Films to tear a hole in reality
One of the benefits of setting my tweets to auto-delete every so often is that I’m forced to document interesting threads which I begin. After a great response to my books thread (saved here for posterity) last night I asked:
Introducing our 13 year-old son to ‘The Matrix’ (1999) for the first time.
Next week, perhaps ‘The Truman Show’ (1998)?
Wondering what other films I can show him to tear a hole in his reality. Suggestions welcome!
Most of the responses were fantastic, although a few strayed into just ‘favourite films’ territory. So what follows is a lightly edited version of the list, with links to both IMDB and (where available) Common Sense Media recommended age ratings:
- 12 Monkeys (1995) — 17+
- 1984 (1984) — 16+
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) — 12+
- A Beautiful Mind (2001) — 14+
- A Clockwork Orange (1971) — 17+
- A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) — 13+
- Akira (1988) — 16+
- Annihilation (2018) — 16+
- Back To The Future (1985) — 10+
- Being John Malkovich (1999) — 16+
- Bicentennial Man (1999) — 11+
- The Big Lebowski (1998) — 17+
- Blade Runner (1982) — 16+
- The Blues Brothers (1980) — 16+
- Boiler Room (2000) — 18+
- Brazil (1985) — 17+
- The Breakfast Club (1985) — 15+
- Bruce Almighty (2003) — 14+
- The Butterfly Effect (2004) — 18+
- The City of Lost Children (1995) — 16+
- Cloud Atlas (2012) — 16+
- Contact (1997) — 10+
- Dark City (1998) — 16+
- Delicatessen (1991) — 16+
- Divergent (2014) — 14+
- Donnie Darko (2001) — 17+
- Dune (1984) — 13+
- The Elephant Man (1980) — 14+
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) — 16+
- Fantastic Planet (1973) — 13+
- Ferriss Bueller’s Day Off (1986) — 12+
- Field of Dreams (1989) — 12+
- The Fifth Element (1997) — 14+
- Fight Club () — 17+
- The Fisher King (1991) — 16+
- Gattaca (1997) — 14+
- Ghadi (2013) — (not rated)
- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) — 13+
- Good Will Hunting (1997) — 15+
- The Goonies (1985) — 10+
- Groundhog Day (1993) — 11+
- Heathers (1989) — 16+
- Highlander (1986) — 18+
- The Hunger Games (2012) — 14+
- Inception (2010) — 14+
- Interstellar (2014) — 12+
- The Invention of Lying (2009) — 15+
- Jacob’s Ladder (1990) — 16+
- Jaws (1975) — 13+
- Just Mercy (2019) — 13+
- Layer Cake (2003) — 17+
- Life of Pi (2012) — 12+
- Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) — 17+
- Logan’s Run (1976) — 13+
- Lone Star (1996) — (not rated)
- The Lost Boys (1987) — 16+
- The Matrix Reloaded (2003) — 15+
- The Matrix Revolutions (2003) — 15+
- The Maze Runner (2014) — 13+
- Memento (2000) — 17+
- Minority Report (2002) — 15+
- Moon (2009) — (not rated)
- Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) — 15+
- Pi (1998) — 16+
- Planet of the Apes (1968) — 12+
- The Princess Bride (1987) — 8+
- Raining Stones (1993) — (not rated)
- Rear Window (1954) — 12+
- Robocop (1987) — 17+
- The Sandlot (1993) — 8+
- Schindler’s List (1993) — 15+
- Seven Samurai (1954) — 13+
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994) — 15+
- Short Circuit (1986) — 10+
- The Sixth Sense (1999) — 14+
- Source Code (2011) — 13+
- Soylent Green (1973) — (not rated)
- Stalker (1979) — (not rated)
- Stranger Than Fiction (2006) — 13+
- Summer Wars (2009) — 12+
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) — 15+
- Time Bandits (1981) — 9+
- Total Recall (1990) — 17+
- True Romance (1993) — (not rated)
- The Usual Suspects (1995) — 17+
- Vanilla Sky (2001) — 17+
- V For Vendetta (2005) — 18+
- Waking Life (2001) — 17+
- Westworld (1973) — 13+
Although there’s no way I’d show it to children, the epic Magnolia (1999) remains one of my favourite films. Also, anything by Jean-Pierre Jeunet is usually refreshingly weird. You could also try out MUBI for obscure films that will change your view of reality.
Oh, and to get hold of all of the above, definitely don’t click here.
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