In honor of Love Birds releasing on Netflix, we are looking back at all the great movies that came before it with “love” in the title. Here are our top ten!
What is the perfect Bond film? What do I even mean by that question? After 50 plus years of films, I think audiences have come up with a perfect formula of what to include in your favorite Bond film. Let’s get started! You need an overarching, evil organization most likely named SPECTRE. The henchmen better be up to snuff like a talented, cold, and calculating agent played by the great Robert Shaw. Cool gadgets from our favorite inventor Q are a must. Bond needs to definitely seduce a Russian agent of course. But the cherry on top needs to be a satisfying string of action set pieces such as a train, helicopter attacks on a mountain, and exploding oil bins on the ocean. Oh wait! This perfectly describes the second official EON outing of James Bond, From Russia with Love. Enjoy every moment the classic Bond film provides and the manly and dangerous performance of Scotland’s most famous lisping man, Sean Connery. (Shane Conto)
This is a true story. It’s a true story about a man who, after being married for 10 years to a woman, comes out as gay and leaves to live his best life. Unfortunately for him, his best life is too expensive for him to afford so this results in him becoming one of the most evasive con-artists in American history. Let me also mention that this man is played by Jim Carrey, and his main love interest is Ewan McGregor. Their “meet cute” happens to be in a charming little…prison! I found this film when I was on my McGregor binge a few years ago, and it quickly solidified itself as one of my absolute favorites. While it may sound like it’s an introspective chase drama alá Catch Me If You Can, it really isn’t. The filmmakers took this tale, and decided to play it as a romantic comedy, one where the guy keeps getting away – not because he leaves, but because the other keeps breaking the law. It’s outrageous, it’s hilarious, it’s just very entertaining. If you haven’t laid your eyes on it yet, I highly recommend you look it up for just an all-around good time. (Alice-Ginevra Micheli)
What is the most controversial snub on Disney + besides the new and raunchier Lizzie McGuire? The spin-off series based on one of the best coming of age tales in recent memory, Love, Simon, of course! Fox did a surprisingly bold move in creating a big studio film recounting a young gay man trying to come out. What is even more surprising is that it took until 2018 for this to happen. This film is refreshing in that it centers around a closeted young man who has a supportive family and group of friends but struggles to come out and break his status quo. This film is packed with a fantastic cast of young actors led by a charismatic and empathetic performance by Nick Robinson. Any great coming of age tale needs a rocking soundtrack to boot which Love, Simon delivers with some great tracks from Bleachers. Filled with heart, love, and emotion, this is a must see film for all to enjoy, connect with, and embrace. (Shane Conto)
I personally am not the biggest fan of Kevin Costner’s work, but when it involves baseball, he appears to be more passionate about the given project. That is the case with For the Love of the Game (1999) directed by Sam Raimi. Kevin Costner as aging ace pitcher Billy Chapel, feels natural in the role and places pieces of himself firmly into his character. As previously stated when Kevin Costner is in a film about the National Pastime aka baseball, he is cinematic gold. He does some solid work and has great scenes with Kelly Preston who plays columnist, Jane Aubrey. Preston’s character is very likable and you can’t help but want their relationship to work with the given obstacles that are placed in front of them. To speak about the cast more, it is an amazing cast which includes John C. Reilly, Jena Malone, Brian Cox, and J.K Simmons. For director Sam Raimi, this is a bit of a departure from the work that he had previously done. The most enjoyable aspect of the film besides the relationship between Billy and Jane, is his relationship with his catcher/buddy Gus Sinski (John C. Reilly). They bicker playfully like an old married couple and even joke about it. Playing baseball for a good portion of my life and playing catcher most of that time, I completely understood the relationship that they had. There has to be a bond between the two and you have to trust one another to play well. Both the pitcher and the catcher take care of one another throughout games, it’s only a given that the person you have the most interaction with on the field becomes your closest teammate/friend. While not the perfect baseball film or romance film, For the Love of the Game is still a fun and heartwarming watch for fans of either genre. (Joe Vargas)
“Shakespeare in Love” is not (technically) one of the bard’s plays; instead, it is a fanciful interpretation of how Romeo and Juliet might have come about. Those seeking hard historical facts, look elsewhere. Those looking for a fun and enjoyable romp through Elizabethan era England will find much to enjoy. This film took home 7 Oscars and they are all well earned. The costumes and sets are gorgeous while remaining realistic. Gwyneth Paltrow is a ray of sunshine in this movie, and Judy Dench earned a best supporting actress award for only 6 minutes of screen time! The script is easy to understand and the humor is light and quick. If you have a partner who is into these sorts of movies (Shakespeare, rom/com or both) and you need to score some points with them, this will be a wonderful choice. (Donald Skidmore)
When Love & Other Drugs first came out, I remember seeing lots of previews that made it seem like it was just a movie full of sex and nudity. But you don’t get two A-List stars just to waste them on that kind of plot. Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway have excellent chemistry in this romantic dramedy about the pharmaceutical industry in the 1990s. It’s got a lot to say about the industry and relationships and it’s anchored by the two leads. This is the perfect small vehicle for the two stars who are easily the best part about the movie. It’s worth a watch because of their chemistry alone. (Robert Bouffard)
“I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes.” In recent memory there’s a lot of opinions on Love Actually, but to me this is without a doubt one of my favorite holiday films. Boasting a cast of Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Liam Neeson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, Alan Rickman, Martin Freeman, Billy Bob Thorton, and of course Bill Nighy; Love Actually takes the lives of many wonderful and colorful characters and weaves them together in an entertaining and engaging way with one common, connecting theme: love. Again, Love Actually is entertaining, hilarious, and very heartfelt; however, it is a bit dated in some ways and is of course a bit cheesy and cliche. But to me, that’s what makes it the perfect watch for the holidays and for comfort watching. I was very late to this film (came out in 2003, watched it in 2014), but over the years it has become one of my favorite watches when I’m down in the dumps. (Ben Davis)
I Love You, Man is a great movie. At face value, it’s a buddy comedy released in 2009 starring the ever-lovable Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. The former needs to find a friend that he can ask to be his best man for his upcoming wedding. It’s a funny premise and with a stellar cast, it works wonderfully. It’s upon follow up viewings that I came to love this movie for deeper reasons. The main character is a lonely guy who while he likes himself well enough, he doesn’t love himself and has allowed his own personality and interests to go dormant. Through the power of bromance, he can reinvigorate himself to be a better man for the woman he loves and learns to love himself in the process. There are so many amazingly charming and hilarious scenes and you will be quoting it for years to come. I love I Love You, Man, and I am certain you will too. Slappa Da Bass! (Evan Lucken)
Romantic comedies are usually in a category that I never really touch on, and movies like this make me question why that is because I really like Crazy, Stupid, Love. Cal who is played by Steve Carell is going through the process of splitting up with his wife and while out one night at a bar he runs into Jacob (Ryan Gosling) who is a womanizer that wants to help Cal move on and teach him how to pick up girls. Jacob soon meets Hannah (Emma Stone), and starts to fall for her while Cal is finding his footing on his new perspective on the single scene. What I think works best about this movie is how it works with balancing multiple stories that coincide into the same plot, and every time we swap between them it never feels like it slows down. Carell and Gosling are a dynamic duo I didn’t know that I ever wanted and I’m glad this movie brings them together, because they are the two things that make me love watching this movie. Julianne Moore plays Emily who is the wife of Cal and she doesn’t get enough credit whenever this movie is brought up, she’s also delivering a good performance with the rest of this cast, and her scenes give us a good insight on her experience of having to split with her husband. If you happen to be like me and never get around to romantic comedies then this should be something that you can enjoy and also have a good laugh. (Alex Henderson)
When love is in the air, it feels as if it’s radiating…….or is that from the mushroom cloud in the distance? Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, one of my all time favorite movies, is a rambunctious dark comedy directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick set during the Cold War, where the threat of nuclear annihilation was the push of a button away. Starring Peter Sellers (in three roles as RAF Captain Mandrake, President Muffley and the titular Dr. Strangelove), George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, James Earl Jones and Slim Pickens, this movie contains a triple parallel story as Captain Mandrake tries to convince a rogue SAC commander to call back a first strike against the Soviet Union, while President Muffley must work with his cabinet, the Soviets and the titular Dr. Strangelove to stop a potential doomsday scenario and the resulting fallout, nuclear and political, which will result if they fail. Finally, Major “King” Kong and his B-52 crew work to complete their mission and deliver their nuclear payload despite attempts by friend and foe alike to stop them. With a legendary director, a cast with some of the most iconic actors of their generation, and some of the most iconic moments in film, one could say Dr. Strangelove is da bomb. (Joseph Davis)
Also See:
P.S. I Love You, Eat. Pray. Love, From Paris With Love, The Love Bug