March 19, 2020

85 MM Approved Movies

 

It's no secret I'm an avid movie buff. Growing up, my family rented movies every weekend, and they are a constant inspiration to me. I've gathered a list of 85 of my favorite stylish, inspirational, or comforting films (off the top of my head) for you and organized them by decade, as well as where to watch/stream/rent them. I hope you enjoy and are able to watch some films you haven't seen yet while at home! 

MM Movies

1930s
  • THE WOMEN 1939
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: This legendary film has been style inspiration for countless designers and has some of the wittiest dialogue in film history. I wish we had a modern day Park Avenue comprehensive beauty salon...
  • GONE WITH THE WIND 1939
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: A classic story with beautiful costumes, sets, and the determination we all could use right now via Scarlett O'Hara. Also a great way to burn 3 and a half hours of time at home..
1950s
  • ALL ABOUT EVE 1950
Where to watch: iTunes
About: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, and one of the first screen appearances by Marilyn Monroe. They star in a story of friendship, ambition, and deceit. New York Theatre, cocktail party drama, and a love triangle mix & mingle. 
  •  SUNSET BOULEVARD 1950
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: A classic Film noir in which William Holden shacks up with Gloria Swanson; a faded silent movie star, in her crumbling Silent Film Era Hollywood estate. 
  •  REAR WINDOW 1954
Where to watch: Hulu
About: A classic Alfred Hitchcock story about nosy West Village neighbors.. One of my favorite Grace Kelly films; I've always wanted to have 21 delivered for dinner a la Lisa Fremont.. I just may while looking out the window at my own neighbors tonight...
  •  SABRINA 1954
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Audrey Hepburn plays chauffer's daughter to the Larrabee Family. After returning from Paris culinary school with a wardrobe by Edith Head, she toggles between Playboy-Larabee brother or Curmudgeon-Titan Larabee brother.
  •  AUNTIE MAME 1958
Where to watch: iTunes
About: A comforting and stylish romp about family and the ups and downs of life. Rosalind Russell plays the iconic Auntie Mame with famous quips such as "life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving!"
 1960s
  •  PINK PANTHER 1963
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: One of my all time style inspiration movies. Costumes by Yves Saint Laurent and music by Henry Mancini. I don't ski but this film makes me ready to head to the slopes!
  •  GOLDFINGER 1964
Where to watch: Vudu
About: Though I surprisingly don't have much attention span for Bond movies, I love Goldfinger. Sean Connery, The Shirley Bassey title song, and the deadly golden Pussy Galore are right up my alley.
  •  WHAT A WAY TO GO! 1964
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: An overlooked and overly campy film starring Shirley MacLaine about a widow whose power to make her husbands vastly wealthy ultimately results in their demise. Wild costumes, antics, mega jets and musical numbers make this a movie to give a go while we're at home.
  •  THE SOUND OF MUSIC 1965
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
About: Who can resist this Julie Andrews classic? Not much to be said here.. One of my favorite childhood movies. 
  •  BELLE DE JOUR 1967
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Catherine Deneuve sashays through Paris in Yves Saint Laurent couture and Roger Vivier shoes as she breezily explores the sexual politics of upper class midcentury Paris.
  •  THE GRADUATE 1967
Where to watch: iTunes
About: A coming of age story in which Dustin Hoffman begins a dalliance with a parent's friend - the uber chic and reckless Anne Bancroft. Trouble arises when he also falls for her daughter, played by Katherine Ross. And all set against a backdrop of late 1960's Pasadena..
 1970s
  •  LOVE STORY 1970
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal star in this tragic love story against the background of New England and NYC.
  •  THE WAY WE WERE 1973
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand play star crossed lovers trying to get it right, who hop between New York and Los Angeles throughout World War II and the McCarthy era. It will make you look twice when you pass the Plaza Hotel...
  •  THE STEPFORD WIVES 1975
Where to watch: Tubi
About: Katherine Ross plays a feminist photographer who moves to an idyllic Connecticut town at her lawyer husband's request, only to find the town is not as perfect as it seems.. If you've never seen this original movie, it's surprisingly darker and stylish than the 2004 remake.
  •  GREASE 1978
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
About: Who doesn't love Grease? If you haven't seen it in awhile you may be shocked by some of the jokes we all watched as children unknowingly. I always love "Look at me I'm Sandra Dee" and the American Bandstand dance. 
 1980s
  •  9 TO 5 1980
Where to watch: Hulu
About: This workplace comedy stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton as they take on their misogynist boss like working women of the 80s will do!   
  •  AMERICAN GIGOLO 1980
Where to watch: Tubi
About: Paul Shrader crafts Richard Gere as a devilishly handsome high society escort living in Beverly Hills. Shopping at the Polo Store & Armani, walking on the wire with his business associates, and getting caught up with Lauren Hutton, a politician's wife. Dark, glitzy, gritty - perfectly late 70's LA..
  • RICH AND FAMOUS 1981
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset star in this drama; the last directed by George Cukor (he directed Dinner At Eight, Philadelphia Story & My Fair Lady among others) in which two Smith College friends lives go in separate paths after graduation and they struggle to keep their friendship alive amidst power, love and success.
  •  EVIL UNDER THE SUN 1982
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: An Agatha Christie classic set on an exclusive Adriatic Island resort. If you love Hercule Poirot, Jane Birkin and 80's-does-the-30's costume design, this is the movie for you. 
  •  SIXTEEN CANDLES 1984
Where to watch: Hulu
About: A John Hughes coming of age classic. Everyone could use a good dose of Jake Ryan and a pepto-pink pilled out wedding right about now..
  •  CLUE 1985
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: I love this wacky adaptation of the household board-game. Tim Curry leads a group of McCarthy era Washington DC high fliers (with skeletons in their closets) through a night of murder, intrigue, black mail, and very dry humor. 
  •  ST. ELMO'S FIRE 1985
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Georgetown Yuppies navigate life after graduation in this very chic but slightly heartbreaking John Hughes comedy. 
  •  THE MONEY PIT 1986
Where to watch: Hulu
About: Tom Hanks and Shelley Long play a scrappy couple who buy their dream home on the cheap. It will make you never want to renovate a home in your life..
  •  HEARTBURN 1986
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Meryl Streep is cheated by Jack Nicholson after they meet in Manhattan and move to Washington DC to work and play with the editorial elite.. Adapted from the true story of writer Nora Ephron, and with an interesting score by Carly Simon, this movie is a must watch for anyone entering a quick engagement!
  •  FATAL ATTRACTION 1987
Where to watch: Hulu
About: Michael Douglas leads an idyllic life as a New York lawyer with a wife, two children, and a new home in the country. But when he has a rainy day encounter with Glen Close, his life quickly becomes less than idyllic.. A great choice for any Millennial whose been ghosted!
  •  BABY BOOM 1987
Where to watch: Hulu
About: Diane Keaton plays a high powered NYC executive who winds up as the charge of an unexpected infant. Kooky antics, a steamy romance with Sam Shepard, and an organic food start up (way predating Goop) ensue.
  •  WORKING GIRL 1988
Where to watch: Hulu
About: Melanie Griffith sizzles as a commuting secretary to a high powered C-Suite exec, who will stop at nothing to be taken seriously for her ideas in the cut throat world of 1980's Manhattan big business. Carly Simon delivers another amazing musical score..
  •  DANGEROUS LIAISONS 1988
Where to watch: HBO Now
About: The original Cruel Intentions (seriously), Glenn Close and John Malkovich play 18th century Parisian aristocrats meddling in the lives of innocent first time players including Michelle Pfeiffer, Keanu Reeves, and Uma Thurman. 
  •  WAR OF THE ROSES 1989
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas are the perfect picture of a young couple with a D.C. fixer upper, and proceed to whip the property into a Staffordshire and chintz dream of 1980s anglophilia.. But can the perfect home keep a marriage alive?
  •  STEEL MAGNOLIAS 1989
Where to watch: Netflix
About: The ultimate tearjerker - If you’ve never seen this movie (really?) get a box of tissues and buckle in. One of the movies most loaded with incredible one-liners such as: “what size shoe do you wear?” “well in a good shoe I’m a 6 and a half but a 7 feels so good I buy an 8!”
  • TROOP BEVERLY HILLS 1989
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: We could all use a Phyllis Nefler in our lives! Shelley Long stars as a recently separated Beverly Hills wife and shopaholic who becomes her daughter’s scout troop den mother. Sleepovers at the Beverly Hills Hotel and the merits of American Express cards are valuable experiences for the impressionable mind!
1990s
  •  PRETTY WOMAN 1990
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: One of my favorite romantic comedies. Julia Roberts plays a sunset boulevard prostitute who falls in love on a chance run in with Richard Gere. A choice suite at the Beverly Wilshire and an iconic polo match look tie up this pretty picture perfectly.
  •  BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES 1990
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Tom Hanks and Melanie Griffith star in this sizzling adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s celebrated novel about the highs and lows of the Nouvelle Society of the late 80s.
  •  FATHER OF THE BRIDE 1991
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Everyone loves this quintessential Nancy Meyers movie. The ideal center hall colonial, grocery store hot dog bun melt downs and a slightly problematic wedding planners accent keep me coming back time and time again.
  •  DEATH BECOMES HER 1992
Where to Watch: Hulu
About: This dark comedy deals with vanity and the quest for eternal youth as Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn face off in Beverly Hills.
  •  BASIC INSTINCT 1992
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas play a chic game of cat and mouse when he investigates a San Francisco murder which Stone, the socialite crime novelist, is tied to.
  •  SCHOOL TIES 1992
Where to watch: Tubi
About: A story about social class and religion in the 1950s at a tony New England boarding school. Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Chris O’Donnell star as your dream prep schoolers in rep ties and navy blazers. Seriously.
  •  SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION 1993
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland and Will Smith collide when a Upper East Side couple are greeted in the night by an injured “friend” of their Ivy League son. High Art sales, dinner parties and lunches question just how separated the social strata of 1990’s New Yorker’s really are. Very pre-instagram.
  •  NOW AND THEN 1995
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: A feel good movie about four girls who grow up together in 1970s suburban America and reconvene as adults to reminisce.
  •  SCREAM 1996
Where to watch: Hulu
About: The chicest horror film and one of the only I can stand to watch. Classic late 90’s style and a good dose of fright.
  •  THE FIRST WIVES CLUB 1996
Where to watch: Netflix
About: One of the best movies of the 90’s in my opinion. Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton taking on their husbands and New York.
  •  MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING 1997
Where to watch: Hulu
About: A fast paced romp through Chicago as Julia Roberts must come to terms with her unrequited love for her best friend, who is quickly engaged to be married to a young heiress played by Cameron Diaz.
  •  THE PARENT TRAP 1998
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Another Nancy Meyers classic; if you haven’t watched this since your childhood I encourage you to. Long lost twins reunite at camp and bring together their parents - a handsome vineyard owner and a devastatingly chic British bridal designer (and my personal childhood icon).
  •  A PERFECT MURDER 1998
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: This sleek thriller finds Gwyneth Paltrow as an uber stylish Manhattan wife whose husband (Michael Douglas) may be plotting fowl play to obtain her inheritance.
  •  STEPMOM 1998
Where to watch: iTunes
About: A touching and stylish movie about a current and a former wife - Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon – of the same man who must come together when tragedy strikes their blended family.
  •  GREAT EXPECTATIONS 1998
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke adapt the classic Dickens novel between coastal Florida and late 90’s Manhattan.
  •  NOTTING HILL 1999
Where to watch: Hulu
About: A heartwarming romance in which Julia Roberts plays the most famous star in the world (shocking) who falls in love with a book shop keeper in London, played by Hugh Grant.
  •  THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY 1999
Where to watch: Netflix
About: In one of the most stylish films anyone has ever seen - Jude Law, Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett stun as a group of Jet Set bright young things roaming Italy..until Matt Damon’s questionable presence brings about multiple disappearances.
  •  DROP DEAD GORGEOUS 1999
Where to watch: Hulu
About: A campy mock-umentary about a Minnesota teen beauty pageant starring Kirstie Allie, Denise Richards, Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, Brittany Murphie, Allison Janney and Amy Adam’s first appearance (need I say more?).. and what the women of this small farming town will do to win.
  •  THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR 1999
Where to Watch: Hulu
About: Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo sizzle in this remake of the 1968 film about an art heist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  •  DICK 1999
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams play ditzy Georgetown teens during the Nixon administration who inadvertently find themselves embroiled in the Watergate Scandal.
  •  AN IDEAL HUSBAND 1999
Where to watch: HBO Now
About: Adapted from the Oscar Wilde play, this film stars Jeremy Northam, Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Minnie Driver, and Cate Blanchett in an Edwardian era drama about blackmail and political corruption in upper class London.
2000s
  •  AMERICAN PSYCHO 2000
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Christian Bale, Jared Leto, Justin Theroux, Reese Witherspoon and Chloe Sevigny play hyper competitive early 90’s Manhattanites in this chilling but comical adaptation of Brett Easton Ellis’s novel about a charming and serial killing financial guru.
  •  THE WEDDING PLANNER 2001
Where to watch: Hulu
About: Jennifer Lopez plays a type A wedding planner who has everything planned to perfection – until she falls for her clients fiancé, played by Matthew McConaughey…featuring probably the first inspiration for Meghan Markle’s wedding gown!
  •  LEGALLY BLONDE 2001
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: I barely need to say why this movie is worth watching. Elle Woods is my inspiration everyday and especially now. We all can benefit from some Delta Nu ethics these days!
  •  GOSFORD PARK 2001
Where to Watch: Hulu
About: This movie is the original Downton Abbey - mixed with an Agatha Christie who dunnit lilt. Set at an English country house, a group a wealthy Britons, an American producer and their servants must find the killer amongst them in a film set in the 1920s with a mega loaded cast including every British actor you’ve recognized over the past 25 years.
 
  •  BRIDGET JONES DIARY 2001
Where to watch: Hulu
About: Who doesn’t love this quintessential romantic comedy about a 30 something single Londoner trying to turn her life around while grappling between 2 devilishly handsome men?
  •  MAID IN MANHATTAN 2002
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Sometimes I think this Jennifer Lopez movie doesn’t get its due. Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson join in this romantic comedy about a high-powered, glamorous New York City hotel where love can find all.
  •  DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YAYA SISTERHOOD 2002
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: This comedy/drama based on Rebecca Well’s novel deals with the glamorous and stunted women of a Louisiana community who rally around each other when an article shakes Julia Robert’s life. Family secrets are revealed when the women reconvene for the first time in years.
  •  SWEET HOME ALABAMA 2002
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Reese Witherspoon is a high powered New York fashion designer on the brink of marrying Candice Bergen, the Mayor of New York’s, son – when she realizes she is still married to her Alabama high school sweetheart and must return home to divorce him.
  •  SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE 2003
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Diane Keaton must reckon with her daughter, Amanda Peet's, older boyfriend (Jack Nicholson) at her stunning Hamptons home. Chic linen looks and a dalliance with a Doctor Keanu Reeves keeps things interesting!
  •  MONA LISA SMILE 2003
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
About:The female equivalent of School Ties. Julia Roberts is the outspoken new in town art teacher at discriminating  Wellesley College in the early 1950s, where marriage counts more than education.
  •  SWIMMING POOL 2003
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: A little risqué, Charlotte Rampling plays a frustrated, frigid British thriller author who is instructed by her publisher to spend time at his French Villa to write. When his precocious daughter shows up, their opposite personalities collide in more dangerous ways than either could imagine…
  •  HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS 2003
Where to watch: Hulu
About: The Rom Com of Rom Coms, everyone loves watching Kate Hudson play the peppy, lower 5th avenue resident who falls for Matthew McConaughey against all odds. 
  •  THE STEPFORD WIVES 2004
Where to watch: Hulu
About: This high paced romp is a fun and zany spin up the Metro North and a far cry from the serious, political original film. I love both, but I of course have an affinity for the frilly feminine frocks and the campy performances by Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Better Midler, Christopher Walken, and Glenn Close in this remake. You can’t stop Stepford!
  •  WALK THE LINE 2005
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: This heartbreaking drama delivers incredible performances by Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon and Ginnifer Goodwin, set in the highest style of the heyday of the country music South.
  •  PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 2005
Where to watch: Hulu
About: A classic story with a beautiful score, I could watch this romance almost every Sunday. The original BBC version deserves its credit too.
  • MARIE ANTOINETTE 2006
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
About: Who can resist Sofia Coppola’s decadent depiction of the fated Queen’s 18th century court? Enough said.
  •  HAIRSPRAY 2007
Where to watch: Netflix
About: You can’t stop the beat! I love this up-tempo remake for its style, message and John Travolta as Mrs. Turnblad.
  •  THE DUCHESS 2008
Where to watch: Netflix
About: Though the story is tragic, this recounting of the Duchess of Devonshire (and Princess Diana’s great x3 aunt) features beautiful costumes, wildly lavish sets and depicts the resilience of a woman in a tough and public position.
  •  JULIE AND JULIA 2009
Where to watch: Netflix
About: This movie brings me comfort every time I watch it. A struggling food blogger in post 9/11 New York finds herself by cooking her way through Julia Child’s “The Art of French Cooking”. Meryl Streep offers the ultimate sentiment as Julia Child sautéing her way through post war Paris.
  •  I AM LOVE 2009
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Tilda Swinton is the ultra slick matriarch of a Milanese dynastic family in this Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name director) film about changing generational power dynamics and love. P.S. there are subtitles if you are averse ;)
  •  IT'S COMPLICATED 2009
Where to Watch: Hulu
About: Though long divorced, circumstances bring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin back together with their Santa Barbara-cum-New York family to revisit the magic that once was… Flawless homes, fresh flowers, gourmet meals and mid life crises abound.
  •  A SINGLE MAN 2009
Where to watch: Netflix
About: Tom Ford’s uber chic debut film about a disengaged teacher (Colin Firth) evaluating his 1960’s LA existence in the wake of his partner’s death. Julianne Moore is one of my favorites as his dramatic glamour-puss BFF, Charlie.
2010s
  •  ALL GOOD THINGS 2010
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: This often overlooked film finds Kirsten Dunst, a working class student, married to Ryan Gosling, the son of a powerful 1970’s NYC real estate tycoon. Things go south as the husband reveals his true nature… based on the true accusations against Robert Durst.
  • BRIDESMAIDS 2011
Where to watch: Hulu
About: This movie probably needs no explanation to any of you, but needless to say, Bridesmaids is the genius female comedy that brings a motley crew of women together as a bridal party to Maya Rudolph. Rose Byrn and Kristen Wiig face off as new and old, wealthy and broke best friends to the bride.
  •  THE HELP 2011
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Based on the novel of the same name, I love this heartbreaking story about racial inequality in 1960’s Mississippi. Delivered with high style, hilarious quips, and some irresistible chocolate pie…
  • THE GIRL 2012
Where to watch: HBO Now
About: Sienna Miller gives Tippi Hedren a spin in this historic fiction drama about the sometimes sinister process of working with Alfred Hitchcock on “The Birds”. The perfect Blonde & notable costumes temper Hitchcock’s jump-worthy antics.
  •  JACKIE 2016
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Natalie Portman delivers a great performance (once you adjust to the accent) of Jacqueline Kennedy in the chilling days surrounding JFK’s assassination. We’ve all felt a bit like the scene showing Jackie’s final day in the Executive Residence these days…
  •  NOCTURNAL ANIMALS 2016
Where to Watch: Hulu
About: Tom Ford’s sophomore film endeavor recounts a hauntingly violent novel a jilted author (Jake Gyllenhaal) writes, inspired by his ex girlfriend (Amy Adams), a now married and highly styled gallerist in contemporary LA. The novel arrives in the mail to her home years after their breakup and causes her to contemplate where life’s choices brought her.
  •  THE POST 2017
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
About: Another amazing performance by Meryl Streep as Kay Graham, the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, who attempts to publish the Pentagon Papers in 1970s D.C. amid helmet hair, caftans and Georgetown homes…
  •  CROOKED HOUSE 2017
Where to watch: Vudu
About: Somewhat missed by US audiences, this British Agatha Christie adaptation is a classic country house thriller about a heiress who hires an old flame to investigate her grandfather’s mysterious murder among a bitter extended family…