One of the most exciting aspects of meeting someone new on a dating platform is finding out about their background interests: the things they feel passionate about. Establishing a sense of common ground is equally important. There are many icebreakers to get the conversation going, and favorite films is always an excellent starting point. This also makes an ideal subject for your initial get-together. Here are the top seven movies for you to watch on your first date, snuggled on the couch, with remote control and refreshments to hand based on suggestions from dating specialists from datingtipsarticles.com.
1. The Notebook (2004)
Allie (Rachel McAdams) and Noah (Ryan Gosling) are a young couple who fall head-over-heels after meeting at a carnival during the 1940s. Unfortunately, the course of love is often bumpy, and in this case, their romance is opposed by Allie’s snooty attitude towards ’lower class’ Noah, going so far as to intercept the hundreds of love letters he dutifully writes her after he leaves to fight in World War Two. The chances of them ever getting together are further hindered when Allie gets involved with Lon (James Marsden). This movie cranks up the tugging at your heartstrings with a flash-forward to the present day, when Allie (now played by Gena Rowlands) and Noah (James Garner) are reunited – except Allie is now suffering from dementia. Noah reads excerpts from the titular notebook in the hope of triggering memories. The heartbreaking conclusion will have you burying your faces in a communal tissue packet.
2. Basic Instinct (1992)
If you’d rather get away from weepies and focus on red-hot passion, this Paul Verhoeven-directed erotic thriller will tick all the boxes. Nick (Michael Douglas) is a San Francisco detective working on a violent murder. He has a murky past himself, having shot two passers-by while high on coke. A prime suspect for the homicide is Catherine (Sharon Stone), a bisexual with a taste for intense love affairs. During their investigation, their relationship gets ever more complicated. Although this provoked a mixed response from critics at the time, it was a success with cinemagoers. It was also highly controversial, not least for one notorious scene where Catherine ‘flashes’ to a roomful of detectives interrogating her. Gay rights activists also took exception to the negative portrayal of homosexual relationships. But for your romantic date, all you have to do is get immersed in the twists and turns of the storyline, and the undoubted sexual tension between Nick and Catherine.
3. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Your viewing can return to a more neutral footing with this romantic movie, a throwback to the Hollywood era of romantic comedies (during the 1930s and 1940s). This stars Tom Hanks as Sam, who moves to Seattle with son Jonah (Ross Malinger) to start a new life on a houseboat after losing his wife. Jonah phones a talk-radio show to discuss the gaping hole in his father’s life. Overhearing this on the other side of the USA, Annie (Meg Ryan), a Baltimore reporter, becomes fixated with meeting this mysterious widower. There are added complications. Annie is engaged to someone else, an everyday guy named Walter (Bill Pullman). When she eventually travels across to the Pacific coast, she sees Sam with his sister and mistakenly assumes this is a lover. But in homage to the black and white classic An Affair to Remember, Annie is inspired to write to Sam, suggesting a St Valentine’s Day meeting on the observation deck of the Empire State Building.
4. Blade Runner (1982)
Science fiction isn’t always the most obvious backdrop to a date night, but this Ridley Scott feature, set in a dystopian LA, is steeped in atmosphere. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a ’blade runner,’ charged with executing dangerous robots (known as replicants) who have escaped into the city. These engineered beings are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, which makes Rick’s romantic attraction for a femme fatale, Rachel (Sean Young) – who just might be a replicant – all the more intriguing. There are numerous fantastic set-pieces, and while the original movie imagined off-world colonies by 2019, the ‘future’ version of Los Angeles – where it seems to rain permanently – is vividly realized as a city of skyscrapers and lurid neon adverts. In one of the most memorable scenes, Deckard finally tracks down his nemesis, Roy (Rutger Hauer), after a rooftop chase high above the teeming metropolis. Just before dying, Roy delivers a monologue that has gone down as one of the most memorable in screen history: “(memories) will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”
5. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) are hired as sheepherders on the Brokeback Mountains. They develop a passionate attachment, although when they return to the world beyond their remote and temporary lifestyle, each goes on to marry and integrate into straight society. Despite this, the intensity of their feelings persist. This tale of secret love will be an emotional rollercoaster for your date.
6. Forrest Gump (1994)
This film has everything for a romantic date. Drama. Romance. Comedy. We see half a century of sweeping US history through the eyes of a slow-witted Alabama man, Forrest (Tom Hanks), who has a heart of gold. This touching story took the box office by storm (amassing almost $690 million) and will have you engrossed from start to finish. Aside from Hanks’ plausible performance as the titular Forrest, a strong-willed simpleton, the movie is particularly memorable for the skill with which the action blends with real-life newsreel footage. Gump interacts with John Lennon and various US presidents (exposing the Watergate scandal on the way). CGI was also used to remove the legs of one of the characters, war veteran Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise).
7. Far From the Madding Crowd (2015)
The fourth movie adaptation of this brooding Thomas Hardy novel features a headstrong country girl Bathsheba (Carey Milligan) in 1870s Britain and her quest for love. Faced with three passionate suitors, all completely different, the rocky course of her romance will keep you captivated.
