There is a difference, I think, between movies that are good – or even excellent – and movies that you want to watch over again. In general, the Films Of Quality are things I appreciate and like but they do not become the movies that, when you’re flicking around on TV and you see that it’s on, AGAIN, you flick there because you can pick it up a half hour in and half pay attention while attending a Twitter party and it’s still entertaining in the background.
You know what I mean?
This came up recently because my sister recommended that we check out Edge of Tomorrow, which was a completely ignored Emily Blunt/Tom Cruise film from a few years back. But she was too late, because Edge of Tomorrow is already one of my rewatchables – I think I watched it at least three times when it was on Netflix in the summer, and if it was still there now I’d have it on this minute. Emily Blunt is SO GOOD, y’all.
Most of my other rewatchables aren’t exactly award winners but they are FUN. Movies that make me squeal with delight or sing along or just enjoy quoting along with. Here’s a few I can think of: Pitch Perfect, Star Wars, Now You See Me, Coyote Ugly (apologies to women everywhere, yet I love it), Speed, The Princess Bride, Die Hard, Ocean’s Eleven, The Sound of Music, Sneakers, Frozen, Guardians of the Galaxy, How to Marry a Millionaire, Easter Parade, and A Knight’s Tale.
What are your rewatchables?
TurtleHead 
Ocean’s Eleven
Moonstruck
Godfather I and II (if in mobster mood, which isn’t all the time)
Goodfellas (see above)
How to get rid of a guy… (So stupid, so funny)
Men in Black (only first one, others suck)
Shawshank Redemption (looooove this one)
…so far off the top of my head. 😊
I love, love, love Moonstruck too. I just asked my sister to borrow it so I could watch it again for the umpteenth time.
I’m interested at your choices of The Godfather, Goodfellas, and Shawshank. I seem to gravitate to action or comedy, or hopefully both, in my rewatchables – no dramas. I’ll have to think if there are any dramas that fit the bill for me.
I actually like some of the southern drama/comedies chickflicks too, I remember I really liked Fried Green Tomatoes, back then. Some of those actresses really impress me.
Or Ya Ya Sisterhood
and the Grumpy Old Men movies. If you need a laugh they’re so easy to re-watch just for entertainment purposes on a rainy, crappy day…
Real Genius
Top Secret
Mr Mom
Swimming to Cambodia
Top Gun
All of Me
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
Transylvaia 6-5000
Ishtar
Romancing the Stone
The Princess Bride
Ladyhawke
I think they all originate from my youth in the late 80s/early 90s. I guess that means I’m old.
Excellent choices (well, maybe not Ishtar!). I think we talked in the fall about Ladyhawke – I recently, after years of trying, got a DVD copy to show the kids as my sisters and I loved it and watched it dozens of times as kids. It sort of stands up – it would be perfection except for its weird, incongruous 80s synth soundtrack that now sounds so totally dated and out of place. I’m thinking if someone out there would re-score it and re-release it, it could be a masterpiece.
The Bourne movies. It’s embarrassing how many times we’ve watched them. And every James Bond movie (no matter how painfully dated). The boys in our house (kids and husband) watch Wayne’s World and Bill and Ted multiple times. And my kids were just introduced to “What we do in the Shadows” a few weeks ago when they saw it at a friend’s house, then promptly started inviting friends over here to show it to them. In the world of TV, I can’t begin to tell you how many times Top Gear has been watched and re-watched at our house. That’s a boy one, but for me it will always be the original CBC Anne of Green Gables.
There is someone else who watches Top Gear? lol My 12yo boy, 10yo girl and the husband are totally into that. (I like it but I’m not possessed like they are)….funny! No one around here that I know even knows of its existence.
Oh yes – my husband is British and Top Gear has been IT in Britain for a long time. There’s a Top Gear magazine, and they do Top Gear annuals – we order them for our kids to have whenever we go over to visit my in-laws. Not sure if you’re aware of the brou-ha-ha in which Jeremy Clarkson was *rather rude* to someone involved with the show and was terminated by the BBC. At any rate, there is now Top Gear, on the BBC with all new hosts, and The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime with the original three hosts. If you have Amazon Prime, that may be a show your family would want to watch. It’s in the second season now (and, yes, it’s very childish!).
Yes to Amazon Prime and yes they love it! lol I will look at the magazine, good idea. I don’t actually watch it much, but they watch it regularly and in fact,, their dad and I can use it to our advantage to get them to finish their chores or homework because it works great to say ‘no Top Gear if you don’t finish x’. 🙂
Ha! Just looked up What We Do In The Shadows and it looks hilarious. I’ll put it on the list for my oldest.
Ocean’s Eleven. Moonstruck. Cool Runnings. My Cousin Vinnie. Also Air America, just because Geoff has to watch it at least once per year, and I get sucked into it every time! He also does the same with Cool Hand Luke, but I find it too depressing…
We watched Cool Runnings with the kids last year – we had it out from the library and I think they watched it three times while we had it out. They still love singing the little bobsled team donation song around the house :).
HA! Over the holidays, we (re-)watched Ocean’s Eleven, Guardians of the Galaxy, Princess Bride and discussed Star Wars endlessly. Now we need to attend to the others on your list!!!
Blues Brothers. And somehow I’ve never seen Moonstruck.
I’ve never seen Blues Brothers! So we’re even :).
Our lists have a lot of overlap. I would add Erin Brokovich, Sweet Home Alabama, and Stepbrothers.
The Fifth Element
The Bourne movies
Oceans Eleven and sequels
The Wedding Crashers
Mr and Mrs Smith
The Rock
The Matrix Trilogy
Donnie Brasco
Heat
Carlito’s Way
I could keep going but I think I will cap the list at 10. Many movies I discovered from my free rentals when I was a manager at Blockbuster Video in the 90s. 🙂
As you know, I’ve never seen The Fifth Element. It’s moving up the “must do” list :).
Field of Dreams, Sleepless in Seattle, Groundhog Day, Charlie Brown Christmas . . .
Groundhog Day! Yes! That should be on my list too. We bought a copy a couple of years ago so we can watch it every February 2. NEVER GETS OLD.
Forgot Breakfast Club. Everybody loves that movie, no? 😊
Pitch Perfect definitely, Steel Magnolias, While You Were Sleeping, Legally Blonde, The Money Pit (which I think of, because I just saw a Mental Floss list about how bad it is, I think it’s hilarious). When I was a kid my sister and I rented Clue and High Spirits over and over and over.
A little late to the party, but I’ll throw a few in here. I’m sure I could think of more, but these are the ones that jump for me.
Princess Bride (like everyone else, yeah)
Cars
Thunderstruck
Cars was the first feature film our older son watched (he was born the day it came out coincidentally) and of course at that age they just want to watch the same thing again and again. Eventually I realized after having watched it the umpteenth time that I just never got tired of it. I haven’t seen it in a number of years though.
And Thunderstruck – well, I can’t explain it, but I just have a tremendous amount of affection for that movie; I never tire of it.
I had never heard of Thunderstruck, so I had to Google it…the IMDB has three movies with that name. I am going to guess that your fave is one of the two AC/DC themed ones, not the Kevin Durant basketball film? 🙂
Haha, no. It’s the KD one alright. This makes more sense once you understand that my older son is obsessed with basketball, and it’s sort of rubbed off on me.
To say that KD is not a good actor is an understatement; it’s probably more accurate to simply say that he’s not an actor. But in a way that’s one of the strengths of the movie. His part is relatively small, and he doesn’t need to stretch very much. He also comes off as very humble and unassuming, which is very true to his real personality.
KD aside, this is a pretty standard switched-body movie along the lines of Big and a bunch of others (the main character is a high-schooler who switches talent with KD and becomes an overnight basketball sensation at his school). But everything about the movie is just so charming, somehow – it’s a cliched story, but the execution is nevertheless really good IMO. There are some really great casting choices, really funny subplots, supporting characters are well-written, etc etc. I’ve watched it a couple of dozen times probably and it just never gets old.
There are a couple of other more well-known movies with famous NBA stars. There’s Kazaam starring Shaquille O’Neal. It’s not about basketball at all – it’s just a vehicle for Shaq’s outsized personality. I’ve only seen it once, but it seemed to be decent.
The most famous one of course is Space Jam with Michael Jordan and a whole bunch of animated Warner Brother cartoon characters. MJ is probably one of the top three basketball players ever, and I think the movie got a boost from his star power. But it’s easily the worst of the three – it’s a lame, thinly-veiled attempt to cash in on someone’s fame without putting too much effort in. I was not impressed.
I’m definitely not saying its a hidden gem that everyone should see; it’s more like my secret shame that I like this film (though I’m not actually embarrassed to say that I love it), and I’m somehow blind to whether the movie is actually any good or not.
BTW it’s called Thunderstruck because KD was on the Oklahoma City Thunder at the time the movie was made. He’s since moved to the Golden State Warriors, our hometown team.
One other entry on my list would unquestionably be Love, Actually, which I’m surprised no one else mentioned. I’m not a huge rom-com fan but I am definitely a bit sentimental, and Love, Actually is (as they say) like the best parts of a dozen romantic comedies all rolled into one film and intertwined, and the result is absolutely magical.
Did I not mention that one? We watch it every Christmas – I never get tired of it. The storyline between Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman in particular gets me every time – even though it is sad, it is just so exquisitely told.
We will look up Thunderstruck – sounds like the kids would love it! Coyote Ugly is my own embarrassed/not embarrassed bad/good movie…guess we all have one!
Oh, yeah, especially when the Joni Mitchell song plays – it’s such a perfect metaphor for the story. The original version is cheery and happy, but in the version in the film, by the same person who wrote the song, takes on a completely different meaning – it’s more like a look back at a life that had happy moments but is also tinged with sadness and regret. Older, and wiser. Crap, I’m tearing up as I write this and think about it.
My absolute favorite scene is the one where Keira Knightley answers the door and the wedding photographer/secret admirer wordlessly professes his undying love for her using a series of signs, knowing that she will always love another. So bittersweet, and yet in the end having finally acknowledged the thing he could never admit to her, he gets closure.
Simply astoundingly good screenwriting, casting and acting.