JUNKFILM

As I grow further into my relationship with my girlfriend, it becomes painfully obvious we did not watch the same movies growing up.  It’s not so much the fact that she hasn’t watched these movies, but it’s much more that I have seen these movies and they have molded me and my viewing habits to become who I am today.  I got to thinking one day of all the movies I thought she should watch, because they are either really really good films or simply movies that are relevant to our society (even if it’s simply for understanding the reference jokes in Family Guy).

Now, by no means is this list comprehensive.  I expect feedback from you to add your own films that you honestly believe that everyone should watch.  Now, what designates a movie that everyone should watch?  It’s made an impact on you, it was the talk of the world when it came out, many other movies have parodied it or made references to it, movies build off these movies to be “original.”  In short, these are the movies that shaped our lives.

This is not a “best 100″ films list.  These films were chosen because of how they struck people and stayed with them.  Some of these titles I would never put on my BEST OF list, but they do deserve recognition for their cultural contribution.  In turn, I will halt from putting down many films that I truly love because I know those films would not and have not been as culturally powerful as others.

Feel free to disagree with some of these if you’d like, but I feel this is a strong list.

Raiders of The Lost Arc

Star Wars (episodes IV - VI)

The Matrix

Never Ending Story

Labyrinth

Karate Kid

The Birds

Cool Hand Luke

Shawshank redemption

Schindler’s List

The Godfather (parts 1 & 2)

Pulp Fiction

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Goodfellas

Planet of the Apes (original)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Rocky

Young Frankenstein

The History of the World, Part 1

Princess Bride

Evil Dead II

The Exorcist

A Marx Brothers Film (I suggest Duck Soup)

12 Monkeys

Lion King

Akira

Snow White

Toy Story

Scarface

Trainspotting

Harvey

Ghandi

Snatch

Stand By Me

The Wild Bunch

Big Lebowski

Conan the Barbarian

Sixth Sense

Annie Hall

Donnie Darko

Die Hard

Mononoke-Hime (Princess Mononoke)

Fargo

The Big Sleep

Back to the Future

Blade Runner

Braveheart

Jaws

Full Metal Jacket

Blackhawk Down

Saving Private Ryan

Some Like it Hot

Sin City

The Great Escape

Metropolis

A Kurosawa film (I suggest Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, orRashomon)

2001

Silence of the Lambs

Spider-Man (1 and 2)

Raging Bull

Terminator 2

Resivour Dogs

Requiem For a Dream

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The Shining

The Pianist

Double Indemdity

Chinatown

Alien and Aliens

Forrest Gump

A Clockwork Orange

Roger & Me

Bowling For Columbine

Highlander

Taxi Driver

American Beauty

Amelie

American History X

Apocalypse Now

Leon: The Professional

Se7en

Lord of the Rings

It’s a Wonderful Life

Citizen Kane

Dr Strangelove

Psycho

Memento

Fight Club

Usual Suspects

Dumb and Dumber

Billy Madison /or Happy Gilmore

Tommy Boy

Office Space

Boogie Nights

Amadeus

As Good as it Gets

Clerks

Slingblade

Bad Santa

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

A Christmas Story

Run Lola Run

Life is Beautiful

Iron Giant

A Few Good Men

The Crow

Dead Poet’s Society

Clueless

Can’t Hardly Wait

Titanic

Gone With The Wind

Bonnie and Clyde

Blue Velvet

The Crying Game

E.T. (before Steven went back and fugged with it)

Mad Max

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

The Wizard of Oz

Arsenic and Old Lace

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Edward Scissorhands

Nightmare Before Christmas

Cube

Halloween

28 Days Later

Airplane!

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Rebel Without A Cause

Fear and Loathing in Las Veags

Rushmore

A very bad film done by the MST3K guys

City of Lost Children

Boondock Saints

Adaptation

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Now, what are you thoughts?