Cast:
Fred Astaire … Narrator / Postal carrier (voice)
Mickey Rooney … Kris Kringle / Santa Claus (voice)
Keenan Wynn … Winter Warlock (voice)
Paul Frees … Burgermeister Meisterburger / Grimsby / Soldiers / Townsmen (voice)
Joan Gardner … Tante Kringle (voice)
Robie Lester … Jessica (voice)
Andrea Sacino … Child (voice)
Dina Lynn … Child (voice)
Gary White … Child (voice)
Greg Thomas … Child (voice)

That’s right folks! Santa claus is coming to town, and this time, he’s being followed by the toy-hating Burgermeister Meisterburger and the Winter Warlock.

Watch Santa Claus in this epic classic go from an orphaned child raised by elves, to a young man who is not allowed delivering toys, to a complete toy giving king of Christmas. You’ll also get to see Mrs. Claus as his wife and hear her name for the first time (Jessica).

This classic has many wonderful messages that every kid will love and understand. It’s one of love and courage. Doing things that are right, no matter the obstacles.

It’s a must have and see for any generation full of xmas spirits and joy. The older generation will feel nostalgic and reminisce of their youth, while the newer generation will be awe-inspired and incredibly in love with the parents that gave them this gift.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. The Santa Clause
2. Christmas Is Here Again
3. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – 1964

Cast:

Kate Maberly     …     Mary Lennox
Heydon Prowse     …     Colin Craven
Andrew Knott     …     Dickon
Maggie Smith     …     Mrs. Medlock
Laura Crossley     …     Martha
John Lynch         …     Lord Archibald Craven
Walter Sparrow     …     Ben Weatherstaff
Irène Jacob     …     Mary’s Mother / Lilias Craven (as Irene Jacob)

The Secret Garden is the perfect family film.

The movie is a rare treat where in the screenwriter and director actually understand their source, The Secret Garden by Frances Hogsden Burnett, and make a translation to the screen that not only captures the essence of the book but enhances the story as well. Too often directors spoil the story with their own self-interested spin (Little Big Man and Chocolat come immediately to mind)but here is a jewel that leaves the viewer saying “That was as good as the book.” A genuine triumph.

The cast is outstanding, the children in particular, Kate Maberly as Mary Lennox above all. Even to the most minor extra everyone brings a smooth and compelling reality to the story.

However, the real star is director Agnieszka Holland. Against a challenging climate ( a rainy location) she manages to create a movie with a touching commentary on how children can literally change the world. Her insightful grasp of the themes of isolation, growth and rejuvenation, the need for a balance between nurture and allowable risk are all managed through the controlling metaphor of a garden. The artful rendering of these literary themes are what many directors apparently find most challenging ( I’m looking at you Arthur Penn)and generally blissfully ignore them compensating by glib insertions, extra action or clumsy sentiment. Not so here.

Not only is her focus exemplary but the photography is amazing. The interplay of light and dark, the time elapse photos of clouds rolling and flowers emerging all set to beautiful music captivate the viewer. The rainy weather was not shunned but used to fullest effect. I can only imagine the discipline it must have taken to wait for the sun to peep out from the clouds and then roll film hoping that the cast can pull off the shot before the light changed and a second take became a long wait. Fortunately all are up to the task and the film, the final scene in particular, results in a brilliant piece of motion picture art.

The 1993 version of The Secret Garden is a must for every family film collection, one the parents and kids can enjoy for its sophistication or simply for the great way in which this timeless classic is retold.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. The Secret World of Og
2. The Secret Life of Bees
3. Where the Wild Things Are

Cast:

Samuel L. Jackson as Neville Flynn
Julianna Margulies as Claire Miller
Nathan Phillips as Sean Jones
Rachel Blanchard as Mercedes
Flex Alexander as Three G’s
Kenan Thompson as Troy
Keith Dallas as Big Leroy (as Keith [Blackman] Dallas)
Lin Shaye as Grace
Bruce James as Ken
Sunny Mabrey as Tiffany
Casey Dubois as Curtis

When an unsuspecting bystander witnesses a brutal mob murder, it falls to FBI agent Neville Flynn (Jackson) to escort his charge safely from Hawaii to Los Angeles to testify. But in an act of self-preservation, the crime boss in question smuggles hundreds of poisonous snakes onto the commercial aircraft in a crate, timed to release its deadly cargo halfway over the Pacific Ocean. Flynn, along with a frightened flight crew and passengers, must band together in a desperate attempt to survive the “flight of their lives.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. Tron Legacy
2. The Matrix

Cast:

Tim Allen as Scott Calvin / Santa Claus
Wendy Crewson as Laura Calvin Miller
Judge Reinhold as Dr. Neil Miller
Eric Lloyd as Charlie Calvin
David Krumholtz as Bernard the Elf
Larry Brandenburg as Det. Nunzio
Mary Gross as Miss Daniels
Paige Tamada as Judy the Elf
Peter Boyle as Mr. Whittle
Judith Scott as Susan Perry

When a man inadvertantly kills Santa on Christmas Eve, he finds himself magically recruited to take his place.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. Elf
2. Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1970)
3. Arthur Christmas

Cast:

Billy Bob Thornton as Karl Childers
Dwight Yoakam as Doyle Hargraves
J.T. Walsh as Charles Bushman
John Ritter as Vaughan Cunningham
Lucas Black as Frank Wheatley
Natalie Canerday as Linda Wheatley
James Hampton as Jerry Woolridge
Robert Duvall as Karl’s Father

Karl Childers, a simple man hospitalized since his childhood murder of his mother and her lover, is released to start a new life in a small town.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. American History X
2. No Country for Old Men
3. Slumdog Millionaire

Cast:

Thomas Jane as David Drayton
Marcia Gay Harden as Mrs. Carmody
Laurie Holden as Amanda Dunfrey
Andre Braugher as Brent Norton
Toby Jones as Ollie Weeks
William Sadler as Jim
Jeffrey DeMunn as Dan Miller

A freak storm unleashes a species of blood-thirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole-up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. The Matrix
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
3. The Happening

Cast:

Tobin Bell as Jigsaw / John
Shawnee Smith as Amanda
Angus Macfadyen as Jeff
Bahar Soomekh as Lynn
Donnie Wahlberg as Eric Matthews
Dina Meyer as Kerry
Leigh Whannell as Adam
Mpho Koaho as Tim
Barry Flatman as Judge Halden
Lyriq Bent as Rigg

Jigsaw kidnaps a doctor to keep him alive while he watches his new apprentice put an unlucky citizen through a brutal test.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. The Godfather: Part III
2. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
3. The Stendhal Syndrome

Cast:

Liv Tyler as Lucy Harmon
Sinéad Cusack as Diana Grayson
Donal McCann as Ian Grayson
Jeremy Irons as Alex Parrish
Jean Marais as M. Guillaume
Rachel Weisz as Miranda Fox
Joseph Fiennes as Christopher Fox
D. W. Moffett as Richard Reed

After her mother commits suicide, nineteen year old Lucy Harmon travels to Italy to have her picture painted. However, she has other reasons for wanting to go. She wants to renew her acquaintance with Nicolo Donati, a young boy with whom she fell in love on her last visit four years ago. She also is trying to solve the riddle left in a diary written by her dead mother.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. The Secret Life of Bees
2. The Truman Show
3. Sling Blade

Directors: Tim Burton
Release Date: 21 December 2007

Cast:

Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd
Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett
Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin
Timothy Spall as Beadle
Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli
Jamie Campbell Bower as Anthony
Laura Michelle Kelly as Beggar Woman

The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. Stephen King’s The Mist
2. Mr. & Mrs. Smith
3. Little Children

Original Release Date: 23 May 1980

Cast:

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance
Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance
Danny Lloyd as Danny Torrance
Scatman Crothers as Dick Hallorann
Barry Nelson as Stuart Ullman
Philip Stone as Delbert Grady
Joe Turkel as Lloyd the Bartender

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.

If you like this movie, you'll also like:

1. Stephen King’s The Mist
2. The Stendhal Syndrome
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb