Comfort Entertainment

Everyone has one, whether it’s a movie, a book, a video game, a TV show, it doesn’t matter, everyone has one. It’s that one thing that every time you were home sick as a child, you had to do. You watched the same movie, every time. You played the same video game, every time. You watched the same TV show, every time. I’m quite certain that every time after that first time Fred Savage got sick he wanted Peter Falk to come over and read him the story of Princess Buttercup and Westley. It’s just what you know. It’s like comfort entertainment to go with your comfort food. Well in my continuous quest to extend my ever growing DVD collection, I browse new titles being released about every couple weeks. This week, I did something different. I joined Netflix, as if I don’t already have enough to watch. Well I had to browse through a lot of titles to decide what movies I hadn’t seen that I wanted to see. Then, I remembered that there was one movie that I loved as a kid and as a result wore out my VHS taped off the TV version of it. I’d checked over the years to see if/when it would be released by the studio that owned it, but to no avail. So, just for fun, I typed the title into Netflix and wouldn’t you know it, it resurfaced. Not only did it resurface, it is being released on DVD on February 14th. I have never in my life wanted Valentine’s Day to actually come around, but if it means I get to see “Somewhere, Tomorrow” on DVD, by all means, let the countdown begin.

The movie stars Sarah Jessica Parker just after her days on Square Pegs and right before her portrayal of Willard Hewitt’s girlfriend on Footloose, and most definitely YEARS before her stint as Carrie Bradshaw. It’s a silly movie really, but I cried every time I watched it as if it were the first time I’d seen it. It always made me feel better, sleep better, get better, etc. A short synopsis from IMDB says this: Young Lori Anderson lost her father in a plane crash. While her mother appears to be picking up the pieces of her life, Lori isn't. She is resentful of every decision that her mother makes from selling the family horse farm to a relationship with the local sheriff. Lori doesn't know what to do and turns to her father's journals filled with psychology and metaphysics for answers. One day, a client coming to see about the boarding of his horse, crashes in a plane with his best friend. The friend manages to escape tragedy, but the client, Terry Stockton, dies in the accident. However, Lori can see and actually touch the supposedly dead Terry after she finds him in the woods. After some struggle, Lori comes to believe that she is meant to help Terry. With the aid of her father's journals and Terry's best friend, they try to find out why Terry's spirit hasn't crossed over. A complication then develops in the situation when Lori and Terry begin to fall for each other. Lori has a riding accident and tries to join Terry in the afterlife. It is then that the reason why Terry had trouble passing on, and the secrets of her father's journals are revealed.

I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m terribly excited about this movie being released. It’s like an old friend that you’d lost contact with somehow finds your number and calls you up to see how you’ve been. We have a lot of catching up to do, but it’ll be tons of fun.

Anybody else have one of those all time movies, games, shows, books, etc. that you just had to have when you were sick or needed a little comfort entertainment?