I have lots of Valentine-themed memories, none of them romantic. A mostly dateless wonder in my teens, February 14 was the one day of the year that really rubbed my nose in my lack of success with women. The one time I actually had a girlfriend in the run up to the day of days, I actually broke up with her the week before to save myself the cash I knew I'd have to lay out on flowers and chocolates. It was a long time ago. I bought a Bangles album instead. I really didn't deserve to date back then.

Though my luck with the opposite sex improved in my twenties, I rarely seemed to be with anyone special on Valentine's Day. But you can't ignore it. I once went to a movie with a mate of mine, a film critic now living in America called Robert Sims, and afterwards we went out for dinner to get drunk and discuss it. Only because it was the 14th and the restaurant was mostly packed with loved-up couples, everyone seemed to think we were gay - not that there's anything wrong with that. Certainly our waitress did, no matter how desperately we flirted with her.

Now married, I've enjoyed a decade of dates on Valentine's eve, but no matter what you do or where you go, though on paper the outing might sound special, the reality is there are so many couples doing the same thing, you just feel like a sheep, fleeced to within an inch of your life by opportunistic florists and restaurateurs.

That's why I prefer to stay in on February 14, make a nice dinner for my other half then watch a couple of romantic classics on the telly. Because films don't take advantage, they just give and give and give. So if it's a romantic vibe you're after without the feeling that you're perpetuating something more commercial than emotional, skip the circus and stay at home with the two things that mean the most: your partner and your telly.

In keeping with the Valentine's theme, www.blockbuster.co.uk has dedicated February to its love of movies, and we've put together a hundred all-time favourites across ten varied genres, from romance and drama to Sci-Fi and comedy. These are the films that take our breath away, that make us laugh until we cry, and cry until we've used up all the tissues in the house. These are the features we can't imagine living without, be they silly or sensible, intimate or grand. All amazing in their own distinct ways and well worth adding to your list.

A few new releases, now, that you might like to know about, starting with Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, a very sweet and easily watchable dramedy about four best girlfriends whose lives revolve around a pair of secondhand jeans. Then there's The Perfect Catch, an American adaptation of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon. Emma Thompson does the Mary Poppins thing in magical family flick Nanny McPheee, Ben Kingsley does a great Ron Moody impression in Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist, and finally there's a new Irish horror flick called Boy Eats Girl, a bloody, silly zombie flick that prompted me to write Nice To Eat You, a history of the undead from Haiti to Hollywood.

Happy Valentine's!

Marshall