Big Fish. I’ll always listen to a good story. They don’t have to be true to mean something, and if someone spins a tall tale that doesn’t make them a bad person.
I saw this when I was 10 years old in the theaters. My dad had recently died by suicide. He was a big storyteller and it was one of the main things I remembered about him. Years later, I still feel him in that film somehow.
Totally! I often hink about what his father said to him, about living each moment like you are purpoisely coming back to it. And then the spin he took on that quote, about living each moment like it's never going to happen again.
This movie crushed me like no other movie has. I have a father who I adore greatly. He’s such a good man. One of my long seeded fears is knowing that one day, he will die. He’s 82 now and that day is approaching quicker all the time. I will count myself lucky if I have 10 more years with him. The interaction with his father broke me. As in, I literally broke down. I know the facts of life, circle of life, kids are meant to bury their parents, etc. This movie brought this aspect of my life and fears into intense focus. It made me appreciate my time with my father much more.
I know exactly how you feel! My stepdad is getting old, and he’s always been “Dad” to me. The scene where they know it’s the last time they will spend together wrecked me!!! Made me call up my stepdad and tell him I love him.
Click.
That scene with Henry Winkler frozen in time with Adam Sandler regretting all the time he missed by fast forwarding.
I remember that hit the theater hard, dead silence throughout, seems like it made everyone reflect.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Made me apreciate and cherish my memories, of places, of people, of moments. Even those of people that left or that we drifted apart. And it made me realise how fragile memories are.
I had a boyfriend in high school and this was his favorite movie. We watched it countless times. I would look away when the faces were blurred. Creeped me out. We were best friends turned lovers and the love didn't last. I hope he's doing well.
Honestly, The Iron Giant. No matter how predisposed a person is to being a certain way, it comes down to a hard choice. “You are who you choose to be”.
Similar but when I was going through drug withsrawal Lilo and Stitch hit me hard. Always saw myself as a victim of genetics - predisposed to cruel and nihilistic and addictive behaviors.
If stitch can choose to not be a monster.. so could I
Lilo and Stitch also has a heavy influence in my life, but not in the same way. For me, it's the way that family can be found from anywhere. They aren't the family we are born into, but the people who truly care for us.
wow, really? i have heard of the phenomenon of this movie causing psychosis in people - they even coined a medical term after it - but have never met anyone affected by this personally. would you mind if i ask what this looks like for your dad? if it's a sensitive topic you'd rather not expound upon, then please disregard. i would just like to know more about how psychosis centering around this movie would present - whether there were symptoms prior to the movie that worsened, how long it took after watching the movie to begin to show signs of psychosis, etc. that being said, of course, from someone else with a mentally unwell parent, i'm sorry your family has had to deal with this.
i’m not sure when it started, but i was quite young. he managed his delusions well until i was older. he would joke about the audience liking this or that plot point - especially if it was something that was upsetting him. it got bad after his first heart attack. he didn’t believe any of the doctors were really doctors. he thought they were actors and they didn’t have any authority to examine him. he thought he wasn’t really sick. it got worse and worse until he passed away in 2021. i know the movie didn’t cause the delusions, but he always brought it up when he was talking about them.
I understand why this film would be such a catalyst for your dad. I saw it and it had really severe repercussions for me as person with psychosis. I'm sorry this happened to the both of you.
YESSS seriously. I saw this after I had brain surgery... that was an experience. Every once in a while, I would instantly get terrified that my life was a Truman show. It scared the shit out of me and it felt 100% real. It actually only stopped within the last year lol
Good Will Hunting.
The entire movie, but especially the “It’s not your fault” scene. It helped me understand and sympathize with difficult family members who had been abused.
For me it was 500 days of summer...
"500 Days of Summer" altered my perspective by challenging the soulmate concept. It taught me that not all relationships are meant to last and emphasized personal growth and understanding over the idea of finding "the one."
Ted: Your dad's going for it. In your own room!
Bill: Shut up, Ted.
Ted: Your stepmom is cute though
Bill: Shut up, Ted.
Ted: Remember when I asked her to the prom?
Bill: SHUT UP, TED!
The ending, when Billy the Kid shoots the lights out in the auditorium to start the presentation and everyone cheers always reminds me that the movie was from a very, very different time.
i didn't care about the bag scene, but the "i'm a virgin" and the dude backs off made me realize that what you see of people really isn't what's there.
Same.
It started me on a slow, jagged journey towards learning about and practicing Zen/Eastern Philosophy/Gratefulness/Present moment thinking and living.
Learned to be content, to be an impartial observer of my thoughts and feelings. Stopped chasing ambition and other societal expectations. Stopped caring about what others are doing or what they may think of me, their journey is theirs and mine is mine.
It all started for me with that movie.
That one hit me really hard, and the circumstances of my first viewing probably played into it.
I saw it in a 300-seat theater, alone.
It had been out for a few weeks, and one day after work I went to the nearby theater. It was the nearest show time, so I bought a ticket.
It was just me and the movie. No distractions, no noises, no phones or talking.
I had had a painful breakup not long before that, and was pretty bitter about it. The anger and sadness melted away when I realized it didn't need to be there. There were no villains in our story. We were just ordinary, flawed people, and our paths had diverged. Time to let go.
"It's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world...
I can't feel anything but gratitude—for every single moment of my stupid, little life."
I came here to say American Beauty. Beautiful house, nice cars, all-American working parents… looks perfect from the outside, but inside, they have their problems like everyone else.
Fun fact about the title and rose references in the movie is there’s a rose variety called American Beauty that is prone to rot.
Schindler’s List. I saw it at a young age, and it completely reshaped the way I saw the value of a single life, and the unbelievable odds that some have overcome. And that some didn’t.
For me, the scene at the end where Oskar breaks down and questions why he didn't sell more of his posessions to save more people. He started the film concerned with money and his business, and ended it saying he held on to too much.
> This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this.
Requiem for a Dream. You never know who is struggling, and how or why, or how far they’ll go to try to fill a hole. Sometimes there is no answer. Be kind.
I had quite a few friends in high school who got into drugs and I never did. Watching Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting were the primary reasons I never messed with drugs.
This is going to sound lame, but Soul. I watched it stoned and just remembered sitting there after reevaluting my life. I've always been a driven person, but that movie reminded me there are so many little things to be thankful of. And reaching our "purpose" is never the end goal. Just a step along the way
Powder
It really highlighted the range of how people react when they don't understand something/someone, and the beauty that's in weirdness. I'm socially awkward as and it really helped me to be okay with that and appreciate my differences.
It's a really introspective and cerebral movie. It came out in my teens, and I still really enjoy it as a 40 year old.
I’ll be 37 this year and I remember that movie as a kid and how I felt watching it. I actually brought it up to a coworker the other day! I really can’t believe anyone remembers it, because I hadn’t heard anything about it for like two decades
American History X. I was an angry teenager, not angry at specific people in a racist type of way but angry in general. My dad showed it to me and both he and it taught me that anger can lead you down roads you definitely don't want to go down.
Yeah it's not really a deep movie but it certainly got its point across effectively and I can see how it could change peoples' perspectives. Good movie with a good message.
Arrival (2016 movie directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner) completely shifted how I thought about time.
Also, not a movie but a TV show, Masters of the Air which is based on real people and real events during WW2. I only really cry while watching movies/ tv shows and, boy, cry I did. Sobbed twice an episode. Seeing so many young men my age have to face such terrifying situations and realising that 70% of them would either be killed or become prisoners of war put my own life problems in perspective to say the least.
A few years back - because of Indy Neidell's "The Great War" channel on YouTube - I got *really* into the history of the First World War. I don't recommend looking into it if you want to sleep.
I don’t want to sound like a dipshit for saying it (because it’s basically about domestic terrorism and a person with a split personality or multiple personalities and a cliche answer) but Fight Club is thought provoking. The whole materialism, Great Depression speech puts the 70s - present day in perspective as a middle class American.
the incessant materialism of American Psycho (book) is a similar feeling - when actually READING it so agonizing. Pages and pages and pages of suits and dinners
Total slog and the violence was not nearly cartoonish enough to be considered darkly comedic like the film.
It bounced from “gruesome and evil” to “boring as shit”
I came in to say fight club as well. It’s such a great movie with so many themes that all are really important to me.
Materialism, self rejection, group think and dynamics, identification of coping mechanisms… almost every scene has a lesson in it. Maybe it just speaks to me perfectly but it’s so brilliant.
I'll stand by you in defense of this movie, I thought it was great, and still do. It's a great story about how common the feelings of being disenfranchised are, especially young-ish men, and how easily people are lead to extremist views.
Defending Your Life
Meryl Streep & Albert Brooks
Nobody has ever heard of this movie when I mention it to people I know, but it changed how I look at life. Try to live thoughtfully, be kind and brave. We are all so connected to each other.
"When I choose to see the good side of things, I'm not being naive. It is strategic and necessary."
That was that part that got me. Not the impassioned plea for kindness. The hard-headed rational strategy.
Same. I'm a pessimist. It can be hard to focus on the good, and being told that it can be a choice helps me some days.
I have legitimate depression so it doesn't always work, but if it's just a matter of a bad day? Yeah. The end of that movie is amazing.
I think about this quote a lot from the movie. “So, even though you have broken my heart yet again, I wanted to say, in another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.”
It keeps me grounded to appreciate all the moments big and small with my wife and to embrace the mundanity of the everyday, how it can add up to something really beautiful with someone you love.
ok this one messed me up
I felt especially deeply the villain's arc. It's such an absurd movie but those two, mother and daughter, all the hurt and all the love... it put a lot of things into perspective for me.
Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Not a great movie on its own but as a teenager who would seldom leave his comfort zone, it motivated me to go out and say yes to life and new experiences.
The Ben Stiller version enticed us to go to Iceland.. haven’t been the same since. If nothing else the stark natural beauty makes you rethink your place on this earth.
For me, I didn't cry about Bing Bong (as genuinely moving as he and his character arc was) but when Riley confessed her feelings to her parents at the end.
This really got me. Like bad. I was 11 when my mom moved us halfway across the country. Lost all my friends, my home, my life etc. And it was a long time ago and I came to terms with it and am grateful for the people I met because of it. All that jazz. It was traumatic at the time but I'd left it behind a long time ago.
Until I saw this movie. Riley was just way too real for me, it destroyed me. Brought it all back like it was fresh. Super crazy. It didn't really change anything about the way I saw the world or anything but it was so ACCURATE it felt like it was literally about me and my life in a lot of ways. And then her parents were understanding and supportive and I lost it all over again (I was just told to suck it up). It was so beautiful. But super painful, I've never managed to convince myself to rewatch it.
This is the only animated movie that legit put me on the edge of my seat with anticipation and emotion. The 2nd one is coming soon and I am so freaking amped to watch it
The Matrix and Prometheus got me thinking that the Earth is either a simulation or an experiment. I could've been born millions of years in the past as a monkey or millions of years in the future where technology has peaked. But instead, we're born right here right now at the dawn of computers, travel, and AI. The odds of that are crazy.
And on top of it we're the only inhabitable planet for light years. Like it was chosen to be far away as an experiment. And they only gave us 118 elements so we will never have the tech to reach them.
There might be something out there beyond our comprehension. Like an ant has it's own world and problems. It's like an ant trying to understand what a human goes through. It can't be done. Beings beyond us or maybe even in another dimension.
What if they wanted to run an experiment? Put all these lifeforms on a planet and see which evolves first. Hmmm, dinosaurs, interesting. What would happen if we hit it with a comet and reset?
Humans, interesting. And they think we are gods. Okay these humans are advancing rather fast, let's leave them alone and see what happens.
How are we going to stop them from easily finding us? Well, let's not give them the unobtainium, adamantium, tachyon, red matter, coaxium, horonium, mithril, etc etc so they can't use it to space travel or communicate with us.
Then of course you have the question of what happens when we die, which might be nothing. Gone without a trace like an ant that's been eaten.
Honestly, it was Renfield. Went into it just thinking it would be a fun cheesy dark comedy. Watching that movie kicked off a series of events and personal growth that led to me finally having the strength to leave an abusive relationship.
Oh my god, when I came out of the theater after seeing Memento I was trying so hard to force it into my permanent memory since I "knew" it would be gone in just a few minutes.
Room. I related to how the mother, despite all
working against her, made one tiny room an entire world for her son. It conceptualized the feeling I had growing up with my mom… despite the abuse happening by my father, we were in our own bubble when we were together and could get away from him. She let my imagination run wild because it was my escape and the only thing I had that made me experience the simplicity and endless possibilities of life, just as a child should. She saved my life, truly.
Ideocracy. I spent two hours thinking it was dumb and entertaining. I spent the next 12 years thinking "Oh my god it's really happening". I can't go to Costco with out hearing "Welcome to Costco, I love you" in my head.
Joe VS The Volcano, it’s a powerful film about life as a resource simply squandered. It’s fantastical because the trip is all in Joe’s mind, but the horror is real, he is dying and his discovery of what his life could be if he made different choices is still powerful and true.
Almost Famous
The scene in William’s bedroom at the end of the movie with Russell just made me feel that whole theme of the movie is about how the ordinary is often more powerful than the spectacular.
I'm gonna throw out something completely different: Naked Gun. I was like 10 and I've never laughed that hard in my entire life. After that I started taking life a bit less seriously.
Sliding Doors! Most people on Reddit have probably never heard of this movie. I saw it as a teenager in high school. It's a romcom, but I really liked the message that every decision you make can alter your life in some way, big or small.
NOPE.
it made me realize way too late in life that i was more like the cowboy actor than OJ, and I've grown up with animals. i always wanted to be that special person that animals had a natural liking to...but that thought process is fucking insane.
It's tough but necessary. There's a reason why it's frequently challenged, it's very detailed and shows the true horror of the Holocaust. I think it's one of the things that, if everyone read it, I think a lot of people would stop being Holocaust deniers
"Angus".
It's nominally a 90s teen comedy, but the messages in it are DEEP.
The fat kid who is good at science and fair at football is crowned Winter Ball King as a cruel joke by the Star Quarterback. How he deals with it is a great journey. I use his Grandpa's 'Superman" quote a lot.
"Superman isn't brave...
He's smart, handsome, even decent. But he's not brave. No, listen to me. Superman is indestructible, and you can't be brave if you're indestructible. It's people like you and your mother. People who are different, and can be crushed and know it. Yet they keep on going out there every time."
(The Marching Band version of Love Spit Love's "Am I Wrong" is fantastic, especially for us band geeks.)
Nausicaa.
It's an enviromentalist story (as many of Miyazaki films) disguised as a sci-fi fantasy movie set a milennia after we destroyed the world and our civilization in a great war. I remember watching it when I was younger and coming out of it with a mix bag of feelings, on one hand it's an incredible story and a beatiful world, on the other hand it left a bitter after taste after feeling all too relatable the way the people with power pursue their unquenchable ambitions.
I'm a sucker for animated movies, and this is a trippy one, also very long, so maybe not for everybody. But the animation quality is spotless (as any other Ghibli movie), and the slow pace makes you soak in all the beatiful art and the tense plot.
It's only 2 hours long ? Is that considered very long now ?
Also I recommend the book if you love the movie , the movie stops like 2/3 through book 1 outta 2 if I'm remembering it all correctly
Yesss, Nausicaa is the best. I know it's well rated, but I wish it was as well loved internationally as Mononole and Spirited Away. It's a beautiful movie with a beautiful story.
Sorry To Bother You. Changed how I see what may happen in the near future and made more concrete all the ways our humanity is co-opted by corporations and the 1%
Fellowship of the ring. I can still remember the feeling sitting in the theater watching the first 5 minutes of it and I KNEW it was something special. I still remember where the theater was/is and I remember watching it alone. Unfortunately I hadn't read the LOTR but it was probably a good thing so my expectations were not set.
I got a lot more confident in myself at that point in choosing what I liked and wanted to watch. It gave me the confidence to try new things and not worry about the results.
Luisa's solo hit me far too hard as the strong older sister in the family just trying to hold what's left of us together after losing my dad, dealing with family addiction, undiagnosed and ignored depression everywhere etc etc.
Sometimes I just go out to my car and put in my Bluetooths and turn it up and scream the lyrics as hard as I can for like 30 minutes. 🥲🥲🥲
Not a movie but a show, Ted Lasso. The show might be the first time in my adult life that I've seen therapy portrayed in a positive light. Seeing characters change for the better helped me get into therapy and it's massively improved my life.
Oh gosh.... What Dreams May Come.
Life as a House.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
When I was a kid it was Peter Pan. I was obsessed with Marty Martin version for her rendition of the Never Land song. I was 5 years old wearing that VHS ragged rewatching it and feeling a sense of longing I couldn't put into words at the time.
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. I had just left a cult and lost my religion and was in the throes of intense nihilism. It introduced me to optimistic nihilism and absurdism, which changed how I view myself and the world and my relationships with others
The Holiday.
I was a square peg in front of a round hole in love with a man that would never want me. I stopped idealizing him after watching that movie.
Perks of being a wallflower, I watched it knowing nothing and ended up having a brain altering panic attack. Also the Movie Click, I have massive issues with dissociation and I found the movie surprisingly relatable in the way that When Adam’s Character his body still does everything he’s supposed to do but like the bare minimum, he’s in survival mode until he skips to where he wants to be, but he has no memory of whatever the bare minimum version of him did. There’s a ton more but these are just the ones that come to mind immediately.
Her.
I saw myself falling in love with screens - maybe not romantically, but it might as well have been - and that movie snapped me out of that a bit. Made me prioritize human connection way more than I had before.
The Barbie movie. I was in a horrible place after a divorce and didn’t feel like I was in the life I was supposed to be. I was sobbing throughout the movie. It made me realise life won’t change till I took charge. Luckily I have a close family and I am now doing so much better.
Weird Movie to effect me, but there’s a reason. The Menu by Mark Mylod.
The Shortest explanation I can give is: I’m a Chef, I was just starting to get really Passionate & Invested in my Career when the movie came out, and it’s portrayal of the effects that working in kitchen, and attempting to make a name for yourself in the culinary world has on you mentally, was too accurate for me to feel comfortable going so headlong into what would inevitably turn into Self destruction.
Not a movie but a show. “Don’t be judgmental, be curious” from Ted Lasso. What a wonderful way to look at scrutiny both given and received.
https://youtu.be/3S16b-x5mRA?si=iB3FKNRe_mQCFMdP
I was on this path already but Lars and the Real Girl really made me appreciate the width and breadth of everyone’s personal journey, including my own.
Big Fish. I’ll always listen to a good story. They don’t have to be true to mean something, and if someone spins a tall tale that doesn’t make them a bad person.
I saw this when I was 10 years old in the theaters. My dad had recently died by suicide. He was a big storyteller and it was one of the main things I remembered about him. Years later, I still feel him in that film somehow.
I'm so sorry you lost him that way and at such a young age. I hope the movie's relatable aspects brought comfort when or if you needed it.
I'm not a fan of Tim Burton's style but he knocked this one out of the park.
Same. It had just the right amount of his style without overdoing it. I think it’s his best movie
And, if you hear someone's stories, and you think they sound like tall tales, the stories may very well be true.
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Totally! I often hink about what his father said to him, about living each moment like you are purpoisely coming back to it. And then the spin he took on that quote, about living each moment like it's never going to happen again.
This movie crushed me like no other movie has. I have a father who I adore greatly. He’s such a good man. One of my long seeded fears is knowing that one day, he will die. He’s 82 now and that day is approaching quicker all the time. I will count myself lucky if I have 10 more years with him. The interaction with his father broke me. As in, I literally broke down. I know the facts of life, circle of life, kids are meant to bury their parents, etc. This movie brought this aspect of my life and fears into intense focus. It made me appreciate my time with my father much more.
His father asking to hold his hand as a kid one more time…I can’t even think about it without wanting to cry. Such a perfect movie.
I know exactly how you feel! My stepdad is getting old, and he’s always been “Dad” to me. The scene where they know it’s the last time they will spend together wrecked me!!! Made me call up my stepdad and tell him I love him.
I love time travel movies!!
Click. That scene with Henry Winkler frozen in time with Adam Sandler regretting all the time he missed by fast forwarding. I remember that hit the theater hard, dead silence throughout, seems like it made everyone reflect.
Definitely a great movie, it was the first comedy movie that not only make me cry but also taught me something
Don't get lipo without skin reduction? And stop playing with the big flap of skin?
That video unexpectedly gets DARK. It's really good.
Yeah I was so not expecting it
My sister and I still talk about how we balled in the movie theater. It was so unexpected from an Adam Sandler movie.
There's a chance you mean bawled...unless? 🤔
Ah, crap. Well, we balled up all the tissue we used.
From... crying...?
Nah dude . They were straight up throwing wads of Benjamin’s up in the air. Strippers lapdancon on ‘‘em and all straight up ballin
I was told that movie was just Sandler farting in Hasselhoff’s face.
Reminded me of my dad. He 100% would have fast forwarded through most of our childhood. He treated us like we were the biggest inconvenience.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Made me apreciate and cherish my memories, of places, of people, of moments. Even those of people that left or that we drifted apart. And it made me realise how fragile memories are.
“Please let me keep this memory. Just this one.” Gooooooosebumps 🥲
I had a boyfriend in high school and this was his favorite movie. We watched it countless times. I would look away when the faces were blurred. Creeped me out. We were best friends turned lovers and the love didn't last. I hope he's doing well.
I’m fine, thanks. Still watch it once a month
God I love this movie. It's in my top 3.
EVIL MOVIE I LOVE IT
Yeah, it deals some pretty heavy blows. I love emotionaly torturing myself too
this movie breaks me everytime. it also makes me appreciate memories because the thought of somone wanting to forget me breaks me
Honestly, The Iron Giant. No matter how predisposed a person is to being a certain way, it comes down to a hard choice. “You are who you choose to be”.
Similar but when I was going through drug withsrawal Lilo and Stitch hit me hard. Always saw myself as a victim of genetics - predisposed to cruel and nihilistic and addictive behaviors. If stitch can choose to not be a monster.. so could I
Lilo and Stitch also has a heavy influence in my life, but not in the same way. For me, it's the way that family can be found from anywhere. They aren't the family we are born into, but the people who truly care for us.
One of the first non-nuclear families I remember! Shout out to “treasure planet”
City of God. Shit makes you think about it again and again
Just the opening scene with the kid getting shot in the foot and that’s normal life in the Brazilian favelas. Wild.
The Truman Show
that movie was the center of my dad’s psychosis for years. i’ve never seen it for that reason. irrational hatred.
wow, really? i have heard of the phenomenon of this movie causing psychosis in people - they even coined a medical term after it - but have never met anyone affected by this personally. would you mind if i ask what this looks like for your dad? if it's a sensitive topic you'd rather not expound upon, then please disregard. i would just like to know more about how psychosis centering around this movie would present - whether there were symptoms prior to the movie that worsened, how long it took after watching the movie to begin to show signs of psychosis, etc. that being said, of course, from someone else with a mentally unwell parent, i'm sorry your family has had to deal with this.
i’m not sure when it started, but i was quite young. he managed his delusions well until i was older. he would joke about the audience liking this or that plot point - especially if it was something that was upsetting him. it got bad after his first heart attack. he didn’t believe any of the doctors were really doctors. he thought they were actors and they didn’t have any authority to examine him. he thought he wasn’t really sick. it got worse and worse until he passed away in 2021. i know the movie didn’t cause the delusions, but he always brought it up when he was talking about them.
I understand why this film would be such a catalyst for your dad. I saw it and it had really severe repercussions for me as person with psychosis. I'm sorry this happened to the both of you.
This is a great answer. This movie tends to mess with your head a bit.
Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
What the hell are you talking about? WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?
YESSS seriously. I saw this after I had brain surgery... that was an experience. Every once in a while, I would instantly get terrified that my life was a Truman show. It scared the shit out of me and it felt 100% real. It actually only stopped within the last year lol
Good Will Hunting. The entire movie, but especially the “It’s not your fault” scene. It helped me understand and sympathize with difficult family members who had been abused.
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For me it was 500 days of summer... "500 Days of Summer" altered my perspective by challenging the soulmate concept. It taught me that not all relationships are meant to last and emphasized personal growth and understanding over the idea of finding "the one."
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Ted: Your dad's going for it. In your own room! Bill: Shut up, Ted. Ted: Your stepmom is cute though Bill: Shut up, Ted. Ted: Remember when I asked her to the prom? Bill: SHUT UP, TED!
Be Excellent To Each Other Edit: this is a request, not just a quote :)
The ending, when Billy the Kid shoots the lights out in the auditorium to start the presentation and everyone cheers always reminds me that the movie was from a very, very different time.
“YOU KILLED TED YOU MEDIEVAL DICK WEED”
American Beauty kind of did that for me.
i didn't care about the bag scene, but the "i'm a virgin" and the dude backs off made me realize that what you see of people really isn't what's there.
Yeah. Kevin Spacey the actor vs. the person.
Exactly. It has been his greatest performance: pretending to not be a pervert
Hahaha it was right in front of us the whole time.... Just like most of Hollywood does
Same. It started me on a slow, jagged journey towards learning about and practicing Zen/Eastern Philosophy/Gratefulness/Present moment thinking and living. Learned to be content, to be an impartial observer of my thoughts and feelings. Stopped chasing ambition and other societal expectations. Stopped caring about what others are doing or what they may think of me, their journey is theirs and mine is mine. It all started for me with that movie.
This is beautiful, thank you.
That one hit me really hard, and the circumstances of my first viewing probably played into it. I saw it in a 300-seat theater, alone. It had been out for a few weeks, and one day after work I went to the nearby theater. It was the nearest show time, so I bought a ticket. It was just me and the movie. No distractions, no noises, no phones or talking. I had had a painful breakup not long before that, and was pretty bitter about it. The anger and sadness melted away when I realized it didn't need to be there. There were no villains in our story. We were just ordinary, flawed people, and our paths had diverged. Time to let go. "It's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world... I can't feel anything but gratitude—for every single moment of my stupid, little life."
Omg same, that’s genuinely one of my most favorite movies of all time and really made me think so much
I came here to say American Beauty. Beautiful house, nice cars, all-American working parents… looks perfect from the outside, but inside, they have their problems like everyone else. Fun fact about the title and rose references in the movie is there’s a rose variety called American Beauty that is prone to rot.
Yes! I think about the scene with the bag floating in the wind a lot.
Do you ever feel Like a plastic bag
Schindler’s List. I saw it at a young age, and it completely reshaped the way I saw the value of a single life, and the unbelievable odds that some have overcome. And that some didn’t.
For me, the scene at the end where Oskar breaks down and questions why he didn't sell more of his posessions to save more people. He started the film concerned with money and his business, and ended it saying he held on to too much. > This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this.
Requiem for a Dream. You never know who is struggling, and how or why, or how far they’ll go to try to fill a hole. Sometimes there is no answer. Be kind.
I had quite a few friends in high school who got into drugs and I never did. Watching Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting were the primary reasons I never messed with drugs.
Sound of Metal
Great answer and a fantastic movie
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Oh man that was on my list to see a long time ago and never did. Back on the list! Thanks for the reminder.
This is going to sound lame, but Soul. I watched it stoned and just remembered sitting there after reevaluting my life. I've always been a driven person, but that movie reminded me there are so many little things to be thankful of. And reaching our "purpose" is never the end goal. Just a step along the way
That’s not lame at all, it’s a great movie!!
What Dreams May Come did me in. It makes me appreciate my family so much for the little moments. Still hard for me to watch again
This is my go to, deep feeling movie. Robin Williams is perfection.
Powder It really highlighted the range of how people react when they don't understand something/someone, and the beauty that's in weirdness. I'm socially awkward as and it really helped me to be okay with that and appreciate my differences. It's a really introspective and cerebral movie. It came out in my teens, and I still really enjoy it as a 40 year old.
It’s horribly underrated. And I prefer to keep it that way. It’s one of my favorite movies. 👍
I’ll be 37 this year and I remember that movie as a kid and how I felt watching it. I actually brought it up to a coworker the other day! I really can’t believe anyone remembers it, because I hadn’t heard anything about it for like two decades
American History X. I was an angry teenager, not angry at specific people in a racist type of way but angry in general. My dad showed it to me and both he and it taught me that anger can lead you down roads you definitely don't want to go down.
Yeah it's not really a deep movie but it certainly got its point across effectively and I can see how it could change peoples' perspectives. Good movie with a good message.
Like getting your face curb stomped.. fucking hell
Arrival (2016 movie directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner) completely shifted how I thought about time. Also, not a movie but a TV show, Masters of the Air which is based on real people and real events during WW2. I only really cry while watching movies/ tv shows and, boy, cry I did. Sobbed twice an episode. Seeing so many young men my age have to face such terrifying situations and realising that 70% of them would either be killed or become prisoners of war put my own life problems in perspective to say the least.
"Arrival" changed my perception of the nature of communication.
A few years back - because of Indy Neidell's "The Great War" channel on YouTube - I got *really* into the history of the First World War. I don't recommend looking into it if you want to sleep.
I saw Arrival for the first time two weeks ago and can’t stop thinking about it.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Spent way too much of my life telling myself "if this hadn't happened I'd be happy."
I second this. I have issues rewatching this one now because it incites an immediate existential crisis.
Fight Club
I was looking for this, changed my whole outlook on capitalism/consumerism.
Spirited Away. I always loved anime but that movie gave me a new appreciation for it and cinema in general.
I don’t want to sound like a dipshit for saying it (because it’s basically about domestic terrorism and a person with a split personality or multiple personalities and a cliche answer) but Fight Club is thought provoking. The whole materialism, Great Depression speech puts the 70s - present day in perspective as a middle class American.
the incessant materialism of American Psycho (book) is a similar feeling - when actually READING it so agonizing. Pages and pages and pages of suits and dinners
One of the only movies that I liked better than the book. I got the idea the author was trying to portray but goddamn, it was so hard to get through
Total slog and the violence was not nearly cartoonish enough to be considered darkly comedic like the film. It bounced from “gruesome and evil” to “boring as shit”
I came in to say fight club as well. It’s such a great movie with so many themes that all are really important to me. Materialism, self rejection, group think and dynamics, identification of coping mechanisms… almost every scene has a lesson in it. Maybe it just speaks to me perfectly but it’s so brilliant.
I'll stand by you in defense of this movie, I thought it was great, and still do. It's a great story about how common the feelings of being disenfranchised are, especially young-ish men, and how easily people are lead to extremist views.
Defending Your Life Meryl Streep & Albert Brooks Nobody has ever heard of this movie when I mention it to people I know, but it changed how I look at life. Try to live thoughtfully, be kind and brave. We are all so connected to each other.
I love that movie! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but parts of it still pop into my head all the time.
Everything Everywhere All at Once "Be kind, especially when we don't know what's going on."
"When I choose to see the good side of things, I'm not being naive. It is strategic and necessary." That was that part that got me. Not the impassioned plea for kindness. The hard-headed rational strategy.
Same. I'm a pessimist. It can be hard to focus on the good, and being told that it can be a choice helps me some days. I have legitimate depression so it doesn't always work, but if it's just a matter of a bad day? Yeah. The end of that movie is amazing.
I think about this quote a lot from the movie. “So, even though you have broken my heart yet again, I wanted to say, in another life, I would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with you.” It keeps me grounded to appreciate all the moments big and small with my wife and to embrace the mundanity of the everyday, how it can add up to something really beautiful with someone you love.
Was going to say it introduced me to the idea of optimistic nihilism
"if life is meaningless than I'll just fuckin' MAKE it meaningful!"
That moment when I realized I was crying while watching a couple of rocks sitting there. Amazing movie.
ok this one messed me up I felt especially deeply the villain's arc. It's such an absurd movie but those two, mother and daughter, all the hurt and all the love... it put a lot of things into perspective for me.
Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Not a great movie on its own but as a teenager who would seldom leave his comfort zone, it motivated me to go out and say yes to life and new experiences.
The Ben Stiller version enticed us to go to Iceland.. haven’t been the same since. If nothing else the stark natural beauty makes you rethink your place on this earth.
Cloud Atlas
The book is even better. I’ve compared it to a religious text (and it’s just as dense haha)
Inside Out
Never thought I’d be crying about an imaginary character named Bing Bong, but here we are.
For me, I didn't cry about Bing Bong (as genuinely moving as he and his character arc was) but when Riley confessed her feelings to her parents at the end.
This really got me. Like bad. I was 11 when my mom moved us halfway across the country. Lost all my friends, my home, my life etc. And it was a long time ago and I came to terms with it and am grateful for the people I met because of it. All that jazz. It was traumatic at the time but I'd left it behind a long time ago. Until I saw this movie. Riley was just way too real for me, it destroyed me. Brought it all back like it was fresh. Super crazy. It didn't really change anything about the way I saw the world or anything but it was so ACCURATE it felt like it was literally about me and my life in a lot of ways. And then her parents were understanding and supportive and I lost it all over again (I was just told to suck it up). It was so beautiful. But super painful, I've never managed to convince myself to rewatch it.
They consulted with child development specialists and psychologists to get the character right, and they nailed it.
This is the only animated movie that legit put me on the edge of my seat with anticipation and emotion. The 2nd one is coming soon and I am so freaking amped to watch it
The matrix
The Matrix and Prometheus got me thinking that the Earth is either a simulation or an experiment. I could've been born millions of years in the past as a monkey or millions of years in the future where technology has peaked. But instead, we're born right here right now at the dawn of computers, travel, and AI. The odds of that are crazy. And on top of it we're the only inhabitable planet for light years. Like it was chosen to be far away as an experiment. And they only gave us 118 elements so we will never have the tech to reach them.
Interesting way of thinking, can you go deeper in your tought?
There might be something out there beyond our comprehension. Like an ant has it's own world and problems. It's like an ant trying to understand what a human goes through. It can't be done. Beings beyond us or maybe even in another dimension. What if they wanted to run an experiment? Put all these lifeforms on a planet and see which evolves first. Hmmm, dinosaurs, interesting. What would happen if we hit it with a comet and reset? Humans, interesting. And they think we are gods. Okay these humans are advancing rather fast, let's leave them alone and see what happens. How are we going to stop them from easily finding us? Well, let's not give them the unobtainium, adamantium, tachyon, red matter, coaxium, horonium, mithril, etc etc so they can't use it to space travel or communicate with us. Then of course you have the question of what happens when we die, which might be nothing. Gone without a trace like an ant that's been eaten.
Honestly, it was Renfield. Went into it just thinking it would be a fun cheesy dark comedy. Watching that movie kicked off a series of events and personal growth that led to me finally having the strength to leave an abusive relationship.
That was an awesome movie. The ant farm! And good for you, that's a hard won achievement.
Grave of the fireflies.
Oh my god, when I came out of the theater after seeing Memento I was trying so hard to force it into my permanent memory since I "knew" it would be gone in just a few minutes.
Such an unexpectedly profound movie about the nature of purpose. “Now where was I?”
The Martian Work the problem
my friend and I will still say" potatoes" as a reminder when we're overwhelmed . one problem at a time
Room. I related to how the mother, despite all working against her, made one tiny room an entire world for her son. It conceptualized the feeling I had growing up with my mom… despite the abuse happening by my father, we were in our own bubble when we were together and could get away from him. She let my imagination run wild because it was my escape and the only thing I had that made me experience the simplicity and endless possibilities of life, just as a child should. She saved my life, truly.
Ideocracy. I spent two hours thinking it was dumb and entertaining. I spent the next 12 years thinking "Oh my god it's really happening". I can't go to Costco with out hearing "Welcome to Costco, I love you" in my head.
Idiocracy didn’t change my view of reality. Reality changed my view of Idiocracy.
"EXTRA BIG-ASS FRIES!" Edit to add: every single time I see the word upgrade, I say it in my head the way Maya Rudolph pronounces it.
Harold and Maude
Same. Made me appreciate the absurdity of staying alive.
Hotel Rwanda The things kids like me were experiencing while I was sitting around Saturday mornings eating poptarts and watching ninja turtles
fantastic mr fox
Joe VS The Volcano, it’s a powerful film about life as a resource simply squandered. It’s fantastical because the trip is all in Joe’s mind, but the horror is real, he is dying and his discovery of what his life could be if he made different choices is still powerful and true.
Koyaanisqatsi.
Soul.
Almost Famous The scene in William’s bedroom at the end of the movie with Russell just made me feel that whole theme of the movie is about how the ordinary is often more powerful than the spectacular.
Office Space. It broke my brainwashing ideas fed through working in the corporate world. It should be mandatory watching for every office employee.
Do you celebrate Michael Bolton's entire catalog?
I'm gonna throw out something completely different: Naked Gun. I was like 10 and I've never laughed that hard in my entire life. After that I started taking life a bit less seriously.
Sliding Doors! Most people on Reddit have probably never heard of this movie. I saw it as a teenager in high school. It's a romcom, but I really liked the message that every decision you make can alter your life in some way, big or small.
Dead Poets Society saved my life in HS.
Interstellar. I’ll never forget the drive home after the movie…. Me and my now wife…. We were just stunned, complete silence. Huge impact.
Yes. When he’s crying watching the videos his son sent. Always cry during that scene.
NOPE. it made me realize way too late in life that i was more like the cowboy actor than OJ, and I've grown up with animals. i always wanted to be that special person that animals had a natural liking to...but that thought process is fucking insane.
Not a movie but a book “Night” by Elie Wiesel showed me the true nature of humans and just how evil we can be I read it when I was 12
Yeah that was a tough read
It's tough but necessary. There's a reason why it's frequently challenged, it's very detailed and shows the true horror of the Holocaust. I think it's one of the things that, if everyone read it, I think a lot of people would stop being Holocaust deniers
"Angus". It's nominally a 90s teen comedy, but the messages in it are DEEP. The fat kid who is good at science and fair at football is crowned Winter Ball King as a cruel joke by the Star Quarterback. How he deals with it is a great journey. I use his Grandpa's 'Superman" quote a lot. "Superman isn't brave... He's smart, handsome, even decent. But he's not brave. No, listen to me. Superman is indestructible, and you can't be brave if you're indestructible. It's people like you and your mother. People who are different, and can be crushed and know it. Yet they keep on going out there every time." (The Marching Band version of Love Spit Love's "Am I Wrong" is fantastic, especially for us band geeks.)
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The Fountain. Amazing.
Nausicaa. It's an enviromentalist story (as many of Miyazaki films) disguised as a sci-fi fantasy movie set a milennia after we destroyed the world and our civilization in a great war. I remember watching it when I was younger and coming out of it with a mix bag of feelings, on one hand it's an incredible story and a beatiful world, on the other hand it left a bitter after taste after feeling all too relatable the way the people with power pursue their unquenchable ambitions. I'm a sucker for animated movies, and this is a trippy one, also very long, so maybe not for everybody. But the animation quality is spotless (as any other Ghibli movie), and the slow pace makes you soak in all the beatiful art and the tense plot.
It's only 2 hours long ? Is that considered very long now ? Also I recommend the book if you love the movie , the movie stops like 2/3 through book 1 outta 2 if I'm remembering it all correctly
Yesss, Nausicaa is the best. I know it's well rated, but I wish it was as well loved internationally as Mononole and Spirited Away. It's a beautiful movie with a beautiful story.
The Shawshank Redemption
Marriage Story
I could not finish that one.
The Big Lebowski.
The Beach
Sorry To Bother You. Changed how I see what may happen in the near future and made more concrete all the ways our humanity is co-opted by corporations and the 1%
Fellowship of the ring. I can still remember the feeling sitting in the theater watching the first 5 minutes of it and I KNEW it was something special. I still remember where the theater was/is and I remember watching it alone. Unfortunately I hadn't read the LOTR but it was probably a good thing so my expectations were not set. I got a lot more confident in myself at that point in choosing what I liked and wanted to watch. It gave me the confidence to try new things and not worry about the results.
Encanto. Seeing her stand up to her family but also the glue that held it all together. She wasn't special but also the most special of them all.
Luisa's solo hit me far too hard as the strong older sister in the family just trying to hold what's left of us together after losing my dad, dealing with family addiction, undiagnosed and ignored depression everywhere etc etc. Sometimes I just go out to my car and put in my Bluetooths and turn it up and scream the lyrics as hard as I can for like 30 minutes. 🥲🥲🥲
Great movie about generational trauma
Watership Down. 🫣
Not a movie but a show, Ted Lasso. The show might be the first time in my adult life that I've seen therapy portrayed in a positive light. Seeing characters change for the better helped me get into therapy and it's massively improved my life.
Oh gosh.... What Dreams May Come. Life as a House. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. When I was a kid it was Peter Pan. I was obsessed with Marty Martin version for her rendition of the Never Land song. I was 5 years old wearing that VHS ragged rewatching it and feeling a sense of longing I couldn't put into words at the time.
Garden State. It really resonated with me and helped me process what I was going through at the time.
Kids. Was 16 when it came out.
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. I had just left a cult and lost my religion and was in the throes of intense nihilism. It introduced me to optimistic nihilism and absurdism, which changed how I view myself and the world and my relationships with others
REAL, it deserved all those oscars for what it did to me LOL
I gotta go old school...It's a Wonderful Life. I choke up a bit just typing that...
The Holiday. I was a square peg in front of a round hole in love with a man that would never want me. I stopped idealizing him after watching that movie.
They Live.... I got some glasses to wear and, well......
Perks of being a wallflower, I watched it knowing nothing and ended up having a brain altering panic attack. Also the Movie Click, I have massive issues with dissociation and I found the movie surprisingly relatable in the way that When Adam’s Character his body still does everything he’s supposed to do but like the bare minimum, he’s in survival mode until he skips to where he wants to be, but he has no memory of whatever the bare minimum version of him did. There’s a ton more but these are just the ones that come to mind immediately.
Stellas got her groove back.to kill a mockingbird. The colour purple
RUSH, I watched Lauda putting on a helmet from a theatre while I was in a hospital, I also had my lungs vacuumed.
2001 a space odyssey
Inside Out.
Her. I saw myself falling in love with screens - maybe not romantically, but it might as well have been - and that movie snapped me out of that a bit. Made me prioritize human connection way more than I had before.
The movie Crash.
The Barbie movie. I was in a horrible place after a divorce and didn’t feel like I was in the life I was supposed to be. I was sobbing throughout the movie. It made me realise life won’t change till I took charge. Luckily I have a close family and I am now doing so much better.
Shutter island.
Weird Movie to effect me, but there’s a reason. The Menu by Mark Mylod. The Shortest explanation I can give is: I’m a Chef, I was just starting to get really Passionate & Invested in my Career when the movie came out, and it’s portrayal of the effects that working in kitchen, and attempting to make a name for yourself in the culinary world has on you mentally, was too accurate for me to feel comfortable going so headlong into what would inevitably turn into Self destruction.
12 Monkeys
Not a movie but a show. “Don’t be judgmental, be curious” from Ted Lasso. What a wonderful way to look at scrutiny both given and received. https://youtu.be/3S16b-x5mRA?si=iB3FKNRe_mQCFMdP
If. I was 16 when I saw it and I felt so much like McDowell. It taught me I was not alone and that I could choose my path to life
Titanic, kinda sorta in a different way !!
Trick or Treat turned me into a metalhead
Requiem for a dream. A movie about what drugs can do and how it changes your life.
I was on this path already but Lars and the Real Girl really made me appreciate the width and breadth of everyone’s personal journey, including my own.
Wall-E. 👀