comfort movies

Michael Clayton

That Thing You Do

Flying out for thanksgiving tomorrow AM, guess what I just put on

Your deadline was 20 minutes ago

Raiders of the Lost Ark

― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, November 20, 2017 7:47 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes! i bought a VHS of it this year and watched it and loved every minute of it. it really is an incredible movie. the whole plot is amazing, the actors are amazing, the soundtrack is so iconic and dynamic (yay Indy theme but also the spooky ark temple theme). it has dumb yet clever screwball humor like Marion accidentally smacking Indy with the mirror as he looks over his previous injuries. that shot of the ark of the covenant burning a hole through the swastika deep in a nazi submarine base. holy shit. literally, holy shit. this movie is the near perfect action film with the ultimately villains. the movie ends with God literally blowing up nazis melting faces and shooting lightning to gloriously smite the third reich. this is a very comforting victory.

ending ofc the x-files style huge warehouse that was a giant matte painting that stayed up on the screen a long, long time and it never broke immersion cos everyone at that time was working at the peak of creativity and technical proficiency. <3 this movie forever. even though it may have contributed to me being afraid of snakes (again the OT implications) the snake pit, the snakes slithering through skeletons and out of mouths, the dark, dark fantasy of it all. it is a light cartoony family movie yet somehow it has this crazy heavy edge to it. the pacing, cinematography, stuntwork, set design, etc. everything is perfectly in harmony with every other element. it is a finely tuned film.

Empire Strikes Back

this movie always reminds me of a certain day, i was a little kid, my mom was cooking soup and me and my brorther were in the kitchen waiting for lunch and the tv had Empire on and it was just the foggy kind of magical and warm and silly experience of hanging out with Yoda and R2-D2 playing around in the swamp. it is weird, kind of hard to explain the feeling, but it was sort of comforting and familiar, like R2 and Yoda were just hanging out while mom makes lunch and we draw monsters. it was very warm and comforting to be in that moment, it is a memory i will treasure forever.

later on i learned about the puppetry involved and Hamill's commitment to working on a set for weeks as the only actor working with two puppets and a bunch of real lizards, snakes, swamp animals, etc., Frank Oz was working on the floor underneath him, delivering line and acting Yoda, and the two communicated via earpiece. it must have been a strange, disorienting experience (love Hamill's story about one day acting out a Luke-Yoda scene and picking up the Rolling Stones on the radio), and i think there is some really strong acting both from Luke and Yoda in these scenes. learning about how this stuff was made doesn't really detract from the magic, it makes it even more magical imo.

National Velvet

^^^^ DING DING DING

god yes

love that one

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Alfredson)

been comfort binging on some oldies on YouTube lately.

Bear Island (great Maclean adventure with Donald Sutherland)
Skyriders (James Coburn in a hostage type rescue adventure)
Puppet on a Chain (classic, and amazing boat chase scene)
Flashpoint (Kris Kristofferson in a compelling conspiracy type mystery)
Sleuth (Caine and Olivier face off)
Where have all the people gone (interesting end of the world stuff)
Stone Cold (ridiculous biker movie starring some quarterback guy)

ridiculous QB = brian bosworth
I’ve not seen the movie but havd heard tell of its ridiculousness

Withnail & I works for me, oddly enough

xp yeah that's him.

Withnail & I is a great Sunday morning hangover cure movie, for me.

haha brian bosworth forces me to mention

most if not all "30 for 30s", if they count

Slums of Beverly Hills

Hobson's Choice

Bow finger

Dude, Where's My Car?

Conan: The Barbarian

Bad Santa

star trek the motion picture

The Shop Around the Corner

Films I've returned to for solace, chronological:

8½
Time Bandits
Paris, Texas
Wings of Desire
Delicatessen
Orlando
Serial Mom
Underground
Ridicule
Black Cat, White Cat
The Girl on the Bridge
Herod's Law
Tuvalu
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Amélie
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... Spring
Mary and Max
Holy Motors
Wrong
Her

Only Jeunet & Kusturica have multiple entries, so far.

are we talking solace comfort or like, flu comfort?

terminator 2

xp flappy: I've put them on during lonely evenings, and they've cheered me.

Lost In Translation

otm

Heat
Rocky

There are certain movies which, if you stumble across them while channel surfing, you are powerless not to watch the rest of it.

One of mine is "All the President's Men," which would be su-u-u-uch a comfort movie right now.

I think Bill Simmons nicked this idea for his "Rewatchables" podcast.

2001

The most recent addition to my comfort canon: Giant Little Ones. I watched the last fifteen minutes again over lunch yesterday.

First Wives Club, My Best Friends Wedding and The Hours

― Surmounter, Monday, July 7, 2008 10:00 AM (eleven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

is the second post in this thread intentionally horrible

The Hours lulls you comfortably to sleep.

First Wives Club > Star Trek: The Motion Picture

White Sun of the Desert
The Emperor's New Groove

I haven't watched any of these in almost 20 years, but Evil Dead 2, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro used to be like this for me too

Rogue One.

Ace Attorney movie (by Takashi Miike!) and Closer. Have watched both tons of times. Ace Attorney because of the sheer absurdity and a pretty gorgeous cast, Closer for how nostalgic it makes me and how much I like the structure and how horrible everyone is.

Pretty much any Studio Ghibli apart from Grave of the Fireflies

Shane

Beautiful Girls

― Vision Kreayshawn Newsun (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, September 12, 2011 7:05 PM (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Said this eight years ago and saw it at least once every year since then.

Beautiful Girls is a good shout, might have to bring my DVD back from home next time I’m there. Haven’t seen it in years but still know tons of it by heart.

1996 was one of the first years I was seriously invested in the Oscar race, and I remember looking at the cast of Beautiful Girls and thinking it had a best picture nomination in the bag.

Portman, Thurman and Hutton are all fantastic.

Kiki's Delivery Service
Happy Go Lucky

Metropolitan

In Bruges

xp Good call!

doom (2005), dir: andrzej bartkowiak

xps Metropolitan otm

the Bill Murray version of The Razor's Edge was at one time. For some reason watched over and over on vhs, but haven't seen it in years.

Dr. Zhivago, first movie I can remember seeing, at the drive-in in the back seat of our VW Bug. Brother and I played the soundtrack endlessly as kids.

Mentioned before, but any Powell and Pressburger, especially I Know Where I'm Going.

Jules and Jim

Any of Jørgen Leth's cycling films: A Sunday in Hell, Stars and Water Carriers and The Impossible Hour.

I've only seen it once, but I bet Céline and Julie Go Boating would make a good comfort movie