Autumn Cheers And Tears
There’s just something special about fall movies: Think of the return to school and its sports teams, and Halloween and Thanksgiving. But it’s also a mood—of nostalgia, regret, deeply felt moods, and melancholic reflection. So pick a mood and a movie, and revel in that fall feeling!
The Age Of Adaline (2015)
Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) has been 29 years old for nearly 80 years, so arguably she’s way past even her autumn years, which she fashionably hides until a charming man appears.
Lionsgate Films, The Age Of Adaline (2015)
Amélie (2001)
Amélie’s enthusiasm is matched only by her boundless imagination as she charms Parisian citizens with such joy you’ll forget for a moment about the falling leaves outside your window.
Claudie Ossard Productions, Amélie (2001)
Autumn In New York (2000)
No hiding autumn when it’s in the title. Instead, this film embraces the tone of the season, as a romance between a young woman and an older man faces the ticking clock of her tragic illness.
MGM Pictures, Autumn In New York (2000)
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (2019)
There’s still time to fend off the bitterness of winter, at least in your heart. So, embrace Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers, reminding us that every season should be a season of kindness.
TriStar Pictures, A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (2019)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Perfect Halloween fare is this tale of a couple, confused by their recent demise, turning to ghostly Beetlejuice to scare off some very lively new occupants, with chaotically funny results.
Geffen Film Company, BeetleJuice (1988)
Coco (2017)
A young boy takes off for the Land of the Dead to explore his cultural heritage after his family forbids music in the house. Mexico’s Día de los Muertos comes to life in this animated treat.
Coraline (2009)
There’s nothing like a secret door to invite adventure, leading young Coraline to a bewildering alternate world that seems so much better than her dull reality—but looks can be deceiving!
Focus Features, Coraline (2009)
The Edge Of Seventeen (2016)
Counting up from movies like Sixteen Candles is this candid, often humorous, look at the joys and sorrows facing a young woman navigating a teenage world that seems all too challenging.
Gracie Films, The Edge Of Seventeen (2016)
ET The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
In this heartwarming tale of the power of friendship, a young boy tries to get a stranded alien—who has the literal power to heal—back home in the face of Earthlings’ confusion and suspicion.
Universal Pictures, ET The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)
Director Wes Anderson paints a colorful animated autumn as talking animals, including George Clooney’s Mr Fox, scheme to snatch fall feasts from fearsome, furious farmers hot on their tails.
Twentieth Century, Fantastic Mr Fox (2009)
Far From Heaven (2002)
Strolls in the park and 1950s wardrobe choices inject a sense of nostalgia in this movie with Julianne Moore, even as her character faces personal crises shaped by attitudes of the era.
Vulcan Productions, Far From Heaven (2002)
Friday Night Lights (2004)
There’s more potential for nostalgia as a Texas town gets wrapped up in the power and the glory of high school football, as those lights cast a steady shine on a field of young ambition.
Universal Pictures, Friday Night Lights (2004)
The Goonies (1985)
Discovering a treasure map, a young band of adventurers search for pirate treasure while avoiding hidden traps and unsavory characters, all in the noble cause of saving their homes.
Warner Bros., The Goonies (1985)
Hero (2002)
A tale of China made in China, seven warring states battle it out, joined by Jet Li as a flying fighter capable of great heights. Along the way, you’ll see a forest or two in fine fall foliage.
Sil-Metropole Organisation, Hero (2002)
Hocus Pocus (1993)
Three Salem witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy) are accidentally resurrected on Halloween when a teen lights the Black Flame Candle in this Disney cult classic.
Walt Disney Pictures, Hocus Pocus (1993)
Hoosiers (1986)
In Hickory, bright lights are trained on the high school’s basketball court as a new coach, played by Gene Hackman, pushes past setbacks and suspicions on the way to the state championship.
Hemdale Film Corporation, Hoosiers (1986)
Iron Jawed Angels (2004)
With autumn comes elections, so this HBO film starring Hilary Swank and Frances O’Connor fighting for women’s right to vote just might be a winner in the race for your time and attention.
It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
It’s not easy believing in the Great Pumpkin, as Linus discovers standing vigil in a pumpkin patch with Sally, while the rest of the gang goes trick-or-treating in a classic Charlie Brown special.
Lee Mendelson Film Productions, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
Knives Out (2019)
As fall weather keeps you snug in your home, why not watch a movie about people inside an even bigger home, all suspects as Daniel Craig investigates the demise of a rich mystery writer?
Love Story (1970)
Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal star (as befits the title) in one of the most iconic love stories ever filmed, as opposites attract and the couple navigates the spring and autumn of their romance.
Paramount Pictures, Love Story (1970)
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Arriving as New England fall colors announce themselves, a boundary-pushing teacher played by Julia Roberts upends her students’ 1950s attitudes, and changes a bit herself along the way too.
Revolution Studios, Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Also co-starring Julia Roberts, in an early role, this coming-of-age tale marked the acting debut of Matt Damon. If teenage romance and angst are your autumnal cup of tea, give this a look!
The Samuel Goldwyn Company, Mystic Pizza (1988)
Persuasion (2022)
Fall is definitely in the air in Netflix’s quirky contemporary take on Jane Austen’s last novel. Wistful Anne Elliot (Dakota Johnson) ponders a romance cut short. Should she revive it?
Practical Magic (1998)
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman play two magical sisters whose romantic life is literally cursed. When they turn to magic after an untimely demise, spooky complications ensue.
Warner Bros., Practical Magic (1998)
Remember The Titans (2000)
Football arrives in the fall, this time spurring a town to overcome its segregated past and unite. Denzel Washington stars in this story based on a real-life high school coach’s efforts in 1971.
Walt Disney, Remember the Titans (2000)
Rushmore (1998)
Jason Schwartzman plays a self-confident teenager who competes with a Vietnam vet (played by Bill Murray) for a widowed first-grade teacher’s affection, in a film both farcical and endearing.
Touchstone Pictures, Rushmore (1998)
School Of Rock (2003)
Jack Black plays a failed musician turned fake substitute teacher who rallies a prep school’s young students to join a Battle of the Bands, with rock and roll boosting his pupils’ self-confidence.
Paramount Pictures, School Of Rock (2003)
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Bradley Cooper plays a bipolar man who’s trying to reconnect with his ex-wife. He meets widow Tiffany, played by Jennifer Lawrence, who offers to help if he dances with her in a competition.
The Weinstein Company, Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Soul Food (1997)
A Chicago family navigates the joys and stresses of Sunday dinners, with an ensemble cast including Vanessa Williams. No Thanksgiving turkey, but you might pick up a similar vibe.
Fox 2000 Pictures, Soul Food (1997)
St Elmo’s Fire (1985)
Even if critics weren’t all fired up, you might enjoy this coming-of-age film about seven college graduates hanging out in their old haunts as they ponder what follows youthful self-absorption.
Columbia Pictures, St Elmo’s Fire (1985)
Stepmom (1998)
It’s Julia Roberts time again in a somber tale where she’s dating a man (Ed Harris) with children, even as they must cope with the terminal illness of the ex-wife and mother (Susan Sarandon).
Columbia Pictures, Stepmom (1998)
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
A fashion designer wants to marry New York’s hottest bachelor, but there’s a problem: Her high school beau won’t divorce her, so she returns to Alabama to deal with her sticky past.
Touchstone Pictures, Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Sweet November (2001)
Copious tears are shed in this romantic drama starring Keanu Reeves as a workaholic ad exec who falls in love with a woman, played by Charlize Theron, who tries to change him in a month.
3 Arts Entertainment, Sweet November (2001)
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
A high school junior’s secret love letters somehow get delivered to her crushes, leaving Lara Jean (Lana Condor) mortified, but determined to recover. It’s adapted from a bestselling YA novel.
Overbrook Entertainment, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
Twilight (2008)
Autumn is a season of things not quite dead, not quite alive—something like the handsome vampire a disaffected Bella discovers after grumpily moving to a new school in a new town.
Summit Entertainment, Twilight (2008)
The Village (2004)
You never know what lurks in a strange forest—or a film directed by M Night Shyamalan. It’s double suspense when a blind woman treks through the woods to save the man she loves.
Touchstone Pictures, The Village (2004)
What’s Cooking? (2000)
This movie is no turkey, but does include four of them as families of different backgrounds work through their own crises using their own values as another Thanksgiving comes and goes.
Because Entertainment, What’s Cooking? (2000)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
When New York meets autumn, it’s a beautiful backdrop to this classic tale of the eternal tension between friendship and romance, while Harry and Sally repeatedly teeter on the edge of love.
Columbia Pictures, When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Fall Films With Feeling
No longer summer and not yet winter, autumn is a time of transitions, reflected in so many of these movies. Whether looking for Halloween frights or nostalgic, romantic sights, may you find the right movie to curl up with, the slow burn of emotions warming you up these lengthening nights.
