Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
Movies (and also TV-Series) are our most accessible source of information about life besides books.
So it's interesting to understand which movies have shaped our view of life
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I was quite young when I saw the Butterfly effect, but it was pretty deep for me at the time, lol. It made me realize how consequential every little decision is.
Final score:
30points
denzoren 4 years ago
That was a good movie and so telling. I enjoyed it when I saw it finally a few years ago.
Marci Rommal 4 years ago
I read the short story first, years ago (I am a senior). It had the desired effect of altering my way of thinking.
RELATED:
#2
After Life (amazing Japanese movie from 1998) - the premise is that after you die, you have to choose one memory to live in forever. For about a week, the recently dead get to sift through memories until they find the most meaningful one. It's the most provocative movie I've ever seen about what is truly significant. Which of yours would you select?
Final score:
25points
Sam Yobado 4 years ago
I loved this film. They sort of got keep the memory, but not exactly, in a really interesting way.
Kathy L 4 years ago
I'll have to take a look at this one! I chose "Defending Your Life" which has a similar theme about revisiting life events. Another amazing Japanese movie is "Departures" (2008). Its soundtrack is beautiful and haunting.
Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
Defending Your Life is probably my favorite Albert Brooks film!
Load More Replies...
#3
Pay it forward was pretty good, too. It made me realize how much better the world would be if we all did a little extra.
Final score:
23points
#4
The Trueman Show. You know that this is not your life. But then again. Do you really *know*?
Final score:
21points
Blarrg 4 years ago
It seems like this is for anyone who wonders, "What if I really am the center of the universe?" "What if I'm so special (as I've always suspected,) that literally everyone is always watching me." Sorry buddy, you're just living a life along with everyone else, one of no more or less significance than anyone else's.
Gerard Neaux 4 years ago (edited)
Actually I know. Nobody's interested in watching me. Nobody.
#5
Fight club You are not a special or unique snowflake
Final score:
20points
Sam Yobado 4 years ago
1999 is considered by some the best year for movies, this is a great 1999 movie.
#6
"The pursuit of happiness", It shows me how life can be difficult. This movie always give me strength in my difficult time.
Final score:
16points
denzoren 4 years ago
This was a truly heartbreaking movie. It was so real and raw. I liked it a lot.
Adam C 4 years ago
Saw a bit of a interview of Chris Gardner. He said it was so much harder to keep his son sleeping since it was just 1year old. I always cry when they offered him the job.
Load More Replies... 
Paola Martz 4 years ago
I gotta admit that that movie changed completely my opinion about Will Smith as an actor. What an amazing and touching performance! Moreover performing alongside his own son
#7
Mitchell's Vs the machines. improved my relationship with my little sister.
Final score:
16points
#8
Fight Club I completely related to Edward Norton's character. Insomnia - everything is a copy, of a copy, of a copy. You can't tell if you are awake and living life or asleep and dreaming. I didn't realize what I was doing to myself and made some changes to live a healthier life.
Final score:
16points
David Houde (Submission author) 4 years ago
I kind of forced myself to go too far with a lack of sleep. I worked full time and went to college full time. I got to the point that if I got more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night I couldn't sleep the next night. At that point it's difficult to tell when you are awake and when you are asleep.
Load More Replies...
Miguel Oharra 4 years ago
Youu must first lose everything, before you can accomplish Anything. Have good sleep.
#9
Now Voyager, for 3 phrases. When Betty Davis's character was challenged by her rich mother as to how she would manage without the mother giving her so much money, their conversation ended with Betty's character saying " I'm not afraid anymore mother. I'm not afraid" it was an amazing revelation for the character & me. To not be afraid of life. Also, I have a line from the movie tattooed on my forearm. Its a line from a Walt Whitman poem called The Untold Want. "Untold want by life and land n'er granted, now voyager, sail thou forth to seek and find". I have "Now Voyager...." on my forearm. It is surrounded by stars that come from the last line of the movie. "Oh, Jerry, let's not ask for the moon when we have the stars." This has been long but those 3 phrases just shout at me to live these lines from the movie.
Final score:
15points
Tami 4 years ago (edited)
I watched "Richard" Cavett interview Bette Davis recently. The woman was amazing, did an enormous number of films. I haven't seen Now Voyager yet, but will get it at the library, yay!
Elizabeth Molloy 4 years ago
I love, love, LOVE this film! Blew me away when I happened to catch it on TV a few years back.
#10
The Matrix-duh I think that was the point of the movie. And the weirdest one, . . . Toy story
Final score:
15points
Unnamed Hooman (Submission author) 4 years ago
A main concept of Toy story is that the toys move only when you aren’t looking. I spent weeks watching every one of my toys, back and forth seeing what would happen.
Load More Replies...
#11
For me, it was a series, The Fall, with Gillian Anderson as an investigator. She deals with a nasty character who plays a cat-and-mouse game with her, but she keeps her cool when taunted. That prompted me to think about not taking online insults personally. For example, someone called me a "dummy", so I asked, "You seem angry at me. Why?" No answer from them and I shrugged it off.
Final score:
14points
#12
Papillon (1973) Steve McQueen - Excellent performances in some of the toughest scenes. Close Encounters - The idea of aliens brought to life. American Graffiti - What it's like to come of age and deal with the tragedies of becoming an adult. Full Metal Jacket - This hit close to home because both of my brothers served in the Army. My second oldest brother was in basic training when a guy in his unit collapsed and died from heart failure because the drill sergeant wouldn't allow anyone else to break formation to help him.
Final score:
14points
Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
Papillon is truly gripping, and seeing Close Encounters for the first time on the largest movie screen in San Francisco was fantastic! “The sun went away and then the sky sang to me.” I love that it starred François Truffaut even though he wasn’t the director.
#13
Harry Potter. I always wish that someday a half-giant will barge through my door and tell me I’m a wizard.
Final score:
14points
Vanta Black 4 years ago
*kicks down your door* Yer a wizard. Unfortunately, this is Salem in 1692.
#14
the sixth sense. I realized I have no idea if I'm dead or not
Final score:
14points
Kathy L 4 years ago
I left that movie in stunned silence, looking around for clues as to whether I was dead or alive!
Gerard Neaux 4 years ago
Well if you had to pay for the ticket, that settles it.
Load More Replies... #15
Movies: Melancholia The Broken Circle Into the Wild Series: Six feet under
Final score:
11points
#17
Harold and Maude. A bizarre choice, but I saw this movie when I was 15 in a period of my life when I felt hopeless because of our family's circumstances. The beautiful, funny story of a morbid, rich teenager and an eternally hopeful Holocaust survivor completely turned my mindset and worldview around.
Final score:
11points
Octavia Hansen 4 years ago
YES! YES! YES! Saw it when I was Harold's age, now I'm almost Maude. The movie shows you can still find happiness and give others the chance to be happy . . . along with a sensational sound track and great scene framing! YUM!
Carol Emory 4 years ago
I love Harold and Maude. Him changing the Jaguar to what it was said a lot about the depression he suffered. And the scene with the girl quoting Romeo and Juliet...is it bad that I laughed so hard?
#18
Forest Gump A great movie about the power of mindfulness.
Final score:
10points
Miguel Oharra 4 years ago
😹 why isnt there a smile with a tear emoji? ❤ Forrest, best man on Earth. 😊😇
Load More Replies...
#19
Soylent Green
Final score:
9points
Carol McCartney 4 years ago
I still remember that movie. I was young when I saw it and it made me ill, literarily. I have never forgotten it.
#20
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe made me realise that even though we might not know it ourselves sometimes, we are not the centre of the universe. Funny to share this here: It taught me that my opinion/interest are not always the most important.
Final score:
9points
Miguel Oharra 4 years ago
Its not, but neither is mine anyway....🤖😿 ohh this life, i wish i was a Whale for 42 seconds, at least that may be existing... 🐋...
#21
The Lion King: Family means sh*t to some people who are obsessed with power and control.
Final score:
9points
#22
I know this is strange, and although I'm not a complete conspiracy theorist but there is one that I subscribe to. I will present to you the same question once posed to me. "How do you warn the masses about something or inform them about something without causing mass panic?" - Movies (shows). We as the majority see them as entertainment, I see them as possible warnings. Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, I Am Legend, World War Z, etc etc. To me they could be possible warnings or informational. I'm not saying EVERY movie. But pay attention and see if you don't recognize stuff that's happened in older movies. Or what could happen.
Final score:
8points
Miguel Oharra 4 years ago
Twilight Zone, 1950's Neighborhood in terror, only one guy smart enough to build a shelter, enough for his family, and they all freak out right after looking down on him for it and break down the door. Its an Age old question, what would you do to survive, maybe they are training us, but if they are, it seems theve been scared for a long time. Be ready? Ok. But dont miss out on your life. If a meteor hits today, and they Never told you to avoid the panic, are you better off? Do little things in life seem trivial when faced with your doom? Id like to think its petty arguments, grudges, that keep people apart that will be the waste of time. Enjoy those little things, I busted my ass working on a Summer day to fix the roof, Stopped to watch the Blue jays chasing each other in the tree across from me. They dont know if todays the day. The just keep being Blue Jays. Im ok with that.
M M 4 years ago
I'm with this one. I read a book about a deliberately caused pandemic with an engeneered virus with the goal to significantly reduce the human population on Earth. Organised by one of the richest people in the world and his wife who divorced him to enter in to politics (and seemingly sever ties with him) but secretly still working with him. Oh, and the vaccine was the real poison... :-) Written by an American author who allso came up with the idea to bring dowm a building with an airoplane. Long before it really happened. Coincidence or plan? Who knows :-S
#23
"Defending Your Life" with Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep had me thinking about what scenes in my life they would play. What fears have I not faced? What brave acts deserve self-recognition? It inspired me to do a kind of inventory, be kinder to myself, and think about what I really want in life.
Final score:
8points
Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
Nice! It was a very good move, and really interesting in how he put his insecurities right out there.
#24
Luca! watched it recently, and I can't stop thinking about it. Alberto is my idol, I love his outlook on life. Silencio Bruno!
Final score:
8points
#25
'Cool Hand Luke' ... "Luke: I can eat 50 eggs. Dragline: Why you got to go and say fifty eggs for? Why not thirty-five or thirty-nine? Luke: I thought it was a nice round number.” This line among others shows Luke's mentality of just living the hell out of life, making a normal special.
Final score:
7points
Mary Rose Kent 4 years ago
What I found fascinating was how his life devolved from one small errant moment
#26
Startrek I want the music on my funeral: To go beyond where no man has gone before. The Horse whisperer - until then I believed I was a pacifist. But when the Indians beat up the white men, boy did I get a kick out of that. It also changed my perspective. In movies, in life, I was always emphatic with the underdog, which is a hard way to live. Now when it gets too much, I change perspective.
Final score:
7points
Miguel Oharra 4 years ago
Would be nice to go to another world and give them some perspective before its to late. Kirk thought Prime Directive was kind of a guideline...Laws may be laws, but the ones that made them are not here. Do whats Right.
Angela Allen Simms 4 years ago
I've been watching ST since it premiered, I was 10, I'm (63). being an Empath and a Gemini made me understand Spock! I also saw the parallels of the stories with real life. 50 years this show as been on and it was shredded by the critics, ijs! The movie that changed my perception of life after death, What Dreams May Come. Robin Williams braving the afterlife to find his wife to say a final goodbye before she's gone forever!! The angsts of love lost and never retrieved mirrored the death of my marriage. FYI, it was lost when I let it go...
#27
I had a sudden “Whoa” moment when I first watched Disney’s Christopher Robin. I was writing my thesis at the time whilst taking extra corses and working a side job so stress and work was all I ever did. The movie felt like it was about my situation and it really changed my life at the time. To much focus on work and not taking time for your family and friends is very damaging and you lose track of yourself in the process. It’s important to take time of sometimes and do absolutely nothing! “ Because sometimes, doing nothing leads to the very best of somethings” :)
Final score:
7points
#28
Jonathon Livingston Seagull. Beautiful film with an equally beautiful soundtrack by the wonderful Neil Diamond.
Final score:
7points
IlovemydogShilo (Submission author) 4 years ago
So do I. The tracks Be and Lonely Looking Sky both the song and instrumental are so beautiful.
Load More Replies...
#29
Film: The killing fields and Schindler’s List. Series: The man in the high castle. I just couldn’t get enough of it. And without being stroppy and way too sentimental: a bad guy can also be a good guy.
Final score:
7points
Caro Caro (Submission author) 4 years ago
Oh the feelings of panic, raw fear and desperation in both those film. And seeing the children... I can't even ...
Load More Replies... #30
"Underground" by Emir Kusturica. Probably not one of the most popular of the bunch, but I remember very vividly when I watched it first when I was about seven nine years old (my older brother brought it home). I didn't understand quite well what was going on with war in Yugoslavia (man, I didn't even know where Yugoslavia was), there were many references and info I could not comprehend, but was the music. The music was magical and in was perfectly entangled with the visuals. The soundtrack was just as magical as the images produced by Kusturica. It captured me, moved me to tears of sadness and joy at different times and completely blew out my mind and allow me to visualise a bigger world.
Final score:
6points
#31
When I was about 5 or 6, I loved this movie called Ringing Bell (japanimation you can watch on youtube), well it's only 45 min. long but whatever. I think it really messed me up for good.
Final score:
5points
#32
Into the Wild by Sean Penn (2007)
Final score:
4points
#33
The Trueman Show. You know that this is not your life. But tgen again. Do you really *know*?
Final score:
3points
Miguel Oharra 4 years ago
Willow My Mom let me skip school and took me to see it in the day, I used to get really sick, it was a state of mind. I wanted to be Mad Martigan so I learned to use a sword. That movie had Heart. When the Wizard asked him What finger holds the Power of the Universe? As a test. I thought My Own. Mind over matter my friends. Neverending Story has so much changed my life, me as a kid at night only time with mom dad, grandma & grandpa, who were Such a part of me, and same movie how I met my love who is waiting so i must write faster! Gma and gpa took me too Beetlejuice typing fast, no grammer now. Still found cartoons to make my heart grow, in summer school, David the Gnome, Maya the Bee, Woozles!!!! Made my mind wander to Enless possibilities!!! What were those lights at night?? Teenage mutant ninja turtles! Then Matrix, Fight Club most of all, then, who do you want to be? Im a mix of all this. Im Captain $%%##%! America! And I can do this All Day! 😎
What do you think ?
Alex Travous 4 years ago
Big Fish. Story about life and how memories can be misconstrued and how everyone has a story that somehow is related to your own. Beautifully written.
LJ Robinson 4 years ago
Albert Finney was so good in that movie. I like how you described the movie, and agree.
Load More Replies...
Kate Anderson 4 years ago
Cloud Atlas. The more you watch it the more you understand and gain from it. It's long but well worth it esp if you watch it multiple times.
ThatOneWriter 4 years ago
Wind River. It opened my eyes to a lot of statistics and pain I didn't know about, all of it fully preventable.
That Spoony Bard 4 years ago
People mentioned a couple of mine: The Truman Show Pleasantville Robot and Frank, and Stranger Than Fiction All made me think about my mortality, made me want to research to understand what's real, and also having confidence to get what I want out of life.
Carol Emory 4 years ago
The Invention of Lying. Ricky Gervais. A world where everyone tells the truth, one man learns how to lie and sees how it can help and hurt him at the same time.
Load More Replies...
Jodie Powell 4 years ago
In time, like the whole concept of earning your life rather than earning money, it's not very different to how life is now, if you don't work you don't get money, you can't eat, live etc. The rich get richer by charging the poor.
Robert Thompson 4 years ago
"Where the Wild Things Are" is a truly scary movie. (for anyone with kids)
Seán Baron 4 years ago
Footloose. I was 10 years old and I went with three friends de from school. One of the mothers paid for her son and three friends and I was asked first. I felt so happy as I'd come through a horrible few years, I was living with foster parents and for once I didn't feel like an afterthought. What made it even better afterwards was the next morning, my friend said that his mother was impressed with me as I was the only friend to say thank you.
LJ Robinson 4 years ago
I have the book, but have never seen the movie. I'll add it to the list of movies I must see.
Load More Replies... Carol Emory 4 years ago
One movie I forgot was the 1959 film "On the Beach" with Gregory Peck and Fred Astaire. All about the last days of survival for humans after a barrage of atomic bombs are released. The scene with the sailor escaping the submarine when he's in his home town is heart wrenching...and the line from Fred Astaire "Who would ever have believed that human beings would be stupid enough to blow themselves off the face of the Earth?"
Carol Emory 4 years ago
I also forgot "Enemy At The Gates" with Jude Law about a Russian sniper that helped keep the Nazis out of Russia.
Load More Replies...
Alex Travous 4 years ago
Big Fish. Story about life and how memories can be misconstrued and how everyone has a story that somehow is related to your own. Beautifully written.
LJ Robinson 4 years ago
Albert Finney was so good in that movie. I like how you described the movie, and agree.
Load More Replies... Kate Anderson 4 years ago
Cloud Atlas. The more you watch it the more you understand and gain from it. It's long but well worth it esp if you watch it multiple times.
ThatOneWriter 4 years ago
Wind River. It opened my eyes to a lot of statistics and pain I didn't know about, all of it fully preventable.
That Spoony Bard 4 years ago
People mentioned a couple of mine: The Truman Show Pleasantville Robot and Frank, and Stranger Than Fiction All made me think about my mortality, made me want to research to understand what's real, and also having confidence to get what I want out of life.
Carol Emory 4 years ago
The Invention of Lying. Ricky Gervais. A world where everyone tells the truth, one man learns how to lie and sees how it can help and hurt him at the same time.
Load More Replies... Jodie Powell 4 years ago
In time, like the whole concept of earning your life rather than earning money, it's not very different to how life is now, if you don't work you don't get money, you can't eat, live etc. The rich get richer by charging the poor.
Robert Thompson 4 years ago
"Where the Wild Things Are" is a truly scary movie. (for anyone with kids)
Seán Baron 4 years ago
Footloose. I was 10 years old and I went with three friends de from school. One of the mothers paid for her son and three friends and I was asked first. I felt so happy as I'd come through a horrible few years, I was living with foster parents and for once I didn't feel like an afterthought. What made it even better afterwards was the next morning, my friend said that his mother was impressed with me as I was the only friend to say thank you.
LJ Robinson 4 years ago
I have the book, but have never seen the movie. I'll add it to the list of movies I must see.
Load More Replies... Carol Emory 4 years ago
One movie I forgot was the 1959 film "On the Beach" with Gregory Peck and Fred Astaire. All about the last days of survival for humans after a barrage of atomic bombs are released. The scene with the sailor escaping the submarine when he's in his home town is heart wrenching...and the line from Fred Astaire "Who would ever have believed that human beings would be stupid enough to blow themselves off the face of the Earth?"
Carol Emory 4 years ago
I also forgot "Enemy At The Gates" with Jude Law about a Russian sniper that helped keep the Nazis out of Russia.
Load More Replies... You May Like 120 Life Is Short Quotes To Learn To Be In The Moment Best Paranormal Movies For A Chilling Experience Helpful Job Interview Tips To Keep In Mind While Job Hunting
Aivaras Kaziukonis
Aivaras Kaziukonis
Justina Čiapaitė
Related on Bored Panda
