Required Watching

A random auto-didactic film school education through moderately accessible films. I have broken this down into my own arbitrary categories – if you aren’t a fan, make your own list. :)

Comedy / Pastiche

  • Annie Hall (1977). Director: Woody Allen.
  • The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension (1986). Director: W.D. Richter.
  • Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). Director: Frank Capra.
  • Bananas (1971). Director: Woody Allen.
  • The Big Lebowski (1998). Director: Joel Coen.
  • Big Trouble in Little China (1986). Director: John Carpenter.
  • Clerks (1994). Director: Kevin Smith.
  • Dr Strangelove (1964). Director: Stanley Kubrick.
  • Duck Soup (1933). Director: Leo McCarey.
  • Fargo (1996). Director: Joel Coen.
  • A Fish Called Wanda (1988). Director: Charles Crichton.
  • Little Miss Sunshine (2006). Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris.
  • Office Space (1999). Director: Mike Judge.
  • The Princess Bride (1987). Director: Rob Reiner.
  • Robocop (1987). Director: Paul Verhoeven.
  • Shaun of the Dead (2004). Director: Edgar Wright.
  • A Shot in the Dark (1964). Director: Blake Edwards.
  • Starship Troopers (1997). Director: Paul Verhoeven.
  • Trainspotting (1996). Director: Danny Boyle.

Drama / Horror

  • Amadeus (1994). Director: Milos Forman.
  • Amelie (2001). Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
  • Bamboozled (2000). Director: Spike Lee.
  • Being There (1979). Director: Hal Ashby.
  • Citizen Kane (1941). Director: Orson Welles.
  • Election (1999). Director: Alexander Payne.
  • The Graduate (1967). Director: Mike Nichols.
  • Magnolia (1999). Director: Paul Thomas Anderson.
  • Network (1976). Director: Sidney Lumet.
  • Punch Drunk Love (2002). Director: Paul Thomas Anderson.
  • Rear Window (1967). Director: Alfred Hitchcock.
  • Requiem for a Dream (2000). Director: Darren Aronofsky.
  • The Shining (1980). Director: Stanley Kubrick.
  • Sideways (2004). Director: Alexander Payne.
  • The Virgin Suicides (1999). Director: Sophia Coppola.

Layered Realities

  • Adaptation (2002). Director: Spike Jonze.
  • The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). Director: Terry Gilliam.
  • Birdman (2014). Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu.
  • Black Swan (2010). Director: Darren Aronofsky.
  • Blow-Up (1966). Director: Michelangelo Antonini.
  • Brazil (1985). Director: Terry Gilliam.
  • Dark City (1998). Director: Alex Proyas.
  • Deconstructing Harry (1997). Director: Woody Allen.
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). Director: Spike Jonze
  • Fight Club (1999). Director: David Fincher.
  • The Fountain (2006). Director: Darren Aronofsky.
  • Ghost in the Shell (1995). Director: Mamoru Oshii.
  • The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004). Director: Stephen Hopkins.
  • Mulholland Drive (2001). Director: David Lynch.
  • Rashomon (1950). Director: Akira Kurosawa.
  • Total Recall (1990). Director: Paul Verhoeven.
  • The Truman Show (1998). Director: Peter Weir.
  • Twelve Monkeys (1995). Director: Terry Gilliam.
  • Waking the Dead (2000). Director: Keith Gordon.
  • Waking Life (2001). Director: Richard Linklater.

Neo-Noir, Film Noir, and Crime

  • American Beauty (1999). Director: Sam Mendes.
  • Bunny Lake is Missing (1965). Director: Otto Preminger.
  • Focus (2001). Director: Neal Slavin.
  • Glengarry Glen Ross (1992). Director: James Foley.
  • A History of Violence (2005). Director: David Cronenberg.
  • Inventing the Abbotts (1997). Director: Pat O’Connor.
  • The Killing (1956). Director: Stanley Kubrick.
  • L.A. Confidential (1997). Director: Curtis Hanson.
  • Moon (2009). Director: Duncan Jones.
  • Mother Night (1996). Director: Keith Gordon.
  • Oldboy (2003). Director: Chan-wook Park.
  • The Prestige (2006). Director: Christopher Nolan.
  • Rashomon (1950). Director: Akira Kurosawa.
  • Road to Perdition (2002). Director: Sam Mendes.
  • A Scanner Darkly (2006). Director: Richard Linklater.
  • Smoke (1995). Director: Wayne Wang, Paul Aster.
  • Sneakers (1992). Director: Phil Alden Robinson.
  • The Untouchables (1987). Director: Brian De Palma.
  • The Usual Suspects (1995). Director: Bryan Singer.
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). Director: Robert Zemeckis.

Science Fiction

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Director: Stanley Kubrick.
  • Blade Runner (1982). Director: Ridley Scott.
  • Children of Men (2006). Director: Alfonso Cuarón.
  • Ex Machina (2015). Director: Alex Garland.
  • Gattaca (1997). Director: Andrew Niccol.
  • Metropolis (1927). Directory: Fritz Lang.
  • Moon (2009). Director: Duncan Jones.
  • Primer (2004). Director: Shane Carruth.
  • Sunshine (2007). Director: Danny Boyle.
  • The Fifth Element (1997). Director: Luc Besson.

War

  • The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Director: David Lean.
  • Downfall (2004). Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel.
  • Fail Safe (1964). Director: Sidney Lumet.
  • Gettysburg (1993). Director: Ronald F. Maxwell.
  • Paths of Glory (1957). Director: Stanley Kubrick.
  • Saving Private Ryan (1998). Director: Stephen Spielberg.

Westerns / Spaghetti Westerns

  • The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Director: Sergio Leone.