What movies deeply impacted you or spoke to you?

Fight Club: Oh, God!! This movie found me at just the right time!! I was just on the beginning cusp of my now full force insomnia, AND I was 16 and needing some direction, and this film talked to both. I felt for the narrator, living like I was, day to day, needing a way to just let go. Then I sided with Tyler because he was free in every way I wanted to be. Like my parents were forcing me to believe what they did, and I very rarely questioned, I really didn't think of having a mind, opinion, or even a personality of my own! Then, this movie pushed me in the right side, and I'm now independent, stuck with the right friends and just being me and free! (Wow, that was hardly as inspirational as I thought it would be, but oh well, it's the truth!!)

Can you guess what I'm going to say . . .? :D

Fight Club: This movie hit me like a punch to the face. It was a time in my life where I was figuring out what kind of person I was and who I was going to become. What direction would I take my life? What was REALLY important? This movie spoke to me in a way no other movie ever has. And it's so jam-packed with profound quotes and words to live by, I often reference them, (even if only in my own mind) on the daily.

  • "Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. ******** it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables – slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy **** we don't need.We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."
Collecting and making FC clothing and props has become an obsession of extremely ironic proportions! LOL

I think FC is brilliant.

But my take on it might be slightly different. While the film seems to promote nihilistic principles up the wazoo it also explains it's genesis and comic consequences when taken to excess. One can extrapolate this to explain, for instance, how fascism and jingoism manifest in real life.

What makes it such a brilliant dark comedy is that, if you think about it, a major act of terrorism (Project Mayhem) comes about only because "Jack" didn't have the balls to hook up with Marla in the beginning. Remember when he first meets Marla is when he's hanging out with a bunch of men who literally have no balls (testicular cancer). He is contently resting between a pair of massive breasts like a child until a woman enters the room. There's your setup analogy in a nutshell.

The idea that if men just got laid then we wouldn't have fascism, war or terrorism is completely hilarious.

(I might get flack for this one but note Jack/Tyler's relationship with the blonde "beautiful" guy. You can see Tyler's growing affection for the guy but Jack, out of "jealousy" beats him until he's unrecognizable. When you consider that Jack and Tyler are the same this becomes a chilling portrayal of his inability to accept that he might have an attraction to another male - and it manifests as a violent act of homophobia.)

Don't get me wrong. Despite how it sounds the film doesn't really condemn Tyler as "evil." After all "Jack" gets the girl because of Tyler - "As always I'll carry you - kicking and screaming - and in the end you'll thank me." The tragic farce in the love triangle is that "Jack" thinks he has to be Tyler to keep the girl. That's a dilemma men face all the time. Clearly we, as men, need to draw upon our inner Tyler but also need to keep him in check.

This film says a lot about the male psyche and it speaks to me at so many levels. Plus, it's one of the most beautiful looking movies ever made. I've watched it countless times.... and just watched it again last night with my wife (who is not as much into it as I am).

Didn't you laugh as Brad Pitt (of all people) says, "We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't."?
 
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Brian's Song: No need to explain.

Black Hawk Down: Real story, had friends there. Live in Minneapolis with the second largest population of Somali's in the world.

Alien: Scared the crap out of me. Still does.

Star Wars: Yup.
 
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I loved the orignal Total recall from the moment I first saw it, every time I watched it it would change my mind as to whether it was real or in his head, someone that would have probably kept on happening were it not for the DVD commentary where the director and Arnie both admit it was all in his mind, and the fade to white rather than black at the end was him being lobotomised.

Still cracking to watch though.

Find it hard to get through the start of star trek 2009, without crying when Kirk's dad dies minutes after Jim is born, the scene is so well acted and resonates with me, and the loss of my own father.
 
Rewatching To Kill a Mockingbird. The scene where the people in the balcony stand because Atticus is "passing" gets me every time.
 
ELEPHANT MAN, the john merrick story gets me every time. STAR WARS, I was 7? JAWS, scared the crap outta me. I wouldn't swim in a lake or pond for years. SHINDLERS LIST, no explanation needed. DIE HARD, i sat in the same theatre chair and watched it again. ALIEN, just awesome and scary. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, camped in the back yard for a week looking for lights in the night sky. FIGHT CLUB, just badass! DISTRICT 9, just "wow" awesome! ALIENS, the pulse rifle started me out collecting and making props. theres really to much to list and the impacts.
 
OK of course Star Wars - Man the lunch boxes the toys the dreams the reason I probably made life choices on classes and choices for life :)

As an adult Man on Fire I know not a big Sci Fi or cult film but it had a big impact on me. Maybe it was about determination, holding true to ones self or the thought of agape love. Or maybe heck I am just reading to much into a movie :)

Blade Runner / Crow / Matrix


All big winners and movies I watch every year at different times !
 
James Gunn:

"Okay, so Kyle Newman challenged me to list 10 FILMS THAT LEFT A LASTING IMPRESSION. I'm guessing these aren't my favorite films, but movies that really stuck with me, for one reason or another - many of these films changed the course of my life, either personally or artistically. Off the top of my head, here they are -

In the Mood for Love
Night of the Living Dead
The Godfather
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Heroic Trio
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Star Wars
The Wanderers
Sullivan's Travels
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Now I challenge Sean Gunn, Stephen Blackehart, and David Yarovesky to come up with their lists of FILMS THAT LEFT A LASTING IMPRESSION."
 
Most recently, Arrival. No spoilers but I so often feel like both the main characters. And on that note, Cloud Atlas :cheers
 
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Glory - it was a great movie, and Matthew Broderick's young officer really made me think about the ideas of duty, honor and integrity.
Star Trek II:TWK - First movie that ever had me tear up in the theatre. Shatner and Nimoy just hit a home run with Spock's sacrifice and the aftermath
 
I need to add "Brazil" to my list - that was another one I watched every time it came on TV.
"We're all in this together".
 
Most recently, The Arrival. No spoilers but I so often feel like both the main characters. And on that note, Cloud Atlas :cheers

Totally agree, it asked more questions than it answered and stayed with you long after leaving the theater. Besides, I like Charlie Sheen.
 
Totally agree, it asked more questions than it answered and stayed with you long after leaving the theater. Besides, I like Charlie Sheen.

Aw Dude, I'm such a moron. I meant Arrival not The Arrival. Sorry man. Will have to watch The Arrival now though...:thumbsup
 
Aw Dude, I'm such a moron. I meant Arrival not The Arrival. Sorry man. Will have to watch The Arrival now though...:thumbsup

Hahahaha, I was making a funny....I knew what movie you were talking about. Buuuuuuut The Charlie Sheen one was on cable last night and fresh in my mind. The Arrival with Sheen is early 90's cheese. Fun but cheese.....no deep messages.

My real contributions are obviously SW and Aliens. Anything Michael Mann. The Keep is a good Sci fi flick if you can find a copy on DVD.
 
All three Lord of the Rings films.

I used to read a lot as a child, and I remember (just) reading all three books back to back on a family boating holiday in the Norfolk Broads when I was 12 or 13 I think. My "bedroom" for the week was the front of the boat in the hull. My parents thankfully fully understood that I was loving these books, and whilst many parents would have questioned why I was sticking to my room etc they left me to it to enjoy myself. It was then that I fully developed a love for literature. Following this, they announced the films almost immediately (it could possibly have even been the announcement that caused me to read them, dont remember now)

The fact that the films were filmed back to back, and then released once per year is massively important to me now, looking back. My parents took me and my younger brother (who probably didnt care much about it at that stage) each christmas to go see these films, and it was a family event.

And the films...I mean good lord. In my youth, it wasn't about "is it exactly like the books?" - it was about "Oh my god, I know some of that characters story already! I know that location! Wowwwww, that's the shire!!!" - and this has fully formed how I view and interpret films to this day. I'm open minded about things, because thats how I originally saw these films.

And my strongest memory of all three films is having tears running down my face as I watched this moment for the first time.


I literally just put it on at work with earphones, and my eyes welled up. Good lord it's deeply wedged into my psyche!!

I think it formed a lot of who I am now, and I love being able to drive emotions with film and great cinema.

And the music, the visuals, the adventure, the exploration, the interesting facts, the world building, all of it. Absolutely, utterly amazing.

I believe that the fact they were released a year apart (in a time where the DVD release wasn't instantaneous, and I didn't have my own money etc) aided a lot in how they affect you emotionally too - the story was still fresh. It wasn't 2.5 years ago etc.

Huge impact on my personality. :thumbsup
 
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