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Memento is a movie about a guy who tries to find the murderer of his wife but has a condition where he only remembers the last few minutes, so works with post-its, photos and tatoos to piece things together. Great movie!
Predestination is a time traveling cop trying to prevent a terrorist attack.
I'm leaving the best part out which is thought provoking, but you will find it and appreciate it when you watch both movies I think.
I really liked Memento. An added bonus is that it was Christopher Nolan's first screenplay and big budget movie.
I have Predestination on my 'Movies To Watch' list. And sadly that list seems unbearable to conquer — over 400 movies on my list.
Man from earth (2007)
A low-money dvd production movie about a man telling his friends he has survived since the origins of humanity. Very thought provoking.
Yeah, I love that movie!
Man what a throwback! I really liked this one too.
Thanks for the suggestion.
The only thing I knew about this movie going in was that it was a group of people just talking in a single room for the entirety of the movie. I figured it must be very good for it to be just dialogue. I enjoyed it very much.
They Live (1988).
It's just getting more relevant over time.
Great call
The Fountain (2006) is always my go to, it's both aesthetically beautiful and thought provoking.
I really wish they'd rerelease this in 4K, the visuals are spectacular.
read up on how they gutted the budget for the visuals for this movie so instead they did it using ancient methods instead of CGI.
I love all of Aronofsky's film (except Noah; wtf was that). The Fountain is probably his best.
except Noah; wtf was that
I'm going to hazard a response to what you found wtf:
Aronofsky's Noah is told with a Jewish perspective on the story. In Jewish tradition, Noah is a notable person, but he is not admirable. In Genesis it states that Noah was righteous in his generation. Rashi, a leading rabbi in the Middle Ages, said in regards to that statement: "Others, however, explain it to his discredit: in comparison with his own generation he was accounted righteous, but had he lived in the generation of Abraham he would have been accounted as of no importance." (https://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.6.9?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Rashi_on_Genesis.6.9.2&lang2=bi)
Jewish sages, too, have long criticized Noah for accepting God's dictate that he will destroy all life on earth without argument. That's in contrast to Abraham who, when God said he would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, argued with God and got him to agree not to destroy the cities if there existed ten righteous people in the cities.
So Aronofsky shows Noah as a religious extremist who does what God says without question. It's a sometimes ugly portrayal, but it fits with an interpretation of Noah that sees him as the best the world had on hand, but not the best that mankind can be.
The Fountain was a great movie to watch. Recommended.
Primer. Time travel paradoxes. Two guys accidentally build a time machine and their tests of it cause chaos in their lives.
8½ is a pretty surreal. Considered one of the most influential films of all time. One of the earliest examples of post-modernism in film.
Every scene in Ex Machina is basically a dialogue covering different arguments in the philosophy of AI. Plus a surreal dance scene.
I was blown away by mother! when I first saw it. But looking back on it, the allegory wasn't exactly subtle.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a meta-modern masterpiece.
Tropic Thunder, as a meta commentary on comedy, is actually really good. Aside from the great comedy itself.
you mean "mother!"?
Yes, thanks for the spelling correction.
Seems like a lot of responses think a movie needs a twist to be thought provoking. Not saying they’re wrong, but what about things that make you think about how screwed we are like “The Big Short” or “The Laundromat?” Movies like “Schindler’s List” make you think about human capacity for evil and compassion. “Blade Runner” brings up questions of what makes you a human.
Make no mistake, all the “twist” movies mentioned so far are great. Just trying to introduce another thread to the discussion.
Probably Arrival. If you knew how your life will play out from start to finish, would you change it knowing you will never experience everything the same from the point that you change it, thus not only avoiding bad/regrettable events, but also your most cherished ones.
'Rambo' Laugh, if you want, but that flick made me realize how awfully governments treat Veterans. Non-Military guy here. Saw it in the nineties, must have been 11 or 12 or something like that.
Then 'Philadelphia' was pretty intense and made me realize reality holds more truths, than the narrow minded household I grew up in.
'Milk' was pretty eye opening, too.
The Seventh Seal [Ingmar Bergman, 1957]
As the plague ravages Scandinavia, a Swedish crusader returning home is greeted at the shore of his homeland by Death. To buy enough time to make it back to see his wife he challenges Death to a game of chess.
A film about different human reactions to the inevitability of death. One of Bergman's masterworks.
The Man from Earth; low budget sci-fi mostly just people talking in a living room. I like how it plays with expectations about knowledge of history and explores different epistemologies of the supporting characters in their line of questions or how they engage with the core concept.
Soul. It's not ground breaking revelation of a question but it really made me think deeply about how I'm spending my limited time on this planet and what am I looking for in this world.
This movie was really upsetting for me. I enjoyed it a lot but it's hard to separate it from the reality of the princess and the frog problem.
Why can't Disney make a movie about black people without turning them non-human?
It became a meme by now but Sixth Sense when it came out and Identity.
*thought
Watched Black Klansman today, just made me think more about racism even though I think about it a lot anyways. Really great movie.
I heard good things about this movie. Have it on my movie list.
Really brilliant! I'm teary thinking that this kind of shit happens.
It's really worth it. It has a great story, that is based on true events, fantastic actors (John David Washington and Adam Driver) and a great director (Spike Lee).
A masterpiece.
I'm a big fan of Day of the Dead (1985)
On the surface, it's a bunker zombie movie. But like truly good zombie movies, it's not about the zombies. It's more about humanity's response to existential dread and how groups can fail to cooperate with each other.
The movie's been remade a few times, but imo the original is the most thought provoking.
"Soul" by Pixar. It's very good.
Thanks for this thread, got a bunch of great suggestions!
Dead man walking. What it means to be against death penalty not just because of the error rate.
Also for me Sean Penn's best performance even compared to mystic river or I am Sam
After the Dark.
Thought experiment film about who would you take into a bunker to continue the human race?
I would advise that you stop watching after the students return their text books.
I haven't heard about this, thanks.
Magnolia is such an honest depiction of human fallibility. Almost unrivaled in its verisimilitude to modern life (or modern as of it's release date). Incredible movie. Good shout.
"Sans Soleil" by Chris Marker.
It's a documentary that only uses "stock footage" and a woman reading letters. It's about time and memory and other philosophical stuff.
Not a movie but a limited series, Devs. You won't know what's going on for a while, but damn, I still think about it. Same guy who made Ex Machina and Annihilation. Great sound track.
The Great Happiness Space. Its ostensibly about a male host club in Japan but shows how everyone is looking for, and selling happiness to others. Gals pour money into hosts to get their fake love and some will then turn around and work at soaplands themselves. Depressing really.
donnie darko!
If you are into foreign films please look into german director Caroline Link.
She won an Oscar for foreign film with Nowhere in Africa , about the life of german-jewish writer Stefanie Zweig, who emigrated with her parents to Kenya under threat of Nazi Germany.
But my personal all time favorite movie is Beyond Silence about a hearing daughter of deaf parents who goes on and becomes a musician.
I'm german myself and generally consider german cinema an expensive form of torture with the great exception of Caroline Link.
why would it be surprising that a favorite movie could also be provoking?
