Escapist's List of Essential Movies

[Isaac Dodgson]

I'll preface this as I do most of my threads with an apology if this has been done before. Search didn't turn up much of anything at all

Talking with a friend of mine recently whilst channel surfing I noticed that Star Wars, episode IV, a true classic film, but she skipped right past it. The following conversation ensued:

"Hey! That was Star Wars what are you doing?"
"Oh...well I want to see what else is on"
"Nothing, nothing that matters anyway, it's Star Wars!"
"Well I haven't seen it"
Jaw dropping "You...haven't seen Star Wars? Ever?
"Um...no?"
"How...How have you never seen it? I mean it's one of those movies, you know? The kind that everyone just has to see at least once? You know like the Godfather? Or...Planet of the Apes...or Animal House!"
"I've never seen the Godfather either."
"...I don't even know you anymore..."

Anyway, the idea is anything but a new or unique one. Everyone has an idea of what movies that they think everyone is obligated to see at least once. Be them comedies, dramas, horror, all of them are classic in one way or another, and all of them demand the viewing of by everyone if you are to count yourself as truly a cultured and civilized person at all. The above mentioned conversation sparked the idea however. While everyone has one of these lists, a lot of these movies differ from person to person. Well I'd like to gather a list here, and given that the lot of us are decently intelligent I'm sure this list will be excellent, if not remind people they have some movie watching to do...

EDIT x4: [HEADING=1]I DON'T WANT RECOMMENDATIONS![/HEADING] I'm looking for movies that you expect everyone to have seen and are bemused when someone hasn't. While personal taste and opinion ill always be a factor I'm not looking for the "Oh that's a great movie you should see it." kind of thing...

The list has been taken down for editing...a lot of what's on there are great movies sure, but not the essentials...i'll post a list of twenty and we'll see what we get from there...

 

[Johnn Johnston]

These aren't my first choices, largely because they're too obvious and people will have likely already seen them.

Some Like It Hot would get my vote, simply because it hasn't aged as much as you'd expect.

Plan 9 From Outer Space is the epitome of "So Bad It's Good".

And thirdly, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps.

 

[GrimmjowPantera]

The Shawshank Redemption
Fight Club
Kill Bill
Pulp Fiction (I have a wallet that says 'Bad Mother Fucker' check it out, just google it, it was like six quid on eBay)
The Dark Knight
Star Wars Episode IV
The Usual Suspects
The Sixth Sense
The Matrix (if not for the awesome storyline, at least for the Hollywood-style kung fu scenes)
Donnie Darko (for the sheer balls to the wall teen movie (surprisingly) mindfuckery)
Battle Royale
Clerks (shit people talkin' about Star Wars' independent contractors.... duh)


That's about all I can think of. I was gunna put in a lot of old Kurosawa movies, but unless you have a hard on for samurai or you just LOOOVE watching movies, then it's really not a must see.

 

[Lyiat]

Rocketman

 

[TwistedEllipses]

The good, the bad and the ugly and pan's labyrinth, just as random examples.

 

[Dechef]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Go see it now, the best god damn western (and my favourite of ANY genre) of all time.
3 hours long and every minute is as good as the next one.

 

[Iron Mal]

I would go with the following:

The Dark Knight
The Matrix
The Godfather
Plan 9 from outer Space
The Shawshank redemption
A Clockwork Orange
Shaun of the Dead
One flew over the Cuckoo's nest
Alone in the Dark by Ewe Boll...just kidding, The Thing
Alien

 

[Mosine]

Braveheart
Desperado
Toy Story
Bad Boys
Batman Forever
Die Hard with a vengeance
Friday ( and subsequently Next Friday and Friday After Next)
GoldenEye
Jumanji
Mall Rats
Se7en
All amazing films, and coincidently all released in 1995, aww what a good year for films

 

[TMAN10112]

Fight Club
the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
at Least one of the Rambo movies

 

[Starnerf]

Most of my essential movies have already been listed, but I think I'd add:

Schindler's List
The Matrix (not the sequels, though)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (the rest of the Holy Trinity is implied, but not necessary)
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Shining

I'll probably think of some others later.

 

[Alleged_Alec]

I'm going to add a few films which haven't been named yet.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
(WE CAN'T STOP HERE; THIS IS BAT COUNTRY!)
Really, this film is way too good. It's about a man and his lawyer on their trip to Las Vegas, fuelled by large amounts of drugs.
Sin City
An extremely stylish film. The the black/white plus one other colour on the screen at maximum works very, very well.
The Big Lebowski
Like, dude, you gotta have to see this movie at least once. You know what I mean, dude?
Howl's Moving Castle
A very good story, and well animated.
Spirited Away
Basically the same as for Howl's Moving Castle.
David Lynch's Dune
It's a cult classic. Sure, it sucks, but it's so bad it's good.
("Spice, Dune, desert planet", "LONG LIVE THE FIGHTERS" "My name has become a killing word.")

 

[TwistedEllipses]

Once Upon A Time In The West
Get Carter
Casino Royale
Pan's Labyrinth
Lord Of The Rings
Ghost In The Shell

That'll do me for the moment...

man...that's actually a better list than mine - do you mind if I steal it and pretend it's mine?

 

[Dechef]

I'd like to add Snatch and/or Lock stock and two smoking barrels,
Casablanca, Silence of the Lambs and Memento.

 

[curlycrouton]

Forrest Gump
The Shawshank Redemption
The Future Is Unwritten
Withnail & I
Sin City
All the Matrix films
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Layer Cake
King Kong
The Lord of the Flies (1933)
Black Hawk Down
Saints and Soldiers

Oh, and I hate Star Wars.

 

[Fightgarr]

I recommend all of Miyazaki's films but for sake of examples I'll list the 4 I think everyone needs to see:

Princess Mononoke
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Spirited Away
My Neighbor Totoro

 

[mattttherman3]

The Dark Knight
The Pianist
Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan
Lord of The Rings
Star Wars
Schiendlers list
Gladiator
Master and Commander
Superman 1 and 2
28 Days/Weeks later
A Beutiful Mind
The Aviator
all i can think of at the moment
Edit: Troy, thats a good one to, also 300

 

[Starnerf]

Forrest Gump
The Shawshank Redemption
The Future Is Unwritten
Withnail & I
Sin City
All the Matrix films
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Layer Cake
King Kong
The Lord of the Flies (1933)
Black Hawk Down
Saints and Soldiers

Oh, and I hate Star Wars.

But you have seen it, right? This topic is about movies you have to see, not movies you have to like (I assume).

 

[PureChaos]

Most of the films i would sugest have already been suggested. Some that haven't are:
Grave of the Fireflies
Bicentennial Man
Blade
House of Flying Dagers