I recently read that “Its a Wonderful Life” did terrible in ticket sales. The Studio hated it, and the film was sort of suppressed because the villain was a banker with an unpleasant personality. It was literally controversial. They don’t want a movie about a community coming together, and all taking the hit for the small local lender. Considering bankers rule the world now, it seems a fair assessment.
They didn't want people to have their attention jabbed to the root cause that is the banking clan. Bankers have always ruled, its only more obvious today. However it doesn't matter because the pleb hordes are buried in their impenetrable self deceit.
Hard to argue. It's a masterpiece on so many levels, and also has some absolutely hilarious things in it. The performances are brilliant across the board and of course Peter Sellers playing 3 roles cemented his reputation as the Chaplin or Keaton of his era.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi had a very important social message for me. A very inspiring movie. It taught me to blindly follow authority and run away from my problems.
The Last Jedi taught me that you don't need to do lessons or training to be awesome, and that you should ignore the advice of old men, but listen carefully to old women.
I would have ‘Boyz n tha Hood’ (1991) on my list somewhere - great depiction of inner-city life and how your decisions and actions can save or destroy you - “Increase the Peace”.
And Menace II Society too since it’s also a movie about three youths trying to survive a place where they don’t really belong in and how the streets will chew you up and spit you out if you don’t even try to get out of that place of society.
Love They Live and Its a Wonderful Life. Superman was a nice surprise. My personal favorite would be 12 Angry Men with Henry Fonda. Tackles group think, prejudice, peer pressure. Great performances too.
@@collativelearning A movie to check out. Rod Steiger in The Loved One (1965) www.imdb.com/title/tt0059410/ Satire on the funeral business, in which a young British poet goes to work at a Hollywood cemetery.
I went and watched Five Easy Pieces because of this video. A genuinely great film with a really good message, and a fantastic performance from Jack Nicholson
'The Outlay Josey Wales' would make my list for its depiction of a group of strangers getting along and making things work because they have a common goal.
Very cool that you mention Rumble Fish. I used to be obsessed by the film. I've seen it a 100+ times. In a technical sense it feels like the Citizen Kane of the eighties, but it also has this wonderful dreamlike atmosphere. It never fails to impress me.
PERFECT ANALYSIS OF SUPERMAN!!! I am always telling my students the same thing because the only thing they are used to absorbing is cinematic Cheese Whiz!
I'm one of the few people who have seen Five Easy Pieces. It is great! It was interesting to hear your take on it, though I interpreted it very differently. Nicholson's character came from a very cultured background. He was a talented classical pianist, which came as a revelation midway through the film, as he worked in an oil field and surrounded himself with people who were well-meaning and sweet, but kind of on the dim side. He chose the "easy" life as a chronic underachiever, though this course of action frustrated him. In this sense, the film had a bit in common with the beginning of Good Will Hunting. That being said, love the channel. Thanks for all you do. 👍
Exactly- maybe because you're British, where social class structure is quite different, you have seemingly missed the actual social message in Five Easy Pieces, one of my favorite movies. In the classic diner scene, which is very well known on these shores, his request is actually very simple (he wants toast) and nothing as you described here; the point is that the waitress is so ensconced in "how we do this" that she cannot deviate at all from the menu - as happens more abstractly in the prescribed behavior of social classes. Watch it again, Rob. It's a great movie.
_The Swimmer_ (1968) & _Local Hero_ (1983) are really good indie-ish, small studio films that are in this category. They both subtly touch on the theme of wealth, and how one navigates a world in which its allure and utility seem to exert a powerful - even mystical - force on people. Both are sort of beautiful and ethereal, in the vein of _American Beauty_ and _Risky Business_ .
I watched Rollerball on your recommendation. Great movie. Rather chilling depiction of where we could be heading in a world that undermines nationality in favor of governments and corporations who work in tandem.
i mean ‘nations’ are lines on the ground that only exist in human heads... we’re all strands in the web of life, by virtue of the fact all creatures are engendered by and share a common living space: earth. there’s no way to disentangle that. it all is, and all happens, and humans are not in control of these complex, life sustaining processes.
@@thotslayer9914 Be an incel. See comment that is getting likes and attention from channel creator. Get jelly. Project your flaws and call that person an incel in blind rage.
I LOVE "Trading Places"! Great social issues presented by two flawed, funny characters that doesn't hit one on the head with its message. Also, I love "Superman" for being a bit of a send-up of the Superman story, inside jokes poking at the original cartoon ("And don't call me Sugar," Chief says, when it's supposed to be "And don't call me Chief."). And props for "It's a Wonderful Life." I love how you mix genres, find oddball films, and have such an innovative, independent take on everything.
Trading Places is my favourite comedy of all time, and a Christmas tradition. Never once did I think of it as a message movie (even though it kinda is)
This is a most interesting category for a "top" list. Some really insightful choices you made. Suprised not to see "Fight Club". On mine, I'd probably have "Do The Right Thing", "12 Angry Men", and definitely "There Will Be Blood". Do another 25, please!
Francis Ford Coppola has actually said "Rumble Fish" is the best film he ever made. Mind you he made the 1st 2 Godfathers, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. Intersting since it's on this Top 25 List
I think Eyes Wide Shut became a cult movie for "conspiracy theorists" because on the surface, it was pretty dumb, and the mass audience took it for that (those are the ones who claim the second party really takes place, and this is how rich people spend their weekends).....BUT it also became a classic for more educated audiences because of the symbology, and the multiple layers of understanding each scene (try to explain a "conspiranoid" the second party is actually the first party on a subconscious level).........but also that movie was served to an audience who was prepared for last 5 or 6 years with X-Files, which was probably one of the most sought after TV shows, and the "mythos" episodes were amazing (in particular in the first 5 seasons, because they play with reality, fiction and conspiracy, mixing all and leaving you clueless.....you could literally see an grey alien in one episode, and still not be convinced, because they had so many options to justify it, genetical manipulation of humans, actual extraterrestrials, fake "corpses" planted by the CIA, etc etc, all mixed with nazi and japanese actual WW2 history...)........this is why also Matrix was very well received, because of how "anti-system" it was seen by audiences (when actually it is totally the opposite of that)... And in fact, EWS is what really pushed more people into looking for the symbols of Kubrick previous movies. Today you have 1 thousand different takes on the Shinning, but in, let's say 1992, who had any idea of what The Shinning was about, or even saw that movie more than once?..... I don't even know if the "moonlanding" theory was already established back then (specially because there was no internet, so the only way to learn about this kind of stuff, was to find a book, or an article in a magazine)
To me Stanley Kubrick's most important and best film, will always be - A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and by extension among the most important films ever made in the history of cinema
Thanks Rob, another great video. I am a young lad from Birkenhead and when you were describing Rumble Fish, I could really relate to what you were saying being in a similar position myself not so long ago. You are a fantastic movie analyst unlike the mainstream critics, who today unfortunately only seem to praise movies that conform to a modern identity politics agenda. Part 2, yes please.
Trading Places: the bet was between two old money billionaires, and it was for $1. Stating that they didn’t care about Akroyd’s or Murphy’s characters at all. Willing to destroy the life of an employee, for a arbitrary wager illustrates that both characters were ultimately valueless to the elite class. I love this channel, great work.
cheers. My detailed film analysis are scripted. No way I could narrate those casually and be so accurate. Anything where I talk directly in front of the camera is usually ad libbed according to a predefined topical template.
@@collativelearning That makes sense. By the way, I am going to check out Rumble Fish on your suggestion. I've only known of it peripherally and always though it looked cheesy, so I never gave it a chance. Now I'm intrigued.
Spending today going over your excellent videos , particularly enjoyed this one ... My top 5 social message movies must be La Haine , If.... , Life of Brian , Rumblefish and Festen from Denmark, possibly the original Pusher....
Yeeeaaahhh - give us a part 2. I was trying to guess where the matrix would turn up in the list, and it was nice to see someone who really likes "Remains of the day" aswell!
I'd add The Bells of St Mary's because it's a perfect snapshot of the traditionalist 'muscular Christianity' worldview that dominated before the post WWII dissolution of Western culture. ETA: Seeing as this thread has attracted some Globo-Homo trolling, a bit of expansion is in order. Domination is hardly a dirty word since the capacity to dominate is what allows a living being to survive. Individuals at times have to dominate in order to secure food, win mates or resist predation and communities have to maintain the capacity to dominate to secure territory, the rights of their people and the continuance of their culture. And it certainly was to the world's benefit that the USA was capable of domination during the 20th Century, defeating both the Imperial Japanese and Nazi Germany. It's relativistic in the extreme to act as if a world order that made room for Unit 731 and Auschwitz is somehow a positive thing. And I chose the word 'dissolution' quite deliberately. What we're seeing now is in no way evolutionary, which implies an organic process . Rather, both globalist homogenization and multicultural relativism are being imposed upon societies against their will (See: US 2016 election, Brexit, Gillets Jaunes protests, election of Bolsonaro and various nationalist governments in Europe). It's clear that any globalist or multiculturalist society will be unsustainable, lacking as it does the consent of the people. This is intrinsically anti-evolutionary, since evolution always seeks to produce a self-sustaining entity.
In my country, the governmente is making regions available to international or national bidders who want to stablish there, original inhabitants have to sell their land or property or they will be ex-propriated from them. This is an effect of globalism, what is your assessment of what it's happening in my country?
Nice video! I have to disagree with your reading of the diner scene in Five Easy Pieces, however. The way I saw it, it was more of a commentary on rules and authority making little sense. Nicholson found a way to get the order he wanted "without breaking any rules". His method of circumventing authority, I believe, says more about his character than just wanting it a specific way. He wanted it that way, and *was able to get it that way* in spite of the no substitutions rule, but the authority figure of the waitress denied him the order anyway. It says a lot about how life doesn't always make sense, but I would have to see the film again to nail down precisely how this scene fits into the larger world of the character's journey.
🤣🤣🤣...High Planes Drifter... '...and when I say ghost like I..I don't mean he's transparent and he floats through walls n' shit like that...' Laughed out loud there...🤣🤣🤣
Great list. Always great to see smaller or less known films be given shout outs & a nudge for others to discover. Would love hear a quick walkthrough of the other films you considered. It's also nice to hear about not just what made a movie great, but why the messages/themes/ specifically made an impact on you, the critic. Thanks Rob!
Rollerball, 5 easy pieces, American beauty. Three fantastic character studies there. I'd add macabe and Mrs miller as another. Please do your top character studies in movies.
Nice video. Some interesting & unexpected choices. One film I had in mind include Rosemary's Baby. It had interesting social messages. Besides the "people hiding things beneath a seemingly pleasant surface" aspect (as in Eyes Wide Shut), there is also the conformity & peer pressure aspect. It is fascinating to see how the main character is pressured into isolation by her peers & how her husband sold himself to the devil (literally) just for career advancement. Another interesting one is the Jazz Singer. While known mostly for breaking the silent era, I think this sometimes overshadows the theme of maintaining traditional values & identity. I think it is a very powerful & complex issue: should you distance yourself from your roots & long held traditions to advance your life? How conservative should one be? Is there always a compromise? Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times also addresses industrialization, the meaning of satisfaction in life, & overwork.
I really enjoy this type of video and being a fan of yours for some time buying stuff from your digital download contents and watching your youtube videos really changed and inspired me to look at cinema in a different and brand new way. thank you, Rob!
Would Love a part two! Your unique and (I believe) sincere take on the movies I love are a great pitch for the ones I haven't seen. Please keep the lists coming and thanks for the content!
I was hoping to see Wag the Dog on this list. It predicted the Clinton scandals just months before news got out. I would also add Fight Club, Minority Report (behavioral predictive profiling and surveillance states) and War Games (many will disagree with this), which arguably inspired the teenage genius trope in so many movies and TV shows.
The orgy scene in EWS was filmed at Highclere Castle not Somerton; the Red Cloak ceremony was filmed at Somerton. My personal social commentary film is The Sound of Music. The sugar frosting overlaid on Nazism, war and religion. It asks you to "climb every mountain, ford every stream". The curtains are literally taken down from the windows and made into clothes, symbolically inviting a greater visibility from the highly regimented mansion to outside into a rapidly changing world and adapting to it.
I liked you & your essays ,now I Love you & your essays ...Please keep having fun with your obvious intellect & continue to share your optimistic spirit with the world...=from Australia=Blessings.
Yes! High Plains Drifter is one of my favourites. Love his Spaghetti Westerns. When I read Stephen King's Gunslinger books I always see Roland as Clint Eastwood.
Thanks Rob, great work. Glad you're a fan of Star Trek 1, I find that movie fascinating, I happily go along for the ride each time. Loving the lists and being exposed to movies I wouldn't have known about otherwise. Looking forward to more.
wow, Five Easy Pieces, didn't expect that one great movie from Bob Rafelson who was involved in Easy Rider and after Jack's great performance, makes this movie one year later with him as protagonist. Loved the character developement and the scene with his father.
Yes, I would like to know which other movies have a strong life lesson in them. I would also be curious if you have any other social messages you think need sharing or would make a decent premise for a script.
Another good social commentary film concerning the ethic treatment of animals is Project X. I love the questioning of a soldier with a scientist over the humane treatment of chimps being used as test subjects exposed to nuclear rays in order to determine the longetivity of a human pilot if exposed to radiation in a possible nuclear war. Great commentary as far as how animals are used and abused for medical and scientific research. The Secret of Nimh is another great film, whilst highly fictionalised, as far as using rats, mice, and other laboratory animals for scientific research. Great films, both of these, that speak out for animals more so than people. Animals deserve consideration and respect.
The lesson from the diner, as the Nicholson character stated, was that in the end he might have felt better flying off the handle but he didn’t get what he wanted.
My personal nominations from top of my head : IKIRU (Kurosawa film about a guy who spends his life doing his bureaucratic job, but suddenly gets cancer and wants to make the most of life, eventually making a playground for kids, decent execution, ripe for a remake I think) SCARFACE (probably the movie that best encapsulates the dangers of being a top gangster or a very powerful person in general, how they can be very unhappy and insecure when they get there. Some people still fall into this trap) BARRY LYNDON (similar reasons to SCARFACE) INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (philosophically plays on our fears of being permanently thrown out of our comfort zone and having to deal harsh life, might also tap into fear of terminal death. Basically a reminder for me to prepare for whatever life throws at me) VALKYRIE (decent Tom Cruise film about senior German officers’ attempt to assassinate Hitler and end WWII peacefully) DESPICABLE ME (basic theme of just having a family to keep you in good spirits) NIGHT SHIFT (many movies show how timid people gradually stand up to the world, but I prefer this one the best) STARSHIP TROOPERS (for obvious political reasons) TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (a fav of one of my mum’s BFs, basic theme on the dangers of greed, but very good movie) And yeah, wouldn't mind seeing Part 2. :)
Love your videos Mr Ager. I also really like the new Mr Kermode radio show on Saturday afternoon on Scala Radio, been fascinating playing mainly orchestral music from movie sound tracks, and often some very interesting stories about the pieces. Just a heads up really as I only stumbled upon it myself last week, and it's rather special I think.
Network from 1976 are you kidding? Was it not in contention, did you forget it, haven't you seen it? Did it supersede this list? Might be one of the greatest movies of all time. Great acting, great pacing, great story, the social impact, and message. I don't get it that it isn't mentioned here.
@@BobBob-vc4bt I've seen trading places, one flew over the cuckoo's nest, holy Grail, taxi driver, and they live. I saw a bit of superman as a kid but I was just disappointed he didn't have a crap in the air like a sparrow, or pick people up and fly off with them, then dump them hundreds of miles away. A wasted opportunity.
Great top 25! A Simple Plan serves as one. Not just for its social references, but in a sense how it serves as a cup of coffee, or a blueprint to the unauthorized. Maybe it speaks to the testimony that we are not that smart. I had never seen a tragedy that drew more laughs. Another very personal film for me is Death of a Salesman. And, yes, The Killing Fields deserves a mention. It was before my time, but I was alive when it happened. Rarely is there ever a glimpse into something as evil, something that transcends even tragedy, I suppose.
I didnt want to scroll to the end but Rivers Edge (1986) really encapsulates the self evolved destructive nihilism of America into the apathetical 90's. Also Paprika (2006) an anime that really blends scifi thriller on fame identity and isolation.
I would add some poignant Kurosawa films: I Live in Fear - a movie ahead of its time about a man terrified of the prospect of nuclear war who wants to move his entire family from Japan to South America. Red Beard - a powerful film about a doctor who chooses to work among the poor for low wages for the good of humanity. Stray Dog - a noir type film that takes a journey through the underbelly of post war Japanese society. The end is staggering brilliance! Then, of course, there should be some brilliant Italian films, The Bicycle Thief, Stromboli, The Nights of Cabiria, La Strada, La Commare Secca, Mamma Roma, Germany Year Zero, and so many more. I don’t know why but the Italians excel at this type of film. And we can’t forget Charlie Chaplin’s superlative: City Lights.
Good video, and credit for identifying your personal/subjective choices for the list. In my opinion, film criticism tends to obsess on the intent of the Writers, Directors and Actors -- but not enough focuses on the critics. A critic who understands him/herself is more likely to give an even, focused analysis of a work of art. Also, one "social purpose" movie that affected me was The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover -- but not for the political reasons of the movie. Instead, the movie made me think about how we culturally value the three activities the film depicts -- sex, reading, and food. I actually ate nothing the two days after I watched the movie because the movie's theme about food and digestion as social activities left me disturbed. (Don't worry, though. I've gained weight, lost weight, and gained it back in the years since then. To the best of my knowledge, the movie did not make me develop an eating disorder.)
Respectfully, 😊I'm very surprised A Clockwork Orange didn't make it on this list, especially regarding social meaning. All of Kubrick's films have social meaning, and I understand your comments on why you chose Eyes Wide Shut & Dr. Strangelove, but as far as heavyweight social meaning, I think A Clockwork Orange hit the hardest. 🍻
Whenever you're playing at critic, the audience you're addressing is always the rub.The best films work on different levels, - true, - but they are also frequently convoluted and misunderstood. Education, culture, sex, age, - are always going to make the experience subjective. I will always remember Apocalypse Now as being central to my mental growth; in many ways, it was my real introduction to religion. One Flew Over, - as you say, a " science" that can be very destructive.After several years as a Psych major, I became so disenchanted that I changed to an entirely different field.
Fight Club had a million little "social messages" hidden inside the crazy rollercoaster the Narrator goes through and/or creates.
I recently read that “Its a Wonderful Life” did terrible in ticket sales. The Studio hated it, and the film was sort of suppressed because the villain was a banker with an unpleasant personality. It was literally controversial. They don’t want a movie about a community coming together, and all taking the hit for the small local lender. Considering bankers rule the world now, it seems a fair assessment.
Here's your digital dollar and ESG score sir! This issue isn't getting better.
Bankers don't rule the world, lmao.
They didn't want people to have their attention jabbed to the root cause that is the banking clan. Bankers have always ruled, its only more obvious today. However it doesn't matter because the pleb hordes are buried in their impenetrable self deceit.
Rob, you're a saint!
Dr. Strangelove is probably the best and most important black comedy with a powerful social message I've ever seen.
Totally love it. It really captures the (well deserved) paranoia of the cold war era.
Hard to argue. It's a masterpiece on so many levels, and also has some absolutely hilarious things in it. The performances are brilliant across the board and of course Peter Sellers playing 3 roles cemented his reputation as the Chaplin or Keaton of his era.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi had a very important social message for me. A very inspiring movie. It taught me to blindly follow authority and run away from my problems.
The Last Jedi taught me that you don't need to do lessons or training to be awesome, and that you should ignore the advice of old men, but listen carefully to old women.
@@atomicdancer That too. So inspiring. Lessons to pass on to the next generation to be sure.
Taught me the value of money.
@Mr. Flapjack Presents Garbage Tier social takes are endemic to Hollywood now. Especially the Gay-Up-All-Things trend.
Like the movie just cause it pissed off so many People.
I would have ‘Boyz n tha Hood’ (1991) on my list somewhere - great depiction of inner-city life and how your decisions and actions can save or destroy you - “Increase the Peace”.
That’s a good one to add for sure
And Menace II Society too since it’s also a movie about three youths trying to survive a place where they don’t really belong in and how the streets will chew you up and spit you out if you don’t even try to get out of that place of society.
Love They Live and Its a Wonderful Life. Superman was a nice surprise. My personal favorite would be 12 Angry Men with Henry Fonda. Tackles group think, prejudice, peer pressure. Great performances too.
12 Angry Men is an excellent choicet. I didn't think of that one. Cheers.
@@collativelearning A movie to check out. Rod Steiger in The Loved One (1965) www.imdb.com/title/tt0059410/ Satire on the funeral business, in which a young British poet goes to work at a Hollywood cemetery.
Thank you Mr. Ager
YES PART TWO MR AGER this is clearly your subtle way of handing out some essential life advice as well and I for one am here for it
More top 25 lists please. These are really great.
I went and watched Five Easy Pieces because of this video. A genuinely great film with a really good message, and a fantastic performance from Jack Nicholson
'The Outlay Josey Wales' would make my list for its depiction of a group of strangers getting along and making things work because they have a common goal.
Atun-Shei Films pointed out how unique it is for portraying a sympathetic Confederate protagonist, but without offering any "Lost Cause" apologetics
Very cool that you mention Rumble Fish. I used to be obsessed by the film. I've seen it a 100+ times. In a technical sense it feels like the Citizen Kane of the eighties, but it also has this wonderful dreamlike atmosphere. It never fails to impress me.
PERFECT ANALYSIS OF SUPERMAN!!! I am always telling my students the same thing because the only thing they are used to absorbing is cinematic Cheese Whiz!
I like that when Rob is at lunch he's just casually thinking of his Top 25 Social Message Movies :D
I'm one of the few people who have seen Five Easy Pieces. It is great! It was interesting to hear your take on it, though I interpreted it very differently. Nicholson's character came from a very cultured background. He was a talented classical pianist, which came as a revelation midway through the film, as he worked in an oil field and surrounded himself with people who were well-meaning and sweet, but kind of on the dim side. He chose the "easy" life as a chronic underachiever, though this course of action frustrated him. In this sense, the film had a bit in common with the beginning of Good Will Hunting. That being said, love the channel. Thanks for all you do. 👍
Exactly- maybe because you're British, where social class structure is quite different, you have seemingly missed the actual social message in Five Easy Pieces, one of my favorite movies. In the classic diner scene, which is very well known on these shores, his request is actually very simple (he wants toast) and nothing as you described here; the point is that the waitress is so ensconced in "how we do this" that she cannot deviate at all from the menu - as happens more abstractly in the prescribed behavior of social classes. Watch it again, Rob. It's a great movie.
_The Swimmer_ (1968) & _Local Hero_ (1983) are really good indie-ish, small studio films that are in this category. They both subtly touch on the theme of wealth, and how one navigates a world in which its allure and utility seem to exert a powerful - even mystical - force on people. Both are sort of beautiful and ethereal, in the vein of _American Beauty_ and _Risky Business_ .
I watched Rollerball on your recommendation. Great movie. Rather chilling depiction of where we could be heading in a world that undermines nationality in favor of governments and corporations who work in tandem.
Yeah Rollerball is marvellous.
Bruh I see you like everywhere, do you recognize me by now?
i mean ‘nations’ are lines on the ground that only exist in human heads... we’re all strands in the web of life, by virtue of the fact all creatures are engendered by and share a common living space: earth. there’s no way to disentangle that. it all is, and all happens, and humans are not in control of these complex, life sustaining processes.
@@Pomeray8 *Fedora tipping intensifies*
@@thotslayer9914
Be an incel. See comment that is getting likes and attention from channel creator. Get jelly. Project your flaws and call that person an incel in blind rage.
I LOVE "Trading Places"! Great social issues presented by two flawed, funny characters that doesn't hit one on the head with its message. Also, I love "Superman" for being a bit of a send-up of the Superman story, inside jokes poking at the original cartoon ("And don't call me Sugar," Chief says, when it's supposed to be "And don't call me Chief."). And props for "It's a Wonderful Life." I love how you mix genres, find oddball films, and have such an innovative, independent take on everything.
Trading Places is my favourite comedy of all time, and a Christmas tradition. Never once did I think of it as a message movie (even though it kinda is)
This is a most interesting category for a "top" list. Some really insightful choices you made. Suprised not to see "Fight Club". On mine, I'd probably have "Do The Right Thing", "12 Angry Men", and definitely "There Will Be Blood". Do another 25, please!
I've only watched AI once, and it shook me to my marrow. I needed fresh air and a good walk afterwards.
Francis Ford Coppola has actually said "Rumble Fish" is the best film he ever made. Mind you he made the 1st 2 Godfathers, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. Intersting since it's on this Top 25 List
Interesting picks. Reveals a bit of your personality and belief system.
Certainly does.
The parallax view should be here
Nicholson's monologue to his father near the end of Five Easy Pieces is for me one of the most emotionally resonating scenes ever.
I liked his retort to the intellectual chick: "I faked some Chopin, you faked a response."
I think Eyes Wide Shut became a cult movie for "conspiracy theorists" because on the surface, it was pretty dumb, and the mass audience took it for that (those are the ones who claim the second party really takes place, and this is how rich people spend their weekends).....BUT it also became a classic for more educated audiences because of the symbology, and the multiple layers of understanding each scene (try to explain a "conspiranoid" the second party is actually the first party on a subconscious level).........but also that movie was served to an audience who was prepared for last 5 or 6 years with X-Files, which was probably one of the most sought after TV shows, and the "mythos" episodes were amazing (in particular in the first 5 seasons, because they play with reality, fiction and conspiracy, mixing all and leaving you clueless.....you could literally see an grey alien in one episode, and still not be convinced, because they had so many options to justify it, genetical manipulation of humans, actual extraterrestrials, fake "corpses" planted by the CIA, etc etc, all mixed with nazi and japanese actual WW2 history...)........this is why also Matrix was very well received, because of how "anti-system" it was seen by audiences (when actually it is totally the opposite of that)...
And in fact, EWS is what really pushed more people into looking for the symbols of Kubrick previous movies. Today you have 1 thousand different takes on the Shinning, but in, let's say 1992, who had any idea of what The Shinning was about, or even saw that movie more than once?..... I don't even know if the "moonlanding" theory was already established back then (specially because there was no internet, so the only way to learn about this kind of stuff, was to find a book, or an article in a magazine)
Five easy pieces is seriously an American classic as far as I'm concerned. It's a shame it's rarely talked about now
I think "Idiocracy" is one astounding social commentary movie. I would recommend it if you haven't seen it, and anyone else.
@haveanotherpinacolada We have done since probably a while after 1066, and further accelerated by the cretinous scumbag oliver cuntwell.
Congrats on 100k, I started watching eight years ago, you caused me to view films differently.
Yes, I would enjoy a part two. Thanks for an interesting discussion of these films.
To me Stanley Kubrick's most important and best film, will always be - A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and by extension among the most important films ever made in the history of cinema
Thanks Rob, another great video.
I am a young lad from Birkenhead and when you were describing Rumble Fish, I could really relate to what you were saying being in a similar position myself not so long ago.
You are a fantastic movie analyst unlike the mainstream critics, who today unfortunately only seem to praise movies that conform to a modern identity politics agenda.
Part 2, yes please.
Haha, you know the sketch then on youth culture on Merseyside then! Had it in mind for years to make a fiction film about that life style.
Trading Places: the bet was between two old money billionaires, and it was for $1. Stating that they didn’t care about Akroyd’s or Murphy’s characters at all. Willing to destroy the life of an employee, for a arbitrary wager illustrates that both characters were ultimately valueless to the elite class. I love this channel, great work.
Rob, you don't use a script do you? Your vids seem both incredibly well thought-out and off-the-cuff at the same time. Always thought provoking.
cheers. My detailed film analysis are scripted. No way I could narrate those casually and be so accurate. Anything where I talk directly in front of the camera is usually ad libbed according to a predefined topical template.
@@collativelearning That makes sense. By the way, I am going to check out Rumble Fish on your suggestion. I've only known of it peripherally and always though it looked cheesy, so I never gave it a chance. Now I'm intrigued.
Thanks for putting these lists together, Rob. It's been nice making some discoveries and re-discoveries based on your suggestions.
Spending today going over your excellent videos , particularly enjoyed this one ... My top 5 social message movies must be La Haine , If.... , Life of Brian , Rumblefish and Festen from Denmark, possibly the original Pusher....
Given your work experience, can you do a top 25 list of mental health-related movies?
I can’t believe A Clockwork Orange isn’t on your list! I’m really confused and curious why.
Part 2 suggestions. The Hunt (Jagten) (Thomas Vinterberg, 2012) and Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998)
What he says about having to view the big lebowski more than once to like it rang so true with me. 1st time I saw it I was literally angry lol.
Remains of the Day is an excellent movie. Everyone´s acting is superb, And yes, it leaves you with a heavy heart in the end,
Yeeeaaahhh - give us a part 2. I was trying to guess where the matrix would turn up in the list, and it was nice to see someone who really likes "Remains of the day" aswell!
Tarantino: Remains of the Day isnt a movie, Pulp fiction, thats a movie, quote from QT.
I'd add The Bells of St Mary's because it's a perfect snapshot of the traditionalist 'muscular Christianity' worldview that dominated before the post WWII dissolution of Western culture.
ETA: Seeing as this thread has attracted some Globo-Homo trolling, a bit of expansion is in order. Domination is hardly a dirty word since the capacity to dominate is what allows a living being to survive. Individuals at times have to dominate in order to secure food, win mates or resist predation and communities have to maintain the capacity to dominate to secure territory, the rights of their people and the continuance of their culture. And it certainly was to the world's benefit that the USA was capable of domination during the 20th Century, defeating both the Imperial Japanese and Nazi Germany. It's relativistic in the extreme to act as if a world order that made room for Unit 731 and Auschwitz is somehow a positive thing.
And I chose the word 'dissolution' quite deliberately. What we're seeing now is in no way evolutionary, which implies an organic process . Rather, both globalist homogenization and multicultural relativism are being imposed upon societies against their will (See: US 2016 election, Brexit, Gillets Jaunes protests, election of Bolsonaro and various nationalist governments in Europe). It's clear that any globalist or multiculturalist society will be unsustainable, lacking as it does the consent of the people. This is intrinsically anti-evolutionary, since evolution always seeks to produce a self-sustaining entity.
No worldview should "dominate." And you mean the evolution of culture, not dissolution.
In my country, the governmente is making regions available to international or national bidders who want to stablish there, original inhabitants have to sell their land or property or they will be ex-propriated from them. This is an effect of globalism, what is your assessment of what it's happening in my country?
Part 2 would be good. I'd have Silent Running somewhere on my list.
Silent Running is a great choice. I'd also add Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original).
The British accent adds to the credibility of this top 25
He is a scouser specifically, well known in the UK as being criminals and car thieves.
Nice video! I have to disagree with your reading of the diner scene in Five Easy Pieces, however. The way I saw it, it was more of a commentary on rules and authority making little sense. Nicholson found a way to get the order he wanted "without breaking any rules". His method of circumventing authority, I believe, says more about his character than just wanting it a specific way. He wanted it that way, and *was able to get it that way* in spite of the no substitutions rule, but the authority figure of the waitress denied him the order anyway. It says a lot about how life doesn't always make sense, but I would have to see the film again to nail down precisely how this scene fits into the larger world of the character's journey.
No Life of Brian? Even chatolic chrurch was furious about that masterpiece. Star ship troopers would be on my list as well.
🤣🤣🤣...High Planes Drifter...
'...and when I say ghost like I..I don't mean he's transparent and he floats through walls n' shit like that...'
Laughed out loud there...🤣🤣🤣
Massive fan from Liverpool Rob. Since stumbling across your material in December, really immersed in it. Analysis is top drawer.
Great list. Always great to see smaller or less known films be given shout outs & a nudge for others to discover. Would love hear a quick walkthrough of the other films you considered. It's also nice to hear about not just what made a movie great, but why the messages/themes/ specifically made an impact on you, the critic. Thanks Rob!
Rollerball, 5 easy pieces, American beauty. Three fantastic character studies there.
I'd add macabe and Mrs miller as another.
Please do your top character studies in movies.
Nice video. Some interesting & unexpected choices.
One film I had in mind include Rosemary's Baby. It had interesting social messages. Besides the "people hiding things beneath a seemingly pleasant surface" aspect (as in Eyes Wide Shut), there is also the conformity & peer pressure aspect. It is fascinating to see how the main character is pressured into isolation by her peers & how her husband sold himself to the devil (literally) just for career advancement.
Another interesting one is the Jazz Singer. While known mostly for breaking the silent era, I think this sometimes overshadows the theme of maintaining traditional values & identity. I think it is a very powerful & complex issue: should you distance yourself from your roots & long held traditions to advance your life? How conservative should one be? Is there always a compromise?
Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times also addresses industrialization, the meaning of satisfaction in life, & overwork.
you should never compromise
I really enjoy this type of video and being a fan of yours for some time buying stuff from your digital download contents and watching your youtube videos really changed and inspired me to look at cinema in a different and brand new way. thank you, Rob!
1.49, nice exclusion clause. I’d never get away with that in my house.
Your channels have profoundly affected me.
Nice to see "High Plains Drifter" on the list!
Would Love a part two! Your unique and (I believe) sincere take on the movies I love are a great pitch for the ones I haven't seen. Please keep the lists coming and thanks for the content!
Nice list, very happy you put high planes drifter in there. Such an eerie, offbeat and quite underrated western
i really enjoy your content. yes please, part 2, 3, 4 etc. mike judge's office space? stick it to 'the man'!
Do part 2. Really interested to see what other films you picked.
I love Rumble fish,Mickey Rourke in his best role as the motorcycle kid.
Yes please give us part two Rob.
_"Help, help, I'm being repressed!!"_
Thanks Rob, yeah, it would be good to see those other 25! Very interesting as usual.
Yes, Part II please
It's a Wonderful Life is a masterpiece. Probably the best pre-1950 movie I've ever seen
I was hoping to see Wag the Dog on this list. It predicted the Clinton scandals just months before news got out. I would also add Fight Club, Minority Report (behavioral predictive profiling and surveillance states) and War Games (many will disagree with this), which arguably inspired the teenage genius trope in so many movies and TV shows.
The orgy scene in EWS was filmed at Highclere Castle not Somerton; the Red Cloak ceremony was filmed at Somerton. My personal social commentary film is The Sound of Music. The sugar frosting overlaid on Nazism, war and religion. It asks you to "climb every mountain, ford every stream". The curtains are literally taken down from the windows and made into clothes, symbolically inviting a greater visibility from the highly regimented mansion to outside into a rapidly changing world and adapting to it.
I liked you & your essays ,now I Love you & your essays ...Please keep having fun with your obvious intellect & continue to share your
optimistic spirit with the world...=from Australia=Blessings.
Excellent list! I’d add Chinatown, Erin Brockovich, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Blazing Saddles, and Godzilla (1954).
Favorite social message games/books on the shelf, I see. ( :
Have you done a post apocalyptic list yet?
Yes! High Plains Drifter is one of my favourites. Love his Spaghetti Westerns. When I read Stephen King's Gunslinger books I always see Roland as Clint Eastwood.
Great video Rob
Please do a part 2 honourable mentions video
Have you seen the channel Blackpilled? What do you think of Devon Stack's film analyses?
Not seen that channel.
Thanks Rob! Top quality as always.
Thanks Rob, great work. Glad you're a fan of Star Trek 1, I find that movie fascinating, I happily go along for the ride each time. Loving the lists and being exposed to movies I wouldn't have known about otherwise. Looking forward to more.
wow, Five Easy Pieces, didn't expect that one
great movie from Bob Rafelson who was involved in Easy Rider
and after Jack's great performance, makes this movie one
year later with him as protagonist. Loved the character developement
and the scene with his father.
And all the quotable, often hilarious lines from the film! Let's not forget the end...wow! I was gobsmacked when I saw the film first!
Love these list videos great stuff!
Yes, I would like to know which other movies have a strong life lesson in them. I would also be curious if you have any other social messages you think need sharing or would make a decent premise for a script.
Another good social commentary film concerning the ethic treatment of animals is Project X. I love the questioning of a soldier with a scientist over the humane treatment of chimps being used as test subjects exposed to nuclear rays in order to determine the longetivity of a human pilot if exposed to radiation in a possible nuclear war. Great commentary as far as how animals are used and abused for medical and scientific research. The Secret of Nimh is another great film, whilst highly fictionalised, as far as using rats, mice, and other laboratory animals for scientific research. Great films, both of these, that speak out for animals more so than people. Animals deserve consideration and respect.
Social message movies - that's easily my favorite genre besides Horror! 😄
The lesson from the diner, as the Nicholson character stated, was that in the end he might have felt better flying off the handle but he didn’t get what he wanted.
Really great intellectual presentation please keep it coming!
My personal nominations from top of my head
:
IKIRU (Kurosawa film about a guy who spends his life doing his bureaucratic job, but suddenly gets cancer and wants to make the most of life, eventually making a playground for kids, decent execution, ripe for a remake I think)
SCARFACE (probably the movie that best encapsulates the dangers of being a top gangster or a very powerful person in general, how they can be very unhappy and insecure when they get there. Some people still fall into this trap)
BARRY LYNDON (similar reasons to SCARFACE)
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (philosophically plays on our fears of being permanently thrown out of our comfort zone and having to deal harsh life, might also tap into fear of terminal death. Basically a reminder for me to prepare for whatever life throws at me)
VALKYRIE (decent Tom Cruise film about senior German officers’ attempt to assassinate Hitler and end WWII peacefully)
DESPICABLE ME (basic theme of just having a family to keep you in good spirits)
NIGHT SHIFT (many movies show how timid people gradually stand up to the world, but I prefer this one the best)
STARSHIP TROOPERS (for obvious political reasons)
TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (a fav of one of my mum’s BFs, basic theme on the dangers of greed, but very good movie)
And yeah, wouldn't mind seeing Part 2. :)
Watched shrinking man recently. Powerful and philosophical.
Thanks for this. I'll try a few.
Love your videos Mr Ager. I also really like the new Mr Kermode radio show on Saturday afternoon on Scala Radio, been fascinating playing mainly orchestral music from movie sound tracks, and often some very interesting stories about the pieces.
Just a heads up really as I only stumbled upon it myself last week, and it's rather special I think.
Network from 1976 are you kidding? Was it not in contention, did you forget it, haven't you seen it? Did it supersede this list? Might be one of the greatest movies of all time. Great acting, great pacing, great story, the social impact, and message. I don't get it that it isn't mentioned here.
One of the best movies ever. And now we are living it.
I've only seen about five of these, but i'll end up watching the rest because of this video.
Excellent this.
A part two would be good definitely.
So - 1,-2,-3,-4......
@@BobBob-vc4bt I've seen trading places, one flew over the cuckoo's nest, holy Grail, taxi driver, and they live.
I saw a bit of superman as a kid but I was just disappointed he didn't have a crap in the air like a sparrow, or pick people up and fly off with them, then dump them hundreds of miles away.
A wasted opportunity.
Wow...this a geniuinely surprising list.
Especially numbers one and two. Great choices.
Great top 25! A Simple Plan serves as one. Not just for its social references, but in a sense how it serves as a cup of coffee, or a blueprint to the unauthorized. Maybe it speaks to the testimony that we are not that smart. I had never seen a tragedy that drew more laughs. Another very personal film for me is Death of a Salesman. And, yes, The Killing Fields deserves a mention. It was before my time, but I was alive when it happened. Rarely is there ever a glimpse into something as evil, something that transcends even tragedy, I suppose.
The Motorcycle Boy Rules !!
Give us part two!
Rumble Fish! The soundtrack is awesome too.
Great content. Across the channel (and the pond).
I didnt want to scroll to the end but Rivers Edge (1986) really encapsulates the self evolved destructive nihilism of America into the apathetical 90's. Also Paprika (2006) an anime that really blends scifi thriller on fame identity and isolation.
Rollerball 1975
JON-A-THAN
Jewel Citizen *Toccota and Fugue in D Minor intensifies*
Actually, the creepy melody that closes the film makes me think that maybe Jonathan may had defeated the State, but only to become a tyrant himself.
I would add some poignant Kurosawa films: I Live in Fear - a movie ahead of its time about a man terrified of the prospect of nuclear war who wants to move his entire family from Japan to South America.
Red Beard - a powerful film about a doctor who chooses to work among the poor for low wages for the good of humanity.
Stray Dog - a noir type film that takes a journey through the underbelly of post war Japanese society. The end is staggering brilliance!
Then, of course, there should be some brilliant Italian films, The Bicycle Thief, Stromboli, The Nights of Cabiria, La Strada, La Commare Secca, Mamma Roma, Germany Year Zero, and so many more. I don’t know why but the Italians excel at this type of film.
And we can’t forget Charlie Chaplin’s superlative: City Lights.
Good video, and credit for identifying your personal/subjective choices for the list. In my opinion, film criticism tends to obsess on the intent of the Writers, Directors and Actors -- but not enough focuses on the critics. A critic who understands him/herself is more likely to give an even, focused analysis of a work of art.
Also, one "social purpose" movie that affected me was The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover -- but not for the political reasons of the movie. Instead, the movie made me think about how we culturally value the three activities the film depicts -- sex, reading, and food. I actually ate nothing the two days after I watched the movie because the movie's theme about food and digestion as social activities left me disturbed.
(Don't worry, though. I've gained weight, lost weight, and gained it back in the years since then. To the best of my knowledge, the movie did not make me develop an eating disorder.)
Very interesting list. Quite a few movies on it i have not seen yet!
Respectfully, 😊I'm very surprised A Clockwork Orange didn't make it on this list, especially regarding social meaning. All of Kubrick's films have social meaning, and I understand your comments on why you chose Eyes Wide Shut & Dr. Strangelove, but as far as heavyweight social meaning, I think A Clockwork Orange hit the hardest. 🍻
Whenever you're playing at critic, the audience you're addressing is always the rub.The best films work on different levels, - true, - but they are also frequently convoluted and misunderstood.
Education, culture, sex, age, - are always going to make the experience subjective.
I will always remember Apocalypse Now as being central to my mental growth; in many ways, it was my real introduction to religion.
One Flew Over, - as you say, a " science" that can be very destructive.After several years as a Psych major, I became so disenchanted that I changed to an entirely different field.