There is a movie for every mood this Valentines day

HIGHVELD – Whether you already have that special person, or whether you plan to turn on the charm and rope in your long time crush, or simply plan to stay in with a litre of ice-cream and your cat for company, nothing beats a good romantic movie to set the right tone for Valentine’s Day.

“You’ve got mail”, the very first movie about online dating, goes perfectly with a cheesy pizza.

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, our favourite cyber-crossed lovers, meet online and then, with the help of a business crises, a mega-store, a dog, an illness, and a rose carried in a book, they end up knowing each other in person before realising they are also anonymously talking to each other online.

This film touches on some of the dangers of online dating, but ends surprisingly well, with kisses on screen and goosebumps all round.

If you’ve been with your partner for a few years, but the romance is still strong, why not treat yourselves to a comfortable romantic comedy like “Love Actually”?

This brilliantly funny, sometimes risque film goes well with your favourite home cooked meal and the love of your life.

In the classic genre of intertwined but separate story-lines, the stellar cast, including Hugh Grant (and his hips), Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Kiera Knightly, Kiera Knightly’s pout, Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson, spend the month or so before Christmas looking for someone to kiss under the mistletoe, missing a loved one, finding a new love, ignoring a faithful lover, finding love in the most unexpected place, and acknowledging the pain of unrequited love.

With a brilliant soundtrack and a few interesting twists, this is the perfect film to keep those home-fires burning.

If you’ve recently been jilted and the pain is still too real, why not drown your sorrows in junk food and cry to your cat to the tune of “I will always love you” as sung by Whitney Houston as she runs after Kevin Costner in “The Bodyguard”.

They say there is nothing quite as romantic as unrequited love.

The story is predictable to a certain extent, but tender moments, euphemistic scarf-drops and windblown curtains, coupled with a man literally catching a bullet for the woman he loves, makes this an all time break-up classic.

If however, you are a strong independent person, with no time or need for romance this Valentine’s Day who shops bravely in the cat-food and meals-for-one isle, why not acknowledge your singleness and watch something like the Alien v Predator franchise?

Nothing like many many hours of action packed extra-terrestrial violence to remind you just how happy you are by yourself.