@darkliquid: o.O I've actually never heard of or watched any of them. :D I should get started.

Same - when someone comes out with a list of movies you've never heard of, usually it's worth a look :D

The only end of the world movies I've seen recently are 2012, which I didn't enjoy at all, it really was bad, and The Road, which had it's good points, but was nothing special.

@darkliquid should I be scared that I have either watched those movies--or know enough about them that in not watching them, it is merely procrastinating?

-=-

Also, I would love to add:
* Twist
* Boys Don't Cry

Twist is set in Canada and deals with several young boys handling life on the streets in a scary parallel to a few Mark Twain books. In fact, keeping with the Mark Twain type style--it takes a realistic view of the current time.

Uh--just be warned. There are implied sexual scenes.. and what some people would call "not so implied"... though I do not remember anything being shown on the camera as far as the parts go.

Boys Don't Cry is a story about an Female to Male Transsexual who is raped, murdered and killed. Fun for the whole family! Yeehaw! Wi needs dis dem here stuff on the teley vision. Right after cops!

My review is unable to be much more on that one (and well, same issue with Twist)--as I spent most of it, hiding in the pillows or behind the couch or otherwise adverting my eyes.

@Harlot; Boys Don't Cry sounds like a very cheery sort of movie ... right up there with Dracula in the feel-good factor xD

@Harlot Boys Don't Cry? The moive with Hilary Swank? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that moive based on a true story? I think I even watched a documentary on the actual events.

@Aria uh, yes--it is based on a true story.

Mind you, it did not click while I was watching it. I did not learn about how the events happened until after I saw the movie... about six months after. So yeah, the movie was disturbing enough, without knowing it was based on a true story.

Knowing that, I honestly do not think it would be possible to watch it a second time for me.

I mean--I have enough issues with Shawshank Redemption. As there are always a few scenes that have me needing to leave the room as I cannot deal with them.

It is rare that I have a movie that gets me that going. And usually it results in me refusing to watch it.

@Trish said:

Knowing [with Nicholas Cage] was amazing.D

I thought it was a bit too Jesus-y for my tastes.

"An actually existent fly is more important than a possibly existent angel"--Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I just don't understand entrusting your life on what could very well not exist. Forgive me for not knowing, and not wanting to know.

@Harlot Yeah, I know what you mean. I never even watched the movie. I watched a show talking about the whole crime and then I read about it, in more detail. I wouldn't even want to watch the movie if given the chance.

I know what you mean about needing to walk away or leave the room. I like action movies, but certain movies have scenes that make my stomach churn.

@Harlot I wouldn't say so, it's a good thing in my opinion to have a broad taste in cinema. :)

As far as hard-hitting films go, I enjoyed Hard Candy very much, very intense and a stunning performance by the main actress especially I thought.

@Murphy said:

I just don't understand entrusting your life on what could very well not exist. Forgive me for not knowing, and not wanting to know.

I'm not entrusting my life on it but I find it very..."amusing" you could say that people can relate the end of the world to religion in certian ways. :)

@Euphrates: I have Amadeus but I haven't watched it yet! I should get started on that too. :)

No! No, not Amadeus, please never again!!!!
I had to watch that film once in Music class.. it nearly killed me.

@Aria well, my issue has never been with any of the graphic scenes in movies that make me leave the room. Usually, it is when my emotions get so pounding at how wrong a situation the characters find themselves in.

The Shawshank Redemption has a few of these. One of the biggest one, being when the librarian gets put onto parole, and his issues adjusting to the outside. Even just thinking about that makes me want to put holes in walls.

In Boys Don't Cry, it was never any of the really graphic scenes that gave me issues--it was usually any of the emotional stuff and what not leading up to them that makes me need a moment alone.

I can handle gore, explosions and what not. Heck I found pretty much the entirity of Dawn of the Dead, trite, overplayed and all in all, boring as anything. I think I may have fallen asleep in the middle at one point.

So, while I personally cannot watch Boys Don't Cry--it is still a good movie.. as well, that is kind of the reason I am unable to watch it. It is a rare that a movie twists my emotions so much that I cannot approach it.

@Harlot That's rather interesting. I never had my feelings twisting and turning when I watched scenes such as the one you described in The Shawshank Redemption. Not at any times that I can recall, anyway.

I think I may pick up a copy of The Shawshank Redemption or catch it on T.V. when given the chance. Just so I can understand what you mean more clearly.

On a conscious level, movies don't really influence my writing. Subconsciously, though, is a different matter.

As for my favourites... The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the Rush Hour series, Blues Brothers, the K9 series, How to Train Your Dragon and many others.

@Aria ah--well, with Shawshank Redemption... I kind of first saw it, during the seven year expanse when I was homeless. During that time, I had talked with, and dealt with many people who either were on parole--or likely were heading to prison.

And well, some of the parole people had been in prison for ten to twenty years. Just thinking about how much they missed kind of makes my mind hurt. As well--the librarian had been in the prison for nearly sixty years, at that point. Before going in, cars were a rarity--not he found they were every where. He was completely unable to adjust to the new world.

Now, my mind starts to think: what if somebody was put out on parole today, after even just being in the system for fourty years? Maybe thirty years? Are they even capable of functioning in any real way?

The main issue was--I had been in enough wrong areas of the system, and have talked to people who have been to prison for significant amounts of time--including one who is on a life sentence (meaning: even though he is not currently in a prison of brick and iron, he is in a legal prison and cannot even take a dump without his parole officer's approval--pretty awesome guy. Made a dumb mistake when he was younger--and now is paying for the rest of his life).

My issue with Shawshank Redemption is one of empathy. While that prison is no longer the current situation--I am aware of what the equivalent situations are today.

What an interesting question! Yes, films I watch do definitely influence my writing. Like for ages after I watched Inception I had to stop myself from writing about dreams/reality!!


My all-time top favourite movies are (in no order!):

Avatar - although not on the small screen - it's nowhere near as good =(
Monty Python's Life of Brian
The Lord of the Rings trilogy =)
Titianic
Gladiator
Inception
Wallace and Gromit (yeah, it's not a movie, but it's still fantastic!!)
The Bourne movies
Ocean's Eleven (but not the sequels)
Robin Hood (the Kevin Costner version. I love it when they go from the cliffs at Dover to Hadrian's Wall in one cut!! I wish I could get there so fast!)
Shanghai Noon (Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan. Couldn't be funnier if it tried!!)
The Count of Monte Cristo - the latest version. I haven't seen any of the others =(
anything by Blackadder
How to Train Your Dragon (this is pure genius!)

I think that's it...

8-)

West x

You know--I cannot help to think about how my brother Andrew fell asleep during the climax of Gladiator when I hear people love that movie. It is a very good movie--well overdone in many regards.. but my appreciation may have been ruined by looking over to where Andrew was, when the credits rolling, telling him to wake up, and asking him when he fell asleep--it was during the climax.

But then--that is how my family rolls (to be fair--the climax in Gladiator was nothing in comparison to what went on in our house between me being sixteen and eighteen... )