by Johnnie Fraser
Sometimes a movie can literally turn your whole day around, its energy and positivity acting like a switch, and flipping you from snappy to happy.
Movies can elevate your mood … it happens all the time. They’re like the perfect tonic: easy to take, (potentially) inexpensive, plentiful in supply, simple to source, and with no need for a prescription. If work has been getting you down, the cost-of-living crisis has been burning you up, or you’re just feeling low, heading into a cinema, opening up your preferred streaming service, or – if you like going old school with physical media – reaching for your shelf of DVDs and Blu-rays can provide the perfect antidote.
Whether it’s an exciting action film to sweep you away and take your mind off your current batch of anxieties, a heartwarming relationship drama to convince you that the world isn’t all bad, a broad comedy to make you laugh, a sweet romance to affirm your wavering belief in humanity, or an inspirational sports drama to raise your spirits, a movie can provide everything you need to turn your day around. You could chew on some Kava Gummies to get the same effect, but here are a few movies guaranteed to put a smile on your dial!
SCHOOL OF ROCK
In this funny, charming winner from director Richard Linklater, the irascible Jack Black turns a classroom of nerds into a heaving rock band after taking them through the history of rock music and getting them tuned up on their instruments. The kids’ climactic concert will literally have you up out of your chair!
FLYING HIGH
Laughter is usually the best medicine, right? This 1980 comedy classic (titles Airplane in the US) from Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker changed the frame completely on how funny a movie could be, with its jokes charging in hard and fast with a speed and deftness never before seen. You will laugh until you cry with this comic masterpiece.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
Inspired by the adventure serials of the 1940s and 1950s, producers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg cooked up one of the greatest action films of all time with this 1981 blockbuster, in which Harrison Ford’s archaeologist Indiana Jones thwarts the bad guys, romances Karen Allen’s Marion Ravenwood, and takes audiences on a wild adventure they’ll never forget.
BILLY ELLIOT
In this 2000 box office smash out of the UK, young Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell in a wondrously energetic and engaging performance) rises above the grim grind of his small hometown, which is beset by a miners’ strike, through the unlikely escape of ballet, much to the surprise and suspicion of his tough father and older brother. A heartwarming tale of family and living your dreams, Billy Elliot will bring a tear to even the driest of eyes.
TOY STORY
The kick-off point for one of the greatest film series of all time (and no, not just animated films, all films), Pixar’s 1995 animated masterpiece Toy Story has everything a feel-good movie needs: humour, loveable characters, a great concept, and a wonderful musical score. Even if you don’t like animated films, Toy Story is a gorgeously evocative and heartily positive experience that will shift any bad mood.
