100 Films to Watch If You're Going to Study Film (Pt.6)

There are so many films that you can watch and this is the sixth part in our series on "The 100 Films You Should Watch If You're Going to Study Film." I love giving people a list of films that they should probably watch in any case, but these are particular to what you should watch if you're going off on your film class, your film project, your film interest of some kind or even like me, going off on your film PhD with all the hits and bounces.

I can assure you that you don't have to watch them all by any means, but I'd be impressed if you did. I would say that you have to know what you want out of film and then watch the stuff that is in-tune with that. For example, if you're studying animation then there is no point watching Walk the Line—but if you're studying biopics then it's probably one of the most important films you could watch.

As I write this, I'm supposed to be planning lessons on Citizen Kane (1941), yes I teach this stuff too. I'm probably going to write something on it in the near future, god knows I've seen that film so many times now. Hopefully, I can use it as a resource—yes, I'm being serious stop laughing.

I will be making some more of these lists as well, just so you know we're not through yet. I know that last time I said that it would be the end for now but, I had more to say. So, hopefully you can appreciate the fact that I've got this sixth installment on the way now.

Just so we're clear once again: a (*) = it's one of my personal favourites. Also, there will be some commentary if I think that film is especially important for any reason. And remember, I never put any film on to these lists that I haven't already seen since it defeats the damn purpose of my list.

Let's get on with this then, if you're still here:

501-510

501. The Imitation Game*

502. Moonlight

503. The Shape of Water*

This film basically broke the mould for post-modern romance/drama. We all know that Del Toro has this absurdist take on things since his work on Pan's Labyrinth and well, I can honestly say that if you want to study the absurdist romance genre and the post-modern style of film, you do not want to miss out on this film. It did win Del Toro the award for Best Director, and if you see the cinematography in the film then you'll understand why. Some of those shots are pure perfection.

504. The Post

Now, yes this film is very long and most of it is boring as hell in terms of plot. But I have to say that it has a very similar cinematography style to films like Spotlight and makes for some incredible drama viewing. The shots are important to take in if you want to study historical dramas or biographical dramas.

505. The Big Short

506. Hacksaw Ridge

507. Dunkirk*

Honestly, Christopher Nolan making a war drama sounds amazing doesn't it? When you do watch this film, pay attention to how time is framed throughout the film. There is something very special about the way time is used to convey character, represent a certain event and to speed up or slow down the story. It is something very clever on Nolan's part, you can only tell he took it all upon himself on this one.

508. The Grand Budapest Hotel

509. Hell or High Water

510. Get Out*

511-520

511. Bridge of Spies

512. Manchester by the Sea

513. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

514. Cool World*

You think Space Jam was the first film to do a combination of animation and live action? Think again. Cool World, even though it is adult comedy, is styled like your typical 80s humorous detective film which takes things from comedy, animation, romance, film noir etc. It is a combination of genres that if you're looking to study cult film—you probably want to have your eyes on. I have no idea why more people haven't seen this film. Honestly, a lot of the time I feel like I'm the only one.

515. Meet Joe Black

516. Total Eclipse

517. Gone Baby Gone

518. A Ghost Story*

519. The Machinist*

520. Seven Years in Tibet*

Try to ignore the terrible accents and just concentrate on the cinematography in this film. There's some epic shots in this film and well, I love the film because of this and its editing. Just please forget about those god awful accents. The acting may not be great but whoever worked on the film in terms of getting some of those shots needs some sort of award.

521-530

521. Infinitely Polar Bear

522. 30 Minutes or Less

523. The Man with the Iron Mask

524. To Rome with Love

525. Weird Science

526. Kalifornia*

You want to study thrillers? Then you want to watch this film. A brilliantly cunning film about manipulation and disgust, this film really does turn out to be borderline horror. The only thing I would say is that horror kind of doesn't work when your villain is played by Brad Pitt. Too much of the nice-guy look there, even though they really tried to make him look absolutely horrid. Some of the scenes in this film mixed with the way they use sound is brilliant - you really want to watch this if you're looking to study horror/thriller/crime.

527. 3:10 to Yuma

528. The Beach

529. The Double*

This movie isn't very well known but it is brilliant all the same. Starring Jesse Eisenberg as two different people, it is loosely based on the book by Fyodor Dostoevsky and makes for a brilliant post-modern film noir. If you're looking into post-modern cinema, then you really want to have a look at the way this film is influenced by the film noir height period and how it uses post-modern archetypes of cinema to portray itself as a "new" rather than a "classic" adaptation of this book.

530. Less Than Zero*

531-540

531. The Girl with the Pearl Earring

532. Air America*

533. Johnny Suede

534. Out of the Furnace

535. The Aviator*

536. Holy Rollers

537. Soapdish*

This film is one of my all-time favourites and turns out to be an excellent study in comedic timing, subtlety and dramatic irony. The character development and symbolism is brilliant and the way in which we know which "sides" the characters are on is very clear from the beginning. It is important to know who is trying to sabotage another character's career because what happens at the end unfolds this. It truly is an under-appreciated film that you can learn a lot from.

538. Lost in Translation

539. I'm Still Here

540. A River Runs Through It

541-550

541. Shutter Island*

This film's cinematography and editing is probably the one thing that keeps that "twist" at the end an absolute secret. It may not be the most exciting film to watch and may not even be the best thriller you'll ever see. But if you want to study the way a film is edited so you only see what it wants you to see, then you need to watch this film.

542. Richard III

543. Vicky Christina Barcelona

544. You Were Never Really Here

545. Troy

546. The Kids Are All Right

547. Steve Jobs

548. I, Tonya

549. Equilibrium

550. J. Edgar*

An excellent study in historical biography scripting. This may not be entirely a biopic, but it's a good film to analyze if you want to make your biographical drama seem more epic. The dialogue in this film is pretty good and really makes the film stand out in terms of history. Truthfully, I think they got the wrong actor to play J. Edgar Hoover, but that's personal opinion—it is on the whole, a very well-made film.

551-560

551. Now You See Me

552. The Singing Detective

553. Night Moves

554. Mary, Queen of Scots

555. The Monster's Ball*

The scale of this drama/thriller film is intense. It creates this intensity on screen through dialogue and atmosphere. If you want to study how atmospheric a drama/thriller can get then you need to watch this film. The film is perfectly cast and has brilliant amounts of moments in which everything goes quiet—no matter whether there's music in the background or not. The atmosphere, is quiet. Watch the scene in which Sonny shoots himself, it is a brilliant manipulation of atmosphere.

556. Revolutionary Road

557. Gothika*

558. Dead Man Walking

559. Barton Fink

560. The Fugitive

561-570

561. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang*

562. Toy Story*

An absolute achievement in animation, this film went down in the damn history books. If you're looking to study animation and children's film then the first film you should be watching is Toy Story. It is an original screenplay with some incredible characters to develop. It has an amazing storyline which is far from just juvenile. Seriously, this film should be on your top ten if you're doing children's film in your film studies concentration.

563. Leaving Las Vegas

564. Quiz Show

565. Swingers

566. The Fisher King

567. The Lion King*

Like Toy Story this was part of the Disney Renaissance and therefore stands as being a highly respected film no matter which type of film you are studying. If you're studying children's film or even epic drama, you need to watch and study the atmosphere created in The Lion King because there are not many scenes more dramatic than the death of Mufasa.

568. A Scanner Darkly

569. Sling Blade

570. The Last of the Mohicans*

571-580

571. Basic Instinct

572. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas*

573. A Few Good Men*

574. Short Cuts

575. The Judge*

576. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels*

The quintessential film for students of British Crime Dramas. There is something timeless about this film in the fact that it contains all the elements for those films that become part of its own genre. The way in which this film produces that gritty atmosphere is very important because later on, it will be copied and repeated by many others. But only Guy Ritchie can really pull it off.

577. Sister Act

578. Sleepless in Seattle

579. From Dusk 'Till Dawn

580. Face/Off*

581-590

581. In the Heart of the Sea*

This film is one to watch if you want to study epics. The epic shots in this film (like you see above) are amazing. Sometimes it's a bird's eye view, sometimes you're panning around the ship, sometimes you're aboard the ship and craning upwards. It's all about showing the magnitude of this ship so that when the whale takes it down, the whale looks so much bigger. It's all about setting that up. It's the whole Moby Dick story, don't tell me you didn't know the whale would take down the ship.

582. Office Space

583. My Cousin Vinny

584. Total Recall [the original]

585. Boys Don't Cry*

586. Leon: The Professional

587. The Chungking Express

588. Clueless

589. Terminator 2

590. The Iron Giant

591-600

591. 10 Things I Hate About You*

592. Wayne's World

593. Rushmore

594. Falling Down*

595. Tombstone

596. Demolition Man

597. The Fifth Element

598. My Own Private Idaho*

599. The Insider

600. Aladdin*

Conclusion

I'm glad you're still here if you've made it this far. I have been working really hard to put all of these together and I like to see there's some people out there that are still reading them. I have got some more planned and I will be putting them up soon, so you can have a look through my entire catalogue. I hope you've enjoyed making it this far and reading about all the different films that I recommend for your study purposes. Hopefully we can get along and even be friends!

Good luck on your next project.