Thought Provoking Movies
If you are going to take a date to a movie, these are great movies that you can talk about for hours after watching them. Philosophical, enigmatic, or controversial.
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13 titles
- DirectorDarren Paul FisherStarsDaniel FraserEleanor WyldOwen PughIn an alternate reality, children learn how lucky they will be (their "frequency"), knowledge which shapes their destiny. The unluckiest boy must parse the mysteries of free will in order to pursue his forbidden love of the luckiest girl.Discussion topic: Does free will exist?
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsMatthew McConaugheyAnne HathawayJessica ChastainWhen Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans.Discussion Topic: What exactly happened in that movie? Do you think the science was accurate?
- DirectorShane CarruthStarsShane CarruthDavid SullivanCasey GoodenFour friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.Discussion Topic: What exactly happened in that movie? Time Travel Theories.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.Discussion Topic: What if we aren't alone in the universe?
- DirectorRichard SchenkmanStarsDavid Lee SmithTony ToddJohn BillingsleyAn impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he has a longer and stranger past than they can imagine.Discussion Topic: Was he who he said he was? If he was, what does that mean?
- DirectorPanos CosmatosStarsEva BourneMichael J RogersScott HylandsDespite being under heavy sedation, a young woman tries to make her way out of the Arboria Institute, a secluded, quasifuturistic commune.Discussion Topic: What the hell did we just watch?
- DirectorSusan SaladoffStarsChuck AllenJudy AllenJay AngoffHow the infamous McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit and similar cases were exploited as part of a right wing crusade to weaken civil justice.Is TORT reform a good or bad thing?
- DirectorBob BowdonStarsBob BowdonBill BaroniRick BermanAmerican public schools have been growing progressively worse. According to the U.S. Department of Education national testing, only 35% of American high school seniors are proficient in reading, based on 2006 data. And fewer than one-in-four, 23%, are proficient in math. On the global stage, America ranks last in educational effectiveness among large industrialized countries despite the highest spending per student in the world. It presents a conundrum: How has the richest and most innovative society on earth suddenly lost the ability to teach its children at a level that other modern countries consider "basic"? If the problem is that we're not spending enough on schools, which many people believe, it's instructive to study the U.S. state that spends more than any other per student: New Jersey With spending as high as $483,000 per classroom (confirmed by NJ Education Department records for 2005-06), New Jersey students fare only slightly better than the national average in reading and math, and rank 37th in average SAT scores. And not even half of NJ's high school freshmen, despite the state's enormous "investment," are academically ready for college four years later. The fact is much of the public considers teacher salaries and overall education budgets to be the same thing -- if you're for raising one, you must be for raising the other. But as the film shows, in many cases 80-90% of the spending goes somewhere besides teacher salaries. In fact billions of dollars, as confirmed by independent audits, are wasted. "The Cartel" investigates what is causing this vast underachievement and what can be done to turn things around.What should the future of education in this country look like? How can we solve the problems with it?
- DirectorJustin BensonAaron MoorheadStarsAaron MoorheadJustin BensonCallie HernandezAs kids, they escaped a UFO death cult. Now, two adult brothers seek answers after an old videotape surfaces and brings them back to where they began.Bleak, but lots of ambiguity worth discussion for hours. Also see the companion piece, Resolution
- DirectorJustin BensonAaron MoorheadStarsPeter CilellaVinny CurranEmily MontagueA man imprisons his estranged junkie friend in an isolated cabin in the boonies of San Diego to force him through a week of sobriety, but the events of that week are being mysteriously manipulated.A prequel to The Endless
- DirectorChristopher SmithStarsMelissa GeorgeJoshua McIvorJack TaylorFive friends set sail and their yacht is overturned by a strange and sudden storm. A mysterious ship arrives to rescue them, and what happens next cannot be explained.A mind-bendy with a similar conceit to The Endless, but with more interesting ideas explored
- DirectorJohn AugustStarsRyan ReynoldsHope DavisMelissa McCarthyA troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways.Do YOU have a belly button?
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsJennifer LawrenceJavier BardemEd HarrisA couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.Not for the squeamish, but once you realize what it actually is you will dissect it for hours looking for all of the allegory.