It doesn’t take much deep thinking to realize that living in a French chocolaterie in 1959 would be a good idea. Let’s pretend it was just a normal chocolaterie that wasn’t ridiculously cute and full of Johnny Depp — still a good idea. But because the preceding facts are also true, Chocolat is a no-brainer….
Almost Famous hit me hard as a teenager. To leave behind the Dullsville hallways of high school and hit the road with the likes of fictional band Stillwater was all my 15-year-old heart could dream of. Rollicking tour buses, bedroom floors covered in records, an early 70s appreciation for classic rock — these were my…
To call David Lynch’s 1990 TV show Twin Peaks a cult classic would be an understatement, a disrespect to the thousands who worship at the shrine of Agent Dale Cooper and the small Washington town he investigates. When the homecoming queen winds up in a body bag, the town’s thin veneer of respectability shatters, leaving…
As a little girl my grandfather once told me that Katharine Hepburn was the ideal women, classy and smart and ever since I’ve been slowly making my way through all of her movies. The African Queen has long been on my must-watch list, thanks to Hepburn, Bogart and my hope that it would remind me…
Blow-Up is an undeniable hit with the boys, but its swinging sixties mod style gets a double thumbs up from me, too. Between snapping shots of gorgeous girls, a fashion photographer accidentally captures evidence of a murder on film. His studio is a study of London’s 1960s hipster revolution and, unsurprisingly, remains a favorite with…
It doesn’t take much to persuade me to emulate the Coen Brothers’ 2010 remake of True Grit. Mattie Ross is the most nerve-y, whip-smart, unconsciously stylish heroine I’ve seen on the big screen in ages, and I’d almost give up my cozy, heated bedroom to follow in her footsteps. When you add her partner in…
It seems as though the whole internet (or at least my very small but special corner) couldn’t stop shrieking about this week’s Season 2 premiere of Downton Abbey in the States. A TV show on Living In? Gasp. But it’s OKAY because no TV is required, thanks to streaming from the PBS website. The British…
The holidays have come and gone. No more presents, no more cookies, no more twinkly lights — just an endless abyss of winter ahead. No story captures the magic of the never-ending cold months quite like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, where after all, it’s been winter for a…
White Christmas is the crown jewel of holiday movies in the Merrick house, the gold standard by which all others are judged. Classy but funny, with mind-boggling dancing and more costume changes than Christina Aguilera at the VMAs, it’s the movie we reach for year after year. Sure, there are a couple gratuitous musical numbers,…
When the weather takes a dive this time of year, I can’t help but turn to Fargo. The dark comedy-crime film conjures the snowy Minnesota landscape in a way that makes trapper hats and diner mugs as American as apple pie. While it took some selective editing to take the film’s aesthetics from sometimes abysmal…
Casablanca is the romance to end all romances. Bergman and Bogart practically melt the screen with sadness, but for your next screening, try to focus those puppy eyes on the movie’s swoon-worthy style. Moroccan by way of the French Resistance, each scene outdoes itself in lamps, rugs, chairs, tables and arched doorways, not to mention…
Thanksgiving movies are a bit thin on the ground, so when I remembered the 1969 movie Alice’s Restaurant based on Arlo Guthrie’s classic song, my belly was instantly filled with happy-hippie turkey goodness. No one does a big, communal feast like the counter culture revolution, so this Thanksgiving, take a trip back to 1969 and tag…
Secretariat fills the spot in every horse girl’s heart for an underdog victory. The 2010 telling of the Triple Crown winner is quite a looker, scoring high not just in speed but also style. It’s impossible not to root for the amazing mix of horse-girl housewife and southern 1970s, so skeptics, don’t even try. — Amy…
Not many movies portray a New England fall better than The Cider House Rules. Set in Maine among apple orchards, rambling old buildings, seaside towns and lobster docks, it’s obvious why we crave the 1999 adaptation of John Irving’s novel when fall rolls around. Toby Maguire plays an orphan trained as a doctor who struggles…
There is something about fall in New York that always puts me in a 1970s mood. Kramer vs. Kramer hits all my favorite fall notes — minimal but warm, classic, erring on the side of masculine. It’s also the one movie that makes me weepy on command, an impressive feat, considering its lack of overwrought…
The Royal Tenenbaums is the film that canonized Wes Anderson as America’s most beloved auteur so far this century. His quirky art direction re-interested our generation in preppy classics, while pushing the envelope of dry humor and absurd character plots. To see The Royal Tenenbaums is to love The Royal Tenenbaums and we couldn’t imagine…
That Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a stylish movie is probably the worst kept secret in the world. Just wander the streets on Halloween, and you’re likely to bump into several Holly Golightlys along the way. But beyond the cigarette holder and pearl necklace are some pretty amazing elements that are equally deserving of iconic status….
Far from Heaven is a color-drenched look at the darker side of a 1950s idealized life. Julianne Moore’s magazine-worthy house doesn’t save her from the town’s scorn when her marriage dissolves, but we can’t stop coveting it. Brightly colored leaves swirl around her family’s gorgeous mid-century setup, and if your seemingly perfect life has to…
A Very Long Engagement doesn’t glorify life during World War I, but it does shine a small light of beauty during an otherwise depressing time. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a perennial favorite around these parts, so his sweeping, sweet story of a girl searching for clues about her lost love is an obvious addition to…
Nothing in the whole world of art, music, literature, film, tv or whatever else you can think of to add to this list will make your heart swell for New York City like the first 3 minutes of Woody Allen’s Manhattan. Okay so maybe the Jay Z song did it for the first listen, then…
