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!)