I have chosen 24 hours' worth of 'Jill themed' movies, 14 movies in total, which I will watch over the course of a couple of weeks. Below is what I have watched so far and why.
No.1 Scooby Doo - 13/01/23
Jill and I went to go see this at Yeppoon cinemas (back in the day) when it first came out. However, the reel had not arrived from Rocky, so we instead were offered to go see Snow Dogs that was showing at the same time for free. It was such a bad movie, but we were in cinema 1 (which if you’re from Yeppoon you know that was the big cinema) and we were the only two in the cinema, so we were just running amok. We got bored halfway through and walked out. We later came back that afternoon when the reel had arrived, and we were able to watch Scooby Doo.
No.2 My Girl - 13/01/23
Besides from being a story about a beautiful friendship and being an ultimate classic, this was also one that Jill watched as part of her 101 list No. 51. Ruin my childhood memories by re watching some favourite movies. (Side-note - she put in her post on fb after watching “Childhood not ruined!!! These movies are even better as an adult!” I tend to agree). Watching this movie was hard but there was also this beautiful scene from it.
No.3 My Girl 2 - 13/0123
Because you can’t watch My Girl and then not watch My Girl 2.
No. 4 Matilda: The Musical - 14/01/23
Jill was lucky enough to see the stage show of this and told me at the time that it was the best musical she had ever seen.
No.5 Seven Brides For Seven Brothers - 14/01/23
My Grandma introduced me to a lot of old-time movies when I was younger, this is where my love of the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Jane Powell began. This was one of my favourites that she had on VHS that she eventually gave to me. At some point I ended up replacing all my VHSs to DVD and when Jill was around my place, I asked her whether she wanted any of them. I made some sort of joke and said something like “you can have any that you want, but you probably won’t want Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”. Jill then said something like this almost a little embarrassingly “Actually that’s the one I do want”. I can’t be sure whether this was before or after we had finished school, but I remember her saying something about wanting to watch it for some sort of project where this movie had been discussed. Not sure if this was for her as a student or her as a teacher but something I have always remembered.
No. 6 Beaches - 14/01/23
I chose this one because it is a story about a beautiful and life lasting friendship. I also chose it because Jill loved the beach and I have quite a few memories of Jill & I at the beach which I wish I had photos of but of course most of these times were before the digital age. A couple of these memories are - keeping her company when she was on lifeguard duty, this one time we went horse riding along the beach out at Rydge's Capricorn International Resort, the time at Hamilton Island where she encouraged me to pee in the ocean and this one time we went for a swim at the beach and then afterwards we put muddy sand all over our bodies and had a muddy sand fight. This movie was coincidentally also on Jill’s original list.
No. 7 Tall Girl - 20/01/23
This is an obvious one. It’s easy and often a first go to (at least physically) to describe Jill as tall. But in reality this is probably the least interesting thing about her. It was the height of her kindness, compassion, beauty, humour, love and intelligence that really stood out and that were immeasurable. Jill always had a good sense of humour about being a tall woman, this is a quote from one of her FB posts: “Sometimes being tall is not so bad. On an extremely crowded, train people had to cram under my armpits instead of the otherway round. Just hope they enjoyed the fact that I haven't shaved my armpits for awhile. :)” Check out my other post '"You're Tall." (Way to state the obvious!)' to see some of Jill’s other humorous FB posts regarding her height.
No. 8 Bridget Jones's Diary - 20/01/23
I always remember seeing this one at Yeppoon Cinema (in one of the little ones) with Jill & her High School friends. Looking at the release date of this movie, this would of been Grade 10 and I’m thinking it was for Jill’s Bday. I can’t be sure who was there that night but I would put money on it that either Tessa or Anna or both were there that night too. If any of Jill’s friends who I have recently connected with remembers this night leave a comment.I met quite a few of Jill’s High School friends at various times throughout High School and it was so nice to see that Jill had really found her place in High School and made some incredible friendships. I know by speaking to some of these ladies recently how valued her friendship was to them and how she touched each of their lives.
No. 9 Rango & No 10. Limitless - 22/01/23
After having a drunken night out in Rocky, we must have had some hours to wait for the bus back to Yeppoon, as we went to the Cinemas and saw two movies to kill time. We were limited in movie choices so the first we saw was Rango, which we found quite boring, and I think we both had a cheeky nap throughout. The second movie was Limitless. I remember we were very hung over watching this and the opening credits had this zoom effect which made me incredibly dizzy/nauseas. Overall though we did enjoy this movie and watching the movie probably distracted me from my hangover and saved me from my usual vomiting in the toilet all day after a night out on the drink. Watching these many years later I must confess Rango was better than I remembered it and Limitless was not as good as I remembered it.
No. 11 Gorillas In The Mist - 22/01/23
I had to have some sort of reference to Africa and the movie ‘Out Of Africa’ seemed a little on the nose. Instead, I chose this one about the great Diann Fossey. Diann Fossey spent 20 years in Rwanda, where she supported conservation efforts, strongly opposed poaching and tourism in wildlife habitats, and made more people acknowledge the sapience of gorillas. When you think about it you could draw some parallels between Diann & Jill. Both strong independent women who moved to Africa to use their education to make a difference in the world, Diann with her research and Jill with her teaching. Both loved animals and the environment. And tragically, although in different ways, both had their lives cut short way before their time.
No. 12 Jack & Jill Vs The World - 26/01/23
Obvious theme - no explanation required. I will say, I had never heard of this movie before and was trying to choose between this and the Adam Sandler movie Jack and Jill. But the Adam Sandler one had a 3.3 rating on IMDB and this one had a 5.5 rating so it won out. The movie was ok, not bad, but nothing to rave over either. I do find it funny that two Freddie Prinze Jr. movies ended up on my list 🤣
No. 13 FernGully: The Last Rainforest - 26/01/23
Another one that Jill watched as part of her 101 list No. 51. ‘Ruin my childhood memories by rewatching some favourite movies’. I chose this from her list because I hadn't seen it in years and used to love it. But I also chose it because Jill was environmentally conscious and this movie has that great message behind it, especially for children.
No. 14 The Dressmaker - 26/01/23
An Australian film to represent Jill’s home country 🇦🇺 on Australia Day and to represent her love of dresses. Anyone who knew Jill, knows she loved a good dress or frock if you will. I guess The Frockmaker wouldn’t have sounded as good as a title? 🤔 But definitely would of sounded more Aussie! Jill entertained us all during Covid with her Frock Friday antics (see collage below). And who could forget the video ‘Sewing with Bronny & Jill’ a few years back. Which stemmed from another one from Jill’s original list #21 ‘Sew an outfit from scratch and wear it in public’ which she of course completed. If you do one thing today, watch the 2min video below of Jill and her Mum ‘Bronny’. It’s hilarious and truly captures Jill’s hilarious personality. It will never fail to bring a smile to my face.
And that concludes my 'Jill' themed movie marathon. 14 movies and approximately 24 hours of viewing.
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