Looking for movie recommendations

[carbonel]

I've been watching too many worthwhile but depressing 4-star movies. I'm looking for suggestions for movies that are upbeat or feel-good, but also intelligent. Live action preferred over anime, and a Bechdel pass is definitely a plus. Romance is acceptable but very much optional.

A couple of examples that I've already watched that would fit the criteria are Bull Durham and The Goodbye Girl. Once is marginal, because of its rather melancholic feel, but gets a pass because it has reasonably intelligent characters interacting without romance getting in the way.

Comments

[lydy.livejournal.com]

"Love, Actually."

"Notting Hill Road" a terrible piece of fluff, but Hugh Grant is lunchable. (Auto-correct tried to make that punchable, kind of exactly not what I wanted.)

"Blow Dry" British, does have dying Mum, but also sweet with Alan Rickman (who I will, in fact, watch make tea in slow motion, but only for three minutes -- the You Tube video is seven minutes long.) Heidi Klum in a terrible role giving a performance every bit as terrible as the role. Bill Nighy. Competitive hair dressing. Really.

I tend towards romcoms when I'm looking for cheerful.

[guppiecat]

In the same line as Lydy, I like "Serendipity" and, really, most things that John Cusack does in the romcom vein. Even "2012", which is part romcom, part action, and mostly a live action road runner cartoon.

Except "for Hot Tub Time Machine". I'm pretty sure he lost a bet when he made that one.

I'm sure I'll think of others as soon as I shut off the computer and go bed.

[carbonel]

I don't think I could stand to watch 2012. I'll give Serendipity a try, though.

I remember seeing a review of Hot Tub Time Machine that said it worked surprisingly well despite the utterly stupid premise. I wasn't particularly tempted, though.

Looking at John Cusack's filmography, I think the only thing of his I've watched was Being John Malkovich.

[guppiecat]

His career has had stages. The early stuff was basic teen romcom, but it worked pretty well: "Sixteen Candles", "Better Off Dead", and "Say Anything" are all fun, if basic.

Then he did young people crime stories. Those don't meet your "fun" criteria and several of them just aren't very good.

When he revisited his romcom roles as an adult, he did a lot of really good stuff. "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "High Fidelity" are really quite good and I liked "America's Sweethearts" but not quite as much. He pretty much nailed that roles with the afore-mentioned "Serendipity".

Then he did a few less popular, but excellent stuff, of which "Max" (not happy) and "The Martian Child" are the best. "War Inc" is in that group, but it really didn't work as satire.

These days, he's back to doing crime, so I guess I have to wait until he's old enough to play a grandfather before I get any more romcom stuff out of him.

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

Grosse Pointe Blank is really good but I thought America's Sweethearts was a predictable waste of an impressive cast.

[helenraven.livejournal.com]

"The Sure Thing" is my favourite John Cusack film. It's that rarest of things: an intelligent teenage sex comedy. I must have seen it at least ten times.

I adored "Notting Hill". Hands down the best Richard Curtis film, IMO.

[carbonel]

Thanks. Love, Actually is excluded because I've seen it too many times. I I'll try the others.

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

Making Mr Right with Ann Magnuson and John Malkovich - Space program. Android. Great shoes. Love story.

Earth Girls Are Easy - Young Jeff Goldblum. Aliens who breakdance. Julie Brown songs.

The Dish - No romance but a sweet and funny tale of the part the Australian Parkes telescope crew played in the coverage of the moon landing

[carbonel]

The Dish is indeed lovely; I saw that one a few years ago.

I'll try the others, thanks.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Here are some I liked.

Secondhand Lions

Arranged (came out in 2007)

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

The Hundred-Foot Journey

[carbonel]

Thanks! I recognize most of these titles, but haven't seen any of them.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Damn it, I tried to think of upbeat or feel good live action, but mostly offbeat but ultimately upbeat movies came to mind, like Moonrise Kingdom. Here's the list, but they might not quite be what you are looking for.

French: The Hedgehog
Japanese: Like Father, Like Son
Griff the Invisible
French? Tomboy
Starlet
Safety Not Guaranteed

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Try "In A World," an odd little indie movie that recently appeared on Netflix streaming. I think it meets all your criteria.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Tea with Mussolini - set among a group of ex-pat British/US women in Florence as Mussolini rises to power/war breaks out. Semi-autobiographical account of the director Zeffirell's younger years, but mostly about the women in that predicament.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Big Hero Six is about a superhero team whose big gun is a Asimovian robot.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"Big Fish".

K.

[carbonel]

Thanks. Funny, Michael Swanwick was just recommending the book the movie was based on, in a Tor.com blog post about mainstream fantasy novels.

[xinef.livejournal.com]

"The Englishman Who Went up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain" delightful fun. The reviews at the time went something like: the title gives the basic plot away, but to our surprise, we loved it.

[aedifica]

How about the Princess Bride? (I have it on my mind because I've been reading the book about the making of the film.)

[carbonel]

An excellent movie that I've already seen a few times. Not that there's any way you could have known that, of course.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

I'm not very familiar with your tastes, so here are some random suggestions:

Attack the block is an action film about when aliens land in the projects in London. Protagonists are mainly a bunch of teenagers on bicycles and an adult woman, so I'm not sure it passes the Bechdel test. OTOH, the kids are very cool and smart and I didn't mind that. And because it's British, it deals with classism and poverty issues too.

The Women (1939). A classic and very witty-funny. AsyouknowBob, no men in the cast, so passes the Bechdel test brilliantly. I'm glad I didn't live in a time when I had to go to Vegas to get a divorce, because I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have been able to spend time with Rosalind Russell et al.

Another vote for Grosse Pointe Blank, best mashup of crime and US high school romanticism/realities ever.

I've heard only good things about What we do in the shadows, but I haven't seen it yet. Entertaining film about the reality of being a vampire; from New Zealand.

If you're up for US animation, there's Hoodwinked, which gives the Little Red Riding Hood story the Rashomon treatment. Marketed for kids originally, but good for adults too. We learn a lot about Granny that one might not have guessed by looking at her (it's never too early to introduce kids to that idea, either).

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Oh, and have you seen all of the mockumentaries from Rob Reiner et al.? Not just This is Spinal Tap but also a handful of other films (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_Spinal_Tap#See_also)? Note: after watching Best in show, you may never see a Kennel Club competition the same way again.