Movies that made an impression on me

[Testament]

Princess Mononoke: THIS is what you can do with celluloid animation. Rich colours, an amazing soundtrack, and a fantastic storyline with an equally good cast of characters. I love this movie to bits.

Gladiator: The "sword and sandal" epic isn't dead (although I think Troy and Alexander have put it close to that point again), it was just sleeping until Mr Scott made this. Russel Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix were absolutely incredible in this, and it features some of the best set piece scenes I've ever seen (who doesn't love the Chariot fight?)

8MM: OK, so its not a particularly good film. Alright, its a horrible, sick and voyeuristic film. I was left feeling ill at the end of it, and shaking in mingled rage and horror, and I'm hard pressed to think of another film that's ever done this to me. It was a film experience I won't soon forget, and was worth it just for that final shattering scene, when "Machine" was finally unmasked (if you've seen it, you're probably shuddering right now at the memory of that moment). There doesn't have to be any rhyme or reason, there often isn't.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Its a martial arts film. And its a love story. And its about a million other things all at the same time. I really can't say exactly what it is about this film that struck me so much, although the incredible cinematography is one of many things that comes to mind. Hero and The House of Flying Daggers are favourites too.

The Thin Red Line: Personally, I think this film could have been shorter. It could have ended after they took the village and still been brilliant. Contrasting the violence of the conflict and the peace of the Pacific islands was Mr Malick's first masterstroke, his second was not showing us the enemy until they were dead or defeated. I'm really looking forward to The New World

There's others too, I'm just trying to think of them.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Many of the others listed above, but I'll single out Fight Club for making me see the world in a very different way when it was over. It made me think a lot about materialism and the things people do to make themselves happy, and what it means to be a man in a world that increasingly doesn't have much use for them.

And really, who hasn't had occasion to wish that their credit card company would blow up?

 

[Particle_Man]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Jim Carrey in a non-Jim Carrey role, done very well. The movie makes you think about the good parts of even your bad relationships.

Old Boy: Man that was a brutal revenge movie. I don't mean gory either, I mean BRUTAL. I don't think any other revenge movie I've seen measures up to this one.

 

[Wormwood]

Two movies that horrified me to my very soul:

Glengarry Glen Ross

Requiem for a Dream

 

[iwatt]

The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly, showed me that westerns could be about more than white and black hats. Also taught me that any movie with a Morricone soundtrack will be excellent.

From dusk till Dawn, I loved this movie. I went to see it without a clue what it was about. I'd just seen Reservoir Dogs, and thought it be similar. When Salma Hayek started chewing on Tarantino, I knew I was watching something great.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

A few more:

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Let's just say it was an eye-opener for a young teenage boy.

Ferris Beuhler's Day Off: What high school should have been like.

Serenity: The first movie in a long time that made me wonder if the cast would survive the movie.

The Princess Bride: Probably my most quoted film ever. While being attacked by dire rats in our campaign: "ROUSes? I don't believe they exist."

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: My introduction to Python...'nuff said.

Arsenic and Old Lace: Probably the first dark comedy I ever saw. There was some cognitive dissonance when I first saw it as a child.

Willow: Silly film? Yes, though it holds up surprisingly well. It was the first fantasy movie that I saw in the theater that wasn't obviously fake, unlike the puppets in Dark Crystal.

Leon/The Professional: The interaction between Jean Reno and a young Natalie Portman was fantastic and really made the film. Also, one of the few good films I've watched in a hotel room while on business travel.

Go: This is a great film to watch more than once, just so you can catch all the little tie-ins throughout the different stories. Also depicts one of the best Las Vegas weekends ever in film. "Just so we're clear, you stole a car, shot a bouncer, and had sex with two women?"

 

[Mallus]

It made me think a lot about materialism and the things people do to make themselves happy, and what it means to be a man in a world that increasingly doesn't have much use for them.

And really, who hasn't had occasion to wish that their credit card company would blow up?

I agree that Fight Club is a terrific film. Slick popcorn nihilism. But its important to keep in mind that the narrators' anti-materialist/anti-consumeristic alter-ego dressed in Versace, the film itself often looks like a series of the world's best commercials, and its ending suggests you can live happily ever after with a sexy woman only after shooting yourself in the head.

I always took it to be about the inevitable triumph of chic pre-packaged materialism. With the only escape possible being through an ever-escalating amount of self-inflicted violence.

 

[Mallus]

Arsenic and Old Lace: Probably the first dark comedy I ever saw. There was some cognitive dissonance when I first saw it as a child.

Might I suggest 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', then. Its the film where the main character knocks off Alec Guiness 8 or 9 times. Probably the most charming black comedy I've ever seen. Its from Britain's famed Eiling Studios.

 

[sniffles]

Might I suggest 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', then. Its the film where the main character knocks off Alec Guiness 8 or 9 times. Probably the most charming black comedy I've ever seen. Its from Britain's famed Eiling Studios.

Excellent choice. If you've only seen Alec Guiness as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars, then you don't know anything about him. But it's from Ealing Studios.

I'll add to my list:
Hero. A martial arts film with incredible action scenes, the most gorgeous cinematography I've ever seen, and a compelling and moving story. You can actually have it all in one film. I wish some Hollywood directors would figure out how to do that.

Metropolis. The first silent film I ever saw, I think. It made me realize that you don't need sound or color to make a good movie.

City Lights. Charlie Chaplin was a cinematic gawd.

 

[Hijinks]

Sixth Sense- pretty predictable ending

I must be retarded I didn't get the "thing" until the end when they smacked you in the face with it.

My favorite films are Serenity and Monty Python and the Holy Grail for reasons stated above.