Want gorgeous scenery? Watch these movies

While most people are spending a lot of time stuck at home as the coronavirus plays out, we can at least go someplace wonderful in our minds, right? Or on our TV screens.

Here are some movies or TV shows that will bring you to beautiful places.

Love on Iceland, Hallmark Channel

A movie production company that I like to think of as our very own is behind this Hallmark confection. Synthetic Cinema International’s Andrew Gernhard, who grew up in Norwich and lives in Ledyard, came up with the idea of filming in Iceland while on a vacation with his now-wife. No wonder — the

exotic, cold but gorgeous otherworldliness of Iceland is intoxicating to see in this movie. And spoiler alert: This Hallmark movie offers a love-filled, coronavirus-free storyline. — Kristina Dorsey

The Two Popes A drama about popes Benedict XVI and Francis might seem unlikely to feature beautiful scenery, but the recreations of the interiors of the Vatican — that art! — and sweeping views of the papal summer residence are among the most striking things about this Anthony Hopkins-Jonathan Pryce starrer. Well, the Oscar-nominated actors are pretty good, too. — Kristina Dorsey

Breath This underrated 2017 Aussie surf movie, helmed by and starring Simon “The Mentalist” Baker, is based on the fine novel by Tim Winton. Visually, it has the great wave and underwater photography you’d expect from one of the epic surfer documantaries like “Endless Summer,” coupled with a melancholy coming of age story about two young men who learn about the pursuit of dreams after meeting and forming an unlikely friendship with an older, wave-riding legend. Throw in a wistfully haunting soundtrack from Harry Gregson-Williams and you have an evocative, all-senses-activated journey. — Rick Koster

Forgetting Sarah Marshall Jason Segel is no dummy. If you write and star in your own movie, why not shoot the thing in a tropical paradise like Hawaii? It’s lush gorgeousness at every turn. Hawaii has never looked so good on film, and that’s saying something. And the comedy is riotous. Segel plays a TV show composer dumped by his actress galpal (Kristen Bell) who finds a potential new love interest in Mila Kunis. Best of all: Russell Brand as a louche rock star who ticks off every box under “bad-boy rock star qualities.” — Kristina Dorsey

Dr. Zhivago We like the seasons in New

England — but now that we no longer have winter, this cinematic snow-and-ice feast, with plenty of iconic Russian architecture, is wondrously wintry. Not surprisingly, the Commies did not like Boris Pasternak’s left-tilting, Nobel Prize-winning novel on which the film is based, so none of the movie was shot in the Soviet Union. Spain, Canada and Finland served as stand-ins, as well as such fake components as marble dust for snow, a cast-iron sheet laid across a dried river bed for a frozen lake, and frozen beeswax helping providing visuals for the iconic “ice palace.” Build a fire and put on a bear fur coat to watch this one. — Rick Koster

The Talented Mr. Ripley Ah, remember when the first thing you envisioned when you heard the word “Italy” was the kind of sun-kissed landscapes featured in this topnotch thriller? You get all that and a young, fresh-faced Jude Law, too. — Kristina Dorsey

Midsommar Without question, this is the most breath-stealingly beautiful horror movie ever made. Centered around a pagan cult in rural Sweden at the time of a titular solstice celebration (sacrifice?), our group of young American tourists (victims?) spend a decreasingly pleasant idyll (nightmare?) in unfathomably lovely, blossom-choked meadows under the sprawling days and blue skies of northern Europe’s midnight sun. You’d gleefully frolic around a Maypole in this setting, too — at least until ... — Rick Koster

Royal Pains This nine-season TV show originally aired on the USA Network and is now available on Netflix, which is valuable because it’s one of those “so horrible it’s irresistible” efforts. We never missed one episode back when it was in summer-replacement prime time — not just because the narrative Corn Factor was through the roof but because the show, based on a concierge physician in the Hamptons, never contained even one scene that wasn’t set on a glorious beach or at a fabulous lawn party or on a Tiger Woods-y yacht or in someone’s size-of-Rhode-Island mansion. One extra important thing about “Royal Pains” — they freakin’ NAIL how irritating and entitled the Super Rich are. Which is why I want to be one of them. — Rick Koster