Top Five Movies To Watch Before You Turn 30

 

I know it's very ballsy of me to assume you haven't already turned 30. Oh well, as a writer, all I have in this world are my balls and my words...

 

I'm also assuming you didn't get the reference. But yeah, we move. Maybe if you watch the movies on my list, you might get it. Or not.

 

You can't wait to see the list. So I'm not going to waste your time anymore. In no particular order, here is a list of movies I think you should watch before you turn 30 (or 40 or 50 or 80).

The Godfather trilogy.

"I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse."

 

I don't think any movie influenced mafia/organized crime culture as much as this one. When it was released back in the 70s, many popular real-life crime bosses said they were inspired to be better crime lords and to organize their businesses better. The film also showed audiences that most gangsters also have families to take care of and cater for.

 

In the first film, Marlon Brando plays Don Vito Corleone, the head of a huge crime syndicate. Vito has to balance running a business with family life and as events unfold, we realize it's much easier said than done. 

 

The film series also stars Al Pacino in his breakout role as Michael Corleone. Vito's last son is reluctant to join the family business but is slowly drawn to it.  It also features James Caan, John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton and many more.

 

The subsequent films see Michael take over as the Don and follows him as he tries to balance running a criminal organization with his family life as well.

The Shawshank Redemption.

"Get busy living or get busy dying."

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

There's a popular saying that goes, 'Shawshank Redemption walked so that Prison Break could fly.'

 

I just made that up. But yeah, before Michael Scofield showed us he could break out of a prison armed only with the tattoo of the facility on his body, Andy Dufresne showed us it could be done with a Bible, a small rock hammer and the poster of a popular actress. 

 

This film, in my opinion (and every other person that has seen it), is the best prison break film, ever. Andy is a banker who is accused of killing his wife and her lover and is sentenced to prison. There, he becomes good friends with some of his fellow inmates who help him cope with the life inside. He also makes enemies as well and steps on some toes as he tries to get by. Let's also not forget Morgan Freeman's performance as his best friend and narrator of the film. His trademark narration voice we have come to know and love was first 'discovered' in this film.

 

I've already said too much at this point. The twist has been given away, the movie has probably been spoiled for you. Still, go and watch it.

Inglourious Basterds.

"I think this might be my masterpiece."

 

Quentin Tarantino's best film. But that's my opinion. If you don't agree with me, give me a place and time. We'll meet and fight. If I win, it becomes your favourite film from the director. If you lose, you have to watch the film twenty times, back to back, until you agree it is his best film. I mean, one of the last lines in the film is literally, 'this is my masterpiece.' I know, it was QT praising himself and his work, but I wholeheartedly agree with him.

 

The film has two storylines. One follows a band of Jewish-American guerrilla soldiers in the second world war (the eponymous Inglourious Basterds), led by Aldo Raine, as they set out to defeat/kill Hitler, one Nazi soldier at a time. The other storyline is about Shosanna, a Jewish refugee whose family is murdered by the ruthless Hans Landa. A few years later, she runs a cinema in France.

 

The Nazis make a propaganda film about one of their war heroes and decide to use Shosanna's cinema as the venue for the premiere.  Almost everyone in the German military hierarchy is supposed to be there including... You guessed it right! Adolf Hitler!

 

Aldo and the Basterds plan to get themselves into the theatre to do the Lord's work and Shosanna who has a grudge to settle with the Fuhrer and his followers also has her plans. It's set in an alternate timeline, which means history is retold and we're left with what would have been. Do we mind? No, we don't!

Inception.

"An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you."

 

What's Christopher Nolan's best film? Seriously, if you say anything other than 'Inception,' then we need to have that fight. And this time, the stakes will be higher. In real life, I don't like violence, but when it comes to movies, I'll make an inception. Did you get it? Okay. Never mind.

 

Dominick Cobb (played to perfection by Leonardo DiCaprio) is a professional dream extractor. He and his team have advanced equipment they use to enter people's dreams and steal ideas. So if a CEO of a company wants to know the secret to his competitor's success, he pays Dom and his crew and they find a way to get into said competitor's subconscious mind or dreams because, in those dreams, those ideas will be found. Apparently, in the movie's world, it's big business.

 

They're tasked with extracting ideas from a business mogul, Saito, but they find out that it was all a test from the man himself and then he employs them to do a seemingly impossible job. Instead of an extraction, he wants them to enter and plant ideas in the dream of his biggest competitor's son so that he will dissolve his father's company. He wants them to perform... an Inception.

 

Now, Dom is also a criminal who is on the run and Saito promises to make arrangements to have his criminal status cleared so he can go back to the US to see his family because as we all know, family is everything and you can't turn your back on family (sorry, wrong movie). 

 

'Inception' is a modern-day classic. I'm not going to lie, it confused the hell out of me the first time I watched it. Then I watched it again and I understood it. Then I watched it again and I fell in love with it. Thinking about it now, I might watch it this night. Just for old times sake.

 The Usual Suspects.

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, he's gone."

 

When it comes to plot twists, this movie has the biggest of them all. It has also been spoiled so many times, even people that haven't watched it know the ending. It was also spoiled for me when someone decided to tell me the whole story when I was a kid. I couldn't tell him no because I was enjoying the story but then after he told me everything, I felt bad that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it properly. When I finally watched it, the spoiling didn't even matter because I enjoyed it. Why am I saying all this? You can skip to the next article in this magazine because as tradition demands, I'm going to spoil the movie for you. Don't worry. I'll pity you. I already spoiled one movie today.

 

When a truck hijacking is committed, the police bring in some criminals for a lineup. These are people who have either committed similar crimes in the past or are small-time thieves in the area. You know, the usual suspects in that kind of crime. 

 

After they're declared innocent and released, they go on to pull off some heists together. One heist goes wrong and they're confronted by a lawyer named Kobayashi who tells them they were all brought together at the lineup by a man named Keyser Söze, a mysterious crime lord who is mostly an urban legend. Each member of the crew has at some point in his criminal career stolen from Söze and Kobayashi tells them that to repay their debt, they have to do a job for the crime lord.

 

This is as much as I can go without spoiling it. I've tried, haven't I? And one more thing. The job for Söze goes south and almost everyone in the crew dies. The story above is told in flashbacks to the police by one of the survivors. Calm down. It's still not spoiled.

Honourable Mentions.

You've read my top choice of films that you are supposed to watch before you get old (let's forget about the age). I'm feeling generous, or I feel guilty for threatening violence before. Either way, I'll add a few more. 

 

King of Boys.

"I am Laburu. God's worst punishment in a person!"

 

Forrest Gump.

"My mama always said, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

 

Scarface.

"All I have in this world are my balls and my words and I don't break them for no one."

 

Pulp Fiction.

"Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you. Ezekiel 25:17."