What's your favorite "Feel Good" movie? (1 Viewer)

[Mysto]

The other night we were watching Cool Runnings and my bride mentioned that she really enjoyed a "feel good" movie. She is an expert being the Queen of Hallmark movie channel. But she is right (always) - sometimes it is good to watch a film that may not be great art but gives you that uplift of spirit at the finish. Yes, they are usually corny - schmaltzy - you name it... but they still make you "feel good" when the end credits roll.

So I thought I'd ask - what are your favorite feel good movies. Not looking for a list but movies that you personally relate to and maybe even why. Guilty pleasures are a necessity here for many so let your hair down. This is a no judgement zone.

One of mine is 7 Faces of Dr. Lao "The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it. Every time you watch a rainbow and feel wonder in your heart. Every time you pick up a handful of dust, and see not the dust, but a mystery, a marvel, there in your hand. Every time you stop and think, "I'm alive, and being alive is fantastic!" Every time such a thing happens, you're part of the Circus of Dr. Lao."

So let's have at it. Kleenexes optional. (should that be Kleenesees? Kleeni?)

 

[RMajidi]

Sorry Jeff, I missed your posting It's a Wonderful life so I re-posted. Missed the edit window.
And I agree on the U.K. and Aussie lists. You are my UK vintage TV guru.

Fully agree with you both, about It’s a Wonderful Life.

I don’t know what I was thinking omitting Apollo 13, one of my go-to inspirational films whenever my faith in humanity starts to dim.

Thanks, Ramin! Oh, yes, love those Aussie films...also a big fan of Flirting and The Efficiency Expert, among other feel-good flicks from Down Under. And of course, being a massive Anglophile, there's no shortage of great stuff from the U.K., too.

Shame-faced am I, Jeff - I’ve not seen either of those Aussie films, but I’ll have to seek them out now. I just had a gander at your list too and found a bunch of films in your list that I absolutely love. It also made me want to revisit Enchanted April, which I haven’t seen for many years now. I didn’t know much about Michael Kitchen (other than his Out of Africa role) at the time I saw it, but since then he has become one of my favourite actors for his extraordinary characterisation of Dectective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle in the astonishing Foyle’s War.

Marv, this thread of yours has become reminiscent of your other fun thread about movies seen most repeatedly.

 

[Mysto]

Fully agree with you both, about It’s a Wonderful Life.

I don’t know what I was thinking omitting Apollo 13, one of my go-to inspirational films whenever my faith in humanity starts to dim.



Shame-faced am I, Jeff - I’ve not seen either of those Aussie films, but I’ll have to seek them out now. I just had a gander at your list too and found a bunch of films in your list that I absolutely love. It also made me want to revisit Enchanted April, which I haven’t seen for many years now. I didn’t know much about Michael Kitchen (other than his Out of Africa role) at the time I saw it, but since then he has become one of my favourite actors for his extraordinary characterisation of Dectective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle in the astonishing Foyle’s War.

Marv, this thread of yours has become reminiscent of your other fun thread about movies seen most repeatedly.

I love these kind of threads. Every one gets to share their passions. We get a chance to learn a bit about our fellow posters. And perhaps best of all, gain great lists of films that we should consider or re-visit. What better for a forum about Home Theater.

 

[AshJW]

Pedro Almodovar‘s films are often feel good movies.
My favourites are “Volver” and “Tobo sobre mi madre” (All about my mother).

 

[Bernard McNair]

I would add to my list The Sound of Music and the Alastair Sim St. Trinians movies.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

‘90’s version of The Secret Garden. That spring montage never fails to lift my spirits.

Agreed. Still waiting for that one to come out on Blu-ray. I'd buy it as soon as it hit shelves.

Some others:
The Family Man
Rudy
Miracle
We Bought a Zoo
August Rush
Begin Again
Love Actually (unless you're Emma Thompson's character)
Nicholas Nickleby (the 2002 Douglas McGrath adaptation)
Uptown Girls

 

[Jasper70]

Forrest Gump is one of my favorites

 

[Joe Wong]

Aside from some well-known (and already mentioned) feel-gooders like Groundhog Day and Back to the Future, here are a few of mine:

The Dish (2000)
Come September (1961)
Calamity Jane (1953)

 

[avroman]

Some of my favourite feel-goods are;
Around the World in 80 days (1956). (I hope we have it on Blu, or even better, 4K, soon)
Moonstruck
Green Book
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
The Castle (Aussie Film)
Stan and Ollie
My Father's Glory
My Mother's Castle
High Society (On Blu soon?)
Roman Holiday (Ditto)
Cinema Paradiso
The Whales of August
O Brother, Where art thou?
Farewell my Lovely
The Black Stallion
Darkest Hour
Steamboat Bill Jr.
City Lights
Midnight in Paris
City Slickers
The Princess Bride
The Martian
Hugo
The Birdcage
Disney's Aladdin
Disney's Up
Mary Poppins
The Bridge to Terabithia
Mamma Mia (Both)
Oklahoma
My Fair Lady
Topsy Turvy
A Room with a View
Brooklyn
Romancing the Stone
The Blues Brothers
Blazing Saddles
The Shawshank Redemption
The Duellists
Love Actually
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Mon Oncle
To Kill a Mockingbird
Chariots of Fire
The Sting
Fried Green Tomatoes
Babette's Feast
Born Yesterday
It's a Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th Street
Father of the Bride (Spencer Tracy)
Holiday Inn
Bicycle Thieves
The Importance of Being Earnest
About Schmidt
Kenny (Aussie Film)
Educating Rita
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
and all Laurel and Hardy Movies.

 

[RMajidi]

Great list, Warren.

Of course, The Blues Brothers!

For me also, everything by Harold Lloyd - especially the films he did with Jobyna Ralston - including:

Girl Shy
The Freshman
The Kid Brother

...and let’s face it... Rocky

 

[Brace12]

I like the last Wander Woman movie. It's very good one for watching with friends.

 

[Rustifer]

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.
There. I said it.

If Joan Staley and "Atta Boy, Luther!" don't make you feel good, you've probably got carpet tacks in your slippers.

 

[Hanson]

Scrooged is my favorite Christmas movie. The ending still gets me choked up to this day, and I've seen it dozens of times.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

One movie that always makes me feel good is Local Hero. It is like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold night. I want the world to be like that...like it is in the movie. I think because it expresses so much of how I feel about the world, about people, places, being somewhere where you just fall in love with the place, the people, the moment ...when I'm down, as I am now, it wraps you in hope. And when I watch it I feel all that hope.

In some ways as I travel and spend time with people I kind of carry that feeling of the film with me and try, as best I can, to share that feeling with others. I mean, I love a lot of movies and I love a lot of movies that say and do a lot of different things...some dark, some light...but what Bill Forsyth did with that film, as far as I am concerned, is he released something really good, really hopeful, really beautiful into the world. That's an amazing thing to do. Over the last few years of my life this has become an obsession of mine...to try to release good things into the world...to do, say, and just be some sort of part of the light so other people feel the way Bill Forsyth's film made me feel. I don't think a movie could ever do something more magical than that.

I have never met Bill Forsyth but the man made such an impact on me with that picture, there just are no words suitable to thank him for what he created.

 

[Rustifer]

One movie that always makes me feel good is Local Hero. It is like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold night. I want the world to be like that...like it is in the movie. I think because it expresses so much of how I feel about the world, about people, places, being somewhere where you just fall in love with the place, the people, the moment ...when I'm down, as I am now, it wraps you in hope. And when I watch it I feel all that hope.

In some ways as I travel and spend time with people I kind of carry that feeling of the film with me and try, as best I can, to share that feeling with others. I mean, I love a lot of movies and I love a lot of movies that say and do a lot of different things...some dark, some light...but what Bill Forsyth did with that film, as far as I am concerned, is he released something really good, really hopeful, really beautiful into the world. That's an amazing thing to do. Over the last few years of my life this has become an obsession of mine...to try to release good things into the world...to do, say, and just be some sort of part of the light so other people feel the way Bill Forsyth's film made me feel. I don't think a movie could ever do something more magical than that.

I have never met Bill Forsyth but the man made such an impact on me with that picture, there just are no words suitable to thank him for what he created.

What a great little movie! I had forgotten all about it until your post. I can tell it affected you in a good way.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

What a great little movie! I had forgotten all about it until your post. I can tell it affected you in a good way.

And Criterion will be releasing it soon!

 

[PMF]

In addition to the so many great ones already cited:

City Lights
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
You Can't Take It With You
The Best Years of Our Lives
Summertime
The Music Man
Waking Ned Devine
My Left Foot
Don Juan DeMarco
Walk the Line

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Don Juan DeMArc

In addition to the so many great ones already cited:

City Lights
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
You Can't Take It With You
The Best Years of Our Lives
Summertime
The Music Man
Waking Ned Devine
My Left Foot
Don Juan DeMarco
Walk the Line

Don Juan DeMarco - good call, I had forgotten that, need to rewatch soon.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Two films that instantly leap to mind are Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory and A
Christmas Story.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Adventures in Babysitting
Seven Brides For Seven Brothers
Lady And The Tramp
Yankee Doodle Dandy
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
Victor Victoria
The Princess Bride
Tangled
The Greatest Showman
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

 

[Patrick Sun]

Begin Again.