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| Feel-good movies to Watch |
If you’re one of those who watch movies at such time, for whatever reasons- to cheer yourself up, to forget the current situation for the time being, or to see other people’s miserable life & wonder if you’re simply exaggerating your situation, here’s a list of feel-good movies that you should watch.
(Also there’s a big number of people who, at down-time like these, watch sad & tragic movies, which in a way reflects their own emotions & situations, so that they can have their “oh…that is so me!” moment. Just sayin’….)
Now these movies are not necessarily the ‘best’, happiest or most loved movies. Some might even have not got that ‘amazing’ reviews from the critics. This list is based on personal experience, as well as other people’s reviews on different platforms. So here goes nothing….
18) Silver Linings’ Playbook (2012)
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| Silver Lining's Playbook |
Running Time: 122 minutes
Genre: romantic comedy drama
Director: David O. Russell
CAST-
Jennifer Lawrence (as Tiffany)
Bradley Cooper (as Pat Solitano)
Robert De Niro (as Pat Solitano, Sr.)
Jacki Weaver (as Dolores)
Chris Tucker (as Danny)
Wikipedia: "Cooper plays Patrick "Pat" Solatano, Jr., a man with bipolar disorder who is released from a psychiatric hospital and moves back in with his parents, played by Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver. Determined to win back his estranged wife, Pat meets recently widowed Tiffany Maxwell, portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence, who offers to help him get his wife back if he enters a dance competition with her. The two become closer as they train and Pat, his father, and Tiffany examine their relationships with each other as they cope with their problems....."
Rating:
7.8/10 -IMDb
92% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
81% -Metacritic
17) Julie and Julia (2009)
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| Julie and Julia |
Running Time: 123 minutes
Genre: comedy drama
Director: Nora Ephron
Screenplay: Nora Ephron
Story by: Julie Powell, Julia Child, Alex Prud'homme
CAST-
Meryl Streep (as Julia Child)
Amy Adams (as Julie Powell)
Stanley Tucci (as Paul Child)
Chris Messina (as Eric Powell)
Jane Lynch (as Dorothy McWilliams)
Wikipedia: "In 2002, Julie Powell (Adams) is a young writer with an unpleasant job at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's call center, where she answers telephone calls from victims of the September 11 attacks and members of the general public complaining about the LMDC's controversial plans for rebuilding the World Trade Center. To do something she enjoys, she decides to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) by Julia Child (Streep) in one year; Powell decides to write a blog to motivate herself and document her progress....."
Ratings:
7/10 -IMDb
75% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
66% -Metacritic
16) Some Like It Hot (1959)
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| Some like it hot |
Running Time: 121 minutes
Genre: comedy
Director: Billy Wilder
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Screenplay: I. A. L. Diamond, Billy Wilder
CAST-
Marilyn Monroe as (Sugar Kane Kowalczyk)
Tony Curtis (as Joe)
Jack Lemmon (as Jerry)
George Raft (as Spats Colombo)
Joe E. Brown (as Osgood Fielding III)
Wikipedia: "Joe is an irresponsible jazz saxophone player, gambler and ladies' man; his friend Jerry is a sensible jazz double-bass player. They accidentally witness the Saint Valentine's Day massacre. When the gangsters, led by "Spats" Colombo, spot them, the two run for their lives. Penniless and in a mad rush to get out of town, the two musicians take a job with Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators, an all-female band headed to Miami. Disguised as women renaming themselves Josephine and Daphne, they board a train with the band and their male manager, Bienstock. Before they board the train, Joe and Jerry notice Sugar Kane, the band's vocalist and ukulele player....."
Ratings:
8.3/10 -IMDb
96% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
15) Say Anything (1989)
Running Time: 100 minutes
Genre: romantic comedy-drama
Director: Cameron Crowe
Screenplay: Cameron Crowe
CAST-
John Cusack (as Lloyd Dobler)
Ione Skye (as Diane Court)
Lili Taylor (as Corey Flood)
John Mahoney (as James Court)
Eric Stoltz (as Vahlere)
Wikipedia: "Set in Seattle, Washington, the film features Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), an average student and aspiring kickboxer, who attempts a relationship with the lovely valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye) immediately after their graduation from the same high school. Diane has just won a major fellowship to study in England, and will be going there at the end of the summer. Highly intelligent yet socially inexperienced, Diane is intrigued by Lloyd's endearing manner and willingness to take a chance on someone like her. She agrees to Lloyd's request for a date, and the two of them begin seeing each other regularly....."
Ratings:
7.5/10 -IMDb
98% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
14) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
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| Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind |
Running Time: 108 minutes
Genre: romantic sci-fi comedy drama
Director: Michel Gondry
Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman
CAST-
Jim Carrey (as Joel Barish)
Kate Winslet (as Clementine Kruczynski)
Kirsten Dunst (as Mary Svevo)
Mark Ruffalo (as Stan)
Wikipedia: "Emotionally withdrawn Joel Barish and unrestrained free spirit Clementine Kruczynski strike up a relationship on a Long Island Rail Road train from Montauk, New York. They are almost immediately drawn to each other despite their radically different personalities.
Although they do not realize it at the time, Joel and Clementine are, in fact, former lovers, now separated after having spent two years together. After a fight, Clementine hires the New York City firm Lacuna, Inc. to erase all of her memories of their relationship. Upon discovering this, Joel is devastated and decides to undergo the procedure himself, a process that takes place while he sleeps....."
Ratings:
8.4/10 -IMDb
93% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
89% -Metacritic
13) Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
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| Little Miss Sunshine |
Running Time: 101 minutes
Genre: comedy drama
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Screenplay: Michael Arndt
CAST-
Abigail Breslin (Olive Hoover)
Paul Dano (as Dwayne Hoover)
Steve Carell (as Frank Ginsburg)
Alan Arkin (as Grandpa Edwin Hoover)
Toni Collette (as Sheryl Hoover)
Wikipedia: "Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) is an overworked mother of two children who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her gay brother Frank (Steve Carell) is a scholar of French author Marcel Proust, temporarily living at home with the family after a suicide attempt. Her arrogant, goal-obsessed husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) is striving to build a career as a motivational speaker and life coach. Dwayne (Paul Dano), Sheryl's son from a previous marriage, is an unhappy fifteen-year-old who has taken a vow of silence until he can accomplish his dream of getting into the US Air Force Academy in order to become a test pilot. Richard's foul-mouthed father, Edwin (Alan Arkin), a World War II veteran recently evicted from a retirement home for using heroin, lives with the family. He is close with his seven-year-old granddaughter, Olive (Abigail Breslin)....."
Ratings:
7.9/10 -IMDb
91% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
80% -Metacritic
12) The Sound of Music (1965)
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| The Sound Of Music |
Running Time: 174 minutes
Genre: musical drama
Director: Robert Wise
Story by: Russel Crouse, Maria von Trapp, Howard Lindsay
CAST-
Julie Andrews (as Maria Rainer)
Christopher Plummer (as Captain Von Trapp)
Charmian Carr (as Liesl von Trapp)
Kym Karath (as Gretl von Trapp)
Heather Menzies (as Louisa von Trapp)
Wikipedia: "In 1938, while living as a young postulant at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg, Austria, Maria is constantly getting into mischief to the consternation of the nuns and the Mother Abbess. After receiving a request from a widowed Austrian naval captain for a governess for his seven children, Mother Abbess asks Maria to accept the position, and Maria reluctantly agrees. When she arrives at the von Trapp estate, Maria discovers that Captain Georg von Trapp keeps it in strict shipshape order. He uses a whistle to summon his children, issues orders, and dresses his children in sailor-suit uniforms. Although initially hostile, the children quickly warm to her thanks to her kind nature and she teaches them how to sing and allows them to play....."
Ratings:
8/10 -IMDb
85% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
11) It’s a wonderful Life (1946)
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| It's a Wonderful Life |
Running Time: 130 minutes
Genre: fantasy comedy drama
Director: Frank Capra
Screenplay: Michael Wilson, Frank Capra, Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, Jo Swerling
CAST-
James Stewart (as George Bailey)
Donna Reed (as Mary Hatch)
Lionel Barrymore (as Mr. Potter)
Karolyn Grimes (as Zuzu Bailey)
Henry Travers (as Clarence Odbody)
Wikipedia: "In Bedford Falls, New York,[N 2] on Christmas Eve, George Bailey is deeply troubled and suicidal. Prayers for his well-being from friends and family reach Heaven. Clarence Odbody, Angel 2nd Class, is assigned to save George. In order to prepare Clarence for his trip to Earth, his superior Joseph shows flashbacks of George's life....."
Ratings:
8.7/10 -IMDb
94% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
10) Midnight in Paris (2011)
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| Midnight in Paris |
Running Time: 94 minutes
Genre: romantic comedy fanatsy
Director: Woody Allen
Screenplay: Woody Allen
CAST-
Owen Wilson (as Gil)
Rachel McAdams (as Inez)
Marion Cotillard (as Adriana)
Kathy Bates (as Gertrude Stein)
Carla Bruni (as Museum Guide)
Wikipedia: "Gil Pender (Owen Wilson), a successful but creatively unfulfilled Hollywood screenwriter, and his fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams), are in Paris, vacationing with Inez's wealthy, conservative parents. Gil is struggling to finish his first novel, centered around a man who works in a nostalgia shop, but Inez dismisses his ambition as a romantic daydream and encourages him to stick with the more lucrative screenwriting. While Gil is considering moving to Paris (which he notes, much to the dismay of his fiancée, is at its most beautiful in the rain), Inez is intent on living in Malibu....."
Ratings:
7.7/10 -IMDb
93% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
81% -Metacritic
9) Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
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| Singin' in the Rain |
Running Time: 103 minutes
Genre: musical comedy
Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Cinematography: Harold Rosson
CAST-
Gene Kelly (as Don Lockwood)
Debbie Reynolds (as Kathy Selden)
Donald O'Connor (as Cosmo Brown)
Jean Hagen (as Lina Lamont)
Cyd Charisse (as Dancer)
Wikipedia: "Don Lockwood is a popular silent film star with humble roots as a singer, dancer and stuntman. Don barely tolerates his vapid, shallow leading lady, Lina Lamont, though their studio, Monumental Pictures, links them romantically to increase their popularity. Lina herself is convinced they are in love, despite Don's protestations otherwise.
At the premiere of his newest film, The Royal Rascal, Don tells the gathered crowd an exaggerated version of his life story, including his motto, which is "Dignity. Always dignity". His words are humorously contradicted by flashbacks showing him taking on a wide range of menial and humiliating roles on stage and in film alongside his best friend Cosmo Brown....."
Ratings:
8.4/10 -IMDb
100% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
8) City Island (2009)
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| City Island |
Running Time: 104 minutes
Genre: comedy drama
Director: Raymond De Felitta
Screenplay: Raymond De Felitta
CAST
Andy García (as Vince Rizzo)
Dominik García-Lorido (as Vivian Rizzo)
Steven Strait (as Tony Nardella)
Ezra Miller (as Vince Jr.)
Wikipedia: "Living on City Island, in the Bronx, Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia), a prison guard, is the father of a dysfunctional family whose members all have secrets. Vince discovers that his secret illegitimate son is now the 24-year-old prison inmate Tony Nardella (Steven Strait) who is being held in the same prison where he works. Without revealing this truth to his family, Vince consequently gets Tony out of prison and employs him as hired help at his own home in order to become closer with his unknowing son. Vince has also been secretly taking acting lessons, taught by Michael Malakov (Alan Arkin), and begins to form a platonic bond with Molly (Emily Mortimer), an aspiring actress....."
Ratings:
7.4/10 -IMDb
81% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
7) His Girl Friday (1940)
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| His Girl Friday |
Running Time: 92 minutes
Genre: comedy
Director: Howard Hawks
Screenplay: Charles Lederer
CAST-
Cary Grant (as Walter Burns)
Rosalind Russell (as Hildy Johnson)
Cary Grant (as Walter Burns)
Ralph Bellamy (as Bruce Baldwin)
Gene Lockhart (as Sheriff Hartwell)
Roscoe Karns (as McCue)
Wikipedia: "Walter Burns (Cary Grant) is a hard-boiled editor for The Morning Post who learns his ex-wife and former star reporter, Hildegard "Hildy" Johnson (Rosalind Russell), is about to marry bland insurance man Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy) and settle down to a quiet life as a wife and mother in Albany, New York. Walter determines to sabotage these plans, enticing the reluctant Hildy to cover one last story, the upcoming execution of convicted murderer Earl Williams (John Qualen)....."
Ratings:
8.1/10 -IMDb
98% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
4.1/5 -Amazon.com
6) Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
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| Planes, Trains and Automobiles |
Genre: comedy
Director: John Hughes
Screenplay: John Hughes
CAST-
John Candy (as Del Griffith)
Steve Martin (as Neal Page)
Kevin Bacon (as Taxi Racer)
Michael McKean
Wikipedia: "Neal Page is trying to return to his family for Thanksgiving in Chicago after being on a business trip in New York City. Del Griffith, a traveling salesman, interferes by leaving his trunk by the side of the road causing Neal to trip while racing a man for a cab, then inadvertently snatching the taxi ride that Neal bought from an attorney. The two meet again on the flight from JFK Airport to O'Hare; the plane is diverted to Wichita due to a blizzard in Chicago. What should have been a 1 hour and 45 minute New York-to-Chicago flight turns into a three-day ordeal, in which everything that can go wrong does....."
Ratings:
7.6/10 -IMDb
94% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
5) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
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| Shawshank Redemption |
Running Time: 142 minutes
Genre: drama
Director: Frank Darabont
Story by: Stephen King
Screenplay: Frank Darabont
CAST:
Tim Robbins (as Andy Dufresne)
Morgan Freeman (as Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding)
Bob Gunton (as Warden Norton)
Clancy Brown (as Captain Hadley)
William Sadler (as Heywood)
Wikipedia: "In 1947 Portland, Maine, banker Andy Dufresne is wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and her lover and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences at the fictional Shawshank State Penitentiary in rural Maine. Andy befriends prison contraband smuggler, Ellis "Red" Redding, an inmate serving a life sentence. Red procures a rock hammer and later a large poster of Rita Hayworth for Andy. Working in the prison laundry, Andy is regularly assaulted by the "bull queer" gang "the Sisters" and their leader, Bogs....."
Ratings:
9.3/10- IMDb
91% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
80% -Metacritic
4) Pulp Fiction (1994)
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| Pulp Fiction |
Running Time: 154 minutes
Genre: black comedy crime
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino
CAST-
Quentin Tarantino (as Jimmie Dimmick)
Uma Thurman (as Mia Wallace)
John Travolta (as Vincent Vega)
Samuel L. Jackson (as Jules Winnfield)
Bruce Willis (as Butch Coolidge)
Wikipedia: "Pulp Fiction connects the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles mobsters, fringe players, small-time criminals, and a mysterious briefcase. Considerable screen time is devoted to conversations and monologues that reveal the characters' senses of humor and perspectives on life. The film's title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue. Pulp Fiction is self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of "pulp"..... "
Ratings:
8.9/10 -IMDb
93% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
3) Casablanca (1942)
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| Casablanca |
Running Time: 102 minutes
Genre: romantic drama
Director: Michael Curtiz
Screenplay: Howard E. Koch, Philip G. Epstein, Julius J. Epstein, Casey Robinson
CAST-
Humphrey Bogart (as Rick Blaine)
Ingrid Bergman (as Ilsa Lund Laszlo)
Claude Rains (as Captain Louis Renault)
Paul Henreid (as Victor Laszlo)
Peter Lorre (as Ugarte)
Wikipedia: "It is December 2, 1941. American expatriate Rick Blaine is the proprietor of an upscale nightclub and gambling den in Casablanca. "Rick's Café Américain" attracts a varied clientele: Vichy French, Italian, and German officials; refugees desperate to reach the still neutral United States; and those who prey on them. Although Rick professes to be neutral in all matters, it is later revealed he ran guns to Ethiopia during its war with Italy and fought on the Loyalist side against the fascist Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War....."
Ratings:
8.6/10 -IMDb
97% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
4.7/5 -Amazon.com
2) Best in Show (2000)
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| Best in Show |
Running Time: 90 minutes
Genre: comedy
Director: Christopher Guest
Screenplay: Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy
CAST-
Christopher Guest (as Harlan Pepper)
Catherine O'Hara (as Cookie Fleck)
Eugene Levy (as Gerry Fleck)
Parker Posey (as Meg Swan)
Fred Willard (as Buck Laughlin)
Wikipedia: "The film follows five entrants in a prestigious dog show and focuses on the slightly surreal interactions among the various owners and handlers as they travel to the show and compete, and after the show, as well as how the personalities and characteristics of the owners match those of their dogs..... "
Ratings:
95% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
78% -Metacritic
4.2/5 -Amazon.com
1) Groundhog Day (1993)
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| Groundhog Day |
Running Time: 101 minutes
Genre: fantasy comedy
Director: Harold Ramis
Screenplay: Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis
CAST-
Bill Murray (as Phil)
Harold Ramis (as Neurologist)
Andie MacDowell (as Rita)
Chris Elliott (as Larry)
Stephen Tobolowsky (as Ned)
Wikipedia: ".....Phil wakes up to find that he is reliving February 2. The day plays out exactly as it did before, with no one but Phil aware of the time loop. At first he is confused, but, when the phenomenon continues on subsequent days, he decides to take advantage of the situation with no fear of long-term consequences: he learns secrets from the town's residents, seduces women, steals money, gets drunk, drives recklessly, and gets thrown in jail. However, his attempts to get closer to Rita, to whom he has become attracted, repeatedly fail....."
Ratings:
8.1/10 -IMDb
96% -Rotten Tomatoes (See Here)
You don’t necessarily have to agree with this list. And obviously we did missed many more amazing movies. Tell us if there’s particular movie that made you happy & deserves to be in this list. We’ll put it on another list.
