Movies For Grownups

With the Golden Globes just behind us and the Academy Awards coming up, it's prize season in Hollywood. And last week celebrities gathered for a different kind of trophy event, the fifth annual "Movies for Grownups" awards, sponsored by AARP The Magazine.

The event focuses on films and actors with special appeal for movie goers older than 45. AARP's features editor, Bill Newcott, is the creator of "Movies for Grownups." He visited The Early Show Thursday to talk about his picks for 2005.

Best picture: "Capote"
Newcott points out that, coincidentally, Jeff Daniels (who won their award for "Best Actor 50 and Over" for his role in "The Squid and the Whale") simultaneously made a movie about Truman Capote writing "In Cold Blood" called "Every Word is True." Because of "Capote" and its success, he says that this film will probably be held until next fall.

Best intergenerational movie: "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story"
This category "celebrates intergenerational relationships rather than separating them or showing their divisions."

Breakaway accomplishment: David Strathairn, "Good Night and Good Luck"
The breakaway accomplishment award is to encourage film makers and actors to try different things. Newcott says, "Strathairn spent a career doing supporting roles and in this film he burst out, taking on a monumental lead role."

Best movie time capsule: "Cinderella Man"
This category is for films that take place during a time AARP readers have lived through. The magazine's readers are uniquely qualified to judge just how close a filmmaker is to the truth and "Cinderella Man" passed this test in spades. "It evokes the spirit of the pre-crash America, followed by the crushing moments of disaster and the need for someone to be an everyman hero," said Newcott

Best grownup love story: Craig T. Nelson, Diane Keaton, "The Family Stone"
Newcott says, "Too often in movies, relationships of characters fifty and over are portrayed as a parody of teen sex or of frigid, fragile relationships. There's very little of the human element. 'The Family Stone' is nicely measured and nuanced and shows what can happen with two people over fifty who fall in love."

Newcott has a couple of other recommendations for movies that are just opening.