Films which make you think

For me personally, I love watching a film that makes me question who I am and how my choices will leave an impact in the future. Movies have a way of presenting us with stories that leave us thinking about the way we handle our own life.

If anything, I know humanity as a whole wants an understanding of so many things. What does overturning "the powers that be" truly mean? This cerebral movie and the iconic Guy Fawkes mask is a cult classic and the film will remain a relevant art for an eternity - at least until the establishment is overthrown.

The film is set in both and In a deadly virus has wiped out most of humanity. In , survivors have migrated underground and scientists work to develop a cure to the virus. The catch, however, is that someone needs to go back in time to find the original host. This cerebral movie keeps the viewer engaged as we follow Wikus van de Merwe perform his duties as a Department of Alien Affairs bureaucrat.

Through Wikus and found footage, we explore how segregated groups - despite the social or biological race- create economies and cultures, even in the most destitute conditions. The film follows Joel Barisha and Clementine Kruczynski as they navigate a painful breakup.

The movie asks the question of how to get over someone when painful memories still exist. Are you made better by forgetting painful experiences? Or, do you lose a crucial part of you? From the playful jabs at Hollywood culture, to the nightmarish, fiery hotel sequence, this movie shows two master filmmakers in complete and total control of their craft.

The movie acts as a blank slate for Stanley Kubrick to project his insecurities, his musings, and his philosophies onto. Entire books have been written on the film. The now iconic opening scene featuring apes worshipping at the altar of a giant space monolith has acted as a cultural touchstone since the movie premiered in The movie then employs the most famous smash cut of all time, as we transition from a thrown bone to a space ship floating through the cosmos.

In the harrowing third act, we join two astronauts as they attempt to reason with the terrifyingly logical onboard computer, HAL. The film climaxes in a trippy and surreal adventure through space and time. These disparate plot threads are interwoven together seamlessly. Thematic elements arise, leaving us pondering the universe and our place in it as humans.

The Master , like most later Paul Thomas Anderson features, is a movie that almost dares you to like it. With The Master , the famously cerebral filmmaker offers a movie with almost no satisfying narrative tricks. Anderson almost defiantly refuses to conform to dramatic conventions. The result is a beautiful, messy, frustrating masterpiece.

Joaquin Phoenix turns in a career best performance as the animalistic Freddie Quell, a former soldier looking for purpose in his meandering, miserable life. The movie really dives into the notion of religion, while never feeling preachy or judgemental. While supposedly based on L. Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology, Anderson avoids specific criticisms, instead focusing on the relationship between two men. Freddie Quell and Lancaster Dodd complete each other in ways that go beyond merely teacher and student.

The Master is a romance between two troubled, lost men. Movies dealing with time travel are always going to be thought provoking. The mechanics of time travel, and the physical ramifications of it, are so fascinating to humans that scientists have entire schools of thought on the theoretical ramifications of it.

Bruce Willis stars as a convict who is chosen for a time travel mission sometime in the s. The purpose of the mission is to gather information about a devastating plague that is released in the s. Once back, he crosses paths with a manic mental patient played by Brad Pitt.

The film really pushes the audience to question the merits of time travel, and examine the ramifications of twisting space and time in your own favor. Ultimately, the movie reinforces the idea of fate and the unshakeable nature of time.

He has assured viewers that all the clues are there to unravel the mystery of the film, if they pay enough attention. In that respect, Mulholland Drive is undisputably a classic.

Director Lynch tells the story of recent LA transplant Betty Naomi Watts as her life descends into a nightmarish landscape. The famous diner sequence is a masterclass in sustaining and releasing tension, resulting in one of the scariest moments in any movie, horror or otherwise. The brilliance of Mulholland Drive only reveals itself more and more upon each subsequent viewing. This insane plot then leads to mistaken identities, morally questionable sex acts, and a surreal dream sequence. In the meantime, the movie explores the nature of celebrity, identity, and personality.

The third and last Darren Aronofsky feature on this list, Pi is a high point for Aronofsky in terms of cerebral weightiness. In an attempt to make their love a reality, Zak experiments on the laws of nature, putting in danger the cosmic equilibrium of fate and everything he holds dear. At any rate, if it we cannot control it — should we care? Description: A boy has a dream that he can float, but unless he holds on, he will drift away into the sky.

Even when grows up, this idea recurs. After a strange accident, he walks through what may be a dream, flowing in and out of scenarios and encountering various characters. People he meets discuss science, philosophy and the life of dreaming and waking. The protagonist gradually becomes alarmed that he cannot awake from this confusing dream.

When he is tasked with entering a heroin addict mind who is a convicted criminal to see whether he committed murder, the scientist is faced with his most dangerous and risky memory extraction ever. All he can remember is meeting the love of his life for one day, and then getting into a car accident which left his face horribly disfigured.

But the pain of becoming physically undesirable may help him to find the truth. Description: Dr. Ian Gray, a molecular biologist is studying the evolution of the eye. He finds his work permeating his life after a brief encounter with an exotic young woman who slips away from him.

As his research continues years later with his lab partner Karen, they make a stunning scientific discovery that has far reaching implications and complicates both his scientific and spiritual beliefs.

Traveling half way around the world, he risks everything he has ever known to validate his theory. Description: More than two decades after catapulting to stardom with The Princess Bride, an aging actress Robin Wright decides to take her final job: preserving her digital likeness for a future Hollywood. Through a deal made with her loyal agent, her alias will be controlled by the studio, and will star in any film they want with no restrictions.

In return, she receives healthy compensation so she can care for her ailing son and her digitized character will stay forever young. Description: A Temporal Agent is sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to prevent future killers from committing their crimes. Now, on his final assignment, the Agent must stop the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time and prevent a devastating attack in which thousands of lives will be lost.

Description: Two strangers find their lives colliding in an impossible way. Alex is a methodical cargo thief working for a dangerous cartel.

Sam is a determined paramedic trying to save the world while running from her past. Taking on the very root of fate, destiny, and their own existence, Alex and Sam race through a maze of an ever-changing universe while being pursued by a demonic man determined to erase the world.

Description: A writer works on a novel about a mysterious train that leaves for a place called every once in a while. Everyone who boards that train has the same intention — which is to recapture their lost memories. It is said that in , nothing ever changed. Nobody knows for sure if it was true, because nobody who went there had ever come back — except for one person. This person had been there but he chose to leave.

He wanted to change. Description: A mysterious woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. Events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery. Description: On the night of the discovery of a duplicate Earth in the Solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident. Description: Oscar is a heavy drug user who lives in colorful Tokyo, and his sister Linda is a stripper. Having constant traumatic flashbacks from childhood from drug-induced hallucinations, Oscar is eventually shot by the police.

Is there an afterlife? Description: Set in the near future, Frank, a retired cat burglar, has two grown kids who are concerned that he can no longer live alone. Description: Shown into a windowless examination room, eight candidates have reached the final stage of selection for a prestigious job at a mysterious corporation. There is one question before them and one answer is required. If they try to speak to the armed guard by the door they will be disqualified.

If they leave the room for any reason they will be disqualified. If they spoil their papers they will be disqualified. As the clock ticks down, they must figure out what the company expects of them. Description: Two computer programmers fall in love as they create the first-ever piece of self-aware artificial intelligence, designed to help humanity.

But things go terribly wrong when the British Government steals their breakthrough and teaches it to become a robotic weapon. I technology that is becoming ever more present in our world. How will artificial intelligence impact our lives? Sobering up in jail, Gary is placed under house arrest by the watchful eye of a cheery and tough-minded woman called Margaret.

There, Gary meets Sarah, an attractive and seemingly-willing neighbor. Watch these movies and let me know what you think! Comment below and let me know. Mateo Sol is a prominent psychospiritual teacher whose work has influenced the lives of millions globally. Born into a family with a history of drug addiction, abuse, and mental illness, Mateo Sol was taught about the plight of the human condition from a young age. We spend hundreds of hours every month writing, editing and managing this website.

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