We’re thrilled to present you with the long awaited follow up to our MM Approved Movie List! We were so grateful for the response to our first list at the beginning of quarantine, but we found ourselves realizing - we had already seen all those movies… So, we’ve taken the last 10, yes, 10 months and screened over 80 films; foreign films, 2-3+ hour films, and under the radar titles which we previously filed “watch some rainy day in the future”. The result is 35 more MM Approved Movies, of course organized by decade and where to watch/stream/rent. So put a pot of Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese on the stove, pour a glass of wine, and perhaps brush up on your college French! We hope you enjoy as much as we did, and discover something new.

MM Movies Pt. 2

1930s

• DINNER AT EIGHT 1933

Where to watch: Amazon

About: In this George Cukor classic, fates intervene when a Depression era New York hostess attempts to throw the picture perfect Park Avenue dinner party. The day of, picture perfect guests lives seem to unravel, be it business, marriage, or fame – all to culminate at 8 pm…

• ROBERTA 1935

Where to watch: Amazon

About: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and Irene Dunn fly across sound stages and a Parisian fashion house compound in this sweet musical about Americans in Paris who are not who they seem. When Fred Astaire inherits a struggling couture house from his deceased Aunt (really), they must band together to keep the show going.

1940s

• MILDRED PIERCE 1945

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: When Joan Crawford, a powerhouse LA restaurateur’s, second husband is murdered, we join the police in a flashback account of how she got to where she is. Watch a struggling divorcee ‘Kris Jenner’ a moonlight pie making business into a restaurant empire, all for the (hopeful) benefit of her social climbing snob of a daughter…

 

1950s

• FATHER OF THE BRIDE 1950

Where to watch: Amazon

About: This heartwarming original is a must watch for any fan of the Nancy Meyers remake. A young Elizabeth Taylor drives her father, Spencer Tracey, close to madness as they plan her at home wedding… You know the rest.

•  DESIGNING WOMAN 1957

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

About: What happens at the Beverly Hills Hotel doesn’t always stay there! Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck collide at the storied hotel over drinks and quickly marry. But back in New York, the prim fashion designer from St. Louis (hmmm…) and the macho sports writer struggle to blend worlds. One of my favorite finds of 2020 and incredible fashion.

•  THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE 1958

Where to watch: Amazon

About: When American teen Joan visits her aristocratic father in springtime London, his second (and more ambitious) wife seizes the opportunity to debut Joan in London society. During a whirl of balls and parties, matchmaking and young love collide in one of the few charming performance Kay Kendall gave during her short life. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoyed the FIRST few episodes of Bridgerton.

 1960s

•  PURPLE NOON/ PLEIN SOLEIL 1960

Where to watch: Amazon

About: The original French adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, is just as chic as the Jude Law/Gwyneth Paltrow/Matt Damon 1999 version – but more loyal to the novel and dressed up in French. Alain Delon sizzles as the infamous grifter, with a very different ending than the 1999 version.

•  LA NOTTE 1961

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: Cinema Italiano at it’s best – a Milanese couple with a heavy dose of ennui explores where their marriage & professional lives are headed over a weekend that includes an incredible nightclub performance, a tycoon's all night cocktail party, and a few early Valentino frocks.

•  THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG 1964

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: A zany love story romp about an Umbrella shopkeeper’s daughter, this Catherine Deneuve classic is completely sung top to bottom. A great way to brush up on your French, and vocal scales.

•  MY FAIR LADY 1964

Where to Watch: Amazon

About: Another George Cukor classic that is FINALLY available to rent online! One of our all time favorite musicals at MM – the music, cast, Cecil Beaton art direction, and Audrey are simply the best…

•  MARNIE 1964

Where to watch: Amazon

About: I was shocked I hadn’t seen this Hitchcock masterpiece - incredible ice blonde hair (by Alexandre of Paris, bien sur), Edith Head costumes, equestrian estates, and the perfectly tanned Sean Connery. It’s like Goldfinger without the guy stuff! Really almost makes a case to not go to therapy….

•  DOCTOR ZHIVAGO 1965

Where to watch: Amazon

About: An epic romance against the backdrop of the Russian Revolution and Civil war, this masterpiece clocks in at over 3 hours. Press play on the next rainy weekend...

•  THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS 1966

Where to watch: Vudu

About: I can’t believe we miss this on our first list! A classic lighthearted comedy following two puckish boarders at St. Francis Academy who meddle with the staunch Mother Superior, played by Rosalind Russell.

•  BAREFOOT IN THE PARK 1967

Where to watch: Amazon

About: Newlyweds Jane Fonda and Robert Redford struggle to put their differences aside when they move into their marital home – a fifth floor walk up in Greenwich Village… The tiny space only amplifies, but after a few fights and a cooky neighborhood soiree (in which Fonda dons a very MM pink shift) the couple reunites.

 1970s

•  THE ADVENTURERS 1970

Where to watch: Amazon

About: The critically reviewed “flop” is an incredibly chic epic centering on Dax, a dashing South American and the rise and fall of various political movements in the fictitious country he hails from. After his family loses everything while at boarding school in Rome, Dax and his chums must conquer Europe as gigolos, husbands, and fashion house patrons to regain their place and save their beloved South American homeland. Candice Bergen and Olivia de Havilland star as leading ladies against a breezy Antonio Carlos Jobim bossa nova score.

 1980s

•  STILL OF THE NIGHT 1982

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: Inspired by Hitchcock suspense, Meryl Streep plays a glamorous and mysterious figure under the employ of the fictitious auction house Crispin’s – when she visit the psychiatrist’s office of her recently murdered lover, the hunt for his killer entangles them both..

•  DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS 1986

Where to watch: Hulu

About: When a dysfunctional Beverly Hills family (Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss) agrees to take in a homeless man whose out on his luck (Nick Nolte) they find he’s just the antidote needed to reunite in this zany comedy.

•  LESS THAN ZERO 1987

Where to Watch: HBO Max

About: Loosely based on the breakout novel by Brett Easton Ellis, this movie finds a young man returning to glitzy Los Angeles for Christmas break during his first year of college on the East Coast. When he returns, he finds the friends he left behind in a much different place than he left them.

•  THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK 1987

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: Be careful what you wish for with your girlfriends over martinis and spray cheese! Susan Sarandon, Cher, and Michelle Pfeiffer inadvertently conjure their “dream man” when devilish Jack Nicholson ominously rolls into their charming Rhode Island town to wreak havoc on the women he coaxes into witchcraft.

• MASQEURADE 1988

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: “Skipper for hire” Rob Lowe steams up late 80’s Southampton in this incredible but somehow very under the radar thriller. While having an affair with the wife (a very young Kim Cattrall) of man whose yacht Rob captains, he also falls for the young, naïve heiress who cannot escape her now deceased mother’s most recent husband. A murder and a goose chase with the police between Southampton and New York leaves the cast uncertain of the entire town’s motives.

 1990s

• BETSY’S WEDDING 1990

Where to watch: Hulu

About: A super star comedic cast (Alan Alda, Madeline Khan, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Joe Pesci, Catherine O’Hara…) star in this charming comedy about a construction manager from Queens whose daughter falls in love with the son of a wealthy Sutton Place banking family. He suddenly feels the need to impress in this comedy of errors. It’s the East Coast humored version of Steve Martin in Father of the Bride.

• METROPOLITAN 1990

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: Whit Stillman’s cult classic surrounding the debutante season of late 1980’s Manhattan. The story follows a group of young Upper East Side friends at each night’s after party, where they discuss their futures and mingle with an outsider. A fun fact, the budget for the film was $200,000 and is primarily filmed in friends of Walt’s locales, as he wrote about the world he mingled in.

• REVERSAL OF FORTUNE 1990

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: A dark tale about the Alan Dershowitz led trial of Claus von Bulow, who was accused, and later acquitted, of administering an overdose of insulin to his comatose wife, a troubled heiress. Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons play the troubled couple simmering around their Newport cottage. The real life Claus is said to be spotted to this day around Palm Beach…

•  ORLANDO 1992

Where to watch: Amazon

About: Tilda Swinton stars as an Elizabethan androgynous nobleman who is gifted everlasting life and a cozy estate by the Queen, under the context he never ages… easy! We pass through the centuries to present day with an ever shifting version of the alluring Orlando.

• INDOCHINE 1992

Where to watch: Vudu

About: Catherine Deneuve plays the heiress to a French Colonial Vietnamese rubber plantation at the brink of civil unrest in the 1930s. The epic love story unfolds between she and a much younger marine captain as “Indochina” begins to crumble through the next 20 years.

• CASINO 1995

Where to watch: Amazon

About: Robert De Niro stars as the Chicago mob associate who finds himself running a (mob funded) Las Vegas casino. When he falls for glamorpuss Ginger (Sharon Stone) the façade of the perfect casino begins to crumble.

• SHE’S THE ONE 1996

Where to watch: Amazon

About: Ed Burns wrote and stars in this under the radar NYC romantic comedy, with Jennifer Anniston and Cameron Diaz. Ed, a forlorn taxi driver, and his brother, a jaded Wall Street broker, fight over women and the what really counts in love.

• MAN IN THE IRON MASK 1998

Where to watch: Amazon

About:  A fun drama surrounding the court of Leonard DiCaprio as Louis XIV. Deceit, drama, double crossing twins and a rabble-rousing band of Musketeers delight in this quick watch.

 2000s

• BRING IT ON 2000

Where to watch: Hulu

About: A high energy comedy every Milleniall is probably familiar with in which two LA cheer teams face off for the ultimate cheer competition. Go toros!

•  IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE 2000

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: An epic and incredibly stylish love story about outcast neighbors living in 1960’s British Hong Kong. Anyone who thinks clothing is uncomfortable today should give this a watch…

•  VIEW FROM THE TOP 2003

Where to watch: Hulu

About: A campy romp with starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Christina Applegate, Mark Ruffalo, Candice Bergen, and guest appearances by Mike Meyers, Kelly Preston, and Rob Lowe. Need I say more?! Gwyneth climbs from a southwestern trailer park to become a regional flight attendant, with her sights set on Paris, non stop, first class….

•  HOLLYWOODLAND 2006

Where to watch: Hulu

About: A steamy crime drama that draws the curtain back on the mid century Hollywood studio system, starring Ben Affleck, Adrian Brody and Diane Lane.

•  SOMEWHERE 2010

Where to watch: HBO Max

About: A Sofia Coppola love letter to the Chateau Marmont (RIP) in which a troubled movie star in residence is visited on school break by his young daughter, Elle Fanning.

•  THE GREAT BEAUTY 2013

Where to watch: Amazon

About: If you never had a desire to be a middle aged Roman aristocrat, you just may after watching this movie. Jep is a beloved playboy whose lost hope in life and wanders from party to party searching for deeper meaning.