Movies That Changed My Life
by IMDb-Editors | created - 24 Feb 2021 | updated - 11 May 2021 | PublicWhat movies had the biggest impact on your favorite celebrities? Check out the selections below from our exclusive interviews on the IMDb podcast "Movies That Changed My Life." Subscribe today for more great picks!
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1. 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: 1,381,102 | Gross: $322.74M
Selected by Ian de Borja - Listen to the episode.
2. 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: 1,038,170 | Gross: $44.02M
Selected by Ian de Borja - Listen to the episode.
3. Wayne's World (1992)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Music
Two slacker friends try to promote their public-access cable show.
Director: Penelope Spheeris | Stars: Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Rob Lowe, Tia Carrere
Votes: 162,072 | Gross: $121.70M
Selected by Ian de Borja - Listen to the episode.
4. Toy Story (1995)
G | 81 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A cowboy doll is profoundly threatened and jealous when a new spaceman action figure supplants him as top toy in a boy's bedroom.
Director: John Lasseter | Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney
Votes: 1,008,013 | Gross: $191.80M
Selected by Griffin Newman - Listen to the episode.
5. The Wiz (1978)
G | 134 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
An adaptation of "The Wizard of Oz" that tries to capture the essence of the African-American experience.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross
Votes: 15,806 | Gross: $21.05M
Selected by Griffin Newman - Listen to the episode.
6. Margaret (I) (2011)
R | 150 min | Drama
A young woman witnesses a bus accident, and is caught up in the aftermath, where the question of whether or not it was intentional affects many people's lives.
Director: Kenneth Lonergan | Stars: Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron
Votes: 17,751 | Gross: $0.05M
Selected by Griffin Newman - Listen to the episode.
7. Life of Brian (1979)
R | 94 min | Comedy
Born on the original Christmas in the stable next door to Jesus Christ, Brian of Nazareth spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.
Director: Terry Jones | Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam
Votes: 405,713 | Gross: $20.05M
Selected by Ed Helms - Listen to the episode.
8. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
R | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A freewheeling Detroit cop pursuing a murder investigation finds himself dealing with the very different culture of Beverly Hills.
Director: Martin Brest | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Lisa Eilbacher
Votes: 189,919 | Gross: $234.76M
Selected by Ed Helms - Listen to the episode.
9. Raising Arizona (1987)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Crime
When a childless couple--an ex-con and an ex-cop--decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter, Trey Wilson, John Goodman
Votes: 142,630 | Gross: $22.85M
Selected by Ed Helms - Listen to the episode.
10. Network (1976)
R | 121 min | Drama
A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall
Votes: 162,083
Selected by Jon Lovett - Listen to the episode.
11. Brazil (1985)
R | 132 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 203,997 | Gross: $9.93M
Selected by Jon Lovett - Listen to the episode.
12. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
R | 123 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst
Votes: 330,187 | Gross: $105.26M
Selected by Jon Lovett - Listen to the episode.
13. The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
PG | 84 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
The Autobots must stop a colossal planet consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. At the same time, they must defend themselves against an all-out attack from the Decepticons.
Director: Nelson Shin | Stars: Orson Welles, Robert Stack, Leonard Nimoy, Norman Alden
Votes: 40,484 | Gross: $5.85M
Selected by Robert Kirkman - Listen to the episode.
14. Army of Darkness (1992)
R | 81 min | Comedy, Horror
A sardonic hardware store clerk is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., where he must retrieve the Necronomicon and battle an army of the dead so he can return home.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie
Votes: 182,668 | Gross: $11.50M
Selected by Robert Kirkman - Listen to the episode.
15. Speed Racer (2008)
PG | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Young driver Speed Racer aspires to be champion of the racing world with the help of his family and his high-tech Mach 5 automobile.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, Christina Ricci, Nicholas Elia
Votes: 75,389 | Gross: $43.95M
Selected by Robert Kirkman - Listen to the episode.
16. Best in Show (2000)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy
A behind-the-scenes look into the highly competitive and cut-throat world of dog shows through the eyes of a group of ruthless dog owners.
Director: Christopher Guest | Stars: Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Jennifer Coolidge
Votes: 63,799 | Gross: $18.72M
Selected by Sarah Chalke - Listen to the episode.
17. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories for ever.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Gerry Robert Byrne
Votes: 1,022,461 | Gross: $34.40M
Selected by Sarah Chalke - Listen to the episode.
18. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 490,841 | Gross: $59.89M
Selected by Sarah Chalke - Listen to the episode.
19. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
PG | 91 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.
Directors: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones | Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam
Votes: 548,114 | Gross: $1.23M
Selected by Reggie Watts - Listen to the episode.
20. Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
R | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Music
A confined but troubled rock star descends into madness in the midst of his physical and social isolation from everyone.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Bob Geldof, Christine Hargreaves, James Laurenson, Eleanor David
Votes: 82,462 | Gross: $22.24M
Selected by Reggie Watts - Listen to the episode.
21. 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: 1,938,483 | Gross: $171.48M
Selected by Reggie Watts - Listen to the episode.
22. This Sporting Life (1963)
Not Rated | 134 min | Drama, Sport
Despite success on the field, a rising rugby star senses the emerging emptiness of his life as his inner angst begins to materialize through aggression and brutality, so he attempts to woo his landlady in hopes of finding reason to live.
Director: Lindsay Anderson | Stars: Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel, William Hartnell
Votes: 6,800
Selected by Ian McShane - Listen to the episode.
23. Tom Jones (1963)
Not Rated | 129 min | Adventure, Comedy, History
The romantic and chivalrous adventures of adopted bastard Tom Jones in 18th-century England.
Director: Tony Richardson | Stars: Albert Finney, Susannah York, George Devine, Rachel Kempson
Votes: 13,569 | Gross: $37.60M
Selected by Ian McShane - Listen to the episode.
24. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Romance
A rebellious, hard-living factory worker juggles relationships with two women, one of whom is married to another man but pregnant with his child.
Director: Karel Reisz | Stars: Albert Finney, Shirley Anne Field, Rachel Roberts, Hylda Baker
Votes: 8,788
Selected by Ian McShane - Listen to the episode.
25. Mulan (1998)
G | 87 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
To save her father from death in the army, a young maiden secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroines in the process.
Directors: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook | Stars: Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong, Miguel Ferrer
Votes: 295,502 | Gross: $120.62M
Selected by Kelly Marie Tran - Listen to the episode.
26. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
PG | 152 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
An orphaned boy enrolls in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith
Votes: 800,610 | Gross: $317.58M
Selected by Kelly Marie Tran - Listen to the episode.
27. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
Votes: 676,714 | Gross: $37.63M
Selected by Kelly Marie Tran - Listen to the episode.
28. Pusher (1996)
Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Thriller
A drug pusher grows increasingly desperate after a botched deal leaves him with a large debt to a ruthless drug lord.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Kim Bodnia, Zlatko Buric, Laura Drasbæk, Slavko Labovic
Votes: 41,697 | Gross: $0.00M
Selected by Joel Kinnaman - Listen to the episode.
29. La haine (1995)
Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama
24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz | Stars: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui, Abdel Ahmed Ghili
Votes: 178,703 | Gross: $0.31M
Selected by Joel Kinnaman - Listen to the episode.
30. 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.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks
Votes: 851,249 | Gross: $28.26M
Selected by Joel Kinnaman - Listen to the episode.
31. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Music
Spinal Tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DiBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Kimberly Stringer
Votes: 142,045 | Gross: $4.74M
Selected by Edgar Wright - Listen to the episode.
32. Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham
Votes: 20,361 | Gross: $0.16M
Selected by Edgar Wright - Listen to the episode.
33. Dames (1934)
Passed | 91 min | Comedy, Music, Musical
A multimillionaire decides to boycott "filthy" forms of entertainment such as Broadway shows.
Directors: Ray Enright, Busby Berkeley | Stars: Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Zasu Pitts
Votes: 2,213
Selected by Edgar Wright - Listen to the episode.
34. Dating Amber (2020)
Not Rated | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two school friends decide to start a pretend straight relationship in an effort to fit in.
Director: David Freyne | Stars: Fionn O'Shea, Lola Petticrew, Sharon Horgan, Barry Ward
Votes: 6,810
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
35. Shirley (2020)
R | 107 min | Biography, Drama, Horror
A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.
Director: Josephine Decker | Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Odessa Young, Michael Stuhlbarg, Logan Lerman
Votes: 12,119
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
36. Misbehaviour (2020)
Not Rated | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, History
A group of women hatch a plan to disrupt the 1970 Miss World beauty competition in London.
Director: Philippa Lowthorpe | Stars: Keira Knightley, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jessie Buckley, Greg Kinnear
Votes: 9,456
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
37. One Night in Miami... (2020)
R | 114 min | Drama
A fictional account of one incredible night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gathered discussing their roles in the Civil Rights Movement and cultural upheaval of the 60s.
Director: Regina King | Stars: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Eli Goree, Aldis Hodge, Leslie Odom Jr.
Votes: 32,893
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
38. Another Round (2020)
Not Rated | 117 min | Comedy, Drama
Four high-school teachers consume alcohol on a daily basis to see how it affects their social and professional lives.
Director: Thomas Vinterberg | Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, Lars Ranthe
Votes: 168,783
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
39. Ammonite (2020)
R | 117 min | Biography, Drama, History
1840s England, acclaimed but overlooked fossil hunter Mary Anning and a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship, altering both of their lives forever.
Director: Francis Lee | Stars: Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Jones, James McArdle
Votes: 19,827
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
40. Sylvie's Love (2020)
PG-13 | 114 min | Drama, Music, Romance
When a young woman meets an aspiring saxophonist in her father's record shop in 1950s Harlem, their love ignites a sweeping romance that transcends changing times, geography, and professional success.
Director: Eugene Ashe | Stars: Tessa Thompson, Nnamdi Asomugha, Eva Longoria, Aja Naomi King
Votes: 6,132
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
41. Promising Young Woman (2020)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path.
Director: Emerald Fennell | Stars: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown
Votes: 182,596
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
42. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
R | 129 min | Drama, History, Thriller
The story of 7 people on trial stemming from various charges surrounding the uprising at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
Director: Aaron Sorkin | Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Alex Sharp, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong
Votes: 181,963
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
43. Tenet (2020)
PG-13 | 150 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Armed with only one word, Tenet, and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Juhan Ulfsak
Votes: 521,738 | Gross: $58.46M
Selected by Col Needham for the best of 2020 - Listen to the episode.
44. The Second Mother (2015)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Drama