Dredd (2012)
That movie is damn near perfect.
In a way I’m glad we didn’t get a sequel, because the execs would have diluted it down to a PG rating in order to maximise the merch sales.
As much as I enjoyed Banshees, it didn’t have the snappiness and immediacy of In Bruges.
Schindlers List: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/
Shit made me cry
Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent and the movies talking about Edward Snowden
The Shawshank Redemption
These are not feel good movies at all but I think really send important messages. Not for kids, but at 16+ would be good. There’s very important takeaway messages in both.
Grave of the Fireflies
Requiem for a Dream
I saw Grave of the Fireflies once.
Once.
Could never bring myself to go through it again, despite how utterly beautiful it is.
But my favourite thing about it is that it was originally a double bill with My Neighbour Totoro. Imagine seeing those two back to back. You’d get some serious emotional whiplash.
Get Crazy (1983). Just a fun piece of silliness with a cameo from Lou Reed.
And Electric Larry
Lucky Number Slevin
Man On Fire
Syriana
Equilibrium
And for some solid Australian cinema: Mystery Road
solid. add fight club and boondocks saints.
Full Metal Jacket.
Spirited Away. In my opinion the most Miyazaki movie. It’s also just amazing. I’ve probably seen it a dozen times now.
They Live. I stumbled across it on TV while exhausted at 2 am one night and it had me locked in the whole time.
Children of Men.
One of my all time favorites. I usually recommend it along with I Origins. They hit differently, but scratch the same itch for me.
Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are dead
I get that most people are just listing their favourite movies, and that’s fair, but I feel like a lot of them are already well watched.
My suggestion is The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Everything about it is a stunning piece of cinema that got massively overlooked at the time, and I don’t really know why. It stars Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, has a score by Nick Cave (who has a cameo) and Warren Ellis, and has cinematography by the mighty Roger Deakins.
On the cinematography; you could pause it at almost any point, take a screengrab, and print it out for display. It’s a stunningly well shot movie.
Nothing about the movie is fast. Everything takes place as it needs to, in its own time, all creeping glacially towards what you know is going to happen.
I adore this movie. I showed it to my kid a couple of years ago, fearful that he would hate it. Turned out he loved it as much as I do. It’s the best western I’ve ever seen, but to call it a western does it a disservice.
Cloud Atlas
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Tora Tora Tora!
Oh Brother Where Art Thou
Gone with the Wind
I’m bona fide!