Escapist's List of Essential Movies

[Alleged_Alec]

All the Matrix films
Lord of the Rings trilogy

Oh, and I hate Star Wars.

I don't think any of the Matrix films beyond 1 are worth watching, really. Especially #3 was really bad. Neither would I recommend the Lord of the Rings. The books were way better.

And really, is it possible to hate the original Star Wars trilogy?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The Frighteners
The Devil's Backbone
Gremlins 2
Nikita
Brazil
Ghostbusters
Men In Black
The Italian Job (original)
Doctor Who and The Daleks
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Return to the Forbidden Planet
The Rocky Horror Show
One of the old Disney animations, doesn't matter which.
Any Pixar movie
The Twilight Zone Movie
American Werewolf in London
Blazing Saddles
(probably more as I think of them)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (original, of course)
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Trading Places
Barbarella
Flash Gordon
The Maltese Falcon
The Great Escape
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Oliver with Ron Moody as Fagin
Dog Soldiers
Any of Hitchcocks
One of Stephen Kings
Back to the Future 1/2

 

[Tirin]

I'm not really sure. Let me just list a few, see if I can think of 'em:
Starship Troopers
Pulp Fiction
The James Bond movies, particularly those with Sean Connery as Bond.
The first three Indiana Jones movies.

 

[Fightgarr]

I would also like to add:
The Wes Anderson films:
Rushmore
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Life Aquatic
The Darjeeling Lmtd.

 

[Myan]

Cult classics:

Rocky Horror Picture Show
Pulp Fiction
The Princess Bride

 

[sirdanrhodes]

Postal, proof, not all Boll films made me snap a disc in half, this was tolerable!

 

[curlycrouton]

All the Matrix films
Lord of the Rings trilogy

Oh, and I hate Star Wars.

I don't think any of the Matrix films beyond 1 are worth watching, really. Especially #3 was really bad. Neither would I recommend the Lord of the Rings. The books were way better.

And really, is it possible to hate the original Star Wars trilogy?

Yeah, I watched Episode 1 and thought, "hmm, maybe episode 2 or 3 will be better!" Nope. Then I thought, "Well people are always saying the originals are better", so I watched them. And subsequently hated them. But that's just my opinion, one which I'm sure is quite.....controversial, in places.

 

[Hippobatman]

Twilight.. No not the face!

Serious list:
The Matrix
Lord Of The Rings trilogy
The Godfather trilogy
Star Wars: Episode 4,5 and 6
First three Indiana Jones films (I kinda liked the last one though)
Silence Of The Lambs
Scarface

All I've got at the moment.

 

[ingsoc]

Idiocracy
Donnie Darko
Gross Point Blank
Ghostbusters
Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag
American Psycho
Shaun of the Dead
Starship Troopers
2001
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Dogma
Alien
Aliens

 

[Mungini]

No country for old men is one hell of a movie

 

[Isaac Dodgson]

Wow...ok erm i threw a bunch into the OP, but in the time it took me to do that, about twice as many more were mentioned...I'll throw those in there in a moment...

 

[coldfrog]

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

If you liked Pan's Labyrinth, check out Devil's Backbone. Much better in my opinion, for many reasons, including the fact that the main villain in Pan's Labyrinth is completely inhuman (and by that I mean there is no sense of remorse or humanity or realism in him at all which to me breaks the movie if it is supposed to be grounded in reality).

My List:
Shawshank Redemption
Usual Suspects
Hudsucker Proxy
Metropolis
Citizen Kane
Shaun of the Dead

 

[TwistedEllipses]

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

If you liked Pan's Labyrinth, check out Devil's Backbone. Much better in my opinion, for many reasons, including the fact that the main villain is completely inhuman (and by that I mean there is no sense of remorse or humanity or realism in him at all which to me breaks the movie if it is supposed to be grounded in reality).

Will do!

 

[Alleged_Alec]

Yeah, I watched Episode 1 and thought, "hmm, maybe episode 2 or 3 will be better!" Nope. Then I thought, "Well people are always saying the originals are better", so I watched them. And subsequently hated them. But that's just my opinion, one which I'm sure is quite.....controversial, in places.

But it's your opinion and you're entitled to have one. It could very well be the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia though.

 

[Avida]

Requiem For a Dream
The Apartment
Good Will Hunting

Ill be back to this thread...

 

[Uncompetative]

The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari.

 

[Andraste]

Agree with these mentioned:
Silence of the Lambs
Braveheart
The Matrix
Godfather 1 & 2
Schindler's List
Pulp Fiction
Shawshank Redemption
Forest Gump


Others I haven't yet seen mentioned:
Breakfast at Tiffany's - the movie itself is a cultural icon, about a cultural icon, starring a cultural icon
Gone with the Wind - epicly epic of all epics, beautifully done
Office Space - one if the first slice of life movies to really nail it
Goldfinger - James Bond is a part of our culture, and this is one of the better
Vertigo or Psycho or Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock is still THE master of the thriller, cannot be touched
Titanic - modern-day epic taking advantage of all modern tech had to offer
Blade Runner - genre busting and defining
Casablanca - just plain classic romance
Dr. Stranglove - Fantastic satire of international relations and hysteria
ET - children's movie standing the test of time
It's a Wonderful Life - best feel good movie ever
Unforgiven - modern western, deeply ... moving's not the right word - unsettling? stirring?
The Deerhunter - punch in the gut good
Rocky 1 - normal guy becomes everyman's hero
Ben Hur - historical epic - holy crap chariot scene with thousands of extras, worth watching just for this
To Kill a Mockingbird - beautiful movie adaptation of Harper Lee's perfect novel, with beloved Atticus Finch

Rebecca (Hitchcock at his creepiest)

Totally agree, but it's a lesser known, so I didn't mention it. Glad someone did.

 

[Nick2121]

Ghostbusters.
Goodfellas (and read the book "Wise Guys"!)
Street Fighter 2
Troll 2 [a movie which was made to be serious and scary, but turned out so bad that its hilarious!]
Bad Boys 2
Shrek
Ace Ventura
The Mask
and the Lion King

 

[Combined]

Full Metal Jacket,
The Wild Geese,
Ghostbusters,
The Long Walk (La Grande Vadruille),
The Soviet Story,
Le Gendarme de St. Tropez,
Indiana Jones.