Best Life-Affirming Movies
by sabrinatheblogster | created - 08 May 2014 | updated - 18 Jan 2017 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Forrest Gump (1994)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance
The history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field
Votes: 2,256,832 | Gross: $330.25M
2. October Sky (1999)
PG | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Laura Dern, Chris Owen
Votes: 98,039 | Gross: $32.48M
3. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
R | 142 min | Drama
Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
Votes: 2,888,556 | Gross: $28.34M
4. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
PG-13 | 135 min | Biography, Drama, Mystery
A mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer
Votes: 986,935 | Gross: $170.74M
5. Into the Wild (2007)
R | 148 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.
Director: Sean Penn | Stars: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden
Votes: 658,121 | Gross: $18.35M
6. Good Will Hunting (1997)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 1,067,905 | Gross: $138.43M
7. 50/50 (2011)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Inspired by a true story, a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.
Director: Jonathan Levine | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard
Votes: 342,909 | Gross: $35.01M
8. Annie Hall (1977)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Romance
Alvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane
Votes: 278,407 | Gross: $39.20M
9. Where the Heart Is (2000)
PG-13 | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A pregnant seventeen-year-old rebuilds her life after being abandoned by her boyfriend at a Walmart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma.
Director: Matt Williams | Stars: Natalie Portman, James Frain, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing
Votes: 36,356 | Gross: $33.77M
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama
Charlie, a 15-year-old introvert, enters high school and is nervous about his new life. When he befriends his seniors, he learns to cope with his friend's suicide and his tumultuous past.
Director: Stephen Chbosky | Stars: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd
Votes: 547,967 | Gross: $17.74M
11. Amélie (2001)
R | 122 min | Comedy, Romance
Despite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta
Votes: 794,197 | Gross: $33.23M
12. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Gerry Robert Byrne
Votes: 1,077,949 | Gross: $34.40M
13. I Heart Huckabees (2004)
R | 107 min | Comedy
A husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg
Votes: 66,275 | Gross: $12.78M
14. It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)
PG-13 | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A clinically-depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.
Directors: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck | Stars: Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, Dana DeVestern
Votes: 148,177 | Gross: $6.35M
15. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 518,061 | Gross: $59.89M
16. Love Actually (2003)
R | 135 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.
Director: Richard Curtis | Stars: Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney
Votes: 531,502 | Gross: $59.70M
17. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
PG | 114 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
When both he and a colleague are about to lose their job, Walter takes action by embarking on an adventure more extraordinary than anything he ever imagined.
Director: Ben Stiller | Stars: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Jon Daly, Kathryn Hahn
Votes: 340,881 | Gross: $58.24M
18. Midnight in Paris (2011)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller
Votes: 449,850 | Gross: $56.82M
19. Thelma & Louise (1991)
R | 130 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Two best friends set out on an adventure, but it soon turns around to a terrifying escape from being hunted by the police, as these two women escape for the crimes they committed.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen
Votes: 173,118 | Gross: $45.36M
20. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A teenager from the slums of Mumbai becomes a contestant on the show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati?' When interrogated under suspicion of cheating, he revisits his past, revealing how he had all the answers.
Directors: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan | Stars: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Saurabh Shukla, Anil Kapoor
Votes: 877,786 | Gross: $141.32M
21. Dead Poets Society (1989)
PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles
Votes: 545,941 | Gross: $95.86M
22. Easy A (2010)
PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When Olive lies to her best friend about losing her virginity to one of the college boys, a girl overhears their conversation. Soon, her story spreads across the entire school like wildfire.
Director: Will Gluck | Stars: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley, Dan Byrd
Votes: 417,951 | Gross: $58.40M
23. It Could Happen to You (1994)
PG | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A police officer promises to share his lottery ticket with a waitress in lieu of a tip.
Director: Andrew Bergman | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Rosie Perez, Wendell Pierce
Votes: 44,633 | Gross: $37.80M
24. Don Jon (2013)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A New Jersey guy dedicated to his family, friends, and church, develops unrealistic expectations from watching porn and works to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love.
Director: Joseph Gordon-Levitt | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza
Votes: 247,048 | Gross: $24.48M
25. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby
Votes: 242,695 | Gross: $92.82M
26. Before Sunrise (1995)
R | 101 min | Drama, Romance
A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Andrea Eckert, Hanno Pöschl
Votes: 339,282 | Gross: $5.54M
27. Before Sunset (2004)
R | 80 min | Drama, Romance
Nine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Vernon Dobtcheff, Louise Lemoine Torrès
Votes: 287,804 | Gross: $5.82M
28. The Breakfast Club (1985)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Five high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy
Votes: 436,511 | Gross: $45.88M
29. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy
A popular high school student, admired by his peers, decides to take a day off from school and goes to extreme lengths to pull it off, to the chagrin of his Dean, who'll do anything to stop him.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones
Votes: 386,436 | Gross: $70.14M
30. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
R | 134 min | Drama, Romance
Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid
Votes: 382,184 | Gross: $83.04M
31. Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
PG-13 | 117 min | Drama
A free-thinking art professor teaches conservative 1950s Wellesley girls to question their traditional social roles.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Votes: 90,937 | Gross: $63.86M
32. Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Bridget Jones is determined to improve herself while she looks for love in a year in which she keeps a personal diary.
Director: Sharon Maguire | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones
Votes: 263,468 | Gross: $71.54M
33. The Help (2011)
PG-13 | 146 min | Drama
An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
Director: Tate Taylor | Stars: Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard
Votes: 492,786 | Gross: $169.71M
34. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
R | 122 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver
Votes: 742,697 | Gross: $132.09M
35. The World's End (2013)
R | 109 min | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from twenty years earlier unwittingly become humanity's only hope for survival.
Director: Edgar Wright | Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike
Votes: 298,196 | Gross: $26.00M
36. Before Midnight (2013)
R | 109 min | Drama, Romance
We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick, Ariane Labed
Votes: 172,134 | Gross: $8.11M
37. Her (2013)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Rooney Mara
Votes: 669,560 | Gross: $25.57M
38. The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
PG-13 | 117 min | Biography, Drama
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career
Director: Gabriele Muccino | Stars: Will Smith, Thandiwe Newton, Jaden Smith, Brian Howe
Votes: 560,729 | Gross: $163.57M
39. High Fidelity (2000)
R | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Rob, a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his top five breakups, including the one in progress.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: John Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black
Votes: 189,767 | Gross: $27.29M
40. God Help the Girl (2014)
Unrated | 112 min | Drama, Music, Romance
As Eve begins writing songs as a way to sort through some emotional problems, she meets James and Cassie, two musicians each at crossroads of their own.
Director: Stuart Murdoch | Stars: Emily Browning, Olly Alexander, Hannah Murray, Pierre Boulanger
Votes: 9,232 | Gross: $0.10M
41. This Is Where I Leave You (2014)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
After their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes, and might-have-beens.
Director: Shawn Levy | Stars: Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver
Votes: 89,250 | Gross: $34.29M
42. How to Be Single (2016)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A group of young adults navigate love and relationships in New York City.
Director: Christian Ditter | Stars: Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann, Alison Brie
Votes: 94,261 | Gross: $46.84M
43. The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)
TV-MA | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
A man suffering a family loss enrolls in a class about care-giving that changes his perspective on life.
Director: Rob Burnett | Stars: Craig Roberts, Paul Rudd, Selena Gomez, Alex Huff
Votes: 79,736
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