comfort movies

and Wonder Boys

Dazed & Confused, Trading Places, nearly any b&w

i love having comfort movies. they kinda tend to be a bit on the super escapist side for me tho. first ones that come to mind and have held up for many years:

empire strikes back
indiana jones & the raiders of the lost ark
die hard
aliens
bourne identity

used to watch 'purple rose of cairo' and 'annie hall' as comfort movies in my early 20s but when i attempted to watch again a few years ago they did not comfort :/ there are a few go-to jane austen adaptations that i shamelessly go for when needing that kind of comfort. ah and 'shadowlands'

and for some reason, this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kPSSviWMg34

Clueless
Groundhog Day
Beverly Hills Cop
Any Harry Potter film

unnecessary rudeness from milo upthread

spinal tap
gremlins
alien/aliens of course

ELF

my neighbour totoro

goonies
better off dead

empire strikes back
indiana jones & the raiders of the lost ark
die hard
aliens
bourne identity

Except for Bourne Identity (which is great, but I haven't seen enough) this is pretty much my exact list.

Pulp Fiction
Heathers

anything by Almodovar with Carmen Maura

virgin suicides for the yellow color throughout - sunshining through blonde hair etc

Big Lebowski, Temple of Doom, Empire Strikes Back, Spinal Tap, Life of Brian, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, The Iron Giant.

Better off Dead
Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club
Say Anything
Steel Magnolias
Kicking and Screaming (the Noah Baumbach one, not the Will Ferell one)
Fletch
Vacation, European Vacation, Christmas Vacation
RHPS
So I Married an Axe Murderer
Big Lebowski

my neighbour totoro

oh totally word on this, could watch x 5mil

Also:

Buckaroo Banzai
Big Trouble in Little China

Any Miyazaki from Castle In the Sky on will do for me.

rushmore, starship troopers, tons of HK action shit, film noir stuff, totoro

I don't do this anymore

how come?

Dazed & Confused, Rushmore, A Woman Is A Woman

Can't Hardly Wait
Dazed and Confused
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Sixteen Candles
Empire Records

OK I have to add Can't Hardly Wair, Rushmore, and Empire Records now too.

SHALLOW HAL

Too long a list. I tend to put them on as background.

Sliding Doors

A lot of Altman stuff (esp. California Split and The Long Goodbye), The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, Head, Rock N' Roll High School, Eraserhead (strangely enough), Running on Empty.

The Big Lebowski
Anchorman
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Trainspotting

oh, and High Fidelity!

ENBB, yes to Empire Records!!

trainspotting is a big one too

repo man

god of cookery, shaolin soccer, kung fu hustle

ENBB, yes to Empire Records!!

I haven't seen it in so long! I should rectify that.

I was at a club once in LA and realized that the guy DJing was the long haired musician guy from ER and I was drunk enough that I totally went up to him and asked if it was him. It was and he gave me a CD. /boring story.

Mishima, M, Kikujiro, Spartacus, Zéro de conduite, lots and lots of others. Movies in general are comforting I think.

x-post Also I love Ethan Embry in that movie. Sadly he has not aged well.

Kung Fu Hustle - yes!

Kicking and Screaming (the Noah Baumbach one, not the Will Ferell one)

yes!

also: metropolitan, some kind of wonderful, kitty foyle, withnail and i, sixteen candles, parenthood, the secret life of walter mitty, la jetee

casino royale (2007)

miller's crossing

bullitt

ENBB did you know that in some countries Empire Records was called "Rock and Fun"?

AH - how could I have forgotten some kind of wonderful? I should count withnail too I think.

It turns out that I have a lot of comfort movies.

Sunny I did not know that but from now on that's what I'm going to call it. That's great - ha!

well i think movies are just kind of comforting. i mean unless you're watching like The Piano Teacher or something.

The Great Escape, even though it's shown every Christmas anyway. I suppose that it's a comfort because the plot is so familiar, also so many great lines ("I can see... really I can!" trips over James Garner). And while on a Pleasence tip, Fantastic Voyage, and also You Only Live Twice (OK then, that's two - and a half - Bond movies in my list).

Ok - I can't believe I didn't think of this until now but Waiting for Guffman.

The Italian Job (original version), which I'd forgotten about despite it being here on the shelf next to me. And it may not exactly be a movie, more of a documentary, but I used to watch ABBA: The Movie over and over.

I just recently realized that whenever I feel really down I feel like watching "The Thin Red Line" oddly enough. Not for the plot but the general sound, look, and ambience of it.

-- ryan, Monday, July 7, 2008 12:58 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

malick in general make sense - theres something v calming abt the contemplative qualities of his movies

i dont have any comfort movies that ill go so far as to put on but def if i stumble across them on tv i can get into it. awsome 80s comedies back to the future ferris bueller fletch and all sorts of spy/thriller type shit. i have a feeling in a few years time i will have seen the bourne movies 1mx

North By Northwest

Joy Luck Club, Muriel's Wedding, Ryan's Daughter - weepy shit like dat

for fans of slow tv this is an all time classic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dHETOyiE6U

OMG, yes. My first thought was 'please tell me they didn't tack music or dopey narration onto this work of beauty' and they thankfully listened to my unspoken prayers.

Donald Sutherland scene in JFK

The Dave's Walks channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goFD-F8RrgA

No talking, no music, just an hour or so roaming the villages and countryside of England. He's got about 170 videos at this point.

The best way I can describe my connection to this movie is by relating a story my daughter told me. She is a tow truck driver who does a lot of impound work. The police recovered this guy's car. He seemed really put out and asked them if they were going to dust it for prints.

Even better: he also asked if they were going to get DNA evidence, since apparently the kids who boosted it left it in the parking lot of a McDonald's.

Bad News mfing Bears

could watch this damn movie a thousand times and never love it any less

so great

Englebert

There's chocolate all over this ball

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011). Fits all the hallmarks: consistent low key vibe, killer ensemble cast, a little bit melancholy, strong sense of time and place.

Started watching Dario Argento's Inferno but it was moving slower than a Robert Wilson opera, so I re-watched Abel Ferrara's King of New York instead.

The Martian, round our way

Wonder Boys

Frances Ha

Everybody Wants Some

Hopscotch
Let It Ride (Richard Dreyfuss horse movie)
To Be or Not to Be

hopscotch is so good

Moneyball

is every baseball movie a comfort movie? we just got bad news bears, everybody wants some! and moneyball

His Girl Friday
The Maltese Falcon
Cluny Brown
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeosie
Tootsie
Manhattan Murder Mystery
Frances Ha

xp baseball is definitely the "comfort movie" of sports

Just started Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce for probably the fifth time; now a comfort film, especially because of Carter Burwell's score.

yeah thats a good one

Room 237 is a great "i'm up in the middle of the night for no reason" insomnia-daze watch.

That clippng sdtk always lulls me into a trance.

Saw Chef last night for the first time in a few years, and if you want some pre-2016 comfort, here it is: pre-toxic social media, pre-toxic kitchen culture, pre-toxic Austin Texas, and so on. We had it so good. And Oliver Platt bridging the gap between this and The Bear.

surely post-toxuc kitchen culture

anyway the star director producer of that movie sure did think the character should be irresistible to the best looking women on the planet, id say youd have to go back to joe dirt to find an equal on that score oh and i also nominate joe dirt as a comfort movie

^^That's like every Favreau joint, even back to Swingers.

Was at a rep screening of a comfort film tonight: Jaws. (Probably going to retire it now.) 50th anniversary, with a intro from Spielberg, who most definitely looks younger than 75.

"Michael, listen to your father--GET OUT OF THE WATER NOW!"

the star director producer of that movie sure did think the character should be irresistible to the best looking women on the planet

I've known conventionally really unattractive chefs who could attract the same. Have you ever cooked a really good dinner for a date?

It's not a chef problem, it's a Favreau problem.

gonna write myself a role as a young comedy writer who has to manage jon favreau through the ups and downs of his various on screen fantasy relationships while my character in fact enjoys dalliances with each of the actresses it shall be called my favreau tier

Silver Streak
Go
Nobody’s Fool
Desperately Seeking Susan
Monkey Business (1931)
39 Steps
Shop Around the Corner
Big Sleep
Only Angels Have Wings
Frozen 2 (with kid)

Im not saying its a great movie or anything but RTE seem compelled to show Brewsters Millions on a Sunday evening about twice a year and its like putting your feet into some cosy slippers anytime I watch it.

I don't think I'd watch any of the movies on my list in this thread anymore. I've ruined Withnail by watching it too much, and Empire Records has kinda aged badly.

I can't think of any replacements though!

I keep rewatching every comfort film of mine till I ruin them.

had a touch of flu over the weekend (and yesterday) and spent it watching the first few seasons of The Sopranos (possibly the 3rd time)

For whatever reason a lot of Walter Matthau movies are comfort watches for me, A New Leaf, Charley Varrick, Bad News Bears. I should watch more of his movies.

cosign Bad News Bears

booger eatin moron hive assemble!

realized when talking to my barber that I can talk about Cool Hand Luke at length

I met somebody this week who told me her middle name was "Coolhand." I said, "Oh, your parents must really like Paul Newman." She looked at me like I had three heads.

loves eggs, dashboard jesus

I can't believe I overlooked one of my favorites:

Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, September 23, 2020 1:37 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

despite it being a war movie, it's (mostly) very tender and (most of) the characters are good-hearted people

That's a good one!

This may be totally unique to me, but both Decision to Leave and No Other Choice have fallen into a pretty regular rewatch zone for me--I think perhaps they are both so visually dynamic it actually rewards a distracted, looking around the edges of the frame kind of viewing.

Also surprised no one (especially me) has mentioned The Nice Guys--a very elusive genre, "comedic/light noir," which is pretty much ideal for comfort viewing.

My weirdest comfort movie as mentioned way above is Paul Schrader’s vv moody 1992 noir Light Sleeper, which has this pacing like your heart rate after you chill out post-breathing exercises, and you settle in without it rising above that level. The music is a big acquired taste, it’s basically Michael Been being extremely moody and sincere and periodically lyrically obvious, intoning over minimal backing tracks, but I think it adds to the overall late night hypnotic, narcotic feel. Having expert comfort food presences like Dafoe and Sarandon helps a lot.