OldBoy

sometimes when you watch a movie, either for good or bad, they seem to linger in your mind and for me have this urgency to see it again before long. they don't always have to make you think deep and hard, but just stay with you and you need to feed the fix often with these particular movies.

certain scenes and images, certain lines that just permeate the brain. of course, on the flipside, they may linger because of how bad they were, you don't want to see it again, but they still evade, sometimes unwantingly.

also, that one haunting element that your mind just can't quite escape.

some recent ones for me that just linger and can't get out of my head because they were done so well and have some sort of impact whether subtle or not that just sticks:

Oldboy ...people know my love for this and i have to see it at least once a year.
Snow Angels ...so haunting and disturbing, so well made and acted. will be seeing again in the next day or two.
Batman Begins ...every six months i have the urge to see this. so much fun, so well portrayed. such a great re-invention of a beloved superhero, that i never really dug until this one.
The Visitor ...wow! was i shocked by how much i liked this one seen only a few months ago for the first time and have watched it another time since.
Serenity ...just surprised the hell out of me. never got into the series and just loved to death this movie. one of the most watched since its' DVD release.
Wrong Turn 2 ...such a schlocky gem, inventive kill scenes, especially the first.
Shaun of the Dead ...only movie ever, when i imported the UK DVD (prior to US release), watched twice in consecutive days (just the movie, and movie with fact track)

i know others will come to me...

Kurt D

Begotten

Cabin Boy

Zen Peckinpah

Recently, Observe and Report has lingered with me for several days now.

Sonic

The Godfather - Love how demented certain parts can be and how I would love to kill people like that.

The Godfather II - The scene where a young Victor Corleone is walking down the streets and there is a festival...the atmosphere and scenery makes me feel I traveled back through time.

The Chronicles of Riddick - Love how a prisoner takes control and becomes a king at the end.

NoirFan

The Innocents
Portrait of Jason
Werckmeister Harmonies
Don't Look Now
Blue Velvet
3 Women
The Match Factory Girl
Mouchette
Au husard Blathazar
Blow Up
The Collector
Peeping Tom
Cremator
Last Year at Marienbad
Images
Lucifer Rising
The Exorcist
Taxi Driver
Martin
The Dying Swan
Satantango
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Requiem for a Dream
Vampyr
Theorem
Titicut Follies
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Vanishing

tanman

Batman Begins and Dark Knight - just love these movies
Pixar Movies - I really love to pop these in whenever. Sometimes I halfway watch them while working on the computer.
Iron Giant - I love this film and can watch it over and over again.
Bicentennial Man - I don't know why I love this film so much. It's not all that good but it really resonated with me for some reason. I love those journey through life movies.
LotR: Fellowship - I watched this one over and over again. The whole trilogy is too long to watch that often.
Fantasia 2000 - I really love the incredible art of this film combined with incredible song choices. And not as snooze inducing as the original

Some movies stick with you for the wrong reasons.
The Sixth Sense - I've seen much scarier flicks but for some reason this movie really creeps me out. I think because it was probably the most realistic portrayal of ghosts that really makes it hit home.

ChristianB

The Fountain

Children of Men

Pan's Labyrinth

Maxflier

Au Hasard Balthazar
Lilya-4-Ever
Million Dollar Baby

DonnachaOne

So how is this not a "List your favourite films" thread? I'm not dismissing, simply looking for clarification and definition.

Mondo Kane

2001: A Space Odyssey was definetly the first.

Prior to first seeing the movie, all I knew (And kept hearing about from sci-fi books/magazines) was that it was a sci-fi movie that had a talking computer aboard it's spaceship.
So I finally decided to watch "The Hal show" one day and spent the next few weeks thinking about nothing but that "Loud Black thing".

Daytripper

"Donnie Darko"
"The Vanishing" (The Dutch version)
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"
"In America"
"Cape Fear"
"Schindler's List"
"The Pianist"
"Cold Mountain"
"Gone Baby Gone"
"Brokeback Mountain"
"American History X"
"The Rapture"
"Kalifornia"
"Looking for Mr. Goodbar"
"There Will Be Blood"
"The Ice Storm"
"Seven"
"The Green Mile"
"The Exorcist"
"Joy Ride"
"To Live and Die in L.A."
"A Simple Plan"

Fist of Doom

I guess some films just get in your blood stream even if you don't want them to. A couple of mine:

In the Mood for Love The visuals and atmosphere are so poetic, and that song, that damn song. It's mesmerizing - I have to watch it every once in a while just to scratch that itch.

INLAND EMPIRE I can't figure out whether I love this movie or think it's bullshit, but it sticks with me for a while each time I watch it. And I revisit the film every couple of months.

E. Honda

Fight Club
Being John Malkovich
Schindlers List
The Godfather part II
Pulp Fiction
Moulin Rouge!
The Big Hit
Leon
Simone
Grosse Point Blank

Michael Corvin

Memento - couldn't get this one out of my head for a couple weeks after seeing it in the theater. I talked my friends ears off about it the whole time. By the time I finally convinced my friends to go see it, it's theatrical run had ended. It played in an art house type theater here so it didn't last long.

poisonrulz

Synecdoche, New York

OldBoy

Die Hard is my favorite film ever, but it doesn't linger with me to the point i need to see it every so often. it is a great movie with great scenes and lines, but it is a favorite and always will be, but the movies i listed are not necessarily my all-time favorites but as 'Fist of Doom' said nicely get in your bloodstream and just have this need to see even for just a scene or two.

Maxflier

My favorite movie isn't even on my list.

RichC2

I think it's more of a lingering effect, gave your head something to chew on or really disturbed you. Beetlejuice is one of my all-time favorites, but it isn't exactly food for thought. Dark City is another movie I love but it never really made me pause and go back to it days later unless discussing it with somebody else.

Mulholland Drive, on the other hand, stuck with me. I was utterly and completely pissed off when the movie ended - felt cheated and was completely unsure what had happened. Then 45 minutes passed and everything made sense, and I kept thinking about that damn movie for several days after the fact. (Though it is also one of my favorite movies).

Oldboy stuck with me out of just how fucked up it was (and highly enjoyable at that), similarly Sin City and Kill Bill stuck with me in their own way.

dino88

Any film Lars von Trier has made. They've always left me with a lingering anger or sadness.

Requiem for a Dream

Natural Born Killers

Kids & Bully (similar affect of Trier's films)

The Beach (more so the "ideal" community that the people created than the movie as a whole)

Pulp Fiction (I came out not knowing what I had just seen...turned to dislike...then to love for film. All of this without seeing the film a second time, but just replaying it in my head and taking in what I had seen)

Goonies (this was more as a kid...I remember writing stories influence by Goonies. I wrote a sequel when I was 8 yrs old. I'd love to find that and see just how bad it was)

islandclaws

Recently: Martyrs, but only because it's so horrific.

Hokeyboy

Lately, it's been Synecdoche, New York. That movie left me with an incredibly deep feeling of loss and sadness that was yet at the same time exhilerating. I was thinking about the movie, the way it massaged reality and expectations, the way it left me trying to determine what was real, what was hyperbole, what was lies, and what was delusion, or a combination of all four, or none of the above, etc.

I couldn't get this movie out of my mind for days... no, weeks really. I'm still tackling it in my brain, and loving it more and more with each turn.

Other movies that made me feel similarly have been Mulholland Dr., Hable Con Ella, Abre Los Ojos, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (OLDBOY, which is a movie I love, didn't have the same effect), Cocteau's Orpheus and Testament of Orpheus, Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain, The Fountain, Pan's Labrynth, and In The Mouth Of Madness.

dino88

Thought of another one...

Waking Life. There is too much to take in in one viewing and much be watched again. The first time I saw it I rented it and watched it 3 times over the weekend.

MoviePage

Seconded on all of these. I'd also add:

Sophie's Choice (although I think it was Streep's performance more than the film itself)
Vera Drake
Mulholland Drive
Walkabout
Cries and Whispers

MoviePage

I think the key word for these is that overly-used critical favorite, "haunting."

hippie68

Requiem for a Dream
Saving Private Ryan