0rac

are there any movies that have changed your life? Has shaped it?
This is my list

Clerks (made me fall in love with indy movies)
Star Wars (saw it as a kid and its impact on my life is still as strong today)
Beautiful Girls (made me see that it was time to marry my wife. Enough playing around)
Res.Dogs/Pulp Fiction (got me to start writting. Movies (nothing professional) and other things. Really opened my mind to dialog)
Chasing Amy (I like Smith's movies but mostly I see myself as a Chasing Amy fan more than a Smith fan. This one touched me on many different levels)


Any changed/shaped yours?

joeydaninja

Jerry Maguire (made me want to live life to the fullest)
Quiz Show (made me realize the value of honesty, and standing up for what you believe in)
Conan the Barbarian (made me realize if I had a sword, I can kick anyone's butt )

PolloDiablo

Chasing Amy helped me reavaluate my attitude towards my girlfriend and really apreciate her for what she is and not dwell on things in the past. I had seen it many times but it made so much more sense when I watched it about a year ago after I had been with my gf for a while, it all seemed so relevant, I felt like the movie was lecturing me, It really made me realize what a great girl I have and that if I didn't loosen up a little I was gonna screw it up forever.

inVectiVe

Empire Strikes Back - My fave Star Wars flick since I was little, and I now consider it my favorite movie of all time. I'm not the type to list "Jedi" as my religion on census forms, but Star Wars showed me how convincingly a movie can establish a fantasy universe. Even today, I lean towards these kinds of (simplistic, I realize) good-vs.-evil stories: Spider-Man, The Matrix, etc.

soxrule

Bully: Saw it last night and wow it was such a powerful movie.

bcd

I can't think of the name right now, I will try to on my ride home but I went to a party in Columbus Ohio and met this great girl, and I was watching a movie a few days later and it inspired me to sac up and give her a call. Something that I normally wouldn't do...We are getting Married in June.

WiccanPagan

that's soooo awesome. congratulations

tasha99

Paradise Lost and its sequel--Made me rethink my position on the death penalty. Also, after looking into this case on my own, it made me realize that the director's voice/view does come through (so no documentary can be completely impartial).

Other movies I think were maybe not lifechanging, but affected me more than most:

A Question of Silence (Dutch movie about 3 ordinary women commit a voilent crime in frustration over the way society is so patriarchal.)

Dark City (comparing this to Matrix, I thought this had similar themes--What is real and are we the sum of our memories? etc. But I liked this less popular movie sooo much better that it drove the point home to me that maybe I shouldn't rent the big blockbuster type movies if there are off-beat or indie films available.)

theneobez

Gattaca - The whole upward fight of the individual who was labeled an invalid by society spoke to me. It got me into more intelligent movies, and it gave me new and prolific desire to write and read.

RichC2

Fight Club - the entire fact that a 9-to-5 worker thats miserable with his life has the ability to change everything in its entirity.... even if it was subconcious in his case.

Dunno why, but hey, had a good effect.

lesterlong

Casablanca, because it proved new movies will never be nearly as good as classics.

Skank

Fight Club. Seriously.

RyoHazuki

Do u mind if i ask how Fight Club changed ur guyses life?

DVD Smurf

Sea Hawk
Seventh Seal
Seven Samurai
Thin Red Line
Office Space


to mention a few...

zekeburger1979

Schindler's List - It showed me that even in the face of great evil, one person can make a difference in many lives. It was also the movie that made me change my views of movies from watching them just to pass the time to taking them seriously.

zero

Clerks - I first saw this when I was in high school. At the time it opened my eyes to independant films. Later in life it made me realize that sitting in one spot wishing for things to happen, and doing nothing about it doesnt get anything done. When I need a swift kick in the butt I watch it to remind myself that things wont get better unless I want them to.

Fight Club - My best friend (you know that padder that who posts here a lot?) who wanted me to see it, and I ignored him. We ended up seeing it as a midnight movie at a theater across the street from the video store we both worked at, and I cant quiet explain it, but I came out of the theater going "damn...everything is so clear." At the time I was going through a lot of pain, and my family was falling apart. After seeing this movie with my friend I came to terms with what was going on, and accepted it.

Shamu

Good Burger - made me realize that I shouldn't work in fast food.

dglaser6

I was 10 when i saw The World According to Garp, and realized that not all movies have to have happy endings.

I was 20 when i saw the grifters, and realized that i wanted to get into filmmaking.

dcgotenks

When I was in 7th grade I saw Rumble in the Bronx. Before I watched that movie i was in a good relationship with my family, however after that movie, every time i cross paths with my sister a get an uncontrollable urge to kick her in the stomach, and everytime i cross paths with my little brother i have an uncontrollable urge to kick him in the head.

Dabaomb

Boiler Room & Wall Street: Made me realize that the retail brokerage industry sucks and is totally not for me (I'm way too analytical for sales)

Glengary Glenn Ross: Made me further realize how much I hate sales

A Beautiful Mind: Made me realize that people with mental illnesses are still people that need more love than your average joe. Also, gave me more respect for ppl, esp. homeless ppl, who talk to themselves on the street.

Joseph, King of Dreams: Made me realize how powerful the book of Genesis is in the Bible; in fact, immediately after viewing the movie, I re-read all 10 or so chapters about Joseph in the Bible.

Beat Street & Breakin': Got me into b-boyin' (break-dancing). Even though most of those moves now are pretty cheesy, it still painted a good portrait of the b-boy scene back in the early 80s.

Giles

"Ikiru" - such a profound movie that had me really evaluate my own life and hope that maybe someday all the work and care I give to others will payoff in some way or another.

peon73

Pump up the volume - Saw it when i was younger and just graduated high school and moved to a new city on my own. could really identify with the loner in a new-town attitude.

Miller's crossing - the language and dialogue along with the concept of ethics, rules, and loyalty in an society of crime and backstabbing.

JFK - Showed that I can't trust anyone. Including what I'm watching.

Platoon - experienced death for the first time on film. Sure, i've seen bad guys die in movies before, but this one I mean really experienced the death of a character(s).

BuckeyeDawg

Jaws - my very first movie I saw in a theater by myself.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - The beginning of life as I know it.

Black Hawk Down - a film that hit home for me. Made me appreciate my military brethren with whom I served during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Scream 1-100, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Blair Witch Project, and about 80% of all other films that make it to the big screen. I know for a fact I can write better screenplays that most of the stuff showing up in theaters today. So, that's exactly what I've done. I've started writing a couple of screenplays. One is almost finished (rough draft) and another is being started. Just bought a new PC so I can focus on writing at home, and have extensively researched various forms of software to make my writing more efficient and productive. Picked up quite a few books about writing screenplays, and also started reading screenplays.

Pants

Showgirls gave me my first boner.

BuckeyeDawg

Zekeburger1979 - Go Bucks! ( I live in Columbus! )

nice choice of "Schindler's List". A film that is truly a work of art and shows how one man can make a difference.