Isn't It Romantic? Your Favorite Romantic Movies

[Guest]

Sitting here this morning trying to decide if I'm hungry enough to actually move my ass and get breakfast, I started thinking about my favorite movies. So many "romantic" movies -especially recent ones- strike me as less about romance and more about stepping through a series of cliches to lead to that final clinch. I tend to like my romance to come along with a story about other things -- sort of how romance occurs in life.

These thoughts lead inevitably to some of the movies I find so terribly romantic but may not be considered typical "romance" movies. One favorite of mine is Creator , with Peter O'Tool, Mariel Hemmingway and Vincent Spano. While I remember the romance(s) in the movie, I also remember the humor, the ruminations about the past and future, and the other relationships. I mean, yes, there are some romances going on -- three, in fact, and, if you push the definition of "romance" to mean a loving relationship or regard, I'd say a possibly five.

Yeah, and I'm a fan of movies where there's a friendship sort of love, too, especially if its intense and surprising.

So, what not-typically-romantic movies do you find romantic?

And how about movies where you wished or like to think a romance/loving relationship would occur between characters? (Mine is Local Hero , I've always felt there WAS a romance going on, only it doesn't blossom until after the end of the movie.)

 

[carsonshepherd]

My favorite romantic movie is Shakespeare in Love. Especially on the big screen.

Although it's not traditionally a romance, I'm fascinated with the relationship between Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia. Does that make me odd?

 

[sophia jane]

Never Been Kissed and An Affair to Remember

 

[Guest]

My favorite romantic movie is Shakespeare in Love. Especially on the big screen.

Although it's not traditionally a romance, I'm fascinated with the relationship between Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia. Does that make me odd?

Considering the real life of the main character, Carson -- nope! Plus, there aren't many people more beautiful than Peter O'Toole was at his height.

 

[Recidiva]

"What Dreams May Come"

and in a twisted little way I adore...

"The Lion In Winter"

also...

"Strictly Ballroom"

and...

"Always"

 

[Aurora Black]

This is what comes to mind right now:

"Moonstruck"

"Bridget Jones's Diary"

"Pride and Prejudice" - The BBC version

"Love Actually"

"The English Patient"

How odd. The last 4 movies all feature Colin Firth...

 

[elsol]

Love Actually

Notting Hill

Four weddings and a Funeral

---Pretty much any Hugh Grant movie except the pregnant one.

But Notting Hill is my favorite, and I can't believe the girlfriend and her family aren't getting the hint when I keep asking "Do we Notting Hill?"

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Guest]

Reading everyone's movie lists is great, but I can tell either no one is reading my original post or I phrased my question badly Unfortunately, the title block was too short to get the whole question in to make it easy for everyone.

What I really wanted to know about was those movies that ARE NOT "typical romances" but that you still find something romantic in, or movies that have the romance as a secondary aspect rather than the central point. There are TONS of romance movies around, and you know they are romances -- what about the hidden stuff, the subtle stuff, the stuff that doesn't show up with "romantic comedy" or "romance" in the descriptions?

 

[Belegon]

following Mal's instructions so she can put the whip down...I'm not into the recieving thing...

"Bull Durham" qualify? I love the way the relationship between Crash & Annie builds...and how the fact that she is sleeping with Nuke for first part of the movie changes nothing for Crash...ok, and maybe I identify with him just a little...

In "Apollo 13" the relationship between the Lovells is palpable, I can feel the terror she feels everytime he straps himself atop a huge disaster waiting to happen...and I can see him agonizing over his need to do this even though it hurts her.

Even the "American Pie" movies. I realy enjoy the relationship between Jim & Michelle...the turns it takes...

 

[Guest]

following Mal's instructions so she can put the whip down...I'm not into the recieving thing...

"Bull Durham" qualify? I love the way the relationship between Crash & Annie builds...and how the fact that she is sleeping with Nuke for first part of the movie changes nothing for Crash...ok, and maybe I identify with him just a little...

In "Apollo 13" the relationship between the Lovells is palpable, I can feel the terror she feels everytime he straps himself atop a huge disaster waiting to happen...and I can see him agonizing over his need to do this even though it hurts her.

Even the "American Pie" movies. I realy enjoy the relationship between Jim & Michelle...the turns it takes...

Awww I don't mean to sound QUITE so fearsome, I just get frustrated when I ask a question badly because, damn it, I'm a nosey bitch and I ask questions because I'm really curious -- or (this is my sensitive spot and will set me off nearly instantly) when I think I've been ignored or misunderstood despite my best effort to be heard and to be clear.

 

[Belegon]

Awww I don't mean to sound QUITE so fearsome, I just get frustrated when I ask a question badly because, damn it, I'm a nosey bitch and I ask questions because I'm really curious -- or (this is my sensitive spot and will set me off nearly instantly) when I think I've been ignored or misunderstood despite my best effort to be heard and to be clear.

It's not your post that is quite so confusing...it's the thread title...

which, of course, you can't edit...

 

[BlackShanglan]

Although it's not traditionally a romance, I'm fascinated with the relationship between Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia. Does that make me odd?

No, it makes you delicious and delectable. Who hasn't wondered?

 

[BlackShanglan]

"Farewell My Concubine."
It's the unspoken in that movie that is totally, completely searing, destructive and yet godlike in the way that art and love are when they become the same thing.

"Aliens."
Not for the obvious Ripley/Reese thing, but for Vasquez and Drake, who I think shared a sort of above-sex-and-beyond-comraderie tension that was delightful and beautiful.

More like what you had in mind, oh striped and greenish one?

 

[matriarch]

This is what comes to mind right now:

"Moonstruck"

"Bridget Jones's Diary"

"Pride and Prejudice" - The BBC version

"Love Actually"

"The English Patient"

How odd. The last 4 movies all feature Colin Firth...

I agree wholeheartedly with P&P (BBC Version, most definitely), and 'Love Actually', but would also add 'Notting Hill'. But for me, the all time romantic movie has to be 'Brief Encounter'. Nothing has ever come close to it for me.

 

[Aurora Black]

I agree wholeheartedly with P&P (BBC Version, most definitely), and 'Love Actually', but would also add 'Notting Hill'. But for me, the all time romantic movie has to be 'Brief Encounter'. Nothing has ever come close to it for me.

I didn't care for "Notting Hill," really. *ducks* I just can't stand Julia Roberts in the majority of roles that she's done, with the exception of...

"Pretty Woman"

 

[Liar]

'Love Actually' has been mentioned. It's a great, harmless fell-good flick about love of all kinds and shapes. When we speak about harmless comedies, I'd also like to mention 'LA Story'. The only time I have ever liked Steve Martin.

My current favourite though is japanese. Takeshi Kitano's 'A Scene at the Sea' is a magically visual and devastatingly romantic story about love between two slightly off-beat outsiders.

And 'House of the Flying Daggers' is definitely more romantic than it is anything else.

 

[Aurora Black]

And 'House of the Flying Daggers' is definitely more romantic than it is anything else.

Well said.

 

[rgraham666]

Thief Of Hearts is one I always liked. Modified a scene from it for one of my stories.

Say Anything. Loved that movie.

And Shang? I've still got it bad for Vasquez. I love a lady who know how to handle a… gun.

 

[alice_underneath]

So many "romantic" movies -especially recent ones- strike me as less about romance and more about stepping through a series of cliches to lead to that final clinch. I tend to like my romance to come along with a story about other things -- sort of how romance occurs in life.

There are very few movies in the romance genre that hold my interest, and you've done a good job explaining why.

So, what not-typically-romantic movies do you find romantic?

My two all-time favorites are:

Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope. (Han Solo & Princess Leia )

Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Indiana Jones & Marion)

Though I wouldn't have thought of it, I agree with Belegon's choice of Apollo 13. I'd also add A Beautiful Mind to the list.

Alice

 

[Stella_Omega]

Five Weddings" is my only favorite Hugh Grant flick- I adored him in it, and got bored watching him re-run his character in everything subsequent. But what makes the movie romantic to me is not him and Julia Roberts, but the love and shared comradery of his friends.
I'm thinking of "Kung Fu Hustle" and I'm not sure why! in a way, it's the lead character's relationship with himself, the unblocking of the Chi... Those hand prints appearing in the steel drum were a very powerful image.
But there are three trios that had some very strong vibes- the three heroes in Pig Alley at the beginning, and the psychotic killer and the two "Celebrated Lovers", now middle aged, at the end.

 

[BlackShanglan]

And Shang? I've still got it bad for Vasquez. I love a lady who know how to handle a… gun.

I knew one day I would meet a kindred soul!

She dies damned well too. You can't say better than that for a person of her nature.

Shanglan

 

[Evil Alpaca]

"Silence of the lambs" Hannibal and Clarice . . . *sniff* . . . Just made me wanna cry

Oh, and the Friday the 13th series! Jason was so good for his mother . . .

 

[CharleyH]

"Farewell My Concubine."
It's the unspoken in that movie that is totally, completely searing, destructive and yet godlike in the way that art and love are when they become the same thing.

"Aliens."
Not for the obvious Ripley/Reese thing, but for Vasquez and Drake, who I think shared a sort of above-sex-and-beyond-comraderie tension that was delightful and beautiful.

More like what you had in mind, oh striped and greenish one?

LOL That was good, and I see what you mean, although I never could articulate it like you. City of Angels is close to my "soul".

Vasquez, Rob? I never knew

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Casablance

A Man and A Woman

Rumple Foreskin