The most important geeky movies

[chuckro]

My dad and I were discussing the 100 books you'd need to read to be "educated," or 1,000 books you'd need to read to be "well read". Mostly, we were focusing on the graphic novel portion of that, and that post will have have its day.

For the moment, however, I've been distract by a discussion with nanonicole about a grad student she knows who apparently made it into her twenties without ever hearing of Darth Vader. That got me thinking: In order to be an educated geeky-type, want the minimum of movies you'd need to see?

What I came up with, in no particular order:
1. Star Wars episodes 4, 5, 6
2. Back to the Future (parts 2 and 3 are optional, but recommended)
3. Princess Bride
4. Indiana Jones: either Raiders or Last Crusade
5. At least one Sean Connery Bond film
6. Men In Black
7. The Matrix (only the first one)
8. The original Planet of the Apes
9. Star Trek 2, 3, 4, Generations and First Contact.
10. Terminator 2
11. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
12. Army of Darkness
13. Labyrinth
14. One other fantasy movie of: Legend, the Last Unicorn, The Dark Crystal, Willow or The Neverending Story
15. Any one movie as redubbed in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
16. At least one Romero zombie film
17. 2001: A Space Oddessy
18. Ghostbusters
19. Robocop OR Terminator (the first one) OR Highlander (again, the first one)
20. The Day the Earth Stood Still (original) OR Forbidden Planet OR Invasion of the Body Snatchers (original).
21. Aliens

And from the superhero list:
1. The two Richard Donner Superman films
2. The first Tim Burton Batman film
3. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight
4. Spider-Man 1 and 2
5. X-Men 1 and 2
6. Iron Man
7. Blade

I know there's more. Suggestions? Additions or deletions?

Comments

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Monty Python, Army of Darkness, Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth have already been mentioned.

I would also add

in sci-fi:

First two Alien movies
Close Encounters (though I don't like, it was certainly seminal)
The Road Warrior
Dune


in fantasy:

The Neverending Story (come on, dude...)
Willow


in superhero/comic book:

Blade (like it or not, it kicked off the modern era of this genre)


For bonus points:

6-string Samurai
The Warriors

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

You really think you need Dark Crystal and Labyrinth and The Neverending Story and Willow? I think you can make do with one of the four, preferably Labyrinth.

I'm not a huge Blade fan, but you have a point.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

I can accept using Labyrinth in the place of Dark Crystal, because not only does it have Jim Henson's work, but it has David Bowie.

I will grant that Willow is probably safe to leave out, but I argue that it deserves inclusion because it is a LucasArts film that is neither Star Wars or Indiana Jones, and is evidence that George Lucas could do something besides rip off his own franchises after he became famous, which is an extremely geeky factoid. Also, Warwick Davis.

Neverending Story is possibly the most seminal film of our childhood. It cannot be ignored.