Top 7 Movies That Spoke To Me On A Personal Level

[The Movie Whore]

We all have those movies that speak to us on a personal level. I was recently reminded of this after having a particularly bad start to my day. How I bounced back was to sit and watch Clerks 2. Hit helped center me. I have the same feelings in regards to the first Clerks. At the time I could not explain why it would center me but I have been thinking about it the last couple days and I believe I figured it out.

When I saw Clerks I was working in a video store attached to a liquor store. In California it doubles as a Quick Stop. So the movie spoke to me on a personal level. This was the life I was leading. Then Clerks 2 came out and I found myself not having the same feeling until just the other day. I have been meandering around life but never really doing anything with my life. That was until I started my own site.

Other movies that have had a personal effect.

Eddie and the Cruisers: Words and Music. Dialog that changed the way I looked at music.

Grosse Point Blank: I think I identified with this character more than any character in cinema history. It very well could have been me.

High Fidelity: The base of this character is me. Very much the way I have seen past relationships and a journey I often thought of taking,

Dogma: Helped me deal with my own crisis of faith.

Dazed and Confused: I still swear I went to school with these guys. I even knew the creepy old guy that still dated the high school girls.

These are but a few of the prominent ones that I never get tired of watching and sometimes help me deal with a bad day. What movies speak to you?

[Sheridan Passell]

Is it weird that mine is Psycho?

[The Movie Whore]

Depends on your explanation. 

[Sheridan Passell]

I think it's the cynical/no bullshit message it has about human psychology. It taps into something fundamental about the male condition and does so using a protagonist who is perhaps the most compelling ever put on screen.

[The Movie Whore]

I have looked at the movie as the perfect metaphor for the 80's.  It's all wearing the right thing, having the right look, the right girlfriend and all the other status measuring tools used during this time frame and how trying to live up to that status could drive one quite mad in trying to "keep up with the Jones."

When you measure yourself by everything thing that is outward it destroys inward until all the angst and jealousy of not being the best breaks you down.  Then you have those surrounding you that can not possibly let you go down.  You are too ingrained into their status that your fall will effect how they are perceived and possibly reduce their status or guilt by association. 

Any way you want to look at it it is a masterpiece and one of my all time favorites.   

[Sheridan Passell]

I think you're referring to American Psycho? I meant the Hitchcock movie. Although funnily enough what I said does apply to American Psycho too.

[The Movie Whore]

I smoke way too much crack.  I have American Psycho on my mind.  On one of the blog sites I write for they had a great parody of the business card scene and when I saw Psycho some how I saw American in front of it.  WOW!.  Talk about the mind playing tricks on you.  Time to clean out the cobwebs again. 

[HatoriHanzo88]

I'd have to say The Consequences of Love by Paolo Sorrentino. This film speaks to me in so many ways: Its beauty, subtleties, characters, artistic camera work, Christ, even the plot speaks to me on so many different levels. I would go into detail but I would never want to give away information about this film as it really does need to be viewed with little prior knowledge.

Another one has to be Annie Hall; Allen’s bumbling neurotic character is so easy to relate to for all men, nerds and jocks alike - we all get like this in our heads from time to time. As with most Woody Allen films, Annie Hall provides a perfect example of the passion and social awareness behind Allen's Genius.

Jules Et Jim: Truffaut is a master of the novelle vague for me, and in Jules Et Jim I was so struck by the portrayal of relationships both paternal and romantic. The way the story unfolds and the characters relationships grow and collide is simply breathtaking. Never before had I seen relationships portrayed this way in a film, and I am still yet to experience it for a second time by any other film maker out there - simply amazing.

[Mahmoud El-Azzeh]

Although I have many films that qualify in this topic, the first one that comes into mind is Zach Braff's Garden State.

At the time it came out, I was in my penultimate year of university and for most of the people I know (including myself), university is just a means of continuing that whole "school" mentality in that everything is set for you and you don't have to think about thinking for yourself or what you want to do in the future. Essentially, we were in university because we didn't have a clue what to do with ourselves. The fear of going out into the big scary world where you are lost and pressures from all kinds of places (namely financially and from your family) will be all over you. Gone are the days when you could practically sleep-walk through the day and remain unaffected.

And that's when I saw Garden State. That whole perpetual state of not knowing what you want to do with your life was very nicely presented in this film and that it's conclusion (although to some cynics, simple) was a satisfying one to me: "If you're unhappy - shack up with schizo compulsive liar Natalie Portman" was the first one, and then I relegated myself to the second meaning which was "Although we are alone, we are together in being alone - and that shacking up with schizo compulsive liar Natalie Portman would help that"....

Hmm... anyone have Natalie's number?

[T.ROSS]

One movie that spoke to me was Donnie Darko, its hard to explain but it does alot!

Another film that had a major impact on my life is Ghost Dog, has anyone seen that movie?  JimJarmusch wrote and directed it and Forest Whitaker stars in it, I f you have not seen this film then do so!!!!!

[T.ROSS]

So here are 7 movies that spoke to me on a personal level, no particular order....

Donnie Darko



Ghost Dog



Natural Born Killers



Fight Club



Goodfellas



Princess Mononoke



Scarface





-T.ROSS PRODUCTIONS

[T.ROSS]

I asked my brother Hunter what was his 7 movies that spoke to him on a personal level, he said.....

The Virgin Sucides



Southland Tales



Theres Something About Mary



A Kiss Before Dying



Shogun Assassin



Akira



The Ladies Man




-T.ROSS PRODUCTIONS

[Sheridan Passell]

Vertigo is another one for me.

Secret Window (for the times I've been working as a screenwriter, I love the way Johnny Depp lives in that movie)

Clue (reminds me of my youth and just nails everything that personally appeals to me in a movie)

[T.ROSS]

I still havent seen clue, I hear good things though!

Is Vertigo a Hitchcock film?  I need to look more into his movies!

[Sheridan Passell]

Vertigo is a Hitchcock film starring Jimmy Stewart. It's about a detective, who suffers from Vertigo, who is asked to follow a woman who thinks she is a reincarnation and wants to kill herself the same way. Then something happens half way through and it switches direction. It's the ultimate point-of-view film, I love the way it is shot. It's very slow by today's standards, so I wouldn't recommend it for everyone.

First Scene:


Clue I would recommend. Completely different. It's creepy and very amusing, with a great atmosphere. Produced by John Carpenter's co-writer for Halloween, Debra Hill (who also produced The Fog, Escape From New York and The Dead Zone). All these people who mock the notion of new movies based on board games should check it out.

Here it is in 52 seconds:

[T.ROSS]

Thanks for posting those video clips, I am defintely going to check those films out!  I dint know that Clue had been produced by John Carpetner and Debra Hill, hmm intresting, I always try to learn something new every day.

-T.ROSS PRODUCTIONS

[Tyler Lovemark]

I don't know if it's good that Vertigo spoke to you.  Does it mean you're a creeper like Stewart turns into during the last chunk?  Psycho is really a much better choice, as it's filled with mentally sound characters.

For me, probably Dazed and Confused, Mad Max (because I like to see myself as a renegade), and any Sci-Fi channel movie (because they're always just a bunch of guys having an absolute blast with no strings attached).

[Sheridan Passell]

T.Ross - to clarify, John Carpenter didn't produce Clue, it was Debra Hill.
I used to organise Murder Parties on my birthday where everyone would have a Cluedo-like character, pre-planned events would unfold (strange phone calls, secret messages, bodies etc) and at the end everyone had to present a theory on who did it and why. All inspired by that movie.

Vertigo - he does turn into a morbid perv but it never felt that way for me because Jimmy Stewart manages to even give that grace. I used to watch it often. I don't any more. Back then I was at an all boy's school, and we used to see women as these mythical creatures who we observed from afar and never really spoke to or understood. Vertigo captures that.
Then I had a bunch of girlfriends and my perception changed significantly. Don't even get me started...
Still a very haunting, brilliantly made film.

[T.ROSS]

Woops my bad, Debra Hill was a good producer it sucks that she died!!