~ 2 min read
Movies!

I was chatting with my family, and the topic of great movies came up. Turns out they have missed a bunch of great films, so I took a few minutes to make a list. Hope you enjoy!
Rules: All are one-offs, no other films required. All are (in my opinion!) Good Films. They have good pacing, good acting, good effects - the whole plate.
I avoided Pixar, Marvel, and Disney films - not because I don’t like them (many of them are fantastic), but because they really don’t need any additional exposure.
Top Ten Must Watch
Cultural touchstones, great films all around. Bending the rules a bit with Blade Runner 2049, but hey. ::shrug::
- Children of Men
- Her
- Gravity
- Ex Machina
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Tropic Thunder
- District 9
- Blade Runner 2049 (maybe watch Blade Runner first, or don’t…)
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Idiocracy
Comedies
Don’t @ me, dude.
- Idiocracy
- Tropic Thunder
- Zoolander
- Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
- The Hangover
- Best in Show
- Shaun of the Dead
Thought-Provoking Sci-Fi
Great films. Recommend one a week until you are sure you are responding as a human and not an android.
- District 9
- Children of Men
- V for Vendetta
- Blade Runner 2049 (maybe watch Blade Runner first, or don’t…)
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Arrival
- Oblivion
- Ad Astra
- Annihilation
- Her
- Edge of Tomorrow
- Children of Men
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Ex Machina
Interesting Animated Films
Bending the rules a bit with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse… oh well.
- Coraline
- Persepolis
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
- Zootopia
- Trolls
Traditionally Awesome
By “traditionally awesome” what I mean is that these films are the kind of flims I would show someone who says stuff like “I don’t like superheroes or sci-fi… or fantasy for that matter.” Again, technically bending the rules a bit with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I guess I just can’t help myself.
- Collateral
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Sideways
- Knives Out
- Argo
- The Social Network
- The Imitation Game
- American Hustle
- Lost in Translation
- Silver Linings Playbook
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Bonkers (In A Good Way)
These are insane, “I can’t believe they green-lit these” movies. Well, except for the Wes Anderson films. Those make a lot of sense.
- Amelie
- Moulin Rogue!
- Inglourious Basterds
- Memento
- Borat
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Sin City
- Battle Royale
- Life Aquatic
Rough To Watch… But Worth It
These are a list of films that I personally really, really love but are a bit intense. Beautifully shot, fantastic scripts, and long stares into the unfocused mid-distance afterwards.
- Dunkirk (death & war!)
- The Revenant (death & cold!)
- Gravity (death & space!)
- Pan’s Labyrinth (death & insanity!)
- The Ring (death & ghosts!)
- Black Hawk Down (more death & war!)