It’s coming up on 2 years since I started this website. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me thus far. I will be doing my Best Movies Of The Year next month, so be sure to stay tuned for that, I’ve had a few surprises this year. Since I’m coming up on 2 years with this website, I figured it would be a good time to do an Essential Viewing list. These are movies that I think everyone should see at least once in their life. Some of them are going to be horror movies, and I will label those ones with a warning, so for people who don’t like horror movies, they can skip if they so desire. I’m going to be splitting this topic into several posts, so bear with me, as there are a LOT of movies that I think everyone should see. Keep in mind, however, that not all these movies are great. Some of them are actually not really good, but are worth watching at least once. Some of them are going to be controversial to be sure, but again, this is MY list. With that being said, let’s a have a look at some of the movies that you should see in your lifetime.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Now, I’m not listing this one first because it was the first review I did for the site….well….that’s part of it, but I digress. I consider this one essential because it was something special. Stanley Kubrick crafted an incredible visual journey of man’s evolution from ape to what we are now. It’s not an action movie so forget any ideas about space battles and excitement. It’s not that kind of movie. It’s slow and deliberate, but there is a purpose for that. The film is almost a silent movie of sorts. It primarily uses visuals and music to tell the story. This movie came out before we landed on the moon, so while what we saw in the movie wasn’t particularly accurate, it was a prediction of sorts into the future we were/are destined for. It has a unique villain of sort in the HAL 9000 computer which endangers the crew of a ship on a secret mission. The thing that really threw audiences for a loop was the ending. It was weird, visually crazy, but it hinted a possible next step in our evolution. It was deliberately vague so the audiences had to use their own imagination to figure out what it was all about, and that’s what made 2001: A Space Odyssey such a trip. It made people think. Aside from the fantastic visuals and music, it was just a fantastic film to watch. It has to be seen to be believed.
Tombstone
There were many stories of the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, but no movie did the man justice the way Tombstone did. There’s a lot of reasons why I consider this essential. One: The cast. It’s rare to see such an ensemble cast like this. You had Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Steven Lang, Sam Elliott and Dana Delaney. But the real cast members to watch the movie for are Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. These guys really inhabited those roles. The film was thrilling, charming and had a realistic take on the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Tombstone is one of the best Westerns I’ve ever seen, and many people agree.
The Dark Knight
It’s not just because I’m a huge fan of Batman as a character, but The Dark Knight is one of the best comic book movies ever made. There are several reasons for this. One: The stakes are much higher in this one, because the film has a villain that is purely chaotic: The Joker. This guy might come off as a lunatic, and he is, but there is a method to his madness. Two: Heath Ledger’s performance. This was Ledger’s last fully completed film before he tragically died, and he won a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He stole the show, and put everything he had on the line for the film. But it wasn’t just the Joker that made the movie good, it’s that everything that Batman did in these movies had consequences. Everything good that he did would get turned on its head with the Joker, which speaks to the connection that the two characters have. It’s a great story that’s well-paced and it gets pretty brutal at times, but it is absolutely a phenomenal film that everyone should see, whether or not you’re a comic book movie fan.
The Birth of A Nation(1915)
This one’s going to stir up some controversy, no doubt. Before Nate Parker decided to make his own movie using the name, The Birth of a Nation, the original film was a Civil War epic. It was also a silent movie, because in 1915, there was no way of recording audio into a movie, aside from music. It was a technical marvel of a film that pioneered techniques that are still used today. The reason I consider this one to be essential, if not required, is that the film is very controversial. The story of The Birth of a Nation basically centered around the rise of the KKK, with the second half of the film portraying them as the good guys, even though reality and history painted a very different picture. It caused a massive protest from the NAACP who still consider the film to be racist. They’re not entirely wrong, though. The fact of the matter is, is that a movie that still has the power to piss people off over a century after its release speaks to the power of the film. You might hate it, and a lot of people did and still do, but you can’t deny that it’s a historically important film despite it’s inaccuracies.
The Ten Commandments
When it comes to Biblical epics, few can really match the glory of The Ten Commandments. This 3.5 hour epic is the best film adaptation of Exodus, the story of Moses leading his people out of Egypt. They don’t make movies like this anymore, and definitely not to this scale. While some of the blue-screen effects are obvious by today’s standards, back in 1956 this was state-of-the-art. The Ten Commandments is one of the most iconic films in history. Charlton Heston’s performance is something to see, as is Yul Brynner’s. Some of the wide shots are absolutely spectacular. When you see the thousands of people leaving Egypt, you are seeing thousands of extras. They don’t do things like that anymore. It’s all done with CGI these days, but back in the day, hiring extras was the only way to get the scale of the story across. It really did.
That’s going to conclude part 1 of my Essential Viewing topic, there are others that I will be talking about in the next day or so, so be sure to check back.