MC Wednesday Inventory #6: Your Top Five "Comfort" Films

[dreamdead]

This week's category comes courtesy of Sarah's cold. Essentially, what are the top films that you turn to when your body is sick and ailing? The films that let you curl up in a blanket with a cup of hot tea and a box of tissues by your side?

(Thanks to Watashi for hosting last week, too!)

[megladon8]

Hmmm...


Casablanca
Alien
Superman
Princess Mononoke
The Evil Dead

[Spinal]

I don't really do this, so I don't think I can participate this week. I've never been one to watch films in this way.

[Fezzik]

1. The Princess Bride
2. Singin' in the Rain
3. Casablanca
4. Almost Famous
5. How to Train Your Dragon

[dreamdead]

1. Manhattan
2. In the Mood for Love
3. The Princess Bride
4. Wall E
5. The Thin Red Line

[Winston*]

I don't really do this, so I don't think I can participate this week. I've never been one to watch films in this way.

Me neither. I rarely re-watch films.

[Raiders]

Tough, as I am somewhat similar to Spinal in that I rarely "curl up" with a good film when I am under the weather (usually a book or something amusing like Judge Judy), but if I think about what this category defines, I imagine I could name five Soderbergh films and it would be accurate. In any case:

1. Out of Sight
2. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
3. Election
4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
5. My Neighbor Totoro

[EyesWideOpen]

I don't really do this, so I don't think I can participate this week. I've never been one to watch films in this way.

Same here. I almost never get sick and when I do I don't act any differently in regards to what I watch.

[Skitch]

This is when I break out the long films, seems when I'm ill is the only time I have the time.

Dances With Wolves
2001: A space Odyessy
Once Upon A Time In The West
Das Boot (still never seen the whole thing, can't tell if because of Nyquill or the film)
Seven Samurai

[Kurosawa Fan]

Pride and Prejudice (2005)
High Fidelity
To Be or Not to Be
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Great Escape

[Ezee E]

These would have to be movies that just end up on TV a ton.

-Shawshank Redemption
-Dumb and Dumber
-Ghostbusters
-Pulp Fiction
-Casino

[megladon8]

I think people are taking the idea of a movie you watch while sick a little too seriously.

[Winston*]

Amour
Cries and Whispers
All That Jazz
Contagion
Patch Addams

[Kurosawa Fan]

Yeah, I just read it as my favorite films that bring me comfort. Doesn't have to be something I watch when I'm physically ill, just something I go to when I'm feeling down to help pick me up.

[Spinal]

Patch Addams

I prefer Patch Addams Family Values.

[transmogrifier]

Yes, we have finally gotten around to debating the premise of the thread. I was wondering when you guys were going to stop with the cute little lists and get to the point.

In my opinion, I think the criteria for the thread is ill-defined. How can a film "let" me do anything? It has no sentient thought.

Also, when you say "turn to", is that the literal physical movement, or the more euphemistic description used to describe the act of looking to someone for solace?

Finally, grapefruit.

[Spinal]

I don't think we're debating the thread premise. We know what the premise is. It just doesn't apply to some of us.

[MadMan]

1. The Big Lebowski
2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
3. Big Trouble In Little China
4. Any James Bond movie, even the shitty ones-okay maybe not Die Another Day. Ah hell even that one I guess...
5. Rio Bravo

[EyesWideOpen]

Yeah, I just read it as my favorite films that bring me comfort. Doesn't have to be something I watch when I'm physically ill, just something I go to when I'm feeling down to help pick me up.

I still have the same answer. I don't pick films to watch based on how I'm feeling or my mood or to bring me comfort. I've never went "I feel like watching a comedy right now".

[transmogrifier]

I don't think we're debating the thread premise. We know what the premise is. It just doesn't apply to some of us.

Debating whether we are debating the thread premise, huh? That's some high-octane discussing right there.







Fuck it, I'm in.

[transmogrifier]

I still have the same answer. I don't pick films to watch based on how I'm feeling or my mood or to bring me comfort. I've never went "I feel like watching a comedy right now"..

If you don't pick according to what you feel like watching, then how else is there to do it?

[B-side]

Easy, comfortable films I feel I could watch virtually any time:

Big Daddy (Dennis Dugan, 1999)
Any of the Jackass films
Mrs. Doubtfire (Chris Columbus, 1993)
Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995)
Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)

As you can see, I usually opt for light comedy for comfort. And nostalgia plays a huge role in at least 3 of the choices here.

[EyesWideOpen]

.

If you don't pick according to what you feel like watching, then how else is there to do it?

Algorithms.

[Dukefrukem]

Burbs
Big Trouble and Little China
Ghostbusters
Wayne's World
Tango and Cash

[Dukefrukem]

Debating whether we are debating the thread premise, huh? That's some high-octane discussing right there.







Fuck it, I'm in.

I won't be looking forward to you debating the thread premise with yourself.

[Dukefrukem]

These would have to be movies that just end up on TV a ton.

-Shawshank Redemption
-Dumb and Dumber
-Ghostbusters
-Pulp Fiction
-Casino

Rep later for Ghostbusters; Movie always puts me in a good mood.

[bac0n]

* Any old Honda-directed Godzilla flick from the 60s.
* Star Wars (OT)
* Pink Panther Strikes Again
* Blade Runner
* Chronicles o' Riddick

[transmogrifier]

I won't be looking forward to you debating the thread premise with yourself.

Hey, a complete sentence! We are getting somewhere.

[Lucky]

Almost Famous is the only movie that applies for me.

Being sick is the ideal time to marathon a new television show.

[transmogrifier]

I don't like watching new stuff when I'm sick. For me, it's old TV and movies that I know and love, mainly stuff that is overtly mainstream so I don't have to concentrate too much.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I don't like watching new stuff when I'm sick. For me, it's old TV and movies that I know and love, mainly stuff that is overtly mainstream so I don't have to concentrate too much.

My thoughts exactly. I don't want to think, I just want something familiar and easy to take my mind off how I feel. Plus, depending on the severity of the sickness/malaise, it's probably not a great time to throw yourself into something new.

[Pop Trash]

The Neverending Story
Superman ('78)
My Life as a Dog
Dumb and Dumber
Terminator 2

[Watashi]

Any Disney Movie

[MadMan]

Hey, a complete sentence! We are getting somewhere.:lol:

Pop Trash's list surprised me completely.

[Sycophant]

1. A Goofy Movie (which, in high school, I watched multiple times almost every day for a month I was sick and had to stay home; a lot of other Disney movies qualify, too, especially The Great Mouse Detective)
2. The Royal Tenenbaums (or Bottle Rocket, or really, just about any Wes Anderson film)
3. God of Cookery (other Stephen Chow movies that probably qualify include Shaolin Soccer and Love on Delivery)
4. Kikujiro (I've turned to this while sick; it makes me love living)
5. Singin' in the Rain (JOY)

BONUS MENTION. While You Were Sleeping

For me, these are movies that I return to when I just need comfort of body or soul. Things I've watched dozens of times that feel as nice as slipping on a favorite shirt or getting under a favorite blanket.

When I'm just a little sick, or it's not affecting my mind much, I like to go to stuff I'm well familiar with, though that's often TV shows rather than movies (specifically, NewsRadio, Mad About You, Frasier, Larry Sanders, Home Movies... mostly 1990s sitcoms). The first time I watched True Romance, I had a high fever and was drinking orange juice and awake but also kind of asleep. It was a nightmarish, feverish viewing and it wasn't until I watched it again a few months later that I really understood what happened in it. My brain was struggling to handle the new inputs, so when I'm that sick, I tend to go for the chicken noodle soup of movies. Except, in truth, I don't like chicken noodle soup.

[Thirdmango]

Like Sycophant I tend to turn towards TV shows of which I'm well familiar with (News Radio, Star Trek TNG, The Simpsons) so I rarely turn to movies during these times however I can think of a couple of films I have re-watched so many times that while sick I could potentially turn to.

1. Dragnet -- This was easily my favorite movie as a child.
2. The Back to the Future trilogy.
3. Wizard People Dear Reader. Though not technically a movie, it is one I've seen nearly 100 times and can quote the whole movie.
4. The Hudsucker Proxy
5. The Incredibles

I had considered Stephen Chow films as I have seen those a substantial amount however when sick I usually like to have my eyes closed and hear the show and visualize it in my head so foreign films don't really work for that kind of moment.