Recently in Neglected gem Category

A lovely film that was neglected on its release last year will now be available in a slightly edited version that is suitable for family viewing. It is called "Henry Poole is Here," and it is the story of a man (Luke Wilson) who thinks he has lost everything. When Henry moves into a small house he just wants to be left alone, and he does his best to obliterate himself. But a stain on his stucco looks to at least one neighbor like it could be an apparition of Jesus. And then, when it seems that the people who come to see it get special blessings, Henry finds that being left alone is getting harder and harder. And then what happens does begin to feel like a miracle, even to Henry.

The film has a lot of heart and a lot of inspiration for both believers and seekers. It is well worth a place on the family's movie night schedule.

Thanks to commenter Michele for letting me know about the re-release of this film.

Today is the United Nations' World Habitat Day, dedicated to the principle that affordable, adequate housing should be a priority everywhere. Take a moment today to be grateful for your home, for the warmth and comfort it provides for you and your family. Talk about ways you can help others in your community or elsewhere to ensure adequate shelter. And make time for one or more of these movies about what home means:

1. A Home of our Own Kathy Bates plays an indomitable mother of five who builds a home for her family despite enormous obstacles and difficulties.

2. Places in the Heart Sally Field won an Oscar for this fact-based portrayal of a Depression-era widow who will do whatever is necessary to keep her home.

3. The Wizard of Oz Dorothy learns that there's no place like home and that even a technicolor land filled with magic cannot compare to a small farmhouse in Kansas.

4. It's a Wonderful Life George and Mary Bailey (James Stewart and Donna Reed) take a ramshackle abandoned house and make it into a home. The newel post may not stay on the banister but everyone in the Bailey household feels safe and secure and George, whose profession is in helping others to be able to afford a home, learns how lucky he is.

5. Annie A plucky little orphan girl and a wealthy industrialist both learn that it takes more than a house to make a home in this tuneful family treat.

If you live in New York or Los Angeles, go see Spike Lee's latest movie in the theater. It is a film version of the Tony Award-winning musical autobiography, something between a concert and a play, about, by, and starring the one-named musician named Stew. He heads up the on-stage band, which functions somewhere between an orchestra and a Greek chorus, in this story based on his experiences leaving home to move to Europe and find himself.

Stew and his collaborator, Heidi Rodewald have put together a show that is very specific and autobiographical but also archetypal. It has a terrific script that perfectly captures the tug of home, the lure of away, the hunger for art, and the vulnerability of relationships. The main character's only name is Youth to emphasize his Candide-ish qualities. The show is genre-crossing, with music that shows the influence of rock, pop, funk, gospel, and more. It explodes with electrifying performances by Daniel Breaker as Youth and a top-notch cast that instantly creates a range of international characters. Lee's camera takes us into the heart of the action, even back-stage, seamlessly integrating three different performances. It is available now on pay per view, which gives you a chance to see one of the best films of the year without leaving the house.

Last year, I made lists of great movie college professors, and high school and grade school teachers. In honor of the first week of school, here are some of my other favorite and family-friendly classroom classics:

1. The Magic School Bus Oh, if only every school field trip could be as exciting and informative as the ones the indefatigable Miss Frizzle goes on with her students. From the farthest reaches of the solar system to the smallest cells of the human body, Miss Frizzle and her students take us with them.

2. Miss Nelson Has a Field Day Miss Nelson is a sweet-tempered soul, but when students do not behave, watch out! Miss Viola Swamp is the substitute teacher. Between them, they teach their students many very important lessons.

3. High School Musical Go Wildcats! Jocks and brainiacs find common ground in singing and dancing in these tuneful, irresistibly disarming instant classics from Disney.

4. Lucas Everyone -- yes everyone -- feels like an insecure outsider at some point in school. I like the way this film shows us from the beginning that while its main character may still be a caterpillar, we know he will be a butterfly long before he does. Great performances by all, including a young Charlie Sheen, and props to the film-makers for staying far away from easy stereotypes.

5. Mad Hot Ballroom A program to teach ballroom dancing to New York City 5th graders in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens sounds like the last thing in the world that would be interesting or relevant to today's 5th graders. But the beauty of this movie is the way that it shows that grace, dignity, elegance, and pride in mastering a skill are important, thrilling, and transformational.

Ellen Leventry's list of post-1990 angels on movies and television got me thinking about some of my favorites from the old days. Hard to believe that performers from Jack Benny to Cary Grant to Donald Duck have taken on an angelic role. Angels have appeared in comedies, dramas, cartoons, television series, and even in musicals. They are usually in the story to guide the main character, but quite often they end up learning something, too.

1. Claude Rains and Edward Everett Horton in Here Comes Mr. Jordan. This was the first version of a story later remade with Warren Beatty in "Heaven Can Wait" and Chris Rock in "Down to Earth." Robert Montgomery (father of "Bewitched's" Elizabeth Montgomery) plays a boxer whose soul is prematurely taken by an apprentice angel (Horton). Mr. Jordan (Rains), the supervising angel, has to help find a new body for the boxer's soul. This gentle comedy has a sweetness and kindness that makes it touching as well as entertaining.

2. Clifton Webb in "For Heaven's Sake." The impeccable (if slightly fussy) Webb plays an angel who is sent to earth on an important task. There is a special place in heaven for the souls of babies waiting to be born, and two of them are getting anxious. Their prospective parents are postponing parenthood because they are too wrapped up in themselves. Webb appears as a rancher and another kind of angel -- a theatrical backer -- to get them to change their minds. It is fun to see the ultra-urbane Webb trying to look like a cowpoke and the story is charming.

3. The invisible (except to a little girl) baseball players in Angels in the Outfield. The 1994 remake has its pleasures, but I still prefer the 1951 original with Paul Douglas as the temperamental manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Janet Leigh as the reporter who befriends him after a little girl from an orphanage announces that she sees angels on the baseball diamond. Douglas is wonderfully appealing as he tries to learn to control his temper and finds himself falling for Leigh.

4. Henry Travers in It's a Wonderful Life. Probably the most-loved angel in the history of movies is Clarence, who has a very unconventional way of helping George Bailey (James Stewart) -- by showing him what life would have been like if he had not been born. Travers has just the right warmth and twinkle to make us believe that every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings.

5. Cary Grant in The Bishop's Wife. The handsomest angel in movie history is Grant's Dudley, who arrives at Christmas to guide a clergyman (David Niven) who has neglected his family and his faith and become too caught up in the effort to build a cathedral. The most touching moments come from the look in Dudley's eyes as he understands that even heaven does not match the pleasures of home and family.

6. Gordon MacRae in Carousel. A carnival barker who is desperate for money to care for his pregnant wife dies in a failed robbery attempt. He is sent back to earth to help his teenage daughter, now graduating from high school, to let her know she will never walk alone.

7. Henry Jones in "The Twilight Zone" episode "Mr. Bevis." Even angels make mistakes. And in this charming episode of the Rod Serling classic television show, Orson Bean plays a lovable loser whose guardian angel (Jones) offers to turn him into a "normal" upright citizen with a responsible job and a solid credit rating. But once Bevis becomes "normal," he isn't Bevis anymore, and he and the angel learn that the only way to be happy is to be yourself.

8. Jack Benny in "The Horn Blows at Midnight." Benny loved to make jokes about this film and considered it a low point of his career. But it is actually a lot of fun. Benny plays a trumpet-player who dreams that he is the angel Athanael, who has been ordered to blow his horn at midnight to signal the end of the earth. Two fallen angels try to steal it from him so they can continue to experience earthly pleasures. The story is softened a bit from the studio-added dream structure, but it still manages some sharp observations and endearing characters. The celestially beautiful Alexis Smith makes a fine angelic companion as well.

9. Donald Duck in "Donald's Better Self." Even the irascible Disney duck can be persuaded to listen to what Abraham Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature." In this animated short Donald is a schoolboy who is tempted by the devil to skip school and try smoking but is rescued by the angel, who has not only a shining (and waterproof) halo but a righteous punch.

10. Conrad Veidt in "The Passing of the Third Floor Back." Awkwardly filmed but still very moving, this film is based on the story by Jerome K. Jerome of a stranger who changes the lives of the residents of a boarding house. Veidt often played bad guys, but here he truly shines as a character whose quiet dignity and courteous kindness bring warmth, self-respect, and inspiration to the other tenants.

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