20 Movies to Lift Your Spirt
Cinema Paradiso - Released 1988, it's won a slew of awards including an Academy Award for Best Foreign picture. One of my all-time favorites.
Moonstruck - Released 1987. Cher, Nicolas Cage and Olympia Dukakis at their best. Both Cher and Dukakis won academy awards for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. This is one I can watch more than once.
Chocolate - Released in 2000. It stars Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche, Judy Dench, Chocolate and France. How can you not love it.
Coco - Released in 2017 by Disney, this animated movie follows Miguel as he pursues his dream to be a musician. Coco is a wonderful explanation of the Day of the Dead. It's a beautifully done film... a must see.
Secondhand Lions - Released 2003. A delightful story of an adolescent boy dropped off to spend the summer with his two cranky great uncles. Stars Robert Duvall, Michael Caine and Haley Joel Osment. This is a movie the whole family will love to watch.
Hidden Figures - Released in 2016. Three brilliant African American Women are the brains at NASA behind the launch of John Glenn into Space.
Searching for Sugar Man - Released in 2012. I loved this independent documentary. It tells the story of Rodriguez a little known musician in the U.S. who was a huge hit in South Africa. Two fans set out to find out what happened to him. The sound track is great too.
Chef - Released in 2014. This movie will want to make you head out for dinner at a food truck. It's a story of a chef who loses his job at a popular restaurant. So he opens a food truck and in the process becomes closer to his family.
Buena Vista Social Club - Released 1999. Terrific movie and my all time favorite soundtrack. This documentary follows guitarist Ry Cooper as he assembles a group of Cuba's finest musicians to make an album.
Amelie - Releases 2001 - Shot in over 80 Parisian locations, Amelie invites you into the delightful world of a young French woman who secretly orchestrates the lives of the people around her.
Miracle - Released in 2004 starring Kurt Russell. I am not usually a big sports movie fan and we all know the story of 1980 mens olympic hockey team. Yet this movie is a delight.
You've Got Mail - Released in 1998. This is a Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan classic. This has got to be one of the first internet romances.
A League Of Their Own - Released in 1992. The story of an all female professional baseball league during WWII. Staring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell. One of the best lines ever in a movie... "There's no crying in baseball."
Shawshank Redemption - Released in 1994. This movie is on most all of the best movies ever list. Staring Tim Robbins and Moran Freeman. I am not usually a fan of prison movies, but this story of survival, meaning and friendship touches me. It really is one of the greats, right up there with To Kill a MockingBird.
Grease - Release in in 1978, staring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Come on you know you want to see it again. It's been over 40 years.
Four Weddings and a Funeral - Released 1994. This movie staring Hugh Grand and Andie MacDowell is just plain fun. Hugh Grant plays the lovable, goofy Englishman so well, who is unlucky in love until he meets Carrie (the beautiful American played by MacDowell).
Up - Produced by Pixar and released by Disney in 2009, Up is going to be remembered as one of the great animation movies for years to come.The movie centers on Carl Fredricksen, a widowed, grumpy 78 year old balloon salesman as he accomplishes his dream of tying thousands of balloons to his house and flying off to South American wilderness. But Carl is not alone. Stowed away on his front porch is 8 year old wilderness explorer, Russell.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - Released in 2011. A group of British retirees decide that it is never too late to leave home for a new adventure. Starring Judy Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith, the retirees' new home is not quite what they had imagined. However India touches each one in their own way and the hotel's charm wins them over. You know a movie's going to be a winner when it stars Dench, Nighy and Smith.
Hector and the Search For Happiness - Released in 2014. British psychiatrist Hector is disillusioned that his patients don't seem to get any better, so he decides to go on an international search to find out what makes people happy.
Little Miss Sunshine - Released in 2006. Great cast. Family drives across the country so that their daughter can be in a beauty pageant.