Significant films in your life

[luctruff]

I'm new to this board...I got came through the link on the cigarettes and coffee website....
I'm going to attempt to start my own thread...hopefully it will attract a few responses, otherwise, my pride will be a little shattered and i'll go back to reading other people's threads....so now then....
I was just wandering what are some of your most significant films in your life.  I'd like to hear mostly to get some ideas for films I should look for...

Mine are:
*Pulp Fiction: I saw it when i was thirteen and it completely turned me onto films as more than entertainment and began studying more intriguing films.
*Most films of 1996 (at least the respectable ones)....I believe it was a big year for movies, in particular, the independent movies, ie, fargo, breaking the waves, big night, secrets and lies, bound, welcome to the dollhouse, lone star, etc., etc.
*Magnolia which, if anything, completely restored my faith in filmmaking, along with boogie nights, which i came to appretiate much more later.  And this is the point where the director influenced my desicions moreso on which films to see
*Seventh Seal: First foreign film i ever saw and realized there was a whole world of cinema out there
*La Dolce Vita: everything about this movie amazes me everytime i see it and it's hard to imagine why it is not considered one of the greatest films ever. Cinema begins and ends with Fellini
Others are Punch Drunk Love, Jules and Jim, M, My Life to Live, Fanny and Alexander, Leaving Las Vegas, Taxi Driver and the old cliched (but much deserved) Citizen Kane...
I could go on and on, but i realize I've written too much than you guys care to read....this is a great outlet to finally talk about films, since my roommates aren't into the same movies as me...

So, please share some thoughts on the subject, if you'd like....

[AlguienEstolamiPantalones]

here is one of my old posts that explains this topic.

when boogie nights came out i wanted to see it and nobody i know wanted to see it, well they did but ya know people in their late teens have a way of doing things " Yeah lets go im down yeah cool, ..............hey look drugs" my point is they would get distracted to easy and all they really cared about was sex and drugs, and so did I, but i also craved good art

i knew that they would drag their feet, and i fucking hate going anywhere alone, but i up and went to a late light showing on a weekday alone, and that movie changed my life ( it helped me see things more clear as a artist, what type of work i should be doing, it helped that i saw gummo the same week. One stood out as the type of work I should be doing and the other stood out as what kind of work i may end up doing if i do not put Pretentious influences in check)

anyway after that night i became a huge PTA fan, then come magnolia time, Nobody i know wanted to watch that, i ended up alone again. And that film just fucking rocked me. I know that being alone added to the film, because it spoke to me in such a personal way, that i almost didn't give a fuck what anyone else would have to say about it. That really is one of those films some people will get and others wont. I know that is a cliche that is used to defend shitty films, but in this case its true, its sad to say this but a lot of the people who claim to love that film, are on the list of people who do not get it, but they would never admit that , god forbid they look uncool, shudder to think. I would list kevin smith as someone who walked into that movie wanting to like it, he loved boogie nights, and well magnolia just didnt speak to him, at least he is honest enough to admit it. He could of said " Ohhhh yes i found that film to be BLAH BLAH BLAH" but that he would of had to change his name to budgie, :: giggles::

When PDL came out i brought my girl with me .

[MacGuffin]

http://xixax.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=545

http://xixax.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=245

Welcome.

[luctruff]

I think Boogie Nights had a bigger impact on me than i thought at the time.  i went to see magnolia on the basis of that film, but magnolia had a bigger impact.  but i still like boogie nights and i've probably seen it fifteen times or more...everytime it's on hbo, i can't resist.

[luctruff]

I guess I've come too late in the game...all the good topics have surely been discussed...oh well....

[modage]

nope.  a lot of them already have threads, but feel free to comb thru them all and add your own thoughts, which will surely spark renewed conversation.

[NEON MERCURY]

Pi-never seen such energy in a small film before..i am biased b/c i am a huge aronofsky fan but still that film is what started it all for me...i can go on and on about it but if you seen it you can see why it'  s influential to some....

magnolia-wouldn't be here if i didn't see it....

blue velvet/lost highway/mulholland drive-...strange and beautiful films that i watch repeatedly.

the bicycle thief-first foray into foreighn film

caddyshack-funniest comedy



just a few .....for now..

[Alexandro]

There are a whole bunch of landmark movies for me...

The first memory I have, of anything in my life, is crying when E.T. is found by Elliot almost dead by a river. That was the definite beginning of my film addiction. It rocked me completely. I was two years old. I don't remember any other thing from those times until I was like 5 or something.

Then when I was 6, 7 years old I fell in love with mexican comedies from the 50's and 60's...comedians like Cantinflas and Tin Tan, I loved them. They made me want to be an actor, or a comedian in a sense, but in movies.

Another big leap was Who Framed Roger Rabbit?? I kind of knew it but with this one I founf myself having an enormous curiosity about how films actually got made. It was such a fantastic movie. For the first time I knew what  a director was...I think at that point I decided that was my thing.

Scent of a Woman was big for me in the sense that I was witnessing a performance that truly ringed the bell for me...I mean I was 12 years old and not even Hopkins in The Silence of the lambs had such an impact on me. Pacino rocks in that movie, after that, I grew an intense interest in seeing all kinds of films with this actors, and getting familiar with the filmography of Pacino, de niro, nicholson, dustin hoffman means you get to see a lot of great movies from the seventies...I was a kid, but it meant something.

Then in 94 I watched, in the same week, two films that changed my life: Pulp Fiction and Ed Wood. They taught me a lot. Great movies could be anything and could take any form. Pulp was like pretty much nothing I¿ve seen before, I was iliterate, but at the same time, even if Pulp is a rehash of everything, is wildly fresh in the way it's made and performed. Ed Wood, with it's dark humour approach to a real life story, taught me about the important things in filmmaking, the most importan thing: Passion.

At some point I discovered Kubrick and Scorsese and that was it. Film as a limitless canvas with so much visual posibilities you could actually do anything you wanted, and as a form of personal expression. I watched thi sguy's films over and over...

Casino, I remember, I saw it like 1000 times, good fellas too...

Boogie Nights and Magnolia came a little late for me. I love them but I had my tastes and my preferences pretty much developed by then. Boogie Nights is great but is visually like a twin from casino and good fellas, I liked the style but no one can deny it is a borrowed style. Magnolia is great too, but I had seen Shor Cuts five years earlier and, no matter what anyone tells me about comparing those two films...it's inevitable and the "original" made a more lasting impact on me...

[Raikus]

Dirty Work - I'm a Norm fan and I really wanted to see this movie. It was the summer before I moved away for college and I had broken off my relationships to start a new at old FSU. But still, I really wanted to see this movie and I hate going to theaters alone. So I asked a girl I worked with on a date to see it. I made sure to accurately outline we were totally seeing it "as friends." Well it was the best date I'd ever had and five years later we're married. All thanks to Norm.

American Beauty - The first time I left a theater completely and utterly wowed. I didn't think movies like that existed until that point (read: unconventional, not afraid to push the envelope, with smart and characters of that complexity).

[***beady***]

The Shining.......I wasn't allowed by a certain video collection of my mum and dads. When I got my hands on it, I was about 9 years old, maybe younger. I was totally scared, grosed and it gave me the love for horrors.

The Goonies........I could watch that film over and over and never get tired of it.

Watership Down.......Another film/cartoon from my childhood. This cast such a view on me, their journey, thoughts etc. I love the trippyness and harshness of it all.

Scarface......I completely fell for this film, tits over arse in love with it. Everything from the camp thing they were in, to the fallen angel/crucified jesus ending. It's just amazing.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.....I shall never tire of this film.

The Pianist......... Watch it, and you'll see why.

Pirates of the Caribbean...... I just fancy Johnny Depp big time in it! ha ha

[Pubrick]

two moon junction was very significant in my life.

[soixante]

Barry Lyndon, upon its initial release, made me realize film is an art form, not merely entertainment.  Clockwork Orange and 2001 were re-released later the same year, and both of them blew my young, impressionable mind.  Concurrenly, I saw MASH, Nashville and McCabe & Mrs. Miller, along with Taxi Driver, Mean Streets and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Many years later, Dazed and Confused made me remember why I love movies.

[chainsmoking insomniac]

My reasons for these films are quite personal, so I won't go into detail about them.  These are not necessarily on my top ten, but they were important to me being who I am today......

Annie Hall
When Harry Met Sally
Boogie Nights (esp. b/c of commentary)
In a Lonely Place
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Risky Business
The Big Chill

[***beady***]

When Harry met Sally, great choice! : )

[Pubrick]

Annie Hall

i'm beginning to think lately that this is the greatest film ever. and will redeem woody for anything he ever does, like chinatown does polanski.

oh yes, i went there.