Essential Movies

If you are to watch only 12 movies ...

• In the Heat of the Night (1967) Norman Jewison
• Withnail and I (1987) Bruce Robinson
• Blade Runner (1982) Ridley Scott
• Apocalypse Now (1979) Francis Ford Coppola
• The Life of Brian (1979) Terry Jones
• Eraserhad (1977) David Lynch
• Alien (1979) Ridley Scott
• The Truman Show (1998) Peter Weir
• The Wizard of Oz (1939) Victor Fleming and King Vidor
• High Plains Drifter (1973) Clint Eastwood
• The Night of the Hunter (1955) Charles Laughton
• Forbidden Planet (1956) Fred M. Wilcox

Note that the above list is not ordered. All are essential viewing, as in culturally important, I wouldn't like to priorise. Other essential films do exist. If any more occur to me I'll add them to the list. All suggestions gratefully received.

There are many lists of great movies, but for reasons that remain unclear, they often include movies that you really can happily get by without ever seeing. I include here the IMDB rating as evidence that either there a lot of people out there who have questionable judgement or maybe my tastes are just very different to the norm.

• The Godfather (9.2) Is this some sort of collective delusion, everyone else thinks this is great so I should too?
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (8.4) Fun for the kids but the plot makes no sense at all
• Singin' in the Rain (8.3) Maybe if you really like musicals and dancing, otherwise it's just tedious
• Fight Club (8.8) Dumbasss men hitting each other
• Jaws (8.1) The shark is so clearly plastic, the acting so wooden.
• Star Wars (8.6) Not one of the entire series is worth watching.
• The Birds (7.6) Has not aged well, likewise Psycho and Vertigo, although not that all hitchcock films are pants.
• Brokeback Mountain (7.7) I challenge you to remain awake past half time.
• The Blair Witch Project (6.5) Utter rubbish.
• Raging Bull (8.1) What is it with men hitting each other?

I'm not saying that they're all bad movies, some are just about watchable but there are far better, truly great movies you could be watching...

• The Seven Samurai (1954) Akira Kurosawa
• Ciizen Kane (1941) Orson Welles
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick
• Mulholland Drive (2001) David Lynch
• Oldboy 2003) Park Chan-wook
• Pulp Fiction (1994) Quentin Tarantino
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962) David Lean
• Lost in Translation (2003) Sofia Coppola
• There Will be Blood (2007) Paul Thomas Anderson
• Spirited Away (2001) Hayao Miyazaki
• Zoolander (2001) Ben Stiller
• Some Like it Hot (1959) Billy Wilder
• The Third Man (1949) Carol Reed
• Fargo (1996) Joel and Ethan Coen

The most modern movie I recommend here is 2007, a sad reflection on the appalling state the movie business has sunk to. Not that all modern movies are to be avoided, it's just that since CGI became a thing a decreasing proportion of movies are actually worth watching. The industry seems to have run out of new ideas and just recyles old tropes. Oh look, it's a car chase, like we've never seen one of those before.