Important Movies

Without the original, there's no remake. Without the remake, there's no Batman. 

Are you really gonna open this can of worms... Mr... Dracula? 

What four do we have locked in?

Flesh and the Devil... or maybe The Black Pirate. I'd probably place both of them above Son of the Shiek, but I'm kind of flying blind here because I haven't actually seen any of them.

No.

I'll vote The Black Pirate for the early colour photography.

1. Unforgiven: The film that elevated Clint Eastwood and arguably still his best film. It's an amazing deconstruction of the Western while simultaneously excelling as one.

2. Malcolm X: Malcolm X is one of the most important figures of the 20th century and this film brings that sense of importance. This is one of Spike Lee's more restrained films stylistically, but he doesn't allow this to become a dry and dull biopic. This has a lot of energy, and Lee isn't afraid to push boundaries.

3. Reservoir Dogs: It isn't the phenomenon that Pulp Fiction would be two years later, but Reservoir Dogs is still a very important and influential film which marked the arrival of one of the next great filmmakers with a bang.

4. Wayne's World: Very popular comedy that has maintained its audience over the years. These days its probably more well-loved than Myers' Austin Powers series. It also added some new phrases into pop-culture, so that's neat.

5. Batman Returns: Tim Burton pushed the darkness far with Batman Returns, too far in fact. The parental backlash this got led to the series being a lot more light, and "fun for the whole family" designed. It wasn't until Batman Begins that Batman got to be dark and brooding again. You could even argue this encouraged more superhero films to take a lighter, less complex approach. It's not exactly the greatest of legacies, but it definitely made an impact. There's also something to be said for the film's passionate fanbase which has developed over the years.

Honourable Mentions:

Aladdin: I'm sure people will fight for this one. It's a good movie, and one of my favourite Disney films of the era, but some of the other Disney Renaissance films seem more important in the grand scheme of things. This one just executes very well.

Dracula: The last grasp at relevance from one of cinema's legends.

The Player: I love this movie, but it seems to unknown to really be called important.

Glengarry Glen Ross: The film seems to have made more of an impact than David Mamet's other works and it features a great mix of actors from different eras, but I don't know if it's quite list worthy. Most of the influence from this film is in the little deals, with the film itself being ignored.

Reservoir Dogs (Obviously)
Unforgiven (I don't care for it, but some people like westerns)
Malcolm X
Army of Darkness (I can't go anywhere without hearing references from this)

Aladdin?

What about The Body Guard or Last of the Mohicans?

El Mariachi! Forgot about taht.

I have always thought of Army of Darkness as 93.

Thats funny, I just thought of that movie too.  Was it a 2006 film?

True.


A League of Their Own
Batman Returns
El Mariachi
Malcolm X
Reservoir Dogs