You made the popcorn, put on pajamas and are ready to relax for the night. But, what to watch? If you’re struggling to find entertaining movies, give one of these a try. These movies are generally older but still worth watching (or re-watching) and are some of our favourites. They are available for purchase or to rent.

(Click the picture or the name of the movie to view websites with full descriptions and/or reviews in a new window.)

MOVIE	GENRE	DESCRIPTION
5 FLIGHTS UP	Drama	Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton play a married couple who've spent their lives together in the same New York apartment for a long time. When they plan to move, they become overwhelmed by personal and real estate-related issues. 2014
BIG FISH	Drama, Fantasy	A son tries to learn more about his dying father by reliving stories and myths he told about his life. I'm a sucker for Albert Finney, and this movie didn't disappoint me. 2003
BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY	Drama, Romance	Heart wrenching movie about a middle-aged couple who fall in love but can only spend 4 days together. Sob! 1995
DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD	Comedy, Drama	A young woman resists marriage because of her tense relationship with her mother. Her mother's lifetime friends, the Ya-yas, give her a scrapbook which details their young lives, hoping to explain her mother's behaviour. 2002
ENCHANTED APRIL	Drama	Lottie Wilkins and Rose Arbuthnot, two married women living in 1920's London share the misery of empty relationships with their spouses and decide to rent an Italian castle for the spring to get away… 1991
GRANDMA	Comedy/Drama	Lily Tomlin plays a cantankerous grandmother who helps her teenage granddaughter deal with an unwanted pregnancy. 2015
HAROLD AND MAUDE	Cult Film, Dark Comedy, Drama, Romance	My all-time, favourite movie, I never get tired of watching it. Wealthy and young, Harold, meets Maude, who changes his life forever. 1971
HEARTS IN ATLANTIS	Drama	A quiet movie with some moving scenes. Not extremely memorable as a whole, but there are some scenes in it that I never forgot. Worth at least a mention and who doesn't enjoy watching Anthony Hopkins. A widowed mother and her son are changed forever when a mysterious stranger enters their lives. 2001
HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT	Drama	Finn is engaged but reluctant to get married. She spends the summer with her mother and pseudo-aunts and listens to their tales of romance and sorrow as they construct a quilt. 1995
JOY	Drama	The story of a family spanning four generations and the woman who becomes the founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty. Meh. 2015
La Vita è Bella (LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL)	Comedy, Drama, Romance	If you watch only one more movie for the rest of your life, make it this one. Don't watch a dubbed version; watch the original and get used to sub-titles. It is so worth experiencing Roberto Benigni's original performance. A Jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humour, and then uses that quality to protect his son in a Nazi concentration camp. One of the best movies, ever. 1997
LEARNING TO DRIVE	Comedy/Drama/Romance	A Manhattan writer with a failing marriage takes driving lessons from a Sikh instructor with his own marriage troubles.  2015
LOVING	Biography/Drama/Romance	An interracial couple falls in love and marries in 1958. They grew up in a small town in Virginia that jails and banishes them for getting married. They relocate to the inner city of Washington, D.C., but ultimately try to find a way back to Virginia. The movie won the AARP “Best Movie for Grownups Award”. Kind of deep, I wouldn't recommend it for "fun" nights. 2016
PHILOMENA	Drama	A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent. 2013
REVENGE OF THE MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN	Drama, Romance	Don't be misled by the title. This is not a wacky, fun-filled movie. It's an OK movie for a quiet Friday night. A middle-aged woman has a great life until one day, her husband of 25 years leaves her for a younger woman who happens to be her assistant. She finds out who her friends are and gets a surprise when she runs into a man from her past. 2004
SECOND HAND LIONS	Comedy, Drama	A coming-of-age story about a shy, young boy sent by his irresponsible mother to spend the summer with his wealthy, eccentric uncles in Texas. 2003
SIDEWAYS	Comedy, Drama, Romance	Two men, reaching middle age with not much to show for it, take a trip through California's wine country, just before one is getting married. Although I very much enjoyed it, I realize it's probably not for everyone. 2004
SPACE COWBOYS	Comedy, Drama	When a retired engineer is called upon to rescue a failing satellite, he insists that his equally old teammates accompany him into space. 2000
STEEL MAGNOLIAS	Comedy/Drama	This classic movie is timeless. The story of four, close friends and how they support each other in good times and the worst of times. To this day, the scene at the cemetery has me in stitches. 1989
ST. VINCENT	Comedy/Drama	An unexpected relationship develops between a grumpy, unsavory, war veteran who babysits the bright, young boy next door. 2014
THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN	Comedy, Romance	This is one the guys enjoyed tremendously, and I always enjoy hearing them laugh hard. A nerdy guy who's never "done the deed" is goaded by his buddies to get it taken care of, but the pressure is greater when he meets a single mother. 2005
THE BUCKET LIST	Comedy, Drama	You can't have a list of movies featuring middle-agers and older and not include The Bucket List, where two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die. 2007
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL	Comedy, Drama	British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than advertised, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways. 2011
THE EFFECTS OF GAMMA RAYS ON MAN-IN-THE-MOON MARIGOLDS	Cult film, Drama	Still one of favourites, I first saw this back in the 70s and re-watch it every few years. A middle aged widower and her two daughters are living in an unkempt house. The mother is eccentric while the oldest daughter is epileptic and trying to get through the rebellious phase of adolescence. On the other hand, the younger daughter is seeking love from animals and her schoolwork. But a science project suddenly takes a new turn in their lives. Although I very much enjoyed it, I realize it's probably not for everyone. 1972
THE FISHER KING	Drama	Such a sad and moving film. This one always broke my heart, and affected me. A washed-up radio DJ, suicidally despondent because of a terrible mistake he made, finds redemption in helping a deranged, homeless man. 1991
THE HELP	Drama	African American maids' point of view on the white families they work for, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis in the 1960s. 2011
THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY	Comedy/Drama	The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery. 2014
THE INTERN	Comedy	A 70-year-old, widower who isn’t ready to retire, applies for and gets a job as an intern with a dot.com, women’s fashion company. Unexpectedly, they learn from each other. One memorable scene guarantees laughter. 2015
THE JOY LUCK CLUB	Drama	A feel good movie that explores the relationships of mothers and daughters, this movie traverses the life histories of four Asian women and their daughters, reflecting and guiding each other. I've watched it at least 12 times, and still sob! 1993
THE MARTIAN	Adventure/Drama/Sci-Fi	An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assumes he is dead, and tries to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive while living on a hostile planet. 2015
THE NAME OF THE ROSE	Drama, Mystery, Thriller	A lesser known Sean Connery movie which I think is outstanding. An intellectually non-conformist monk investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey. 1986
THE NATURAL	Drama, Romance	I love this movie. Drama, romance and Robert Redford all rolled up into one. A middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs has a mysterious past and makes a sudden appearance out of nowhere. He become a legendary player with almost divine talent. 1984
THE NOTEBOOK	Drama, Romance	I know everyone thinks of this as a romance between a young, handsome man and a young woman, but the back story between Gena Rowlands and James Garner makes the movie. 2004
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY	Drama, Romance	A butler who sacrificed body and soul to service in the years post World War I realizes too late how misguided his loyalty has been. 1993
WAKING NED DEVINE	Comedy	This is a heartwarming, wonderful, uplifting movie about the residents of a small village in Ireland coming together to, well – steal lottery winnings from their dead neighbor.  I can't imagine anyone not liking this movie. 1998
WILD HOGS	Action/Adventure/Comedy	A dumb, feel good movie about a group of suburban biker-wannabes (Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy) that hit the open road, but get more than they bargained for when they encounter a New Mexico gang. 2007
WONDER BOYS	Comedy, Drama	Great movie starring Michael Douglas as an English Professor trying to deal with his wife leaving him, the arrival of his editor who has been waiting for his book for seven years, and the various problems that his friends and associates involve him in. 2000