If you’re stuck inside, there’s no better way to while away the time than by watching a good movie
Cast Away
Your home is your own little island while you’re cooped up inside, so push play on this old favourite. Tom Hanks plays an executive who is stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash, and has to overcome huge mental and physical challenges to survive. Next to Forrest Gump, we think this is his best performance to date.
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Thelma and Louise
You’ll be rooting for the bored girls turned bad, as waitress Thelma (Geena Davis) and housewife Louise (Susan Sarandon) go on an epic road trip in a ’66 Thunderbird. Along the way Louise shoots a would-be rapist, and their journey turns into an escape as they head to Mexico to dodge the cops.
The best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Maggie Smith and Judi Dench show us why they’re the crème de la crème of the acting world in this feel-good film. A group of British retirees move to India, to what they believe is a newly- restored hotel that now caters to pensioners – but they soon learn it’s not at all what they expected, with hilarious and moving results. One to lift the spirits.
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A Good Year
Director Ridley Scott takes a more gentle and romantic approach with this one, and it works spectacularly, especially with the acting talents of Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard. A British investment broker, Max Skinner (Crowe) inherits his uncle’s chateau and vineyard in Provence, where Max spent part of his childhood. As he tries to renovate it to be sold, he discovers that not all the good things in life involve money.
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Calendar Girls
This film is a sterling example of womanly confidence and grace, as 10 women pose nude for a calendar in a fundraising effort for a local hospital. Set in Yorkshire, recent widow Annie Clarke (Julie Walters) knows that ‘sex sells’: after her husband dies of leukemia, she decides to enlist the help of her local Women’s Institute chapter to raise money for leukemia research. So begins her uphill (and amusing) battle of convincing the conventional, middle-aged women to pose nude – after all, December needs a group shot! It’ll leave you with a smile, no matter how many times you see it. Also with Helen Mirren.
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Almost Famous
William Miller (Patrick Fugit), a 15-year-old high school student, gets the chance to write for Rolling Stone Magazine about an emerging rock band as he joins them on their tour around America. The movie is semi-autobiographical as director, Cameron Crowe, had a similar experience when he was younger. Get ready for a wide-eyed, coming-of-age adventure! Also with Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
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Serendipity
On their first meeting, Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) and Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) fall for each other while glove shopping in New York City on Christmas Eve. They both think it’s too risky to follow their hearts so soon – instead, they let fate decide whether they should be together. Sara writes her number down in a book, and Jonathan writes his down on a $5 bill. They deliberately part ways without the contact details; years later, they try to track each other down – will fate be kind to them?
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Annie Hall
This role of Annie was written for Diane Keaton, Woody Allen’s muse for a large part of his early career. It’s about a New York comedian who meets the giddy and quick-to-laugh Annie. Their rollercoaster romance is true to Woody Allen style, and may have you reflecting on your own love life.
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Marie Antoinette
Living it up to the nines in her own world of opulence, while much of France lives poorly, shows precisely why Marie Antoinette was referred to unaffectionately as “the Austrian woman”. Sofia Coppola directs this film, full of rich colours and boisterous pastimes.
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Ferris Bueler’s Day Off
Seeing as you’re taking a day off while outside, the rain rules, why not see how Ferris Bueler spent his. This high school boy will have you wishing you could go back in time to try out some of his many antics has he gets away with skipping school in a series of narrow escapes.
