Films that changed your life

[Enjay]

Lüt said:

and most of the mid-era Three Stooges and Laurel & Hardy TV episodes (I don't think either of them transitioned to full-length movies very well).

Just to be picky for a moment, most of the Laurel and Hardy shorts you refer to were made for the cinema and were seen some years before most people had a TV. ;) Personally, I think Laurel and Hardy made some pretty good transitions to longer movies (example "Way Out West" ) but they were definitely past their prime by the time they made some of their movies (and their final film "Atoll K" is one of the worst movies ever made IMO - for all kinds of reasons).

Um, yeah, actually, I was just popping back to the thread to mention:

"Some Like it Hot" Marilyn Monroe and, possibly, Jack Lemmon's finest movie. It was one of my dad's favourite movies and I rate it very highly too. There aren't too many comedies that I can watch over and over and still laugh. "Some Like it Hot" and Laurel and Hardy would be the most obvious exceptions.

"The Crow" is a movie that I associate with a particular point in my life when a lot of changes were going on - many of them very good. I really like the movie and the association with that point in my life lifts it up for personal reasons that may, or may not, have anything to actually do with the movie.

/Nods in agreement with those who mentioned "The Holy Gail".

[Lüt]

Yeah but that was before cinema realized it was just filling in until TV showed up. Feature film lengths got sorted rather quickly after that.

And it's not that most of their movies didn't have some great scenes, but adding the amount of plot elements necessary to sustain a feature length film typically detracted from the comedy they were so good at and left them with rather average parts that may as well have been done by any other random drama actor of the day.

[magicsofa]

Milo and Otis
Princess Mononoke
The Fountain
The Hunted

These are shows rather than movies:

Avatar - The Last Airbender
Planet Earth
The Grizzly Man Diaries (in the process of watching - it is insane)


A lot of movies I thought were profound, but I think these are the ones that made the biggest impression, or that I actually feel connects in some way to the way I choose/wish to live

[deathbringer]

Ya know, I can't even think of any. I ought to watch more films.

[Sharessa]

I don't know if any have really changed my life terribly. I've cried at hundreds of movies, though.

I think I'll say The Blues Brothers and The Big Lebowski for giving me something to model my life after. :P

Also, watching the making of documentaries for the Alien Quadrilogy, especially Aliens, was a real eye-opener on just what they go through to make special effects. Or at least what they used to do before CGI ruined everything. It's an industry I really wish I could get into. Either that, or animation.

[Enjay]

Lüt said:

And it's not that most of their movies didn't have some great scenes, but adding the amount of plot elements necessary to sustain a feature length film typically detracted from the comedy they were so good at and left them with rather average parts that may as well have been done by any other random drama actor of the day.

OK, yes, I take that point. I guess the shorts that they made neatly distilled things down into what was good and funny about them with no extra fat (not a pun on Mr Hardy's size, or Mr Laurel's lack of it for that matter).

I still reckon that "Way Out West" manages to sustain things for the full length of the movie. Mind you, the full length is, IIRC, only a few minutes over an hour.

[DoomUK]

Danarchy said:

Or at least what they used to do before CGI ruined everything.

Nothing wrong with CGI when it's used properly and in conjunction with practical effects. See Terminator 2* or Jurassic Park. Or maybe a movie which has a deliberate stylistic quality like 300 which couldn't be achieved without CGI.

*In fact, the practical effects for the T-1000 look out of place compared with the CGI of the time which still looks good 20 years later.

[bytor]

Enjay said:

"American Graffiti"...faux "1962 Rock 'n' Roll America that never really quite existed but we would all like to pretend it did"...

Oh, no, no, I strongly disagree, having grown up amongst the ‘car culture’ crowd in the 60s and 70s. By the time I was of driving age the car hops had disappeared, but we still gathered on Friday nights in the large shopping center parking lots that were springing up everywhere. A race would be put together and then a long line of cars would snake its way out to a mostly unused road on the west side to run it. Money would change hands. Sometimes a car would change hands (which is where the show “Pinks” got its idea). I never ran against those guys ($$$) but was involved in plenty of cruising and street-racing before I started running at the track.

Woodward Ave. in Michigan and Van Nuys Blvd. in California were famous for their cruise scenes. The car manufacturers even got involved by testing their “muscle” cars on Woodward Ave. before these cars were available to the public. More than one retired auto exec has admitted to this.

Today, you should see this city (Columbus/Reynoldsburg Ohio) when the Mopar Nats come to town. You can’t get anywhere through Brice Rd. on Fri. and Sat. night for all the hot rods “cruising“.


“With its wide expanse through the heart of the San Fernando Valley,
Van Nuys Boulevard became known from the 1950s through the 1970s as a center of teenage cruising. Its car culture was celebrated in several motion pictures, including Van Nuys Boulevard. Cruising became a thing of the past as police cracked down on the practice…”


American Graffiti is a movie based on the impact that the California cruise scene had on Lucas’ life as a teen.

[Koko Ricky]

David Lynch's "Eraserhead" changed my life forever, in terms of how I perceive cinema. The movie is a beautiful marriage of horror, surrealism and a touch of science fiction, and is a brilliant example of the importance of sound design.

[Clonehunter]

Films that changed my life? Hmm, good question. I can't say I've found any life changing movies, but I've read some books with the same effect. For movies though, the closest I can think of would be Blade Runner with Harrison Ford, which might be my all time favorite movie now next to Aliens.

However, I suppose I could say No Country for Old Men made look at every movie I watch with a critical eye, picking out things like how good is the acting, story... No longer are movies with simply cool scenes great overall movies anymore. I'm looking at you Commando.

[Dutch Doomer]

phobosdeimos1 said:

Ever seen a film that seemed to penetrate so far into your 'soul' that you've broken into tears?

Doom.

[Koko Ricky]

Clonehunter, good choice on Aliens and Blade Runner. Sci-fi is a difficult genre of film to do well because it usually ends up being cheesy. Those two examples were among the first science fiction films to present themselves so seriously and have it work so well. No Country is also fucking amazing, as is most everything the Coen Brothers do.

[DoomUK]

dutch devil said:

Doom.

Goes without saying that that masterpiece of artistic expression has deeply affected us all on here and we're all better people for watching it.

[Koko Ricky]

Yeah, plus the first person sequence didn't at all feel like a cheap haunted house attraction.

[Sharessa]

DoomUK said:

Nothing wrong with CGI when it's used properly and in conjunction with practical effects. See Terminator 2* or Jurassic Park. Or maybe a movie which has a deliberate stylistic quality like 300 which couldn't be achieved without CGI.

*In fact, the practical effects for the T-1000 look out of place compared with the CGI of the time which still looks good 20 years later.

Sure, some movies use CGI well, but it seems the advent of CGI has pretty much made everyone get lazy and reliant on it. The weird thing is that it actually costs them less to make actual models most of the time, and they turn out looking more realistic if done properly. There's really no excuse.

[Remilia Scarlet]

Come to think of it, I don't know why I didn't list any documentaries. "Manufacturing Consent" and "100% Woman" would definitely be on there. Especially the former, and not just because I'm a fan of Noam Chomsky.

[chexwarrior]

I remember my dad showing me and my friend Terry Gilliam's Brazil, that blew my mind when I saw that.

[Stygian]

Koyaanisqatsi (mostly for the Phillip Glass compositions)
A Clockwork Orange
The Green Mile
The Matrix
My Neighbor Totoro
2001: A Space Odyssey
End of Evangelion (I will never look at orange juice the same way)
Robocop
The Brave Little Toaster
Return to Oz

[Nasesrtyhcfhk]

Mr. T said:

Pretty much any Kubrick film (Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001)

[Nordevai]

Honestly the only movie that I think actually ended up affecting how my life went would be the original Star Wars Trilogy. Though there where others that affected little thoughts and really stuck with me over time.

-The Shinning
-Evil Dead II
-The Dark Knight
-Robocop
-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (original)
-Young Frankenstein
-Super Mario Brothers
-Police Academy(s)
-Terminator 2: Judgement Day
-Dark City

There's probably others but this is all top comes off the top of my head at the moment.

[Nasesrtyhcfhk]

You mean Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

[Deeforce]

Starship Troopers 1
So much blood and violence. Just great!

[zap610]

In terms of listing movies I love I could go on and on, but for actually "life changing" I'd have to say The Rock because it was the first R movie I've ever seen and it exposed me to violence at such a young age.

Also it had many scenes of Nicholas Cage getting thrown through windows.

[Nordevai]

SeanWJF said:

You mean Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Ah yes, that would be it. I tend to get the names of those two movies switched alot.

[Mr. T]

Danarchy said:

Sure, some movies use CGI well, but it seems the advent of CGI has pretty much made everyone get lazy and reliant on it.

Lazy, boring direction isn't anyone's fault but the directors, what a crap statement.

...it actually costs them less to make actual models most of the time, and they turn out looking more realistic if done properly.

No in response to your first statement and NO to the second one. Models have their own problems and caveats; around mid-last decade *actual* photo-realistic CGI became possible and affordable: District 9 (2009) is a good example; for a low budget film it has incredibly life-like CGI characters and effects.

/E before someone says BUT PETER JACKSON DID THE SPECIAL EFFECTS, his studio was only responsible for the UFO ;-)

[Captain Red]

Taxi Driver.

It's pretty much nailed the feeling of desperate, self perpetuating loneliness so well that it actually kind of depressed me. Also the theme is cool as hell:

Edit: Mr. T is quite correct. It's not that CG you want to rage at, it's lazy directors, producers and often, a cynical Hollywood business model.

[Bucket]

They're just movies.
You know, passive entertainment.

[The Pursuer]

One Hour Photo. It really put a different perspective on the "bad" character

For me, the point with the dream scene in the film was to show the viewers that he's scarred. Although not physically, inside, a part of him is bleeding. As he reveals later, he's seen things that no child ever should. Looking at his life, at first all you see is some seriously weird guy but in his dream, as he opens his eyes, the viewers too open their eyes in the sense that they can see inside him and see a child who has been wounded irreversibly and is the cause of all his actions.

[Joshy]

st.alfonzo said:

OBVIOUS GOOD TASTE

Ah, good to see some awesome Australian films mentioned here.

Hmmm, so films that 'changed my life'? Let's see..

In no order of preference/ non-preference or measure of superficial and/or depth of content or impact on my life:

- James Bond series (Mainly Goldeneye, the first Bond movie I remember watching, I adored the character and still do; a guilty pleasure).

- The Matrix (Motivator to be philosophical, not that I'm ever going to justify my existence with nihilistic crap, whoopeefuckingdo, I just like using my brain and being inspired with it)

- Dead Man Walking (So I was bawling my eyes out after watching this. It got me good and I'm verrry immune to manipulative movies. Deer Hunter is a close second)

- Idiocracy (So damned hilarious, but quite scary.. : 'It's got electrolytes!')

- Species (I don't like this movie but I remember it giving me nightmares when I was like 6 or 7 years old, it was the alien looking thing on the train in particular, not the unnecessary over-exposure of mammary glands)

- Alien/s (Classic. 'nuff said)

- Looking for Alibrandi (Great Australian movie, almost as enjoyable as the book itself. Could relate to the characters as a young teenager going through HSC and coming-of-age)

- Toy Story (Childhood memories, 'nuff said)

- Terminator 2 (Remember first watching it as a young kiddie, relatively freaked me out until my mum smothered me with a pillow to minimise my mental scarring. Still cannot get over the fact it was made on the same year I was born.)

- The Shining (I adore Kubrick's films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Spartacus, Eyes Wide Shut and A Clockwork Orange are great, but this one takes the spot for me)

- 500 Days of Summer (I absolutely despise romance movies, but this one does well and does not conform to a typical feel-good-all-ends-well flick. Was almost an antidote when I was heartbroken by a girl who happened to be eerily similar-looking to Zooey Deschanel :-/ )

- Blade Runner (Obvious choice, but I had to study it and compare/contrast it to Brave New World for my final exams in high school. It is because of this movie I nailed English as a subject and was in the top 10% for the subject state-wide)

- To Kill a Mockingbird (First black/white movie I watched and enjoyed)

- Big Trouble in Little China (Childhood memories. First movie I watched that was captioned so I could actually understand what was going on rather than relying on colourful visuals, and as a result, I learnt some new swear words. Most memorable ones: 'What the hell!?', 'Ah fuck it!' and the best one, 'Sonofabitch must pay!')

- The Truman Show (Had to analyse it for a philosophy essay. Inspirational stuff)

- Cosi (Funny Australian film based on a play. Quite unique, the pyromaniac's hilarious.)

- Hostel (Movie made me sick and I thought I was immune to gorefests. Stupid movie nevertheless.)

- Easy A (Last movie I really enjoyed. Dialogue quite witty for a mainstream movie and Emma Stone's screen presence blows me away)

And the list goes on... these are some I could think of. Every movie we watch, to a degree, affects us in our lives at some point.

[DeathevokatioN]

GoatLord said:

Yeah, plus the first person sequence didn't at all feel like a cheap haunted house attraction.

That fps sequence made me feel like I was stuck inside a bog standard Zdoom wad. Namely ZPack or Legacy of Suffering.