Ask HN: Inspirational movies | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Inspirational movies

105 pointsolalonde148 comments

When feeling demotivated or simply in need of a gentle kick in the ass, watching a good inspirational/feel-good movie can never hurt. Which movies did you find inspirational? Bonus point for business related movies.

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Sneakers (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/8710). The film's aged a little, but it's nice to watch a fairly funny hacking film that doesn't dress up hacking into 3D flying GUIs, Hack the Planet or hacking a TLA with a gun put to your head, while getting head.

Brewster's Millions always cheers me up around Christmas, as does Trading Places (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/9749), both of which are slightly business related (although not exactly real-world related).

Someone else posted the pursuit of happyness (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/7605), when I stick that on it comes across as a bit schmaltzy for me but has a good message.

A beautiful mind (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/1112) is another great film about an incredibly smart but tortured genius who makes a massive contribution to economics.

Catch me if you can (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/1798) is based on the true story of a fraudster who ripped off banks for tons of money and did all kinds of amazing things with it. It's a great romp and I'd highly recommend a first watch.

Life is beautiful (http://www.themovietracker.com/movies/5583) is hardly an uplifting film but is incredible and if it doesn't make you thankful for what you have, then I'd question whether or not you have a soul.

I think you mistook Sneakers for Swordfish. One is from 1992 and has Robert Redford and Dan Aykroyd.

I'm pretty sure he meant sneakers.

I'm pretty sure Swordfish was one of the films he was slamming. The movie is rife with "hacking the TLA with a gun to one's head". Not to mention, the visual programming bit was pretty ludicrous.

I think you mis-parsed my Sneakers comment. Sneakers is an awesome film. Swordfish, while ok to watch if there's nothing else on can't hold a candle to Sneakers.

It's strange. Most of the movies I use aren't here already. So here's my list.

Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096316/

Cinderella Man (2005) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352248/

The Secret of My Succe$s (1987) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093936/

Strangely I also find, Scarface (1983) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086250/ and The Bucket List (2007) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0825232/ strangely inspiring.

Pirates of Silicon Valley and The Social Network would also be on my list but they have already been mentioned.

I also keep the fraud trilogy handy.

Wall Street (1987) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/

Boiler Room (2000) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181984/

I don't think Scarface is a strange choice for the same reason I like the fraud trilogy. Stories of meteoric success followed by tragic failure are hella inspiring, because you get to see where they went wrong. So while your watching your brain is telling you: 'All we have to do is follow The 10 Crack Commandments and we'll make it!'

Apart from those already mentioned by others, some challenging classics:

  Zorba the Greek
  Ikiru (Living), by Akira Kurosawa
  Babette's Feast
  La Strada
  La double vie de Véronique
  Lawrence of Arabia
  It's a Wonderful Life
  Jakob the Liar
  Citizen Kane
  Deliverance
  Dogville

Worth noting that none of these are "feel-good" american movies. They're "kick you in the balls and get you busy living" movies. I much prefer those to simple feel-good movies. If you want feel-good, just go watch some reruns of Friends (I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing; I do it quite often; but those are not the best inspirational movies by a long shot).

Ikiru is one of the few movies I bought on DVD. Such a special movie, I don't know any other movie like it.

Iron Man. I can't say why Downey's portrayal of being in the zone is so compelling, but it makes me want to build something.

Apollo 13. When engineering had heroic scope.

Sometimes 300 is stirring and brings a sort of you're-not-alone feeling when I'm stuck at the office. Also the RiffTrax commentary is hilarious.

Totally agree with Ironman (the first). It just makes me want to build awesome stuff to save the world! :D

I would say the appeal of Iron Man in that sense is the montage effect. I love montage sequences in movies, and movies that use them right are totally energizing. There's nothing like seeing the trip from obscurity to success without coffee breaks, writers block, tooth-brushing etc.

The Social Network

A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? A BILLION dollars.

seconded. awesome. also:

"The water under the Golden Gate bridge is cold, Mark."

I couldn't agree more. It's the only movie I've ever seen that references "wget", and the entire time as I sat there watching the early Facebook geeks write code, I kept thinking about how I should be at home working on my startup instead of sitting at the movies.

what about references of "nmap" in Matrix

Am I the only one who found the film a bit disappointing given all the hype? While the first half was pretty cool and I really enjoyed the Facemash hacking scene, the second half felt like it was just endless squabbling over who owns what. Not exactly inspiring.

I've found that it's generally best to ignore hype for any film. If you go into a reasonably good film with low expectations, you'll like it. Walk into an incredible film with low expectations and you'll love it.

How can you set low expectations once you have read in the reviews that it is indeed good? You can't undo that, can you?

Yes you can. If you see reviews you should take them with a pinch of salt - there's a world of difference between Mark Kermode saying something's good and Nuts Magazine saying something's good.

You can avoid reviews, get a rough idea based on the actors and crew members' other work and a synopsis then decide if it warrants a visit to the cinema. You can go out and read the book the film might be based on.

For example, Black Swan is a film coming out by Darren Aronofsky that's coming out later this year. It stars Natalie Portman as a promising young ballet dancer that's slowly turning into a swan. It's an interesting premise, Aronofsky did Requiem for a Dream, the Fountain and more recently The Wrestler.

As well as Natalie Portman it has Vincent Cassel, both of whom I've loved in films before. This tells me that the film is probably worth seeing at the cinema - it may or may not be good but I can go in regardless of expectations. Unless I hear it's pretty awful then that's what I'm likely to do.

sound like an idea for a movie site.gives relatively negative reviews to sites , but still recommends you movies according to your taste , that you'll probably like.

> the second half felt like it was just endless squabbling over who owns what.

Sounds like a typical startup. The funny part is this often happens while the company is quickly spiraling down to zero value.

we don't now 'what it is' or 'what it will be' or 'whether is makes any business at all', we are sure of just one thing that 'it is cool to use', lets code,test and enhance it - Inspired by The Social Network

"I am an entrepreneur." - Sean Parker to the girl he just slept with

"You mean you're unemployed" - her answer.

You won't believe the number of times I've had this exact conversation with people! (Although most people are too nice to call me unemployed outright)

"oh my gosh, i just slept with Sean Parker!"

I'd prefer reading the book "The Accidental billionaire" instead of watching the movie "The social Network".

For me this was one case where the movie was far better than the book.

The movie was very good, and the book, was, like, written, really badly. (and I was a fan of Mezrich's Bringing Down the House)

I'd agree with two here, while adding one of my own.

The Social Network - have seen it twice, both times eager to get out of the cinema and rush home to continue working on my own projects. We all know it's possible to create something and have the world take notice, but to see the journey and the all too familiar scenarios was hugely inspiring. As much as the lead character may come across as an unemotional awkward individual - you can't help but want his sharpness and drive. Oh, and success.

Good Will Hunting - Maybe I happened to watch this at the right time, during a period where I had met someone special and certain obstacles had me holding back. This movie had me book a flight the second the credits began rolling. There's similarities with The Social Network too, a special yet flawed individual, whose mistakes pale in comparison to his potential. Every line in the film is a quotable.

Hangover - This will be the first and only mention I expect of this film, but in terms of leaving a cinema and feeling inspired, this is up there for me. Would happily have left on the road trip of a lifetime if my groups of friends were to join me. Sure I'd have broken down 2 miles into the journey, broke and a little homesick but I'd have given it a go.

I'll answer my own question: Catch Me If You Can (2002). It's basically the adventures of a very skilled social engineer.

But don't read the book if you want to stay motivated.

Office Space - gave me an idea what work in an average software company might be like and why I'd rather go my own way.

October Sky. This is one of the inspirational movie i can think of now.

One of my all time favorites. It's not computer nerd, it's rocket nerd -- but it feels similar to stories of Woz building his own computers from cheap chips.

I haven't seen the film, but the book is one of the most inspiring books I've read.

Pirates of Silicon Valley

The best movie on startups I've ever seen. I've watched it at least 20 times and appreciate it more each time. Woz has said that it's fairly accurate, which makes it that much more awesome.

This was my favorite startup/silicon valley-based movie until The Social Network came out. Great acting, very accurate storytelling (considering it's a made-for-tv movie from 1999), and pretty damn motivational.

Amelie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211915/

A Time for Drunken Horses is a less mainstream film that tells the story of entrepreneurship in the face of adversity.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259072/

I also found The Pursuit of Happiness pretty incredible

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454921/

Gattaca is always uplifting.

I have a soft spot for "Meet the Robinsons".

I went looking for the exact Walt Disney quote at the end of the movie, and discovered "http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Disney which includes quite a few quotes that can relate to entrepreneurship.

Star Trek: TOS. I find the innocence and unabashed optimism puts me in a good mood. I keep it on in the background while I work.

Breaking Away (1979) "They're gonna keep callin' us "cutters." To them, it's just a dirty word. To me, it's just somethin' else I never got a chance to be." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078902/

- I Heart Huckabees - You, Me And Everyone We Know - Juno - The Straight Story - My Neighbour Totoro

Are all straight forward feel good movies.

- Caché - The Lives Of Others - The White Ribbon - The Fountain - Amores Perros - City Of God - Fargo - Dune - Castle In The Sky - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Festen

Make you feel good simply by the presence of their across the board brilliance.

I never really liked Nausicaä, but I loved Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo.

Which Dune are you referring to? Film, Mini-Series, original or extended?

Dune the film. It's different to the book. It is flawed. It's also one of the most atmospheric and convincing SF worlds ever realised on film, on a par with Blade Runner. It's got plenty of cool bits and a wicked Brian Eno soundtrack.

What you have to remember about Nausicaä is that it's 26 years old. Miyazaki was hitting wonderfully balanced deep green themes and using ambiguous villains whilst Disney was churning out 'Mickey's Christmas Carol'. There's lot's of truly wonderful space and silence in Nausicaä's 'forest' scenes.

One of my favorite movies that I watch quite often and belongs in that category is "The Shawshank Redemption" from 1994. Persist in adverse environments, make lifetime friends, resist to cruel authorities, develop side projects ;), use your skills in a good and moral way.

"Small Time Crooks" 2000 by Woody Allen. A movie about naive accidental lovable millionaires. Funny and sometimes bitter.

Or you can just read few pages from "Founders at Work"

Rudy. This movie will inspire you to work harder every time.

- The Social Network. - Black Hawk Down. - Catch Me If You Can. - The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Ultimatum. - Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Eleven. - Remember the Titans. - The Blind Side.

Hoop Dreams. It's a documentary, but it is both inspirational and feel-good.

uh, its a great movie, but I don't remember it being very feel good. I mostly remember it being depressing. That scene toward the end where one of the kids is playing ball with his father is heartbreaking.

This is a novelette, not a movie: The Djinn's Wife, by Ian McDonald. Hard AIs, cybernetic brain interfacing, AI diplomats, AI negociators, AI cyber- and real war, a trans-human love story, it's incredible. Setting is "near future India".

You can read a preview at Asimov's site: http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0607/Djinn.shtml

Asimov's used to publish it in its entirety online, I guess that was for promotional purposes.

Don't overlook the obvious: The Matrix

Also: Primer, Amadeus, Ratatouille

Older movies: The General and other Buster Keaton movies, Trouble in Paradise and other Lubitsch movies.

To each his own, but can I ask what about Buster Keaton movies motivates you? Just wondering.

One one level, it's something kind of simple: Buster's character is under-qualified & frequently failing, but he's also determined, unrelenting, and ultimately gets the job done.

But he is special because he's a genius at failure: his disasters are beautiful, cinematic, and spectacular. Here's a simple but representative example from the Cameraman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgS55PvjXHM&feature=relat...

He's taken the title job, but he doesn't really know how to operate a camera, so he accidentally double and quadruple exposes the film. He's ridiculed, since he obviously failed to do what he was trying to do (gather news footage), but the images he does create seem on another level sublime, magical.

I'm reluctant to map it directly to startups/HN, but let me try anyway: People talk about failing frequently, learning from failure; they say that startupers need to allow specific projects/ideas/initiatives to fail. That's correct, but failures still can hurt and sometimes demotivate; it's tempting also to move on before we've learned from the failure so as to put the failure as far behind as possible. These movies remind me that there can be great stuff to see and learn during a failure; I think they make failures less taxing emotionally and sometimes joyful.

I was impressed with Die Hard (1988) when I first saw it; so well engineered, as a movie and story and visual spectacle. Now that's the way action movies should be made, I thought, and hoped there'd be more like it -- even while wary of formulaic recombinations, like 'Die Hard on a boat', etc.

Years later, I saw The General (1927), and it blew my mind. There, 60+ years earlier, was 'Die Hard on rails'. There were so many action-movie scenes and stunts and plot points that have been repeated over and over in the decades since.

But: when Keaton did it, he wasn't cribbing anyone else. These weren't old familiar cliches (yet). He was risking his health with dangerous stunts. He didn't have the help of later special effects. He didn't even have sound or spoken dialogue. But still it all worked: the humor, the story, the stunts, the tension.

It was like discovering the common ancestor of hundreds of later movie and TV tropes, the very first action flick that crawled out of the oceans of text and imagination to walk on the dry land of motion pictures.

To have created that, with the limited tools of the era, prefiguring so much of what came later -- well, we can only hope to do something similar with the still-young digital and network media of our age.

Law Abiding Citizen. It's a bit dark, but extremely powerful. The first time I saw it, I watched it twice more within a week to share it with a bunch of my friends.

1. The Killing Fields

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The-Killing-Fields/671140?...

2. Danny Deckchair

http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Danny-Deckchair/60033353?trk...

3. As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (German film)

http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/As-Far-as-My-Feet-Will-Carry...

4. Vitus (another German flick)

http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Vitus/70068654?trkid=496751#...

5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (French film)

http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/The-Diving-Bell-and-the-Butt...

6. Band of Brothers (HBO mini-series)

http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Band-of-Brothers-Disc-1/6002...

7. The Pianist

http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/The-Pianist/60025061?trkid=4...

8. I am David

http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/I-Am-David/60034547?trkid=49...

I'm not sure if I'd call The Pianist uplifting!

Or The Killing Fields!

'The World's Fastest Indian'

I have a project motorcycle right now, and I just watched this last week. Amazing movie. In the vernacular of HN, it's about an old Kiwi who's bootstrapped, ramen profitable and hacking his way to making the worlds fastest motorcycle.

Yah, this is a really inspirational movie. How a little guy with passion and determination can make a dent in the universe.

Good Will Hunting.

The Bourne Identity.

No offence, but I find "Good Will Hunting" as a perfect "bait movie".

Defending Your Life

From IMDB: In an afterlife resembling the present-day US, people must prove their worth by showing in court how they have demonstrated courage.

Albert Brooks dies and has to prove that he has conquered his fears in order to "move on" or get smarter.

He looks back on his life and sees how things could have been better if he'd just had more courage.

Totally agree. I watch the movie every few years and I'm always surprised at how much it motivates and moves me. Plus, it's amusing.

Ken Burns's Frank Lloyd Wright documentary is one of my favorites. The guy went through so many ups and downs in his career and created some of his most amazing works well and age when most would have retired. Leaves you feeling like it's never too late to accomplish something amazing if you stick to your convictions.

I found it quite the opposite. He valued his genius above anything else, honored no inconvenient personal obligations, and was chronically dishonest when promoting new projects, and without those qualities, his accomplishments would have been much more limited. I don't feel inspired by that at all -- I could perhaps convince myself I was a genius and do anything to further my creative output, but I can't morally do that, because the odds are overwhelming that I would not create beautiful and enduring works of art that eclipsed the personal damage to people around me the way Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture does.

Lemonade Movie (http://www.lemonademovie.com) - It's a short, beautifully shot documentary that tracks a handful of people who got fired in 2008 and took that as an opportunity to do amazing things with their next careers

Also, gotta love the classics - Rudy and Good Will Hunting

Can't believe nobody has mentioned Breaking Away

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078902/

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19...

Shawshank Redemption

Hudsucker Proxy

Upvoted for Hudsucker Proxy. Very underrated movie. Essential if you're interested in business and specifically product development.

SeTec Astronomy...

The Lord of the Rings Triology (when you have loads of time - there is something about it) Kick-Ass Jerry Maguire The Thief Lord Pursuit of Happyness

Not all are 'hacking' or 'enterprising' but something about them that does the trick.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Classic story of the underdog battling the perennial favorite told through the real-life struggle for the world's highest Donkey Kong score. Seriously, watch it now.

Fight Club

"It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything."

* Life is beautiful

* Last Train Home

* Brokeback mountain

* Slumdog Millionare

* Aftershocks (Tangshan dadizhen)

* Bus 174

* Moon

* The Wire (TV series)

* Zorba the greek

* City of God

For inspiration, I tend to prefer movies rooted in a real life story. A couple of movies already mentioned that fall into that category: The Pursuit of Happyness and October Sky. I also really like Shine, Cool Runnings, and Take the Lead.

Favorite scene from Shine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-QrSc_Jw3g

Lord of War

Seconded. one of my favourite and compelling films.

Thank you for all the amazing suggestions

I made a list with all the movies now that i run out of suggestions on what to watch. (I missed some, and the list will grow, but still useful)

Here you have it, thanks again https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1x2H4erOo2wAktNMXr2R...

Star Wars, the original movie

Superman, the original movie

Star Trek, the first movie with Shatner, Nimoy, etc. Also Wrath of Khan.

The Matrix

300 probably will become one

The Social Network was surprisingly motivational. Fairly realistic portrayal of programming and programmers and startup life, and I loved many of Sean Parker's motivational speeches, and some of the Zuckerberg character's speeches as well.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned "Hoosiers"

clap

"My team's on the floor!!!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-lt6jDaVnc

The Right Stuff

There are a lot of good movies here already, I missed these two however:

Big Fish http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319061/

City of Ember http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970411/

Contact, Fountainhead, Glen Garry Glen Ross, Waking Life, Zorba the Greek, Von Ryan's Express

Echo Glengarry Glen Ross (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/). The tagline, "A story for everyone who works for a living" pretty much sums it up. For me, no other movie has done such a good job of capturing the horror of the workaday grind. The acting is also amazing (Pacino, Jack Lemon, Alec Baldwin).

Also in the spirit of quit your day job movies, Joe vs. The Volcano (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099892/)is pretty great. Not as masterful a film as Glengarry, but much more upbeat.

Jerry Maguire

I'm always blown away by the 2,5 hour documentary on the first DVD-release of Star Wars (IV-VI). I think it is this one: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416716/plotsummary

I find 70s Japanese action movies very inspiring. Very hard to explain why, but just do.

You mean like Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman? Can you give some examples?

Watched 'Sex and Fury' last week. (Admittedly, that falls into 'Pinky Violence' genre.)

Network (1976) - The phrase "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" comes from this film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/

Karate Kid :)

Now serios:

The Godfather: makes you feel everything is possible

A Good Year: feel-good movie, but I think it really shows why we really struggle. I mean what's the point in having millions if you don't know what to do with them.

Pursuit of Happiness

If you like Bollywood, I would highly recommend 3 Idiots.

staying with Bollywood, I also recommend "Taare Zameen par" http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taare_Zameen_Par

"The Man From Earth"

The world looked slightly different after I watched that movie. There are many things that I blindly refused to believe without any means of disproving them.

I watch Hackers about once every two months and listen to the soundtrack every other week. Sometime for a change I watch Antitrust.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Funny, lot of philosophical analogies and above all have to honor Douglas Adam's imagination

Sunshine (2007) Danny Boyle, Alex Garland.

Antitrust http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218817/

Sunflower

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923714/

"2001: A Space Odyssey" - Stanley Kubrick

"Eat Drink Man Woman" - Ang Lee

"The Ice Storm" - Ang Lee

"Wonder Boys" - Curtis Hanson

"The Apartment" - Billy Wilder

Rocky IV

Even if you dont like Rocky you might want to watch this story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywuse55qU2A Much shorter than movie, but super motivational!

If you're a runner - Running Brave, Saint Ralph, Spirit of the Marathon.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Rushmore

It Might Get Loud - documentary about Jimmy Page, Jack White and the Edge

Great list--I'm surprised to not see "Groundhog Day" here yet.

A feel good movie about a "loser" girl and family "startup".

Cleaning sunshine

Man on Wire. This movie pumps me up like no other.

I'll second Man on Wire. Artist-hacker decides to tightrope walk between the towers of the World Trade Center without permission. Such a great story, and a true one.

Groundhog Day, Little Miss Sunshine, Pleasantville

Army of Darkness

Rounders, Count of Monte Cristo, Gladiator.

Try the Count of Monte Cristo book, the movie's an awful version of the book.

The Color of Money Rainman The great escape

My favorite is always Million Dollar Baby.

A Beautiful Mind

The Shawshank Redemption

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Pirates of Silicon Valley

Hackers

Have you watched it recently? I tried, I couldn't get past the first 30 minutes with my ex-girlfriend, it was just so embarrassingly bad.

I watch it about once a year, but I consider it a feelgood comedy that parodies its title.

I deeply and unabashedly love it. It's not what hacking is, it's what hacking feels like.

Also, Angelina Jolie in vinyl.

Koyaanisqatsi

invictus is a pretty good one too

Wall Street!

War Games

Primer

Antitrust

Rocket man

Office Space

Wanted

Spirited Away

Don't know Wanted, but Spirited Away is totally amazing.

All Hayao Miyazaki movies are pretty epic :)

Star Wars!

Wayne Dyer's The Shift

pursuit of happiness

Harold and Maude

Freedom Writers

October Sky

The Aviator

Wall·e

The "Poor Jack" song in Nightmare before Christmas is one of the best songs for this purpose ever written, in my opinion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXXOO3Wd_5Q. The basic message is: I'm klbarry, I can do whatever the fuck I want.

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