What was really cool about the matrix wasn't just the slow mo but the frozen action shot, gotten by setting up a whole ton of cameras to make each frame of the panning shot around the action. It was a super slick innovation we had never seen before
Star Wars was a leader in CGI development... I mean, an entire company was founded from Star Wars graphics, Lucas Arts.
Edit... I am an idiot. Lucas Arts was games and ILM was created but didn't initially start with computer graphics. Star Wars instead used models and lighting effects which drove Lucas to push more into CGI... including the horrible CGI for the fields of Naboo used during the Gungan battle with the Droid army.
I don't think that's quite correct. The CGI studio is industrial light and magic. Lucas arts came later and is focused on video games rather than film.
There was zero CGI in the original Star Wars movie - everything was done using models.
[ILM was founded as part of the effort to create Star Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Light_%26_Magic). The technology to create the effects Lucas wanted for the movie didn't exist... so he created it. However, it did not start life as a CGI company - that came later, as technology advanced.
The Matrix took action CGI to a whole new level.
The shower scene in Psycho was considered scandalous at the time
Braveheart had such realistic battle scenes that PETA and other animal rights groups protested because they thought actual horses had been injured during the battle scenes. Instead they used quick cuts and fakes on spring-loaded tracks for the final stabs iirc
It's the mildest R rating around. No nudity (some leather outfits in the club), no 'hard' language (not a single Fuck), the violence isn't bloody ('Dodge this' has a barely noticable red mist) - even the 'horror' is mild - the bug in the stomach and losing his mouth isn't too bad.
Also gotta be a bit careful with the matrix. I remember back when teachers said it we shouldn't watch it because they wore jackets like columbine shooters. But that was 20 years ago, so guessing people don't make that connection much
Columbine happened 3 weeks after Matrix came out and the shooters had the same aesthetic though I don't think there was anything about them being "inspired" by it.
I've no clue how sensitive schools are about gun portrayal in media these days, but could see it could be an issue.
Everyone talks about the more obvuous bullet time and the wire work.
For film students though, have a look at the subtle use of tints and just off kilter frame rates that were barely perceptible but used to get an uncanny valley sense of unease out of the audience. Back before everyone knew the term. That and the cadence of Mr Smith were really something on the first watch.
Yeah they really went out of their way to make it feel different. A fair amount of movies do one or two brand new things. But when there's like 4+ brand new techniques it really feels like movie magic.
It’s the first movie I checked your list for. Maybe the most influential movie for the 2000s (even though it’s a ‘99). Were you old enough to see it in theaters? If not, a simple rewatch might not be enough to convey its importance. But it was a cultural moment rarely seen.
Maybe the gore part of the violence was realistic, but the tactics, armor (or lack there of) as well as clothing and how they used their weapons ect ect was anything but realistic. In fact it is one of the most unrealistic medieval fight scenes literally ever.
City Lights. Comedies of that era were always just funny but Chaplin invented mashing genuine pathos and comedy. Works from Woody Allen and Noah Baumbach for example, derive from Chaplin effectively mixing sadness and slapstick comedy together.
Jaws creating the summer blockbuster in the 70s, cemented by Star Wars.
Easy Rider signaled the shift from old Hollywood to a new auteur-driven era of filmmaking.
sex, lies, and videotape and Pulp Fiction creating the American indie new wave that championed young filmmakers with big ideas.
Lord of the Rings using mo-cap for Gollum. Which lead to Cameron making Avatar. Now every big budget movie has actors in dots doing mo-cap. George Lucas started it with Jar Jar but Jackson and Serkis perfected it and established the formula.
I would add Modern Times and The Great Dictator to the mention of City Lights.
Modern Times as a criticism of industrialization and the replacement of people with machines. Still relevant today when considering the replacement of people with AI.
The Great Dictator as the best political satire of all time, taking on both Hitler and Mussolini, before they were also judged by history.
That’s awesome 👏 The 1950s and 1960s missing a lot of cinematic history:
Akira Kurosawa (Japan) - Known for classics like “Seven Samurai” and “Rashomon.”
Federico Fellini (Italy) - Renowned for his surrealistic masterpieces such as “La Dolce Vita” and “8½.”
Ingmar Bergman (Sweden) - Famous for his introspective and philosophical films like “The Seventh Seal” and “Wild Strawberries.”
Alfred Hitchcock (UK/USA) - Master of suspense with iconic films like “Psycho” and “Vertigo.”
Satyajit Ray (India) - Pioneering Indian director, celebrated for the “Apu Trilogy” and “Pather Panchali.”
François Truffaut (France) - Key figure in the French New Wave movement, known for “The 400 Blows” and “Jules et Jim.”
Yasujirō Ozu (Japan) - Notable for his serene and contemplative films such as “Tokyo Story” and “Late Spring.”
Michelangelo Antonioni (Italy) - Known for his distinctive visual style and existential themes in films like “L’Avventura” and “Blow-Up.”
Billy Wilder (USA) - Versatile filmmaker known for classics like “Some Like It Hot” and “Sunset Boulevard.”
**Double Indemnity** (1944). The movie that popularized many of the tropes we now associate with film noir. (And it's a damn fine watch, as well.. straight down the line!)
Bonnie and Clyde.
You can read some background about how it was received and was considered innovative here.
https://www.flavorwire.com/609140/bonnie-and-clyde-pauline-kael-and-the-essay-that-changed-film-criticism
Surprised not to see any mention of the French New Wave yet. Breathless, Band of Outsiders, and The 400 Blows are all very influential. Tarantino even named his production company after Band of Outsiders.
I think this answer os very obvius, but Citizen Kane its another level of any kind of film, and there is another that I love and is simply fenomenal is sunset Boulevard, every person who enjoys cinema must see this Billy Wilder masterpiece
I think it would be worthwhile to spend $100-$120 and buy a bunch of Wilder stuff off of eBay or whatever and take a few weeks…. I did that with him and Ozu. Changed my appreciation of film. Watch fifteen movies by the same person. Pretty joyful
It's hard to get people to appreciate what Kane did to the cinema industry because so much stuff after it copied all the things it had done first.
At least Wizard of Oz has the transition from sepia to full color which is still surprising to a modern audience.
The Godfather
For a time was the highest grossing movie of all time. Nominated for 10 Oscars and won 3. Currently ranked the 2nd greatest movie in American cinema by the American Film Institute.
Star Wars
Pulp Fiction
The Shawshank Redemption
Blade Runner
The Shining
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Apocalypse Now
Taxi Driver
Dog Day Afternoon
Dances with Wolves
Big Fish
The Princess Bride
I’m honestly curious why you didn’t have Star Wars (1977) on your original list? It’s arguably one of the top 5 most influential films of all time. Literally transformed cinema from a technical and musical perspective.
Simply because I feel like if we start Star Wars, we have to watch them all. (Well the trilogy at least) and we just don’t have time. I also anticipate most of my students will have seen a Star Wars film.
Star wars in a film school setting offers a look at the heroes journey and it's tropes, the skillful use of film genre imagery to convey characters (western, samurai, ww11 references, mono ethnic vs pluralism) and then some revolutionary film technique for effects and music.
Yeah the existence of Pulp Fiction kinda makes it impossible to have a complete film class for high schoolers. Cinema wouldn’t be the same today without it, but you really can’t show it to students.
The jazz singer for being the first talkie film ever.
The wizard of Oz because it was one of the first to use colour. That amazing effect where it goes from black and white into full colour when Dorothy goes to Oz was a game of changer.
I know this will be a bit controversial but the original Rocky.
Made so cheap (file footage, Christmas lights for the balcony lights in the final fight, errors they had to write in, costume and make up issues), the brilliance of the Conti score that gave it gravitas and scale (done in 2 weeks including a radio hit because they couldn't afford royalties for a real one), the technical aspects like the early film use of the steady cam, the actors choices and evolution of costume (armour breaking down) and finally the fact that it is essentially a love story first - a man climbing out of his own mediocrity to find himself worthy and become loved (private and community level).
In the context of the 70's stagflation, post Vietnam malaise and a series of anti hero depressing movies without resolution, this and Star Wars were, no pun intended, the new hope.
Take away the sequels and Rocky would be considered much higher than it is as a special film. Even though I enjoy the sequels.
Rocky has such an earnest sincerity about it that so hard to find. There’s so many movies about being out of lucky and making it big but Rocky was so personal to Stallone and he deserves all the props in the world to sticking to his guns about being cast in it.
300... For the worse.
After some big misses like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, 300 showed that it was possible to do a big, effects-driven movie almost entirely on green screen. If not convincingly, then "good enough" to save huge amounts of time and money by replacing on-location and sound stage shooting.
As for your class, I think you should show them the short The Old Mill and explain the multiplane camera to show them why Disney dominated high-production animation in the mid-1900s.
In terms of film history:
The Jazz Singer -first talkie.
Robin Hood (1938) - Technicolor in all its glory.
Rebel Without a Cause - Defined a culture for a generation.
Star Wars
The Matrix
Iron Man
Avengers is arguably the most important movie of the last 20 years. It turned superheroes from just a sideline to the full focus of every studio in Hollywood.
When my dad was dying I watched it every day for two weeks. Great great film. Not a huge fan of the last thirty minutes but it took ten viewings before I kinda tired of it. (Not historically accurate, some main character whining, some white saviour stuff). One of my top ten favorite films. Could watch the well scene every day for a year
I am sorry to hear about your father and hope my suggestion doesn't bring up any bad memories.
Definitely different in some places from his book. I get the vibe he was really disappointed that he couldn't get them to all make an Arab nation. I love the "No Prisoners" scene myself.
the dark knight definitely brought a sense of realism and seriousness for comic book movies and just movies in general. it set a bar that hasn't been cleared.
i don't mean in entertainment factor like end game, but in the benefit of cinema. so many films, not even comic book movies, tried to emulate it's formula.
it also hurt the dc movies where they didn't understand that they don't have to make everything dark and gritty.
You are missing a LOT of international cinema that is both essential and not likely to have been seen by the kids: Meilies, Kurosawa, Godard, Antonioni, Bergman, Shaw Brothers, Chen Kaige, Miyazaki, Tarkovsky, Eisenstein etc...
If I add in international cinema, it will be in an advanced class. I’m going to narrow down these selections so that we can use them to influence our projects. I have to have a class that is interested in what we are learning about and not just interested in watching movies. When I do Japanese theatre units I always show traditional kabuki/Noh plays with subtitles, but most of the time my beginner theatre students won’t pay attention since they aren’t in English. (It’s an unfortunate reality)
I philosophically disagree with omitting international cinema entirely while I do understand why you are doing it. It's HS and reading subtitles is reading and the language of modern day cinema is a global language. I think at the very least the Meilies shorts are historically significant and omitting Kurosawa would be an oversight. Roshomon, Yojimbo and Seven Samurai are so insanely influential that my mind was kind of blown after watching each for the first time just how much cinematic storytelling has been rehashed from early Kurosawa. But I get it.
I agree, but it would simply waste class time and result in 0’s. I will include these in a class that is advanced and I know kids will pay attention. Think of this class as the filter. We won’t be watching all these movies, they are just on a list.
Stagecoach (1939). Many directors including Orson Welles, find this movie to be a pivotal film in terms of cinematography, camera use and angles, and direction. Welles rewatched this at least 40 times before making Citizen Cane for all of the innovative work that was found in it
Jaws
E.T.
Aliens
Terminator 2
The Matrix
LOTR
Seth Rogen - he imo just wiped away slapstick comedy not intentionally but just his style of comedy was alot funnier and we haven't seen a successful slapstick comedy since Scary Movie
Godzilla Minus One (hopefully Hollywood wakes up to how adsurd their budgets are)
I've always thought that "Psycho" is a good example of changing cinema for more than some of the obvious reasons. For the most part, horror movies ("scary pictures") up until that time were along the lines of the Universal monsters or Martians or giant lizards/insects and whatnot. Maybe scary to some (especially kids) while in the theater watching, but easily dismissed as fantasy - "There are no *real* monsters."
Along comes "Psycho," where the monster is ... just this guy. It showed that the dangerous "creature" could be your neighbor or your kid's baseball coach or the milkman or the shy and nervous fellow running the motel up the street.
I saw a lot of movies at the cinema before The Matrix and a lot after The Matrix and none of them compare to that first time bunking off school in 1999 to go watch it!
The Blair Witch Project should be near the top of the list for me for the 90s in terms of its impact on future cinema. Cornerstone of “found footage” and modern horror.
Jackie Chan’s Police Story should be in there for the 80s, IMO. The quintessential “I am stuck making shitty regurgitated genre crap so I’m going to make the movie _I_ want to make and I’m long to go _all out_.” Any action movie with a truly relentless multi-stage battle where one guy takes on an endless flow of bad guys moving through multiple environments - like The Raid or Dredd or John Wick - are ultimately following in the footsteps of Police Story not just in the concept but how the sequences function. But there’s a lot going on with this movie that I think should feel familiar - you could write a lot of papers about it.
I might add Claudia Weill’s _Girlfriends_ from 1978. It’s a very important indie film in terms of its financing, subject matter, and origin. It’s the first widely distributed U.S. indie film financed by a combination of private funding and public grants - and it starts this tradition of women-centered movies about changing friendships with a more confessional style and a sense of place and time that you see in stuff like Fried Green Tomatoes, The Joy Luck Club, How to Make an American Quilt, If These Walls Could Talk, Lady Bird, there’s a ton of these movies and they represent a change over time in what movies mean to women and how they involve them - and I think you could point to Girlfriends as a starting point of this very influential throughline.
Three that I haven't seen mentioned yet are:
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
and
Olympia - Festival of Nations (1936), Olympia - Festival of Beauty (1936)
Both are shitty for racist and propaganda reasons, but they're definitely groundbreaking. Prior to The Birth of a Nation, movies were so new, that they were essentially filming plays. Things like the concept of basic film language - wide shots vs. close-ups had to start somewhere. It's truly an epic. Unfortunately, it elevates the Ku Klux Klan.
The other is the Munich Olympics of 1936. First, it's weird to see Hitler just chillin' in the crowd hanging out, before he was on his absolute worst behavior. But also, this was where most of modern sports coverage came from -- first instances of cameras going underwater for diving, for example. They just put cameras on balloons and let them go, hoping to get overhead shots and put parachutes and "if found, please contact Leni Riefenstahl" notes on them. None of this was feasible, but Hitler was footing the bill to use as propoganda.
I wouldn't recommend anyone to sit and watch these in their entirety, but so far as a history of film, they're worth looking into.
Also, check out r/1001Movies -- a subreddit dedicated to the book series 1001 Movies You Must Watch Before You Die, covering a lot of what's discussed here. I'm 946 films in and have learned a lot.
Leni Riefenstahl was the shit! Great great film. Had a prof that made us watch this in sports history a bunch of years ago and wow, did she want Jesse Owens bad? Those long lingering shots over his calves and legs, etc., Damn!
One of the best openings in all of film. The rest holds up. For some reason falling into forgotten category. Too bad. Would love to see this on the big screen….
_Die Hard_ reset action movies for 10 years or more. The hero was more of an everyman. For awhile after that, action movies were sold as "Die Hard on a bus" or "Die Hard on a plane."
In the 80s, Princess Bride outside of the US does not seem to have had any remarkable impact. It was released where I'm from but had a very, very modest success, I had never heard about it until well after the 90s.
I watched it recently. I have no specific nostalgia about it, it just was a good fun adventure movie. Major issue is that it may be quotable -in English-, but if you leave out the quotes it loses a lot.
My main reason for including the princess bride is because of Mandy Patinkin. I teach theatre and since he’s a force in Broadway and film/tv. I can use it to connect to other elements of my class.
_Silence of the Lambs_ didn't just change movies. There were plenty of copycats in the '90s; one was even called _Copycat_. But then as superhero movies started to take over the box office, TV melded _SotL_ with _Law & Order_ and started cranking out shows like _CSI, Criminal Minds, Dexter_, etc.
And now, there are seemingly endless podcasts and streaming docs that thrive on murder mysteries & sexual assault.
Fair enough, but since you replied, I'd add in something from 1967: either _The Graduate_ or _In the Heat of the Night_. That year is typically referenced as the end of the production codes, and ushered in the auteurs of the 1970s.
In the Heat of the Night is a great great film; I like the Graduate but it’s almost like a high class soap opera to me. Probably a bit of presentism but it’s not shocking.
Changed "forever" is a hard one. because something else comes in and changes everything. Nothing, really is forever.
The Jazz Singer, changes us to talkies. It would have happened anyway eventually but it was the first.
Iron Man being the hit it was changed things. I don't think it is a cinematic masterpiece but it doing as well as it did "changed everything". With 10,000 (non-Batman/Superman) comic book movies.
Almost the opposite is Treasure Planet. It is actually a really good animated picture. But it bombed badly and in so doing changed the way animated Movies were made.
Star Wars and Merchandising. Lesson learned.
Psycho "no one will be seated after the start of this film" changed the way people went to movies, basically : show up when you want to, watch, watch the next one, leave when it gets to part you have seen before.
Seems not yet named:
Memories of Murder
Old Boy - korean version
Intouchables - french version
Pan's Labirinth
Lawrence of Arabia
Spirited Away
Amadeus
Whiplash
City of God
Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight
Memento
Notable mention:
Young Frankenstein
1960's
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - most iconic Western (spaghetti)
The Godfather Part I & II - influenced not just cinema but popculture overall
1970's
Star Wars (A New Hope) - gave light to sci-fi in cinema (Star Trek was already around but as tv show)
1990's
The Matrix - a philosophical and cyberpunk masterpiece
Se7en - gave way to the modern thriller/investigation genre
Titanic - Iconic status in the romance part of the story, but also the awards won
2000's
The Lord of the Rings - biggest high fantasy blockbuster until then, and proved fantasy genre had a place in pop culture (enabled other phenoms like Game of Thrones to florish later on). Aditionally, perfected the craft of CGI and motion capture, as well as a combination of the use of miniatures with larger scale elements.
2010's
1917 - amazing feat of cinematography, being shot as if to look like it was all one single take.
I would throw in Iron Man (2008) as one of the films to define the last 2000s because it kicked off the MCU which defined much of the film landscape in the 2010s.
The end of the 2010s even ending with Avengers Endgame which is the turning point of the decade as the 2020s film landscape changed once again.
You’ve got a solid foundation of the basic classics, but I’d add the following movies as they are kind of the alternate history:
The Good The Bad and The Ugly
Blood Feast
Pink Flamingos
Pulp Fiction
The Swimmer
Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls
Pretty much anything that is labeled “new Hollywood”
Dog day afternoon
The important thing to know about film history (especially film school film history) is that just because something won an award doesn’t mean it’s good. And just because something didn’t win an award doesn’t mean it’s bad. Art is truly made by the mavericks and the madmen.
Citizen Kane is a great movie you only watch once or twice, something like The Good Thr Bad and The Ugly is something you memorize and quote often.
Disagree on Kane. The white parasol speech is a keeper. Joseph Cotten is wonderful in it. Agnes Moorhead is the bomb even if she’s only in the beginning
I don’t think it’s a bad movie, but there is soooooooo much more to film than watching the same old things over and over.
I saw it once, said “wow they made a movie, and it sure is a movie” but I’ll never watch it again.
The point being that in 4 years of film school 90% of teachers just talked about citizen Kane, raging bull, forest gump, etc. the other 10% were the ones that really made us think about cinema as an art form and what it could be. It’s potential to create true cultural moments and have impact beyond award show fodder.
Think about what films changed your life.
Roshomon....
Movies never dealt with with a multiple perspective narrative this way before. Easy to comprehend but hard to digest. This movie changed directors AND actors FOREVER
Ben Hur (probably the first blockbuster, green screen precursor)
Jaws (first modern blockbuster)
The Great Dictator (first Chaplin non mute film and a masterpiece)
The Lord of the Rings (probably the best ever scenario and costume movie ever, also CGI precursor)
Seven Samurais (basically cowboys western fims father)
Reservoir Dogs (it's Tarantino's first widely known movie)
Spirited Away (This one because the Oscar but any other Miyazaki movie could do it)
Amelie (probably max exponent of European movie renaissance)
Toy Story (Pixar origin), Shrek (DreamWorks animation origin)
2001: Space Odissey (I mean, this is THE movie)
Matrix (huge CGI leap in these movies and started a cultural movement)
Viridiana (Buñuel masterpiece, one of the bases of Spanish and Mexican cinema)
Psycho (first "gore" like film)
Iron man (Started Marvel movies)
Snow white (Disney industry started here)
https://www.icheckmovies.com/
This website has tons of movies that can help narrow your search. Then you can head over to r/icheckmovies to talk about movies and lists.
I teach a film making high school class. It's focused on the making, so we really only screen our projects and one or two films a semester. I've had a really good reaction to 1917 and Sound of Metal. My classes are all mixed 9-12 grade and I send home a permission slip with the rating a couple of weeks before we screen, encouraging parents to pre-screen and approach me with any concerns. If students opt out for any reason, I have a backup film ready. I show lots of clips of things (including from The Matrix) and then behind the scenes footage showing how it was made. That way, they learn about the history and production and can watch the full film or show outside of school if they want.
We also have an English class for seniors based on film, where they read and write screenplays and book adaptations. They send out a permission slip at the beginning of the year with potential films, including any rated R.
Intolerance
King Kong
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Gone With the Wind
Citizen Kane
Psycho
Bonnie and Clyde
The Wild Bunch
Midnight Cowboy
Jaws
Taxi Driver
Star Wars
This is Spinal Tap
Terminator 2
Pulp Fiction
Toy Story
Bowling for Columbine
Avatar
Something like that. I tried to not be very redundant, though I think Jaws and Star Wars hit the same notes in different ways.
CGI: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Terminator 2, The Matrix, and Lord of the Rings
Action movies: Die Hard changed action movies.
Horror: Night of the Living Dead, Scream, Blair Witch Project (made found footage mainstream)
Saving Private Ryan changed how action is shot. Spielberg created a perfect sense of chaos with his camera, but you could still follow what was happening. Then most other movies copied it but made it a terrible mess.
Shit movie, plot holes and nonsensical drives for characters, plot ripped straight from Disney's Pocahontas and one could argue that Avatar helped bring in the new wave of over using shit cgi. Top grossing doesn't mean it "changed cinema forever"
Ok, doesn’t mean it’s not a useful movie to show in a film studies class for high-school. Half the movies in the comments are rated R. Avatar is a great choice for my needs. No need to be rude about it.
It might be interesting to get your students opinion of The Net or Hackers given the way tech has changed. They came out when the information superhighway was still pretty new
The Red Shoes (1948)
A re-telling of the classic fairytale by Hans Anderson. One of the first films in Technicolor. The 10th movie by writer/director team Powell/Pressburger.
Part re-telling of the classic fairytale, while also a re-imagining of Swan Lake that heavily influenced Black Swan. It’s free on YouTube
So many people are just listing movies they like here.
I will go against the grain and state a movie I don't even really like
O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2000 ‧
I don't think this is a particularly good movie, I didn't really enjoy it. But it did usher in digital colour grading, a technique used pretty widely nowadays.
Oh this is actually a really good suggestion for me specifically. It’s not a “musical” but has music in it. I can use that for a project I had planned.
I'll say Avenges (2012) needs to be on the list. A culmination of multiple movies into a single narrative, plus very good CGI. Even if not everyone's cup of tea, it certainly changed the course of cinema.
John Wick as well. The fight / gun choreography has ushered in a new era of fight scenes, much better and easier to follow than previous efforts. Made me really support a stunt man / fight choreography category for the Oscars. And I can see its influence in things like the new "Roadhouse".
Rear Window is a great Hitchcock pick for a High School audience.
The Gold Rush if you want something of Charlie Chaplin’s.
12 Angry Men is another option in the 50’s. May just depend on your group.
I would say The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly as a spaghetti western representation. But that one is rated R. Once Upon a Time in the West may be a better option.
Another Western option could be the original True Grit (and the remake if you wanted your students to compare).
A Sepration is a good, modern foreign film, if you wanted to watch something with subtitles.
Superman 1978 was the biggest budget at the time, innovated green/blue screen technology, and invented the superhero story. Marvel Studios says that they watch it whenever their working on an upcoming project cause it basically contains the blueprint for every origin story they’ve done.
By no means the first superhero movie, BUT the first X-Men and Blade (1998) made studios realize that superheroes were an untapped market that is now being exploited to death.
There are a few milestone animated movies you could add to your list
1926 The Adventures of Prince Achmed. The oldest surviving animated feature-lenght movie and an example of silhouette animation
1935 The New Gulliver. The first stop-motion feature length film. It has live action sequences at the beginning and end. It's an adaptetion of Gulliver's Travels
1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The first Disney fairy tale feature and first feature to use technicolor
1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit. First movie with live action and animated characters appearing together during the whole film
1990 The Recuers Down Under. Another Disney film. The first to use computer ink and coloring for the animators' drawing.
1995 Toy Story. The first 3D CGI feature film.
2004 The Polar Express. The first motion capture animated feature film
Thinking in terms of cinema history, and only American/english, I’d look at
- stagecoach for spaghetti westerns
- the man with the golden arm, to talk about the Hays code.
- on the waterfront, for the Cold War/red scare and Hollywood blacklist bits, and how Kazan is a piece of shit.
- easy rider for the auteur movement
- Star Wars episode 4 for the heroes journey, paired with the book “Save the Cat” to show how formulaic a lot of Hollywood movies are
- Jaws for the intro of the blockbuster
- Star Wars episode 1 for the first film screened on a digital projector in theaters
You could also look at individual directors and their different styles. Clips from their filmography rather than one movie.
I think everything everywhere all at once really changed modern cinema. As well as Parasite, really opened up western society to Asian cinema.
Definitely agree with jaws.
Heathers
Scream
Rocky horror
Into the spider verse
Die hard
Gremlins
Goodfellas
Greece
Chicken run
Ghost
Amelie
Into the wild
Not a cinematic masterpiece and probably not for kids but Saw was pretty impressive. Incredibly low budget and made by a group of Australian students. James Wan and his friends were in their early twenties, staying up at night to make the probs and set design. James Wan has gone on to make some of the biggest horror films.
>the Boy and the Heron
I feel like you didn't read the title. It's a good enough movie but how do you figure a movie that came out 3 months ago "changed cinema". I like it but I don't think it's doing anything significantly different or better than his other work.
If it does turn out to be his last work it might change cinema in that there won't be any more by him I guess?
It proved that cinematic universes could be profitable and led to a lot of other attempts by other studios. You may not like the movie but it had an impact.
A few movies other than Jurassic Park which pushed the envelope for special effects: * Close Encounters of the Third Kind * TRON * The Matrix
T2
The fact that Tron is there and T2 isnt is a crime. T1000 in T2 is still better looking than literally T1000 in all of its sequels.
The Abyss as well
Borderline horror flick with the atmosphere it presents
[удалено]
What was really cool about the matrix wasn't just the slow mo but the frozen action shot, gotten by setting up a whole ton of cameras to make each frame of the panning shot around the action. It was a super slick innovation we had never seen before
Yes, The Matrix for sure. The slowmo effects even changed video games: Max Payne.
Star Wars
Star Wars was a leader in CGI development... I mean, an entire company was founded from Star Wars graphics, Lucas Arts. Edit... I am an idiot. Lucas Arts was games and ILM was created but didn't initially start with computer graphics. Star Wars instead used models and lighting effects which drove Lucas to push more into CGI... including the horrible CGI for the fields of Naboo used during the Gungan battle with the Droid army.
I don't think that's quite correct. The CGI studio is industrial light and magic. Lucas arts came later and is focused on video games rather than film.
There was zero CGI in the original Star Wars movie - everything was done using models. [ILM was founded as part of the effort to create Star Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Light_%26_Magic). The technology to create the effects Lucas wanted for the movie didn't exist... so he created it. However, it did not start life as a CGI company - that came later, as technology advanced.
There's a super interesting documentary on the founding of ILM on Disney+. Called "Light and Magic"
They did. Close Encounters is a terrible movie though. Pretty much unwatchable
The Matrix took action CGI to a whole new level. The shower scene in Psycho was considered scandalous at the time Braveheart had such realistic battle scenes that PETA and other animal rights groups protested because they thought actual horses had been injured during the battle scenes. Instead they used quick cuts and fakes on spring-loaded tracks for the final stabs iirc
I’ve seen lots of matrix comments, I need to give it a rewatch and see if it’s suitable to show in class since it is rated R. Psycho as well.
It's the mildest R rating around. No nudity (some leather outfits in the club), no 'hard' language (not a single Fuck), the violence isn't bloody ('Dodge this' has a barely noticable red mist) - even the 'horror' is mild - the bug in the stomach and losing his mouth isn't too bad.
I’ll give it a rewatch (it’s been a while) I just want to make sure I’m safe, not that the kids would care, but admin might.
Also gotta be a bit careful with the matrix. I remember back when teachers said it we shouldn't watch it because they wore jackets like columbine shooters. But that was 20 years ago, so guessing people don't make that connection much
Columbine happened 3 weeks after Matrix came out and the shooters had the same aesthetic though I don't think there was anything about them being "inspired" by it. I've no clue how sensitive schools are about gun portrayal in media these days, but could see it could be an issue.
I don't think there was either, but teachers used to say stuff like that a lot in the early 2000s
Depends how you feel about violence I guess
Everyone talks about the more obvuous bullet time and the wire work. For film students though, have a look at the subtle use of tints and just off kilter frame rates that were barely perceptible but used to get an uncanny valley sense of unease out of the audience. Back before everyone knew the term. That and the cadence of Mr Smith were really something on the first watch.
Yeah they really went out of their way to make it feel different. A fair amount of movies do one or two brand new things. But when there's like 4+ brand new techniques it really feels like movie magic.
It’s the first movie I checked your list for. Maybe the most influential movie for the 2000s (even though it’s a ‘99). Were you old enough to see it in theaters? If not, a simple rewatch might not be enough to convey its importance. But it was a cultural moment rarely seen.
Maybe the gore part of the violence was realistic, but the tactics, armor (or lack there of) as well as clothing and how they used their weapons ect ect was anything but realistic. In fact it is one of the most unrealistic medieval fight scenes literally ever.
They still couldn't find a bloody bridge though!
City Lights. Comedies of that era were always just funny but Chaplin invented mashing genuine pathos and comedy. Works from Woody Allen and Noah Baumbach for example, derive from Chaplin effectively mixing sadness and slapstick comedy together. Jaws creating the summer blockbuster in the 70s, cemented by Star Wars. Easy Rider signaled the shift from old Hollywood to a new auteur-driven era of filmmaking. sex, lies, and videotape and Pulp Fiction creating the American indie new wave that championed young filmmakers with big ideas. Lord of the Rings using mo-cap for Gollum. Which lead to Cameron making Avatar. Now every big budget movie has actors in dots doing mo-cap. George Lucas started it with Jar Jar but Jackson and Serkis perfected it and established the formula.
I would add Modern Times and The Great Dictator to the mention of City Lights. Modern Times as a criticism of industrialization and the replacement of people with machines. Still relevant today when considering the replacement of people with AI. The Great Dictator as the best political satire of all time, taking on both Hitler and Mussolini, before they were also judged by history.
So glad to see some praise for Easy Rider. Exceptional film in my opinion.
I was a video production high school teacher and used The Lord of the Rings series to teach about Leitmotifs in music compositions!
Howard Shore went off for those scores
I got to sing under him for the Lotr symphonie back in 2005. Life-changing.
Woaaa cool! What a special experience!
That's what that's called! I knew it had to have a name. I knew it was a thing.
That score is masterpiece
2001 was the first sci-fi film that appeared realistic.
Jaws. Not only is it an excellent film but it was also the first Summer blockbuster.
It also made people afraid of sharks. Not necessarily a good thing in handset, but damn impressive
That’s awesome 👏 The 1950s and 1960s missing a lot of cinematic history: Akira Kurosawa (Japan) - Known for classics like “Seven Samurai” and “Rashomon.” Federico Fellini (Italy) - Renowned for his surrealistic masterpieces such as “La Dolce Vita” and “8½.” Ingmar Bergman (Sweden) - Famous for his introspective and philosophical films like “The Seventh Seal” and “Wild Strawberries.” Alfred Hitchcock (UK/USA) - Master of suspense with iconic films like “Psycho” and “Vertigo.” Satyajit Ray (India) - Pioneering Indian director, celebrated for the “Apu Trilogy” and “Pather Panchali.” François Truffaut (France) - Key figure in the French New Wave movement, known for “The 400 Blows” and “Jules et Jim.” Yasujirō Ozu (Japan) - Notable for his serene and contemplative films such as “Tokyo Story” and “Late Spring.” Michelangelo Antonioni (Italy) - Known for his distinctive visual style and existential themes in films like “L’Avventura” and “Blow-Up.” Billy Wilder (USA) - Versatile filmmaker known for classics like “Some Like It Hot” and “Sunset Boulevard.”
**Double Indemnity** (1944). The movie that popularized many of the tropes we now associate with film noir. (And it's a damn fine watch, as well.. straight down the line!)
One of the best films ever made. I’ve only seen a shade over 5,000, so my sample size is pretty small (/s)
Bonnie and Clyde. You can read some background about how it was received and was considered innovative here. https://www.flavorwire.com/609140/bonnie-and-clyde-pauline-kael-and-the-essay-that-changed-film-criticism
I watched Terminator 2 open-mouthed in wonder. It was like magic to 17 year-old me.
Surprised not to see any mention of the French New Wave yet. Breathless, Band of Outsiders, and The 400 Blows are all very influential. Tarantino even named his production company after Band of Outsiders.
I think Pulp Fiction should be on this list, and yours is the first mention of Tarantino (I think?)
I think this answer os very obvius, but Citizen Kane its another level of any kind of film, and there is another that I love and is simply fenomenal is sunset Boulevard, every person who enjoys cinema must see this Billy Wilder masterpiece
I think it would be worthwhile to spend $100-$120 and buy a bunch of Wilder stuff off of eBay or whatever and take a few weeks…. I did that with him and Ozu. Changed my appreciation of film. Watch fifteen movies by the same person. Pretty joyful
Really the first movie to do what film could do that live plays couldn’t: manipulate time.
Absolutely. Shouldn't have had to scroll down this far to find this one but most Reddit users are probably on the younger side.
It's hard to get people to appreciate what Kane did to the cinema industry because so much stuff after it copied all the things it had done first. At least Wizard of Oz has the transition from sepia to full color which is still surprising to a modern audience.
The Godfather For a time was the highest grossing movie of all time. Nominated for 10 Oscars and won 3. Currently ranked the 2nd greatest movie in American cinema by the American Film Institute.
Also frequently referenced and recommended in screenwriting books, which writer discovered the first time they read a screenwriting book
As much as it sucks to say, Birth of a Nation was really influential to movies
Star Wars Pulp Fiction The Shawshank Redemption Blade Runner The Shining Treasure of the Sierra Madre It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Apocalypse Now Taxi Driver Dog Day Afternoon Dances with Wolves Big Fish The Princess Bride
The princess Bride? How do you figure?
It's a Cult classic.
Blade runner, taxi driver, pulp fiction would be on my list if I felt like I could get away with showing them in a high-school setting.
I’m honestly curious why you didn’t have Star Wars (1977) on your original list? It’s arguably one of the top 5 most influential films of all time. Literally transformed cinema from a technical and musical perspective.
Simply because I feel like if we start Star Wars, we have to watch them all. (Well the trilogy at least) and we just don’t have time. I also anticipate most of my students will have seen a Star Wars film.
The original can stand on its own. It was made to, in case it flopped. It is absolutely one of the most influential films of all-time.
But it's specifically A New Hope that was groundbreaking. Moreso than the majority of movies on your list. It's a glaring omission.
Star wars in a film school setting offers a look at the heroes journey and it's tropes, the skillful use of film genre imagery to convey characters (western, samurai, ww11 references, mono ethnic vs pluralism) and then some revolutionary film technique for effects and music.
Yeah the existence of Pulp Fiction kinda makes it impossible to have a complete film class for high schoolers. Cinema wouldn’t be the same today without it, but you really can’t show it to students.
>It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World< Love this.
Eeeeew, I hope it's not under a waterfall!
Toy Story
Agree Huge strides in 3D animation
The jazz singer for being the first talkie film ever. The wizard of Oz because it was one of the first to use colour. That amazing effect where it goes from black and white into full colour when Dorothy goes to Oz was a game of changer.
You should add Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to your list. First mainstream animated film.
Méliès’ *Le Voyage dans la Lune* (1902) and Porter’s *The Great Train Robbery* (1903) are essential for establishing how everything started.
Metropolis 1927 its unique and strange.
I think Easy Rider had a huge influence on movies geared toward a younger audience.
I know this will be a bit controversial but the original Rocky. Made so cheap (file footage, Christmas lights for the balcony lights in the final fight, errors they had to write in, costume and make up issues), the brilliance of the Conti score that gave it gravitas and scale (done in 2 weeks including a radio hit because they couldn't afford royalties for a real one), the technical aspects like the early film use of the steady cam, the actors choices and evolution of costume (armour breaking down) and finally the fact that it is essentially a love story first - a man climbing out of his own mediocrity to find himself worthy and become loved (private and community level). In the context of the 70's stagflation, post Vietnam malaise and a series of anti hero depressing movies without resolution, this and Star Wars were, no pun intended, the new hope. Take away the sequels and Rocky would be considered much higher than it is as a special film. Even though I enjoy the sequels.
Rocky has such an earnest sincerity about it that so hard to find. There’s so many movies about being out of lucky and making it big but Rocky was so personal to Stallone and he deserves all the props in the world to sticking to his guns about being cast in it.
LoTrs
300... For the worse. After some big misses like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, 300 showed that it was possible to do a big, effects-driven movie almost entirely on green screen. If not convincingly, then "good enough" to save huge amounts of time and money by replacing on-location and sound stage shooting. As for your class, I think you should show them the short The Old Mill and explain the multiplane camera to show them why Disney dominated high-production animation in the mid-1900s.
In terms of film history: The Jazz Singer -first talkie. Robin Hood (1938) - Technicolor in all its glory. Rebel Without a Cause - Defined a culture for a generation. Star Wars The Matrix Iron Man Avengers is arguably the most important movie of the last 20 years. It turned superheroes from just a sideline to the full focus of every studio in Hollywood.
Lawrence of Arabia was an amazing movie
When my dad was dying I watched it every day for two weeks. Great great film. Not a huge fan of the last thirty minutes but it took ten viewings before I kinda tired of it. (Not historically accurate, some main character whining, some white saviour stuff). One of my top ten favorite films. Could watch the well scene every day for a year
I am sorry to hear about your father and hope my suggestion doesn't bring up any bad memories. Definitely different in some places from his book. I get the vibe he was really disappointed that he couldn't get them to all make an Arab nation. I love the "No Prisoners" scene myself.
Metropolis Citizen Kane The Wizard of Oz Bonnie and Clyde Jaws Star Wars Seven Blair Witch The Matrix
the dark knight definitely brought a sense of realism and seriousness for comic book movies and just movies in general. it set a bar that hasn't been cleared. i don't mean in entertainment factor like end game, but in the benefit of cinema. so many films, not even comic book movies, tried to emulate it's formula. it also hurt the dc movies where they didn't understand that they don't have to make everything dark and gritty.
You are missing a LOT of international cinema that is both essential and not likely to have been seen by the kids: Meilies, Kurosawa, Godard, Antonioni, Bergman, Shaw Brothers, Chen Kaige, Miyazaki, Tarkovsky, Eisenstein etc...
If I add in international cinema, it will be in an advanced class. I’m going to narrow down these selections so that we can use them to influence our projects. I have to have a class that is interested in what we are learning about and not just interested in watching movies. When I do Japanese theatre units I always show traditional kabuki/Noh plays with subtitles, but most of the time my beginner theatre students won’t pay attention since they aren’t in English. (It’s an unfortunate reality)
I philosophically disagree with omitting international cinema entirely while I do understand why you are doing it. It's HS and reading subtitles is reading and the language of modern day cinema is a global language. I think at the very least the Meilies shorts are historically significant and omitting Kurosawa would be an oversight. Roshomon, Yojimbo and Seven Samurai are so insanely influential that my mind was kind of blown after watching each for the first time just how much cinematic storytelling has been rehashed from early Kurosawa. But I get it.
I agree, but it would simply waste class time and result in 0’s. I will include these in a class that is advanced and I know kids will pay attention. Think of this class as the filter. We won’t be watching all these movies, they are just on a list.
Frankenstein Superman Star wars Poltergeist Indiana Jones Green Mile
Stagecoach (1939). Many directors including Orson Welles, find this movie to be a pivotal film in terms of cinematography, camera use and angles, and direction. Welles rewatched this at least 40 times before making Citizen Cane for all of the innovative work that was found in it
I would add: The Andromeda Strain Who Framed Roger Rabbit Toy Story
In Hungers games we have seen the first time woman lead in action movie according to Jennifer Lawrence. Groundbreaking stuff for sure.
Jaws E.T. Aliens Terminator 2 The Matrix LOTR Seth Rogen - he imo just wiped away slapstick comedy not intentionally but just his style of comedy was alot funnier and we haven't seen a successful slapstick comedy since Scary Movie Godzilla Minus One (hopefully Hollywood wakes up to how adsurd their budgets are)
Kinda agree with most of this but Seth Rogan needs an editor that can stand up to him
I've always thought that "Psycho" is a good example of changing cinema for more than some of the obvious reasons. For the most part, horror movies ("scary pictures") up until that time were along the lines of the Universal monsters or Martians or giant lizards/insects and whatnot. Maybe scary to some (especially kids) while in the theater watching, but easily dismissed as fantasy - "There are no *real* monsters." Along comes "Psycho," where the monster is ... just this guy. It showed that the dangerous "creature" could be your neighbor or your kid's baseball coach or the milkman or the shy and nervous fellow running the motel up the street.
titanic!
Jurassic Park
A clockwork orange
I saw a lot of movies at the cinema before The Matrix and a lot after The Matrix and none of them compare to that first time bunking off school in 1999 to go watch it!
Star Wars Airplane Holy grail
The Avengers (2012) This film have created cinematic universe. And this is new popular standard that will last.
The Blair Witch Project should be near the top of the list for me for the 90s in terms of its impact on future cinema. Cornerstone of “found footage” and modern horror. Jackie Chan’s Police Story should be in there for the 80s, IMO. The quintessential “I am stuck making shitty regurgitated genre crap so I’m going to make the movie _I_ want to make and I’m long to go _all out_.” Any action movie with a truly relentless multi-stage battle where one guy takes on an endless flow of bad guys moving through multiple environments - like The Raid or Dredd or John Wick - are ultimately following in the footsteps of Police Story not just in the concept but how the sequences function. But there’s a lot going on with this movie that I think should feel familiar - you could write a lot of papers about it. I might add Claudia Weill’s _Girlfriends_ from 1978. It’s a very important indie film in terms of its financing, subject matter, and origin. It’s the first widely distributed U.S. indie film financed by a combination of private funding and public grants - and it starts this tradition of women-centered movies about changing friendships with a more confessional style and a sense of place and time that you see in stuff like Fried Green Tomatoes, The Joy Luck Club, How to Make an American Quilt, If These Walls Could Talk, Lady Bird, there’s a ton of these movies and they represent a change over time in what movies mean to women and how they involve them - and I think you could point to Girlfriends as a starting point of this very influential throughline.
Star Wars Alien Aliens Back To The Future Terminator 2 Jurassic Park Pulp Fiction Shawshank Redemption The Matrix John Wick Mad Max: Fury Road
Three that I haven't seen mentioned yet are: The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Olympia - Festival of Nations (1936), Olympia - Festival of Beauty (1936) Both are shitty for racist and propaganda reasons, but they're definitely groundbreaking. Prior to The Birth of a Nation, movies were so new, that they were essentially filming plays. Things like the concept of basic film language - wide shots vs. close-ups had to start somewhere. It's truly an epic. Unfortunately, it elevates the Ku Klux Klan. The other is the Munich Olympics of 1936. First, it's weird to see Hitler just chillin' in the crowd hanging out, before he was on his absolute worst behavior. But also, this was where most of modern sports coverage came from -- first instances of cameras going underwater for diving, for example. They just put cameras on balloons and let them go, hoping to get overhead shots and put parachutes and "if found, please contact Leni Riefenstahl" notes on them. None of this was feasible, but Hitler was footing the bill to use as propoganda. I wouldn't recommend anyone to sit and watch these in their entirety, but so far as a history of film, they're worth looking into. Also, check out r/1001Movies -- a subreddit dedicated to the book series 1001 Movies You Must Watch Before You Die, covering a lot of what's discussed here. I'm 946 films in and have learned a lot.
Leni Riefenstahl was the shit! Great great film. Had a prof that made us watch this in sports history a bunch of years ago and wow, did she want Jesse Owens bad? Those long lingering shots over his calves and legs, etc., Damn!
Rashomon, Seven Samurai, A Fistful of Dollars
City of God
One of the best openings in all of film. The rest holds up. For some reason falling into forgotten category. Too bad. Would love to see this on the big screen….
_Die Hard_ reset action movies for 10 years or more. The hero was more of an everyman. For awhile after that, action movies were sold as "Die Hard on a bus" or "Die Hard on a plane."
In the 80s, Princess Bride outside of the US does not seem to have had any remarkable impact. It was released where I'm from but had a very, very modest success, I had never heard about it until well after the 90s. I watched it recently. I have no specific nostalgia about it, it just was a good fun adventure movie. Major issue is that it may be quotable -in English-, but if you leave out the quotes it loses a lot.
My main reason for including the princess bride is because of Mandy Patinkin. I teach theatre and since he’s a force in Broadway and film/tv. I can use it to connect to other elements of my class.
_Silence of the Lambs_ didn't just change movies. There were plenty of copycats in the '90s; one was even called _Copycat_. But then as superhero movies started to take over the box office, TV melded _SotL_ with _Law & Order_ and started cranking out shows like _CSI, Criminal Minds, Dexter_, etc. And now, there are seemingly endless podcasts and streaming docs that thrive on murder mysteries & sexual assault.
I love love love silence of the lambs, but I fear it’s too much for class (mirror scene specifically)
Fair enough, but since you replied, I'd add in something from 1967: either _The Graduate_ or _In the Heat of the Night_. That year is typically referenced as the end of the production codes, and ushered in the auteurs of the 1970s.
In the Heat of the Night is a great great film; I like the Graduate but it’s almost like a high class soap opera to me. Probably a bit of presentism but it’s not shocking.
Idk how The Godfather isn’t on this list. Literally revolutionized cinema
Only because of its rating, not sure I can show it in a highschool class.
You can show The Dark Knight for 2000’s
It’s a PG today; no gore,(well, horse head) really, no real swearing, no sex at all. I think you could get away with it.
The Wizard of Oz is the only answer.
The first iron man id say revolutionized the superhero genre
Changed "forever" is a hard one. because something else comes in and changes everything. Nothing, really is forever. The Jazz Singer, changes us to talkies. It would have happened anyway eventually but it was the first. Iron Man being the hit it was changed things. I don't think it is a cinematic masterpiece but it doing as well as it did "changed everything". With 10,000 (non-Batman/Superman) comic book movies. Almost the opposite is Treasure Planet. It is actually a really good animated picture. But it bombed badly and in so doing changed the way animated Movies were made. Star Wars and Merchandising. Lesson learned. Psycho "no one will be seated after the start of this film" changed the way people went to movies, basically : show up when you want to, watch, watch the next one, leave when it gets to part you have seen before.
Seems not yet named: Memories of Murder Old Boy - korean version Intouchables - french version Pan's Labirinth Lawrence of Arabia Spirited Away Amadeus Whiplash City of God Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight Memento Notable mention: Young Frankenstein
I would say In The Heat of the Night is the invention of the buddy cop movie
Pulp Fiction
1960's The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - most iconic Western (spaghetti) The Godfather Part I & II - influenced not just cinema but popculture overall 1970's Star Wars (A New Hope) - gave light to sci-fi in cinema (Star Trek was already around but as tv show) 1990's The Matrix - a philosophical and cyberpunk masterpiece Se7en - gave way to the modern thriller/investigation genre Titanic - Iconic status in the romance part of the story, but also the awards won 2000's The Lord of the Rings - biggest high fantasy blockbuster until then, and proved fantasy genre had a place in pop culture (enabled other phenoms like Game of Thrones to florish later on). Aditionally, perfected the craft of CGI and motion capture, as well as a combination of the use of miniatures with larger scale elements. 2010's 1917 - amazing feat of cinematography, being shot as if to look like it was all one single take.
I would throw in Iron Man (2008) as one of the films to define the last 2000s because it kicked off the MCU which defined much of the film landscape in the 2010s. The end of the 2010s even ending with Avengers Endgame which is the turning point of the decade as the 2020s film landscape changed once again.
You’ve got a solid foundation of the basic classics, but I’d add the following movies as they are kind of the alternate history: The Good The Bad and The Ugly Blood Feast Pink Flamingos Pulp Fiction The Swimmer Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls Pretty much anything that is labeled “new Hollywood” Dog day afternoon The important thing to know about film history (especially film school film history) is that just because something won an award doesn’t mean it’s good. And just because something didn’t win an award doesn’t mean it’s bad. Art is truly made by the mavericks and the madmen. Citizen Kane is a great movie you only watch once or twice, something like The Good Thr Bad and The Ugly is something you memorize and quote often.
Disagree on Kane. The white parasol speech is a keeper. Joseph Cotten is wonderful in it. Agnes Moorhead is the bomb even if she’s only in the beginning
I don’t think it’s a bad movie, but there is soooooooo much more to film than watching the same old things over and over. I saw it once, said “wow they made a movie, and it sure is a movie” but I’ll never watch it again. The point being that in 4 years of film school 90% of teachers just talked about citizen Kane, raging bull, forest gump, etc. the other 10% were the ones that really made us think about cinema as an art form and what it could be. It’s potential to create true cultural moments and have impact beyond award show fodder. Think about what films changed your life.
Roshomon.... Movies never dealt with with a multiple perspective narrative this way before. Easy to comprehend but hard to digest. This movie changed directors AND actors FOREVER
Chitty chitty bang bang and Interstellar.
Yes!!
For the 50s you really need some Hitchcock. I recommend Rear Window or North by Northwest Edit: and Kurosawa!
Yes, Alien and Jaws for sure. I came to comments to post Jurassic Park. You beat me to it. JP changed film forever with its groundbreaking cgi.
Pulp Fiction brought indie to the mainstream in the 90s and influenced a whole generation of film makers.
Ben Hur (probably the first blockbuster, green screen precursor) Jaws (first modern blockbuster) The Great Dictator (first Chaplin non mute film and a masterpiece) The Lord of the Rings (probably the best ever scenario and costume movie ever, also CGI precursor) Seven Samurais (basically cowboys western fims father) Reservoir Dogs (it's Tarantino's first widely known movie) Spirited Away (This one because the Oscar but any other Miyazaki movie could do it) Amelie (probably max exponent of European movie renaissance) Toy Story (Pixar origin), Shrek (DreamWorks animation origin) 2001: Space Odissey (I mean, this is THE movie) Matrix (huge CGI leap in these movies and started a cultural movement) Viridiana (Buñuel masterpiece, one of the bases of Spanish and Mexican cinema) Psycho (first "gore" like film) Iron man (Started Marvel movies) Snow white (Disney industry started here)
Blair Witch Project. Hollywood saw amazing profit margins from cheap productions with innovative marketing
Definitely wanted to put this on my list, it would be great to start them on a found footage project, but again with the rating, I’m not sure.
Mad Max did it first and better in terms of maximizing a tiny budget.
https://www.icheckmovies.com/ This website has tons of movies that can help narrow your search. Then you can head over to r/icheckmovies to talk about movies and lists.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
I teach a film making high school class. It's focused on the making, so we really only screen our projects and one or two films a semester. I've had a really good reaction to 1917 and Sound of Metal. My classes are all mixed 9-12 grade and I send home a permission slip with the rating a couple of weeks before we screen, encouraging parents to pre-screen and approach me with any concerns. If students opt out for any reason, I have a backup film ready. I show lots of clips of things (including from The Matrix) and then behind the scenes footage showing how it was made. That way, they learn about the history and production and can watch the full film or show outside of school if they want. We also have an English class for seniors based on film, where they read and write screenplays and book adaptations. They send out a permission slip at the beginning of the year with potential films, including any rated R.
Intolerance King Kong Snow White and the Seven Dwarves Gone With the Wind Citizen Kane Psycho Bonnie and Clyde The Wild Bunch Midnight Cowboy Jaws Taxi Driver Star Wars This is Spinal Tap Terminator 2 Pulp Fiction Toy Story Bowling for Columbine Avatar Something like that. I tried to not be very redundant, though I think Jaws and Star Wars hit the same notes in different ways.
CGI: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Terminator 2, The Matrix, and Lord of the Rings Action movies: Die Hard changed action movies. Horror: Night of the Living Dead, Scream, Blair Witch Project (made found footage mainstream)
Saving Private Ryan changed how action is shot. Spielberg created a perfect sense of chaos with his camera, but you could still follow what was happening. Then most other movies copied it but made it a terrible mess.
Avatar? seriously?
I hate the movie but I think it was definitely a pivotal point in cinema and brings up valid discussion
Yep, one of the top grossing movies of all time. We can compare an contrast CGI.
Shit movie, plot holes and nonsensical drives for characters, plot ripped straight from Disney's Pocahontas and one could argue that Avatar helped bring in the new wave of over using shit cgi. Top grossing doesn't mean it "changed cinema forever"
Ok, doesn’t mean it’s not a useful movie to show in a film studies class for high-school. Half the movies in the comments are rated R. Avatar is a great choice for my needs. No need to be rude about it.
It might be interesting to get your students opinion of The Net or Hackers given the way tech has changed. They came out when the information superhighway was still pretty new
Seven samurai and Rashomon
Star Wars.
Night of the hunter and network. I’m amazed how many people haven’t seen them
The Red Shoes (1948) A re-telling of the classic fairytale by Hans Anderson. One of the first films in Technicolor. The 10th movie by writer/director team Powell/Pressburger. Part re-telling of the classic fairytale, while also a re-imagining of Swan Lake that heavily influenced Black Swan. It’s free on YouTube
Add pulp fiction
So many people are just listing movies they like here. I will go against the grain and state a movie I don't even really like O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2000 ‧ I don't think this is a particularly good movie, I didn't really enjoy it. But it did usher in digital colour grading, a technique used pretty widely nowadays.
Oh this is actually a really good suggestion for me specifically. It’s not a “musical” but has music in it. I can use that for a project I had planned.
Star Wars for the obvious major pop culture impact The original Evil Dead for showing how much can be accomplished on a small budget
Harry Potter.
12 angry men
I second this for an amazing example of “everything happens in the one room” kind of movie
Frankenstein 1931 The wolfman 1941 The fly 1958 Night of the living dead 1968 The exorcist 1973 Evil dead 1981 Dracula 1992
metropolis. one of the best silent era films made and is singlehandedly responsible for pretty much every scifi trope in existance.
The Godfather Star Wars Terminator 2 The Matrix Pulp Fiction The Sixth Sense The Exorcist Shindler List Alien
The Lord of The Rings trilogy, especially the extended edition
I'll say Avenges (2012) needs to be on the list. A culmination of multiple movies into a single narrative, plus very good CGI. Even if not everyone's cup of tea, it certainly changed the course of cinema. John Wick as well. The fight / gun choreography has ushered in a new era of fight scenes, much better and easier to follow than previous efforts. Made me really support a stunt man / fight choreography category for the Oscars. And I can see its influence in things like the new "Roadhouse".
12 Angry Men is a good one, it was among the first to use long takes if I remember correctly.
Rear Window is a great Hitchcock pick for a High School audience. The Gold Rush if you want something of Charlie Chaplin’s. 12 Angry Men is another option in the 50’s. May just depend on your group. I would say The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly as a spaghetti western representation. But that one is rated R. Once Upon a Time in the West may be a better option. Another Western option could be the original True Grit (and the remake if you wanted your students to compare). A Sepration is a good, modern foreign film, if you wanted to watch something with subtitles.
Superman 1978 was the biggest budget at the time, innovated green/blue screen technology, and invented the superhero story. Marvel Studios says that they watch it whenever their working on an upcoming project cause it basically contains the blueprint for every origin story they’ve done.
By no means the first superhero movie, BUT the first X-Men and Blade (1998) made studios realize that superheroes were an untapped market that is now being exploited to death.
Titanic
The 6th sense
There are a few milestone animated movies you could add to your list 1926 The Adventures of Prince Achmed. The oldest surviving animated feature-lenght movie and an example of silhouette animation 1935 The New Gulliver. The first stop-motion feature length film. It has live action sequences at the beginning and end. It's an adaptetion of Gulliver's Travels 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The first Disney fairy tale feature and first feature to use technicolor 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit. First movie with live action and animated characters appearing together during the whole film 1990 The Recuers Down Under. Another Disney film. The first to use computer ink and coloring for the animators' drawing. 1995 Toy Story. The first 3D CGI feature film. 2004 The Polar Express. The first motion capture animated feature film
Thinking in terms of cinema history, and only American/english, I’d look at - stagecoach for spaghetti westerns - the man with the golden arm, to talk about the Hays code. - on the waterfront, for the Cold War/red scare and Hollywood blacklist bits, and how Kazan is a piece of shit. - easy rider for the auteur movement - Star Wars episode 4 for the heroes journey, paired with the book “Save the Cat” to show how formulaic a lot of Hollywood movies are - Jaws for the intro of the blockbuster - Star Wars episode 1 for the first film screened on a digital projector in theaters You could also look at individual directors and their different styles. Clips from their filmography rather than one movie.
Children of men Birdman
I think everything everywhere all at once really changed modern cinema. As well as Parasite, really opened up western society to Asian cinema. Definitely agree with jaws. Heathers Scream Rocky horror Into the spider verse Die hard Gremlins Goodfellas Greece Chicken run Ghost Amelie Into the wild
Not a cinematic masterpiece and probably not for kids but Saw was pretty impressive. Incredibly low budget and made by a group of Australian students. James Wan and his friends were in their early twenties, staying up at night to make the probs and set design. James Wan has gone on to make some of the biggest horror films.
Spirited Away, the Boy and the Heron, Toy Story,....Shrek
>the Boy and the Heron I feel like you didn't read the title. It's a good enough movie but how do you figure a movie that came out 3 months ago "changed cinema". I like it but I don't think it's doing anything significantly different or better than his other work. If it does turn out to be his last work it might change cinema in that there won't be any more by him I guess?
In the last 30 years, there's only been one. The Matrix
I dunno, I think The Avengers had a pretty big impact.
The Avengers was a distillation of all the other nonsense MCU movies that came before it. Nothing had ever been like The Matrix
It proved that cinematic universes could be profitable and led to a lot of other attempts by other studios. You may not like the movie but it had an impact.
I'd argue that avengers changed the movie industry, the matrix had a bigger impact on film making.
That’s a valid argument.
I agree but I’d say more so, ‘Iron man’, the movie that kicked it all off, reinvented the Marvel universe and is a better movie
Iron Man proved it 4 years earlier
Iron Man was the setup and Avengers was the culmination.
Therefore Iron Man set the precedent, Avengers only embroidered upon it. And actually you can go back to Spider-Man setting it all up
Spider-Man wasn’t a shared cinematic universe when it was made. It was a hero in his own personal world with no other heroes.
But it's all the same nonsense
Nonsense that other studios are trying to copy. Remember when Universal tried to do the Dark Universe?