Fifty Movies

[valarltd]

I want my children to have a working cinematic vocabulary, one not limited to the latest animated release.

So, my challenge to you, faithful readers, is name 5 movies you consider essential, and are appropriate for ages 8 and up.

Star Wars, Star Trek and Indiana Jones are covered.

On our planned viewing list:
Frankenstein (Karloff)
Dracula (Lugosi)
Young Frankenstein
Robin Hood (Flynn)
Captain Blood
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Metropolis
Singing in the Rain

Comments

[kitsap_charles]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind — original cut only. The various "special" editions are Spielberg second-guessing himself, and (IMNSHO) are decidedly inferior in that they sacrifice pacing for "Ooh! Aah!" special effects.

If you're going to pick one Marx Brothers film, it has to be Duck Soup, for pretty much the same reason that the one Charlie Chaplin film has to be The Great Dictator: to stimulate discussion of more serious political topics.

Both Some Like It Hot and 2001 are kid-appropriate, and both will bear re-watching when the over-8's become over-13's.

The Christopher Reeve Superman and Brad Bird's The Iron Giant. The former because ol' Supes is the iconic American hero, and the latter not only because of the Giant's last line but its evocation of 1950's red-scare paranoia.

Examine the development of stop-motion animation via almost any Ray Harryhausen film (Clash of the Titans is probably his best, but don't overlook the Sinbad movies and those Saturday afternoon monster-movie specials, It Came From Beneath The Sea and Earth Versus The Flying Saucers), and then move to Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas and all of the Wallace and Grommit oeuvre.

Compare and contrast The Great Escape with Chicken Run to explore the difference between parody and homage.