"12 Angry Men" (1957) is a personal favorite that I recommend to pretty much everyone. Great messages about questioning assumptions, challenging biases, understanding the limitations of evidence, acknowledging imperfections in the justice system, and the consequences thereof.
The movie is also cinematically interesting to me because it feels "small". The entire movie just about takes place in one room, and the events of the film transpire over the course of one afternoon.
Top Secret, by the same guys who did Naked Gun. I think it's somehow actually funnier on average than Naked Gun, even though that one's great, too.
Basically, I don't know if a human could watch it and not find it fucking amazingly funny. So dense with jokes, so creative with the execution, so many funny practical effects, you're constantly astounded that they created props and sets for such absurd humor, and it really works.
Children of Men is a madtapiece.
Everybody’s Everything. I knew nothing about Lil Peep and I absolutely loved the whole documentary.
I get that most people are just listing their favourite movies, and that’s fair, but I feel like a lot of them are already well watched.
My suggestion is The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Everything about it is a stunning piece of cinema that got massively overlooked at the time, and I don’t really know why. It stars Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, has a score by Nick Cave (who has a cameo) and Warren Ellis, and has cinematography by the mighty Roger Deakins.
On the cinematography; you could pause it at almost any point, take a screengrab, and print it out for display. It’s a stunningly well shot movie.
Nothing about the movie is fast. Everything takes place as it needs to, in its own time, all creeping glacially towards what you know is going to happen.
I adore this movie. I showed it to my kid a couple of years ago, fearful that he would hate it. Turned out he loved it as much as I do. It’s the best western I’ve ever seen, but to call it a western does it a disservice.
We're gonna get a lot of the more standard "Perfect movies" so I'm going to stick with some of the ones that may not be "perfect movies" but I found personally always enjoy
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Ex Machina - Fucks with your mind through the entire movie, and leaves you bewildered at the end
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Ocean's 11, the Clooney version personally, I watch this regularly and is my favorite heist movie
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Seeking a friend for the end of the world - Tears, but it's a movie that's worth a watch - but I can never rewatch it.
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The Whale - just last year, another amazing movie that has to be watched, but you will probably never be able to rewatch it.
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The Theory of Everything - Personally this movie is what started me out from "Movies are cool action things I go with friends to see" to "Maybe movies can evoke emotions that I didn't know I could fully appreciate", and for those here who have seen me comment on movies before, this is where Felicity Jones became my favorite actress. You forget your watching a movie, and she became Jane Hawking in it, and it's the first movie I legit cried to. It hurt me deep. Eddie Redmayne did a wonderful job, fully embodying Steven as well, to the point that again you forget you are watching a movie.
And one more because what the hell
- Imitation Game - Bendlydoodle Cuddlefish and Kiera Knightley tell the story of Alan Turing. I say it should be mandatory watching for any computer/IT/programmer nerd out there, and I won't say why it's 100% worth a watch, but it's there.
None of these would I nominate as best movie of all time, I just went through my list of most watched movies and these stuck out
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Many good ones were already mentioned
But from memory:
- The snatch
- The big Lebowsky
- Clerks
- American Psycho
- 2001 a space odissey
- Blade Runner (possibly the directors cut)
- Apocalypse now (possibly the redux version)
- Full metal jacket
- The godfather (first 2 movies, the rest is not as good)
- Fight club
- Alien
- The Truman show
- In the mouth of madness
- They live
- The terminator (first 2)
- Animal house
- the dollar trilogy from Sergio Leone
- Once upon a time in America
- pulp fiction
- reservoir dogs
Spirited Away. In my opinion the most Miyazaki movie. It's also just amazing. I've probably seen it a dozen times now.
The Matrix
American History X
For the few people who didn't already watch it, and the best movie of all time :
Mad Max: Fury road (2015 ) by Miller .
This is what film story telling is about: having an entire weird universe told through visual medium. The 1st half hour has mad max gagged and incapable of talking, and it is amazing. Preferably on big screen.
A gem from the past:
Taboo(1999), by Nagisa Ôshima,
a samurai movie with hint of homosexuality. and an ending that can only be understood by paying close attention to the sound off screen.
A classic:
Seven samurai(1954), Kurosawa.
Just enjoy the black and white shot , and immerse in old Japanese culture
Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are dead
Dead Alive
My answer to this question changes a lot, but for now I'm gonna say Heathers
Evil Dead 2
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
Oh one more. Contagion. Made years and years before covid - pretty spot on tho.
No one's said Network (1976) yet. It's so prescient it's kind of scary.
Some you need to see to get the references:
- Soylent green
- 1984 (or read the book of course)
- Inception
- Everything by Stanley Kubrick and Tarantino
Food for thought:
- Free Rainer
For something (more) crazy:
- The Holy Mountain
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension - The quintessential 80s movie. Everything you need to know about the 80s is contained in this film.
Also Mr. Krabs is in it.
The Shawshank Redemption
Arrival
Full Metal Jacket.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The Pianist
Army of Darkness
Alien
Aliens
Because fuck you: Watcher in the Woods
Gladiator extended edition. No other movie matters now. Tis a masterpiece
Enemy Mine (1985)
The Man Who Knew Too Little
To Kill A Mockingbird
And read the book.
Schindlers List: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/
One I've not seen mentioned yet: Wag the Dog (1997)
The Dark Knight
There Will Be Blood
The Prestige
Memento
The Shining
Gangs of New York
Aliens
The Machinist
Full Metal Jacket
Lawrence of Arabia
I would like to add 2 absolute masterpieces of German cinematic creations.
First: Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo(W children from station zoo)
Devinetively not ab easy or joyfully film. So far I only watched the original version which isn't great in terms of story telling but it displays the reality of drug abuse(in this case heroin) in a very good way. This film is devinetively capable of ruining your day.
Werner - Beinhart( Werner and the wizard of booze)
A quite old(1990) animated film. It is funny as hell but you can clearly see, that it was made in a different time/society. However, its still funny as hell(at least in my opinion).
My recommendation is either The Grand Budapest Hotel or Moonrise Kingdom. Both by Wes Anderson, and probably his two best films. Excellent director with a very distinct visual style.
- The Fountain
- Schindler's List
- Idiocracy
- This is SpinalTap
- Saving Private Ryan
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Probably missing some, but these are the ones I can remember right now. I think Schindler's List should be required viewing by everyone before they graduate high school. I remember when they used to air it on regular TV, unedited and uncensored, commercial free. I feel we were nicer and more willing to avoid wars back then.
I ain't ashamed to say it, I cry every damn time I watch it.
- Not just a great war movie, but also a cinematic masterpiece.
The End of Evangelion is a masterpiece, but you must watch NGE before, which also is a masterpiece.
Turkish star wars lol.
Flight of the Phoenix, the original B&W one from the 50s
Fantastically atmospheric, you can feel the tension all the way through the film
Get Crazy (1983). Just a fun piece of silliness with a cameo from Lou Reed.
And Electric Larry
Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent and the movies talking about Edward Snowden
Pincess Mononoke and/or Metropolis 2001
Ivan's Childhood; although all of Tarkovsky's oeuvre is worth it.
Last time a similar question was asked, I responded with Perfect Blue, The End of Evangelion, and Love & Pop.
So this time, I'm going to suggest Sans Soleil.
Pitch Perfect Production of a 1970’s story that’s just shockingly good. Go in blind like I did, you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
Tap for spoiler
In 1970s Los Angeles, a mismatched pair of private eyes investigate a missing girl and the mysterious death of a porn star.
Blade Runner
Movies made outside of the US. United-statesians underestimate too much on other countries' productions. There's many great movies made outside of Hollywood that you can find if you search.
A suggestion that I can give is Netflix's Brazilian film Just Another Christmas, where a guy who hates Christmas gets on a time curse and he keeps waking up on each year's next Christmas eve, his life keeps changing before his eyes and at the end he learns a valuable lesson. I've seen it being compared to Click, not sure though.
Ben Hur
Forrest Gump
So many great movies listed here, but only one kiwi movie; Once Were Warriors. Unless you count Lord of the Rings, which was indeed made here, but not really exactly a kiwi movie. Here's a few I reckon are worth checking out, a mix of comedy, fantasy, sci-fi and biopic, with at least one film from each of the last 5 decades;
- Goodbye Pork Pie (the 1981 original, I haven't seen the 2017 remake Pork Pie directed by his son)
- Came A Hot Friday (1985, so underrated compared to the one above)
- The Quiet Earth (1985, based on the 1981 novel of the same name)
- The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988, epically weird, in a Fisher King kind of way)
- Heavenly Creatures (1994, Peter Jackson's first "serious" film, after his splatter comedies Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Braindead. Trivia: I'm in this for about 3 seconds ...)
- Whale Rider (2002)
- The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
- Eagle vs. Shark (2007)
- Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
- The Dead Lands (2014, notable for being entirely in Te Reo Māori, and featuring some mean Māori martials arts)
- The Dark Horse (2014)
- Muru (2022, loosely based on the events of the 2008 Operation 8 raids)
- Ka Whawhai Tonu (2024, also has a lot of Te Reo spoken)
Once were warriors
Trying to come up with a few that aren't on the list:
Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) - Just a beautifully touching film, with a unique style and a great cameo of Peter Falk as himself. Much better than the English Language remake (City of Angels)
Come and See (Idi i smotri) - Hard to watch, but an incredible portrayal of the horrors of war. Not a feel-good film at all. But an amazing feat of filmmaking.
My Dinner With Andre - It's ironic that the movie that Roger Ebert referred to as "entirely devoid of clichés" has become a cliché. I'm not sure how well it's aged for modern audiences, but I first saw it in the 80's, have seen it at least a dozen times since, and it still really gets to me. I empathize heavily with both characters in the way that they search for meaning in life, and I could listen to Andre Gregory tell stories all day.
Stop Making Sense - A stellar concert documentary. The first time I saw it was a midnight screening where the audience got up and danced through the whole movie. David Byrne is hypnotic.
The Decline of Western Civilization - Amazing look at the Los Angeles punk rock scene of the early 80's
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - A classic stage-to-screen adaptation. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton chew the scenery for a few hours while their guests Sandy Dennis and George Segal try to make sense of it all. Amazing acting, great cinematography that really leverages the closeup. A must-see.
The Lion in Winter - Sort of a medieval version of the above with Peter O' Toole and Katherine Hepburn. Also see a young Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton put on stellar performances. Like Virginia Woolf above, this is acting with a capital A.
The Triplets of Belleville (Les Triplettes de Belleville) - A unique animation style and a unique story. A really fun watch.
Predestination [2014]
Baraka
Can't believe nobody has mentioned Wag the Dog (1997), The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009), or Sorry to Bother You (2018).
Apocalypto
The Edukators!
Contagion.
There are many but if I have to name just one it would be the godfather.
Ikiru ("To Live")
The Hunger Games
Been watching a movie per day for quite a long time now. There are many great ones. Just watch all the genres from all over the world and from different decades, you'll find them.
The Couch Trip with Dan Aykroyd
A Serbian Film 😈
