My wife is sick of the Pixar/Disney/‘kid’ movie staples we’ve been rotating in our house for the past few years and would like to watch something that’s not pitched straight at the ‘kid’ audience. She also is pretty clear that she doesn’t want inappropriate sexual situations peppered into our choices (as we found out as we got into season 3 of Buffy).
Some winners have been:
Doctor Who (2005 reboot through Season 5) - our kid is a big fan
Groundhog Day
Harvey
Enemy Mine
Starman
Little Shop of Horrors
Romancing the Stone
Contact
The Karate Kid (original) – a ‘kid’ movie that held up well when watched again as a parent
Peter Pan (2003) - a ‘kid’ movie with wonderfully complex themes - family favorite
Some shows that we’re considering, but aren’t sure about:
Highlander TV Series (we enjoyed it, but aren’t sure if it’s too ‘romance novel’ for our 11yo)
Star Trek (Original) - seems like a good pick as morality plays, but I haven’t watched in years and am not sure how much of Kirk’s horn-dogging was going on.
Twilight Zone - Probably a good pick, but might be a bit adult and scary
Do the teeming millions have any suggestions?
Most of the COLUMBO episodes are on there, and likewise for MONK: obviously the episodes involve someone getting killed, but in decidedly non-graphic ways and without really showing sexual situations.
If you want not aimed at kids, but no sexual situations, you need to look into things aimed at teen+ viewers, not kid or the 18-32 demographic. So… Check out the first few episodes of Instant Star and Being Eve. The former is about a teenager who wins a contest like American Idol, the latter about a quirky teenage girl telling people about her life. I was in my early 20s by the time I discovered either and I liked them a lot. It looks like Eerie, Indiana might be available too, and I even got my parents to watch it back in the day.
I wish they offered Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, and So Weird, but they don’t. Strange Days is often on Discovery Kids, though. I’m still waiting a decade later for So Weird to ever be shown again
Princess Bride is one of our family’s favorites; I forgot to put it on the list!
I do realize we are on the border on a few of the picks. I’m not looking for ‘pure as the driven snow’ choices, but ideally ones that don’t focus on hooking up as a core component.
Thanks everyone so far for the other great suggesionts; I’ll put 'em on the list!
I’m sorry; I should have said ‘most’ of the Disney Channel stuff.
=)
Looking for more non-kid stuff. To Kill a Mockingbird was another valuable choice for our household, though it was borderline with the sexual situations.
My wife’s main recent concern was the evolution of the Buffy TV show from goofy/scary/high-school comedy/horror to hook-up central. Our kid was pretty invested in the show and characters when we pulled the plug. I’d like to avoid that kind of situation with our next picks.
There’s a lot of great “Saturday Afternoon movies” - mild-mannered action/adventure comedies of which “Raiders of the Lost Ark” is the exemplar.
Big Trouble in Little China
Galaxy Quest
Shaun of the Dead
Rumble in the Bronx (Jackie Chan movies are usually wholesome, actually. IIRC Shanghai Noon has mild sexuality)
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Demolition Man
Time Bandits
Oh, and “The Dark Crystal” just came out on Instant View.
