Seven Worth Seeing Movie to be Watched Again and Again

Martin Scorsese’s The Departed

The movie that changed my life and made me realize that movies, for me, were more than just entertainment. I remember going to the Phoenix, with a vague understanding that Martin Scorsese must be somebody important. I left blown away. I didn’t know what to think. Everything changed for me. The dialogue, the acting, the directing, the editing, for the first time, I noticed it all. This is why the Departed holds that place for me. It changed my life. I could add more Scorsese movies to this list; Goodfellas, the Aviator, Raging Bull and fucking Taxi Driver, but the Departed was the one for me.

Cover of The Departed (Widescreen Edition)

Image via Wikipedia

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds

When I started making this list, I knew I wanted one movie from each of my favorite directors. When I was deciding which Tarantino movie I wanted, I knew it had to be Inglourious Basterds. It’s my favorite. The film is a testament to Tarantino’s dedication to cinema, evidenced by his tributes to specific genres and actors placed throughout the movie, to the final climactic scene, that takes place in a fucking movie theater. Quentin Tarantino loves movies. Inglourious Basterds showcases that. As a fellow adorer of film, there was so much I could appreciate. First off, it was just a fucking awesome movie. The Basterds were so badass, I would have enjoyed the movie if it just chronicled their experiences throughout Europe. But it didn’t just do that. It also focused on two other absolutely amazing characters, Col. Hans Landa and Shosanna Dreyfus. The way all the characters were related, Hans, Shosanna, and Lt. Aldo Raine and the Basterds, and the way the story came full circle, was incredible. Tarantino is a fantastic director, and I admire him for it, but sometimes I forget he’s a fucking amazing writer. So yes, I love Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, the Kill Bills and Jackie Brown, but Inglourious Basterds has the most demension and meaning for me. It’s just so great.

David Fincher’s Se7en

From the brilliant cinematography to the underrated dialogue to the steadfast acting, this movie marked a change in how I view movies, similarly to the Departed. Stylistically, this is the film that made me notice setting and aura, and how important the background is to the scene. This is the one that did it for me. How it’s raining every scene except for the last one, and a viewer can go the whole movie without noticing. It’s beautiful. It’s also terrifying, but in a subtle way.

Any Wes Anderson Movie

If you want to talk about style, Jesus. Rushmore and the Royal Tennenbaums are tops, but I also love Bottle Rocket, and some scenes in Fantastic Mr. Fox were visually beautiful. Life Aquatic and Darjeeling Limited were also visually very incredible.

Mike Nichol’s the Graduate

The first time I watched the Graduate, I loved it. The music, the acting, the story, it was all so wonderful to me. It was pure enjoyment as a viewer. I loved every second of it. The second time I watched it, which happened to be about a week ago, I loved it even more. I noticed things done with camera shots that I didn’t before. I noticed imagery and motifs I paid no attention to on my first viewing, and I only enjoyed the movie more. The way that shots are done, where adults will block the viewer’s view of Benjamin, are wonderful. The shots of Benjamin going from right to left, against a crowd going left to right, are fantastic. And it holds one of my favorite movie endings of all time.

The Original Star Wars Trilogy

There is no greater coming of age tale. There is no greater iconic badass than Han Solo, except for maybe Aragorn of Lord of the Rings. Pretty much any Sci-Fi story that has come after is not comparable. That’s because it’s not just a Sci-Fi story. It runs deeper. Whether you look at the Biblical imagery, or the political allusions, it’s just an incredible story. The quintessential hero’s journey. The quintessential feel-good epic. George Lucas, for all his brilliance here, has never come close to matching it again.

Pete Docter & Bob Peterson’s Up

I love a good all-ages movie. My first memory of a movie theater is Toy Story, and I remember being completely amazed, and loving every moment of it. Pixar is above and beyond most other production companies, and Up is their finest output. The movie could have ended twenty minutes in, and I would have still put it on this list. That montage, with no dialogue, is seriously up there with the finest cinema I’ve ever seen. The love story of Carl & Ellie is so sweet, and so sad, but so wonderful and heartbreaking, when watching the movie I forget that Up is aimed at kids. Forget the brilliance that is Kevin, and how much I love Dug, and the fact that for once, the kid in a kid’s movie isn’t smarter than the adults, and the absurdity that the climactic battle scene was between two old men. This is an amazing movie, and a modern classic.

I have other favorites, but none I want to go into detail on. These are the movies that I love, that made me feel compelled to give them a detailed description as to why I loved them. I’m aware that most of them were made in the 2000s. This is my decade, though. This is the decade that’s going to leave an impression, and those are the movies that I’m going to remember. I’m also aware that Brad Pitt was in two of these movies. If I chose to include Fight Club or 12 Monkeys, he’d be in three or four. He’s a great actor. He’s been in some great movies. Anyway, those are my favorites. Here are some honorable mentions:

Thank You for Smoking, Chasing Amy, Being John Malkovich, American Beauty, Toy Story, The Breakfast Club, the Dark Knight, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, American History X, the Godfather