Life Changing Movies
 

Is there a movie that you've seen that has changed the way you look at things? What movie has most affected you personally, in that it made you re-think certain aspects of your life? For me, seeing the movie Babe led me to become a vegetarian. It was such a sweet movie! I'm eager to hear your responses.

Joe W.

I could've sworn that there was a thread already started on this matter, but I can't seem to find it.

Oh well, I would say that A.I. Artificial Intelligence would be a life changing movie.

As a writer I'm most interested to learn how this movie changed you. I didn't think it was the type that could change a person.

Mine was Stone's JFK. It didn't change me as much as solidify a vague political view of mine into a solid, crystal clear one.

I guess it didn't really change me, it touched me more than it changed me.

Here's how I see it...David went to the ends of the earth (literally) for his "mother" to love him.

Bleh. I've got to raise an eyebrow to anyone who's politically infulenced by Stone's movies. Anyhoo, not many movies have changed my life...and the ones that have haven't done so dramatically. Only three come to mind just now:

• Braveheart
• It's a Wonderful Life
• 12 Angry Men

I may think of others down the line.

Instinct

It just made me think about and pay attention to certain things; the more I did that, the more I changed.

there aren't really any movies that have changed me.the two that come to mind though that have effected me the most mentally are.platoon-just because it showed how crazy war can actually get.and Adam-a movie about john walsh's kid adam. he was abducted in a shopping mall and murdered.this film ahowed me just how cruel people can be, and just how laxed the system was when he was trying to get his kid back.

That's fair enough to me. I just couldn't understand how it could change a person. THE LAST EMPEROR, about a man in a 'cage' his entire life, really moved me, but it didn't change me. Well, as you say, not a lot..

:-)

Coming from a 'Jedi Master' who's so keen on Yoda, that's understandable. And I didn't say Stone's films, but JFK.

Yes, I know. Which is one of Stone's films. I didn't say "all of Stone's films." :) I also don't understand what the Yoda/Jedi line is supposed to mean, exactly.

Still a Stone film. :)

and NotTheOnly1 please don't double post. Simply edit your post if you want to add anything to it. :)

jfk was a great movie. a little long though

Fight Club - maybe im just impressionable, but it seemed to have made me a lot more cynical

Fight Club
American Beauty
Vanilla sky!
Requiem for a Dream (never look at drugs the same)

The best movies are ones that change the way you think, movies that can make an impact on your life.

I'm not doubleposting. I'm adding replies to other posts, as others are doing in this same thread.

Please explain if I'm missing something--

:confused:

Don't reply to two messages back to back.

So if you reply to one message, don't turn around and reply to another message right after you get done replying to the first message. :)

Simply edit the first one, add in the quote from the other message your replying to and go that way.

Double-posting is posting back-to-back, when you could just post both points/replies in the same post.

I think that Seeing Michael Moore's films Roger and Me, and The Big One really changed my life. They certainly opened my eyes and got me thinking politically. Platoon was also an eye opener, since I never knew anything about the Vietnam war until that, and Born on the Fourth of July fits that bill, too. (Both films are Oliver Stone masterpieces, I might add.)

the movie was called "flowers for algernon" or "charlie"

born on the fourth of july. great choice. that movi definetly turned a couple of heads.

The movie that has affected me the most is Alive. I left the theatre wishing I could meet some of those people that did everything it took to live.
I remember I left the theatre with my friend, and he mentions how cold it was(it was like 50 degrees) I just kinda laughed.
Boyz-n-the-Hood changed my outlook at how terrible it is for some people. There are many that make me think, but none to change me...~sigh~

I hate those "Romance and true love will pass you by if-" kinda movies. They have all changed me for maybe a couple of hours. I always think," Oh my God! I have to do something!!" Then, after the newness passes, I sink back into reality.
The movie Serendipity and Amelie did that to me...as well as several others over the years...Sleepless in Seattle, French Kiss, Only You. Damn those movies. Damn them to HELL!! People just can't pick up their lives and be reckless romantics!

I have yet to see a fictional film, no matter how great-- affect me to any degree. The only movies that have made me think, and question any mode of thinking I may possess, are purely documentaries. Some of the best include:

1) The Thin Blue Line

2) Crumb

3) When We Were Kings

4) Mr. Death

5) Hoop Dreams

That's odd. Most movies, fictional or not, are trying to reach people in some way. I find it kinda sad that you walk out of the theater, most of the time, unaffected. :(

I never said I was unaffected; I merely said I was not affected to a degree that was life-changing. That was the original barometer posed.

Don't be sad for me, I am a happy lad! :laugh: :love: :yup:

Yeah...but you said," .....to any degree."

Ah well, I won't feel sad for you, if you say not to. :) I just wanted to wish a life-changing movie experience on you.... *poof*

Perhaps now you will have one??

*Twighlight Zone music* do do do do do do

Wow, you are a nitpicker.....I gotta watch out for you. ;)

I mean that no movie will affect me to a "degree," meaning with any significance. Perhaps it may affect me somewhat, but not enough to even consider a life-changing episode.

I despise those. Let's face it: Meg Ryan brushing Bill Pullman aside and running after Tom Hanks may SEEM romantic, but it's actually very, very stupid. In real life, they'd run into all sorts of problems and she'd regret leaving Pullman. I feel sorry for them all, frankly.

I'm sorry. I'm not a nitpicker, I just like to exchange opinions--alright. *sigh* I'm argumentative. Whattaya gonna do? *shrugs*
Is it that annoying?

I know I already posted on this one, but I thought of the very first movie that affected me so much that it changed how I thought about stuff....

Edward Scissorhands.

Easily Tim Burton's best film, and being an outcast from the retarded society of my High School when this film came out, I connected with it immediately. I instantly had a new hero, Tim Burton, and I ran out to find out as much as I could about him. Sadly, Tim Burton made the crappy Planet of the Apes remake, and seriously needs to make a real Tim Burton movie next, or he's going to find his hero status removed and handed over to Wes Anderson, my current favorite filmmaker......

I'll bump this thread back up to the top.

For me, not many movies have changed my life, but several have made me think a little differently. Some of which more recently include:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Sideways
Amistad
War of the Worlds
King Kong
28 Days Later
The Truman Show

Anyone else?

Equilibrium
Phantom of the Opera
Bruce Almighty

Lots of movies have made me think but nothing has changed me, a few that have made me think...

http://www.filmsite.org/posters/toki.gif

http://www.ezydvd.com.au/g/i/p/221937.jpg

I like your picks. ;)

Withnail & I (1987, Bruce Robinson)

That was the film that got my future ex-wife and I together, so I guess you could call it life changing.

The Searchers (1956, John Ford)

It was a birthday present for my dad who I hadn't spoken to in years. It thawed the ice for a while...

Dolls (2002, Takeshi Kitano)

The nails in the coffin of comment one. :)

the matrix
fight club
angels in america

ah, fight club, now there's a real mind-job

For you Eyes and others who voted for Fight Club I am curious, In what way has it changed you, or your life???? :D

it made me think a lot about my perceptions of different situations, it made me think about whats real and whats not, also whats important to me and how I wanna live my life. Do I wanna be whipped slave or do i wanna hold the whip?

EDIT: Crash (2004), really made me think about how i handle prejudices and just in general how to treat other people with respect

Thanks UCL :D

This is a very difficult question to answer. Nonetheless, I have come up with the best answer to this thread question. The answer is "Schindler's Wish List". For those of you haven't seen it, it is a dramatic account of the horrific events that took place during WWII (World War 2). This movie left no one untouched. On an emotional level, this movie may very well be the greatest work of art ever written. I saw it twice, once with my wife and then again with my daughter, and both times I cried at the end when Schindler brakes down. A must see.

Karate Kid - was very young then. But after seeing it I knew I want to take Karate lessons .. not a good movie *not at all, but it changed my life ...

The movie Pay It Forward was this type of movie to me. It was just a very inspirational film.

I'd have to say The Shawshank Redemption. If Andy Dufresne can stay positive in that situation, I can find the positive in my most crappy day.

Requiem for a Dream

American History X

Seven

DOGMA

The Passion of the Christ

My life changing movie would be the Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants. My friends and I vowed after we all saw the movie that if we are ever apart that we would do something similar. The bond that the girls got from the pants is what really hit home for me. I will never take my friendships lightly any longer.

Fight Club... That movie changed my perspective on life... And for the better I think.

I know alot of people felt alot differently about commercialism and materialism after watching Fight Club, but it seems like there's almost a cult following for Tyler Durden (not saying you fit into that category, FilmPirate). What you have to remember is, while his character does open our eyes to the fact that we're all just consumers nursing on commercialism while true enlightenment flees from right under our noses, he preaches some pretty radical stuff too. Maybe it goes without saying, but after reading Stranger Than Fiction, Chuck Palahniuk was bombed with letters from people asking where to find Fight Club, and - as crazy as it sounds - asking for homework assignments.

I think the point is, find a healthy medium between being a part of society - whatever that might be - and being yourself. The narrator and Tyler exist at completely opposite ends of a wide sociopsychological spectrum. Somewhere between the two is where you want to be. Go without buying new clothes for awhile: wear what you have now. Give up McDonald's, and cook your own food. Even quit your job if it's something you really don't want to be doing, and get yourself on track to do what you love. But don't urinate in someone's coffee. Don't reverse traffic tack bars. Don't hold up a convenient store with an empty revolver and try to change someone's life.

I love Fight Club, and I love the book. It gets you thinking about some new age philosophical concepts, and it may even start swinging you in a postive life direction. But as attractive as the ideas are, the world Tyler sees is not going to come from us starting fight clubs and making soap and blowing up buildings.

I understand what you mean... But that's not what I meant. I don't think we should start fight clubs or blow stuff up... And although the movie makes great points about the ridiculous lifestyles of modern day America, I did not have that in mind. It's just a fictional movie based on a fight the writer of the book had once.

I've never been one to care about material posessions... I do cook my own meals. I love my job (I'm a filmmaker actually). All I'm saying is that Fight Club is a great example of how you shouldn't always take guff from people in your life.

Now granted this movie did not actually change my life. I'm just saying it's a great film and it made great points about how people should think twice about what they really need in life...

Yeah, I know. I should have been more clear. I just wanted to make the post in response to all those people who DO take the surface stuff seriously, instead of looking through to the meaning underneath.

It's based on more than that. At some point or another, Palahniuk did many of these jobs, and knew people who actually did some of these terrible, disgusting things. He took the real stuff, put it all together, and wrote about what he thought it all meant.

Yeah, that's part of it. But it's also about not letting yourself get constrained by whatever rules society tells you and me and everyone to live by. It's just that freeing yourself means confronting everything the world has ever told you, and fight club symbolizes the fear that you DON'T have of confrontation. Once you realize that you are nothing, and have nothing to lose, you're free.

Agreed. :yup:

Dead Poet's Society

Good looks. You sure like to argue the points huh Sleezy?

Regardless... Great movie.

Not neccessarily life changing but made me think more about life.

Frailty - things aren't always as they seem

Gladiator - be proud of who you are

Rudy - the little guy does something

Life as a house - just interesting

Not arguing so much as sharing thoughts and information. You'll have to forgive me: I read the book recently, and I've been rolling the story over in my head since - making new connections, applying outside thoughts, etc. Apologies if it sounded like I was drilling you.

Welcome to the boards. :)

Yep. Admittedly, I hadn't seen it until about two years ago. A friend said, you have to see this movie. So I did, and I immediately started to take Tyler Durden's words to heart. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the character seemed to represent that part of you that wants to be free. Freudians would call it the id: something that will do whatever it needs to do - reason be damned - to be completely free and nourished. In other words, a valuable and necessary part of you that can run amuck if not kept in check. I guess I wanted to share these thoughts on the boards, and this thread gave me a reason to do so. :)

I know. I was kidding. I know you weren't drilling me.

I do enjoy discussing films though. It's why I joined this site. And likewise. You started discussing Fight Club, and since I wanted to talk about it, I discussed it as well. Hell my signature quote is from the director. I just love the movie. :)

Wow, excellent quote. :yup:


Anyway, my contribution to the thread:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Really, you could mention any Charlie Kaufman-penned film here, but Eternal Sunsine really gets you thinking with your heart. Sometimes, you don't think about relationships this way.

For me, this movie isn't about forgetting. It's about remembering, and knowing. The end always keeps me coming back and asking myself questions. What would it be like to know how the relationship will be before you're in it? If you know there will be problems, fights, periods of insecurity, tension and depression - would you still go through it? Is it worth it? Would knowing the hurdles are coming make it easier to get over them?

And then it hits me. We should already know the hurdles are coming. We should know that there will be problems and fights and regrets. And we shouldn't let that keep us from being with someone. It's not about avoiding, or grieving, or forgetting. It's about knowing, and making it work, and being happy. Nothing that's worth doing or having is easy.

Heres my List and Reasons in Order

1. American Beauty:

This movie really made me think about how life should be lived and what type of thinking is the right type of thinking. To me its about alot more than a man with a mid life crisis, its about a man finding the exact correct way to live life.

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The part that got me in this movie is Jim Carreys last line "ok". This movie showed me that love, with all its complexities and problems, is completley worth going through. It showed me that relationships should just unfold as they will because love is always worth it. I also adored the way this movie was shot.

3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

These movies (Especially The Return of The King) show love in all its purity. Friendship in all its purity. Courage in all its Purity. And most of all, Good and peace in all its purity. I cant watch The Return of the King without gathering tears in my eyes. These movies showed me simply that "Theres some good in this world Mr. Frodo, and its worth fighting for"

4. Edward Scissor Hands

This movie Changed my life not nescessarilly for good or for bad. This movie showed me how innocent people and things are the best things in the world. But it also brought the realization to me that innocent things and beautiful things are best left alone and untouched.

5. Forrest Gump

Best.Movie.Ever. enough said.

:yup:

I can't remember the exact title, but I thought the Life of David Gale or something like that was incredible. Really made me think and was very intense. I'd put that up there.

One movie that really made me think alot when i first saw it was The Classic Too Kill A Mockingbird. Just how people perceive other people in that movie and how at the end Boo Radley(the weird one) is the one who saves Jem & Scout.

Films that have maybe changed the way i go about situations and my perspective on my life are sweet sixteen and bullet boy (both british i may add) also maybe antoine fisher and finding forrester.

For me they would have to be....

The Matrix
The Shawshank Redemption
American Beauty

i know there are more, but i just can't think of them off the top of my head.

Napoleon Dynamite-made me never wanna smoke pot...

King Kong-don't date white women outside of the species. or else you'll fight dinosaurs and end up dead on the streets of New York City...

Spider Man 2-when losing supernatural powers don't seek standard medical help...

And in all seriousness--Fight Club...nuf said

American history X
Stand by me
dazed and confused

IM to lazy to read through all these posts to see if anyone else said it, but i'd have to say American Beauty.

Clockwork Orange...it shocks anybody easily...i understood that violence is inevitible reality in our life...everybody wants it never end up...to the ground !

"There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening. The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence. "

And for mine id have to say Crash. Made you think about the effects of racism.

The Matrix Trilogy

Star Wars Trilogy (The original)

Walk the Line

Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside) changed my outlook on a whole lot of things in life...

Well.

A Corey Feldman movie called Dream a Little Dream sent me spiraling into a strange new experience in life called "depression." Then again, I was like...12 years old or something, and you could blame it on puberty! :D

Fight Club. Who couldn't resist the antisocial behavior? So REFRESHING! Not to mention an incredible film, both the screenplay and direction.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

I think a lot of movies change the way I view life, and other aspects, but that changed my life completely is Requiem for a Dream.Becasue it showed me that people are like that and do get hopelessly addicted to drugs like that, and would do anything to get high even if it means hurting their loved ones.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

taxi driver

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

The Star Wars Saga has had a major impact on many of the decisions I've made concerning loyalty and sacrifice. Sounds cheezy, but it's true.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

"Pay It Forward" is very touching movie. I've learned a lot from it, well it made cried as I was watching it. It's highly recommended.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

I guess the closest I've ever come to a "life-changing" film was "Backboard Jungle," with "Rock Around the Clock" came blasting out over the opening credits. That was the birth of rock 'n' roll for my generation, and in the rest of the film Vic Morrow and Sidney Portier showed us what it meant to be cool and "rebels." "The Wild One" fanned my already existing love for motorcycles, and Marlon Brando and James Dean showed us how to imitate "rebels without a clue" in our teen years just as Roy Rogers inspired us to be backyard cowboys in our boyhood. Any changes were superficial, however. I rode motorcycles but joined no gangs. Wore my hair long and combed into a ducktail, but never carried a switchblade. Went through the motions but never bought into the lifestyle. Later joined the army, went to college, became very respectable middle class with kids and grandkids, a good career and a place in the community.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind did it for me.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

By far.....

Fight Club (amazing movie....totally cahnged my perspective on the world and society)

Telephone Booth or Phone Booth

both are amazing

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

American Beauty

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The Outsiders
It changed the way I looked at people.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

I'll start by saying that i own Fight Club, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and many others you all have mentioned. I respect that they are so highly acclaimed and influential, but i'll admit that neither really changed my life.

My list is as follows, along with actual accounts of how they changed my life. Im not sure why i suddenly feel like sharing so much, but here it is. The Epic tale of my life as told through it's most influential movies.


I've been a film student for several years now, and one thing i've learned is that we all outgrow the same things that once had us so captivated. I'll admit that i was once a pretty devout Kevin Smith fanatic. This was high school, and his movies offered a sort of social alternative to all the other crap i was putting up with. I didnt have many friends, and of the ones i had, only a few were real. Since then, i've grown. I still enjoy his movies, but needless to say, im now able to appreciate film as a language, as expression, as passion. Smith's movies dont utilize film for what it is. Their only real merit, in fact, is the writing. But they led me to where i am, so i will always respect them.

I first saw Clerks my freshman year at the request of a buddy of mine who said i would love it. It took me a few viewings, but it grew on me. It provided me with a sort of mirror for my own life. I was miserable, in almost every way. At first, the movie just gave me new ways to b*tch and moan about my life. I could relate, because i worked at Subway and knew those annoying customers. I knew how it felt to be breatted by them at every turn. As time went on, the movie helped me realize that there was no aspect of my own misery that wasnt under my own control. If i didnt like something about my life, i had the power to change it. This was a hell of a lesson to learn as early as high school.

Today, i can watch the movie and remember what i was feeling back in the old days. I remember where i came from, and why i made the decisions i did. Clerks II provided an especially poignant follow up for me. It seemed to pick up, thematicly speaking, exactly where i would have been if the first flick hadnt reached me so deeply.

So go ahead and laugh, MoFo's. I put a Kevin Smith flick on the 'Life Changing Movies' Thread. ;)



I wrote and directed my first movie in the 2nd grade. It was one of my first passions, though i didnt stick with it. After that, i wanted to be a firefighter, an astronaut, and engineer, a biologist, a photographer, an FBI agent. I went through the whole list. 2003 was a hell of a year for me, because it marked the return of my passion for film. Lost in Translation is what did it for me.

I started taking Video Production class my Junior year in high school. It was an easy A, to be sure, and i had a moderate interest in video cameras and things like that. The teacher for this class was incredible, and really got me passionate about it. I started thinking seriously about film as a career. Later in the year was the Breckenridge Film Festival. I attended with a friend from class, to the opening feature. My friend spent the flick in stitches, laughing at Bill Murray and the complete irony of the flick. I spent it mostly in silence, not because of any sort of dispondence, but rather, in complete and wonderful awe at the sheer beauty of what i was seeing. The images went directly into the heart of me. It took several weeks to fully digest, but the outcome was a desire to create something just as beautiful. My future was born, you could say. I graduated high school and went to University of Colorado where i am currently seeking a BFA in Film Studies.

There were many thematic aspects of the flick, which i could say changed my life. I didnt notice them until a few years later, but when i did i took them to heart. I related to this idea of connections, of forging them when there are no other connections to be had. I realized, that in my own life i had to try to make real connections with people, and no matter how brief they are, respect them for what they can teach me. This movie remains one of my all time favorites.

I was hardly excited when the opening shots of Le Samourai came on during my Auteur Study Class. It was early in the morning and my mind was elsewhere. I was starting a block of film classes which would last until late afternoon, and at that point in the semester, i wasnt even sure what i was doing. I was hardly in the mood to read subtitles.

My own attempts at filmmaking up to that point had been utter failures. I admit that i had little to no concept of what makes a good frame, and my editing was something you would expect from a surrealist on angel dust. I couldnt not attribute my failures to anything, and i was becoming increasingly frustrated. Like my earlier mentor, Kevin Smith, i could write a hell of a piece, but i was having trouble putting anything on film. My freshman year in college i had two professors tell me to change my major. One of them said, "I just dont think you have the understanding of movies that you need to be a film major." I remember the other one saying, "Well, not everyone can make movies. Maybe you're just mean to love them, and enjoy them. But not make them."

Disheartened? Yes. So i focused on critical studies for a while instead of production. I went off to New Zealand and studied at Victoria University in Wellington. (I would give it about 10 years, and this will be one of the hottest film schools anywhere.) I was just aching for the missing piece that was given to me with Le Samourai.

The lights darkened, and like to good little student i paid attention. Im not sure if i blinked for the next 105 minutes, but when i came to im pretty sure there was a string of druel down the side of my face.

I had to write my final paper on the movie, so i had to watch it 5 or 6 more times in the weeks to come. Each time i was simply glued to the screen. What i discovered was a true, primal passion for the filmic image. Unlike my experience with Lost in Translation, this movie brought about a very passionate love affair with the very building blocks of cinema. I had already fallen in love with narrative. I had fallen in love with acting, with sound design, with editing, with lighting. The only thing i was missing was a clear image of what transpired when all these aspects were nailed directly on the head. What i needed, in short, was a masterpiece. My passion for film was ignited in a way i could have never imagined. That very same passion has found a home inside of me, and allowed me to view every movie from that point on in a new light. And now, i cant wait to prove those old dusty professors wrong.

And in all honesty, folks, this film is f*cking beautiful...




I have about 5 more of these to do, if anyone feels like reading them. When i get the time, i'll post them for sure.

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spike lee's 'Do the right thing' makes you think why people act the way they do and cause so much problems over different cultures and races.

larry clark's 'kids' and two independant british films- 'Bullet boy' and 'kidulthood' really can relate to kids growing up in london and the lifestyle is captured almost perfectly

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Great post Zeikie, I would love to read other stuff by you :yup:

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I would agree with Nebbit...great writing Zeikie, Lets see the other 5

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Maybe it's just me, but I can't get my mind around the concept of being more thoughtful of the mentally challenged after seeing "Forrest Gump" or more patriotic because of a viewing of "Sands of Iwo Jima" or more in touch with my "feminine side" from seeing "Thelma and Louise." I just don't see movies as having that much influence on real life. People didn't treat Okies any better after "Grapes of Wrath" opened nationwide.

Books, now--that's another story. All of the great ideas and concepts have been promoted and preserved through books. For instance, when I read Nevil Shute's "On the Beach" I was caught up in sense of loss in a world condemned to death as wind patterns slowly spread lethal nuclear fallout around the globe. When I later saw the movie based on the book, however, I was just po'd that, to capture movie-goers' attention, Hollywood felt it had to create a love story between the characters played by Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner that didn't exist in the book.

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Zeiken, well said. I believe you have stated what many of us are simply incapable of. To actually attribute physical outcomes and life altering headings as directly related to movies is incredible. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was paramount for me because I have always looked to the past with brighter eyes than I do to the future. But somehow, and I don't how, that movie altered my perception. I walked out of the showing with an overwhelming feeling of optimism for things to come in my life.


Ps. Didn't one of Einsteins professors tell him he would never amount to anything? You'll do fine.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

"Brokeback Mountain" - to allow one's self to love before it's too late.
Although our society is far from a tolerant utopia, I am thankful it has gotten better so people can express their love to whoever they choose without so much fear of being killed.

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Thats you, for some people who aren't huge http://bestsmileys.com/reading/4.gif then movies do it for them :yup: personally, I don't care what does it :yup:

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

Mulholland Dr. was the movie that inspired me to become a filmmaker. Pretty life changing, I guess. It was after that that I started watching Criterion films religiously in my quest to learn more about cinema and, consequently, I came across more movies that would make a big impact on me. Rashômon, Jules and Jim, 8 1/2, L'Avventura, and many others, but the one that probably left the biggest mark on my soul was The Seventh Seal. I still can't get through that Bergman masterpiece without getting emotional. Another great thing about being cine-wise is alot of well cultured West coast chicks totally dig the art house side of me. I even have a girlfriend right now, thanks to a riveting speech I gave her on Werner Herzog. So yeah, all of this thanks to Mulholland Dr.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

That's a great movie and book.

The original Time Machine didn't change me but it did help crystallize for me, part of the reason I remain a vegetarian.

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I would be a vegetarian too, but grilled steak & a baked potato tastes so good that I have to indulge. I am weak I know, but I also like sunny side up eggs over a chopped steak covered in sausage gravy with potatoes o'brien diced with fresh onions and green peppers. Oh well....:)

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

I like potatoes in almost every way. I don't miss steak because I've never had it. I'm not fond of gravy but each to their own.

*shrugs*

I've been a vegetarian my whole life, born and raised. However, I reserve the "right" to change my mind and eat something crazy, maybe even everything crazy someday! LOL!

I think it would be harder to be a vegetarian if you were giving up stuff you liked or loved. Life is far too short. I say enjoy it however you can find to do that.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

I was kidding really I was to each their own.:)

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

I agree with you. I took no offense from your comments.

I can't help but be a bit of a pedagogue on this subject. You wouldn't believe the flack one gets when one lives a little "outside the box."

It's not as big a deal now, but 40 years ago, it was an auto hate thing for many people.

Thus I often knew people for years before it dawned on them I was a vegetarian. Poor things, they HAD to like me then instead of making instant judgments. I'm so cruel that way.

Now I didn't raise my kids as I was raised. They had both Dad's meat and Mom's meat substitutes to try. I never tried to sway them. I want my kids to make up their own minds as I was eventually allowed to do. This year my daughter out of the blue said she was going veggie. To be honest it surprised me and didn't make me thrilled.

She had a whole unit of nutrition and cooking to do because of that. Her father loves to cook. He loves meat and he cooks very well. I wasn't sure she could do it. She has done well with it though.

Did I mention, (getting back on topic) Soylent Green? It didn't change me but wow, did it affect me as well.

Least I give out the wrong idea, intellectually, I'd rather eat people than "innocent animals" but fortunately, I don't have to do either.

Re: Life Changing Movies
 

I have been a veggie most of my life :yup: I disliked meat from an early age :yup: I was the child sitting at the table alone until I had at least one mouthful of meat :eek:

I hate meat substitutes,they taste like meat yuk :frustrated:

What about all the innocent veggies ;D

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Yuk! I am completely against people being non-consensually forced to do anything. 'Rents should know, if they have any sense that you can't control a child's eating or bathroom habits.

You can influence them strongly but they have the ultimate control. They need to be careful about picking their battles else they might find they've created a child with a potentially fatal eating disorder.

I wouldn't know about that having not eaten meat. However I enjoy Fri Chick, Veja Links, Big Franks and Chiliman Chili. The few times I've gotten meat by accident in my restaurant ordered food, it was the texture that betrayed that fact and turned me off. I'm told these are NOT like meat.


Lord how many times have I heard this before? They scream their deaths and misery in my ears as I murder them but I am deaf to their pain. LOL!

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My parents just thought they were doing the right thing, meat was a must, to have a balanced and be healthy :yup:

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Ah, when we try to "do the right thing" with limited information how sad, it can hurt others so.

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It hasn't hurt me :nope: My parents were the lovelist 2 people you could ever ask for :love:

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In that case, I totally misunderstood! I thought you weren't happy with being forced.

Wow.

Not many can say that about their parents. Good for you!