My Favourite Films

Chicago Sun Times copy editor Josie Gellar (25), who was desperate to graduate from perfectionist copy editor to reporter, gets her chance when the goody owner orders the editor to cover the high-school scene by undercover. Josie, who was a frustrated, ridiculed nerd, gets a popular make-over from her drop-out, naturally funny brother Rob Geller. Both siblings find love and joys of youth again. But in Josie's case, it's sensitive bachelor teacher Sam Coulson, who enjoys sophisticated conversation. As the publication deadline approaches, the price of blowing their cover seems ever more daunting, yet inevitable unless she sacrifices her career.

In London, Iris Simpkins writes a wedding column in a newspaper and nurtures an unrequited love for her colleague Jasper Bloom. Near Christmas, she is informed that Jasper is engaged to marry another colleague, and her life turns upside down. In Los Angeles, the movie-trailers maker Amanda Woods has just split with her unfaithful boyfriend Ethan and wants to forget him. Through a house exchange website, Amanda impulsively swaps her mansion for Iris' cottage in Surrey for the holidays. While in Surrey, Amanda meets Iris' brother and book editor Graham and they fall in love with each other. Meanwhile, Iris meets her new next door neighbor the ninety year old screenplay writer Arthur, who helps her retrieve her self-esteem, and the film composer Miles, with whom she falls in love.

Harry Sanborn is an aged music industry exec with a fondness for younger women like Marin, his latest trophy girlfriend. Things get a little awkward when Harry suffers a heart attack at the home of Marin's mother Erica. Left in the care of Erica and his doctor, a love triangle starts to take shape.

Cher, a high school student in Beverly Hills, must survive the ups and downs of adolescent life. Her external demeanor at first seems superficial, but rather it hides her wit, charm, and intelligence which help her to deal with relationships, friends, family, school, and the all-important teenage social life.

This light-hearted romantic comedy centers tells of love sought, found, lost, and found again, revolving around the lives of two college students in New York City. Sophomore Al Connelly meets the girl of his dreams, freshman Imogen, and true love abounds. The two engage on a whirlwind courtship--they pick a song, eat a cake together, even make love. But Imogen's fear of lost youth causes her to push away from Al, and they go their separate ways. Al attempts to rebound from the relationship, determined to forget Imogen, and he goes to desperate measures to do so. The story is told from the points of view of both Al and Imogen.

After his wife Maggie passes away, Sam Baldwin and his 8-year-old son Jonah relocate from Chicago to Seattle to escape the grief associated with Maggie's death. Eighteen months later Sam is still grieving and can't sleep. Although Jonah misses his mother, he wants his father to get a new wife despite Sam having not even contemplated dating again. On Christmas Eve, Sam (on Jonah's initiative) ends up pouring his heart out on a national radio talk show about his magical and perfect marriage to Maggie, and how much he still misses her. Among the many women who hear Sam's story and fall in love with him solely because of it is Annie Reed, a Baltimore-based newspaper writer. Annie's infatuation with Sam's story and by association Sam himself is despite being already engaged. But Annie's relationship with her straight-laced fiancé Walter is unlike her dream love life in the movie

Ronald Miller is tired of being a nerd, and makes a deal with one of the most popular girls in school to help him break into the "cool" clique. He offers her a thousand dollars to pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. It succeeds, but he soon learns that the price of popularity may be higher than he expected.

The young Emperor Franz Joseph is on his way to his summer residence at Ischl, where his birthday will be celebrated with a big party. His mother, Archduchess Sophie, has decided that he shall marry her niece Princess Helene of Bayern, and that the engagement shall be proclaimed at the ball. Franz Joseph doesn't know Helene yet, but his mother has already prepared everything. To avoid suspicions of what is going on, her sister, Duchess Ludovika of Bavaria, brings not only Princess Helene, called Néné, to the ball, but also the younger Princess Elisabeth, called Sissi. Archduchess Sophie is particular about strict etiquette at the court, and dislikes her niece Sissi, who is a free spirit, just as her father, Duke Max of Bavaria. To keep Sissi inactive, her room in Ischl is locked from outside, but Sissi escapes through a window. She goes to the woods, and when she is fishing in a river, Emperor Franz Joseph passes by in his royal carriage. He is immediately enamored by Sissi, who doesn't reveal her true identity. When Franz Joseph recognizes Sissi at the ball the same evening, he defies his mother and proclaims that Sissi will become his wife and the new Empress of Austria.

Toula Portokalos is 30, Greek, and works in her family's restaurant, Dancing Zorba's, in Chicago. All her father Gus wants is for her to get married to a nice Greek boy. But Toula is looking for more in life. Her mother convinces Gus to let her take some computer classes at college (making him think it's his idea). With those classes under her belt, she then takes over her aunt's travel agency (again making her father think it's his idea). She meets Ian Miller, a high school English teacher, WASP, and dreamboat she had made a fool of herself over at the restaurant; they date secretly for a while before her family finds out. Her father is livid over her dating a non-Greek. He has to learn to accept Ian; Ian has to learn to accept Toula's huge family, and Toula has to learn to accept herself.

A brightly-colored, light-hearted homage to the early-1960s sex comedies that starred Rock Hudson and Doris Day. The story follows a best-selling female advice author who has all the answers until a sly journalist playboy starts asking the questions.

A woman who, by a promise made years earlier, is supposed to marry her best friend in three weeks, even though she doesn't want to. When she finds out that he's marrying someone else, she becomes jealous and tries to break off the wedding.

J.C. Wiatt is a successful New York business woman known around town as the "tiger lady." She gets news of an inheritance from a relative from another country and off the bat she suspects it's money. Well it's not money, it's a baby girl. At first she doesn't accept until the lady that gives the baby to her has to catch her flight. J.C. is now stuck with an annoying baby girl. Her boyfriend doesn't like the idea of a baby living with them and he leaves her. J.C. has enough of it and takes her to meet a family ready to adopt her. She leaves but hears the baby cry while walking away and has to go back. The baby is too attached to her now and won't let her go. Later, her baby gets into mischief which causes her to get fired. Now, she sets her eyes on an old two story cottage in Vermont to get out of the New York life. When she arrives, the house needs more help than originally thought. She gets bored one snowy day and decides to make apple sauce. Her baby loves it and she decides to sell it. Pretty soon everyone wants some of the baby apple sauce. J.C. hits it big and falls in love with a local veterinarian. Was this fate or destiny?

The young Empress Sissi is staying at the Gödölle Palace in Hungary with her little daughter and some court people. Here she can be herself, liberated from all the strict court rules in Austria. She spends her days with Count Andrassy, riding in the woods. At a ball in his castle he declares his love for her. Because of this Sissi feels forced to break her relationship with him, and moves back to Vienna. It is soon discovered that she is seriously ill with tuberculosis. Dr. Seeburger doesn't think she will survive the winter, but a change of climate might help. After some months on Madeira Sissi's illness is even worse. Her mother, Duchess Ludovika, then decides to go to Madeira to help Sissi recapture the joy of life. When Dr. Seeburger examines Sissy at Corfu several months later, he finds her fully recovered. The Austrian ministers suggest that Emperor Franz Joseph should combine his reunion with Sissy with an official visit to Lombardy-Venetia. Austria is much hated there, but needs a good relationship with this country. The ministers think that Sissi can bring forth a miraculous change of sentiments in Lombardy-Venetia, just as she did in Hungary.

After one of her frequent visits to Tiffany's--New York City's dazzling jewellery store--and the maximum security Sing-Sing prison for mobster Sally Tomato's weekly "weather report", Holly Golightly, Manhattan's elegant socialite, finds herself infatuated with her charming new neighbour, Paul Varjak. Stuck in a persistent creative rut, Paul, too, lets himself drawn into Holly's superficial world, of course, not because he likes the idea that he reminds her of her brother, but because, little by little, he succumbs to Holly's beguiling allure. Even though they don't openly admit it, the two reluctant lovers have a past that they struggle to keep at bay; nevertheless, are their well-hidden secrets powerful enough to keep them apart? After all, Paul and Holly are meant for each other. Will an early-morning breakfast at Tiffany's be the prelude to a breezy young love?

Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) is the average teenager - sweet, a little geeky, and pretty much invisible to everyone with the exception of her mother, best friend Lilly (Heather Matarazzo) and Lilly's older brother Michael (Robert Schwartzman). Making it through high school without throwing up is a challenge in itself for Mia, so it doesn't come as welcome news when her estranged grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Dame Julie Andrews), shows up out of the blue and calmly informs her that she is in fact the heir to the throne of a European country called Genovia. Suddenly Mia's life is thrown into complete overload. She's being taught about scarves, waves, and pears in order to become a perfect Princess, she gets a makeover and a tough looking, yet sweet bodyguard and limo driver called Joe (Hector Elizondo). Things get out of hand when the media gets a hold of the story and suddenly Mia is thrust into the spotlight in the newspapers and in school. On top of all of that, Mia has a choice to make. She must decide by Genovia's Independence Day Ball whether she longs to relinquish her claim on the throne or to become the Princess and heir to the throne her father, Philippe Renaldi (Rene Auberjonois), and grandmother want her to be.

In 1957, when second-graders Bryce Loski and Julianna "Juli" Baker first meet, Juli knows it's love, but Bryce isn't so sure and tries to avoid Juli. By the sixth grade, in 1961, Bryce tries to get rid of Juli by dating Sherry Stalls, whom Juli despises. However, Bryce's best friend, Garrett, takes an interest in Sherry and eventually tells her the truth about Bryce asking her out; she doesn't take it well. From Juli's perspective, Bryce returned her feelings, but was shy. After finding out Bryce and Sherry broke up, she thought she could have Bryce back. But then they reconsider their decisions as time goes on. In 1962, Bryce's grandfather Chet Duncan moves in with the family. Chet has different views about Juli. There's a large, old sycamore tree that Juli loves which no one else understands. One day, it's cut down by a group of landscapers so a house can be built there, despite Juli's opposition. She becomes very depressed afterwards, as the tree let her see the world in a more enlightened way. Her father gives her a painting of the tree.

Nursing a secret and hopeless crush on the handsome commuter who passes her booth every day, the charming loner and Chicago "L" ticket seller, Lucy, is about to have a second chance at love. During one seemingly ordinary Christmas shift, Lucy witnesses the object of her desire falling off the platform, and in one of those spur-of-the-moment decisions, she saves him from certain death, only to be mistaken for his fiancée at the hospital. As Lucy enjoys the unexpected stroke of good luck, unable to tell the truth to his welcoming family, unforeseen romantic affairs further complicate matters. Now, the comatose patient's suspicious brother, Jack, thinks he's onto something. Will Lucy face the consequences of what happened while the beautiful stranger was sleeping?

Benjamin Barry is an advertising executive competing with two female co-workers for a major campaign for a diamond merchant. He cuts a deal with his competitors that the account is his if he can make a woman of their choice fall in love with him in 10 days. In comes Andie Anderson who, in turn, is writing a story on how to lose a guy in 10 days as a bet with her boss to be allowed to write more substantial stories. With a hidden agenda in each camp, will either party be able to complete their mission?