Comfort Films

those movies that you enjoy, no matter how often you watch them

Dear word explorer,

I’m going to discuss some¹ of my ‘comfort films’, but first, I must offer a definition.

Comfort films are usually the titles you don’t want your cinephile buddies to know you enjoy. These are the ones that if you’re feeling low you can reach for the box (you probably own the film), slide the disc into your DVD/Blu-ray player, settle back in your cosy clothes, holding your favourite beverage, and issue a sigh of contentment.²

You are happy to return to these characters and become involved in their trials and triumphs. You might know an ungodly number of the lines and say them out loud if alone (or murmur them if in company). It’s likely that a number of them are comedies. Some people might call these works a guilty pleasure, but not me. I like what I like. I learned that when I was a nerdy teen who adored fantasy/horror/science fiction during a time in Ireland when that was considered a weird passion and distinctly uncool. I’ve no idea how that quiet bravado took root in me, but I embraced it as a philosophy and have stuck with it.

Comfort films don’t have to be philosophically groundbreaking, but they connect with you in a personal way that is particular to your psyche. That’s why no amount of arguments against its merits can dissuade you. The films are often tied to a particular time in your life, when you were going through changes or difficulties. And sometimes, you age into a film. There are have been several that I was indifferent to as a teen but grew to appreciate upon repeat viewing.

The biggest problem for people today is the snap judgement, or the hot take as we call it now. There’s little time allowed for a film to marinate in your consciousness and for you to reassess it, because we have so much stuff to watch!

I often think about Bruce Springsteen’s song, ‘57 Channels (And Nothin' On)’ which was released in 1992. Jump forward a staggering thirty-two years and the problem has become considerably worse. Even though I have access to an endless number of TV shows and movies across several streaming services, the paralysis of overwhelming choice often descends. That’s why I usually have at least one older TV series in a re-watch queue to which I default when apathy descends.

Some films mature better than others. Most of the older ones have questionable sections that are artefacts of their era. It might give you a twinge today when you watch them, but the true comfort film stands the test of time.

Finally, a warning about trying to convert a friend or loved one to the charms of your chosen movie. When you press play you will be carefully observing them, hoping for delighted chuckles or teary endorsements. If they begin making disparaging remarks or laugh at the costumes or characters, look bored, or take out their phone to ‘look something up’ but you see them scrolling social media, then turn off the movie and try something else you’ll both enjoy. Refrain from a snippy comment because you’re hurt they didn’t love it.

Just accept it: they have bad taste!

I’m joking (mostly), but you can’t force this kind of thing on people, and there’s no point trying to persuade them or to explain all the reasons why they’re wrong about the film. Let it go. There are other films you can enjoy together. Probably.

So my shortlist of comfort films, in no particular order, begins with:

Midnight Run (1988)

This is a pitch-perfect, tautly-written, hilarious odd couple road movie, in which bounty hunter Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) is attempting to locate accountant Jonathan Mardukas (Charles Grodin), who embezzled $15 million from a Chicago mob boss and then skipped on the $450,000 bail bond. There is a five-day ticking clock in which Walsh must deliver Mardukas back to the bail bondsman (which will probably result in Mardukas’ death at the hands of avenging gangsters).

It has a fantastic performance from De Niro as a cynical, emotionally-repressed but savvy bounty hunter and Grodin as an emotionally-open clever clogs. The film depends upon the push and pull of the squabbling fellows, but is helped by a plethora of hustlers desperate to find Mardukas, including the bail bondsman, the snitch, the competing bounty hunter, a psychopathic mafia boss and best of all, FBI Special Agent Alonzo Mosely (Yaphet Kotto³).

It’s directed by Martin Brest from a script by George Gallo, and delivers a fast-paced and satisfying film with snappy dialogue. It’s hilarious to notice ‘period details’ such as being able to smoke on a plane, which just seems so wrong today.

The Matrix (1999)

If you isolate this film from its overdeveloped successors, The Matrix was a ground-breaking science fiction film which highlighted the insecurities of the emerging interconnected global world and prefaced the forthcoming ‘crisis of reality’. Those of us who were raised on Cyberpunk fiction would find the film a smart depiction of ideas that had been percolating in books, comics, martial-arts movies, and anime for at least two decades — i.e. it wasn’t singularly original — but it absolutely delivered the goods with sexy, leather-clad heroes who are fighting an oppressive machine force that is keeping humanity alive in a collective delusion.

The protagonist, programmer and hacker, Neo (Keanu Reeves), is ably helped by Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and a gang of rebels to disrupt the delusion while being relentlessly pursued by the AI program, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), who despises humanity.

Directed and written by The Wachowskis, it was an innovative, well-crafted, and entertaining film, replete with references to existing fictions, which asked philosophical questions while executing astonishing set-pieces that set the bar for 21st century action films.⁴

The Heat (2013)

The odd couple buddy cop movie has a long tradition with plenty of contenders for ‘best in show’, but one of my favourites is this gem in which a gritty Boston detective, Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy) is forced to work with persnickety FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) to take down a vicious drug lord.

I am an unashamed admirer of most of McCarthy’s oeuvre (Spy came close to being on this list), but this pairing with Bullock is a tremendous match. Their tetchy arguments resolve into a final understanding of each other’s temperaments due to the fact they are differently brilliant at their vocations. It is firmly grounded by their comedic timing and physical acting, and several of the lines are quoted in my household regularly.

It was directed by Paul Feig and written by Katie Dippold, and I’m constantly surprised at how many people have not watched it.

Alien (1979) /Aliens (1986)

I’ve been a fan of the Alien franchise since I watched the original film, which is essentially a haunted house film in space, in which a relentless monster slowly hunts down the occupants who are the employees of a inter-planetary mining corporation. Thanks to an extraordinary design by Swiss sculptor H. R. Giger, the alien xenomorph, with its two-stage lifecycle, spawned nightmares for a generation of viewers. In an era where women were normally the supporting cast in action films⁵, Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the by-the-book character who survives the terrifying chase through the labyrinthine space ship and even saves the cat.

What’s most noticeable in rewatching the movie is the leisurely but oddly eerie opening sequence, and the two-part sequence of the movie, in which the crew touches down on a planet with a crashed space ship, and returns to their craft with an infected crew member as they prepare to return to Earth. The subsequent chest-bursting scene became a landmark moment in horror cinema. The dread escalates as the crew witness the quick evolution and ferocious appetite of the alien as they are picked off one by one, aided by betrayal from within the group.

Ridley Scott’s career rocketed thanks to his vision and meticulous direction of the script by Dan O'Bannon (from a story with Ronald Shusett).

Aliens jumped genres and aimed for an action/thriller feature with big horror moments. It brought back a traumatised Ripley, with a platoon of marines, to investigate the original planet which has gone dark. This was one of the first examples when the director’s extended cut of the film was superior to the theatrical release, for the longer version properly set up the personal tragedy resulting from Ripley’s extended hypersleep, and cemented her bond with the only surviving girl on the planet known as Newt (Rebecca Jordan).⁶

Aliens also has a two-phase structure, with a long set-up before the action kicks off in earnest, but when it does, it pushes full throttle with hundreds of xenomorophs scrabbling through vents, and another weaselly betrayal from within.

Written and directed by James Cameron, it set a high standard for modern big-budget science fiction films. It firmly established Weaver as an action hero icon, and through the following two instalments of the franchise, gave her the rare opportunity to explore Ripley’s character from a variety of angles.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

How can any list from someone who loves genre films not include a John Carpenter movie? It’s hard to pick one, but in the comfort film department the comedy fantasy movie BTiLC reigns supreme. In San Francisco, truck driver Jack Burton (Kurt Russell) agrees to drive his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun) to the airport to collect his fiancee but they stumble into a kidnapping plot by the Chinese-American street gang, the Lords of Death. Chi’s fiancée is abducted. This leads the duo back to Chinatown, and a dangerous battle between warring gangs, and an encounter with three warriors with supernatural abilities who are directed by the ancient magician Lo Pan (legendary actor, James Hong).

Into the mix is the wise teacher Egg Shen (Victor Wong) and the determined reporter Gracie Law (Kim Cattrall). Along with other pals they attempt to go up against the magic and might of Lo Pan and his minions. There are monsters, potions, and thrilling fight scenes that honour the legacy of Asian martial arts movies — considered a tiny niche market in the West at the time.

Russell is memorable for playing his character with humour and bumbling charisma, since Burton is constantly screwing up (he is knocked out for a section of the final big battle), while Chi is charming and a much better fighter. Cattrall shines in her role and her character is always pushing for change. There is a slightly complicated history with the script, but it was written by Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein, and adapted by W. D. Richter.

The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

Hey, it’s nearly Christmas, so here’s a seasonal action film for your enjoyment: the highly underrated movie directed by Renny Harlin and written by Shane Black. The story follows single Mom and teacher, Samantha Caine (Geena Davis), who has no memory of her life before she washed up on a beach, pregnant, eight years previously. She has a boyfriend, and an idyllic life with her daughter Caitlin (Yvonne Zima), but believes she’ll never uncover her past. At the same time as her ‘low-rent’ Private Investigator, Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson), gets a break in the case, Caine has an awful car crash and begins to dream about a dangerous double of herself — ‘Charly’ Baltimore — who promises she’ll return.

Soon, killers are hunting Caine, who must embark on a road trip with Hennessy to uncover her past — yep, she was previously a highly skilled CIA agent, and her past employers want her back in the grave before she interferes with a current operation. Davis is outstanding in this role, playing the sweet American teacher with glints of fury, and is downright steely and amoral when she recovers her memories. Jackson plays the uncouth but sentimental PI with his typical verve, and the dynamic between him and Davis zings, helped by Black’s engaging dialogue.

As is typical of a buddy movie, each of them helps the other to survive their near-fatal escapades (there are some truly memorable stunts in the film). Being a loner assassin ain’t as much fun as it’s cracked up to be — everyone needs back-up.

Nowadays cinema and TV is replete with female action heroes who are secret assassins, but Davis was one of the first that set the trend.⁷

The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 — 2003)

Based on the epic fantasy novels by JRR Tolkien, this monumental adaptation was directed by Peter Jackson and co-written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Stephen Sinclair (Sinclair co-wrote The Two Towers only).

Ever since the films were released on DVD I have been watching the extended editions every winter as an annual holiday tradition. By early December I’m looking forward to the marathon.

There is much I could say about how the books were adapted, but I believe the trilogy is so successful because Jackson captured the spirit of Tolkien’s world so well, and brought the characters alive in exceptional ways thanks to superb casting and beautiful dialogue. The settings, designs, and costumes are extraordinary, and the music is astonishingly good.

Is it perfect? No. But what floors me every time is how well Jackson and his team explore the themes of friendship, of courage and determination, of completing difficult tasks with humour and grit, and of facing the darkness in your life (in whatever shape that takes) even when it seems hopeless.

The true heroes of the movies and of Tolkien’s books, are the hobbits: the everyday folk who are swept up in adventure but who everyone underestimates. They love home and hearth, and while they are not as tall as elves, as wise as wizards, or as stout as dwarves, they have the biggest hearts of them all.

I’ll leave you with the exchange between Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) and Frodo (Elijah Wood) at a crucial moment in The Two Towers:

Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam.

Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.”

1. It’s a brutal task to keep it this short. I couldn’t squeeze in His Girl Friday (1940) simply because this newsletter was running too long. I have to keep several of my horror ‘comfort films’ for another day. I have immense fondness for a bunch of films that I watched as a kid when we didn’t have many TV channels, with staples such as The Great Escape (1963), Kelly’s Heroes (1970), Singing in the Rain (1952), The Magnificent Seven (1960), and Blazing Saddles (1974). Overall, a lot of musicals, war movies, Westerns, children’s films, thrillers and noir dectective films. There’s a lot to be said for having no choice and learning to watch a variety of material.

2. I make a distinction between comfort movies and trashy movies — the low-budget flicks with the terrible dialogue and schlocky effects that can possess a mania, cool colour scheme, or mind-boggling moments that endear you to their tacky charms.

3. When I was a kid I thought Yaphet Kotto was one of the coolest names on the planet. Plus, he’s fantastic as Parker, the engineer in Alien.

4. The John Wick franchise is a recent example, and notable because it also stars Reeves. And let’s be fair, the hugely enjoyable Speed (1994), with a baby-faced Reeves (and Sandra Bullock!) could be on a comfort film list.

5. With some exceptions, especially in Asian martial arts movies, but women action stars were better represented in TV series

6. The notion of creating director’s cuts or extended editions of movies is partly a result of the development of the VCR/DVD/Blu-ray market.

7. Don’t say it, I know — La Femme Nikita came out in 1990, followed by the American remake in 1993, and yes, Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) was also an important role, although, not an assassin. And let’s not forget that The Heroic Trio, with Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui, and Maggie Cheung, came out in 1993. Change was brewing.