Non-anime movies that really made you think?

[airichan623]

I'm asking because I just finished watching the 1984 movie Red Dawn, which was in turn thought provoking, horribly sad, and intruiging. I couldn't tear my eyes away as they filled with tears. And now I'm wondering what I would do in that situation.

Other movies that made/make me think:

-Walk to Remember
-Inception (Duh)
-Bourne trilogy

[Atria35]

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

[the_wolfs_howl]

Here's a few:

Saving Private Ryan
Gettysburg
The Matrix
The Prestige
Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name (does that count as non-anime, since it's live-action?)
The Village
Twelve Angry Men

[rocklobster]

Here's one that I can't recommend right away, unless you can handle its disturbing nature: A Clockwork Orange. This is a movie that's meant to be disturbing, as there was no other way the story could be presented accurately and honestly. It is not for the faint-hearted, but it is an excellent commentary on violence in our society.

[bigsleepj]

Akira Kurosawa's IKIRU
Carl Dreyer's ORDET
Robert Bressson's DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST
Errol Morris' MR DEATH: THE RISE AND FALL OF FRED LEUCHTER JR
SOLARIS (the Steven Soderbergh / George Cloony version)

Might list more later.

[Cognitive Gear]

The Grapes of Wrath by John Ford
2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick
A Clockwork Orange also by Stanley Kubrick (I will not recommend this to anyone here.)
Every movie by Terrence Malick.
O' Horten by Brent Hamer
Babel by Alejandro González Iñárritu
The Science of Sleep by Michel Gondry

And now I am off to feel like an elitist snob. bigsleepj's post makes me feel a bit better about it, though.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Oh, I forgot to mention The Fountain

Also, I might add that a movie might make you think regardless of whether it actually carries a deep message or not, or even if it's a good movie or not. Often a movie will spark a certain line of thought only vaguely related to the movie itself, or you can start thinking about something because of a conversation you have with someone who watches it with you.

[Yuki-Anne]

The Painted Veil, starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts.
The Prestige
Fearless, by Peter Weir, starring Jeff Bridges
The Truman Show
The Godfather
Fight Club
Citizen Kane
Slumdog Millionaire

There are more, I think. I tend to favor thought-provoking movies over guns'n'explosions or romcoms.

[Vii]

Some of mine have already been mentioned but I'll put 'em on the list anyway.
-Inception (My brain was at full capacity just trying to understand it. O.o)
-The Sixth Sense
-Freedom Writers
-The Matrix (I still don't understand it fully)
-Up
-A.I.
-Twelve Angry Men ( I read the book first. Same thing really.)

I probably have more but that's all I can think of right now.

[Mouse2010]

No Country for Old Men. Absolutely brutal, absolutely beautiful in a stark way, and it left me puzzling over the last words for some time after seeing it.*

I keep meaning to read some Cormac McCarthy, but it might just be too dark for me.

* I love the Coen brothers, but I tend to love their lighter, more comic fare, like Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, or O Brother Where Art Thou? This was the first sample of the "dark Coen brothers" that I actually liked.

[bakura91]

The Butterfly Effect: I haven't watched it in a while but Years ago when I saw it first I watched it Multiple times. I Love that movie It made me think alot about how much even the smallest decisions I make may have affected my life for better or worse, I made me wonder "If I could go back to a bad moment in my life would I stop/change it or did that bad moment actually help my life for the better"? It also made me think how important my interactions are with different people Ive come across in my life.

Protocals of Zion: very interesting Documentary about Antisemitism in America and how Different groups of people can interpret information and believe misinformation and come to conclusions of hatred for others.

[battletech]

"Moon" staring Sam Rockwell

"Mission To Mars" staring Gary Sinise

There have been many. These are just the names I can remember.

[Edward]

The Matrix
Dr. Strangelove

[bakura91]

Never Let Me Go: That was a Great movie, Its hard for me to properly say what its about because I feel that would be giving away to much So I recomend people just watch the trailer, see if that catchs your eye and then watch the movie. The Themes I see in the movie are what makes up the human life and experiences, the characters (Ill say this without giving away plot details) are robbed of many of the basic things in human life people take for granted, as they mature they find some of these things, love, freedoms, etc. but they know that these joys wont last forever and (for plot reasons I wont give away) they arent free completly

[the_wolfs_howl]

Most recently, Prayers for Bobby :/