1. Die Hard (1988)
2. Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)
3. Tango & Cash (1989)

That is only in my early teens, though, I watched more as I got older. I'm old, remember?

Jurassic Park
I was probably the only kid in my elementary school who missed it in 1993. I only saw it on TV at the age of 13 or 14.

Independence Day
One of the few movies I saw on the big screen more than once.

The Matrix
The most impressive movie of my high school years.

1. Mallrats (1995) - saw this one hundreds of times, to the point where I've not seen it for about 10 years now
2. Aliens (1986) - I believe I saw it when I was younger than 13, but it wasn't until I was this age that I really started to love it and watch it religiously
3. Armour of God (1987) - this one acted as a gateway to the world of Jackie Chan and Hong Kong cinema

Like I said in the other thread, I have basically a dead zone in my mind of most of my childhood through to high school about films. More specifically films that had any "real" impact or lasting impression on me. I just don't have any. Even movies I have grown to love over the past couple years haven't really had any impact on who I am now, I guess they're too new to me to really have a deep effect.

I didn't paticularly care about movies growing up, they were just things I watched and then got on with my life, nothing actually stuck with me. If I'm going to be completely honest there are 2 book series that affected me more growing up than any movie every did. Harry Potter, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy.

If there is ever to be anything that I could claim influenced and shaped who I am today it would be those 2 series.

But that's not the name of the game, so going by what other metrics I have left, my main movies through my teen years through to a couple years ago (I'm 21, 19 wasn't that long ago) would have to be.

1: Hellboy 2 (2008)
2: RENT (2005)
3: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2013-08-29 02:45:58)

Well, my list plays out a little bit differently because home video and cable movie channels weren't a factor in my childhood or adolescence.   The only way to see a movie multiple times was to keep going back to the theater, or scour the tv listings to try and catch it whenever it aired.    That's right, kids - in my day sometimes we had to set the alarm and get up at 3 AM just to see a movie a second time. 

So with that level of effort involved, for a movie to make MY list it was obviously a pretty big deal.   

I'll start with the obvious one:

1.  Star Wars (1977)
I mean, duh.    Ten or more viewings in the theater during the original release, and several re-release viewings after that.  As soon as "home video" was no longer exclusive to millionaires it was one of my first video purchases, but I was out of my teens by then.

2.  The Ωmega Man.  (1971)
Damn right I used the symbol to spell the title properly because RESPECT.

I was not yet a teen when this was made but was too young to see it at the time.  I discovered it on tv a few years later, and from that day forward I watched the shit out of it every chance I got.  My well-documented love of downer apocalypse movies follows a straight line leading right back to The Omega Man.

3.  Harold and Maude (also 1971)
Did not see this during its original release either (see above) but neither did nobody else.  But then H&M became of the most popular "midnight movies" of the '70s (second only to Rocky Horror, pretty much).   So it was possible to catch a screening of H&M pretty much any weekend of my teen years.  Which I did, at every opportunity.

If there's any single movie that determined my worldview to this day, it's Harold and Maude.  To know it is to know me.  If you dare.

1.)Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)
2.)Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
3.)Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

1) Fight Club - FC was the one that made me think movies could be more than "movies." It was about social mores and philosophy. Though, as an adult, I find it very sophomoric. At least relative to the weight I gave it back then. Still. Special place in my heart.

2) Terminator 2 - Best action film ever made.

3) Jurassic Park - Movies can do that?

That was my trinity through my teens.

1) Fight Club (So when I was like 13, I was pretty sure that I liked movies, but I hadn't really seen any. Like, you know when you've never tried a dessert, but you know you'd probably like it if you ever did? That was me with movies. Around this time, I was trying to reinvent myself so that I wouldn't be bullied so much. My mom, god love her, had instilled a love of books in me from the time I was an infant, and books weren't cool. So I'd had that stigma since elementary school, and I had to find something else to be associated with. Something cooler. I remember the first time someone referred to me as "the movie guy," and my heart soared. But herein lies a problem. Because when someone thinks of you as "the movie guy," they expect you to have seen movies. I would just go to the library every week and pick movies off the shelf that I'd  vaguely remember hearing the name of, like 6 at a time. Fight Club was one of those movies, and in typical 13-year-old fashion, it blew my fucking mind. This is the first movie I remember loving so much that I invited friends over just to watch them watch it for the first time. Before this, I was kind of a poser movie buff. Like, "Oh yeah, I love movies," but I really didn't. Fight Club made me love movies, because Fight Club did things that, in my experience at the time, movies just didn't do. It had a crazy twist and a hero who really wasn't a hero and subliminal messages. It was like if the only play you've ever seen is Punch And Judy, and someone shows you Hamlet. "So this is what movies can be," I thought. Of course, I've seen a lot more movies since then, and Fight Club has slid rapidly down my list of favorites. Not that it's a bad movie by any stretch, it just isn't as mind-blowing to me anymore as it was when I was 14. But that doesn't change the impact it had on me.)

2) Seven Samurai (If Fight Club taught me to love movies, Seven Samurai taught me to appreciate movies. By this point, I was listening to Filmspotting on a regular basis, and they would talk about movies I'd never heard of in casual conversation. I was starting to realize that there was a whole subculture of awesome movies that the average person had no idea existed, and that idea thrilled me. And yes, I admit it, I picked up Seven Samurai at the library mainly to say that I had watched it. I mean, a 3-and-a-half hour long, black-and-white, in-Japanese-with-subtitles movie? Just watching that put me in another league, at least in my mind. I don't know if I even expected to enjoy it. The important thing was that I saw it. But lo and behold, I enjoyed the shit out of it. And not even in a classy, robe-and-monacle, "Hm, yes, quite, this is an important film" way. I had a blast. I loved the characters, I was totally absorbed by the plot, and for 200 minutes, I was completely transported. I had a realization then. "Wait, so old movies can actually be good?!? See, up to this point, I was under the impression that no one actually like watching old movies. They were like museum exhibits: interesting in their own way, but not like a roller coaster or anything. Turns out I was totally wrong. Old movies are fucking awesome. So screw you, younger self. You're an idiot.)

3) Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (The reason that this is so defining for me is a little bit different. At this point, I had seen a lot of movies, and I listened to Filmspotting and one or two other film-related podcasts, but I wasn't really a part of or even aware of the online film community. So it's my birthday, and I get an iTunes gift card from my grandmother or someone. And I see on the store that there's this weird little TV-show-type-thing that just came out that same day. It was called Dr. Horrible, and it was from some guy named Joss Whedon who I'd never heard of, but I guess some people sure liked him, because a lot of people online were talking about it. It was only a few bucks so I figured I might as well give it a shot. And as soon as the first episode was over, I knew that this was something special. I was clamoring for people to talk to about it, but of course nobody in real life knew what the fuck a "Dr. Horrible" as it was being released. A few days later the second part comes out, and then the third, and when the credits rolled, I immediately scrambled to find out more about this "Whedon" fellow. The only forum I was a member of was for this podcast for the show Heroes, and it was a pretty tight-knit bunch. It was a lot like these forums, actually. And they told me that I absolutely had to watch something called Firefly, which was all streaming on Hulu at the time. Watched it, fell in love, the whole shebang. And as I start to get into more geek-related things, I start to get more into the online film community. And one day, out of the blue, Heroes is cancelled, and the podcast/forums with it. I was pretty despondent. Those forums were the first time that I felt I truly belonged somewhere online, with people I cared about. And that podcast (which had a regular segment about other geeky shows you might like if you like Heroes) was my gateway into the internet. I was despondent, and I was desperate for a replacement. And then some guy named cinebo on Twitter tweets about this show called Down In Front. So I figured, "Sure, what the hell. I'll give it a shot." And the rest is history.)

Damn, I thought I imagined that story. Young Nick Cage and Private Joker.

2001: A Space Odyssey had a huge effect on me, but I saw it before I was 13, so that's not in this list. (And, before you ask, it's not in my other "3 films" list because I only saw it once growing up, whereas I saw the other films over and over again.)

So, my adolescence list is:

• Star Wars (1977) -- duh, as Trey said. Also, the first film I saw in Germany, in German.

• Alien (1979) -- liked it so much, I dragged my parents to see it, with hilarious consequences.

• Star Trek: the Motion Picture (1979) -- blown away by the visuals, still love the music, first time I experienced a movie get a standing ovation from the audience.

My adolescence in movies was pretty much entirely defined by the Independent Film Channel. IFC kicked off around 1994, which was right around the same time I realized that I didn't like a lot of Hollywood movies. I'd always been more into books than movies or television, but IFC taught me that even if Hollywood won't make the kind of stories I want to watch, someone out there is making those stories and putting them on film. Occasionally there will be subtitles. It was fantastic.

Raise the Red Lantern (1991) - A super depressing movie about how much it sucks to be a concubine in 1920s rural China. It's gorgeous and has all of the lovely, quiet character moments that I adore. This movie also made me the only Gong Li fangirl in my neighborhood. I even saw that godawful Memoirs of a Geisha movie, based on the equally miserable book, just because she was in it. But Raise the Red Lantern owes a lot of its place in my heart to The Last Emperor (1987), which would be one of my top Ten Childhood Defining Movies

The Piano (1993) - This movie ticked all of my boxes and is my favorite romantic drama. I was probably 14 or so when I first saw it. It was the first film score I ever liked well enough to buy, and it's the only one I still listen to on a regular basis. Holly Hunter is just  fucking awesome; with each new episode of True Blood, the Gods of Cinema weep a little for all the blessings they bestowed upon little Anna Paquin; and, oh hey, look! It's Harvey Keitel's wang!

The Fifth Element (1997) - I watched this movie a ton. There's something about the sensibilities of this movie that just really works for me, and I wish there were more movies out there like it.