One of The Auteur’s Facebook friends challenged another friend to list their 15 most influential movies.  I’m posting about this on my alter-ego Facebook page, but I decided to take the opportunity to expand on said list.  Challenge accepted.  So here are my 15 most influential movies…

Fight Club – the great existentialist story of our time.  A real man’s-man’s movie.  This movie and book’s influence on me is evident by clicking here.

Star Wars – my first true movie-love.  Star Wars taught me how to dream.

Rocky (Any of them, or all of them) – The ultimate underdog story of our time.  Any, or all of the Rocky movies will suffice.

The Matrix (the first one only) – In addition to being the most influential sci-fi movie of the last 25 years, this movie reminds me that the only limits are one’s imagination.  There is no spoon, indeed…

Napoleon Dynamite – another underdog story.  A surprisingly powerful story about love, family, friendships and perseverance.

Dead Poet’s Society – The movie that really made me fall in love with English Literature and made me want to be a teacher.

Silver Linings Playbook – A story about a less-than-perfect guy trying to rebuild his life.  ‘Nuff said.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – Before the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, no other movie had done as good of a job of transporting me to another world since Star Wars.  “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Swingers – another great guy movie.  This one taught me that sometimes you are are money, even if you don’t know it.

Singles – A movie that captured a great moment in time:  the Seattle musical movement of the early 1990s and a series of great inter-connected love stories.

Pulp Fiction – By far, the most influential American movie, of any genre, of the last 30 years.  Timeless and yet so relevant.

Finding Nemo – A modern day version of The Odyssey, and a great father-son story about a father who takes on an a nearly-impossible task of finding his son; and becomes a man along the way.   I don’t care what anyone says, Finding Nemo is Marlin’s story.  Period.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High – another movie that really capture a moment in time for me.  It follows the real calendar by which young Americans live…the academic school-year calendar.

Field of Dreams – A man who go to any lengths to answer his inner calling.  A true father and son story, and it revolves around baseball.

Superman: The Movie – Yes, I’m a Batman guy, but this is still, the stick by which all other superhero movies are measured.

There’s my 15.  Thoughts…?