Sunday, 08 March 2009

• My Top 10 Favorite Romantic Movies

     Entertainment Weekly just did a list of their favorite romantic movies and I decided to follow suit. Nothing is better than watching a gorgeous couple fall in love on a boring Sunday afternoon and here are some of my favorite movies for that Sunday afternoon.

  (The list is in no order.)

  

  1. Sense and Sensibility - Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman

  This is one sad movie with a happy ending (just the way I like it). Thompson's Elinor finds out the object of her affection (Grant) is secretly engaged to some whore named Lucy. Her sister Marianne (Winslet) finds the man of her dreams only to be replaced by a girl with money. Did I mention that they are suffering through a terrible poverty brought about by their greedy half-brother and his wife? But in the end Elinor gets her man and Marianne is courted by an older war general (Rickman) who does more than one nice thing for the girls' family.

   

   2. Pride & Prejudice - Keira Knightley, Matthew McFayden

  I heard the 1995 BBC version is the definitive P&P adaptation, but I find this to be a glorious film directed by a visionary named Joe Wright. The two leads easily blend the comedy of manners and the drama into one romantic masterpiece. Plus there is the superb supporting cast and the wonderful score. And it includes one of my favorite "I think I'm falling for him" scenes as Lizzy walks through Darcy's mansion at Pemberleyand the best fight scene when Lizzy finds out Darcy persuaded Bingley against marrying Lizzy's sister Jane. Love it!

   

  3. Moonstruck - Cher, Nicholas Cage

  Everytime I watch this film it gets funnier and this due to Cher's suprisingly on-the-mark comic timing. This is another film with a winning supporting cast and a good soundtrack. Cher and Nicholas Cage are superb, absolutely superb.

  

  4. South Pacific - Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr

  This movie was so revolutionary in its ideas about interracial dating. The music in this film is just divine and it is matched by a spot-on cast. "I'm as corny as Kansas in August, high as the flag on the fourth of July/If you excuse an expression I use, I'm in love with a wonderful guy..."

   

  5. Must Love Dogs - Diane Lane, John Cusack

  I love how this film takes love seriously. No one plays the divorced, pre-menopausal woman looking to find herself again after a failed marriage like Diane Lane. She and John Cusack share a great chemistry. Christopher Plummer, Elizabeth Perkins, Stockard Channing and Delmont Mulrooney are terrific.

  

  6. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johannson, Penelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall

  This movie felt like a textbook on the different types of love: violent love, passionate love, comfortable love, the love between friends, forbidden love... And the crazy awesome voice-over narration only cemented the textbook motif. The entire cast is wonderful but Penelope Cruz is magnificent in the film that finally won her an Oscar.

  

  7. Moulin Rouge - Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo

  This film upholds love as the most important of all emotions and the center of the Bohemian lifestyle. Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor have this tragic chemistry that makes you root for them even though you know they will never make it.

  

  8. While You Were Sleeping - Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher

  Oh, Sandra, awkward, sweet Sandra... She is the queen of the rom-com genre (well, co-queen with Meg Ryan) and this is my fave SB movie. It was original in its time and it paved the way for many more to come. It's a good Christmas movie, it's a good love story, it's a good movie about family. Just so much fun all aroumd.

  

  9. Casablanca - Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Heinreid

  I love this film because the main couple don't get together in the end. Also, it's not just a romance. It's a romance, a war story, a mystery--all rolled into one. It's such a classic--everyone needs to see it.

  

  10. Oklahoma - Gordon McRae, Shirley Long

  This movie is such an underrated musical. It's so happy and full of love. Like South Pacific, the music is just so hummable and also poignant. Shirley Jones and Gordon McRae make gentle courtship unbelievably sexy. My favorite song is "People Will Say We're in Love"... so beautiful.

  Honorable Mentions: Dan in Real Life, Hitch, Doctor Zhivago, Under the Tuscan Sun, Bridget Jones's Diary, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.

  What are some of your favorite romantic movies? Or, if you don't like romance, what films do you turn to on a lazy Sunday?

   

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