For the purposes of this ask, I’m defining “must-watch” as a movie that’s something other than great… it’s personal to me in some way.
- The Right Stuff: Because the Apollo astronauts are the only real heroes I’ve ever had.
- Chinatown: Do film majors still watch Polanski? If they do, then you know that both Faye Dunaway’s big scene and the ending are the kinds of things I wish I could write. And you will understand why I mumble “apple core” every time I pass the cans of tuna on a store shelf.
- Dazed & Confused: Nothing has ever captured the feeling of being a kid in the ‘70s better… not even movies made in the ‘70s. Also, I’ve eaten at the drive-in from the movie a couple times… the burgers are good, but mega-greasy.
- Henry V: Kenneth Branagh reignited my love of language at a moment when it was flagging, and it’s probably my favorite first-film by any director. Trivia: it’s one of a handful of movies I own on laserdisc. The others are Aliens, The Madness of King George, Dead Again (more Branagh!), and a virtually unknown, unstreamable, and generally unpurchusable Tim Curry comedy called Pass The Ammo, which is significant for containing the following line of dialogue, spoken by a television reporter about a disgraced televangelist: “Privately, sources have told this reporter, ‘The crack of dawn wasn’t safe around that man.’”
- The Adventures of Baron Munchausen: My favorite Gilliam, and it features one of the delightful, pre-Awakenings, manic-genius Robin Williams performances. I love it so much that I enjoy The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus more than I can justify, simply because it reminds me of Munchausen.
- South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: Okay, so Trey didn’t really know how to end it. Granted. But there is a short list of movie musicals that have embedded their songs in my brain —Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, Across the Universe, Hamilton, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Little Mermaid, Purple Rain— and SP:BLU is near the top. “Blame Canada! Blame Canada! With all their hockey hullabaloo and that bitch Anne Murray too! Blame Canada, shame on Canada… they’re not even a real country anyway.”
- Jaws: The only Spielberg I can claim to truly love. (Loving Schindler’s List is complicated.) Robert Shaw’s soliloquy was one of the first performances I saw as a kid that really captivated me.
- A Fish Called Wanda: Peak Kevin Kline, and I’ve always been a Cleese/Palin partisan.
- Miller’s Crossing: Is The Big Lebowski more entertaining? Yes. Is Fargo more thoughtful and surreal? Sure. But I find my mind wandering back to MC a lot. “I suppose you think you’ve raised hell.” “Sister, when I’ve raised hell, you’ll know it.”
- Babe: That’ll do, pig. One of the first DVDs I bought in ‘97, along with my first DVD player and…
- Desperado: Robert Rodriguez has never been particularly good at crafting coherent stories, but he’s great at building amazing scenes, and Desperado is full of them. The opening at the bar is still one of my most beloved action sequences ever.
- Heathers: I love it all, from “fuck me gently with a chainsaw” to the first iteration of Christian’s Jack Nicholson impression.
- Citizen Kane and Seven Samurai: You’re a film major, you know why.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: I liked the comics, but the movie is just… it’s perfect. I haven’t loved everything Edgar Wright has done, but I’ll give anything he does a shot because of Scott Pilgrim and Hot Fuzz.
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: It’s ridiculous and glorious all at once, with the tone set by Ricardo Montalban, who’s sporting the goofiest chest prosthesis outside a Joel Schumacher Batman. “I’ve done far worse than kill you. I’ve hurt you. And I wish to go on… hurting you.”
This could go on for quite a while, so I’ll stop there.