Can’t believe nobody has mentioned Wag the Dog (1997), The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009), or Sorry to Bother You (2018).
Idiocracy
That’s just movie to prepare you for the future.
Idiocracy is a funny movie that I enjoy. However I’m disturbed by the number of people who say it’s a documentary, or a warning. That’s because the central premise of the movie (that humans breed wrong and if nothing is done, we’ll devolve and society will collapse) also happens to be the central premise of Eugenics.
Agreed. As iconic as that eugenicist prologue might be, it harms humanity and doesn’t really serve the plot.
Not at all how I see it. It’s not eugenics its education, well the lack there of, that made the world in idiocracy.
The movie maybe. But that intro was basically divorced from the rest of the movie.
The intro suggested that stupid people having kids was the reason humanity started evolving backward. It invoked natural selection and “survival of the fittest.”
The intro even labeled the low birth rate couple and high birthrate couple with IQ scores to illustrate this point.
You argue that that the movie attributes the stupidity of its world to societal shifts. It does. It does a great job laying out a progression from late stage capitalism to idiocracy.
But that just further highlights how unnecessary that intro was. The intro attributed the stupidity to something entirely different.
Just watched the intro. I’m not really on board with the eugenics angle even after watching it. It’s more social darwinism than eugenics.
Eugenicists as ive always thought of it is an intended or active pursuit of creating “better” humans(or whatever species).
One factor I see being a difference between natural selection and unnatural selection. Unnatural selection being eugenics, and natural selection being what a result of an environment having an effect on the evolution of a species.
The intro Primarily sets a path of one group having more children than the other group and i will concede
itthe intelligent couple having problems having kids misrepresents the rest of the movie while still giving the audience a vehicle to how the future they wanted to craft could happen. And it also is meant to be entertainment not just exposition.Would be very interested in an in depth response from Mike Judge and the rest of the filmakers. Would be an interesting use of AI/Deepfake to redo the intro if it actually wasnt intended to invoke a eugenic view of the future
Honestly, I’m kind of put off watching the movie due to those weird eugenicsy undertones… Feels like one of those “i am very smart” Reddit people looking down on the “lesser masses” and saying they shouldn’t reproduce.
I don’t think the movie in any way calls for eugenics.
If anything it called out how toxic ignorance and stupidity can be in the presence of someone who just wants to do the right thing. It shows how corporate greed and capitalism encourages stupidity to further it’s goals of creating basic labor for the corporate machines owned by billionaires to exploit.
But hey, that’s just like, my opinion man.
Office Space
Baraka
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension - The quintessential 80s movie. Everything you need to know about the 80s is contained in this film.
Also Mr. Krabs is in it.
I always say everyone should see requiem for a dream, but no one should watch it. That film does more for stopping drug abuse than any government program ever did.
I find it inconceivable that no one has mentioned ‘The Princess Bride’ yet.
Dredd (2012)
That movie is damn near perfect.
In a way I’m glad we didn’t get a sequel, because the execs would have diluted it down to a PG rating in order to maximise the merch sales.
Grave of the Fireflies
Trying to come up with a few that aren’t on the list:
Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) - Just a beautifully touching film, with a unique style and a great cameo of Peter Falk as himself. Much better than the English Language remake (City of Angels)
Come and See (Idi i smotri) - Hard to watch, but an incredible portrayal of the horrors of war. Not a feel-good film at all. But an amazing feat of filmmaking.
My Dinner With Andre - It’s ironic that the movie that Roger Ebert referred to as “entirely devoid of clichés” has become a cliché. I’m not sure how well it’s aged for modern audiences, but I first saw it in the 80’s, have seen it at least a dozen times since, and it still really gets to me. I empathize heavily with both characters in the way that they search for meaning in life, and I could listen to Andre Gregory tell stories all day.
Stop Making Sense - A stellar concert documentary. The first time I saw it was a midnight screening where the audience got up and danced through the whole movie. David Byrne is hypnotic.
The Decline of Western Civilization - Amazing look at the Los Angeles punk rock scene of the early 80’s
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - A classic stage-to-screen adaptation. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton chew the scenery for a few hours while their guests Sandy Dennis and George Segal try to make sense of it all. Amazing acting, great cinematography that really leverages the closeup. A must-see.
The Lion in Winter - Sort of a medieval version of the above with Peter O’ Toole and Katherine Hepburn. Also see a young Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton put on stellar performances. Like Virginia Woolf above, this is acting with a capital A.
The Triplets of Belleville (Les Triplettes de Belleville) - A unique animation style and a unique story. A really fun watch.
One I’ve not seen mentioned yet: Wag the Dog (1997)
Such a prophetic movie
I think that stuff (those in power manipulating public opinion for their own ends by whatever means necessary) has always happened, but the access to and use of technology has definitely upped the game significantly, so yeah, I agree.
Edit to add: I watched it for the first time in my teens, and I think it had a deep impact on how I view politics and the media, and the relationship between them.
“12 Angry Men” (1957) is a personal favorite that I recommend to pretty much everyone. Great messages about questioning assumptions, challenging biases, understanding the limitations of evidence, acknowledging imperfections in the justice system, and the consequences thereof.
The movie is also cinematically interesting to me because it feels “small”. The entire movie just about takes place in one room, and the events of the film transpire over the course of one afternoon.
In the beginning of 12 Angry Men everything is shot from above eye-level with wide-angle lenses, giving everything the feel of more space, but as the film progresses it transitions to tighter shots with telephoto lenses from lower angles. The film gives the viewer more and more of a subconscious sense of tension and claustrophobia as the story progresses.
At least one stage adaptation of the story gave a similar effect over the course of the show by slowly tightening the lighting and having the walls of the set physically move inward, too slow for the audience to take notice but enough to subtly affect the entire atmosphere and really drive that feeling home.
That’s so neat; I’d never noticed that before. And the walls closing in on the stage adaptation is really clever
The Fifth Element.
These are not feel good movies at all but I think really send important messages. Not for kids, but at 16+ would be good. There’s very important takeaway messages in both.
Grave of the Fireflies
Requiem for a Dream
The Shawshank Redemption
