A-List: Comfort Films

By Josh Spiegel

September 10, 2009

He's so sweet when he's not screaming.

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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.



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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 Redemption
Full disclosure here: this is my favorite movie of all time. So, for me, this is the comfort movie. Frankly, for a long time, if you ever watched TNT or TBS, this was the only movie they showed, it seemed like. On TNT, after a healthy, four-episode marathon of Law and Order would be The Shawshank Redemption, followed by a repeat performance, more Law and Order, and then Shawshank again. The story of a strong friendship between two convicts, and the hope that pushes them far away from the doldrums of prison life in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, The Shawshank Redemption didn't make a huge arrival when it first came out, but it has amassed hundreds of thousands of fans in the 15 years since its release.


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