Movies for Adults
by Lori Rooney

Magnolia – My favorite P.T. Anderson movie. The "making of" on the DVD made me develop a pretty big crush on him. The scene with him and Fiona smooching is very real and tender. Lovely. Magnolia is a movie that works. Everything he set out to do, he accomplished with this movie. We all have love to give, but some of us just don't know where to put it.

Boogie Nights – Another good P.T. Anderson movie. The scene that made me tear up: Rollergirl is spinning around the house towards the end of the movie, and Burt Reynolds tells her to go clean her room. Her reaction is so innocent and wonderful, very human.

Swingers – A very funny movie about single-life in LA (and I guess anywhere). But I saw it for the first time when I was getting ready to move to LA, and then I went dancing at the Derby, so a lot of the appeal of this movie for me is the setting.

Waking Ned Devine – Again, setting: a small village in Ireland. Wonderful characters and wonderful story. This is a movie I never get tired of watching.

The Shawshank Redemption – I like seeing justice prevailing. And I like Tim Robbins.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – I saw this for the first time recently, and it may be the most adult movie on this list. Very very very dark.

Trainspotting – The first time I saw this, I'd borrowed it from the library and sat down on my couch with my lunch to watch it. I set the lunch down quickly, not getting back to it for a couple of hours.

Lost Highway – One of my favorite Lynch movies.

Lost in Translation – A crush this time on Bill Murray. Halfway through this movie, I looked over at Ted and said, "How does Scarlett Johansson do that thing with her face?" She can say so much with one blink or tilt of her head. This movie made me love all my friends even more.