The Houston Chronicle’s TechBlog covers Fifteen Geek Movies to See Before You Die. Not sure if I agree entirely with the list, but let’s see how I’ve done so far:
Brazil - Terry Gilliam movie that I always intend to see, but never do.
The Matrix - Overrated as science fiction, but a revelation as an action movie. It’s Predator-like, as far as its must-see-ness.
The Fifth Element - Made me a Luc Besson fan. Filled with the joy of Silver Age comics, without the pain of Silver Age exposition. Oddly subtle performances in a completely over-the-top movie.
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan - The standard by which movie space battles should be measured. The tension near the end makes up for all the family drama.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Funny, but is able to cut corners because of the iconic nature of the characters. I’m not sure how well it would hold up on it’s own, but a nice addition to the series.
Serenity - A lot better than I was expecting. I really liked the Firefly series on which it was based, but wasn’t particularly obsessed with it. This movie made me want to see more of the show. But come on, Joss, do you have to kill off good characters in every finale?
Dark City - Creepy, and largely made by Rufus Sewell’s performance. The resolution unfortunately depends on a sudden discovery – “I can control everything with my mind!” – but everything leading up to that is an excellent slow reveal.
12 Monkeys - Never seen it. Don’t like monkeys. ;)
Shaun of the Dead - I’ve seen large parts of it, but I really need to sit through the whole thing.
Darkman - Liam Neeson plays Liam Neeson, in a mask. Sam Raimi’s original superhero movie. That’s enough for any movie.
Army of Darkness - I like Bruce Campbell, but meh. I have more fun watching some of the original stop-motion movies this is a homage to.
WarGames - Talking supercomputers? Hacking via acoustic modem? Ally Sheedy? Global Thermonuclear War? I had to get a computer when I saw this movie, and I’ve loved them ever since. Still one of my favorite movies.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Eminently quotable, and genuinely funny.
Office Space - Eminently quotable, but the quotes are better than the narrative. As a movie, I ended up liking Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle better.
Repo Man - Another movie I always intended to see, but never have.
These would have to be on my list: Dune (1984 David Lynch version), Star Wars (the original trilogy), Revenge of the Nerds, and Clash of the Titans.
Link courtesy of Bureau 42.