Categories: But...that's not really about romance novels • Good Shit vs. Shit to Avoid
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by SB Sarah • Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 07:52 PM
Sheena asks:
Out of curiosity, are there romantic films that you would unhesitatingly recommend, besides Sense and Sensibility? Is that a post for another day? Two of my favourite films are The Scarlet Pimpernel (the Jane Seymour, Anthony Andrews version) and Moulin Rouge.
We discussed this back in 2005 when I revealed in a multitude of ways how uncool I am in my love of movies and television shows. But I will say that for Hanukkah this past year, Hubby got me a set of the entire season of Cupid PLUS unaired episodes from some bootleg DVD vendor overseas. *le sigh* Jeremy Piven. What a lovely Hanukkah gift.
But it’s never a problem to come back to a topic - particularly almost two years later, when we have more readers with certainly more opinions - many many more opinions!
170 comments •
Categories: But...that's not really about romance novels • Good Shit vs. Shit to Avoid
Categories: But...that's not really about romance novels • Good Shit vs. Shit to Avoid
The 40 Year Old Virgin - Very romantic, and very very funny. I’m sure most everyone on here has already seen it though.
Love, Actually - I just watched this for the first time a few weeks ago. Oh my god! Is there any Colin Firth character I won’t fall in love with?
That’s it for now. I just want to be the first poster on this thread.
*covets your illicit Cupid set*
Movies I think are romaaaaaantic *swoony eyes*:
Strictly Ballroom: Baz Luhrmann’s first film, it’s sort of the proto-Moulin Rouge; same hyper-stylized art direction, same belief in the power of love, same sense of light campiness. And OMG, the costumes.
The Thin Man: Okay, so Nick and Nora are already married, but they are such a fabulous couple, it doesn’t matter.
All Over the Guy: Okay, so it’s about two guys, but it has all the hallmarks of romance—including the obstacles and the HEA.
The Philadelphia Story: Well, duh.
Pride and Prejudice: The 1995 BBC adaptation that’s five hours long. Yes, it was made for TV so I’m not sure it qualifies, but Colin Firth.
Clerks 2: Sometimes, it’s all about the bromance. I teared up a little bit when Randal admitted his love for his hetero lifemate Dante.
said on...Oddly enough, one of the most romantic movies I’ve seen was 50 First Dates, which was totally unexpected. I figured it would be just another silly Adam Sandler movie, and with Drew Barrymore to boot, but as a romance it just worked me on every level.
Also have to recommend a movie I saw recently, The Outsider, with Naomi Watts and Tim Daly. It’s actually based on a romance novel by Penelope Williamson (which I’m reading right now and enjoying a lot), and it captured a lot of the emotional intensity you can find in a romance novel but is usually lacking in a movie. Oh, and Tim Daly is just unbelievably hot in it. ;-)
I’m flipping through my DVD collection here...which is almost entirely historical films because I’ve entitled it “The Poofy Skirt Collection” because...they all involve poofy skirts.
Possession: not so much the modern side of the story, but the parts set in the past--whoodamn, those Victorians had some KINK hidden under their repression. And that kink is hot and angsty and so sweet it makes me cry in the end.
Anne of Green Gables, parts one and two. “The Continuing Story” can suck it, aright? Great scenery and it’s good for kids, too.
Mansfield Park; Emma; all Austen, ever, etc.
Little Women is a favourite.
Twelfth Night (dir. Trevor Nunn. Gorgeous and cross-dressing whee!)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Oh Rupert Everett.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein - so I know this one is like Branagh’s love letter to his hairy self, but...I don’t know. This one always seemed fairly romantic, to me. At least until people’s hearts start getting ripped out. Literally.
I caught The Inheritance on cable a year or two back and managed to love it even as it employed every 19th century cliche disaster, but it’s Alcott, again, so we’ll let it slide. It was new back then, I guess.
I’ve got some random Bollywood DVDs that are romantic to the Nth degree, but it’s definitely an acquired taste and even I who love them know that they verge on and deke into the ridiculous at times. Some moreso than others. V. campy. My personal favourite is the angst-filled Mujhse Dosti Karoge with a Secret (not a baby), a Smart-but-Allegedly-Less-Pretty Girl, and the Two Hot People Who Deserve Each Other, Or So They Think. Less-Pretty Girl still manages to knock out “Hot” Girl, who just happens to be taller and twenty pounds lighter.
...and my Scarlet Pimpernel (Seymour/Andrews) DVD is staring at me right now, thanks. So I second that one. And Love, Actually. That one gets my vote as well.
Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken was my favourite in years gone by.
Only You ... I just...Robert Downey Jr. Italy. Shoes. Ehehehe. :)
Legends of the Fall - Just do it for the music.
Days of Heaven ...well *I* think it’s romantic.
For the gayer side of romance, there’s Mambo italiano and Imagine Me & You.
And I’ve come to realize just now that my DVD collection is an English nerd’s wet dream and I will sob like a baby over ANYTHING.
And I think if you’re not afraid of sap you could get anything with teenage Molly Ringwald or non-teenaged-but-not-middle-aged Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.
And then there’s the classics. Gone With the Wind. The Ten Commandments(?). Singin’ in the Rain. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Ivanhoe. His Girl Friday. Anything with Elizabeth Taylor, etc..
I suck with tags, and I forgot to mention Love Story.
Bringing Up Baby - one of the classic screwball comedies with Hepburn and Grant.
kis said on...True Romance. I just kept hearing her voice saying, You are so cool. You are so cool.... Phone booth sex and a blood bath at the end. swoon.
I also really liked Enemy at the Gates. The triangle between Rachel Weis and Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes...so tragic, so melodramatic!
What is it about death and mayhem that makes a girl all squishy inside? Never could stand romcoms. And anything with Merrill Streep (with the notable exception of She-devil) just makes me want to self-administer a lobotomy.
Never seen Harold and Maude.
Kind of liked Tristan and Isolde, though. Death, mayhem and true luuuuurrve. sweet.
said on...[I have to say I was *gutted* when Cupid just STOPPED with no ending, and then again when I watched eps 1-14 which a friend recently downloaded for me. I loved that series.]
Strictly Ballroom is a movie that I can, and have, watched over and over again. So sweet.
His Girl Friday- machine-gun paced dialogue, Cary Grant, *and* fantastic hats? How can this not be on everyone’s top ten?
said on...Love, Actually
French Kiss
The Philadelphia Story
To Have and Have Not
The Terminator
Bringing Up Baby
The Big Easy
Singing In The Rain
Notting Hill
Strictly Ballroom
Zorro
Pride and Prejudice (Colin Furth)
Disney’s The Little Mermaid
Bunches more, but not bad for top of the head at about six a.m.
I second French Kiss. Perfect Movie. I adore Wimbledon: it’s got Paul Bettany, what more could you want? Love Actually. But French Kiss is my comfort watch. I’m also slowly working through Seasons 1-5 of Queer as Folk: gay soap opera! Gale Harold! Lots of hot naked boys having sex with each other! Love it!
The Last of the Mohicans. Incredible chemistry between Stowe and Day Lewis (yeah, baby--that’s his own hair), and they’ve got the acting chops to pull off lines like “They don’t live their lives by your leave--they hack it out of the wilderness with their bare hands, burying their children along the way!”
Best. Kiss. Ever.
I can’t believe I forgot Shrek!
Or Dead Again
Then I thought of Silverado ( a favorite), and while not romantic particularly in the boy-girl sense (though there was sparkage between Kevin Kline and Linda Hunt), it’s hard to beat a movie with Kline, Danny Glover, Scott Glenn and a very young, charmingly goofy Kevin Coster. Hawt. Very hawt.
Plus many of the sweeping, swashing movies from Errol Flynn.
The Princess Bride
My very favourite here would be How to steal a million with Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn. I am melting in a pooddle of goo watching them being so adorable and snarky. The double bonus - HUgh Griffith as a criminal father…
Another classical for me: The Shop Around the Corner with young James Stewart.
among the more recent favourites:
Addams Family (both) - Morticia/Gomez=4ever!
Mr. and Mrs. Smith - it has to sense plot-wise but so hot and metaphorically true, that I love it.
Eternal Sunshine for the spotless mind - I never expected to love something with Jim Carry in it, but here it goes
Fun to scroll through all your picks! I so agree that Last of the Mohicans has the best.kiss.ever (the rest of the movie I can skip, but damn that scene at the waterfall makes me hot!)And good call on Bringing Up Baby!!! Grant & Hepburn at their clumsily falling in love best!
Amazed at how many of you like the short-lived Cupid - I’m a Chicago girl, and my voice&diction teacher in college was the vocal coach for the actors on the set (I was a theatre/english double major). Yes, she had to coach people on how to have the right “Chicago” dialect - she was doing this at the same time I was in her classes (so that tells you when I was in college, huh?) and she would to tell us stories about her work, she mainly worked with the lead girl on the show - I think Piven is from Chicago himself and didn’t need the training.
ANYWAYS - My vote would have to be for:
Somewhere in Time (Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour)
Romeo & Juliet (the 1968 Zefferelli version)
Both have incredible soundtracks...but the lovers die at the end, so what does that say about me???
My first thought was Love, Actually and Tristan and Isolde and I see some others agree with me.
Gone with the Wind for a sweeping epic and I just saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s which is a weird kind of romance.
Conan the Barbarian. Seriously. The Conan/Valeria relationship is very romantic.
Lord of the Rings
Gone With the Wind
A Room With A View
The Princess Bride
Singles (anybody else remember that one?
And I have Tristan and Isolde but haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, darnit!
Persuasion I’m a sucker for this Austen book, and Ciaran Hinds’ voice over of The Letter? Slays me.
Roman Holiday I’m pretty sure I’d love this one even if Gregory Peck wasn’t playing Joe Bradley.
Much Ado About Nothing Branagh and Thompson as Benedick and Beatrice.
While You Were Sleeping. Bill Pullman just sucks me in as The Average Guy.
And I’ll second:
Dead Again
Singles
Queer as Folk
DS said on...I have to admit to the first Indiana Jones films. I enjoyed Debra Allen’s hard drinking, tom-boyish take on the modern woman of the 30’s.
said on...I’ll third Last of the Mohicans. Such fantastic chemistry between Stowe and Day-Lewis. And Day-Lewis was just beautiful to watch in that film. Yum.
And this may seem a little odd, but Shadowlands with Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger as C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham is, in my opinion, the most romantic movie ever. Even it’s a hell of a tear-jerker.
Wow. Great lists! I’m going through my collection, and I’ll share my faves with you. Many will be repeats, and some you’ll shake your head at, but I’m not gonna defend my taste. I love these movies, some more than others, but all get me to the dreamy-sigh place, and I like that place.
The Philadelphia Story - #1 with a bullet
It Happened Last Night - Not in my collection, but an all time fave, how do I not have this yet? Must order now…
Pride and Prejudice - The Colin Firth version. Of course.
Bridget Jones’s Diary - See above, re: Colin Firth
The Princess Bride
French Kiss - a highly underestimated movie, totally rocks, I watch it at least twice a year.
When Harry Met Sally
Clueless
Emma
Sense and Sensibility
Jane Eyre - actually I don’t have one particular movie version in mind; that story always gets me
10 Things I Hate About You
Some Kind of Wonderful - I love best friend movies
While You Were Sleeping
Shop Around the Corner - Jimmy Stewart. Major yum.
The Taming of the Shrew - Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Sizzzzzzle!
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - Love it, except the singing scene. That’s just painful.
Continental Divide - Schlubs can be romantic heroes, I swear.
The MatchMaker - terribly, terribly weak in some ways, but like The Ref, I’ll deal because the good is sooooooo gooood.
Groundhog Day
Never Been Kissed
50 First Dates
Shakespeare in Love
The Truth About Cats and Dogs
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton
Can’t Hardly Wait
Chocolat
Mansfield Park
Where the Heart Is
His Gal Friday
Roman Holiday
Oh. I’m feeling all fuzzy now. Time to write!
said on...Not to be greedy, but can I add A Midwinter’s Tale, The Music Man (that scene in the library is just irresistable, and then her eyes flashing when she defends him to the town just makes me melt), and Forget Paris.
said on...Out of Africa . Hands down. I could watch it a million times and still cry when Denis dies. Hmmm, I have a free morning before class, maybe I’ll watch it again. (Oh, and I’ll second Anne of Green Gables, the first two movies. That scene on the bridge in Anne of Avonlea, “I don’t want diamond sunbursts or marble halls. I just want you.” *Melt*
said on...For a gay romance, I have to recommend Jeffrey starring Steven Weber as a guy who decides sex is too much to deal with and becomes celibate - and then meets Hot Man of His Dreams, who is HIV-positive. H.M.of H.D. is played by Michael T. Weiss, the guy from “The Pretender.” Not only is it a lot of luscious to look at, it’s an adorably wrenching love story. And I won’t even get into Patrick Stewart’s character. Rent now, Bitches, rent now!
I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Moonstruck...unless I missed it above in my pre-caffeinated state. In which case, I apologize and leave this quote as a parting gift:
“Loretta, I love you. Not like they told you love is, and I didn’t know this either, but love don’t make things nice - it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren’t here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die. The storybooks are bullshit. Now I want you to come upstairs with me and get in my bed!”
Le swoon...
Selah - SNAP OUT OF IT! *whack!*
Also, I’ll second True Romance, which I JUST bought on DVD yesterday.
The Princess Bride…
...Out of Sight...although that doesn’t end happily, unless you read between the lines…
and
Hope Floats...which is really more “chick lit” with romance on the side, but the romance itself is swoony, and Harry Connick, Jr.? Shocked the hell outta me with his charisma.
Oh, Sarah…
“You have such a head for knowing.”
I warn you. I can do this all day and not break a sweat.
“Old man, you give those dogs another piece of my food and I’m gonna kick you ‘til you’re dead!”
To Have and Have Not
“Anybody got a light?”
Sexiest. Movie. Ever. AND they keep their clothes on the whole time.
(Submission word: heart52)
Most of my standards have already been mentioned, but I’m just going to ditto them:
The Matchmaker
10 Things I Hate About You
French Kiss
When Harry Met Sally
The Thin Man (I hadn’t thought of it like that, but totally!)
Princess Bride
Sixteen Candles
Clueless
How to Steal a Million
I keep thinking there’s some movie from the 70’s...oh, no, that was Scavenger Hunt.
Oh, here are a few I haven’t seen mentioned:
All of Me
The Mummy (shaddup, I love me some Brendan Fraser and John Hannah)
And speaking of John Hannah, I could totally leave Gwenyth out of the equation, but mmmm...John: Sliding Doors
Four Weddings and a Funeral (everyone BUT Hugh and Andie’s romance/s)
Oh, wait, the 70’s one: What’s Up Doc?
I think I’ll stop there.
Cherry said on...The Crow. Dude was so pissed at the guys who raped and murdered his girlfriend he came back from the DEAD to waste ‘em all. Now that’s love!
*Sigh* Some of us are sooooooo old:
Cluny Brown--Jennifer Jones and Charles Boyer. Contains the immortal lines “Why throw nuts to the squirrels? I say, throw squirrels to the nuts!” and “If I were a plumber, it would be bang, bang, bang, all night long.”
The Scarlet Pimpernel--Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon. Bitches, there can be only one definitive version. This is is.
The Quiet Man--John Wayne as the romantic lead? Works for me in this film.
Angel and the Badman Ditto.
Pride and PrejudiceLaurence Olivier and Greer Garson? Forget the departures from the novel, this is the thinking person’s version.
Pride and Prejudice Colin Firth. The lustworthy version.
The African Queen Possibly the best romance movie evah!
The Day The Earth Stood Still First Alien Sex movie! OK, maybe there wasn’t sex, but one can imagine.
Oooops--don’t forget Casablanca! And am I the only one who also thinks Claude Rains was hot? Squicky, I know, but I liked him a lot.
said on...So many of my favorites are mentioned here. Thanks Nora for the mention of Terminator so noone thinks I am nuts. I find that movie drop dead romantic and noone ever believes me.
Amelie
Chocolat
Casablanca
His Girl Friday
The Philadelphia Story
Down with Love - alot of people hated this movie, it got silly at the end (sillier may be more apt) but I loved it.
Bringing up Baby - my favorite of those two together.
Woman on Top - bonus of a fantastic soundtrack.
The Princess Bride of course
Pillow Talk if I want something super frothy.
Some Kind of Wonderful - (This is how my girlfriend would look without hair)
Overboard - sexist as hell, I love it anyway, it is tough to beat those two for chemistry.
A Room with a View - my favorite of all time, that movie was my first sexual experience - I remember rewinding it to be sure I saw him kiss her boobs, through her shirt! Totally hot.
Pride and Prejudice - spare me the Keira Knightley one, I liked the dude ok but she was imo horrific.
...and when it comes to hetero dude action, I actually cried when Dante and Randall expressed their love.
Secretary
I am a total sucker for Cary Grant and Bogart. Love the African Queen. Anything with him and Bacall. You could fry bacon on their chemistry.
Sabrina (Bogey version of course)
Strictly Ballroom
I’m a little worried that noone mentioned A Very Long Engagement, I haven’t watched it yet, but I’ve been saving the dvd for a Very Bad Day - but the idea is not to make that day worse.
Ok I cannibalized the shit out of other people’s lists, but how could I not? Yall have good taste.
Selah: mira la bella luna! la bella luna!
And the Terminator? TOTALLY romantic.
Oh! Oh!
Notorious with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Oh my GOD, how I love this movie. Mostly because she’s a very bad girl - not anything remotely like a virgin, and not particularly ashamed of it either.
The scene where Grant’s character - who swings from treating her well to treating her with contempt to realizing he’s desperately in love with her - defends her to the rest of his comrades in the CIA, who think she’s expendable because she’s a slut? Gah. And then...but I don’t want to spoil it. Who knew Hitchcock could do such effective romance?
Sarah:
“Rose: Do you love him, Loretta?
Loretta: Aw, ma, I love him awful.
Rose: Oh, God, that’s too bad.”
said on...Mississippi Masala - One word: Denzel.
The Saint - A guilty pleasure, because it’s really dumb. Very romantic, though.
Say Anything - C’mon folks! Major omission! Possibly the most painfully romantic movie ever made.
Life is Beautiful - Unlikely hero, but such a bittersweet picture.
Jane Eyre - The William Hurt version.
Wuthering Heights - The Ralph Fiennes version. I like the Larry version less well, actually.
The Adventures of Robin Hood - I had a childhood crush on Errol Flynn.
The War Lord - Little-known pic with Charlton Heston, if you can tolerate him. I can. Great score.
Selah: “I just want you to know no matter what you do, you’re gonna die, just like everybody else.”
Oh, oh, oh!! I just remembered one: Charade with Audrey and Cary...*lurved* that movie. It was just before Cary started getting a little *too* old to be the lead romantic interest.
And speaking of Cary, Operation Petticoat. Yes, I’m addicted to comedies, so what.
And, I’m revealing my taste in “bad” movies here, but:
Blame it on the Bellboy - Bryan Brown and Penelope Wilton’s dark little romance
Year of the Comet - mmmm...Tim Daly...mmm
Kimber, I’m a fan of The Warlord also, though I thought Rosemary Forsyth was the weakest member of that cast. Everyone else was spot on.
Oh, and if we’re going to mention Chuck Heston in The Warlord, I also have to give a nod to El Cid. Heston and Sophia Loren doing that epic movie thang.
This column is going into a special folder in my Favorites list...you-all have come up with some GREAT movies. Yes, I’ve seen most of them, but that’s not going to stop me from having a mini-film festival of romantic movies!
To add my voice...The Scarlet Pimpernel with Anthony Andrews and Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth get my my top votes!
said on...Return to Me with Minnie Driver and David Duchovny. Trite and filled to the brim with chick movie cliches, but GOD, I love it and cry every time.
Secretary Love it love it love it.
Strictly Ballroom I watched this movie 7 times in the theatre. So funny and wonderful.
I second The Princess Bride a million, gajillion times.
“This is true love - you think it happens every day?”
“MAWWAGE, bwings uth TOGETHAH!”
I also second Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! Topher Grace needs more romantic movies - even P.S., where he hit on Laura Linney, was pretty hot.
13 Going on 30 is a perennial favourite over at our house - sparkly DVD cover be damned. It’s not just Big for girls, I swear - there’s Rick Springfield! And pretty clothes! And Mark Ruffalo!
One romantic comedy that really surprised me was Fever Pitch (the Jimmy Fallon version - I have not seen the Colin Firth original). I was expecting it to be a silly take-off (and subconscious put-down) of a dude’s obsession with a baseball team, but I felt they handled it really well. The point of the movie was that he loved his girl AS MUCH AS baseball, which for him, was A LOT. Jimmy Fallon was not nearly as annoying or smarmy as I was expecting him to be - he was actually funny, sweet, and very handsome. And I’m a sucker for baseball movies too. I wish Jimmy Fallon were in more movies that weren’t Taxi.
Also, who can forget Can’t Buy Me Love? Because I can - bought the DVD for $20 and I LOVE IT. Sure, it’s 80s, but holy cow - Patrick Dempsey paved the way for skinny hot boys EVERYWHERE.
“And then...there’s copper...which is the only pipe I use.”
Sorry. I couldn’t resist. My favorite movie.
None romances specifically, but three of my favorites:
A Beautiful Mind
Pleasantville--I always cry when Jeff Daniels wipes the makeup off Joan Allen’s face and she’s in color underneath
Clerks 2--yes, the bromance, but also when Dante declares his love for Rosario Dawson in the presence of pulse-pounding interspecies erotica
I really like that no one here is jumping on each other’s choices ("That movie that holds so much emotional meaning for you? IT SUX!"), the way a bunch of guys would.
And I can’t believe I forgot some of these! THe Matchmaker, and P&P (the good one, not that abomination with Keira Bug-Eyes), and Harry & Sally, and While You Were Sleeping...oh!
I know I may take a few rotten tomatoes for this, but I found both Sommersby and Cold Mountain incredibly romantic.
Yes, they’re tragedies, but the profound passion that’s the catalyst for the tragedy in both movies (and in Cold Mountain’s case, the book) felt very real to me. I openly sobbed my way through the last ten minutes of Sommersby, and that never happens. Of course, I was preggers at the time.
Sarah:
“Ronny: You’re gonna marry my brother? Why you wanna sell your life short? Playing it safe is just about the most dangerous thing a woman like you could do. You waited for the right man the first time, why didn’t you wait for the right man again?
Loretta: He didn’t come!
Ronny: I’m here!
Loretta: You’re late!”
This is great, I just spent some quality time with my tivo and everyone’s recs. Perfect timing for me and my upcoming hormones. Can’t believe I forgot to mention Say Anything and Can’t Buy Me Love. I do own and love them though. Pleasantville, dear gods I love me some Joan Allen, she made me cry SO HARD. - and I seriously don’t know how I’ve gone my whole life never watching Notorious, I’m totally renting it tonight.
Selah: “I didn’t really think she was gonna die. I knew she was sick.... I mean, she was coughing her brains out, and still she had to keep singing!”
A Very Long Engagement was A Very Long Movie, imo. I’m not sure I’d save it for a bad day. I thought the ending just sucked. Not realistic enough to justify the sadness and not happy enough to justify the unbelieveability of it.
But Amelie, with the same actress, was so wonderful!
Also love Bend it like Beckham and Ever After.
Merchant & Ivory: Maurice
For that M/M Angst Ridden Traumance you know you want.
Of course you must be able to handle Hugh Grant as a male love interest… ehhhh
said on...How ‘bout THE VILLAGE? I tear up every single time I watch the scene on the porch between Lucius and Ivy. So lovely.
Funny, I was thinking this morning before reading this about the “I believe” scene in Bull Durham ("I believe in long, slow, wet kisses that last for days...") so that’s an obvious one to add to this list.
And Rebecca of course, not least because it’s inspired so many other stories.
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton started my age-inappropriate crush on Topher Grace, so I have to add In Good Company. Because even though his character didn’t get a HEA by the end of the movie, I found it quite romantic that part of his character’s transformation and growth as a person was due to falling in love.
[And yes! to Room with a View, Sliding Doors and Down with Love (Ewan’s face when Renee explains how she changed herself and manipulated him to her will is one of my favorite expressions of all time)].
Susan said on...Oh, gotta put my 2 cents in on movies:
Others have mentioned, but top my list:
Persuasion - maybe my favorite movie ever
Couple I’ve seen recently and loved:
A Very Long Engagement - I’m sure it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I loved it, including the ending. But not a light movie, by any means. Lots o’ war.
In the Mood for Love - beautifully filmed, achingly bittersweet
Couple I didn’t see mentioned, maybe I missed them:
Flirting - Australian teenagers in lurve - oh sooooo sweet
Le Retour de Martin Guerre - French movie Sommersby was based on, young Gérard Depardieu before he became everyone’s favorite goofy French guy, and based on a true story…
Adding:
Monsoon Wedding. The bit with the marigolds and candles and the wedding-planner and housemaid gets me every time. One of my all-time favourites.
The Remains of the Day. British repression is hot.
(foreign68—hee!)
said on...One of my faves is Cyrano de Bergerac, the version from 1990 with Gerard Depardieu.
Thanks to everyone else for the recommendations that are filling up my netflix queue.
said on...Selah and Sarah, you’re making me laugh so hard. I loved that movie. Well, I know what I’m watching tonight. The grandfather had the funniest lines.
“Why are you crying, pop?”
“I’m so confused.”
Also have to vote for Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth)
And While You Were Sleeping. I’m not a huge Sandra Bullock fan, but the rest of the cast was so funny. Brain fluff.
Bride and Prejudice--I loves me some Bollywood.
I’ve read Maurice but didn’t know it was a movie. Guess what I’m renting next time the hubster is out of town?
Robin said on...Okay, now all I can think about is Moonstruck (and I can’t believe someone hasn’t quoted the wolf speech, or “Snap out of it!”—OMG there are so many great things about that movie!).
Some more for the master list:
My Favorite Wife
The Sure Thing
It’s A Wonderful Life
The Graduate
Map of the Human Heart
Like Water for Chocolate
Addicted to Love (one of the films in which Meg Ryan’s bitterness actually worked)
Impromptu
The Desk Set
Adam’s Rib
I haven’t seen GREEN CARD listed. Which is the movie that made me a fan of Gerard Depardieu for life. The look on his face at the end.....
The Last of the Mohicans
Love Actually
Sense and Sensibility
“Loretta: Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been two months since my last confession.
Priest: What sins have you to confess?
Loretta: Twice I took the name of the Lord in vain, once I slept with the brother of my fiancee, and once I bounced a check at the liquor store, but that was really an accident.
Priest: Then it’s not a sin. But… what was that second thing you said, Loretta?”
And for Robin…
“Ronny: A bride without a head!
Loretta: A wolf without a foot!”
(I know that’s not the whole quote, but if I don’t get some writing done today...)
Maverick - With Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson. I love, love, love, Jodie Foster’s character in this.
Casino Royale - Totally not your typical Bond film relationship, plus Daniel Craig is ten gazillion different kinds of hot.
A Very Long Engagement - Absolutely heartbreaking. In a good way.
Indochine - Also heartbreaking, and beautifully filmed.
In the Mood for Love - Extremely understated, amazing.
Intolerable Cruelty - An homage to thirties screwball comedies that works. Amazing dialogue.
High Fidelity - Romance from a guy perspective.
Rebecca - Hitchcock does a great job with du Maurier’s novel.
Plus seconding some of the movies mentioned earlier: The Princess Bride, It Happened One Night, When Harry Met Sally, Eternal Sunshine of the of Spotless Mind, Secretary, Moulin Rouge, Shakespeare in Love
said on...A must see period drama ... BBC 2004 NORTH & SOUTH. It’s my absolute favorite now (even better than my other favorites Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion). If you don’t believe me, just check out the reviews on imdb.com (9.3/10 rating), amazon, and bn.com.
It’s impossible to watch it just one time. In fact ... it’s really addictive!
said on...Moonstruck - YES !
Monsoon Wedding - YES YES !
The Last Mohican - YES YES YES ! Oh man - the scene where the younger sister calmly steps off the mountain to follow in death the hero’s younger brother who unhesitatingly sacrificed himself for her !
Staying with the theme of self-sacrifice - how about GLADIATOR ? He almost kills himself rushing back to Spain to save wife and child (too late), then actually does get killed while making sure the child of his former love stays safe. What a man.
A very cute, funny little movie that got no publicity and deserves some:
I’M WITH LUCY - Monica Potter goes on five very different dates after being humiliatingly dumped. If that isn’t enough to tempt you, it has GAEL GARCIA BERNAL as one of the dates. Yum.
I’ll out myself as terminally unhip by saying I love FIRST KNIGHT. Julia Ormond trying so hard to resist the overpowering lure of Richard Gere…
The tragedy sublimated into enduring beautiful music in IMMORTAL BELOVED, about Beethoven.
And finally (or until I can think of some more) - not a romance movie in any sense, but the loving, trusting relationship that builds between adult assassin Jean Reno and young girl crime victim Natalie Portman in THE PROFESSIONAL packs a truly unique and powerful emotional punch.
I have to go watch some of these over again now.....
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
The Perez Family
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Fiddler on the Roof
The Sound of Music
My Fair Lady
The romantic movie I love to hate: Legends of the Fall. I was so amazed watching this movie unfold because it was just a romance novel set to film. But everyone in the audience was practically “swooning and sobbing” by the end...and this after I’d gotten so much crap for reading romance in my life. It was just weird.
Without hesitation, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, a 1945 b&w British film, screenplay by Noel Coward. Subtle, believable, and heart-wrenching. And THE GO-BETWEEN (from the 1960s or ‘70s), with Alan Bates and Julie Christie, directed by the great Joseph Losey.
Creeping closer to the present, THE PIANO (almost too wrenching for me to watch) and, continuing with my angsty preferences, PRIEST. This last one is another fairly obscure but superb British film with *gasp* a gay not-quite-a-couple struggling to be a couple.
I have butted out of the Moonstruck tennis match as long as I could, but no one has mentioned:
Johnny: ‘Someday you’ll thank me.’
Loretta: ‘Yeah, and someday you’ll drop dead and I’ll come to your funeral in a red dress !’
While You Were Sleeping is probably my favourite romantic comedy: the main characters are so sweet, and it’s just one of those rare films where everything seems to come together perfectly.
A Room With A View for the Best. Screen Kiss. Ever. Also because I heart Forster ever so much (love to Maurice too!)
Ever After and Dirty Dancing are two more ... funny, sweet and the heroines are the ones who lead the way!
Finally ... the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice with the definitive Lizzy & Darcy (Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth)!
Rose: “You got a love bite on your neck. Your mother’s recovered from death.”
Ronny: “Oh, great. We’re not close, so I’m not really moved.”
Nodding along, agreeing with movies already mentioned…
Last of the Mohicans
Princess Bride
Terminator (Oh, that battered photograph. Wow.)
Sommersby (The Man of the House hates me for this one. He likes his HEA.)
I cannot believe that no one has mentioned Ladyhawke.
Ignore the cheesy spots. Ignore the music.
“Did you know that wolves and hawks mate for life? He didn’t even leave us that.”
Oh my sweet heaven, Ladyhawke! I’ve seen that in English and in Spanish simply because I wanted to look at the movie some more, even if I didn’t understand all of it.
Gosh I love that movie.
How about Chasing Amy?
Or Lady Jane with the very hawt and very young Cary Elwes.
said on...Ooooh...First Knight. Yum.
I’m seconding The Crow, too. Deliciously dark and angst-y.
Legends of the Fall - I like to watch the Brad-Pitt-riding-across-the-rolling-hills-on-horseback scene in sloooow motion. Gads, but he was young and FINE. *drool*
Hope Floats
OH! OH! How about The Thomas Crowne Affair? Fricking hawt.
Ghost
Out of Africa
Always (Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Richard Dreyfuss) - *le sob*
For the most part, I like the tearjerkers, I guess.
Amelie - le sigh, le swoon, le laugh until I choke
Pride and Prejudice (def not Keira Knightley. She’s wafer thin and just looked spacey and her eyes were fine butglazed. Jennifer Ehle’s SHINE.)
Wings of Desire (City of Angels? Meh remake of this totally intense German flick. Get it now!)
Room with a View? Ages since I saw it, but had intense flashbacks as soon as someone mentioned it.
(and THANK YOU spinsterwitch, for dissing Legends of the Fall. You and I are the only women in the world, apparently, who didn’t like it. The best thing about it was the flowing hair. I named my son Tristan without even remembering that was Brad Pitt’s name in this movie and have to strenuously deny the link on a regular basis)
said on...Oldie goldies: Zorba the Greek (tragedy) and Far from the Madding Crowd. Alan Bates was terrific in these.
I almost forgot a couple of my fav foreign films:
Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast; the German films Mostly Martha and The Princess and the Warrior; the Israeli film I Love You Rosa!; The Horseman on the Roof from France, and a little known but very funny Brit film from 2001, St. Ives.
And my husband insists Dave is one of the best romantic comedies he’s ever seen.
True Lies--even though the Governator’s in it. Jamie Lee is hilarious enough to make up for him.
I second the 50 First Dates recommendation--the first movie to prove to me that Adam Sandler really can act. It made me cry. Really.
Sabrina--the remake with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. “I need her… and I don’t need anything.” Best. Line. Evah.
Shining Through--Muh. God. If you haven’t seen this, SEE IT. It’s got romance, drama, spies, betrayal, war… It. Rocks.
Ever After--I’m such a sucker for the fairy tale.
A Knight’s Tale--Heath Ledger. In armor. HOT.
Argh! I have more on the tip of my tongue and they keep floating away… I’ll catch ‘em soon and post more. This is making me want to have a movie marathon!
Darlene, Dave was one of those I was struggling to remember. I agree with your hubby!
I can’t believe I didn’t see these above!
Practical Magic
The American President
Disney’s Sleeping Beauty
I forgot 2 great Mandy Moore movies!
Chasing Liberty
A Walk to Remember (terrible ending, but doing all those things on her list was too good)
said on...Another classic Cary Grant--Father Goose. “Goody-Two-Shoes and the Filthy Beast?”
Also, Roi de Coeur --King of Hearts with Alan Bates and a baby Genevieve Bujold. I know the HEA is everybody winds up in a loony bin, but Alan Bates in a kilt, what’s not to like.
said on...I know,I know, Colin Firth was the definitive Darcy but there’s a lot to be said for Matthew Macfadyen.
said on...So far I didn’t see mention of “A Walk in the Clouds.” It is so beautifully filmed. There are several generations; it’s about family; it ends HEA. I loved the music. The scene in the vineyard when they were wafting the butterfly wings to keep the plants from freezing is amazing. It is worth watching just for Anthony Quinn’s performance as the grandfather.
Kay
I hear ya on that Emdee, but when I thought about buying it I just couldn’t get past the Keira Knightley thing, its not like shes playing a minor character or anything, she is freaking Elizabeth Bennet! Really I require Johnny Depp in pirate regalia for that to happen.
Thanks for the input folks on A Very Long Engagement, I will watch it, but I think not save it for the VBD (very bad day). I’m about to watch Murphy’s Romance on my mother’s recommendation, after discussing this thread with her. She has a lifelong James Garner crush.
said on...Most of my favorite romantic movies are kind of fucked-up. Most of them don’t have traditionally happy endings. They’re more good movies with central love stories than anything else--"central" defined as “if the love story element hadn’t been there, the movie would’ve been fundamentally damaged.”
So, here are the three I’ve already mentioned:
Harold and Maude
The Royal Tannenbaums
Say Anything
And in addition to those, I enjoyed:
When Harry Met Sally (about the only Nora Ephron movie that hasn’t made me gag)
But I’m a Cheerleader
03.21.07 at 08:03 PM |