> perhaps it's the repeat viewings and predictability that make these films comfort food.

There's a simpler explanation, which is that different people like different things.

people are different people at different times in their live as well.

In my mid 20s I saw Casablanca and was not impressed.

In my mid 50s I saw it again and cried until I trembled. The 20 something me didn't get what the 2 main characters were giving up. The 50 something me with life experience of loves lost by choice and circumstance had a very different reaction.