comfort movies

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Everyone has music they turn to when feeling sad or anxious. What about movies?

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.

I think my only other comfort movie is Back to the Future!

ryan, Monday, 7 July 2008 16:58 (seventeen years ago)

First Wives Club, My Best Friends Wedding and The Hours

Surmounter, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:00 (seventeen years ago)

mystery science theater: the movie

and what, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:01 (seventeen years ago)

valley girl

lauren, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:01 (seventeen years ago)

Actually one more for me: cast away.

That's two zemeckis movies!

ryan, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:03 (seventeen years ago)

It changes, a few years ago it was certain Carry On movies, especially Camping and Up The Khyber. Woody Allen's Sleeper was a favourite, along with Diamonds Are Forever - bizarrely the only "proper" Bond in this list - and also the David Niven version of Casino Royale. At the moment it's Withnail & I, especially when it's cold and raining, and also the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

snoball, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:04 (seventeen years ago)

Dazed & Confused, Jackass

milo z, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:12 (seventeen years ago)

and Wonder Boys

milo z, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:13 (seventeen years ago)

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

Granny Dainger, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:15 (seventeen years ago)

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'

rrrobyn, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:17 (seventeen years ago)

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

rrrobyn, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:19 (seventeen years ago)

Clueless
Groundhog Day
Beverly Hills Cop
Any Harry Potter film

musically, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:21 (seventeen years ago)

unnecessary rudeness from milo upthread

Granny Dainger, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:22 (seventeen years ago)

spinal tap
gremlins
alien/aliens of course

latebloomer, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:24 (seventeen years ago)

ELF

jel --, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:25 (seventeen years ago)

my neighbour totoro

jel --, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:27 (seventeen years ago)

goonies
better off dead

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:27 (seventeen years ago)

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.

kingkongvsgodzilla, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:27 (seventeen years ago)

Pulp Fiction
Heathers

anything by Almodovar with Carmen Maura

warmsherry, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:29 (seventeen years ago)

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

sunny successor, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:31 (seventeen years ago)

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

chap, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:32 (seventeen years ago)

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

ENBB, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:33 (seventeen years ago)

my neighbour totoro

oh totally word on this, could watch x 5mil

rrrobyn, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:35 (seventeen years ago)

Also:

Buckaroo Banzai
Big Trouble in Little China

kingkongvsgodzilla, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:36 (seventeen years ago)

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

chap, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:36 (seventeen years ago)

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

omar little, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:37 (seventeen years ago)

I don't do this anymore

Dr Morbius, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:44 (seventeen years ago)

how come?

Surmounter, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:44 (seventeen years ago)

Dazed & Confused, Rushmore, A Woman Is A Woman

C. Grisso/McCain, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:45 (seventeen years ago)

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

jon /via/ chi 2.0, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:45 (seventeen years ago)

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

ENBB, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:47 (seventeen years ago)

SHALLOW HAL

Surmounter, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:47 (seventeen years ago)

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

Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:48 (seventeen years ago)

Sliding Doors

ENBB, Monday, 7 July 2008 17:49 (seventeen years ago)

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.

Deric W. Haircare, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:01 (seventeen years ago)

The Big Lebowski
Anchorman
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Trainspotting

Finefinemusic, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:20 (seventeen years ago)

oh, and High Fidelity!

Finefinemusic, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:20 (seventeen years ago)

ENBB, yes to Empire Records!!

trainspotting is a big one too

sunny successor, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:22 (seventeen years ago)

repo man

omar little, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:23 (seventeen years ago)

god of cookery, shaolin soccer, kung fu hustle

omar little, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:23 (seventeen years ago)

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.

ENBB, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:26 (seventeen years ago)

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

Noodle Vague, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:26 (seventeen years ago)

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

ENBB, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:26 (seventeen years ago)

Kung Fu Hustle - yes!

ENBB, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:27 (seventeen years ago)

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

lauren, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:28 (seventeen years ago)

casino royale (2007)

omar little, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:29 (seventeen years ago)

miller's crossing

omar little, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:29 (seventeen years ago)

bullitt

omar little, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:29 (seventeen years ago)

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

sunny successor, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:29 (seventeen years ago)

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!

ENBB, Monday, 7 July 2008 18:32 (seventeen years ago)

the third man and picnic at hanging rock. both of them lull me into a nice place

karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 30 November 2023 16:17 (two years ago)

The Big Lebowski is both my favorite comfort movie and my favorite movie, period.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 30 November 2023 16:20 (two years ago)

It's the best.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Thursday, 30 November 2023 16:21 (two years ago)

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.

We both laughed hysterically when she told me this story, without ever mentioning Lebowski.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 30 November 2023 16:28 (two years ago)

Mike Leigh's Another Year

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 30 November 2023 19:46 (two years ago)

All Peter Hyams’ films, but especially Running Scared (1986) w/ Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal

Ward Fowler, Thursday, 30 November 2023 20:40 (two years ago)

School of Rock. First time I saw it was on a flight to Australia. I watched it four times.

I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Thursday, 30 November 2023 21:46 (two years ago)

otm love that one, good feels!

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 1 December 2023 01:15 (two years ago)

yeah School of Rock holds up so well, it's my kid's fave too

Roz, Friday, 1 December 2023 01:41 (two years ago)

Ancient show biz wisdom says never work with kids or dogs because they'll always upstage you, but Jack Black needed all of that kind of help he could get.

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Friday, 1 December 2023 01:48 (two years ago)

This is kind of an alien concept for me, maybe because most of my favourite films are more entertaining to think about than to watch.

My ideal for "comfort viewing" is a TV show that ran every night in the late 80s, chronicling a real-time drive into downtown Toronto, to the tune of laidback jazz; but anything like unedited aquarium or outdoor camera footage conveys the same pleasant atmosphere (I don't like watching fireplace footage though).

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 1 December 2023 18:49 (two years ago)

Lol I love the yuke log channel. We had a fireplace in the den and I'd still put that on TV growing up.

I think now I have comfort TV shows rather than movies and the biggest of those is, without question, The Golden Girls.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Friday, 1 December 2023 19:42 (two years ago)

xpost Along those same lines, I have been known to watch (at least parts of) those ridiculously long real-time YT videos of train trips through foreign locales. Super soothing and satisfying (but also intersting to see all the off the beaten path scenery).

Great-Tasting Burger Perceptions (Old Lunch), Friday, 1 December 2023 20:09 (two years ago)

Oh, yes, train videos. I can watch them for hours, particularly if it's a video of a really long trip. There is one about the train that goes between north and south Australia that is like video therapy.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 1 December 2023 20:10 (two years ago)

My comfort show is MASH, probably because I used to watch it with my mother and brother.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Friday, 1 December 2023 20:11 (two years ago)

This is Spinal Tap!

a very very unfair (Neanderthal), Friday, 1 December 2023 20:12 (two years ago)

The first Paw Patrol movie, I must've seen it a dozen times now with the small one, but it's pretty good! I look forward to watching it. Encanto too.

Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 1 December 2023 20:17 (two years ago)

for fans of slow tv this is an all time classic

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

Honnest Brish Face (Noodle Vague), Friday, 1 December 2023 20:45 (two years ago)

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.

Great-Tasting Burger Perceptions (Old Lunch), Friday, 1 December 2023 21:57 (two years ago)

Donald Sutherland scene in JFK

orifex, Friday, 1 December 2023 22:46 (two years ago)

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.

Hideous Lump, Friday, 1 December 2023 23:00 (two years ago)

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.

immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 21:11 (two years ago)

one month passes...

Bad News mfing Bears

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

so great

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 4 February 2024 00:20 (two years ago)

Englebert

There's chocolate all over this ball

never trust a big book and a simile (Neanderthal), Sunday, 4 February 2024 03:07 (two years ago)

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.

ryan, Sunday, 4 February 2024 03:12 (two years ago)

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.

Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Sunday, 4 February 2024 04:41 (two years ago)

The Martian, round our way

assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 4 February 2024 15:46 (two years ago)

Wonder Boys

papal hotwife (milo z), Sunday, 4 February 2024 19:57 (two years ago)

Frances Ha

corrs unplugged, Monday, 5 February 2024 09:34 (two years ago)

Everybody Wants Some

waste of compute (One Eye Open), Monday, 5 February 2024 13:03 (two years ago)

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

Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 5 February 2024 13:16 (two years ago)

hopscotch is so good

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 5 February 2024 17:01 (two years ago)

Moneyball

na (NA), Monday, 5 February 2024 17:26 (two years ago)

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

na (NA), Monday, 5 February 2024 17:27 (two years ago)

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

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 5 February 2024 17:27 (two years ago)

xp baseball is definitely the "comfort movie" of sports

waste of compute (One Eye Open), Monday, 5 February 2024 17:31 (two years ago)

one year passes...

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

clemenza, Friday, 11 July 2025 16:13 (seven months ago)

yeah thats a good one

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 11 July 2025 17:00 (seven months ago)

one month passes...

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.

imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 14 August 2025 17:10 (six months ago)

two weeks pass...

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.

the way out of (Eazy), Saturday, 30 August 2025 22:16 (five months ago)

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

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Sunday, 31 August 2025 00:27 (five months ago)

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

Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 31 August 2025 01:04 (five months ago)

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!"

clemenza, Sunday, 31 August 2025 01:28 (five months ago)

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?

the way out of (Eazy), Sunday, 31 August 2025 02:30 (five months ago)

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

Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 31 August 2025 02:33 (five months ago)

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

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Sunday, 31 August 2025 02:45 (five months ago)

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)

Chuck_Tatum, Sunday, 31 August 2025 02:54 (five months ago)

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.

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Sunday, 31 August 2025 14:16 (five months ago)

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!

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 1 September 2025 02:43 (five months ago)

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

clemenza, Monday, 1 September 2025 02:49 (five months ago)


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