Two come to mind, although there are many, but The Usual Suspects, I still turn over in my mind occasionally. Also Memento. Memento wasn't a great plot, it was OK BUT the gimmick was a great gimmick.

The movies that stick in my brain are:

Equilibrium, for the music, the mood, the style, the artistic violence, the dialogue.

Baraka, because it's mentally beautiful.

The Shrine. For some reason, that movie disturbs me, in a good way.

I obviously have a very different taste in movies from all of y'all lol. I have watched only three of the movies y'all mentioned and only liked one, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (which was very good and very thought provoking)

Agree on Memento. Very interesting concept and execution, and the ending completely surprised me.

I've been obsessed with the animated movie Anastasia and the 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby. To me, the colorful sequences and music make them both absolutely magical. A little different than the responses on this thread, but oh well. They've stuck with me, and I could watch them again and again.

Blue Velvet.

This was the first film I saw that defied the cinematic conventions I was accustomed to. I was quite young when I saw it and didn't really understand a lot of it, but I was intrigued and was no longer content with Hollywood blockbusters.


Donnie Darko.

Over ten years after I had seen Blue Velvet came Donnie Darko. It gave me that same wonderment I got from Lynch's work. I loved the fact that after the first viewing you had no idea what you had just watched. It was really a film you just had to suspend your disbelief and experience.

Here's a few I'll always remember: All Quiet On The Western Front (1929), The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946), Avatar (either 2008 or 2009, can't remember which), Dr. Zhivago (1965), El Cid (1961, I believe) and Glory (1989).

All Quiet On The Western Front is probably the most powerful anti-war film ever made and Glory just grabs your heart.

Interesting that people answering this question aren't likely to pick a comedy. Wonder what that says about human nature, if anything. So, partly to be different and partly because the film really did stay with me all of these years, I pick Mel Brooks' "The Producers." It came out when I was in high school, and I wanted to tell all my friends the plot. Zero Mostel--priceless. Gene Wilder never had a better role.

My mother and I used to see all the musical films of Mario Lanza and Kathryn Grayson. 'Be My Love' .

We also went to see every Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis film. I loved hearing my Mum laugh.

Every time I try to re-make my list I come back to the same ones: "Platoon" and "Witness." Both in the first rank for linking the private world of character with the events that reveal our times. The themes of those two are the ones that resonate most strongly with me.

Most of the others that have stayed with me are similarly "pop" in sensibility: "Tootsie," "The Verdict," "Groundhog Day," "Full Monty," "The Horse Whisperer." [edit to add: "Training Day". How could I have forgotten it?] But one that few have heard of also goes at the top of my list: "Matewan" (stars Chris Cooper before he was recognized [further edit: also stars James Earl Jones].) And I love some great, great oldies, especially "It's a Wonderful Life," and "Casablanca."

I find "The Sting" and "Ocean's Eleven" to be irresistible, even if I don't turn them over in my mind. Danny Kaye's "Court Jester" and the Coen Brothers' "No Country for Old Men" deserve honorable mention. Guess I will always be a middlebrow!

Just learned that someone made a movie of the biography "Bright Shining Lie." Might have to check that one out. I was raising kids outside the U.S. when it came out, so missed it.

Shelobstrositry wrote:Hotel Rwanda. There are so many good testosterone boosters but that came to mind first.

I'll stick to this decade, the movie that stuck with me for years now is Dredd 2011 remake. I've seen it probably close to 10 times now. It bombed at the box office, but became an instant cult classic in the genre.