Rainy days can either be gloomy and sad… OR they can be the best time to get cozy and watch your favorite movies all day long! We were recently hanging out in Minnesota, and the rain was just coming down for days on end.  We had to stay inside a little more than usual, so we got to do just that. 

Some people think that being stuck inside an RV would be rough, but what they don’t know is that the Alta we live in is actually extremely spacious and the perfect place to set up our own home theater! We love to close the blinds, turn on the LED lights, pop the TV out of the counter (yep that’s real), make some popcorn, and sit back on our comfy couch to have a marathon of all of our favorite movies (check out our IG Reel for a behind-the-scenes look).

We really enjoy movies so much because we know that for us they transport us into another world and have a profound influence on our lives. Our favorite movies have helped inspire us to take life by the reins and discover what’s truly important to us. 

About Time

About Time is a delightful and insightful love story starring Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson. The premise of the movie focuses on time travel and the concept of only being able to live once, inspiring viewers to fully embrace every moment, no matter how seemingly routine or mundane. If you want to know a movie that has changed our lives for the better, this is one of them. Plus, it makes us cry every time we watch it, and that is how you KNOW it’s good.

Hector and the Search for Happiness

This ridiculously inspiring movie follows Simon Pegg as Hector, a psychiatrist who realizes that he doesn’t actually know what it means to be happy. He decides to travel the world in hopes of finding the secret of happiness, and he meets a lot of different people with a lot of different definitions of happiness, as well as having some exciting (and terrifying) adventures himself. We like this one for obvious reasons. It inspires a sense of travel and wanderlust of course, but we also appreciate the perspective of how travel, people, and different places can help shape your mindset.

Fight Club

You may have heard us talk about this one a time or two… or three 😆, but that’s because we are big fans! There are so many concepts in this movie that we have taken and really applied to our life. This movie really calls for a scrutinization of societal elements that may be holding us back.

One of our favorite quotes from this movie is “The things you own end up owning you.”  This really helped cement more of the reason why our minimalist mindset felt so freeing and just so… good! (We should probably state that while we like a lot of the philosophical point of views from this movie, we obviously aren’t down with the random violence or terrorism, which we think is kind of the point of the movie, that a good idea can often go too far. This movie shows you what can happen when you do go too far, and we feel that we should instead work towards finding a balance in the in-between.

Detectorists

One of Andrea’s favorite series is Detectorists. Honestly if you ever give her the option of watching anything else or Detectorists, there’s about a 95% chance she’ll pick Detectorists. It follows two metal detectorists (not metal detectors) in England as they navigate through relationships, ambition (or lack thereof), and deciding what they want out of life.

It’s a great reminder that it’s really the small things in life that truly make us happy. Plus the show’s cinematography is full of beautiful English landscapes, the music is soothing, and the script is fun and witty, thanks to Mackenzie Crook who wrote, directed, and starred in it alongside Toby Jones.

Garden State

Garden State is a throwback for us, but we can’t deny how good it is, so it made the list! The message encourages us to recognize the importance of embracing emotion instead of running away from it or trying to cover it up. It follows Zach Braff as Andrew, a failed actor returning home for his mother’s funeral. We see him learn how to feel again and open up to other people and how that changes his life. 

Plus there are 2 pieces of trivia about this movie that we just love: 1) Zach Braff, who wrote, directed, and starred in Garden State was still waiting tables when this movie was playing in theatres, and it’s an incredible movie. So that’s pretty inspiring in and of itself. 2) It helped launch The Shins, Tyler’s absolute favorite band, into the public eye.

The movies on this list have all really inspired us and shaped us into who we are today and who we want to be in the future. If you are looking for some soul-searching movies or maybe just something to pass the time on a rainy day, we hope you give these a try! Oh, and if movies aren’t really your thing, don’t worry we made a list of some of our most loved books too! 😉