duga

The ones I agree with so far:

I just rewatched the Matrix trilogy with commentary from a couple of philosophers (one of them was the Jimi Hendrix looking guy on the council in Reloaded). I could pick out a lot of the philosophy the Wachowskis were inspired by before, but the commentary put it in a new light. I believe there really was a specific philosophy the Wachowskis were trying to communicate rather than a jumbled mess of "look at me, I read books". It makes the whole thing much more enjoyable, and the sequels could really have only played out the way they did. I think most people just wanted more action movies and the philosophy did get pretty heavy in the sequels.

Oldboy was seriously disturbing. I feel the other movies in his "revenge trilogy" should also be required viewing. The twists are not as big as with Oldboy, but they are just as shocking.

Dazed and Confused is one of those movies I can watch over and over and never get tired of. It takes place in the 70's, but I think it's timeless. It takes me back to a lot nights during my own high school experience.

I just rewatched 2001. It still holds up so well. One of the most visually breathtaking movies ever made, even today.

I would throw several other Wes Anderson films on the list as well. Especially The Life Aquatic, The Darjeeling Limited, and the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Throwing Anime on there? Nice. I would have to say Akira beat Ghost in the Shell by just a bit, but both are amazing.

Another director that deserves multiple entries. I would argue Eraserhead is one of David Lynch's weakest. Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Drive are all much more cohesive but are still very much Lynchian.

Another Kubrick classic that deserves to be on the list.

I won't add the Matrix sequels since I know, in general, people are not fans of those. These are in no particular order.

From above:

67. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
68. Lady Vengeance

Park Chan-wook's other 2 entries in the revenge trilogy. If you liked Oldboy, watch these - taken together, they all explore different aspects of revenge.

69. Spartacus
70. Lolita
71. Dr. Strangelove
72. A Clockwork Orange
73. Full Metal Jacket

Nearly every Kubrick film could be argued to be a classic. The above (and 2001, as already mentioned) are the inarguable classics. Movies everyone should watch at least once.

74. The Life Aquatic
75. The Darjeeling Limited
76. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Every Wes Anderson film explores some character or characters with deep emotional flaws, the movie being their journey to confronting and accepting those flaws. Every single one of his movies can be boiled down to that. However, he explores so many facets of this story - and the story is so timelessly relateable - that most of his movies end up being instant classics. The above 3 are my personal favorites.

77. Akira

In my opinion, the single best piece of anime ever created. The manga is so dense that to be able to condense the major themes into a 1.5 hour animated film is amazingly impressive. Both the anime and the manga are highly recommended.

78. Blue Velvet
79. Lost Highway
80. Mulholland Drive

Every David Lynch film is a drug trip. Can't wait for the new season of Twin Peaks.

So I have a ton I could throw on here. Hey, we are trying to get to 1001, right?

81. Escape from New York
82. Halloween
83. The Thing
84. They Live
85. Big Trouble in Little China
86. Assault On Precinct 13

The above are all John Carpenter movies, my favorite director. John Carpenter is a master of Panavision. Give him a tiny budget and he can create cinematic gold. All of his movies up until the 90's always had a stretched budget. Having to stretch the budget like this forced John Carpenter to get really creative, and the above 6 movies are a testament to that creativity. Give him a budget and he loses it.

And now a director John Carpenter very much took inspiration from. Alfred Hitchcock:

87. Psycho
88. North By Northwest
89. Vertigo
90. Rear Window

The man invented modern cinema. All the way from opening credits to how the story is told, his movies hold up because so many people still use his ideas. He was a genius at exploring the dark sides of the human psyche. He also did it in a time when people didn't really want to think about those things.

I'll stop there for now, but I'll be back with more. Trust me.

Edit: Renumbered from ChelseaDagger's post.

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