you know, Frank can’t have a conversation with a cat while his neighbor is around so he wants the neighbor to leave. And there’s a spy who works for an organization.

What does Jake look like?

Super-short hair. Gray. Defined, small face. Very slim body. And his love is this white poofy cat with long hair! Lucybelle. [Laughs.]

Jake has a girlfriend?

Yes, and the owner of Jake’s love, Lucybelle, is Frank’s love, Liz. She’s a woman scientist—she’s sweet and cute and understanding but smaaaaaart.

Does she believe in the supernatural?

She does once Jake appears!

So Jake is a cat who can talk. Does Jake have any other superpowers?

Yes, Jake has special powers—like he can control you to start floating. Oh! But he can only do it with his collar on; without it he’s powerless. If you put on the collar you could do all the things he could do.

Do bad people try to steal Jake’s collar then?

Yes, there’s an evil guy who wants it so he can control the world. The spy works for him.

What movie category would you say TCFOS falls into?

It’s a mix. It’s sci-fi—a cat alien who comes down from a UFO. It’s also kinda, like, funny. And Jake and Lucybelle are really cute.

Are the special effects really good?

Not realistic enough to be, Wow! But not so unrealistic that you’re constantly reminded it’s fake. Like there’s a scene when a guy gets wrapped up in paper towels and you’re like, I don’t know how they did that but I know it’s fake. There’s another scene where the cat, Jake, is using his special collar to fly through the air in a broken jet—like, completely broken, like, shouldn’t even be moving—and now I’m like, That was so fake but it was also so funny. And at a certain point on the flying broken jet Jake gets distracted because his cat love, Lucybelle, gets on the jet with him, and they’re just looking at each other, purring. It’s so funny.

What year would you guess this movie was made?

1800s or 1900s.

Try again!

[Laughs.] I mean the 1980s or 1990s.

It was made in 1978.

Not too far off!

Would you recommend this movie?

Yes, if you’re a kid who likes cats and likes to laugh.

What about the parents? Would it be good for a family movie night?

It’s a good family movie if you just want to have a laugh. The whole thing is funny now that I’m reflecting on it, but in the movie there are moments of intensity like, C’mon!!! She’s going to die!!!

Was it too long or too short?

The perfect length.

So you would say it’s the cat’s meow.

RRRRRACHEL!!!!

How can this be? Cats have no interest in acting, duh! In every single scripted cat movie I’ve seen, the animal stars might as well be rolling their eyes in every frame. But cats do love being themselves. Which is why cat documentaries beat cat feature films almost every time. If you’re looking to watch cat content with your kids, getting real is the way to go. Or you can park your feline-loving children in front of some just-okay fiction—a little pussyfooting never hurt anybody.

Real-Life Cats For Your Whole Clowder (For dog people: A “clowder” is a group of cats.)

Kedi (2016; rent it from $2.99): Way back when H.B. was a wee nine (he is now a very tall 15), he and I saw this subtitled documentary about the many cats of Istanbul in a New York City movie theater. We were both rapt for the full 80 minutes and never once did anyone complain about the subtitles. The cat’s-eye-view into bustling Turkish life is thrilling; it also gets lots of points for featuring cats of the best kind—sleek, short-haired—and lots of them!

The Lion in Your Living Room (2015; Amazon’s new IMDb TV): A straightforward doc examining domestic cats’ biological evolution and their place both in history and in modern culture. There are several programs of this genre, but Lion is the most interesting, the shortest, and has the best slo-mo cat montages.

Catwalk: Tales from the Cat Show Circuit (2018; watch for free via Pluto): Like Christopher Guest’s Best in Show but with cats and, um, real people, who are, uh, quite the “characters.” There are cringey moments aplenty among the fanciers (that’s cat-world for handler) in this Canadian doc, but there are also moments of sheer delight. As our family approached the end we were truly on the edge of our seats to find out whether Oh La La (a fancy Red Persian) or Bobby (a more “approachable” Turkish Angora) would emerge victorious.

Fictional Felines For Your Kittens

That Darn Cat (1965; Disney+): TBP hall-of-famers Hayley Mills and Dean Jones play opposite a Siamese named D.C. who’s both very appealing and also the ticket to solving a kidnapping.

That Darn Cat (1997; Disney+): The remake stars Christina Ricci—prompting my own lengthy interior monologue about whether young Ricci was the Mills of the ’90s despite Lindsay Lohan being Hayley’s obvious heir—Doug E. Doug, and a gray-and-white medium-haired cat. Though suckers for a midcentury aesthetic (here!) will prefer the original, Doug is truly a hoot, plus the “new” one is a solid half-hour shorter.

Bringing Up Baby (1938; rent online from $2.99): Last month we copped to our embarrassingly late-in-life realization that the titular character in this marvelous classic is…a big cat. Which makes it a genius way to lure non-cat people prone to take movie names literally into a night of feline hijinks.

The Aristocats (1970; Disney+): Have I ever told you about the time that then-eight-year-old L.B. auditioned for a community theater production of The Aristocats only to be cast in the role of a mute, nameless dog? “This is the exact opposite of what I wanted to be!!!!!” she said, correctly, while bawling. It was a rough moment, though I will concede that in the end she was one very cute, smiley pup. As some readers may have noticed, I rarely recommend animated movies, but the cartoon cats in this one are cute and sweet and sassy enough to get my paw print of approval.

Cats (2019; rent online from $3.99): Meow! Meow! Meow! Meowwwwwwww!

Nine Lives (2016; rent online from $4.99): Kevin Spacey’s Mean Businessman Daddy body swaps with his daughter’s only somewhat-cute cat. Jennifer Garner gets the long-suffering wife part in what’s probably the worst movie of her career. Despite all this, 11-year-old L.B. liked it.

Bonus: Board Book Rec!!!

For Baby F.B.’s first birthday a few weeks ago, Aunt J. gave her such a slam-dunk of a book I just had to share it with y’all. It’s called Music Cats, and cat people, music people, graphic-design people, and punny people will all love it, as will the babies in their lives. You can pick up a copy in the nonfiction section of the Spread’s Bookshop here! (The Spread is TBP’s sister site.)

OK, back to the creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky stuff1.

Happy Halloween Eve Eve Eve! Have you procured your pumpkins yet? We have not! Your candy? We’ve got about a third of what we’ll need! Your case of house wine for any grownups the black cat might drag in? That, we’ve got! Anyway. We’re here to talk about movies and, in a rare twist for TBP, adult movies involving appealing witches at that. Still, I should start with a disclaimer: I’m not saying these movies are great. In fact, none of them are great. (I rewatched them all—and several others that did not make the cut—for you this week, in hopes that this time one of them would register as great. Yes, I take the honor of being welcomed into your inbox that seriously!) But they’re still good and can hit the spot for this particular weekend, especially if you plan to stream amid doorbell ding-dongs or while you otherwise entertain. In other words, the category is… FESTIVE!

The Witches of Eastwick (1987; HBO Max):

This four-headed monster—starring Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Cher, and, as the devil himself, Jack Nicholson—lives up to tonight’s theme with come-hither tendrils and period-perfect lamé to spare. While the story of three female friends who all end up falling for Satan isn’t exactly feminist, we’ll wave it through owing to the bonkers, scorched-earth third act…and because it’s irresistible to watch young Sarandon, Pfeiffer, and Cher play off each other in this clever-ish, madcap horror show. Have y’all read the Updike novel upon which Eastwick is based? It’s on my list right after all those pumpkins and candy errands.

Practical Magic (1998; rent for $3.99 via Amazon Prime et al.):

The Bigger Picture often laments the end of the rom-com era, in which this flick starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as sister enchantresses firmly sits. Though the movie’s not the cream of the candy corn crop—the plot is raggedy, overstuffed, and at times full-on cringey—this is Bullock and Kidman doing what they do well: Charm. It’s also really fun to reacquaint oneself with the Kidman of 20+ years back, when even in the role of an otherworldly creature, she looks far more human than the Nicole we now know. Also, her bangs are spectacular.

The Love Witch (2016; free on Vudu, Crackle, and Pluto):

I like an arty film as much as the next former Video Librarian, but try as I might, I couldn’t lose myself in this trippy horror-comedy. But perhaps it’s right up your alley! Especially if you dig groovy duds, far-out plotting, lots of s-e-x, and not having to pay to watch.

Beautiful Creatures (2013, rent from $3.99 via Amazon Prime)

Where was I when this movie hit theaters on Valentine’s Day 2013?! (According to my Google calendar I was feting my mother on her birthday at my apartment on the Lower East Side with a take-out feast from my dearly departed favorite restaurant, Mission Chinese. Not that I meant this question literally…) The should-be camp classic2 that I magically discovered while researching this newsletter follows a South Carol-ah-nah boy as he meets and then falls into infatuation with a new-to-town witch. The story is familiar, yes, but the Bible Belt backdrop (including ah-may-zin accents3) and over-the-top supporting performances from Jeremy Irons, Emmy Rossum, and Emma Freakin’ Thompson may just make it worth a few of your hard-earned bucks this Halloween weekend. One note: This movie sort of stretches the theme of this list given that the lead is a high-school kid. (And it’s not the Grease or even Friday Night Lights situation where consenting 20- and 30-somethings play teenagers; these actors look young because they were young.) On the other hand, it’s the one pick in this special edition of TBP that you could conceivably watch with your own high-school spawn or stepspawn without perishing from embarrassment.

See How High She Flies…

Hocus Pocus (1993; Disney+): Hang on to your heads, ladies and gentlemen! Though in no way a hidden gem, this Sanderson sisters classic cannot be topped when it comes to spooky-scary family fare. In addition to an excellent-as-always performance by little Thora Birch1 as our human heroine, Dani, the three witchy women are a charmfest: Sarah Jessica Parker appears to be having the time of her life as hottie witch Sarah (“I am beautiful! Boys will love me!”)2. Kathy Najimy slays as always as jolly witch Mary—a kindred spirit to her Sister Act nun, Sister Mary Patrick. And I guarantee you that if this movie came out today, there’d be Oscar buzz around queen Bette Midler’s performance as wide-eyed witch-in-chief Winifred.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971; Disney+): Starring a sneakily babe-ish Angela Lansbury as witch-in-training Miss Eglantine Price, this is a must-watch for fans of Mary Poppins (the similarities are many, but this one chalks up its magic to witchcraft as opposed to a nanny with “gifts”) and those who like a slow-burn (it clocks in at more than two hours). L.B., 10 years old at the time, sat through the entire “weird but good” movie, while H.B., then 14, slunk off once animated creatures began showing up.

Bewitched (1964-1972; free without subscription on Tubi): Our kids have watched every single episode of this sitcom about brilliant witch Samantha Stevens posing as a mortal in midcentury suburbia—yes, from black-and-white to color, from original Darrin to new Darrin. They’ve ruled it the second-best vintage show on the planet, losing only to The Brady Bunch. But in my spell book, it will always be number one: Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery)—gorgeous, crafty, and cool—always saves the day with style and class, the 1960s clothes and decor are delicious, and the writing is shockingly feminist for the era. (Men who misbehave are very frequently turned into dogs.) Mad Men fans who haven’t watched Bewitched since spending time in the world of Sterling Cooper are in for a treat—Matthew Weiner has copped to gleaning much inspiration from the Sam show and spotting the similarities makes for a fun bonus game.

The Witches (1990 and 2020; HBO Max): Their father might tell you that I showed our kids the first Witches movie when they were far too young (three and seven—gulp). But I was just really excited to share the original adaptation of the Roald Dahl story with our little people! And guess what: Despite all the kid-to-mouse transformations and Angelica Houston’s memorable performance as the gorgeous-then-gruesome-faced Grand High Witch, they survived. During last fall’s pandemic scramble, HBO Max delivered the Anne Hathaway-starring remake straight to our living room. Naturally, my mom, 10-year-old L.B., and I carved out an afternoon for the occasion. Like her predecessor, though with what we’ll call needless extra makeup, Hathaway really sells the part (and makes #witchlife look like a blast—a theme of the genre). Jahzir Kadeem (boy-lead Bruno) and Octavia Spencer (Grandmother) tug harder on the heartstrings than even the original duo. Still, call me old-school, but I’d choose Houston over Hathaway any day of the week.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003; Hulu): Paying subscribers of TBP (thank you!) may recall that this sweet, half-hour show did not make L.B.’s definitive ranking of tip-top tween-girl sitcoms. Why? “Because it doesn’t have great fashion!" she says. But wardrobe aside, L.B. devoured all 163 episodes (!) of Melissa Joan Hart’s second-best-to-Clarissa Explains It All high-school series. Please note that there is also a legitimately scary, much-more-grown-up series of the same name on Netflix starring Kiernan Shipka—that is NOT the Sabrina TBP is recommending!

From the Mail Bag!

Q: I loved The Craft when I was younger. Should I recommend it to my middle schooler?

A: We too have a kid intrigued by the occult, but we are doing everything we can to save The Craft for high school…or grad school. I rewatched it recently to be certain that it wasn’t just my Bible Belt upbringing that made me a little afraid of this one, and friends, it’s even more R-rated than I’d remembered. Also, better than I’d previously remembered! Nobody broods or stares or skulks quite like Fairuza Balk.

For kids seventh grade-ish and up, The Sixth Sense (1999; free on Peacock) and The Others (2001; rent from $2.99 via Amazon Prime et al.) are better options. (They’re also pretty similar to each other, which is worth keeping in mind if planning a double feature.) There’s also always TBP favorite Now & Then (1995, rent from $2.99 via Vudu et al.), which is both friendly to upper-elementary schoolers and involves seances. For younger kids, the original Jumanji (1995; Netflix) is scarier than the new Rock-ified version, but not too scary.

Q: My teenager is really into arty filmmaking. Should I let her watch The Witch?

A: Goodness no! It still gives nightmares to at least one 45-year-old I know.

What about the parents while the kids are out ding-donging and/or in a candy coma? Thanks for asking! Paid subscribers will receive grownups-only treats straight to their inbox, so smash the button before it’s too late!

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Wait, am I hearing this correctly? You and/or your kids have never seen the 1991 Jodie Foster-directed, Jodie Foster-starring, Debi Mazar- and Dianne Wiest- and Harry Connick Jr.-costarring, child-prodigy drama Little Man Tate? It’s a shame, but also an opportunity! When I was a youth, I was obsessed with this movie—I’d probably seen it two dozen times by age 12—something I always chalked up to me being a little, let’s say, quirky in my interest in adult-y PG movies. (To reiterate, this is a drama featuring Dianne Wiest.) Turns out, the appeal of this movie is more universal than I realized. Our more all-American kids loved it and have inhaled it multiple times. The performances are incredible. Young Conick Jr. is a charisma machine. Adam Hann-Byrd1 is convincing as the titular Fred Tate. And did I mention DIANNE WIEST? The story is bracingly human—and legitimately interesting. It’ll give your brood a lot to talk about for days to come, and now it’s streaming for free with your Amazon Prime subscription.