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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.

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