Well, it’s Labor Day weekend 2020, and we are still (mostly) stuck inside. As the world burns, let’s curl up on the couch for some well-earned fantasy fun. I’m talking happy movies. I’m talking movies that make you smile. I’m talking full-blown whimsy. Yes. What we need in our lives right now, standing at extraordinary crossroads that we’ll have to reckon with before the end of this year, is a little break from reality. If only for the run-time of one of these lesser-known gems. Then, it will be back into the fray. So, if you need it, here’s what we recommend for your 2020 Labor Day time out.
Corey Dahl recommends…
Title: The Lost Boys
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland serving up some Joe Exotic vibes, the guy from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure who isn’t Keanu Reeves, and The Coreys, both Haim and Feldman, at their career peaks
What it’s about: Teenage hot guy Michael is new in town and, while chasing a girl, falls in with the wrong crowd, gets an earring, starts terrorizing the boardwalk on motorcycle, drinks the ringleader’s blood and becomes a half vampire. You know, basic high school stuff. Michael’s brother Sam teams up with some comic book nerds to save the day.
Why you should watch it: If you watched Twilight and thought, “You know what would make this better? Moving it to a beach, incorporating plot elements from every popular ‘80s movie, tighter jeans, worse acting, low-budget special effects, and a lot of thinly veiled metaphors for puberty. Yeah, that’d do it.”
What to eat/drink while watching: Pop Rocks and a Bloody Mary
Level of escape: 😊 😊 😊 😊
Where to watch: It’s on Sling, or you can rent it through YouTube/Amazon/etc.
Danyelle C. Overbo recommends…
Title: Sliding Doors
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow (ugh, I know - don’t blame her adorable character for the actor’s unlikeability), John Hannah, John Lynch, and Jeanne Tripplehorn
What it’s about: A romantic comedy with a twist. Paltrow plays Helen, a woman who gets fired from her job heads home early where her live-in boyfriend is cheating on her. She either makes the train home to discover his infidelity or misses the sliding doors. Here, the movie splits into two narratives, one showing Helen’s life after kicking out the deadbeat, and one showing her life continuing on with the cheating asshole.
Why you should watch it: I know it sounds kind of bleak, and there are some heart-wrenching moments, but I’ve gone back to this movie over and over again because it’s a really good rom-com. It’s a lot of fun watching the similarities and differences in each Helen’s story. The Helen who rids herself of the deadbeat gets a new haircut and meets handsome, charismatic James (John Hannah being insanely adorable). Of course, they fall in love. Not everything is as it seems though, and tragedy strikes both timelines. Ultimately, the film leaves us with the promise of a happy ending for the sweet couple.
SPOILER:
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You have to love the twist at the end. You root for the happy Helen (the one who caught her cheating boyfriend) in all her sassy haircut glory the whole time. You feel for the poor hard-working Helen, always on the verge of discovering her boyfriend’s infidelity. You know the better life - catching those damn doors! - until sassy-Helen is hit by a bus. Surprise! Turns out, her ultimate fate is better if she doesn’t catch the train. It’s an apt metaphor for our country and this horrifying presidency. I am praying that we are the surviving Helen after all is said and done this November. Maybe, all our suffering is keeping us from being slammed by a bus. And we’ll get our own (metaphorically speaking) sweetheart in the end?
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What to eat/drink While Watching: Rosé and toasted subs
Level of escape: 😊 😊 😊
Where to watch: Free with ads on Amazon Prime
Mark Springer recommends…
Title: The Incredibles
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, and the entire creative team at Pixar Animation Studios
What it’s about: With the Marvel Cinematic Universe ascendant as the most successful film franchise in history (worldwide box office gross: $22.55 billion and counting), it’s easy to forget that superhero movies don’t exist solely to recycle 20th-century comic book characters into mountains of cash for The Walt Disney Company. Sometimes the genre produces an anomaly like Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004), a clever, original, and genuinely delightful film that also makes mountains of cash for Disney. The plot, in case you somehow missed it in theaters or elsewhere: In an alternate 1960s, the government has made it illegal for superheroes to do “hero work.” For Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, aka Bob and Helen Parr, that means retiring to a life of mid-century suburban bliss. Bob works a nine-to-five for an insurance company while Helen stays home to raise the family’s three kids, two of whom inherit superpowers of their own that they have to keep hidden—suburban bliss in this case being code for stifling conformity masquerading as domestic tranquility, just like the real ‘50s and ‘60s! A super is as a super does, however, so it’s no surprise that Bob keeps sneaking out at night to relive the glory days by doing anonymous hero work. Complications ensue when Bob’s midlife crisis escalates to real hero work for a shady top-secret government agency with an unmistakable super-villain vibe. The rest is exactly what you’d expect from the superhero formula, only better: Bob gets himself into trouble, Helen and the kids come to his rescue, and in the final act the family teams up to save the world.
Why you should watch it: The Incredibles delivers all the superhero delights of the MCU wrapped in a gorgeous mid-century modern aesthetic, with twice the creativity and none of the staleness that inevitably creeps into a 23-film, 50-hour story arc. There is a sequel, of course (Hollywood can’t spell “lucrative superhero franchise” without the franchise part), but it’s not a pandemic-length commitment. You can watch The Incredibles and Incredibles 2 as a Friday night double feature and still have time left in your weekend to binge a few more of the recommendations on this list.
What to eat/drink While Watching: Shrimp cocktail and a mimosa.
Level of escape: 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊
Where to watch: Disney+, or dust off the copy in your old-school Blu-ray collection.
Sean Cassity recommends…
Title: Kiki’s Delivery Service
Starring: Drawings of people and their cats
What it’s about: Thirteen-year-old Kiki arrives in the quaintest European seaside city 1989 Japanese technology could imagine. It’s time for her to begin her life as a town witch, but her only witchy skills are seat-of-the-pants broom flying and supernatural optimism. But you can rely that no combination of weather or crows will prevent your last-minute birthday gifts from arriving on time.
Why you should watch it: Kiki’s Delivery Service opens with an image of a girl watching the clouds and listening to her dad’s transistor radio as the wind ripples her clothes and the grass around her. It’s such the pleasantest damn vibe and the movie just hovers in that space for a hundred minutes. I dare you not to fall in love with this sweet little hammock of a film.
What to eat/drink While Watching: Pour a little bowl of those gummy Haribo Gold bears to chew as you listen to Kirsten Dunst give the dearest performance of her life.
Level of escape: 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊
Where to watch: Stream it with an HBO Max subscription, otherwise you’ll have to buy it, digital or physical.
Other fantasy films we heartily recommend: All available on Netflix right now!
Stardust - If you haven’t seen this, I envy you, because you get to watch it for the first time. This movie is one of my top 5 films of all time because it is pure fantasy perfection. Michelle Pfeiffer as a badass witch, Robert De Niro as a cross-dressing pirate, pre-Daredevil Charlie Cox (swoon!), could you really ask for more? Yet, you get more! So much more! This is one case where the movie is definitely better than the book. Go watch it for a serious dose of happy.
Safety Not Guaranteed - This absolutely underrated gem of a movie is about falling in love, faith, and time travel. Starring Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass, this story begins with a magazine writer investigating a classified ad in a newspaper looking for someone to go back in time with him. Setting aside this wildly inaccurate representation of how magazines get their stories, the film is an offbeat love story well worth watching.
Unicorn Store - If you missed this when it was featured on Netflix, I wouldn’t be surprised. With so much new content popping up all the time, it makes keeping up basically impossible. This story, about a girl who dreams of adopting a unicorn and may even get the chance, came to Netflix way back in April, 2019. A simpler time. Brie Larson directs and stars, a reason all on its own to give it a chance. But, more than anything, the world needs a story about a magical unicorn store. Good news, it’s already been made.
We would love to hear your recommendations of fantasy/sci-fi movies with happy endings. Please tell us in the comments below.
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