14 movies for 14 February (Part 1)

Not everyone has extravagant plans for Valentine’s Day. Maybe staying home, curled up on the couch, snuggling with your beau with a glass of wine in hand is more your speed.

Here are some recommendations on the 14 best movies to stream this coming 14 February!

Say Anything

You may have not have watched this classic film before, but you’ve definitely seen its iconic scene referenced in pop culture somewhere or another. A confession of love by the male lead whilst holding a boom box over their head, anyone?

Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) is an average guy who falls in love with the beautiful valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye), and tries to win her protective father’s approval before she goes off to college in England.

If Say Anything is good enough for Deadpool, it’s good enough for you.

The Big Sick

Produced by comedy guru Judd Apatow, and based on the real lives of Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V Gordon, The Big Sick is filled with big laughs and even bigger heart.

Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani), a Pakistani comic, meets Emily (Zoe Kazan), an American graduate student, while performing stand-up. They quickly fall in love, but are faced with obstacles like cultural differences and Emily’s sudden sickness.

They say love endures in the good times and bad, in sickness and in health. Be inspired by the courage love brings this Valentines!

Moonrise Kingdom

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Moonrise Kingdom is a visually and emotionally beautiful coming-of-age comedy drama by Wes Anderson at his best.

Orphan Sam (Jared Gilman) escapes from scout camp to meet his pen pal Suzy (Kara Hayward), and the two twelve year olds run away together into the wilderness off the coast on New England, triggering a search party led by police captain Sharp (Bruce Willis).

There’s just something about young love, unabashedly tender yet defiant, that reminds us of what we’ve forgotten along the way.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

Every generation has its high school rom-com classics. It might still be too early to call it, but To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is certainly a colourful and heartfelt frontrunner for Gen Z.

Lara Jean Song Covey (Lana Condor) is a shy teen girl obsessed with romance novels who has been writing secret, soul-baring love letters to her 5 crushes over the years. One day her younger sister discovers them and sends them out, throwing Lara Jean’s life into chaos.

The film is well-paced and charming thanks to a lively script, good performances and an upbeat pop soundtrack. It might not promise an epic about great love, but it sure delivers on giddy fun.

If Beale Street Could Talk

Barry Jenkins, director of Best Picture Moonlight, delivers yet another beautiful and intelligent masterpiece with If Beale Street Could Talk.

Set in early 1970s Harlem, the future is bright for childhood sweethearts Tish (Kiki Layne) and Alonzo (Stephan James) as they build a life together until Alonzo is wrongly convicted of a heinous crime he did not commit. The film follows Tish, young and pregnant, trying to clear his name.

This moving tale of love, strength and dignity in the face of injustice might be a tad heavy for Valentines for some, but might prove a timely encouragement for others.

Enchanted

Did you know before she was the fiercely determined Lois Lane of the DC Extended Universe, or the Army-enlisted linguist expert of Arrival, Amy Adams was once an animated-turned-live action Disney princess?

Enchanted tells the story of Giselle (Amy Adams), a princess in an animated fairy tale kingdom, who is banished into the real world of New York City by an evil sorceress queen trying to protect her throne. Will Giselle find her way back to Prince Charming, or will something unexpected develop with Robert (Patrick Dempsey), a cynical divorce lawyer?

A love letter to the fairy tale archetypes it is based on, Enchanted is a delightful film

masterfully helmed by the captivating Adams.

And that dance scene set to Jon McLaughlin’s So Close? My my!

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Cult classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a romantic science-fiction film that is as fascinating as it is confusing at times, but well worth the patience as the film unravels itself.

Following a break up after years of trying to make their relationship work, Clementine (Kate Winslet) undergoes a procedure to erase her memories of Joel (Jim Carrey). Joel does so as well, but as the more painful memories of recent times are progressively stripped away, the wonderful moments from the early days of their relationship are revealed. Does he really want to forget her?

Relationships are a complex web of love and desire, expectation and disappointment,

joys and hurts, all propped up by our unreliable memories.

Perhaps we all need a reminder to just remember the good things this Valentines.