The weather has consistently dropped below 80º. I wake up to a chill in the air. I have stopped sleeping with the fan on. I have started to open my bedroom window during the day. The air is crisp, Trader Joe’s has released their fall items, coffee shops have brought back their pumpkin and maple and apple flavored items, I have ordered a new candle in the scent “peak foliage,” and I have started listening to “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift again. Fall has officially arrived.
I rejoice during this time of year not only for the beauty of the turning leaves, the freedom of a pumpkin patch, and the return of pumpkin-flavored everything, but for the possibility of leaving the house and not sweating through my clothing and being able to walk around and feel refreshed, not wilted. But besides all that, this is the time of year where I start my seasonal watching. My fall movies are getting dusted off and queued up for their time to shine. You could watch these movies at any time of year, of course, and I do, but there’s something about queuing them up when they match up with the weather outside. It’s perfection.
Without further ado, here is my fall movie watchlist! In no particular order and with no care in the world for how these may rank on Rotten Tomatoes.
Falling Inn Love (2019)
This Netflix release follows Christina Milian as Gabriela Diaz, your quintessential Hallmark corporate baddie who breaks up with her noncommittal boyfriend and loses her job in quick succession. In her mourning period, she stumbles across a Win-an-Inn contest based in New Zealand and enters. For the plot, she wins and decides to move down there just until she gets the Inn up and running. Her plans to move back home are thwarted by the Inn’s dire state, the dashing contractor she decides to partner up with to fix it, and the new friends she’s made in an adorably perfect countryside town.
This movie is so enjoyable. It’s light and happy and frankly consists of one of my favorite tropes: escaping to a small town and finding a new, more enjoyable and peaceful life. Obsessed, actually. While it’s not technically a fall movie, in the sense that it takes place during the summer (lol), the title, the atmosphere, and the fresh start nature of it evoke fall anyway. Coziness, small town charm, coffee shops, etc. The vibe is fall, even if the setting isn’t.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
In case you’ve never heard of this masterpiece, TATB follows Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor), a high school girl who rarely steps out of her comfort zone and spends her time alone in her room, hanging with her one friend, and writing love letters to boys she once crushed on. When her love letters somehow get sent out, she takes up a fake relationship with one of her recipients, Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo), to convince one of the other recipients that she doesn’t have feelings for him.
This movie is one of my favorite romantic movies ever! It came out when I was still in high school, so it’s been imprinted on my mind ever since. The chemistry between Condor and Centineo is great, the story is cute and convincing, and the location (the Pacific Northwest) and the filming style just scream coziness. It’s also back to school vibes, so very fitting for fall (it could also be considered a Christmas movie! but I digress). This is based on the series of novels of the same name by Jenny Han and there are sequels, but this first movie is easily the best. If you haven’t seen this one yet, please run, don’t walk to your living room and turn it on.
A Cinderella Story (the one with Hilary Duff) (2004)
Hilary Duff plays Sam, a high school student who lost her father and is forced to stay with her stepmother, Jennifer Coolidge, and her two stepsisters. She works in her father’s old diner, which her stepmother has completely changed, and is overworked and underappreciated. Sam has been messaging the star of the football team, Austin Ames (Chad Michael Murray), without knowing that it’s him, and when she realizes, she starts to talk herself out of what she wants and who she wants.
Technically the other 2 Cinderella story movies (the ones with Selena Gomez and Lucy Hale) could count as fall movies too, but the Selena Gomez one feels a little more like a dreary February/wintery movie than anything else, and I’ve only seen the Lucy Hale one once. Hilary Duff’s Cinderella story is very much fall as it takes place at the beginning of the school year with the homecoming dance on the horizon and the football season in full swing. It’s cute! Though Chad Michael Murray is so not my favorite (he always has the same look on his face).
A Few Good Men (1992)
A change of pace! Decidedly not a romance (though including a few romantic elements), this classic is a military courtroom drama that follows Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise), a military lawyer and son of a legal titan, who usually takes the easy way out of everything. When Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) is passed over for an opportunity to take a case in Guantanamo Bay in favor of Kaffee, she latches onto him and convinces him to take the case rather than make a plea deal.
It’s intense, it’s well-written, it’s captivating and its scenes are full of fall foliage and brisk air! It’s a classic for a reason. Tom Cruise may be a scientologist, but he looks good and he can deliver his lines! Also, such a great supporting cast, from Kevin Bacon to Kevin Pollak to Jack Nicholson. So good!
Knives Out (2019)
Speaking of great casts, Knives Out was a hit for a reason! Centering the Thrombey family, this murder mystery kicks off when the famous crime novelist Harlan Thrombey dies unexpectedly and Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is called in to find out who killed him. With a fortune on the line and a bunch of greedy children and grandchildren, the case is not very straightforward, but it is plenty interesting.
Shoutout to Rian Johnson for bringing back the murder mystery because what a fun genre. This movie is so so fun. The acting is great; we’ve got Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon, and more, and it’s based in the northeast during the chilly and cozy season of fall! We’ve got cable knit sweaters and big northeastern mansions. What’s not to love?
Twitches (2005) & Twitches Too (2007)
Tia and Tamera Mowry star as twin witches in these amazing spooky season movies! Separated at birth, Alex (Tia) is the practical twin, who is always working hard and trying to make ends meet, while Camryn (Tamera) is the more spoiled twin, who gets whatever she wants. When they discover that the other one exists, they start to get to know each other and soon realize that they each have some odd powers separately, but when they’re together, their power gets even stronger. In order to save their birth mother and their homeland, they have to band together to fight the darkness.
Classics!! These are Halloween movies so they are the ultimate fall rewatching material. As a kid (specifically, a Black identical twin, how fitting) I loved these, and they still hold up. Oddly enough, my sister and I watched the second movie first, and sort of treated it like a standalone movie, but when I finally got around to watching the first one, it did not disappoint!
Honorable mention: Bratz: The Movie (2007) for its very bright and happy back to school vibes.
That’s all I have for now, though I could probably go on. I’m not sure what it is about this time of year that so many people love. Maybe it’s the new energy of the kids going back to school and people feeling like it's a universal fresh start. Or people can finally comfortably spend time outside without having to worry about overheating. Or the new inspiration for recipes and drinks and the permission to stay inside with a blanket and some tea. Whatever it is, these movies inspire that coziness for me and I hope they can do the same for you!
Are there any good fall movies I missed?
We can't forget about A Girl Like Her and Cyberbully. Something about the fall requires the bullying movies to come out.
Twitches, you will always be famous!!!