International Men’s Day: Texas State Film Club Members share their comfort movies

By Diego B Gonzales

Blog Content Contributor

Nov. 19 is International Men’s Day, a day dedicated towards focusing on the mental health and wellbeing of men all over the world. Everybody has their own way of dealing with stress, one of the most popular being getting lost in media. A “comfort movie” is a movie that may not be perfect but brings comfort to its viewer for one reason or another. Maybe it’s dumb fun, maybe it’s nostalgia. Whatever the reason is, I interviewed men from Texas State’s film club and asked them what their comfort movie is and why.

Jacob Marquez: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

I’m a man of screams and shouts; I like to be a little spooked and a little scared. That’s just me. Some people wanna watch something cute or fun as a comfort movie, but I prefer a horror movie. [The Texas Chain Saw Massacre] is a great film; it’s in my top four on Letterboxd. If you like films that push you to the edge of your seat and are anxiety-inducing, you’ll love it. If you’re sick and tired of watching horror movies and saying, ‘Don’t go in that basement!’ it’s the movie for you. It’s smart, but it’s scary.

 Joshua Varble: Spider-Man 2 (2004)

It’s really hard to pick my favorite comfort movie, but right now at this moment, I would say one of the old Spider-Man movies like Spider-Man 2 with Tobey Maguire. It feels so simple and small-scale, and I love the more down-to-earth scenes; we just don’t see a lot of superhero movies like that anymore.

Sergio Luna: The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

I truly believe my go-to comfort movie is The Mitchells vs.The Machines. Sure, the writing isn’t that strong, but it’s just a fun time. Sometimes I just want to watch a movie that just puts me in a happy mood. It has a good message and funny characters, and I think that right there is the definition of a comfort movie. It’s just something to bring up your mood on a bad day.

Griffin O’Neil: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

My comfort movie is Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I’ve seen it like 20 times. The first time I saw it, I had to be 13. I knew it had to do with video games, and I liked watching YouTubers talk about video games, but I had zero video game experience at that point. I liked pretending that I knew a lot about video games. I was watching it with my dad, and we got to the scene where Scott plays the bassline from Final Fantasy IV, and my dumbass who never played Final Fantasy was like ‘Hey that’s totally the bassline from Finally Fantasy IV.’ My dad turns to my mom and was  like ‘he knows his stuff’ so it was just a nice bonding moment.

Kole Wooster: Catch Me if You Can (2002)

I am a really big fan of Catch Me if You Can by Steven Spielberg. It’s one of his lighter films and it is a fun romp in my opinion. I love how fun Leonardo DiCaprio is as this guy who basically swindles his way across America and basically robs people from right under their noses. I really love Tom Hanks’s character as the FBI agent who’s been tasked with tracking him down.

Remember to take time this month to relax your mind and catch-up on your favorite cozy movies.