Movies that touched a nerve...
by lunaticprophet | created - 20 Aug 2011 | updated - 01 Apr 2015 | PublicFor whatever reason: story, writing, acting.. enlightenment.. etc. there are certain movies that have hit me harder than others. They created an emotion, a feeling, that has stuck with me for years, even decades. They live on in my mind as an emotional connection to a time or place in my life and it's not always clear to me why. LOL Some are great movies, some aren't but for whatever reason these movies made a strong impression on me.
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1. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
An ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated with another woman.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Bill Bernstein, Claire Bloom
Votes: 60,749 | Gross: $18.25M
One of my "top 5" movies of all-time. Beautifully written. A lifetime of Woody Allen's psychoanalysis on display here. The insights into life and the meaning of it all are thought-provoking.
I walked out of the theater feeling different then when I went in -- always the mark of a great movie, for me.
2. Bird (1988)
R | 161 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The troubled life and career of jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Forest Whitaker, Diane Venora, Michael Zelniker, Samuel E. Wright
Votes: 13,469 | Gross: $2.18M
Reprinted from my IMDB review:
There are certain movies that leave you dazed when you walk out of the theater. For me, "Bird" was such a movie.
On a nice evening in 1988 I decided to take in a movie on the spur of the moment. I walked to the nearest theater (Fine Arts, Downtown Chicago) and looked to see what was playing. I had never heard of Charlie Parker nor his music, but I was developing a love of jazz and the movie being directed by Clint Eastwood didn't hurt.
I went in, found a seat and had no way of knowing that, in a couple of hours, my life would be different.
The music penetrated my soul in ways I could never express. I was in awe and filled with emotion as the music carried me away while the visions of Charlie Parker's life flashed in front of my face. When the final credits scrolled up the screen, I could not move. I was frozen to my seat, dazed, overwhelmed, completely awed. I couldn't get the music out of my head, songs were playing back as if I'd listened to them a thousand times. My mind felt as if it were orbiting the sun.. spinning round and round, bathed in this warmth of beauty.
I didn't walk out of the the theater so much as stagger. I walked around for miles just playing over and over in my mind what I'd seen and heard and finally, hours after the movie ended, I found myself in front of an all night music store where I bought the soundtrack and raced home to listen to it.
No matter that I had to get up in the morning for work... no matter that the movie had ended before 10pm but I didn't find my way home until after 2am. No matter that I was dead tired from walking dazed miles in a haze of thought.
I played that CD until I fell asleep then took it to work and played it all day... I played it constantly for weeks and then I started to buy other Charlie Parker CDs and reading everything I could about him. Charlie Parker is my favorite musician of all time, to this day, nearly 20 years later (20+ years now --ed.)... and it began with this movie."
3. American Beauty (1999)
R | 122 min | Drama
A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley
Votes: 1,209,817 | Gross: $130.10M
Wow... what a movie! This movie is just incredible. From the first scene to the last, I was completely in love with this movie! Funny, ironic, witty, dark & twisted, beautifully written and acted -- it was a complete pleasure. I couldn't stop thinking about it for days afterward! This is, IMHO, one of the best films I've ever seen - a top five placement, easily. Alan Ball, who went on to create the incredible series "Six Feet Under", wrote the screenplay
4. Big (1988)
PG | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
After wishing to be made big, a teenage boy wakes the next morning to find himself mysteriously in the body of an adult.
Director: Penny Marshall | Stars: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard
Votes: 239,739 | Gross: $114.97M
I was in my early 20s when I saw this movie and I guess I was still close enough to my teen years to relate to the young kid who wants to grow up and be "Big". Watching his progression from childhood (playing with friends, fretting about girls, dealing with parents) to adulthood (finding a job, getting an apartment, fretting about girls, dealing with parents) was like a mirror on my own life at that time... and that resonated with me powerfully.
I thought about this movie for days after.
5. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
M | 129 min | Drama
The lives of a disparate group of contestants intertwine in an inhumanely grueling dance marathon.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Susannah York, Gig Young
Votes: 20,828 | Gross: $12.60M
I first saw this movie when I was in my early-teens... WOW! What a film! It was one of the best films that I had ever seen to that point. The movie is intense and brilliant with a story of an era (the great depression) and an event (marathon dance competitions) that I knew little of, but that completely fascinated me. This movie is in my Top 5 list of greatest movies ever. ”
6. Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
R | 120 min | Drama
A gay man and a political prisoner are together in a prison. The gay man narrates the stories of two fake movies and his own life.
Director: Hector Babenco | Stars: William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga, José Lewgoy
Votes: 17,330 | Gross: $17.04M
I saw this movie when I was in college. I knew nothing about the film when I went in. After the first few minutes I seriously thought about walking out.. the first time I'd ever considered doing that while watching a film.
I was, like many young men at that time, very homophobic. A sociological disease that infected me during my H.S. years when we/I were taught, via peers, that homosexuality was a deviant lifestyle/choice and that gay men preyed on young heterosexual boys.
I had to make myself stay and watch "Kiss of the Spiderwoman" and for that decision I was rewarded with enlightenment. By the end of the movie... for the first time, I realized that homosexuality was about love, not sex.
This movie cured me of my homophobia.
7. The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, Romance
Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Annie Corley, Victor Slezak
Votes: 88,798 | Gross: $71.52M
The best love story I've ever seen on film. Meryl Streep's scene in the truck at the end of the movie, as Eastwood stands outside in the rain, is one of the most powerful scenes I've ever witnessed. The torturous longing, the emotion.. it's palpable.
8. City of God (2002)
R | 130 min | Crime, Drama
In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.
Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund | Stars: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Matheus Nachtergaele, Phellipe Haagensen
Votes: 799,975 | Gross: $7.56M
I don't remember how this movie came to my attention but the fact that it showed images of life in Brazil was enough for me. But I wasn't prepared for this story based on actual events. WOW... it's an incredible well made movie! The directing, acting and screenplay are all superb and the story it tells is sad and amazing. The DVD also includes a documentary that itself is worth the cost of the DVD.
9. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
R | 142 min | Drama
Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
Votes: 2,884,967 | Gross: $28.34M
10. Do the Right Thing (1989)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson
Votes: 112,287 | Gross: $27.55M
This was a big movie event for my friends and me, all young movie buffs at that time. Most of us had seen "She's Gotta Have It" and really wanted to see what Spike Lee would do next. We weren't prepared for "Do the Right Thing"! The camera work, the direction, the acting, the story... beautifully done!
As I grew older and more knowledgeable about films, I could see the influences of a host of great director's films in "Do The Right Thing" and how he applied these to his film (as all directors do) but this is a special film, told from a, then, new perspective and should be considered one of best truly American films ever created.
11. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
An American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 79,734
The first time I saw this movie was in the late '90s, thirty plus years after its release and even then I was blown away by it! Just imagine the impact it must have had during its time in the early '60s --- the cold war; the Cuban missile crisis; the unrest in S.E. Asia (from Korea to Vietnam and the Philippines); JFK's Camelot and soon, his assassination. These were all present day (or soon to be) events at the time of its release...WOW!
12. Damage (1992)
R | 111 min | Drama, Romance
A Member of Parliament falls passionately in love with his son's girlfriend despite the obvious dangers.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Graves
Votes: 20,514 | Gross: $7.53M
13. The Breakfast Club (1985)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Five high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy
Votes: 436,055 | Gross: $45.88M
14. Rain Man (1988)
R | 133 min | Drama
After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Gerald R. Molen
Votes: 546,130 | Gross: $178.80M
15. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
PG-13 | 132 min | Drama, Sport
Frankie, an ill-tempered old coach, reluctantly agrees to train aspiring boxer Maggie. Impressed with her determination and talent, he helps her become the best and the two soon form a close bond.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel
Votes: 721,161 | Gross: $100.49M
16. Almost Famous (2000)
R | 122 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A high-school boy in the early 1970s is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.
Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand
Votes: 293,105 | Gross: $32.53M
17. The Big Chill (1983)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of seven former college friends gather for a weekend reunion at a South Carolina vacation home after the funeral of another of their college friends.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan | Stars: Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt
Votes: 41,333 | Gross: $56.20M
18. The Crying Game (1992)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A British soldier kidnapped by the IRA soon befriends one of his captors, who then becomes drawn into the soldier's world.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson
Votes: 60,019 | Gross: $62.55M
I saw this opening night, without having the slightest idea what it was about. Couldn't believe how packed the theatre was, literally not one seat open. I guess most there came out to see this movie, I was just looking for something to do, having already seen one film that evening and not ready to go home. When the famous scene happens... the singular gasp in the theatre sounded like all the air had been sucked out of the room, followed by a chorus of nervous laughter and outright bellows. I really loved this film.
19. Swept Away (1974)
R | 114 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A trip into the Mediterranean sea becomes a trip into the discovery of how society's frameworks of the rich and poor are delicate and temporary.
Director: Lina Wertmüller | Stars: Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Riccardo Salvino, Isa Danieli
Votes: 6,775
20. Before Sunrise (1995)
R | 101 min | Drama, Romance
A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Andrea Eckert, Hanno Pöschl
Votes: 338,853 | Gross: $5.54M
Movie took me completely by surprise! Just loved the idea of this and it caught me.
21. Dances with Wolves (1990)
PG-13 | 181 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Lieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.
Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant
Votes: 290,208 | Gross: $184.21M
Seems that many people think of this movie as a love story. I never saw it that way... the most amazing and memorable part of the story to me was how Native Americans lived... which wasn't focused on nearly long enough, but nevertheless, it was given more description than I've ever seen in a movie.
22. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
R | 99 min | Crime, Thriller
When a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn
Votes: 1,087,102 | Gross: $2.83M
A friend told me about this movie in '93. I'd never heard of it and it was available in video stores... so I grabbed it up.
As the movie unfolded, I was sitting there in awe! It was, all at once, oddly familiar and completely new. By the time Madsen strolls to his car (to the beat of Steeler's Wheel - "Stuck in the Middle with You") I knew I was watching one of the best and most memorable films of my life.
23. The Century of the Self (2002)
59 min | Documentary
A documentary about the rise of psychoanalysis as a powerful means of persuasion for both governments and corporations.
Stars: Adam Curtis, Robert Reich, Ann Bernays, Alfred Pritz
Votes: 6,355
There is absolutely no synopsis I could write that could do ANY justice to this brilliant documentary. The truths revealed have to be heard and understood, they need to be pondered and studied... and then accepted with incredulity and amazement at how little we know of ourselves and our culture and why we and it "act" the way we do.
24. Lost in Translation (2003)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama
A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.
Director: Sofia Coppola | Stars: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Votes: 487,980 | Gross: $44.59M
Sometimes a movie effects me for no obvious reason... this was such a movie. I just felt for the characters, this feeling of being lost/isolated which they felt in a foreign land but much more in their own lives.
25. Revolver (2005)
R | 111 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Gambler Jake Green enters into a game with potentially deadly consequences.
Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, André 3000, Vincent Pastore
Votes: 102,613 | Gross: $0.08M
26. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 409,997 | Gross: $11.29M
27. Dead Ringers (1988)
R | 116 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Twin gynecologists take full advantage of the fact that nobody can tell them apart, until their relationship begins to deteriorate over a woman.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske, Barbara Gordon
Votes: 53,496 | Gross: $9.13M
28. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
R | 139 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In late 1950s New York, a young underachiever named Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to retrieve Dickie Greenleaf, a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy. But when the errand fails, Ripley takes extreme measures.
Director: Anthony Minghella | Stars: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett
Votes: 240,821 | Gross: $81.30M
29. Midnight Express (1978)
R | 121 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Brad Davis, Irene Miracle, Bo Hopkins, Paolo Bonacelli
Votes: 88,149 | Gross: $35.00M
30. After Hours (I) (1985)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
An ordinary word processor has the worst night of his life after he agrees to visit a girl in Soho he met that evening at a coffee shop.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom, Tommy Chong
Votes: 81,130 | Gross: $10.60M
When I first watched this movie I laughed so hard I thought I was gonna hurt myself. Rates among my top 10 movie comedies... maybe top 5.
31. Hannibal (2001)
R | 131 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Living in exile, Dr. Hannibal Lecter tries to reconnect with now disgraced F.B.I. Agent Clarice Starling, and finds himself a target for revenge from a powerful victim.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta
Votes: 292,930 | Gross: $165.09M
I actually like this film better than "Silence of the Lambs". Anthony Hopkins is a psychopath with Panache!! LOL
A beautifully horrifying and menacing film and Hopkins portrayal is excellent!
32. Pulp Fiction (1994)
R | 154 min | Crime, Drama
The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis
Votes: 2,216,662 | Gross: $107.93M
There are movies that are filmed/written/directed in such a way that I feel as if I'm seeing something completely new in film making -- and how RARE is that?!
"Pulp Fiction" is one of those movies as was Tarrantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" is also in that category)
33. Amores Perros (2000)
R | 154 min | Drama, Thriller
An amateur dog fighter, a supermodel, and a derelict assassin, all separately struggling to find love, find their lives transformed by a devastating car wreck in Mexico City.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal, Goya Toledo, Álvaro Guerrero
Votes: 252,703 | Gross: $5.38M
34. Body Heat (1981)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan | Stars: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson
Votes: 40,096 | Gross: $24.06M
I probably rate this movie higher than it should be... that would be because of the good memories I have of the night I saw it, and the fact that it was the first time I'd ever seen Kathleen Turner (and what an INCREDIBLE babe she was in '81!). But it's probably also because it had one of the best and most memorable twists I'd seen (by the tender age of 16). 30 yrs later and I still remember this movie and that night fondly.
35. Ed Wood (1994)
R | 127 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Ambitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette
Votes: 183,875 | Gross: $5.89M
36. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
R | 113 min | Drama
A naive hustler travels from Texas to New York City to seek personal fortune, finding a new friend in the process.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver
Votes: 120,574 | Gross: $44.79M
37. Cooley High (1975)
PG | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In 1964 on Chicago's Near-North Side, the lives of four carefree high school seniors and best friends, including an aspiring playwright and an all-city basketball champion, takes a tragic turn.
Director: Michael Schultz | Stars: Glynn Turman, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Garrett Morris, Cynthia Davis
Votes: 5,539
38. Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
PG | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
A prepubescent chess prodigy is encouraged to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.
Director: Steven Zaillian | Stars: Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, Max Pomeranc, Joan Allen
Votes: 42,386 | Gross: $7.27M
39. Terms of Endearment (1983)
PG | 132 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito
Votes: 65,396 | Gross: $108.42M
40. Sybil (1976)
TV-14 | 66 min | Biography, Drama
A young woman whose childhood was so harrowing to her that she developed sixteen different personalities is treated by a doctor.
Stars: Joanne Woodward, Sally Field, Brad Davis, Martine Bartlett
Votes: 7,458
41. Toy Story 3 (2010)
G | 103 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The toys are mistakenly delivered to a day-care center instead of the attic right before Andy leaves for college, and it's up to Woody to convince the other toys that they weren't abandoned and to return home.
Director: Lee Unkrich | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty
Votes: 891,693 | Gross: $415.00M
Took my two little boys to see this... sitting in theatre, at the end, I couldn't believe that I was tearing-up! LOL A grown man, misty-eyed during "Toy Story 3"! LOL
I'm sitting there knowing that one day my two sons will be leaving childhood behind and I'll be saying goodbye to an era of my life that has meant more to me than I ever could have imagined.
42. The Stranger Within (1974 TV Movie)
Approved | 74 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
An expectant mother begins acting strangely and doesn't know why. Gradually she starts to realize that her bizarre behavior is being controlled by her unborn baby.
Director: Lee Philips | Stars: Barbara Eden, George Grizzard, Joyce Van Patten, David Doyle
Votes: 411
Laugh if you must.. but I was completely obsessed with this film when it first aired .... when I was all of 9!! LOL!!
43. The Doors (1991)
R | 140 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band The Doors and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison, from his days as a UCLA film student in Los Angeles, to his untimely death in Paris, France at age 27 in 1971.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kyle MacLachlan, Frank Whaley
Votes: 98,980 | Gross: $35.18M
I LOVE the band, "The Doors".. one of my all time favs.
I couldn't wait to this movie when it was released and while the script is not a great one, Val Kilmer's performance as "Jim Morrison" is just INCREDIBLE!
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