The Film That Changed My Life

It was my birthday a few days ago (THANKS EVERYONE!!) and one of the presents I got in addition to the remastered Crash Bandicoot games for PS4 was a book titled The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark. It's just write-ups and Q&As from directors, some more famous than others, as they talk about the one movie that inspired them, ignited their love of the medium or set them on their path to filmmaking. Maybe someone did this already but I thought it might be an interesting thread to share which movie really got you on the hook. You might have more than one which is cool too but go ahead and post which film sticks out to you as the one that really changed how you look at movies.

Considering how I've been posting on forums with almost all of you for over 15 years these might seem obvious but whatever, I'm just trying to get the thread going. It's a tie between these two.

Batman (1989)
I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing when I first watched the opening scene. I was a little kid, couldn't have been more than 6, and I saw on the TV Guide station that Batman was playing 5 minutes later. I only knew of Batman because they played the Adam West show continuously so I was pretty excited to watch. Instead I watched the 'I'm Batman' scene and was floored. This wasn't Batman, this was something new, something awesome. It became the movie that really did bring me out of the childhood bubble of Aladdin and Mary Poppins. It was the first 'adult' movie that I really remember watching and made me excited to watch movies. About a year later Batman Returns came out and I begged and pleaded to watch it. Unfortunately my mom was being a total bitch that year and refused to take me. She did however rent it on VHS immediately after it came out which made no sense but I saw how Michael Keaton was still Batman, it was the first time I noticed who the director was and I started to notice things that carried over from the first one. A couple years later when I heard that Michael Keaton was no longer Batman I was pretty floored but Batman Forever is another conversation. Batman really was instrumental in my growing up and introduction to what movies to do and that's what makes me pretty partial to it as you all know perfectly well.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Like Batman, Terminator 2 opened even more doors into what movies could do. I watched as big rigs flew off freeways, helicopters crashed into SWAT vans and liquid metal villains materialize from a tile floor. It introduced me to Arnold, to swearing, to hard violence and mature adult themes (mainly saying the F-word). James Cameron became my go-to guy since I recognized his name from Aliens, the first R-rated movie Doomsday ever watched. T2 was on constant rotation in my room after I snuck my family's portable TV/VCR into my room so I could watch movies after my parents went to sleep. Much of the effect it had on me was similar to Batman's but it was taken to another level. 'People can make this' was a thought that went through my head and only made me more curious to see what was out there. It's also a great damn movie which doesn't hurt either.