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There's that whole conceit that unless you see a movie in a proper 'theatre' you can't appreciate it. Calling BS on that one. Saw latest Star Wars in Leicester Square with many, er, focussed individuals treating it as a cosplay event and left thinking 'yeah liked that, it's the 1977 one with better CGI, now where's the nearest place for a beer?'
Then saw Whiplash on the plane heading to holidays. Blimey. No idea why '[i]not quite my tempo'[/i] could be so damn dramatic. Still thinking about it now 2 weeks later. Watched about 9 films there and back but this was the one that stuck with me.
Before that there's been a few, Exorcist (but that's probably due to being 14 and walking home through the woods), Taxi Driver and - somewhat embarrassingly - Top Gun. I was at quite an impressionable age 😉
So what's stuck with you and why?
Star Wars episode 4 in 1977. I was 5.
I clearly remember coming out of the cinema feeling like the top of my head had erupted with new ideas and new horizons. I don't think I expressed it like that at the time though. Probably just wanted a pee and an ice cream.
Donnie Darko
Clever, tragic and yet weirdly uplifting
And the Gyllenhall siblings arguing over the dinner table.
2001
so many inventive shots with no CGI and stunning choreography of models and movement to music.
Downfall
Just brilliantly shot and acted.
In fact I could go on all night. So many great films over the decades. Best let someone else have a go.
I was 9 and went in with my Grandma who didn't enjoy it at all but explained it was a Western in Space which I didn't understand until many years later. I was a bit young for 2001 but do remember the robots in Silent Running.
Downfall is a good shout. As a student of military history this really brought it to life. It's kind of lost its power with all the derivative memes on that one scene.
"Under The Skin" got to me, it left me feeling uneasy, confused, conflicted for days and it continues to unsettle me whenever I watch it and the musical score by Mica Levi just compounds my unease whenever I listen to it. One of my fav films of all time though
"Moon" with Sam Rockwell was another belter of a film that I can watch time n' time again
Dead Man's Shoes.
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Going way back but, the original Jurassic Park- I was pretty young but this scene... Sense of wonder- nailed it.
Stating with "Dead Man's Shoes" theme, Tyrannosaur is amazingly brutal, romantic and surprising. Well worth a watch.
That's Star Wars NorthWind for us of a certain age 😉 You look at that and think 'that looks so damn real, did I miss something?' - halcyon days before Michael Bay...
No country for old men. Just brutal.
Fantastic Planet. Freaked me out for weeks when I saw it over forty years ago and still dream about it on occasions.
Whiplash is brilliant. One of the best films I've seen recently.
A film i often go back to is Once.
I like the music and the "what if" storyline. Great film.
Come and see - Watch it, you'll see.
Dead Man's Shoes - Reminded me of people I grew up with (sans violence).
Martyrs - Some things can never be unseen.
Suspiria - So much colour.
Dr. Srangelove - The hillarious stupidity of it all, too real to be funny.
Good shout on Donnie Darko, I was captivated it from the the first minute ( pre-dawn cycling scene) and it never lets up.
So many films have gotten under my skin (for good or ill) couldn't list all so off top of head: Highlights (and lowlights) in no order:
- Cannibal Holocaust
- Taxi Driver
- The Tenant
- 'Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You' (w/Michael Horden)
- Cinema Paradiso
- Blue Velvet
- L'Enfer
- The Shining
- The Pianist *EDIT 'Schindler's List' (always confuse them)
- The Witch
- The Piano
- Walkabout
- Picnic at Hanging Rock
- Malena
- Tyrannosaur
- Kes
- The Night Porter
- Ken Park (just don't)
- The Haunting (b/w)
- Gummo
- Freaks
- Cat People (Simone Simone)
The Thin Red Line - end scene with the palm tree sapling growing in the sand, surrounded by shallow water - an island. With the melanesian choir music in the background.
Schindlers List - for obvious reasons.
The scariest films are the ones about actual events and human beings.
This is England
How could I forget - 'Dogtooth'. wtfffff!??
I swear, a simple read of The Plot will 'stay with you'! [url] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogtooth_(film) [/url]
Thought Lynch's Inland Empire was stunning - a level of ambition just miles above anything you'd typically see.
Didn't go to the cinema for years after that - coincided with having kids so you don't have the time, but it felt like an appropriate place to pause.
Last Exit to Brooklyn.
I'd read the book. I knew the story, it still left me depressed for days. Powerful, if not fun, movie.
Yeah, Martyrs is one: brutal does not cover it.
Shawshank Redemption: it has everything (I'm not arguing over this one)
The Wicker Man (original): That ending!
Last House on the Left (original): As per Martyrs.
Se7en: Dark, twisted, thought provoking.
Nikita the original French one not the Hollywood remake.
Pulp fiction.
The Deer Hunter
Locke
Whiplash
A Very Long Engagement
Big Fish
Good Will Hunting
Little Miss Sunshine
28 Days Later (A few days after watching this I opened up the subway on the train station at 4am-creepy place anyway with headphones on and a bloke ran past me and I shouted 'jesus f***ing christ' at the top of my voice)
To Kill a Mockingbird
12 Angry Men
It's a Wonderful Life
Withnail and I, not a day goes past with out at least one quote being used in everyday conversation.
Seven.
👿
I can't think of the word for it, but Changeling is pretty err... Insightful.
When I first saw the original Matrix in the cinema I wanted to slide under the seat and pop back up when it started again. I still love it now.
Blade Runner the original version with the voice over.
Apocalypse Now
The Wild Bunch Peckinpah at his bonkers best and the feeling of time running out and being left behind.
No Country for Old Men
Heat always look out for the huge shots of cities that is a Mann trademark, the ending always annoys me though.
A Life Less Ordinary a great fun story with a happy ending Holly Hunter is great.
Headhunters great Norwegian film
Quantum of Solace I like it even though it gets a savaging from critics
How to train your Dragon, just great fun
Jaws
Close Encounters
The Abyss
Loads more I can't think of right now.
Dead Man's Shoes
The main reason that I find Paddy Considine quite sinister. In the same way that I'll never be able to watch Cillian Murphy in anything where he's not a dead eyed sociopath after Peaky Blinders without being troubled by him.
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I watched Star Wars and then years later watched Blade Runner, and thought; "that's what the world Han Solo inhabits would really be like" In the same vein Alien introduced the idea that "space" was just another place that shit would happen in for the people that lived there , not a shiny future full of optimistic possibility
There will be Blood.
The ending still shocks even though I know it's coming.
The Shawshank Redemption - there's always hope
Black Fish - a film that explores the majesty of animals and the hideousness of man
12 Years a Slave - I stopped myself using the phrase the evilness of man above but can't think of any other word than that for this film. The evilness of some people's actions anyway
The Impostor - About as black as it gets which is why it's so brilliant
In the name of the father. End
Indiana Jones - probably Temple of Doom as it was pretty disturbing for an eight-year-old, but loved it anyway. The chase with the mine carts looks a bit dated now...
Top Gun - they had the sound turned up to 11 in the cinema I saw it in. The seats were actually rattling when the jets were taking off from the aircraft carrier at the beginning.
And these ones left a mark:
No Country for Old Men
The Shining
The Road
28 Days Later
Once were warriors.
I would have said the Road but as I'd read the book beforehand, it's difficult to separate the two. The film is good, but the book is devastating.
I'd also have to add American Werewolf in London as it was the first horror film I'd ever seen, when I was around 10.
Blade Runner, as others have said. For many reasons, not least of which are the visuals and the Roy Batty ending.
Two Lane Blacktop
Schindlers List.
I'll never forget watching that at the cinema.
A few good ones already mentioned. To add to those would be Wolf Creek, but not in a good way. It's the only film that has properly freaked me out. Its about 12 years since I watched and I still can't bring myself to watch it again. I remember shouting at the TV, "get the **** out of there, no don't go back, what the **** are you doing". Financially there's not much chance of me going to Australia but as long as I can remember Wolf Creek there's no chance of it happening.
Apocalypto.
Well if nothing else, this thread has given me some new films to watch. And some to avoid 😉
The Bicycle Thieves
High Noon
Deliverance
Cuckoo's Nest
Once were warriors
City of God
Withnail
Shooters
2 pages in and no one has said Debbie Does Dallas. Frankly I find it hard to believe it's been left to me to lower the tone.
Blade Runner. First film I saw that made me realise cinema was more than just noise and movement.
Star Wars. Just blew my seven year old mind.
Trainspotting. Another film that further opened my eyes to what film might be. Turned me into a huge Danny Boyle fan (like Pigface up there I'm one of the few that think A Life Less Ordinary is a great film).
Moulin Rouge. A film I should have hated (musical, kitsch, Nicole Kidman), but it glitterbombed its way into my head.
Pulp Fiction. Messed with my head in loads of ways (although I actually think Jackie Brown is a much better film it doesn't have the same impact or staying power).
Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Like no other film I've ever seen. Mental.
Loads of others too, with the common thread that I tend to love films (and directors) that love cinema and play games with it.