A-List: Comfort Films
By Josh Spiegel
September 10, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com

He's so sweet when he's not screaming.
By this point of the year, just about everyone has finished their summer vacations. Unless you're incredibly lucky, that is; for the rest of us, we're either at school or at work, back to the daily drudgeries that can't be found on a sandy beach, in an amusement park with brightly animated movie characters, or visiting family back wherever it is you call home. I was considering, then, for this week's A-List, to focus on movies that celebrate school, as it is the official back-to-school week. Unfortunately, the majority of high school movies that aren't too recent and aren't completely forgettable came out in the 1980s.

Moreover, this is a genre I realized I'm not too familiar with; sure, I know what John Hughes did for the genre, by essentially creating it, but I've either not seen some of his films (I've only seen the TV version of The Breakfast Club, for example) or I don't really like him (though it is the TV version, I can't help but think that The Breakfast Club is just a wee bit overrated). Thus, it came to me while suffering the usual indignities of working life that it might be best to celebrate this time of year with the chicken soup of movies: a comfort film.

Comfort films are just as soothing as chicken soup on a day when you've got a cold. In the long run, you've still got a cough, stuffy nose, and sore throat, but having that bowl of chicken soup made you feel better for a couple of hours. So it goes with the comfort film. The five movies that make up this week's A-List may or may not be the best films of their respective genres, based on how I or you think, but they are movies that I have found do the job very well; some are classics, modern or otherwise, and some are just easy to watch, something to pop onto the DVD player when I'm feeling a bit down. Who knows? One of these movies might do the trick for you someday soon. Keep that in mind as we start this week's A-List.

Elf

It is a great movie that provides enjoyment on repeat viewings, and a greater one still that gives you something new each time you put it on. For comedies, it's an even rarer commodity; you'd assume that most of the jokes get worn out after a second or third viewing. Maybe it's just my sense of humor, but there's always something I laugh at when I watch Elf, such a funny movie that's worth watching even when it's not Christmas season. It doesn't matter if it's hearing Will Ferrell, as Buddy the elf, transplanted from the North Pole to New York City, repeating the name "Francisco" over and over; or Buddy, drunk on bourbon, engaging in a tickle fight with an ex-con in a drab mail room; or even Buddy unironically congratulating the denizens of a diner with the "World's Best Coffee" on a job well done.

Or maybe it's that the film, directed by a pre-Iron Man Jon Favreau (who cameos as a pediatrician), features some of the funniest people on the planet, including Amy Sedaris, Kyle Gass, Andy Richter, and Matt Walsh. The memorable cameo from Peter Dinklage as the "angry elf" is worth the price of the DVD. For many people, this may be the movie that solidified Zooey Deschanel as some kind of pixie-girl goddess. No matter what the reasons, Elf may end up being a more enduring film for Ferrell than even Anchorman is, one that will be played every Christmas for years to come. I doubt we'll see Ferrell in another movie that plays strictly for families, but if we're ever so lucky, hopefully, he and Favreau will team up once again.

Die Hard

There are many, many great lines in Die Hard, which is one of the truly great action movies ever made. From "Shoot the glass!" to "Welcome to the party, pal!" to the infamous "Yippie-ki-yay, m&%&&*$&!" For me, though, the best line in a film full of them comes as John McClane, our intrepid hero, is struggling to get the message across to a snooty 911 operator that he's in the middle of a group of hostage-taking terrorists who are willing to kill everyone to get what they want. As she snaps at him that the line he's using is for emergencies only, McClane shoots back, half angry, half shocked, "No f***ing s**t, lady, do I sound like I'm ordering a pizza?" I suppose you can chalk it up to Bruce Willis having a role that seems tailor-made, as the quintessential rogue cop. The script is also pretty sharp, managing to skate over any implausibilities thanks to its humor and fast pace.

Of course, Die Hard is one of the more influential action movies ever made; I'd wager that, until The Matrix came along with its bullet-time slo-mo, it was the be-all and end-all that most action movies aspired to. Its simple plot and mostly singular setting helped define it as a unique action movie. Sure, the film has many common clichés of the genre, from the cop who's too nervous to fire a pistol to the on-again, off-again married couple, to the Eurotrash villain. Of course, this Eurotrash, Hans Gruber, is maybe one of the best modern villains; with a sly smile and a purring voice, it's hard to make fun of Alan Rickman's performance. Die Hard is a fun movie to watch at any time, but it'll get you back up again if you're feeling down.

The Shawshank RedemptionThe Princess Bride

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." Oh, the number of times it took me watch 1987's "The Princess Bride" to figure out what the hell Mandy Patinkin, as vengeful swordsman Inigo Montoya, was saying in that and many other dialogue exchanges with Wallace Shawn and equally marble-mouthed Andre the Giant. The weird thing is, as frustrating as it was to keep watching and watching so I could decipher each line of dialogue (the rhyming between Inigo and Fezzik is awfully difficult to understand when you're a little kid, to be sure), the movie just kept getting better and better. The story, ostensibly, of a dashing hero and his achingly beautiful princess, is far more enjoyable because of the colorful supporting cast created by screenwriter and novelist William Goldman. Sure, I wanted the two lovers to get together, but it wasn't nearly as much fun as watching Miracle Max (Billy Crystal) riffing, or even the run-up to Miracle Max.

Set up as, in some ways, the telling of a comfort story, the verbal version of chicken soup, The Princess Bride has something for everyone. For every man, there is a swordfight to end all swordfights. For every woman, there is a time-spanning romance filled with tragedy. There is comedy, there is drama, there is villainy, and there is even time for a minister with a voice like Elmer Fudd. It's perhaps the best film from director Rob Reiner; it's the highlight of Cary Elwes' career, and it may also be the only movie where Billy Crystal, Robin Wright Penn, and Peter Falk all appear, as randomly as it sounds. For all the times you feel like the young Fred Savage, hearing this story unfold, you will also fall for it and feel infinitely better.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

The songs are not particularly great (what, you don't sing "Cheer Up, Charlie" in the shower every morning?), the set is pretty obviously fake (Gene Wilder was chomping on wax when he chewed up that little yellow teacup at the end of "Pure Imagination"), and some of the child actors are...well, kind of bad. And yet, the 1971 version of Roald Dahl's novel, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a great movie to watch endlessly. Part of the joy comes out of Wilder's tour-de-force performance, part of it comes from anticipating when exactly Wilder will show up (he's absent from nearly 40 minutes of the film, and boy, does it ache when he's not onscreen), and part of it comes from the sly, edgy humor. Why do we see various people dealing with not having golden tickets and going to such lengths as abduction and computer fraud to get it? The quirks and intricacies are what make this movie unique; Wilder, the innumerable Oompa-Loompas, and all that damn chocolate are what make it great.