The movies that inexplicable changed my life

by cheyenne-mitchell92 | created - 11 Jun 2013 | updated - 11 Jun 2013 | Public

These films have brought me new perspectives and tears. This list is not in a particular order.

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1. Brokeback Mountain (2005)

R | 134 min | Drama, Romance

87 Metascore

Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.

Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid

Votes: 382,009 | Gross: $83.04M

2. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi

77 Metascore

In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke

Votes: 880,888 | Gross: $6.21M

3. The Shining (1980)

R | 146 min | Drama, Horror

68 Metascore

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers

Votes: 1,105,629 | Gross: $44.02M

4. A Single Man (2009)

R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

77 Metascore

An English professor, one year after the sudden death of his boyfriend, is unable to cope with his typical days in 1960s Los Angeles.

Director: Tom Ford | Stars: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult

Votes: 117,720 | Gross: $9.17M

5. The Master (2012)

R | 138 min | Drama, History

86 Metascore

A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future - until he is tantalized by the Cause and its charismatic leader.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Jesse Plemons

Votes: 186,118 | Gross: $16.38M

6. Milk (I) (2008)

R | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History

83 Metascore

The story of American gay activist Harvey Milk, who fought for gay rights and was elected as California's first openly gay official.

Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna

Votes: 179,812 | Gross: $31.84M

7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

89 Metascore

When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.

Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Gerry Robert Byrne

Votes: 1,077,367 | Gross: $34.40M

8. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

R | 99 min | Comedy, Horror

76 Metascore

The uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.

Director: Edgar Wright | Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis

Votes: 593,616 | Gross: $13.54M

9. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

R | 116 min | Drama, War

78 Metascore

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin

Votes: 789,978 | Gross: $46.36M

10. I Am Sam (2001)

PG-13 | 132 min | Drama

28 Metascore

An intellectually disabled man fights for custody of his 7-year-old daughter and in the process teaches his cold-hearted lawyer the value of love and family.

Director: Jessie Nelson | Stars: Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning, Dianne Wiest

Votes: 155,256 | Gross: $40.31M

11. This Is England (2006)

Not Rated | 101 min | Crime, Drama

86 Metascore

A young boy becomes friends with a gang of skinheads. Friends soon become like family, and relationships will be pushed to the very limit.

Director: Shane Meadows | Stars: Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Jo Hartley, Andrew Shim

Votes: 128,697 | Gross: $0.33M

12. Billy Elliot (2000)

R | 110 min | Drama, Music

74 Metascore

A talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.

Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Jean Heywood, Jamie Draven

Votes: 142,555 | Gross: $22.00M

13. Serpico (1973)

R | 130 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

83 Metascore

An honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe, Biff McGuire

Votes: 134,683 | Gross: $29.80M

14. The Exorcist (1973)

R | 122 min | Horror

83 Metascore

When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.

Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb

Votes: 454,681 | Gross: $232.91M

15. Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror

96 Metascore

A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.

Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer

Votes: 234,968

16. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

R | 125 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

86 Metascore

Three amateur bank robbers plan to hold up a bank. A nice simple robbery: Walk in, take the money, and run. Unfortunately, the supposedly uncomplicated heist suddenly becomes a bizarre nightmare as everything that could go wrong does.

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Penelope Allen, Sully Boyar

Votes: 272,944 | Gross: $50.00M

17. Goodfellas (1990)

R | 145 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

92 Metascore

The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco

Votes: 1,256,492 | Gross: $46.84M

18. Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

PG | 101 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

71 Metascore

Yearning for escape and adventure, a young boy runs away from home and sails to an island filled with creatures that take him in as their king.

Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: Max Records, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, Pepita Emmerichs

Votes: 108,489 | Gross: $77.23M

19. It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)

PG-13 | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

63 Metascore

A clinically-depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.

Directors: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck | Stars: Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts, Dana DeVestern

Votes: 148,116 | Gross: $6.35M

20. Little Man (2005)

Not Rated | 112 min | Documentary

57 Metascore

'Little Man' is the story of how a micro-preemie brought a family to its knees. Throughout his struggle for life, so struggle filmmaker, Nicole Conn and political activist Gwen Baba to keep... See full summary »

Director: Nicole Conn | Stars: Nicholas James Baba-Conn, Lily Chow, Michele Hakakha, Nicole Conn

Votes: 220

21. Scarface (1983)

R | 170 min | Crime, Drama

65 Metascore

In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.

Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

Votes: 915,827 | Gross: $45.60M

22. The Godfather (1972)

R | 175 min | Crime, Drama

100 Metascore

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton

Votes: 2,010,866 | Gross: $134.97M

23. Revolutionary Road (2008)

R | 119 min | Drama, Romance

69 Metascore

A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children.

Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Christopher Fitzgerald, Jonathan Roumie

Votes: 224,905 | Gross: $22.91M

24. Moulin Rouge! (2001)

PG-13 | 127 min | Drama, Musical, Romance

66 Metascore

A poor Bohemian poet in 1890s Paris falls for a beautiful courtesan and nightclub star coveted by a jealous duke.

Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent

Votes: 299,247 | Gross: $57.39M

25. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

PG-13 | 103 min | Drama

67 Metascore

Charlie, a 15-year-old introvert, enters high school and is nervous about his new life. When he befriends his seniors, he learns to cope with his friend's suicide and his tumultuous past.

Director: Stephen Chbosky | Stars: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Paul Rudd

Votes: 547,711 | Gross: $17.74M

26. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

R | 112 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

68 Metascore

Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.

Director: Lynne Ramsay | Stars: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell

Votes: 167,654 | Gross: $1.74M

27. Another Happy Day (2011)

R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama

46 Metascore

A wedding at her parents' Annapolis estate hurls high-strung Lynn into the center of touchy family dynamics.

Director: Sam Levinson | Stars: Ellen Barkin, Ezra Miller, Ellen Burstyn, Demi Moore

Votes: 4,578

28. City Island (2009)

PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama

66 Metascore

Prison guard Vince tells Molly from acting class, that one inmate is his 24 y.o. love child. Vince takes him home to stay with his family - straight A son with fat girl fetish, college dropout/stripper daughter and cute wife.

Director: Raymond De Felitta | Stars: Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Steven Strait, Emily Mortimer

Votes: 32,549 | Gross: $6.67M

29. Romantics Anonymous (2010)

PG-13 | 80 min | Comedy, Romance

69 Metascore

Jean-René, owner of a chocolate factory, and Angélique, a talented chocolate maker, are too shy to admit their love for each other. Will they come together thanks to their common passion?

Director: Jean-Pierre Améris | Stars: Benoît Poelvoorde, Isabelle Carré, Lorella Cravotta, Lise Lamétrie

Votes: 12,035

30. Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

70 Metascore

A delusional young man strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.

Director: Craig Gillespie | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, R.D. Reid

Votes: 155,317 | Gross: $5.97M

31. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

R | 133 min | Drama

84 Metascore

In the Fall of 1963, a Korean War veteran and criminal pleads insanity and is admitted to a mental institution, where he rallies up the scared patients against the tyrannical nurse.

Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman, Peter Brocco

Votes: 1,071,762 | Gross: $112.00M

32. Girl, Interrupted (1999)

R | 127 min | Biography, Drama

51 Metascore

A directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.

Director: James Mangold | Stars: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea DuVall, Brittany Murphy

Votes: 211,143 | Gross: $28.87M



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