Thursday Movie Picks-Weddings

Today..is my birthday and I would love to say I am 25 but I have to flip those  numbers.  When I was 16, I daydreamed to have a wedding like Maria in the Sound of Music. When I was 25, I dreamt of having a beautiful dress or white bathing suit and marrying outside...and I accomplished that (not the bathing suit). I designed my own 2 piece dress and got married in the back yard of my in-laws. It was a lot of work because I organized it all but it was beautiful and people had fun. One divorce later and  now understanding the wonders of elastic waist pants, getting married in an all out ceremony is  not a biggie. It costs way too much for one day...one long, tiring day. This week it is all about weddings and there are some movies I still have not seen and is on my top 10 list( A Wedding with Carol Burnett is one). I could have chosen so many but here are my 3 and one I might have already talked about before but..I am not one for rules so...so there. Head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to check out the other picks.

1. FATHER OF THE BRIDE-1950

I love this movie and can re-watch it over and over. Spencer Tracy makes the movie and one can see why since he shows  how a true actor works. His daughter, played by the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, becomes engaged to the man of her dreams and now her parents must give her the wedding of her dreams. You see the engagement party they throw where the dad never leaves the kitchen to taking his old tux out of mothballs and trying to fit into it. You feel his angst and his love for his daughter. Forget the Steve Martin version and watch this one.

2. ROYAL WEDDING- 1951

yes..this is a musical that takes place in London when Queen Elizabeth is about to marry Prince Phillip. The brother and sister act, Fred Astaire and Jane Powell (who is 30 years younger than Astaire) come to London to be in a big show and both fall in love..., (not with each other, this isn't Arkansas) Powell with a young Brit and Fred with Winston Churchill's daughter. Yup Churchill's daughter played the love interest to Astaire. This is the film where Astaire's famous dance on the ceiling takes place and it is pretty neat how they did this scene. The camera actually stood still and the room moved so Astaire had to choreograph the number to the room moving and making sure everything was nailed down...except him as that would hurt.

3. MURIEL'S WEDDING-1994

This is a great Australian sleeper hit bringing Toni Collette to fame. She plays an ego bruised, shy girl bullied by people including her own father. All she dreams about is getting married and has a scrapbook filled with pictures of wedding dresses, flowers and other crap, um, I mean, wedding stuff.  She ends up running away and meets up with a girl who becomes her best friend. Great acting filled with comedy, pathos and ABBA music which is what I love. An endearing small film showing that dreams about weddings may not be the way to go.

What films would you choose??