100 Great Films

Many people have asked Derek for a list of his favorite films. We have spent the last 10 years watching great and not-so-great movies. Here are some (100) of our favorites. Derek says (paraphrasing Roger Ebert) a great film is one worth watching over and over again. If you have a favorite film, let us know.

100 Great Films (in chronological order)

City Lights (1931)

The Thin Man (1934) first in a series

Modern Times (1936)

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Stagecoach (1939)

Brigham Young (1940)

The Grapes of Wrath (1941)

Citizen Kane (1941)

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Sergeant York (1941)

Casablanca (1942)

Pride of the Yankees (1942)

The Human Comedy (1943)

Going My Way (1944)

Laura (1944)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

The Stranger (1946)

Notorious (1946)

Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

Adam’s Rib (1949)

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

The Stratton Story (1949)

The Third Man (1949)

The African Queen (1951)

High Noon (1952)

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

I Confess (1953)

Stalag 17 (1953)

Dial M for Murder (1954)

Rear Window (1954)

Marty (1955)

Oklahoma! (1955)

To Catch a Thief (1955)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

12 Angry Men (1957)

Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Defiant Ones (1958)

Vertigo (1958)

Ben-Hur (1959)

The FBI Story (1959)

North by Northwest (1959)

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Charade (1963)

The Great Escape (1963)

Lilies of the Field (1963)

My Fair Lady (1964)

Sound of Music (1965)

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

To Sir, with Love (1967)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

The Sting (1973)

Rocky (1976)

Star Wars (1977)

The Black Stallion (1979)

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Chariots of Fire (1981)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)

The Man from Snowy River (1982)

The Scarlet and the Black (1983)

The Mission (1986)

Babette’s Feast (1987)

Empire of the Sun (1987)

The Princess Bride (1987)

Little Dorrit (1988; 2008 version is also great)

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Age of Innocence (1993)

Middlemarch (1994)

Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

Evita (1996)

Hamlet (1996)

Horatio Hornblower (1998-2003)

Our Mutual Friend (1998)

The Road Home (1999)

Wives and Daugters (1999)

David Copperfield (2000)

Joseph, King of Dreams (2000)

Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)

Copenhagen (2002)

Daniel Deronda (2002)

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

Nicholas Nickleby (2002)

Master and Commander (2003)

Love Comes Softly (2003)

North and South (2004)

Bleak House (2005)

Cranford (2007)

The 39 Steps (2008)

Australia (2008)

UP (2009)

Top ten reasons I love the birthday boy:

1. Derek is a genius, but you don't ever feel intimidated by him.
2. Derek is calm and consistent in character (opposites attract!)
3. Derek is a hard worker and when he starts a job, he follows through.
4. Derek loves to have fun when the work is done.
5. Derek is the most devoted Cougar fan I know (he has been driving to Provo each year for the football games since we moved to Rexburg).
6. According to rateyourprofessor.com, Derek is "ridiculously attractive", I couldn't agree more!
7. Derek is completely loyal. I begged him to go one some dates while I was a missionary, I think he went on two or three the whole 18 months.
8. Derek excels at everything he does: sports, academics, music etc.
9. Derek supports me in all my dreams. with out his love and support, I would be able to do half of what I do. I can not thank him enough for his love and support.
10. Derek is stalwart, obedient, righteous and true. The perfect example to 4 little boys who adore him almost as much as I do!

Happy B-day Derek!

Family Fun and the Rubber Band

Monday night is family night at the Jensen's and Friday night is Family Fun night (my sister used to do this with her family I'm not sure if they still do.) The kids look forward to family fun night because we get to have pizza for dinner (homemade or carryout) and watch a movie together. Derek tries to find the perfect movie and he talks it up to the kids all week.

Last Friday we got tickets for the whole family (except for baby Adam) to go see Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band. Our boys are huge fans of the Rubber band and since Uncle Nate, Adam, Dave and Aunt Chrissy are friends with the band members we were able to get their favorite song dedicated to them at the concert. It was really funny because Uncle Nate sent a text to Ryan's phone which he pulled out during the concert. I thought to myself: "that is super funny that he is checking his phone right in the middle of a concert!" Little did I know that he was retrieving the names of our kids so that he could sing them their favorite song! The kids were in heaven!
David was dying to get on stage as they invited audience participants during one of the songs. I am not as daring as I used to be and really didn't want to go up with him. He started to cry real tears and even Derek gave me a sad look...I was so sad that I hadn't just gone up there with him, I said a little prayer that I could make it up to him somehow since he was so crushed. At the end of the concert (on the encore: banjo boy, another favorite of theirs), tons of people got on stage and started dancing, this was my chance to redeem myself! David and I went on the staged and jammed to Banjo Boy! What a crazy, wonderful night it was!

to watch the music video of Banjo Boy go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-YXYPCmSDA\


I hope the boys will still think it's cool to hang out with their parents in a few more years when they get older...for now we are loving the ages they are in and the magic of these sweet moments together.