Now, with this week’s topic I was a bit conflicted with myself, because comfort can be a very wide term. I could go with the cliché route and pick all romantic comedies because those comfort me when I’m blue. But then there are movies I feel so comfortable with that they also comfort me, and those range from crime to documentaries. So I thought, mix it up, and here are four different genre-based recommendations that comfort me.
1. LOVE ACTUALLY, 2003
Like I said, romantic comedies are one of my favourite movies out there. Love Actually among the few which are almost perfect because let’s face it, most of the rom-coms out there are just garbage. Yet, I can’t help it, almost all of them comfort me when I happen to be in a sour mood, BUT Love Actually especially since it’s well written, acted and delivered.
2. THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, 2009
Many of you already know that I’m not a big documentaries kinda gal, but fashion documentaries are my jam! The September issue being my favourite one because with this one I discovered my love for the fashion world documentaries. There is always a period during the fall time when I want to watch this one, and I feel like it is timeless despite it focusing on a certain magazine issue.
3. ZODIAC, 2009
Here’s another example of a comfort movie – crime. I love a mysterious case, serial killers especially, and Zodiac is one of those movies I could watch over and over again. Not only is the plot fascinating but the visual appeal and Fincher’s direction gives me the chills with every rewatch. There are only great performances in this movie, and the mystery of the Zodiac killer somehow makes it more rewatchable. As if by watching Zodiac, I could resolve the case myself, ha.
4. ARRIVAL, 2016
Last but not least, science-fiction! Though there’s a certain type I enjoy the most, and I think Arrival just became the number one example of the certain type I like. Sophisticated, emotional and with a surprising twist. The sci-fi element of course is a bonus. What makes this sci-fi great in my eyes is the fact that it is more about humans than bombs, and it just makes the whole experience much more relatable. With other alien invasion movies it is just guns blazing but Arrival slows everything down, it tries to science first, and that’s admirable.
* FRIENDS, 1994-2004
I haven’t watched Friends in ages but when I was still living in my childhood home I watched all the seasons through three times or more. I think it was my most comfort zone TV show growing up. It will remain forever my favourite and even though I have no my hands full with so many other shows, I still think Friends is the best comedy, multi-cast show out there to date.
THIS SERIES IS CREATED BY WANDERING THROUGH THE SHELVES
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I LOVE Love Actually and would number that in my comfort movies as well. Both fun and sad just like life. I could do without the Denise Richards episode but aside from that its all brilliant.
The September Issue is an intriguing choice, I liked it-more so than the Isaac Mizrahi doc Unzipped-but fashion docs aren’t really my thing.
I like crime films too but Zodiac is so dark. I admired the artistry of it but once was enough for me. But I have plenty of crime noirs such as Out of the Past and Night Has a Thousand Eyes that would fit into that comfort movie zone.
Haven’t seen Arrival and probably won’t. I’m not much for sci-fi outside of the first two Alien films and I’m not a fan of Amy Adams so that’s two strikes against it.
I was a faithful Friends watcher when it was on and will still catch a rerun on occasion but I’d turn to Frasier or Golden Girls first.
I understand about the conflict with what to choose. I have SO many that would fit so unlike other weeks where I might be unable to limit it to three I made myself be strict and stuck to a trio. I could watch any of these day or night anytime.
The Prize (1963)-It’s Nobel Prize week in Stockholm and as the winners gather reprobate writer Andrew Craig (Paul Newman) begins to suspect that one of the other winners physicist Max Stratman (Edward G. Robinson) has been replaced by an imposter. As he blunders about looking for answers his initially doubtful chaperone Inger Lisa Andersson (a very beautiful Elke Sommer) comes to believe him and tries to help. Both fun and suspenseful this is the Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock didn’t make!
Women’s World (1954)-Ultra luxe, star studded drama of a corporate competition for the top job at an automobile company. Three couples, the loving Midwesterners (June Allyson & Cornel Wilde), the wry but troubled East Coast couple (Lauren Bacall & Fred MacMurray) and a Texan and his rapacious wife (Van Heflin & Arlene Dahl) are brought to New York by the owner of Gifford Motors, (Clifton Webb) so he can assess not only who is best for the job but whose wife is the most suitable. Shot in Cinemascope, laced with humor, nicely directed in sumptuous settings (the offhandedly mentioned country house is a mansion of enormous size!) with a fine group of performers cast to their strengths this makes no heavy demands on the viewer, like wrapping yourself in a warm, cushy blanket.
My Dream is Yours (1949)-Doris Day’s second film is a bandbox pretty concoction. She plays Martha Gibson, a hopeful widowed singer with a young son discovered by radio agent Doug Blake (Jack Carson) who has a hard time getting her a big break despite the fact that she sings like a bird. That doesn’t stop him from trying everything under the sun with the help of his good friend Vi (Eve Arden). In the meantime Martha falls for radio star Gary Mitchell (Lee Bowman), a pompous jerk with a drinking problem. Eventually her chance comes, she’s a smash but there’s pesky romantic complications to deal with. Cheery musical loaded with great music, a bright studio sheen and Doris at her early best. There’s a sequence where she and Jack Carson dance with Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird and other animated Warner cartoons that is like some kind of fever dream!! Though it’s radically different from the other movie Martin Scorsese has sited this as his inspiration for his “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”.
I must say, I’m a bit surprised you LOVE Love Actually, like I would not guess it for some reason. But in a way, I see Love Actually, in 2070s being like the classic everyone knows and loves. It’s just.. I think it’s so timeless. I don’t care for Richards either tbh.
And of course I haven’t seen any of your picks because I’m so bad with classics. Plus, I’ve realised, I’m bad with all types of classics, including books. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
Zodiac! I should pop this movie in again. I’ve been wanting to watch it again for so long.
Zodiac! I’ve got to pop this movie in again. I’ve been wanting to re-watch it for a while now.
Have you rewatched it once already? I’ve seen it like.. 5 times for sure, maybe more. I had this period where I watched it two days in a row. There is just something about it. I should watch it this weekend. I feel like it will be great.
Oh, I remember seeing the September Issue in theaters…what a delight that doc is! Zodiac is a very interesting choice on this list…I’ve seen it a couple times, but it’s not one I’d watch for comfort haha
I would have loved to see that one in the cinema, it would have been awesome!
You know, I love crime-movies.. and I have this weird fascination towards serial killers as well, so I’m not so surprised it’s something that brings me comfort. I’m so weird. Ha!
I actually watch Friends every day 🙂 I always have Comedy Central on and they are continuously showing the series. It’s so warm and sweet and fumy even though I know the episodes by heart I always watch it. The only other comedy show that came close to the optimism of it is Parks and Rec
I should start watching Friends again. I feel like that show always made me feel better. And it is warm and sweet, and it is all about friendship indeed. I wish they made those types of shows more often.
I’ve seen Zodiac for the first time only a couple weeks ago and I absolutely loved it! I think I’m going to rewatch it very soon.
That is awesome! I think you’re going to look at it a whole new way for the second time around. I wish I could go back and watch it for the first time again, it would be so different.
Very cool picks! I never really considered comfort movies to be a range of genres and typically go for the happy-go-lucky kind. Zodiac as your comfort-flick is kinda like me with Gone Girl. I just like to put it on a lot, despite how grim/dark the story is. lol
I always thought the same but then I realised I don’t necessarily watch rom-coms when I want to just chill. Gone Girl as a comfort flick is also an interesting pick, in a good way!