Ask HN: Any movies that changed your life?

May be cliche, but "2001: A Space Odyssey" was huge for me the first time I really watched it through. Kubrick, in his own way, created a timepiece that reflected and captured the revolutionary mood of the late 1960's without ever having to directly bring it up. It is truly a movie about humanity and one which completely describes all my hopes and fears for the future of our kind. Not only that, but the film is really beautifully well done. Every shot feels like it means something. Every line of dialogue either drives the plot forward or serves to add greater meaning and mood to the storytelling. It's just a monumental work that I think everyone should at least try to see at some point in their life.

Also, "Synecdoche, New York" is a very depressing and introspective movie that left me reeling for days. Hard to get through, but very worth.

Big Fish gave me the perspective that you can move around in small ponds and still be a great person; you don't have to start a company and change the world to accomplish this.

Not a movie, but Star Trek: The Next Generation had a profound impact on my life.

Captain Picard's level of human ethics is something most of us can only strive for. I think everyone (including Earth politicians) should take note of his supreme leadership skills, and the will become a better place.

Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek was really that Enterprise was a metaphor for "starship earth", so even if you're not into sci-fi, it's still highly worth watching. It's not really about space per se, it's about people.

I feel like "The Fountain" left an imprint on my soul. It's weird, but probably the most beautiful movie I've ever seen (especially its music and filmography).

Pursuit of Happyness is definitely one of my favorite.

Another one which I regularly watch is Shawshank Redemption. A choice quote from the movie:

Hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

The Matrix and Miyazaki's movies. Maybe didn't change my life, but had a lasting impact.

Jurassic Park, its not the movie in the literal sense, but the fact that it was my first move I ever saw with my family in a big theatre. So every frame of it "wow" experience for me at that time.

Also "Man from Earth", It was my first movie that made me realize sci-fi genre is lot more than fancy cgi.

Life is Beautiful, made me realise the sacrifices we make for the people we love.

Das Boot taught me that war is nasty for all inside and that there are humans on all sides, abused into submission and dillusion by the war mongers. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Watch the longest version you can find, I prefer the mini series.

Don Hertzfeldt's It's Such A Beautiful Day is wonderful, capable of teaching you new things about mortality and how you think about yourself and others, and is available on Netflix. It might also make you cry.

Gattaca (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177) left a lasting impression on me. It initially reads like dystopian scifi but at it's core it's really about persistence and overcoming obstacles.

I have too many to list. Here are some of the highlights that come to mind.

2001: A Space Odyssey -- had a profound effect on me as a child. It both reinforced my interest in science and opened my mind to the sheer size and scale and mystery of the universe. The original Cosmos series did likewise, and I think it's far better than the remake with Tyson. Sagan just communicates the sense of awe and wonder a lot better.

Wargames -- definitely made an impression on my pre-teen self and helped get me into "hacking" (sense #2), which led here through a long and winding road.

Stand By Me -- a profound film about the end of childhood. (The Stephen King novella 'The Body' is good too, probably almost his best work.)

Primer -- the best sci-fi of the past decade. When you don't have a big budget to plaster FX all over the screen, it's got to be in the writing. Big budgets do sometimes ruin cinema.

Enter the Void -- this is a weird recent one that stuck with me. This is definitely a binary reaction film. I loved it, others hate it. It communicated the profound sense of loss that comes when you're forced to leave a thing unfinished and move on, followed by the sense of hope that comes with a new beginning. It was also just the visual aesthetic of that film. It haunts me. The artistic ethos of this film felt as if someone lifted dreams directly from my soul and rendered them on screen. Night flights over neon cities is probably what I'll dream about as I die.

Baraka - both format and content was one of the first movies that really made me "think" & realize how many different experiences of being human can exist.

I know this is off topic, but one of the fist / only books that ever really changed my view on the world around me was "Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness" - I have never seen things quiet the same way after reading this.

A few:

Fight Club: I really didn't understand the concept of anomie before seeing this movie. Normlessness and lack of connection to society's way of things are fundamental issues which are largely ignored in common conversations or articles. This is the same movie that introduced me to post-modernism, nihilism, and existentialism.

Brazil: This film really taught me a lot about how to produce creativity as well as government. One of the main characters is an outlaw "combat" HVAC/plumber who has been forced out of his legitimacy by a sprawling Kafkaesque bureaucracy riddled with incompetence-- the absurdity of the character is illustrative of the bizarre extremes government policy can unintentionally create.

Waking Life: This film is a great representation of what it is like to be dreaming. The film is comprised of a series of barely-related conversations between different dream characters. Waking Life taught me not to be too analytical of art, and to restrain criticism of a new experience. Most importantly, Waking Life taught me that life is a trip, so you may as well choose to enjoy the ride.

Kobe Bryant's Muse - its sort of a documentary defining the life of a basketball genius. It shows you the thought process of an expert. It makes you 'think'. And, I don't know if it makes any sense, but this documentary would feel quite 'realistic' in comparison to the other documentaries you might have seen under the same genre or theme. What I mean is, it is highly detailed about the vulnerabilities, insecurities and personal life of an expert (Kobe Bryant). Its relatable. These are just ordinary people with uncompromising determination to not to give up. Its just a beautiful journey to greatness shown by the man himself, Kobe Bryant, he talks you through the documentary. I bet if you watch it you will feel like a Black Mamba by the end of it.

PS. oh btw he will tell how he created this alter ego called 'Black Mamba' to deal with the mess he was going through. Its crazy. (NO SPOILERS :p)

Two movies, Sneakers and Hackers led me to my career. They're still two of my favorite movies, each for different reasons.

The Batman Series by Chris Nolan. Haven't seen such awesome portrayal of human emotions/behaviour.

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Stalker - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079944/

Apollo 13 provided me a solid and inspirational mental model for some of the work I do.

The astronauts are trapped up there. They are pretty much doomed to die. The people on the ground cannot physically provide any kind of aid. Everything they can provide is in the form of information, research, better answers, different ways of handling things and also a bit of enotional encouragement, but, mostly, they can provide better intelligence. And that is enough. It saves the lives of the seemingly doomed astronauts.

That has been enormous food for thought for how to approach my web projects, why they matter, and that they can make a real difference in the world while providing nothing but information.

Howard Hawks The Big Sleep. It provides a window into how America perceived itself in 1946 and it is quite different from the post-war narrative that was established over the following decades.

Internet's Own Boy

Its important to watch movies that make you blind mad occasionally

More recently, Ex Machina. Seriously great movie. Beautifully shot, amazing sound, great effects.. You can watch it two, maybe three times in a row.

When I was a kid: Hackers (watched it around 30-40 times when I was a kid), War Games, Matrix, Sneakers pushed me into being developer, but the most impact on my current life had American Beauty as it made me thinking about working less. Another movie that I can think of is Social Network - It motivated me to on my side projects harder.

Not a movie but some books that I helped shape my view on life and learning:

http://www.amazon.com/Have-Space-Suit-Heinleins-Juveniles-eb...

http://www.amazon.com/Starman-Jones-Robert-A-Heinlein/dp/145...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_of_the_Galaxy

That's the set I remember most at least. "Have Spacesuit Will Travel" has some good stuff on getting where you want to be in life.

Thelma and Louise would come the closest for me. Specifically the scene where they are complaining about men and one says to the other "You get what you settle for."

I think about that when deciding things and it has improved my life.

The knights tale is my personal favorite. Not sure, how many in hacker community would like this movie, but this movie taught me very early the power of hope and dreams.

EDIT : I would love to add Lions king (animation )

'Explorers' when I was a kid. It really inspired me to take things apart and put them back together -- preferably in new and useful ways.

It also kick started a life long love of sci-fi.

I too like The Pursuit of Happyness a lot!! Other than that, well, I tried to narrow down to one, but couldnt.

Shawshank Redemption - For the never give up attitude

Schindler's List, Invictus and Matrix too!:D

In the public university of Buenos Aires, which I attended, there's not much incentive to actually finish your studies quickly other than getting your title. You can take as much as 4 years between finals without much of a problem. Being gainfully employed, I had been procrastinating my last finals for a while until I saw Wes Anderson's Rushmore. I grabbed my books the next day and promptly finished my studies.

The Animatrix. The best reason to watch the live action trilogy is to be sufficiently informed to watch this. It delves far deeper into the philosophy and psychedelia of technology than the live action films. And it's made and voiced by the same people.

Big Fish. How will you live if you know the exact moment you're going to die?

The Wicker Man. Weird. Christopher Lee apparently said it was his best work?

Waking Life.

The Big Lebowski.

A Serious Man

O Brother Where Art Thou.

Fight Club.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind. (E.T. communication will be weird). The Man from Earth (What it might be like to live through several ancient ages). Citizen Kane (Simple things in life matter--Rosebud). The Fountain (What it might be like to live through several ages with unrequited love). FernGully (Don't mess with nature, or small humans will mess you up).

I have a list I keep on IMDB. I call it "Movies to buy". Unfortunately, I have not owned a single one of those, yet but someday.

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls052591350/

It is missing some of the movies but I update it when I get time.

A vote for Pursuit of Happyness, in fact it moved me so much I used it in my company's about page: http://hyperlush.com/about-hyperlush/

As messed up as they are, I also liked Wolf of Wall Street and Catch Me if You Can.

Hackers, from 1995. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113243/

It is funny to think about it now, but I can remember clearly how this movie got me so excited at the time. I shifted all my focus to computers.

Citizen Kane - Its fascinating to me that someone who has no experience in the medium can create such a seminal work.

Jiro dreams of Sushi (Documentry) - This is perhaps one that left quite a lasting effect on me.

In the same vein, Stanley Kubrick and his drive for perfection has been a great influence as has been his filmography.

The Godfather: The importance of family values, politics and the thin line between power and downfall.

"The man who sleeps" – one of the best art-house movies I've seen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192718/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. It showed me that our surroundings can be almost completely different from one another's with only a minimal subset of common characteristics.

Trust (2010) because it addressed a common issue with a new angle (at least for me) that I find very interesting, and troubling even though I have no doubt it exists.

Synecdoche, New York made me think more about why we are here and how we should spend our time than anything else I've ever seen on a screen.

"Fed Up", a documentary currently on Netflix, changed the way I look at food, especially sugar. I now avoid it at all costs.

War Games

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I have no words that could do this movie justice. Should be required watching in high-schools. EVERY YEAR.

Ingmar Bergman's "Winter Light". When I was younger, Tim Burton's "Big Fish".

A Beautiful Mind.

And quite recently, That Sugar Film!

Network Dr Strangelove Star Wars

Mulholland Drive. Not changed as per-se my life, but certainly had a big impact.

Shawshank Redemption - got me through the most difficult time in my life.

War Games.

Aronofsky's Pi.

My Dinner with Andre