Must see movies

Last updated November 13, 2016

Mad Max, Fury Road (2015)

An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and almost everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order. There’s Max, a man of action and a man of few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos. And Furiosa, a woman of action and a woman who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland.

BlinkyTM (2011)

A young boy living in the near future looks for an escape from a home with arguing parents. As a way to cope with the recent arguments from his parents he receives a robot companion that he ends up abusing.

Watch it: https://vimeo.com/21216091

Exam (2009)

The final eight candidates for a highly desirable corporate job are locked together in an exam room and given a test with one question. It seems simple yet confusing that soon, tensions begin to unravel

The Road (2009)

A post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible. Why It Stays With You: It has some of the most emotionally disturbing scenes ever filmed. It will leave you drained, depressed but moved beyond words.

Mr. Nobody (2009)

A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn’t choose, anything is possible.

Stunningly directed. Complex, an experience revolving around the notion of choice, and leaves you reflecting upon your own choices. (Also jared leto guys)

Pontypool (2008)

This ultra low budget psychological thriller takes a refreshingly low key approach to a zombie apocalypse, focusing on a small town radio station that unknowingly becomes ground zero during the outbreak. Stephen McHattie (Watchmen, 300) delivers a powerhouse performance as the radio presenter who breaks the news of the pandemic, complete with a convincingly silky voice, but what really makes this worth watching is the constant buildup of tension and the untraditional and unpredictable nature of the zombie plague. At times the film’s origins as a radio play are just a little too obvious, but the running time still flies by and the movie makes the absolute most out of the sole location of the radio booth.

Children of Men (2006)

The world’s youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set in and around a dystopian London fractious with violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows the unexpected discovery of a lone pregnant woman and the desperate journey to deliver her to safety and restore faith for a future beyond those presently on Earth.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend Clementine underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realizes that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.

Lost in Translation (2003)

A lonely, aging movie star named Bob Harris and a conflicted newlywed, Charlotte, meet in Tokyo. Bob is there to film a Japanese whiskey commercial; Charlotte is accompanying her celebrity-photographer husband. Strangers in a foreign land, the two find escape, distraction and understanding amidst the bright Tokyo lights after a chance meeting in the quiet lull of the hotel bar. They form a bond that is as unlikely as it is heartfelt and meaningful.

Oldboy (2003)

Dae-Su is an obnoxious drunk bailed from the police station yet again by a friend. However, he’s abducted from the street and wakes up in a cell, where he remains for the next 15 years, drugged unconscious when human contact is unavoidable, otherwise with only the television as company. And then, suddenly released, he is invited to track down his jailor with a denouement that is simply stunning.

Spirited Away (2001)

10 year-old Chihiro and her parents are riding along during a family outing through the countryside when they stumble across an amusement park that has seemingly been abandoned for years. Despite Chihiro’s premonitions about the creepy setting, her parents explore the area and eventually discover and indulge in an empty eatery filled with fresh food. As a result of their unfaithfulness, they are magically turned into pigs, which in turn scares away Chihiro. She meets the enigmatic Haku, who explains to her that this land is actually a magical bath house, a kind of holiday resort, where supernatural beings seek comfort away from the earthly realm and she must work here, as laziness is not permitted, to free both herself and her parents from the mystical land.

Memento (2000)

Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers. One story line moves forward in time while the other tells the story backwards revealing more each time.

Cube (1997)

Like a Twilight Zone episode dreamed up by the likes Jorge Luis Borges, Canadian filmmaker Vincenzo Natali’s psychological thriller/horror/sci-fi pastiche is the ultimate in high-concept and low-budget.

A small group of strangers awaken in an elaborate prison maze of joining cubic cells that seem to go on to infinity, each with no memory of how they arrived in such strange perplexity. As they traverse the cube they soon find that each cell is booby-trapped, the meaning behind their impasse is scrutinized intelligently, and the allegorical and metaphysical payoff is as satiating as it is fist-pumping.