Help us select a movie for date night!
February 11, 2014 8:17 AM Subscribe
Help us figure out what to watch for date night this Wednesday!
On Wednesdays our roommate is out of the house for the evening so we have Pterodactyl date nights where we make dinner and watch a movie. We like to have a theme for these so, for example, in a couple of weeks we'll be having fondue and watching The Sound of Music (Theme: Alps). This week we're having tapas but we can't figure out what movie to watch. Please help us!
Requirements:
On Wednesdays our roommate is out of the house for the evening so we have Pterodactyl date nights where we make dinner and watch a movie. We like to have a theme for these so, for example, in a couple of weeks we'll be having fondue and watching The Sound of Music (Theme: Alps). This week we're having tapas but we can't figure out what movie to watch. Please help us!
Requirements:
- The movie must be available on Netflix streaming or to rent off of Amazon instant video.
- It should, in some way, related to the theme of tapas. This could be very tangential (e.g. "starring Antonio Banderas" would count).
- We like date night movies that are sweet and/or funny. Pixar is the ideal here but stuff like Muppets or Clue or Mean Girls or most movies with Audrey Hepburn also work. We're basically looking for something we can watch and enjoy while we snuggle.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, unless you have issues with Woody Allen.
Maybe Nacho Libre (so dumb, but has its moments. also, only colonially tangential).
Sexy Beast
posted by GrapeApiary at 8:25 AM on February 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
Maybe Nacho Libre (so dumb, but has its moments. also, only colonially tangential).
Sexy Beast
posted by GrapeApiary at 8:25 AM on February 11, 2014 [4 favorites]
Vicky Cristina Barcelona? Set in Spain [Barcelona and Oviedo], with Spanish actors in lead roles [Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz].
Also if you're willing to watch Spanish movies you could try one of the lighter Almodovar films.
posted by xqwzts at 8:26 AM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Also if you're willing to watch Spanish movies you could try one of the lighter Almodovar films.
posted by xqwzts at 8:26 AM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
L'Auberge Espagnole - about a group of Europeans studying in Barcelona
posted by Shadow Boxer at 8:26 AM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Shadow Boxer at 8:26 AM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Pot Luck is set in Barcelona, as is Vicky Cristina Barcelona of course.
A future idea: If you work through the Richard Linklater trilogy of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight over the next 3 date nights (or with gaps) then you have films set in Vienna (so maybe schnitzel), Paris (France gives you lots of choice on food) and Greece (likewise) plus they're of a romantic nature.
posted by biffa at 8:30 AM on February 11, 2014
A future idea: If you work through the Richard Linklater trilogy of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight over the next 3 date nights (or with gaps) then you have films set in Vienna (so maybe schnitzel), Paris (France gives you lots of choice on food) and Greece (likewise) plus they're of a romantic nature.
posted by biffa at 8:30 AM on February 11, 2014
Like Water for Chocolate, based on a book of the same name, is about a woman who can transfer her emotions into the foods she cooks. It doesn't meet your second requirement (it is set in Mexico), but it is a lovely, sort of magical tale about a love story where food plays a prominent role.
posted by singinginmychains at 8:37 AM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by singinginmychains at 8:37 AM on February 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
Barcelona, by Whit Stillman
Any movie by Pedro Almodóvar
posted by Ideefixe at 8:51 AM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Any movie by Pedro Almodóvar
posted by Ideefixe at 8:51 AM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Pedro Almodóvar's most recent film I'm So Excited--his first real comedy in ages--is available on Amazon Instant.
posted by drlith at 9:39 AM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by drlith at 9:39 AM on February 11, 2014 [3 favorites]
If you're planning to have gazpacho as part of your tapas Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a must.
posted by brujita at 10:29 AM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by brujita at 10:29 AM on February 11, 2014 [2 favorites]
Another way you could think about thematically linking with the tapas dinner is to go with an anthology movie (a movie made up of lots of smaller servings, as it were). Unfortunately some of the best known (like Paris Vu Par, and Paris Je T'aime aren't available in streaming form), but Netflix has Boccaccio 70 and Amazon has New York Stories for rent.
posted by yoink at 10:53 AM on February 11, 2014
posted by yoink at 10:53 AM on February 11, 2014
Oh, and in the same vein there are various "festival" collections of animated and live-action short films you could track down.
posted by yoink at 10:55 AM on February 11, 2014
posted by yoink at 10:55 AM on February 11, 2014
Building from yoink's idea, the Pixar shorts are available on Amazon Instant.
posted by troika at 11:01 AM on February 11, 2014
posted by troika at 11:01 AM on February 11, 2014
I was going to recommend Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which stars the youngest Antonio Bandaras, but it's not on Netflix. Tie me up, Tie me Down IS, however, and I can recommend that one too.
This movie features Miguel Bose, who is a Spanish singer, and I also recommend his album Bose: XXX.
Have Fun!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:17 AM on February 11, 2014
This movie features Miguel Bose, who is a Spanish singer, and I also recommend his album Bose: XXX.
Have Fun!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:17 AM on February 11, 2014
Like Water For Chocolate
I watched this film in my Spanish class many many moons ago and still remember it very well, mainly for a naked horse riding scene etc!
It's subtitled but it really is a wonderful love story!
posted by JenThePro at 11:30 AM on February 11, 2014
I watched this film in my Spanish class many many moons ago and still remember it very well, mainly for a naked horse riding scene etc!
It's subtitled but it really is a wonderful love story!
posted by JenThePro at 11:30 AM on February 11, 2014
"The Way" (2010) is a good movie set on El Camino de Santiago, a.k.a. The Way of St. James, a pilgrimage across the north of Spain. It's directed by and stars (as a bit of a MacGuffin) Emilio Estevez, but primarily stars Martin Sheen who plays, wait for it, his father. Estevez is the lost soul of the family, while Sheen is a dentist and homebody. The son begins the journey on El Camino and is killed in a freak weather even very early in the journey, so his father journeys to Spain to claim his body and effects, and decides to take the pilgrimage himself.
It's based somewhat on the book Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim’s Route into Spain by Jack Hitt, whose name you might know from public radio work he's done. I read Hitt's book after seeing this movie, and the book is an engrossing read about history in addition to his own travelogue, while the movie is naturally a fictional narrative set in the same places.
Sheen eventually falls in with small band of strangers, all of whom want different things out of the pilgrimage.
So, American movie, but set in a uniquely Spanish experience.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:01 PM on February 11, 2014
It's based somewhat on the book Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim’s Route into Spain by Jack Hitt, whose name you might know from public radio work he's done. I read Hitt's book after seeing this movie, and the book is an engrossing read about history in addition to his own travelogue, while the movie is naturally a fictional narrative set in the same places.
Sheen eventually falls in with small band of strangers, all of whom want different things out of the pilgrimage.
So, American movie, but set in a uniquely Spanish experience.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:01 PM on February 11, 2014
I am in Australia so I can't tell what's on Netflix (it just says "Netflix streaming is not available in your country", the pigs) however if it is, L'Auberge Espagnole (aka The Spanish Apartment) is really good and would probably work. And set in Spain. And all the different characters make it a bit tapas-like too.
posted by Athanassiel at 7:09 PM on February 11, 2014
posted by Athanassiel at 7:09 PM on February 11, 2014
I Hate Valentine's Day, while no masterpiece, did give me a few chuckles. One of the best parts of the movie is that John Corbett's character owns a restaurant called Get on Tapas. That still makes me laugh -- at the most inappropriate times -- when someone mentions tapas in my presence. It's on Netflix streaming.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 11:00 PM on February 11, 2014
posted by LuckySeven~ at 11:00 PM on February 11, 2014
BLancanieves, while dark for a fairy tale is sweet and romantic. It's a retelling of SnowWhite. It is set in 1920's Andalusia - which is where tapas started!
posted by beccaj at 8:26 AM on February 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by beccaj at 8:26 AM on February 12, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by phunniemee at 8:24 AM on February 11, 2014