Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.So you're cruising for a romantic movie (we did NOT say chick flick) to snuggle in with your sweetie for Valentine's Day.
What to choose?
Well, people's idea of romantic varies. A lot.
Online lists include "300," a homoerotic bloodfest set in ancient Greece; "Halloween," a serial-killer fright flick; "The Terminator," a violent action tale set in the future; and "The Break-Up," in which Jennifer Aniston is so mistreated by Vince Vaughn she walks away.
Not my idea of stuff to inspire heart palpitations.
Here are some personal favorites that range in tone but felt more conducive to setting the mood. We begin with the recent past.
Contact the writer: 402-444-1269, bob.fischbach@owh.com
2011
Mainstream: "Crazy, Stupid, Love." Emma Stone teaches Ryan Gosling about commitment. Gosling teaches Steve Carell the moves.
Quirkier: "The Adjustment Bureau." Matt Damon and Emily Blunt insist some romances really are meant to be.
2010
A bad year for movie romance. "Dear John" (Amanda Seyfried, Channing Tatum) and "Letters to Juliet" (Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan) try but overload the sappiness meter.
2009
Mainstream: Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock prove opposites attract in laughfest "The Proposal."
Quirkier: "(500) Days of Summer." Joseph Gordon-Levitt learns Zooey Deschanel isn't the only fish in the sea.
Also recommend: "Julie & Julia," "The Young Victoria."
2008
Homegrown: "Lovely, Still." Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn celebrate a Christmas romance filmed near 54th and Blondo.
Quirkier: "Dan in Real Life." Widower Steve Carell finds a family vacation complicates his itch for Juliette Binoche.
Obscure, wonderful: "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day." Governess Frances McDormand straightens out starlet Amy Adams.
2007
Mainstream: "Juno." Teen pregnancy confuses things for Ellen Page and Michael Cera. So do husband and wife Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, who want a baby.
Quirkier: "The Jane Austen Book Club." Modern romances all over the map, featuring Emily Blunt, Hugh Dancy, Amy Brenneman, Jimmy Smits.
Also recommend: period piece "Becoming Jane," about the real Jane Austen. Anne Hathaway stars.
2006
Mainstream: "The Devil Wears Prada." Anne Hathaway has issues, and her job at a fashion magazine with the boss from hell (Meryl Streep) doesn't help.
Less seen but fun: "The Holiday." Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet swap homes for Christmas, as both try to get over bad relationships. Jude Law and Jack Black assist.
2005
Mainstream: "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are assassins after each other in more ways than one in this mock-thriller laughfest.
Quirkier: "Fever Pitch." Jimmy Fallon is the ultimate Red Sox fan. Can Drew Barrymore cope with that?
Also recommend: period piece "Pride and Prejudice," and Ang Lee's same-sex masterpiece, "Brokeback Mountain."
2004
Mainstream: "The Notebook." Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, Gena Rowlands and James Garner are so good, you can ignore the sappiness meter.
Quirkier: "Garden State." Zach Braff and Natalie Portman find love amid funereal circumstances.
Homegrown: "Sideways." Men's bad behavior aside, Paul Giamatti finds love in wine country in a story written and directed by Omaha's own Alexander Payne.
2003
Mainstream: "Something's Gotta Give." Divorcee Diane Keaton and playboy Jack Nicholson take the long way to finding a happy ending.
Quirkier: "Love Actually," in which an all-star cast works through just about every kind of love in crisscrossing plotlines.
Quirkier still: "Down With Love." Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor spoof Doris Day and Rock Hudson.
2002
Mainstream: "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Nia Vardalos overcomes her family's hilarious ethnic prejudices to snag John Corbett.
Quirkier: "Someone Like You." Jilted Ashley Judd goes feminist, yet falls for cynic Hugh Jackman.
Conventional, predictable fun: "Two Weeks Notice," "Sweet Home Alabama," "The Wedding Planner."
Christian-themed weeper: "A Walk to Remember."
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Color classics
Mainstream:
“Titanic,” Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet
“You've Got Mail” Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan
“When Harry Met Sally,” Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan
“Moonstruck,” Nicolas Cage and Cher
“Working Girl,” Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith
“Sleepless in Seattle,” Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan
“The American President,” Michael Douglas and Annette Bening
“Jerry Maguire,” Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger
“Pretty Woman,” Richard Gere and Julia Roberts
“Sense and Sensibility,” Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman
“Sabrina,” Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond
“The Quiet Man,” John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara
“The African Queen,” Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn
“Giant,” Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor
“Breakfast at Tiffany's,” Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard
“Gone With the Wind,” Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh
With a twist:
“Return to Me,” David Duchovny and Minnie Driver
“Eat Drink Man Woman,” Sihung Lung
“Bull Durham,” Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon
“Ghost,” Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore
“Dirty Dancing,” Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey
“Clueless,” Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd
“High Fidelity,” John Cusack and Iben Hjejle
“Roxanne,” Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah
“Splash,” Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah
“My Best Friend's Wedding,” Dermot Mulroney and Julia Roberts
“Annie Hall,” Woody Allen and Diane Keaton
“Sixteen Candles,” Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall
“Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,” Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn
Beautiful black and white
“Casablanca,” Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman
“Roman Holiday,” Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn
“Adam's Rib,” Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn
“It Happened One Night,” Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert
“The Philadelphia Story,” Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn
“Love in the Afternoon,” Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn
“Random Harvest,” Ronald Colman and Greer Garson
“The Bishop's Wife,” David Niven and Loretta Young
“Sabrina,” Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn
“The Apartment,” Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine
“The Best Years of Our Lives,” Dana Andrews and Teresa Wright
“Now, Voyager,” Bette Davis and Paul Henreid
“To Have and Have Not,” Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall
“Captain Blood,” Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland
“Rebecca,” Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine
“The Mark of Zorro,” Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell
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