WIth this list, we're giving you a heads-up for future reference so that you're not caught off guard. Or hey, maybe you want to see someone you know ugly-cry.
Throw any of these on and see if they're actually human. Spoilers ahead, obviously.
8. ROBOT & FRANK
You approach Robot & Frank thinking that it's more or less an advert for Apple, right? Gleaming white robot, helps out an old guy who used to be a robber, lots of hipsters everywhere. And then BAM! It hits you with the Emotion Cannon in the last fifteen minutes when the big reveal comes.
7. BRAVEHEART
The story of an ill-fated rebellion by Scottish hero William Wallace is, yes, replete with emotions of all sorts. However, the bit that gets us is when Brendan Gleeson takes out that giant claymore and flings it into the air. Blend that with James Horner's haunting score for maximum effect and you've got a perfect ending that'll have you ready to charge across a field at English people with tears streaming down your eyes.
6. GOOD WILL HUNTING
Much like Braveheart, you're aware that Good Will Hunting is quite the tearjerker. However, since Robin Williams' passing, it takes on a new light. We see a great, a modern master of comedy in full flight that was at the top of his game, laughing and full of life. It makes it all the more bittersweet, knowing that we'll never see the likes of Robin Williams again.
5. ROCKY III
"I did everything right..." Mickey, who had been the ball-breaking trainer for Rocky Balboa, finally cracks his exterior shell and expresses how much he loves the Italian Stallion. It's not Stallone's blubbering afterwards that gets you, it's that human moment of a man who's lived a life where his defences have been hardened and set, allowing himself to be completely open. That's the bit that gets you.
4. MARY & MAX
The plasticine tale of a young man in New York who has Asperger's Syndrome gets pretty damn emotional in places, but one particular scene that sticks out is when he sees a homeless man flick a cigarette on the ground. He becomes violent and, when the homeless man says 'Sorry', we realises that he doesn't mean what he's doing, that it's just a reaction.
3. HOMEWARD BOUND
JAMIE! JAAAAAAMIIIEEEEEEEEEE! Also, didn't realise it was Ted Striker from Airplane! who played the father in this.
2. THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
Again, it's all about the context and the music. Boromir was, for us anyway, the most human of the Fellowship. He just wanted to save his country and return home. He had no hopes for glory or great adventure. And when, at last, he passed trying to defend the hobbits, we knew that his heart was pure. We would have followed you, Boromir.
1. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY
This is the perfect example of Unexpected Emotion. You spend the entire film on the edge of your seat as Robert Patrick's knife hands go after Linda Hamilton and Arnie. He finally figures out a way of killing the thing - with molten metal, of course - and what happens? "I must self-terminate." And then, at last, Terminator finds out why people cry. OOF.
