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FEEDBACK

FILM CRITIC

Think of comfort films as therapy on the cheap -- in fact, many of you did. After submitting my top 10 comfort films for your consideration on Saturday, I asked for yours. And you delivered -- more than 200 and counting -- with choices that ranged from the bizarre to the sublime.

Laurel, a psychotherapist, wrote in to say that for stress, she sometimes prescribes “feel-good films.” (Two of her favorites, “You’ve Got Mail” and “The Holiday,” definitely suggest a romantic at heart.)

You were insightful, surprising, funny, occasionally angry and always heartfelt. (And in case you’re curious, “Casablanca” turned up on more lists than any other film, because, as Ely put it: “Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman, romance, honor, good vs evil, comic relief, etc.”)

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Here’s a sampling of my favorites of your favorites and why:

1. You had terrific reasons for why they made your cut:

From Paul: “Beauty and the Beast” -- When my wife and I were first dating, I reluctantly subjected her to one of my favorite movies . . . Jean Cocteau’s 1946 black and white version. She cried. We married.

From Scott: “Joyeux Noel” -- The perfect anti-war film. Christian Carion’s vision of what the human spirit is capable of and from the heart. It’s beautifully shot as well.

From Janet: “My Favorite Year” -- Even if you’re feeling insecure about yourself and your abilities, you can muster the strength to deal with those insecurities.

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From Cynthiah5: “Alien” -- When I am having a bad day, at least I am not about to be eaten. The indomitable courage of Ripley inspires me.

From K: “Desk Set” -- Tracy & Hepburn, and because it has the best office Christmas party scenes in any movie I’ve ever seen.

From Cynthia: “Roman Holiday” -- In glorious black and white, when shadows and gray areas were a woven part of the mood and script. How can you go wrong with Gregory Peck & Audrey Hepburn in the Eternal City?

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From Edmund: “Tommy Boy” -- Hilarious and poignant, especially because it’s Chris Farley’s best. “Gone With the Wind” -- Just the title is enough. “Trouble in Paradise” -- A sophisticated comedy, surprisingly contemporary. “Fanny and Alexander” -- A sense of life’s continuum. “The Exorcist” -- It scares away all your problems.

2. Speaking of which, you are nothing if not eclectic:

From Helen: “Moonstruck,” “Amelie” or (I know, this is weird) “Armageddon.”

From James: “Star Wars,” “It Happened One Night,” “The Quiet Man,” “Holiday Inn,” “National Velvet,” “Die Hard.”

From Patty: “Jaws,” “Dave,” “Casablanca,” “Doctor Zhivago,” “Love Actually,” . . . “L.A. Confidential” and “Tremors.”

From Greg: “The Man Who Would Be King,” “Being There,” “The King of Kong,” “The Money Pit,” “The Full Monty” . . . “Patton” and “Mary Poppins.”

3. You know film:

From Ely: I believe your tribute to Mel Brooks via Gene Wilder’s “walk this way” in “Young Frankenstein” was originally delivered by Margaret Dumont to Groucho Marx in “A Day at the Races.”

From Mac: Re “Young Frankenstein” and “walk this way,” check out the original “Thin Man,” . . . when the elderly butler tells [William] Powell, “walk this way.”

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From Randy: “My Neighbor Totoro” -- A quiet amusing masterpiece lovingly made with gentle fantastical imagination by director Hayao Miyazaki about two sisters . . . who discover the gentle giant Totoro (a wood sprite).

From Harry: “The Lake House” -- Yeah, it’s not as good as the Korean original, but it has people living at the lake, writing love letters to each other.

4. You have little patience for those of us you don’t agree with (well, some of you):

From Jeff: You’ve got to be kidding! . . . Okay, maybe “Best in Show” and maybe “Finding Nemo,” but “Galaxy Quest?”! . . . I could name 50 movies that trump your pathetic picks!

5. You love “Galaxy Quest” (well, a lot of you, even Jeff, no relation to Jeff):

From Gary: I am glad to know that I wasn’t the only one that loved “Galaxy Quest”!

From Bruce: “Galaxy Quest” is on my all time top ten, maybe for the same reasons.

From Jeff: “The Thing From Another World,” “The Last Starfighter,” “Star Wars” and “Galaxy Quest.”

6. You are succinct, and often emphatic:

From Michael: “Casablanca” “Casablanca” “Casablanca”

From Oldskool: “Dirty Dancing”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Kat: “The Big Chill”!!!!!!!!

From Kristin: “Sleepless in Seattle”!

From Kim: “While You Were Sleeping”!

From Pat: Gotta be “Bagdad Cafe.”

From Film Fan: Gotta have “Bull Durham”!

From Yeung: “Heaven Can Wait” is awesome!

From Jill: “The Princess Bride” of course!

7. And sometimes you’re not (succinct that is):

From Ryall: “Dr. Strangelove” -- Whenever I think the world has become just a bit too crazy. . . . In 1964, it seemed that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. governments thought mutually assured annihilation was a perfectly reasonable defense strategy. And today, as we and the Russians still have several thousand nuclear weapons pointed at each other, what better way to appreciate the absurdity of it all than by hearing President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) try to explain over the phone to the drunken Soviet premier why the U.S. was about to blow his country to smithereens -- unintentionally, of course.

8. You are geographically specific:

From Angela: My favorite comfort films are “Under the Tuscan Sun” (I spent two summers in Cortona, Italy) and “Enchanted April,” also set in Italy. For non-Italy-based comfort films, there’s “Emma,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Sense and Sensibility” . . . and anything with Audrey Hepburn.

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9. You are unpredictable:

From Charlotte: “The Natural History of the Chicken”

From JoAnne: “Green Dolphin Street”

10. You are obsessive (but we like that):

From Leslie: “Independence Day” with Will Smith & Jeff Goldblum. I can quote every line of dialogue from every character verbatim.

For more reader picks, to add yours, or for a photo gallery and recap of my top 10, go to latimes.com/comfortfilms.

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