IMDb Poll Board Movies That Awoke Your Passion For Cinema
by joesiegel | created - 24 Jul 2019 | updated - 24 Dec 2019 | PublicAll of us here love the cinema. The IMDb Poll Board Members have chosen the film that awoke their passion for cinema. Do any of these movies awaken your passion for cinema?
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1. Fantasia (1940)
G | 125 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
A collection of animated interpretations of great works of Western classical music.
Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe Jr., Norman Ferguson, David Hand, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen | Stars: Leopold Stokowski, Deems Taylor, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Corey Burton
Votes: 88,589 | Gross: $76.41M
dan_dassow pick.
2. The Terminator (1984)
R | 107 min | Action, Sci-Fi
A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Paul Winfield
Votes: 799,452 | Gross: $38.40M
"my parents taped The Terminator (1984) from a TV showing which was on 3rd or 4th of May of 1994 and the next day I first saw it when my parents were re-watching it and cutting away the commercials. It positively blew me away then and it still amazes me now. I never get bored of it even after spending like half-a-year accounting the most accurate bodycount of the movie and titular antagonist's screntime (I've pretty much seen this movie frame-by-frame a few times). Which turned out to be 26 minutes and 8 seconds, of which only 16 minutes are of first-billed Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's some movie magic for you: one of cinema's most memorable" nikolayyeriomin pick.
3. El Mariachi (1992)
R | 81 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.
Director: Robert Rodriguez | Stars: Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gómez, Jaime de Hoyos, Peter Marquardt
Votes: 63,351 | Gross: $2.04M
"the first subtitled foreign language movie I've seen and this opened my eyes to other things than mainstream Hollywood and dubbed Japanese monster movies" TsarStepan pick.
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
PG-13 | 178 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean
Votes: 1,660,147 | Gross: $315.54M
I was 10 years old when I watched this film for the first time, and it made a deep impression on me. I was enchanted by the beautifully told story and the wondrous world of Tolkien. I just loved everything about this movie and still do. Djesika pick.
5. Taxi Driver (1976)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama
A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action by attempting to liberate a presidential campaign worker and an underage prostitute.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks
Votes: 723,911 | Gross: $28.26M
"One of the first movies that made a deep impression to me was Taxi Driver" Leavey-2 pick.
6. IMDb on the Street (2015–2016)
Not Rated | Talk-Show
IMDb collects thoughts and opinions from people on the street related to a variety of entertainment related topics.
Star: Chako Suzuki
Votes: 69
"IMDb awoke my passion for movies" ElMaruecan82 pick.
7. Mulholland Drive (2001)
R | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
After a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Jeanne Bates
Votes: 321,644 | Gross: $7.22M
"That movie fascinated me. I loved the style and the mystery and I wanted to understand the movie. After that I started reading about David Lynch, Eraserhead, etc., and I guess since then I never stopped reading, searching and watching movies" Hoekkie pick.
8. Paths of Glory (1957)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, War
After refusing to attack an enemy position, a general accuses the soldiers of cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready
Votes: 177,908
Otter68 pick.
9. Titanic (1997)
PG-13 | 194 min | Drama, Romance
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates
Votes: 1,045,196 | Gross: $659.33M
Dibyayan_Chakravorty pick.
10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
PG | 138 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Roy Neary, an electric lineman, watches how his quiet and ordinary daily life turns upside down after a close encounter with a UFO.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon
Votes: 184,820 | Gross: $132.09M
Ed_Jones_XLIX pick.
11. Shrek (2001)
PG | 90 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A mean lord exiles fairytale creatures to the swamp of a grumpy ogre, who must go on a quest and rescue a princess for the lord in order to get his land back.
Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson | Stars: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow
Votes: 613,546 | Gross: $267.67M
"It was one of the first movies I saw in the cinema as a child and the one that awoke my passion for movies" MJdraco pick.
12. Goodfellas (1990)
R | 146 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mob, covering his relationship with his wife Karen Hill and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito in the Italian-American crime syndicate.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco
Votes: 1,019,739 | Gross: $46.84M
thenolanfan pick.
13. Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988–1999)
TV-14 | 92 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
In the not-too-distant future Joel Robinson is held captive by Dr. Forrester and TV's Frank, forced to watch B-Grade movies on the Satellite of Love with the help of his robot friends: Cambot, Gypsy, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot.
Stars: Joel Hodgson, Michael J. Nelson, Trace Beaulieu, Kevin Murphy
Votes: 22,948
"My favorite since childhood, this witty show helped spark my interest in movies of all sorts, including obscure, low budget projects, as well as encouraging my tastes and cultivating my search for only the best quality films" NarniaIsAwesome pick.
14. Like Father (2018)
TV-MA | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
After she's left at the altar, a workaholic advertising executive ends up on her Caribbean honeymoon cruise with her estranged father.
Director: Lauren Miller Rogen | Stars: Kristen Bell, Danielle Davenport, Kimiko Glenn, Wynter Kullman
Votes: 18,997
"More than a film, I think that what really started a passion on Me was my father" penchofifteenpolls pick.
15. The Jungle Book (1967)
G | 78 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
Bagheera the Panther and Baloo the Bear have a difficult time trying to convince a boy to leave the jungle for human civilization.
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman | Stars: Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, Bruce Reitherman
Votes: 166,301 | Gross: $141.84M
"It was a re-release in our home city. It was my first time visiting a cinema ever at the age of 4 or 5. I don't know the exact age proper anymore. The movie was for an audience 6+ years of age. So my father had to smuggle me into the cinema. But I still know he told me to not tell anyone I'm younger. So I shouted at the box office (in German words): I'M 6 YEARS OLD, OK? The grown ups had a good laugh and the lady on the box office agreed. The movie enlighted my heart for cinema" Breumaster pick.
16. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
R | 180 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey
Votes: 1,185,520 | Gross: $116.90M
"After watching this movie by chance in the cinema, I started looking for more movies of this style and at first I was obsessed with films about scammers, gangsters, frauds and specifically with Martin Scorsese movies, however thanks to this I got to know more genres that fascinated me and I was captivated by the great complexity of cinema." Joesiegel pick
17. Jurassic Park (1993)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A pragmatic paleontologist visiting an almost complete theme park is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Votes: 866,997 | Gross: $402.45M
"The funny thing is that Jurassic Park awakened my passion for cinema without me actually seeing it (at the time). When I was a kid in the mid-90s, Terminator 2 was (and still is) my favorite film, but I was seeing snippets of Jurassic Park everywhere. A clip on a TV, a few images on the back of a VHS box in a rental-store, a toy or a video game at the marketplace... But even with that incomplete picture of Jurassic Park, it has blown me away. It became so huge and elaborate, so epic and wondrous - all in my mind! It made me think that everything is possible in movies. Of course, years later, I finally watched it, and it delivered on my big expectations, which was a hard thing to do." mihailorazvigor pick
18. Inception (2010)
PG-13 | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe
Votes: 2,065,175 | Gross: $292.58M
19. My Dinner with Andre (1981)
PG | 110 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Two old friends meet for dinner; as one tells anecdotes detailing his experiences, the other notices their differing worldviews.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn, Jean Lenauer, Roy Butler
Votes: 18,463 | Gross: $5.25M
"I was very lucky to see, when I was still a young teenager, to some very good films because my much older brother was living at home while in law school and would rent movies that otherwise I would have never even heard of at such a young age. I remember a lot of them (Brazil, Casablanca, Blue Velvet) awaking an appreciation in me and opening up a whole new world to me -- and opening up a whole new way of seeing the world, too. The one that seems to keep coming back to me when I think of this poll, though, is 'My Dinner with Andre' so I'll go with that one. I think maybe I was younger when I saw that or something because it's the one that most makes me remember something changing for me." Rubyfruit76 pick
20. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama
A washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough
Votes: 579,852 | Gross: $42.34M
"Birdman made me realize the power and art of films. It has the best cinematography, a very realistic-performance cast and a beautiful but painful story which a lot of don't understand. Not to mention, films that majority of people don't understand or hate becomes a masterpiece for someone. It was this film that got me into making films. Thanks to Alejandro G. Iñárritu (the director) and Emmanuel Lubezki (the cinematographer)." BonaFideBoss pick
21. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 897,431 | Gross: $44.02M
"A movie that made me appreciate the art of the form of cinema and not simply having a well written story was Stanley Kubrick's The Shining." JamesMovieGuy_117 pick
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