Staff Picks: Top Cult Classic Movies to Watch on a Rainy Weekend

It’s raining, it’s pouring— we just can’t seem to get to spring. Who’s ready for warm sunny weather? I know we are. But unfortunately, it’s going to be rainy this weekend. So bear with Utah’s loopy weather for one more weekend by snuggling up on the couch with one of SLmag‘s Rainy Day Weekend Cult Classics.

Jessica Ohlen, Marketing Director 

Amelie (English Subtitled) and The Intouchables (2011). I would definitely go for a French theme when it’s raining. Get some nice cheese and wine and put on a classic like Amelie or The Intouchables.

They are both wonderful feel-good movies about going out of your way to make someone else’s day. Seeing gorgeous scenes from Paris only adds to the effect!

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Jeanine Miller, Art Director

Bridesmaids is just as funny the 100th as it was the first time. Clever, witty and honest, it’s one of those movies that you can watch repeatedly and still enjoy.

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Mary Brown Malouf, Executive Editor

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956). Yes, this is the Americanized version of the original Japanese kaiju film, but this is the one that made the big guy famous in the U.S., plus it stars Perry Mason, by which I mean Raymond Burr. I love kaiju—it’s a long story—but consider that this is a rare post-war film where the Japanese were heroes, that Godzilla evolved as the result of American nuclear testing and that there are lots of scenes of Godz. stomping on cookie-cutter suburbs (I think of the ones near Farmington Bay) and maybe you’ll see why this movie suits the zeitgeist. Godzilla’s not the brightest monster on the block—he resorts to kicking and throwing rocks when he could just breathe fire on his opponents. But that suits the times, too. Sometimes I think our president is Godzilla dressed up in a Donald Trump suit.

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Glen Warchol, Managing Editor

Bad Day at Black Rock (1950). A under-appreciated film that speaks to racism, PTSD (before PTSD was cool), bullying and disability, with a cast that only the Hollywood of the 1950s could bring to the screen. Spencer Tracy is McCreedy, a one-armed World War II veteran who gets off a train in the wind-swept desert town of Black Rock. He’s come to give a posthumous medal to the family of a Japanese-American soldier. McCreedy’s immediately met by menace, then violence by a thuggish gang led by Robert Ryan. Dean Jagger and Walter Brennan’s characters are morally complicit (like Americans in general) in an evil crime that took place during the war. Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine are just plain nasty dudes. Spoiler: Spencer Tracy’s one-armed McCreedy does some heart-warming ass kicking.

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Andrea Peterson, Digital Media Manager

Chocolat (2000). I am sucker for a good artsy movie and I have been told I am a bit of a hippie/gypsy so it would make sense that I am drawn to Chocolat—that and I’m not gonna lie—I’ve been a fan of the long-haired Johnny Depp since 21st Jumpstreet. (Don’t worry men Juliette Binoche is just as much eye-candy and she makes everyone get weak in the knees with her tasty concoction). Binoche plays Vianne a chocolatier whom opens a shop in a tiny conservative French town just as Lent begins. Her sweet delights tempt the locals and her ability to discern their innermost desires and pair them with just the right confection, entices the villagers “to abandon themselves to temptation”. I recommend watching with tasty red wine and your own chocolate nibbles.

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Christie Marcy, Associate Editor

The Maltese Falcon (1941). To me rainy days mean Film Noir—and that means one of the best films ever made, The Maltese Falcon. The Maltese Falcon was the directorial debut of the great John Huston and the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Huston and star Humphrey Bogart (see what I did there?). IMDB summarizes the plot as:

“Spade and Archer is the name of a San Francisco detective agency. That’s for Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The two men are partners, but Sam doesn’t like Miles much. A knockout, who goes by the name of Miss Wonderly, walks into their office; and by that night everything’s changed. Miles is dead. And so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems Miss Wonderly is surrounded by dangerous men.

There’s Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There’s Kasper Gutman, with his enormous girth and feigned civility. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is suspected by the police of one or the other murder. More murders are yet to come, and it will all be because of these dangerous men — and their lust for a statuette of a bird: the Maltese Falcon.”

It sounds a little convoluted, but, trust me. If you haven’t seen this film you should. It’s worth it just to hear Bogart tell the great Peter Lorre, “When you’re slapped, you’ll take it and like it,” 

They just don’t make ’em like they used to