"1934"

During the bleakest days of the Great Depression, screwball comedies gave struggling Americans vital relief and escape. These films skewered the upper class, which seemed only fitting, while simultaneously giving audiences the vicarious thrill of experiencing life on easy street, among high society.

Many of us have lost someone we love way too soon. After the initial shock and grief recede somewhat, the prevailing feeling (at least for me) is waste. Wasted opportunity. What more could that person have done with his or her life? I feel it too with famous names in the arts who left us way too soon.

If you ask a true movie buff to identify the most gifted director in the history of film comedy, believe it or not, you might not hear the names Woody Allen, Rob Reiner, or even Mel Brooks – funny as many of their films may be. Some aficionados might point to Chaplin, Keaton, or Preston Sturges. My own vote goes to Ernst Lubitsch.             His string of classic comedies, extending from the late ‘20s to the early ‘40s, were all characterized by what became known as “The Lubitsch Touch.” The key to his approach lay in trusting his audience’s intelligence, in their ability to infer and appreciate subtle comic nuance. Try to imagine that happening in today’s Hollywood.      Lubitsch relied more on suggestion than demonstration; he counted on his public to fill in the blanks, and of course, they did. He was known for his urbane characters, witty dialogue, and chic, exotic settings - catnip for Depression-era audiences desperate for escape and a heady dose of glamour.

As the rivers run green with dye and the streets overflow with the regurgitations of young people binge-drinking in honor of a saint, our thoughts turn to the powerful mystique of Ireland, and the stories, filmmakers, and actors that create the Emerald Isle's best films.  Like many foreign countries, Ireland has sometimes received short shrift from Hollywood. Throughout the ‘30s and ‘40s, if you needed an unrepentant drunk, Hollywood all too happily shoved “Patty McStumble-Drunk” out in front of the camera for a cheap laugh.  So rather than trot out the same stereotypical Faith-and-begorrah, Lucky Charm-laden, potato-eating movies that fill so many lists around this time, we’re going to find some more nuanced and soulful films to honor our favorite little island in the north. Like the country itself, there’s so much more to see and experience if you’re willing to stop and look.

Not too long ago, our cinematic champions didn’t need Spandex to save lives. We celebrated men (and women) who were heroic in dusters and dungaroos. We came out of the theaters believing that on our best days, we could be a Sam Spade or a Harry Callahan, precisely because they were human. Still, these “bygone” heroes shared many characteristics with their modern caped crusader counterparts. They routinely stared down mayhem and death, but did so using sharp tongues, quick reflexes and forged steel, rather than say, a technically advanced, computer-powered iron suit you don’t just wear but fly.  And even in pants that didn’t hide rocket launchers, they ended up saving the girl and the day.

No surprise then that so many movies feature couples tying the knot, for better or for worse. From acknowledged classics like “Gone with the Wind”(1939), “The Philadelphia Story” (1940), and “The Sound of Music” (1966), to more recent crowd pleasers like “Meet the Parents” (2000) and “Mamma Mia” (2008), a wedding always features in the plot.

What makes a movie cool? Perhaps the better question might be: what is cool? To introduce our list of coolest movies, it seemed like a good idea to start by defining, well, coolness.

When the kids are home from college, it’s a prime opportunity to sit them down and turn them on to movies that not only appeal to their developing intellects and identities, but give parents and their maturing offspring a whole lot to talk about.