[QA] My Fave Movies that get me Thinking…
My Fave movies that get me thinking.. it’s only after I completed my list that I realized that I liked a lot of the movies for the same reasons.. questioning reality.. consciousness.. survival.. mindset.. ethics.. good vs evil.. right vs wrong.. morality, truth, humanity, etc. Never noticed it before now.. no wonder I walk around a DVD shop for hours and can’t find any movies that I want to watch.. I only seem to like a certain formula:
My Fave Thinking Movies (in no particular order):
- The Matrix (Keanu Reeves) ~ Makes me ask the question “What is Reality?”. This movie “awakened” me in some way. It opened up something in me that I didn’t know was there. I started to question my surroundings, my beliefs, and wondering how close the movie is to our own reality, our ‘programming’, and what more there may be. The Matrix might be the closest representation so far, to what I feel is the truth of our conscious selves.
- Avatar – James Cameron (Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver) ~ Makes me think about the environment, politics, karma/justice, racism, conscious-living, and getting back to nature.
- Inception (Leonardo DiCaprio) ~ makes me think about the power of the subconscious mind.
- Twelve Monkeys (Bruce Willis) ~ food for thought about what humans are doing to the world, and what is reality? Time travel, politics, mindset, beliefs.
- The Island (Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson) ~ It helps change perceptions about ‘what is our reality’, what we are ‘told’ is true, may not be reality, that the beliefs we have taken on as ‘known truths’ throughout life, from what ‘others’ have been told and passed onto us as fact, and that their reality is our truth, until something seems ‘off’ and that reality is questioned.
- The Hunger Games ~ not sure why I liked it, but I really liked it .. maybe it’s a symbol of fighting against evil, fighting for what is right, what is just, sacrificing for love, and maybe the optimism in me that is always wanting “good” to win, or just that survival instinct in us.
- Lord of the Rings ~ friendship, community, ethics, sacrifice, love, trust, honour, power, loss, family, war, nature, culture, fate.. just a little bit of everything wrapped up in a nice package lol.
- In Time (Justin Timberlake) ~ really makes you think about life in ‘seconds & minutes’ rather than years. I loved this film so much and can watch it over and over. Making each second count in our life.
- 2012 (John Cusack) ~ makes me think about where the world is heading if we keep destroying the planet. Even though the movie isn’t about what humans are doing to pollute the water, air, food, etc. It definitely makes for an entertaining, yet believable view of what will happen if we don’t “wake up” and start making changes globally to clean up the damage we have done to this world, or to seek solutions. It’s also a kind of representation of what is happening now, beliefs are being cracked-open, more people becoming aware and conscious.
- The Celestine Prophecy (Matthew Settle) ~ makes me think we can unlock the secrets to awaken our spiritual selves, that we are more powerful than we give ourselves credit for, that close-mindedness is not the path forward, that we can all reach higher levels of consciousness.
- The Truman Show (Jim Carrey) ~ this movie resonates with me. I think we all kinda feel like Truman sometimes, like swimming in a fishbowl, exposed, with the world or ourselves, watching us for entertainment.
- Love Actually (Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Liam Neeson & many more) ~ I watch this every Christmas, and absolutely love it, laugh-out-loud funny, cute, and an all around ‘feel-good’ movie about love, the many types of different love & the funny side of it’s many complications.
- Gattaca (Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman) ~ makes you think about the horrors of what could happen in the future where your life is determined by your genetics. Not that much different to reality as we know it. We already have the judgements that society places on certain groups & individuals based on their backgrounds or what colour they were born, their culture, religious backgrounds, the way people dress, who their parents are, what education you have had, or which side of town they live on, etc. Gattaca is also a story about motivation, persistence, and that you can get anything you want if you are willing to do whatever it takes.
- 1984 – George Orwell (John Hurt) ~ loved the book, it really makes you realize how brainwashed we are, our rights to privacy & free thought, corruption, freedom, humanity, and how we are manipulated into conforming. Didn’t realize until now that there is a movie about it, so I’m putting it here since it’s based on the book, but I doubt that a movie can portray it as well as the book did. It’s on my todo list to watch though. I already think that “Google” is the equivalent of “big brother”. We already tell Google all our secrets – more than we would tell our closest friends. But this book is absolutely spot-on to how we work as a society. We do not speak our truth 100% of the time – for fear of lots of things – fear of the government, fear of what people will think of us, fear of not thinking the same as others, fear of being wrong, fear of standing out, etc. This book demonstrates exactly why it’s “easier” to not speak your truth, to go with the what the majority expects of you, and to do whatever the “powers that be” want you to do.
- The Minority Report – Steven Spielberg (Tom Cruise) – Loved this movie for that the fact that there isn’t many movies out that are like this. Pre-cognition determining potential crimes before they happen so that there is no crime.
- The Fifth Element (Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich) – Watched this 100 times I reckon when I first got it on DVD, but haven’t watched it in years, definitely another to watch again. Futuristic living and holidaying on other planets, innocence, evil, life purpose, etc.
- Surrogates (Bruce Willis) – Is this the future? Or is this right now. This movie is about sending a robot-version of yourself out into the real world so your body stays at home and your mind controls the robot “pretty version” of yourself. This movie is great for many reasons, but it also makes you think.. people are already sending the ‘fake’ versions of themselves out to the real world. Makeup, hairstyles, clothes, plastic surgery, botox, etc. What is real anymore?
- Gamer – Similar in part to Surrogates, except people can ‘control’ other people (with nanites). They either offer the use of their bodies in exchange for money, or you can control criminals. A movie that makes you think about what could be possible in the future with nanite technology, or just to make you think about mind control in general. We’re already ‘controlled’ and have to conform to certain ways to get an income, this one just goes a step further by giving absolute control. Another movie about ethics – starting to the see the pattern in my movie-likes yet? :) I see it as parallel to what is already happening in mass society, via mass media. Everyone is boring now, they all sound the same, fucking drones everywhere, noone thinks anymore, they believe everything they see on tv and don’t seem to question anything they are told. And it’s like.. we’re all drugged/numbed.. so caught up in this plastic reality – a world with no substance… “go to school, get a job, buy a car, buy a house, get married, have kids, buy a bigger house, retire when you’re too old to enjoy anything”.. what kind of life is that, how is that the great “dream” – it’s a charade. I don’t know, but try and have a conversation about anything that is outside of what is expected of you in society.. and be greeted with the same answers from someone who watched a tv show about it once… there’s no ‘free thought’.., there is all this fear of being wrong, of being different.. who put that fear in there, why does it even exist? Nah I didn’t get all that from watching this movie, it’s not even a very good movie (lol) but I do think about mind-control a bit, and wondering what is really going on for millions to be so unconscious.. including myself most likely. And how it is being achieved, how so many of us can feel like we’re supposed to be anything other than free beings. Why do humans care so much about what ‘other people’ might think, why?
- What Dreams May Come (Robin Williams) – a beautiful movie that explores ‘heaven’, ‘hell’, and ‘soulmates’, without focusing too much on the religious side of things. It’s also a movie that explores the struggles of relationships, of children dying, suicide, guilt and blame and all human emotion. I really liked this film, but it’s not something I can watch over & over again, but it’s definitely a 1-2 watch movie. It makes you ponder a popular perspective of what might happen after we are no longer living on earth, and whether we’d see our loved ones again.
- Paycheck (Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman) – great movie, can watch this again and again and again without getting bored. It’s about building a machine that can see through time, giving someone (in this case, a company) the ability to predict the future. Although you don’t exactly know that’s what it’s about for most of the movie because the guy who built the machine, can’t remember that he built it (his memory was erased as part of the ‘contract’), but he left ‘clues’ for himself to try and figure it out. All the while the company is trying to ‘kill’ him. It didn’t get rave reviews, and I’m not saying it wasn’t a little bit cheesy in it’s delivery, but I really liked this kind of movie, and can still watch it today & tomorrow if you put it in front of me. Again it is a movie that explores ethics, doing the right thing, what are you willing to sacrifice for money, what are you willing to sacrifice to save the world, about deconstructing hidden clues, & about solving life’s puzzles, non-conformity – all my fave things, rolled into one movie hehe.
- Contagion (Matt Damon) – after the whole bird flu scare, this is just one of many movies that explores what happens when a deadly virus goes global. It is not something that I could watch again but I do like these kinds of movies, not only as a reminder to take care of our health & immune systems, but also to make us wonder if this is one of the main reasons why so many people are pro-vaccination and line up to take flu shots. Is this what they are afraid of? It also explores ethics lol. Maybe all movies do?
- Pay It Forward (Hayley Joel Osment, Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Jay Mohr, Jon Bon Jovi) ~ when I first watched it, I believed I could change the world :) It made me think about multi-level marketing companies and what ‘good’ they could do if they would approach it like this instead of pushing over-priced products to people that never even used those products before. Watching this movie made me want to do more good in the world. It made me want to believe that one person could spark a ripple-effect of good, meaningful life changes. And it inspired me to sign up for Kiva.org. I think Pay it Forward could work, and is already working in today’s society.
- Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) ~ makes me think about cloning, genetics, the future, what is “right”/ethical, etc.
- 28 Days Later (Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson) – makes me think about how stupid we are to ‘rely’ on antibiotics (not arguing that it hasn’t saved lives..just arguing about our reliance on it and the over-use of it and what that means). Also makes me think about survival, what the human race is doing to this planet, what we need to do to prepare, is it too late, self-sufficiency, what can we do to make sure this doesn’t happen, etc.
- Limitless ~ Loved this movie. Wish there was a pill I could take to allow me to use more of my brain, to access all the knowledge I’ve ever learnt, and to learn at super-fast speeds. Even something to give me clarity when I’m having brain-freeze would suffice! I think this movie would appeal to anyone that wants a 1-pill solution to all their problems (I can think of many people with health issues that would like a pill to continue living a contaminated, toxic lifestyle instead of making healthy changes), not that this film has anything to do with health (other than the fact that this pill eventually kills you.. )
- A Knight’s Tale (Heath Ledger) ~ reminds me of light-hearted medieval version of Gattaca in a way, where even if you are “poor” and society doesn’t accept you, that if you believe in yourself, you can go after your goals and achieve your dreams.
- Sixth Sense (Bruce Willis, Hayley Joel Osment) ~ makes me think about living your truth, and opening up our minds to other possible realities. When I was younger, I was convinced that I could see ghosts & that one night me and my sister saw a flying saucer, I also thought I could see the dead at funerals, but as I grew older, my skepticism & logic kicked-in and I lost it, and even started doubting and discarded what we had seen. This movie makes me wonder what reality is, and also made me think about really “listening” to people and trying to see things from their perspectives. Trying to ‘understand’ what they are really trying to say. But mostly I think it’s a movie about belief, self-empowerment, facing our fears, overcoming self-doubts, etc.
- Titanic ~ tragic loss of life due to the stupidity and arrogance of ego’s. This movie had me emotionally upset for a full 2 weeks. That this event actually happened and could’ve been prevented, just affected me – I grieved for the loss of life, for the generations that were affected, for the horror of how they died, for the greed of the business-class people who didn’t have room for the poorer classes. Horrifying. Unfortunately, I had noone to grieve with as everyone else went to the movie and saw some kind of love story between a couple of famous people lol, and they didn’t really understand why I was so upset :)
- The Bucket List (Jack Nicholsan, Morgan Freeman) ~ great inspiration to go after your dreams, to create a bucket list, and do all the things you have always wanted to do.. preferably not waiting until you are on your death bed, but if you are.. go after them anyway.
- Sliding Doors (Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah) ~ makes me think about our everyday choices.. which path to take.. how every step we take, every decision we make, and how we choose to spend or not spend every moment of our time, can change our destiny and our future. Love the ideas and thoughts that come out of watching this movie and wish there were a lot more movies like this (and don’t understand why there isn’t).
- Life is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni) ~ wonderful movie that makes me think about so many different aspects. Even though they are all in a Nazi death camp, the father makes a “game” to protect his son and help his child survive. It’s about love, courage, selflessness, optimism, & hope. It also sparks thoughts about how innocent & trusting our children are and how blindly they believe what their parents tell them (and in this case, it’s a good thing because it saves the child’s life). It also makes you think about the Holocaust and all the horrors and injustice and how many lives were needlessly killed. It brings up confusion and makes you wonder about humanity. How could the world allow this to happen? But we allow it right now, look at the wars that are going on right now. Needless deaths and generations of futures are changing right now because of greed, hatred & egotistical entitlement. And there is so much injustice in all of our countries. I don’t understand even how we treat our refugees, it’s a disgrace of humanity. Life is Beautiful is a movie about hope and despair. And that we need to lift our consciousness to create harmony in this world, as individuals, to affect the state of now and the future, to create a world where this wouldn’t happen because we realize that we are all the same, and that what we do to others, is what we do to ourselves, what we think about others, is what we think about ourselves.
- Demolition Man (Wesley Snipes, Sylvester Stallone, Sandra Bullock) ~ futuristic film that allows you to experience a world where cars drive themselves, sex is done virtually, cryogenic freezing of criminals, downloading knowledge into your mind, questioning beliefs, chip encoding in everyone, and if you want to eat red meat, you better like the taste of ‘rats’. It’s been over a decade since I’ve seen this film, must get it out again or get a copy. It has everything :)
TV Series & Mini-Series
- The Stand (Stephen King, Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Laura San Giacomo) ~ makes you think about surviving, humanity, good and evil, fragility, politics, friendship, religion, attraction, ego, fate, death, disease, mindset. One of my fave’s and I would love to see it again – but with a remake of the “bad guy” so that he doesn’t look so … “fake/under budget/cheesy” but I would keep the rest of the film exactly the same. Everytime I listen to Crowded House ‘Don’t dream until it’s over’.. I can put myself back into the start of this movie, when all seemed lost and the journey was about to begin.
- Stargate SG-1 ~ the entire series, love it, could watch it over and over, and wished they had never moved across to Stargate Atlantis, I wish there was more SG-1 to watch, although I’d probably still be a tv drone if they were still making these.
- Charmed ~ being powerful, saving innocents, that the world may not be as it seems.
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