Casablanca
The Boondock Saints
Life of Brian
Bolt
The original, animated *Transformers *movie. It was the defining event of my childhood.
I would like to say Harry Potter and LOTR, but cable tends to severely overplay only one of the films in the group to it’s detriment. I did enjoy the recent Harry marathon as a pleasant ‘nothing else is on / background noise / fall asleep to’ bit.
I think comfort films fall into two categories:
- films that are extremely rewatchable, that bring comfort in their familiarity - you can be secure in the fact that if you watch it, you will again be entertained / distracted for an hour and a half, without it getting old
Galaxy Quest
Princess Bride
Avatar
Harry Potters / LOTR
Donnie Darko
Groundhog Day
Serenity
Tank Girl
The Island
The Matrix
The Neverending Story
The Dark Crystal
Young Einstein
Star Wars / Star Trek / Indiana Jones
Inception
- films that you can’t watch over and over and over, but they do hit the spot or lift your spirits if you are particularly depressed, or just in the mood for that sort of thing, or nostaligc
Creator
Fried Green Tomatoes
The Color Purple
Threesome
Joe vs Volcano
Made in Heaven
The Big Blue
Nim’s Island
Pleasantville
Slumdog Millionaire
Surf’s Up
The Big Blue
Ferris Bueller / ET / any key film from your youth
Eternal Sunchine of the Spotless Mind
- films that are highly anticipated and enjoyed, but only on particular occasions, like a certain holiday
A Christmas Story
Love Actually
Sound of Music
Wizard of Oz
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Groundhog Day
“That Thing You Do” or “Remember the Titans”
Clueless. One of my favorite films of all time and it cheers me up perfectly when I’m feeling depressed.
Die Hard. Damn if I can’t watch it over and over.
Wow, I thought I was the only one who was a fan of a commentary on a Jane Austen flick! But seriously, I want to be gal pals with both of them. So witty.
Most of mine have already been listed (Harry Potters, That Thing You Do, Fried Green Tomatoes) but I have a very strange one that I like to fall asleep to–From Hell. Yes, the Johnny Depp Jack the Ripper movie. No idea why.
I have two categories.
Sergio Leone westerns: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, and Once Upon A Time in the West are my favorites.
And foodie movies:
Big Night
Eat Drink Man Woman
Like Water for Chocolate
Chocolat
my favorite silly movie:* Mr. Mom*
Apollo 13
I usually go for comfort TV shows rather than movies, but recently I had a strange thing going on where I would go to sleep every night while watching The Prestige, of all things. The problem was, I hadn’t actually ever seen it all the way through before, and I kept falling asleep a while into it, usually right after the beginning. Occasionally I would wake up and catch a random bit of the middle or the end, or parts of it would work its way into my brain while I was almost-but-not quite asleep. Then, the next night, I would be completely confused about the story, and so I would start watching from the beginning again… After about a week of this, the movie had become this absurd, dream-like, semi-psychedelic monstrosity in my mind. I realized I had to just watch it the whole way through in the daytime to actually find out what the plot was. It turned out to be *nothing *like what I thought.
Babette’s Feast
Jesus Christ Superstar
[stage version] Sweeny Todd
[concert dvd] Live Aus Berlin
Hot Fuzz
Mikado
Much Ado About Nothing
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
Conan The Barbarian.
Serenity.
The Incredibles when I don’t feel like rewatching Aliens.
Or Mystery Men (skipping straight to the try-outs).
When I’m sick: Fantasia. Because there is no plot, and if you fall asleep, you didn’t miss anything. Just keep playing it over and over.
Any of the LOTR trilogy or A Knight’s Tale. I can lose myself in any of them.
Many already listed are in my go-to collection. I’ll add:
Willow
The Muppet Movie
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
O Brother Where Art Thou?
“The Princess Bride”
“Stand By Me”
“Shawshank Redemption”
“Field of Dreams”
“Bull Durham”
I came here to list Persuasion too! Such a lovely film.
Also The 39 Steps.
The Big Lebowsky, in addition to a bunch of others already mentioned.