Welcome Wednesday: What movies do you find endlessly entertaining?

[Dave LIAO]

👋 Hello there Atlassian Community!

It's five o'clock somewhere! It's Wednesday morning somewhere, and time for another Welcome Wednesday!

What films do you find yourself watching again and again and again, and why?

Looking forward to learning about new movies to add to my list of "Things to Watch"[1].

📣 Sound off in the comments!

[1] I still haven't watched Lord of the Rings yet. 🥲

[Dave LIAO]

Since I love talking to myself (!), I'll start:

1. 👀 Everything Everywhere All at Once - on every rewatch, I find something new. The visuals and sound design on a (relatively) budget film really do "wow" me. And the irreverent humor. Budget was US $14-25 million, and box office performance was $143 million!
2. 👑 The Princess Bride - a $16 million film that made almost $31 million, I can't believe I didn't watch this movie until somewhat recently. The movie itself is hard to classify, and I'm too busy laughing at their jokes to care anyway.

[Kythera]

+1 to "The Princess Bride." I've also read the book, and while the book is good (and I do recommend giving it a read), the movie is better. 💜

[Matt Doar _Adaptavist_]

Ooh, look at you with both "movies" and "films". Good for the international crowd here :)

"Spinal Tap", "Blues Brothers" - from my college years, fun music. 

"Pride and Prejudice" 1995 (and the Bollywood "Bride and Prejudice") - we watched these waiting for the birth of our first child.

"2001 Space Odyssey" in the hope that I might really understand what is going on in second half one day

[Dave LIAO]

😆 I know enough Americans that consider all films to be movies, but not all movies are films. 😉

2001 Space Odyssey is pretty rewatchable, now I've got it on in the background. 🥲

[Matt Doar _Adaptavist_]

Huh, that's a learning.

I forgot to mention all the Lord of the Rings extended editions. Sometimes for a change we watch them out of order :)

[Ollie Guan]

Definitely Forrest Gump for me! I never get tired of watching Forrest’s adventures—“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”

[Ollie Guan]

BTW, 1994 was such an amazing year for movies. I’d also highly recommend The Shawshank Redemption, The Lion King, Speed, and True Lies – all endlessly entertaining for me.

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

Hello everyone,

for me, it is definitely The Lord of the Rings trilogy. No matter how many times I watch it, it still works.

I would also add The Fifth Element, Back to the Future, and The Matrix. Those are the kind of movies where if I catch even 5 minutes of them, I usually end up watching much more than planned.

[Dave LIAO]

The Fifth Element is amazing.

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

♥️

[Joao Galego]

I’ll go with Project Hail Mary — I actually had the chance to attend the premiere here in Australia last Saturday.

Without spoilers, it’s the kind of story that keeps you engaged all the way through — a great mix of science, problem-solving, and humour. Definitely one I’d watch again.

[Dave LIAO]

It's on my list!

I actually have a hold for the book in my local library...

[John D Patton]

We accidentally watched The Birdcage on its Actual 30th anniversary last week by coincidence - it is amazing how that movie has held up. or maybe we’ve all just come full circle.  

But usually I’m good with anything made by Mel Brooks. And …of course I’m also partial to the movie Patton

[Anne Saunders]

I swear, back in the cable days, half of the times I turned the tv on, The Birdcage was playing. (And about half of those times, we just let it roll)

[Dave LIAO]

I've seen the trailer for it many times - I think it was on a VHS for a different movie I would often rewatch - and still haven't seen it yet!

[Manish Jatiwal]

Harry Potter

[Arkadiusz Wroblewski]

YES !!!!!!!!!!

[Kythera]

1. Hello, Dolly! (1969 with Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau) - My late grandma introduced me to this movie one summer when I was a wee sprog, and it kicked off a love of musicals. I've seen this more times than some hardcore fans have seen Rocky Horror in theaters. It's also the most fun response to the "What's your favorite movie" icebreaker question because I look like someone who would say "The Crow." But it really is my favorite movie! 😹
2. Sister Act (1 and 2) - Whoopi Goldberg is hilarious and the music is catchy as heck. There's one particular song from the first "Sister Act" that I listened to on single-track repeat for a month straight while doing some incredibly monotonous Confluence "auditing" (for lack of a better term for a complex undertaking that's a story for another day). Something about it just scratched an itch in my brain that helped me hit The Zone™ and power through the project.
3. Death to Smoochy - I was not prepared for how surprisingly good this movie is. Robin Williams plays a character that's really outside the standard for him and does it so well. It's a really oddball movie and definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but the comedy has a certain level of absurdity that helps me break out of headspaces where I catch myself taking everything too seriously.
   
4. The Birdcage (1996) - More comedy gold. And it completely changed the way Timon's "What do you want me to do, dress in drag and do a hula?" line from "The Lion King" lands. 😹
5. The Princess Bride - ...Do I really need to say more?

[Anne Saunders]

I saw Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly! on stage in what had to be her last bus and truck run with it, and it was AMAZING. The film version may be the only time I've actually liked Barbara Streisand 😅

[Kythera]

@Anne Saunders Oh wow! I've only heard the legends about Carol Channing's performance. That's amazing! 🤩

[Anne Saunders]

I love the 1998 Miramax film Playing by Heart. It was a sleeper - barely any promotion, because it was released a week after Miramax's major Oscar bid (and winner!) that year, Shakespeare in Love, which is a fantastic and rewatchable movie in its own right.

The cast of Playing by Heart includes: Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Connery, Anthony Edwards, Angelina Jolie, Jay Mohr, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Quaid, Gena Rowlands, Jon Stewart, and Madeleine Stowe. The score is by John Barry, and it sounds perfectly like the late 90s with a smattering of likable jazz.  It's chatty but smart, and truly funny.

[Shawn Stevens]

The stop everything you are doing to watch, The Shawshank Redemption. No matter what I am doing if I hear it or see it, I'm stuck watching it. 

Few of my other favorites: 
Serenity
Bourne Series Movies
Can't Buy me Love
She's out of my League
Memento

[Anne Saunders]

Did you see that the whole cast of Firefly/Serenity is getting together to do an animated series? :D

[Dave LIAO]

I screamed 😆

I was watching this yesterday:

https://youtu.be/ou27uZqQJaQ

[Shawn Stevens]

I did not. I will have to check that out. It is sad that Firefly ended when it did. Loved that show. 

[Liz Nixon]

I'll always stop channel surfing when any of these are on:

• The Godfather parts 1 and 2 - Brando, Pacino, Duvall, Caan, De Niro... need I say more? The acting is amazing, not to mention the story itself.
• Goodfellas - Awesome story! Plus Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, and Robert De Niro interact so well.
• LOTR trilogy - Love the stories, aesthetically incredible, great actors. Peter Jackson does it justice.
• The Hobbit (all 3) - Even though they stretched one book into 3 movies, I love Martin Freeman's take on Bilbo.
• The Dark Knight - Heath Ledger as The Joker
• The Dark Knight Rises - Tom Hardy as Bane
• Rogue One - It's just a great interlude between III and IV
• It's a Wonderful Life - James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, and Henry Travers. Incredible actors.
• Jaws - It's like the original 'bro' film. When they're out on the Orca it's like a second act.
• The Simpsons Movie - Because it's The Simpsons

[Barbara Szczesniak]

I am a rainy weekend afternoon rom-com person. I can't say how many times I have watched "The Princess Bride," "Two Weeks' Notice," and "Notting Hill."

At Christmas time, I always watch "Holiday Inn" and "The Bells of St. Mary's." (can't lie; I'd probably watch these any time of year)

And, of course, "Serenity." If you didn't watch "Firefly," you won't understand why people watch this multiple times, but if you did…

[Anne Saunders]

I'm not at all surprised that there are a bunch of Browncoats in the Community :D

[Shawn Stevens]

Shiny. I have characters from Firefly as characters in Eve Online, well a combinations of their names. :-)

[Liz Nixon]

"Holiday Inn" and "The Bells of St. Mary's" are two of my absolute favorites! "Going My Way" is another great one with Bing as Father O'Malley.

[Natalie Beiler]

Some of my favorites in no particular order -

• Pride and Prejudice (1995) ❤️
• The Princess Bride 😊
• Star Wars (my favorites are the first 3 which were actually the middle three - right?) 🪐
• The Sound of Music 🎶
• Secretariat 🏇

[Mayara Aline]

Hello everyone!

I love watching Coraline (2009) over and over again, and every single time I come up with a new theory about the beginning or the ending. Besides, it was the first "horror" movie I saw as a kid, so I'm kinda emotionally attached =).