Big Fish
This whimsical, heart-warming Tim Burton film serves to give the whole family perspective. Its all star cast (Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Billy Crudup and more) skillfully present a colorful story spanning the life of Edward Bloom, who is dying of cancer. His estranged son (Billy Crudup) returns from France with his pregnant wife for his dying days. The son has always assumed that his father's stories (that unfold in delightful flashbacks) have always been exaggerations and big fish stories (hence the name), which gives him little respect for his larger-than-life father.
The arch of the characters in this almost 3-hour (Oscar-nominated film) and the love between Edward (Albert Finny) and his wife (Jessica Lang) - perfectly captured in the "bathtub scene" as being raw and lovely all at once - is what you will walk away with after seeing it. If you have strong personalities in your family, a patriarch, estranged members or generational rifts, this extraordinary film may bring an understanding of your own situation.
Home Alone
Anyone who has ever felt like the outcast and wished their family would just "disappear," can find a kindred spirit in 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (played by Macaulay Culkin) in the 1990 hit Home Alone. After an ugly accident turned fight, Kevin goes to bed and wishes that his family would disappear so that he can do whatever he wants. After a hilarious rush to make a flight to France the next day, his family accidentally leaves him behind. At first, this is Kevin's dream come true and he is content to cause a ruckus doing all the things he was forbidden. But once loneliness starts to ensue - not to mention the shenanigans with two bumbling crooks (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) - Kevin begins to see the real importance of having your loved ones close.
A heartwarming Christmas tale about the complicated love inherent in every dysfunctional family, Home Alone is the perfect family-friendly movie for holiday laughs.
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