List movies that leave you with a happy feeling.

[begin_within]

It's become a cliché now that in order to be taken seriously as a "real movie," a film must leave you with at least one negative emotion. You must feel either sad, depressed, disgusted, frightened, freaked out, bewildered, grossed out, angry, hateful, ashamed, horrified, helpless, humbled, shocked, uneasy, disturbed, embarrased, frustrated or hopeless. If it doesn't include at least one of these feelings, it's not "ART" and it's just a disposable movie.

What I'm looking for is a list of really good films that actually leave you feeling happier than you were before you watched them.

[mad-mommy]

1. Jimmy Stewart..."it's a wonderful life"

[begin_within]

5. Good one - a happy ending which seems completely fitting. The thing

I don't get is why is it always shown at Christmas time, when it's not really a Christmas movie. The last 30 minutes or so are on Christmas Eve, but other than that it has nothing to do with Christmas.

[Buddyblazon]

2. Empire of the Sun

My favorite movie of all time. Stars Christian Bale pre-puberty.

It lost best picture to The Last Emperor. Though thats a good movie too...nowhere as good as Empire of the Sun.


Debbie Does Dallas...leaves me with a happy ENDING feeling.

[begin_within]

3. I thought "The Last Emperor" could have been a good movie, but it was

destroyed by bad editing. They cut back and forth in time over and over again, in a clumsy attempt to be "arty." If they had simply assembled the scenes in chronological order, it would have been a far better film, in my opinion.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

46. Oh cripes, I HATED EotS.

:puke::puke:

[NMMNG]

4. Muriel's Wedding

Muriel's transformation over the course of the movie is an inspiration and you end up feeling great at the end.

[begin_within]

6. That was a very funny movie - I'll have to watch it again.

[u4ic]

50. Definitely

a feel good movie! One of my favs!:thumbsup:

[Broken_Hero]

7. Gladiator

Superman Returns...damn, all superman movies to be honest. Spiderman II, Batman Begins, Sin City, Boondock Saints...a lot of movies make me feel happier after watching them....:) About the only ones that make me feel sad/negative are drama's, aka schindlers list, BB Mt....

[begin_within]

8. Oddly, we watched only the first 30 minutes of it - we thought it was

dull - I guess I'll have to give it another chance.

[mad-mommy]

10. boondock saints was a cool movie n/t

[Broken_Hero]

11. Boondock Saints

was amazing, it took me by surprise, and I like it when movies surprise me, because half the time, I know whats going to happen before it does...:)

[driver8]

9. The Commitments -- one of my favorite movies, ever!

Whenever I am feeling a little down, I watch this movie and it makes me feel better.

Check it out if you get a chance...you won't be sorry.

[speedoo]

44. Second The Commitments!

Wonderful film. One of those gems few know about.

[hickman]

12. Jurassic Park.

The only feel good movie in 20 years where the end didn't involve getting married and spawning.

[begin_within]

30. That movie made me mad, because:

1) They stated that Disneyland opened in 1956. With all Spielberg's millions, he couldn't be bothered to hire a fact checker?

2) They showed kids discovering a buffet loaded with fancy desserts, and what do they do? The eat the BROCCOLI. Preposterous.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. Bagger Vance

Finding Nemo
Rudy
Forever Young
The Ghost and Mrs Muir
The Natural
The Bishop's Wife (Cary Grant version)
Seabiscuit

[WI_DEM]

14. "To Kill a Mockingbird"

[tuvor]

15. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

Dammit.

[martymar64]

34. Merci Beaucoup PeeWee!

Merci Bluh Bluh!!

[Richard Steele]

16. "V for Vengeance"

A good old-fashioned uplifting, happy ending.

[mduffy31]

25. Is that anything like

V for Vendetta?

[Richard Steele]

33. OMG! Bwahahaha!

Yes, it's exactly like that, only with an idiot watching it!
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

It's really not funny, I suppose...my brain is going
downhill fast these days.
Oh well, waddaya gonna do? :shrug:

[Duer 157099]

17. I guess I must not like that type of film

because all of my favorite movies don't qualify

[begin_within]

31. I don't insist on happy endings, in fact I like it when the movie doesn't

end the way you expect it to or want it to. But I am tired of movies that leave you with an overall queasy feeling.

[gatorboy]

18. Barfly

"To all my frieeendsss!"

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

19. Sherlock Jr

Any Buster Keaton movie will do, but here's one you can download for free (& legitimately) now! It's also probably his greatest.

http://www.archive.org/details/SherlockJr

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015324/

[sarge43]

20. Galaxy Quest

Babe

The Ghost and Mrs Muir

The Secret of Roan Inish

[magellan]

21. Star Trek IV (the one with the whales)

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House
Galaxy Quest
Bringing Up Baby
The Madness of King George (honestly. I liked this before our own installed himself.)
My Favorite Year

[datasuspect]

22. the last starfighter

[peacefreak]

23. Love Actually

Pleasantville
The Majestic
and Little Miss Sunshine

[Serial Mom]

24. Shawshank Redemption

First time I saw that movie I wasn't expecting a good ending.


And I've watched it many times just to see that something finally can work out for somebody.

[RedStateShame]

26. I Heart Huckabees

From that catchy tune played throughout the movie, to the particles connecting mid-flight, to Mark Wahlberg's affirmation of "Word!" following a statement by Jason Schwartz, it's the perfect balm to soothe my occasional existential crises.

[YankeyMCC]

27. Apollo 13

[woo me with science]

66. That's my pick too. nt

[leeroysphitz]

28. Requiem for a dream.

It gets better every time I see it.

[AngryAmish]

29. Last Exit to Brooklyn

The Grifters
Leaving Las Vegas

[speedoo]

39. Really? I don't mean to offend you but...

those three movies were all kind of difficult to watch. All excellent films, but they painted a devastating picture of people.

Assuming you are serious, why did they leave you with a happy feeling?

[AngryAmish]

52. Perhaps I was less than serious

[peekaloo]

32. Let It Ride, The Hudsucker Proxy,Bad Santa.

:-)

[Left Is Write]

35. Okay.

But I can't promise that these are all "quality" movies. Some are just a good time, end of story.

Dumb & Dumber
Dazed & Confused
National Treasure
Van Helsing
Mr. Skeffington
It Happened One Night
It's a Wonderful Life
Yours, Mine & Ours (original)
The Parent Trap (original)
The Girl Most Likely To...
101 Dalmatians
The Breakfast Club
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

[GalleryGod]

36. " Invincible "

We lived it..thus we loved it.

[MissMillie]

37. The Color Purple

You get dragged through a lot of terrible feelings, but in the end, you get happy--for both Celie and Shug, and even Albert, who finally learns that happiness comes from making someone else happy.

[noonwitch]

74. The only movie that makes me cry tears of happiness at the end

And a good part of that is because Albert does finally get it, but also for Celie to be reunited with her sister and children is just so happy after she suffered so much pain in her life.

Spielberg was robbed of the oscar he deserved for the movie. I can see where the academy would have split the supporting actress oscar and neither Oprah nor Margeret Avery won, but Whoopi deserved a win, too.

[anarch]

38. Eraserhead

[Phillycat]

40. Bend It Like Beckham.

Loved it! :thumbsup:

[GalleryGod]

68. Yes!

[RumpusCat]

41. Pink Flamingos

:evilgrin: :hide:

[idgiehkt]

61. Flamingo Kid

Janet Jones, back in the day, and Matt Dillon, on the same screen...wow.

don't know why in particular, it just popped into my head.

[anarch]

42. ooh, also: Cast Away...that is to say I was happy when it was over

[speedoo]

43. Philadelphia

You knew the Tom Hanks character was going to die, but justice prevailed. Plus the Springsteen title song is one of the best of that type, ever.

[bridgit]

45. The American President ~

:thumbsup:

[mvd]

47. A Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life

I'm often pretty happy anyway when I watch them, but they definitely get me even more in the spirit of the Season.

[sarge43]

48. Speaking of Christmas - A Christmas Story

[dolo amber]

49. Amelie!!

:bounce:

[Arugula Latte]

51. I was going to post that one.

Love it! :thumbsup:

That's probably my favorite movie ever.

[shanti]

53. willie wonka

and the chocolate factory - the original with gene wilder, of course! :thumbsup:

[mockmonkey]

54. Richard Dreyfuss in

"Let it ride", not a great film but it always leaves me in a better mood.

[Marie26]

55. "When Harry Met Sally" nt

[ashling]

56. My kind of movie

Big Phish
Second Hand Lions
Notting Hill
On A Clear Day (British...laid off grandfather swims English Channel)
The Bishops Wife
That British movie about the grandmothers doing a calendar of nude pictures for a fundraiser which I can't remember the name of ....

Hook

[sarge43]

64. "That British movie..."

Calendar Girls, ashling.

[al bupp]

57. Waking Ned Devine

If only all movies were as good as this one...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166396/

[Flaxbee]

58. Chocolat, Sense and Sensibility, Seabiscuit

Sneakers
The Bourne Identity / Bourne Supremacy movies (I just like 'em)
Air America
The Russia House (though I know the movie has a happier ending than the book)
About a Boy
Ronin
Matchstick Men
Laurel Canyon

[Lethe]

59. Secret of NIMH

wow, that movie was awesome.

Disney doesnt make those kind of movies anymore.

[riderinthestorm]

60. Pretty Woman

A Knights Tale (Heath Ledger before he scored big - yummy!)
Pirates of the Caribbean
Don Juan DeMarco
Shakespeare in Love


Shit. I just noticed these are mostly comedic romances. Sigh. So shallow but so light and frothy - definitely designed to make you feel better. Okay some that aren't comedic romances....

Calendar Girls and it's brother film: The Full Monty
Back to the Future
Strictly Ballroom
A Christmas Story

[sueh]

62. "You've Got Mail"

[bertha katzenengel]

63. Shirley Valentine, 1989

The lead actress, Pauline Collins OBE, had an Oscar nomination* for it, and won the Tony for playing the same role on Broadway.

Such a "small" film, it's not even on DVD yet (AFAIK).

* This was the year Jessica Tandy got the Oscar

[azmouse]

65. While You Were Sleeping

[kwassa]

67. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

probabliy my favorite film of the past five years

[Hell Hath No Fury]

69. Galaxy Quest...

A perfect little movie, with lots laughs, a few tears, and lots of heart.

When I saw it in the theatre, I walked out at the end with a big smile on my face -- it's not often you get such a sense of satisfaction from being so thoroughly entertained.

[idgiehkt]

70. I really liked "Red Dirt"

It just felt really homey to me...Karen Black's character in that film speaks so much like my great aunt even though it's set in Mississippi, it's really hard to do that kind of accent in particular and she kind of almost pulls it off. I love the affair between the two guys; even though the ending is kind of contrived it's nice to see it evolve and the scenery also kind of made me homesick.

[HughBeaumont]

71. The Truman Show.

Possibly my favorite movie of the past 10 years. It's a message of hope for everyone.

Others -

The Green Mile
A Clockwork Orange
The Sandlot

[Red State Rebel]

72. Groundhog Day!

[ScreamingMeemie]

73. Bridget Jones' Diary

Great ending and she looked like a normal woman in that shirt! :hi:

[dback]

75. "The Station Agent"

You'll feel absolutely wonderful at the end.

Also "The Full Monty" and "Splash" are films that communicate strong senses of happiness.

And, of course, "E.T."