Philosophical ones. For instance, Fight Club has large doses of anti-consumerism and nihilistic thoughts on purpose.

I'd love to watch some more movies or read some more literature dealing with those topics or others that you find interesting. I'm not a big fan of large novels or books due to the time investment but I'll still hear you out!

p.s. On a side note: Pans Labyrinth is unsettling.

Donnie Darko?

I hate to reply so quick but:

I hate this movie. It was fun as a angst-ridden teenager because it was dark, but all I got from it was "The world would be better off if I was dead. So I'll fix that [by killing myself]." Which I find repulsive (as someone who dealt with suicidal thoughts as a teen). Perhaps there's more to it I do not understand, however.

There is.

The director wrote and published a synopsis of it which I have buried in my 78987 bookmarks. If I get around to looking for it, I'll post it here.

Please do! I'd love to read it then.

I'm in a bit of a soul searching state, and it always helps to have a song, movie, or other piece of literature that sums up what you're thinking (even though you can't put words to it yet).

Cube.

Powder

1984.

edit: The Fountain.
edit2: Also PI, which is also by Aaronofsky...

Inception.

The Shawshank Redemption

I don't reflect on how philosophical movies are and don't look for hidden meanings or references to other stuff...

Pi sucked. From the title screen, I knew I was in for a stinker, when they couldn't even put enough effort into determining just what the value of pi actually is:

{"name":"pi-4.jpg","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/8\/a88102c5d104534d186ab2d0efbcdcc9.jpg","w":720,"h":539,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/a\/8\/a88102c5d104534d186ab2d0efbcdcc9"}

"Just bang on the keyboard, nobody will notice!"

Though I haven't seen it yet, a friend of mine recommended it to me and I'm going to watch it as soon as I'll have some time to spare: Письма мёртвoгo челoвека (Dead man's letters).

Or, if you feel like it, you can try Сталкер (Stalker). I can also recommend the book on which the film is based upon: Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - Пикник на oбoчине (A Roadside picnic).

Special
In Bruges
Office Space
The Jacket

Fight Club is pretty much a one-of-a-kind movie. But for some philosophical thriller/action movies, I can recommend Park Chan-wook's Vengeance trilogy. And Dead Man's Shoes while we're at it.

When I discovered it on [movie recommendation site] with the description "Has been described as one of the most depressing movies ever made" and realized that that it was Soviet post-apoc, I knew I had to see it.
And it is wonderfully bleak, but I felt it was a bit too artsy.
(BTW, I briefly had an avatar from it: )

Both seconded. The film is extremely loosely based on the book though. They vaguely share the same premise (a cordoned-off zone with [REDACTED] inside), and that is all.
And don't expect too much action from the film. In fact, almost nothing happens during the entire movie. Somehow I still like it though, probably because the photography is gorgeous: you can pretty much take any frame from the movie, print it out, frame it and hang it up as art.

In Bruges is absolutely awesome. I don't know how philosophical it really is (I might subscribe to the idea that Hell is an eternity in Belgium though), but that doesn't matter. It's a must-see anyway.

Quite true, this is one of a few films where I didn't mind long camera pans. It all adds up to the atmosphere.

I would suggest Shutter Island, quite the experience.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Twelve Monkeys
and In Bruges as mentioned above.

Twelve monkeys reminds me of another film by Terry Gilliam: Brazil.

Another movie is Choke. It and Fight Club are both based on novels by the same author.

I can't believe you guys are breaking the one rule of Fight Club^[1].

Yeah, it's the one rule, if you ignore the other 6.

Sory, I got the line wrong, its the First rule of Fight Club. (and its 8).

Also the second rule of the Fight Club

I said the other 6. You covered the first 2, leaving 6 others.

The fabric of our society is breaking down!

Fight Club is incredibly homoerotic. Most people don't mention that fact.

@Chris : So are you seeking deeper meaning in art lately?

Is that a problem for you?

More so anti-materialist propoganda that I can read. It's hard to find philosophical influences that I don't immediately call BS on.

Not for me since I was always aware of it. But I can't tell you how many guys I'll run into saying its "The Movie Every Man Must See" and lauding it for all its fight scenes without catching on the the gay undertones throughout.
Usually these people become completely aware of it the next time they see the film and swear it off like a disease. That, in itself is hilarious.

I think the homoerotic undertones are only there if you're trying to find them.

For instance:

Is not homoerotic unless you project that into it. It's about being in a society where men aren't men anymore. Tones that are hit on throughout the movie.

i dont find it homoerotic, it's very alpha, it's feels rebelious, angry and brotherly, not really homoerotic, unless you chose to perceive it that way.

I watched Fight Club again yesterday while aware and actively trying to catch the homoerotic undertones and they were still very subtle. (Not in that they were hard to detect, but that they were mostly absent and only appeared in a few distant points in the movie.)

Hmm. It all seemed pretty obvious to me.

SPOILER ALERT:

The movie features a rather afeminate male suffering from schizophrenia becoming deeply drawn to his own fabricated masculine counter-part. He gets incredibly hostile and feels abandoned when his counter-part becomes sexually involved with the woman in his life who "ruined everything."

The movie features flashing of male genitalia, a grown man with breasts, a support group for testicular cancer survivors weeping with one another, and the only featured woman in the film is incredibly masculine by nature. The "fight club" features only men struggling with their gender roles who often after attempting to dominate each other, end up in a joyous embrace of each other.

How is that subtle?

Not really, (of course this is all up to interpretation) but considering the sexual preference of both the author of the book the movie was based on, and the director of the film. (please correct me if i'm wrong about that point) but it appears more like a movie about men who aren't men without embracing other men.

i dont find any of that homoerotic, no need to get all defensive about your tastes..

Fair enough. I'll quit playing the role of captain states the obvious. If you like the movie, fine, its an interesting film. I'm a heterosexual male and happen to enjoy the movie myself.

The New Testament maybe? Depends on what you feel is propoganda.

I watched Fight Club last week and it actually reminded me of a few "scenes" with Jesus with regards to materialism. Like when Jesus tells the rich man he must give away all of his material possessions in order to get to heaven.*

(*which is not at all the point he's making, for those who prefer one liners.)

relay01: I have a different interpretation, which I am sure is more accurate than calling it homo erotic, but am not going to discuss it here.

Basically almost any movie can be viewed as homo erotic. (even if it isn't) What does this boil down to? Homophobia? Repressed homosexuality? Or are you simply introverted? INTJ or INTZ?

I don't know, you be the judge.

The stereotype of homosexuals doesn't seem to include the propensity for engaging in bloody fistfights.

Or maybe it is simply envy? Wanting to be like the males in the movie and failing? Calling the movie homo erotic simply being a gesture of despair and disappointment because of his failing?

One more thing I like to address. There are male genitalia in this movie. I was shocked, shocked to see this. But the male genitalia flash for a fraction of a second. You know you saw something, but you don't quite know what. I am sure relay01 is a person of reason, so he wanted to confirm what he saw... So he had to stop whichever video player he was using and ever so slowly go to see the male genitalia in all its hairy detail. Didn't we all? So what if we did? Homo erotic?

And why in the name of all that is fuck are male breasts homo erotic? This can bring up a very interesting debate. Why do some people view male breasts as homo erotic? My hypothesis is that they themselves had male breasts as children and were teased by other male counterparts as being "gay" or "homo" thus viewing all other male breasts as homo erotic. It is a very serious condition and should be treated as soon as possible.

This really does bring me to another point I want to make about a certain kind of people. I mean those people that agree with everything. I knew a person like that a long time ago.

He would talk to you, like any other normal person, and when you would say something like "I find <something> very fun!" he would go "Yeah! Me too!" and then... Because I knew what he was doing, I said "But then again, <something> isn't really that good..." he would then go "Yeah, not that good."

I couldn't stand him. Sure, if he were to have the same view on religion as me, we would be best friends... But the bastard always changed his mind when he was with a religious person. I hated him for it. Not only was he my sheep... He was everybody's sheep.

So where does this bring us? Very simply put... If you had time to read all this and still bitch and moan about spelling and grammar. Well my find bullshitting friends... Seems like you don't have anything better to do eh? Well, this could either be a case of boredom or simply an OREPD (Obsessive Read Every Post Disorder). Boredom can be cured of course but I am not so sure of the latter. Which brings me to the spelling mistakes. I did probably make a lot of them but then again nobody is probably crazy enough to read it all so most of them will go unnoticed.

See bamccaig? How does it feel? This is how I feel!

But lets really get back to movies that have a "soul searching" factor to them. In my opinion, this is also subjective. What is soul searching and how do you define it? I really can't suggest a movie if I don't know what exactly I need to be looking for. See, for me, Fight Club was not a movie about soul searching... But then again it is 5 AM here and I didn't sleep for 2 days.

Worry not, I do have a movie I can recommend you anyway. I am sure you have seen it... But if you haven't you really do need to see The Shawshank Redemption. Its number one on IMDB. I agree with the other people. But you know what? Many people won't agree with me. I'll tell you why! Most people over analyze these days. Like relay01. What the shit is so homo erotic about Fight Club? Nothing. Its just over analyzing. Some people will do that to a lot of movies that don't deserve it. Not saying Fight Club deserves it or not, I haven't decided on that yet. But other movies, that are just for "kicks" are over analyzed to hell... Which brings me to another similar thing.

People want more and more complex movies these days. Hey, I am all for it, movies these days are shit just because they aren't complex enough. Too simple. But people are getting too snotty. Not every movie should be a fucking masterpiece that discusses psychology, the purpose of life and other bullshit that you can think of. People need to realize that some movies are just for relaxing and not too much thinking. For example, Indiana Jones 4 is a relaxing movie, the boring scenes and horrible story will make anybody relax and fall asleep. Do you get where I'm getting at? Neither do I.

o_O

Why do people, in the year 2011, still think a penis or vagina is interesting solely because it's there? It's used for sex. It's not a big deal.

People who make a big deal out of genitalia are the same people that make it hard for other people to seek medical attention concerning their "privates" and why things like testicular cancer are very treatable yet rarely diagnosed.

It sounds like something a child would do, except full adults never seem to peel it away like they do Santa Claus. It's so damn irrational and childish. It's like "being afraid of strangers" solely because they're strangers. That's something a child should do, but not an adult.

[10,000 edits later]

I'm afraid of strangers who walk down the sidewalk with their junk hanging out.

The "huge cock" is there, but here's a bit more context... in that particular scene, the lead character's alter ego (the Brad Pitt character, don't remember the name) explains how, in his job as a cinema operator, he likes to insert pictures of huge cocks for the duration of a single frame, to fuck with the audience's minds. While he explains this, a movie fragment with such an inserted frame is shown.
So the male genitalia aren't just shown for the sake of it, but the context clearly shows that this whole scene is intended to sketch the character and contrast it against the fairly conventional 'real' personality (the "IKEA boy" who is being mind-fucked all the time).

It's also shown in the end credits (I think) to fuck with us, the audience, probably to induce a homo erotic feeling.

Rest assured it has induced warm fuzzy, maybe even confused feelings deep inside relay01

About 50% of the humans in the world have penises. Seeing one doesn't suddenly make someone want to perform sex acts on it.

That movie probably wants to turn our children into brain-eating homer sexuals. It's filthy communism, that's what it is!

Seriously though:

• This kind of thing just begs to be quoted in the end credits.

• You can only "induce homo-erotic feelings" in people who are homo- or bisexual already

• Why are people obsessing about this so much? There's a kajillion movies out there with a hetero-erotic undertone, but I don't see those discussed the same way.

• In Twelve Monkeys, we see Bruce Willis naked. Coincidence?

People say the same stuff about Brokeback Mountain, but I don't see what they're getting at.

...I feel oddly popular... almost obsessed over.

Being that the film had single frame glimpses throughout, I knew what I was looking at the instant the frame flashed by at the end.
Didn't need to frame-by-frame the scene to catch that not so subtle man-bits insertion at the end.

Maybe it's the genitalia itself is homoerotic, or maybe it's the fact that Tyler refers to it as "A Nice Big Cock"

------BACK ON TOPIC----------------

Some don't like it when you call Jesus a socialist... but he kinda was...

Movies like Fight Club?

12 Monkeys
Children of Men
2001: A Space Odyssey
Snatch
Layer Cake