APM Music Staff Picks - Movies About Love
For many, Valentine's Day gives the opportunity to stretch out with chocolate or popcorn and enjoy a heart-moving flick. The APM Music staff took some time to shout out their favorite films about love. See their recommendations below:
Sarah Ponder, Music Director
My favorite movie about love is Paris, Texas directed by Wim Wenders. To me this film is so beautiful because it explores love in a variety of ways – familial and romantic – through the lens of two grown adults as well as a child. Love manifests as something at once nostalgic, and yet still pervasive, in its present ability to affect the lives of different characters in the film. It is gritty and heart-breaking yet somehow heartening (depending largely on the audience’s interpretation of events) and it makes such an impact on me no matter how many times I have seen it.
Jim Cathcart, Account Executive
Grosse Pointe Blank - Let's start with the cast John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Dan Ackroyd, Alan Arkin as therapist and let's not forget, bonus: Joan Cusack for the brother sister duo win! Now the music: The Clash, The Jam, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Pixies, The Specials and who could forget the scene where Martin Blank is staring at a baby pondering the meaning of life at his high school reunion while David Bowie/Queen's "Under Pressure" plays. Hit man in an existential funk re-kindles true love with hometown sweetheart radio Dj and gets a second chance at a "normal life", handed to him by a coincidental twist of fate and culminating in a shootout. The witty banter between Minnie Driver & John Cusack feels authentic and grounded in an otherwise far fetched love story which always makes me smile.
Cassie Vasquez, Client Services Coordinator
One of my favorite movies is P.S. I Love You. It’s thoughtful and funny and they had a fun and exciting relationship that never faltered even when they were going through the toughest of times. It also taught me to never take your loved one for granted and to live each moment you can with them. You never know when it’ll be your last. What’s not to love about that in a movie?
Adam Weitz, Key Account Director of Studios & Film
I think the best movies about love are the ones that capture the romanticism and neurosis of courtship. Annie Hall and Harold & Maude withstand the test of time. Guilty pleasures include: the whirlwind chaos of True Romance; the heartbreaking and endearing quirk of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; the charming fantasy of The Princess Bride; Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters in The Jerk; and the first 10 minutes of Up.
Owen Massey, Director of Account Development
WALL-E: robots have emotions, too. Not just a touching story about falling for someone – check out the “dance in space scene” and when intimacy starved John and Mary touch hands – but also a celebration of the power of creating one’s own destiny. Great music, too, including Louis Armstrong’s take on the Edith Piaf classic “La Vie En Rose”.
The Princess Bride was recommended by multiple staff members. Other honorable mentions are Sleepless In Seattle, Romeo & Juliet, Sound of Music and the classic Casablanca.
Happy Valentine's Day from APM Music!
