The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension - The quintessential 80s movie. Everything you need to know about the 80s is contained in this film.

Also Mr. Krabs is in it.

Ivan’s Childhood; although all of Tarkovsky’s oeuvre is worth it.

Get Crazy (1983). Just a fun piece of silliness with a cameo from Lou Reed.

And Electric Larry

These are not feel good movies at all but I think really send important messages. Not for kids, but at 16+ would be good. There’s very important takeaway messages in both.

Grave of the Fireflies

Requiem for a Dream

The Shawshank Redemption

Trying to come up with a few that aren’t on the list:

Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) - Just a beautifully touching film, with a unique style and a great cameo of Peter Falk as himself. Much better than the English Language remake (City of Angels)

Come and See (Idi i smotri) - Hard to watch, but an incredible portrayal of the horrors of war. Not a feel-good film at all. But an amazing feat of filmmaking.

My Dinner With Andre - It’s ironic that the movie that Roger Ebert referred to as “entirely devoid of clichés” has become a cliché. I’m not sure how well it’s aged for modern audiences, but I first saw it in the 80’s, have seen it at least a dozen times since, and it still really gets to me. I empathize heavily with both characters in the way that they search for meaning in life, and I could listen to Andre Gregory tell stories all day.

Stop Making Sense - A stellar concert documentary. The first time I saw it was a midnight screening where the audience got up and danced through the whole movie. David Byrne is hypnotic.

The Decline of Western Civilization - Amazing look at the Los Angeles punk rock scene of the early 80’s

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - A classic stage-to-screen adaptation. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton chew the scenery for a few hours while their guests Sandy Dennis and George Segal try to make sense of it all. Amazing acting, great cinematography that really leverages the closeup. A must-see.

The Lion in Winter - Sort of a medieval version of the above with Peter O’ Toole and Katherine Hepburn. Also see a young Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton put on stellar performances. Like Virginia Woolf above, this is acting with a capital A.

The Triplets of Belleville (Les Triplettes de Belleville) - A unique animation style and a unique story. A really fun watch.

My recommendation is either The Grand Budapest Hotel or Moonrise Kingdom. Both by Wes Anderson, and probably his two best films. Excellent director with a very distinct visual style.

• The Blues Brothers (1980)
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
• The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) <- The best film version of “A Christmas Carol”. I will die on this hill.
• Blazing Saddles (1974)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Contagion.

So many great movies listed here, but only one kiwi movie; Once Were Warriors. Unless you count Lord of the Rings, which was indeed made here, but not really exactly a kiwi movie. Here’s a few I reckon are worth checking out, a mix of comedy, fantasy, sci-fi and biopic, with at least one film from each other last 5 decades;

• Goodbye Pork Pie (the 1981 original, I haven’t seen the 2017 remake Pork Pie directed by his son)
• Came A Hot Friday (1985, so underrated compared to the one above)
• The Quiet Earth (1985, based on the 1981 novel of the same name)
• The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988, epically weird, in a Fisher Kind kind of way)
• Heavenly Creatures (1994, Peter Jackson’s first “serious” film, after his splatter comedies Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Braindead. Trivia: I’m in this for about 3 seconds …)
• Whale Rider (2002)
• The World’s Fastest Indian (2005)
• Eagle vs. Shark (2007)
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
• The Dead Lands (2014, notable for being entirely in Te Reo Māori, and featuring some mean Māori martials arts)
• The Dark Horse (2014)
• Muru (2022, loosely based on the events of the 2008 Operation 8 raids)
• Ka Whawhai Tonu (2024, also has a lot of Te Reo spoken)

I would like to add 2 absolute masterpieces of German cinematic creations.

First: Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo(W children from station zoo)

Devinetively not ab easy or joyfully film. So far I only watched the original version which isn’t great in terms of story telling but it displays the reality of drug abuse(in this case heroin) in a very good way. This film is devinetively capable of ruining your day.

Werner - Beinhart( Werner and the wizard of booze)

A quite old(1990) animated film. It is funny as hell but you can clearly see, that it was made in a different time/society. However, its still funny as hell(at least in my opinion).

• Pride (2014)
• if we’re doing TV, which I don’t think we are, then The Prisoner

• The Fountain
• Schindler’s List
• Idiocracy
• This is SpinalTap
• Saving Private Ryan
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Probably missing some, but these are the ones I can remember right now. I think Schindler’s List should be required viewing by everyone before they graduate high school. I remember when they used to air it on regular TV, unedited and uncensored, commercial free. I feel we were nicer and more willing to avoid wars back then.

I ain’t ashamed to say it, I cry every damn time I watch it.

Dredd (2012)

Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent and the movies talking about Edward Snowden