Reply With QuoteSaving Private Ryan - I know of someones grandfather who never for 50 years spoke about D-Day and cried after watching the film to only then open up about what it was like, and it was just like the film.
No need to say why and we're not judging anyone, I just thought it would be interesting. Mine are, in no particular order:
The Descendants
American Beauty
Boyz in the Hood
Kramer vs Kramer
The Good Girl
Over to you....
Saving Private Ryan - I know of someones grandfather who never for 50 years spoke about D-Day and cried after watching the film to only then open up about what it was like, and it was just like the film.
The Lives of Others
Carandiru
City of God
Letters from Iwo Jima
Blue Ruin
Here are five of mine:
The Lives Of Others – the subtle yet evil ways in which oppressive regimes can operate, but how humanity can shine through all the same.
Ex-Machina – gets the audience to question where the dividing line could be between human beings and AI (artificial intelligence) in the future; not to mention reflecting on how we can delude ourselves into thinking our intelligence and “best laid plans” will allow us to control all scenarios.
12 Angry Men – how common decency (and well-tempered logic) can overcome hardened prejudice.
La Grande Illusion – how class and the cultural ties that bind us are often stronger than that of nationality, despite nationality being manipulated throughout history for political and confrontational means.
Paths Of Glory – the ways in which the ruling elite can treat those in lower positions with little to no humanity and as mere pawns, rather than as human beings every bit their equal.
No country for old men
Barton Fink
2001 Space Odyssey
All quiet on the western front (original version)
Shutter Island
Thought provoking,, er
12 angry men, as mentioned above
Crash, because it got the brain working
As good as it gets, opened up the world of OCD
American Sniper, combines and sums up so many points from the war genre
#1
Blackhawk Down, the realisation that even in a helicopter gunship, one of the most powerful weapons from the most powerful nation, they can be overcome by stones due to the sheer numbers of the population in the 3rd world. (a poor explanation but made me think WTF)
Saving Private Ryan was a really memorable film. Saw that in the cinema and the first 20 minutes was terrifying. Must have been horrific to have actually been there.Originally Posted by MrSimba
Well worth a watch and make sure your neighbours are out so you can have it up loud.
My uncle went to see it with me. Now he wasn't even born but he did spend 25 years in the army and I couldn't help but notice him flinch at the sound of the rounds zipping past and the ping of ricochets..
The Act of Killing - http://m.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/
Jacob's Ladder.........maybe because I shared the Vietnam combat experience with the Tim Robbins character, I identified very closely with him and was particularly shaken by the thin line between "reality" and a dreamed reality. My adult son had a near-death experience as a child and he equally shaken by the movie experience.
American History X
On so many levels.
Racial tension, prison hypocrisy, inner city life, poverty, disenchantment......
If you haven't seen it, you really have missed out.
watched american sniper the other day, why do people have to be so brutal to one another, then the endind is so sad
Sullivan's travels.
Mulholland drive.
Cheers,
Neil.
1984 - The John Hurt/Richard Burton one is a great adaptation, imo.
Saving Private Ryan - As others have said, it'd been done before to a degree, but the sheer horror and waste in the opening scene, especially, was pretty breathtaking.
Jacob's Ladder - I'm glad someone mentioned this, I recall it being a great (if a little overlooked) film from the period, although (luckily) I don't have any war experience to relate to.
Invictus - OK, it's a sports film (kind of), but the story of how Rugby was used to heal the potentially explosive tension between blacks and whites in South Africa was told well and it was worth telling.
Harvey - I know, some of you are spitting your tea at the screen, but a film about mental illness and reality and illusion and which is actually more comforting can't be easily dismissed. Maybe it's because it's the only film that's ever reduced me to tears (OK I was 8...)
I'll add An Officer and a Gentlemen although the thoughts it provoked were "How do I get those 2 hours of my life back?" and "I'll never listen to advice on films from them again"...
M
The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Paris, Texas.
The Green Mile.
There Will Be Blood
Modern Times.
Kes
Apocalypse Now
Glory
Schindlers list
Lord of the flies
Most recently, Mulholland Drive. Just couldn't make sense of it.
Fortunately I'm not alone as the critics didn't have a clue either. Some films are very powerful -like Schlinders List and Boy in the striped pyjamas so bound to make the list.
Loved the first 10 minutes of Up, so reminded me of my parents affection for one another and the loss my dad experienced when my mother died after over 40 years of marriage. Funny what sparks emotion.
I remember standing in the foyer having just watched SPR, and seeing everyone milling out with the same shellshocked look on their faces as I had. It should really be shown to schoolchildren as an example of the horrors of war.
My grandfather served as an ambulance driver in France during and after the landings, and he never spoke about what he saw but I can imagine it was pretty horrific. Actually, I probably can't imagine quite how horrific it was.
Go on then...
Nixon
The Shawshank Redemption
12 Monkeys
Cry Freedom
2001 - a Space Oddysey
MarkC
MH is one of DL's most transparent plots as well!
I think I have it worked out.
Cheers,
Neil.
Kite Runner!
It shook me up!
The only two films that stick in my mind are
The Snow Goose
and
Ivan's Childhood.
Straw Dogs
Clockwork Orange
Soldier Blue
Villian
Kes
Reason - my formative years and some ground breaking films for the time.
thought provoking ? may be seen as old tat now, but at the time, the matrix and the one with the wormholes where the dead guy is wearing a bunny head scored pretty highly. and who can forget pulp fiction? blew me away when i first saw it in the cinema, it completely reinvented the movie as popular art for me. i would also put down my dinner with andre , although i haven't seen it for years i was amazed how a simple dinner conversation between two guys could be enthralling cinema for an hour and a half. my last choice would be the documentary of the making of 10 canoes because it gave me such an appreciation of the work behind making a piece of cinema in that specific ( aussie aborigine ) traditional context
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
The most hard hitting film I've ever watched was Casualties of War.
Raze.........a film I recently watched on pay cable TV. It's about athletic, fight-skilled everyday women abducted by a rich cult and forced to fight each other to the death in hopes of ultimately winning their freedom. Extremely violent, essentially non-sexual, and extremely engrossing. I've watched it a couple more times to pick up more clues as to its depth and nuances.
Not in order:
The Pianist (Schindler's List for grown ups/sans mawkish sentimentality)
Come And See
Threads
Network
A Short Film About Killing
In no particular order:
Good Morning Viet-Nam
Life is Beautiful
The Seventh Seal
La Dolce Vita
A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)
life is beautiful is a great choice. whoever thought you could make a comedy about the holocaust?
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
But with so much subtlety, charm, and genuine kindness...
That has stopped me from watching it. Life is sh*te enough without feeling bad after what is simply entertainment.
Donnie Darko? Great movie, really good soundtrack as well.
Many brilliant thought provoking films already mentioned. For differing reasons my current list is: Up, Blade Runner, Brazil, 2001 and Gandhi.
Idiocracy. Not because it's a good film, because it's not. I just found the concept of exploring what might happen if we continue to encourage/reward stupid people breeding really interesting.
Donnie Darko
The Pursuit Of Happyness
Yes. A stand out choice.
If we're allowed shorts, this is quite evocative.
https://youtu.be/4pKMV6e5kEo
Last exit to Brooklyn
Not sure I can make 5 but here go's.
Kes
High plains drifter. Classic spaghetti.
Felix the cat. X rated animation.
The life of David Gale. Changed my mind on death penalty.
Can't think of a 5th...
I can only think of one at the minute, The Hill with Sean Connery.
Its about some military glasshouse prisoners and the emotional impact on them from their punishment.
Really great film about men snapping emotionally and mentally.
Schindlers List
Henry Portrait Of a Serial Killer
Anyone seen Enemy?
Too much for my small brain….
I dont like pushing movies/books/etc on people but here's a gem of dark suspense and tension...
I watched this several times over the last 10 years and I often daydream about the scenario (1950s/60s cold war US frigate in standoff with Russian diesel sub near icecap). A festival of dark humanity and tension...
I will add Fail Safe to mine
Crank
Crank 2
Zulu
indestructible (French version)
full metal jacket
american graffiti
vanishing point
the deer hunter
12 angry men
bad day at black rock
To kill a mockingbird
Mississippi burning
King Kong (original version)
westside story - made me read Romeo and Juliet
Oh yes and "if"
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Yes, my number one. What a piece of acting. Great choice.
Bitter Lake
The Holy Mountain
Things To Come
These Are The Damned
Men Behind The Sun
Rashomon
Bicycle Thieves
Blind Chance
Mahanagar ( The Big City)
Sacrifice
Last edited by UJJWALDEY8165; 20th June 2015 at 09:47.
I can't believe more people have not mentioned the pianist, it stayed with me for weeks after first watching it. Easily number one for me.
The Expendables
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