Every Movie Nerds Collection Should Include...
by ihtoit | created - 07 Aug 2012 | updated - 08 Aug 2012 | PublicFrom the unmissable to the completely forgetful, passing fads to long forgotten conversation starters, these movies should awaken distant memories!
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1. 8 Mile (2002)
R | 110 min | Drama, Music
Follows a young rapper in the Detroit area, struggling with every aspect of his life; he wants to make it big but his friends and foes make this odyssey of rap harder than it may seem.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Eminem, Brittany Murphy, Kim Basinger, Mekhi Phifer
Votes: 320,437 | Gross: $116.72M
An unknown young white rapper (Eminem) climbs the local scene dominated by hard-hitting established mike-slayers... and beats the pants off of every one of 'em!
2. 200 M.P.H. (2011 Video)
R | 92 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An amateur racer gets involved in illegal street racing after the death of his brother.
Director: Cole S. McKay | Stars: Jaz Martin, Hennely Jimenez, AnnaMaria Demara, Darren Anthony Thomas
Votes: 1,926
Low budget ripoff of the Fast & Furious franchise. Fast cars, plenty of neon but not nearly as much fun.
3. 300 (2006)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama
In the ancient battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas and 300 Spartans fight against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. They face insurmountable odds when they are betrayed by a Spartan reject.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West
Votes: 863,391 | Gross: $210.61M
Meet The Spartans writ serious.
4. Tracey Ullman: A Class Act (1993 TV Movie)
60 min | Comedy
A short series of fifteen-minute sketches, in which Tracey Ullman and Sir Michael Palin played various roles satirizing the British class system.
Director: Les Blair | Stars: Tracey Ullman, Michael Palin, Timothy Spall, Susan Wooldridge
Votes: 29
Split sketches make for one utterly hilarious movie. WARNING: must have British sense of humour to fully appreciate.
5. Alien Nation (1988)
R | 91 min | Action, Sci-Fi
In 1988, Earth makes the first contact with an alien civilization. In 1991, these aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after three years of quarantine.
Director: Graham Baker | Stars: James Caan, Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp, Kevyn Major Howard
Votes: 16,655 | Gross: $25.22M
What might have been had the aliens from "V" not been flesh-eating reptiles...
6. Iron Sky (2012)
R | 93 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
The Nazis set up a secret base on the dark side of the moon in 1945 where they hide out and plan to return to power in 2018.
Director: Timo Vuorensola | Stars: Julia Dietze, Christopher Kirby, Götz Otto, Udo Kier
Votes: 96,517
The Germans were there first...
7. RoboCop (1987)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox
Votes: 282,745 | Gross: $53.42M
Criterion Edition or nothing!
8. Ice Planet (2001)
83 min | Sci-Fi
The end of our world is the beginning of another.
Director: Winrich Kolbe | Stars: Reiner Schöne, Sab Shimono, James O'Shea, Valeriy Nikolaev
Votes: 1,064
He's not top billed but he should be... Wes Studi in one of his better roles
9. Wing Commander (1999)
PG-13 | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Blair, a fighter pilot, joins an interstellar war to fight the evil Kilrathi who are trying to destroy the universe.
Director: Chris Roberts | Stars: Freddie Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard, Saffron Burrows, Tchéky Karyo
Votes: 17,407 | Gross: $11.58M
Probably one of the best game-to-movie conversions ever.
10. A Boy and His Dog (1975)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
A young man and his telepathic dog wander a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Director: L.Q. Jones | Stars: Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Susanne Benton, Tim McIntire
Votes: 19,167 | Gross: $6.90M
When the two most important things in life are food and sex (preferably with one of the opposite gender), and not necessarily in that order, you know the world is in trouble. Even more so when your only companion is a very young Don Johnson and you're the dog able to communicate with him via thought.
11. Earth's Final Hours (2011 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 84 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
After dense matter from an imploded white hole hits Earth, the planet's rotation is devastated. A group of government agents must locate a lost satellite network that is the world's only hope for survival.
Director: W.D. Hogan | Stars: Robert Knepper, Julia Benson, Cameron Bright, Julia Maxwell
Votes: 2,553
Yep, probably a good thing this was a made-for-TV affair, it fails to deliver on its titular promise. SPOILER ALERT: Earth survives.
12. The Quiet Earth (1985)
R | 91 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A scientist awakens to find himself alone in the world. In a desperate attempt to search for others, he finds only two who have their own agenda.
Director: Geoff Murphy | Stars: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith, Anzac Wallace
Votes: 27,581 | Gross: $2.12M
Surreal, original and engaging science fiction from the pen of Craig Harrison - with not a single BEM or laser pistol in sight.
13. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 880,504 | Gross: $6.21M
One word: Kubrick.
14. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
Directors: Victor Fleming, King Vidor | Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
Votes: 428,218 | Gross: $2.08M
The movie against which all modern movies, musical or not, should measure themselves.
15. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Approved | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building, but her past threatens to get in the way.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen
Votes: 191,968
Beautiful story about a socialite, a struggling writer and a nameless cat.
16. The King and I (1956)
G | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Musical
A widow accepts a job as a live-in governess to the King of Siam's children.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Martin Benson
Votes: 27,901 | Gross: $21.30M
"You think you teach King lesson, but this is one lesson you do not get paid for teaching! In the future, you will stop instructing wives and children in silly English song 'Home Sweet House' to remind me of breaking promises I never make, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!"
Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. Forget Fred & Ginger, this is *the* movie pairing to beat all.
17. Zombieland (2009)
R | 88 min | Action, Comedy, Horror
A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting bruiser in search of the last Twinkie and a pair of sisters striving to get to an amusement park join forces in a trek across a zombie-filled America.
Director: Ruben Fleischer | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 620,627 | Gross: $75.59M
OK. Give me a continuous fourth wall violation, Bill Murray, Woody Harrelson and a smattering of other out of work Hollywood A-Listers, turn most of them into zombies and let 'em slug it out for a couple hours. Fun!
18. Snakes on a Train (2006 Video)
R | 91 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A Zombie curse is placed upon a woman, which causes her to have living snakes inside her. Brujo, who is looking after her, attempts to take her to Los Angeles on the train. After several ... See full summary »
Director: Peter Mervis | Stars: A.J. Castro, Julia Ruiz, Giovanni Bejarano, Al Galvez
Votes: 2,423
Three words:
What.
The.
NO.
19. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)
PG-13 | 90 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, returns from a spiritual quest to investigate the disappearance of a rare white bat, the sacred animal of a tribe in Africa.
Director: Steve Oedekerk | Stars: Jim Carrey, Ian McNeice, Simon Callow, Maynard Eziashi
Votes: 233,272 | Gross: $108.39M
The better of the two. Only because you get to see Carrey's range of pained facial contortions in this one.
20. Prometheus (I) (2012)
R | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron
Votes: 643,625 | Gross: $126.48M
Apparently this is meant to be (and was written as) a standalone from the Alien franchise, but it does slot in pretty well. Watch in production order for a Lucas experience, for full sense watch in the following order, with crossovers (I won't bother listing any of these elsewhere on this list): Predator, Predator II, AvP (Alien Vs. Predator), AvP: Requiem, Predators, Prometheus, Alien, Aliens, Alien3, Alien: Resurrection. Get the unrated editions if you can, they add a *lot* to the story.
21. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness
Votes: 1,448,174 | Gross: $322.74M
I've seen the discussions about what order to watch the Star Wars movies in, so here's mine: IV, V, II, III, VI. Yes, there's no episode I in there because it adds nothing to the story and it has that annoying Binks character in it.
22. Casino Royale (1967)
Approved | 131 min | Comedy
In an early spy spoof, aging Sir James Bond comes out of retirement to take on SMERSH.
Directors: Val Guest, Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish, Richard Talmadge | Stars: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles
Votes: 32,450
Great Bond parody; watch for Anjelica Huston's movie debut and the guy under the Vader mask is in there, too!
23. PT 109 (1963)
Approved | 140 min | Biography, Drama, War
President John F. Kennedy kept a unique inauguration gift on his desk: a plastic-encased coconut. The tale of that coconut is the heroic story of PT 109.
Director: Leslie H. Martinson | Stars: Cliff Robertson, Robert Culp, Ty Hardin, James Gregory
Votes: 2,989
fact-based story about the early military career of the late, great John F. Kennedy, as he undertook duty in the Pacific theatre starting with the reconditioning of a decrepit motor torpedo boat.
24. Once Upon a Spy (1980 TV Movie)
91 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Ted Danson plays a computer genius who gets involved in the theft of an important N.A.S.A. computer, then thrust into the world of espionage with Sir Christopher Lee.
Director: Ivan Nagy | Stars: Ted Danson, Mary Louise Weller, Christopher Lee, Eleanor Parker
Votes: 290
Ted Danson is a reluctant spy, Mary Louise Parker his gorgeous pro sidekick, and Christopher Lee a wheelchair-bound villain in this salute to Sixties camp thrillers.
25. Flash Gordon (1980)
PG | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.
Director: Mike Hodges | Stars: Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow, Topol
Votes: 61,457
Rockin' movie with a rockin' soundtrack.
"Do you want to live forever. Hawkmen... DIIIIIIVVE!"
26. Forbidden Planet (1956)
G | 98 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
A starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.
Director: Fred M. Wilcox | Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens
Votes: 53,130 | Gross: $3.00M
Robots, invisible aliens, Leslie Nielson and millennia-old contraptions. Sublime sci-fi epic that created a genre.
27. The Fly (1958)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A scientist has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device.
Director: Kurt Neumann | Stars: David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price, Herbert Marshall
Votes: 25,634 | Gross: $3.00M
The original and better version. Hedison's final words in the movie still gives me the chills.
28. Village of the Damned (1995)
R | 98 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A small town's women give birth to unfriendly alien children posing as humans.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Paré
Votes: 34,216 | Gross: $9.42M
Lindsey Haun being absolutely terrifying as an alien hybrid child who, along with her brethren, murder their way through a village in one of the most underrated movies ever made.
29. Moontrap (1988)
R | 92 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
NASA finds remains of an ancient humanoid race on the Moon that left behind deadly robots.
Director: Robert Dyke | Stars: Walter Koenig, Bruce Campbell, Leigh Lombardi, Robert Kurcz
Votes: 3,785
Walter Koenig typecast as a shuttle commander turned little-acknowledged hero of the day as an alien robot chews its way through flesh and uses odd bits of machinery to build itself. Oh, and watch out for that headgear.
30. Scanners (1981)
R | 103 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane
Votes: 61,667 | Gross: $14.23M
A true Cronenberg masterpiece of horror and exploding heads.
31. Venus Wars (1989)
Not Rated | 103 min | Animation, Action, Drama
Two thriving colonies, Ishtar and Aphrodia, exist on the planet Venus in the year 2089. War breaks out, and Ishtar invades Aphrodia, sweeping its residents, including motorcycle rider Hiro and his teammates, into the chaos of the conflict.
Director: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko | Stars: Katsuhide Uekusa, Yûko Mizutani, Eriko Hara, Yûko Sasaki
Votes: 1,985
One of many dystopian fantasies to emerge from the Japanese studios of Bandai. This one involves a fresh faced reporter flung into the rising civil war on the new Venusian frontier, a gang of monocycle-loving petrolheads, and lots of interesting ways to get blown up.
32. Golgo 13: The Professional (1983)
Not Rated | 91 min | Animation, Action, Crime
After killing the son of a powerful oil tycoon, an infamous hit-man is targeted by American governmental forces and superhuman killers.
Director: Osamu Dezaki | Stars: Tetsurô Sagawa, Gorô Naya, Toshiko Fujita, Kôsei Tomita
Votes: 3,365
Duke Togo. Professional assassin. Makes James Bond look like Maxwell Smart.
33. Lensman (1984)
PG-13 | 107 min | Animation, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A farmboy stumbles upon the Lens, an artifact which grants him fantastic powers and contains vital information that may allow the Galactic Fleet to defeat the evil Boskone Empire.
Directors: Shûichi Hirokawa, Yoshiaki Kawajiri | Stars: Toshio Furukawa, Mami Koyama, Chikao Ôtsuka, Nachi Nozawa
Votes: 737
CGI-heavy animation about a farmboy thrown into a struggle for galactic domination against a dark foe.
Sound familiar?
34. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Not Rated | 89 min | Animation, Drama, War
A young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Director: Isao Takahata | Stars: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Akemi Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Shinohara
Votes: 309,833
Shocking tragedy about a brother and sister struggling to survive World War II Japan. Starvation, bombing and sheer desperation add to the dark theme of this masterpiece.
35. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,050,179 | Gross: $171.48M
If you're a hardcore science fiction fan who is drawn by compelling storylines, cutting-edge effects (hello, Bullet Time!), and interesting characters, then this is the movie for you.
That said, forget the sequels, they're utter rubbish.
36. Titan A.E. (2000)
PG | 94 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A young man learns that he has to find a hidden Earth ship before an enemy alien species does in order to secure the survival of humanity.
Directors: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman | Stars: Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore, Bill Pullman, Jim Breuer
Votes: 63,909 | Gross: $22.75M
Formular post apocalyptic space action with aliens and several locations but extremely well executed and pretty much perfectly cast.
37. Tron (1982)
PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.
Director: Steven Lisberger | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan
Votes: 129,161 | Gross: $33.00M
Disney's best picture, by far. And not a single bloody talking duck to be seen!
38. The Last Starfighter (1984)
PG | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
High schooler Alex Rogan conquers the Starfighter video game, only to find out it was just a test, and is transported to another planet. He has been recruited to join a team of the best starfighters to defend their world from the attack.
Director: Nick Castle | Stars: Lance Guest, Robert Preston, Kay E. Kuter, Dan Mason
Votes: 45,958 | Gross: $28.73M
Yet another Star Wars rip-off, but this time with something extra: engaging main character who you wouldn't mind swapping places with!
39. Tin Man (2007)
TV-PG | 90 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
A re-imagining of L. Frank Baum's classic "The Wizard of Oz."
Stars: Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming, Neal McDonough, Kathleen Robertson
Votes: 14,529
Zooey Deschanel is DG, a girl drawn into the land of Oz in this reimagining of the 1939 classic. Odd at times, annoying at others, but the performances of Deschanel and McDonough are always engaging.
40. Stargate (1994)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Kurt Russell, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Viveca Lindfors
Votes: 204,880 | Gross: $71.57M
The movie that spawned three live-action series, one cartoon series, several made-for-TV movies and an immense fanbase complete with crossover, slash and season-extra fanfiction. If you've seen SG-1, and fancy a rewatch, then start with this.
41. Enemy Mine (1985)
PG-13 | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
During a long space war, the lives of two wounded enemies become dependent on their ability to forgive and to trust.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr., Brion James, Richard Marcus
Votes: 51,385 | Gross: $4.27M
The first time I ever saw this it instantly reminded me of the final episode of Battlestar Galactica 1980, "The Return of Starbuck". The plot is the same, the character interactions are the same. Two enemy pilots crash on a desolate planet and need to work together to survive.
That's... pretty much it.
42. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 192,841 | Gross: $33.40M
The best (by a WIDE MARGIN) adaptation of the Pierre Boulle novel.
"Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty APE!"
43. Priest (2011)
PG-13 | 87 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece.
Director: Scott Stewart | Stars: Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q, Karl Urban
Votes: 124,086 | Gross: $29.14M
The best vampire flick since Interview.
44. The Unloved (2009 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama
A film that gives a child's eye view of the U.K.'s government-run care system for orphans and children in danger.
Director: Samantha Morton | Stars: Molly Windsor, Robert Carlyle, Susan Lynch, Craig Parkinson
Votes: 1,263
This movie means a lot to me, but I can't tell you why.
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