Split Reel’s 123 Films Everyone Should See

Under costant revision, I present to you Split Reel’s 123 Films Everyone Should See. This is not a list of the 123 best films of all time. This is a list of films, that have quality that everyone should experience. Whether they’re uplifting, devestating or intriguing, every single one of these films holds a dear place in my heart. Hope you enjoy.

Adaptation. (2002)
– Okay, well here’s the twist. We find out that, that the killer really suffers from multiple personality disorder, right? See, he’s actually really the cop and the girl. All of them are him. Isn’t that fucked up?

Alien (1979)
– That’s the only way. We’ll move in pairs. We’ll go step by step and cut off every bulkhead and every vent until we have it cornered. And then we’ll blow it the fuck out into space! Is that acceptable to you?

An Affair to Remember (1957)
– There must be something between us, even if it’s only an ocean.

American Beauty (1999)
– Remember those posters that said, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life”? Well, that’s true of every day but one – the day you die.

American History X (1998)
– Derek says it’s always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best. So if you can’t top it, steal from them and go out strong. So I picked a guy I thought you’d like. ‘We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.’

Amores Perros (2000)
– At the time, I thought there were more important things than being with you and your mom. I wanted to set the world right, and then share it with you. I failed, as you can see.

Back to the Future (1985)
– If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour… you’re gonna see some serious shit.

Beau Travail (1999)
- If it weren’t for fornication and blood, we wouldn’t be here.

Being John Malkovich (1999)
– Craig, I don’t find you attractive, but Lotte, I’m smitten with you. I am… but only when you’re in Malkovich. When I was with him last night, I was looking into his eyes and could sense your feminine longing.

Blade Runner (1982)
– A new life awaits you in the Off-world colonies! A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!

Bloody Sunday (2002)
– I just want to say this to the British Government… You know what you’ve just done, don’t you? You’ve destroyed the civil rights movement, and you’ve given the IRA the biggest victory it will ever have. All over this city tonight, young men… boys will be joining the IRA, and you will reap a whirlwind.

Blue Valentine (2010)
– I feel like men are more romantic than women. When we get married we marry, like, one girl, ’cause we’re resistant the whole way until we meet one girl and we think I’d be an idiot if I didn’t marry this girl she’s so great. But it seems like girls get to a place where they just kinda pick the best option… ‘Oh he’s got a good job.’ I mean they spend their whole life looking for Prince Charming and then they marry the guy who’s got a good job and is gonna stick around.

Brief Encounter (1945)
– This can’t last. This misery can’t last. I must remember that and try to control myself. Nothing lasts really. Neither happiness nor despair. Not even life lasts very long. There’ll come a time in the future when I shan’t mind about this anymore, when I can look back and say quite peacefully and cheerfully how silly I was. No, no, I don’t want that time to come ever. I want to remember every minute, always, always to the end of my days.

Broken Flowers (2005)
– I’m like your mistress, except you’re not even married.

Boyz n the Hood (1991)
– Either they don’t know, don’t show, or don’t care about what’s going on in the hood. They had all this foreign shit. They didn’t have shit on my brother, man.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
– If he’d just pay me what he’s spending to make me stop robbing him, I’d stop robbing him. You probably inherited every penny you got!

Caché (2005)
– You’ll never give me a bad conscience because your father’s life was sad or a failure.

Casablanca (1942)
– Might as well be frank, monsieur. It would take a miracle to get you out of Casablanca, and the Germans have outlawed miracles.

Chinatown (1974)
– ‘Course I’m respectable. I’m old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.

A Clockwork Orange (1971)
– One thing I could never stand was to see a filthy, dirty old drunkie, howling away at the filthy songs of his fathers and going blurp blurp in between as it might be a filthy old orchestra in his stinking, rotten guts. I could never stand to see anyone like that, whatever his age might be, but more especially when he was real old like this one was.

Dancer In The Dark (2000)
– They say it’s the last song. They don’t know us, you see. It’s only the last song if we let it be.

Das Experiment (2001)
– The tragic outcome: two dead, three injured, among them project leader Professor Klaus Thon. Clearly, the experiment went out of control after two days. The district attorney is investigating two possible manslaughter charges and several charges of abuse and negligence. One of the test participants has been arrested. The project direction will probably have to answer to a court. According to statements by one of the scientists, the escalation might have been prevented by aborting the experiment earlier.

Das Leben Der Anderen (2006)
– An innocent prisoner will become more angry by the hour due to the injustice suffered. He will shout and rage. A guilty prisoner becomes more calm and quiet. Or he cries. He knows he’s there for a reason. The best way to establish guilt or innocence is non-stop interrogation.

Der Untergang (2004)
– I’ve got the feeling that I should be angry with this child, this young and oblivious girl. Or that I’m not allowed to forgive her for not seeing the nature of that monster. That she didn’t realise what she was doing. And mostly because I’ve gone so obliviously. Because I wasn’t a fanatic Nazi. I could have said in Berlin, “No, I’m not doing that. I don’t want to go the Führer’s headquarters.” But I didn’t do that. I was too curious. I didn’t realise that fate would lead me somewhere I didn’t want to be. But still, I find it hard to forgive myself.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
– He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

Die Hard (1988)
– Nine million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister.

Discreet Charm of the Bourgoisie (1972)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
– I’m a fuck-up and I’m an outcast. If you get near me you’re gonna get it- you’re gonna get fucked over and fucked out.

Du Levande (2007)
– Forgive those who only think of themselves. Forgive those who are greedy and cheap. And those who deceive and cheat or grow rich by paying miserable wages. Dear lord, forgive them. Forgive them. And Lord, forgive those who humiliate and desecrate. Forgive those who torture and kill. Forgive those who bomb and destroy cities and villages. Forgive those who are dishonest, those who lie and are false. Forgive governments who withhold the truth from the people. Dear Lord, forgive them. Forgive those who are heartless, merciless, and quick to pass judgment. Please Lord, forgive them. Forgive courts that pass sentences which are too harsh or convict the innocent. Forgive them.

Easy Rider (1969)
– I mean, it’s real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace.

Efter Brylluppet (2006)

El Aura (2005)
– A few seconds before it happens I know I’m going to have an attack. There’s a moment… a shift… The doctors call it an aura. Things suddenly change. It’s as if… as if everything stopped…and a door opened in your head, that lets things in.

Eraserhead (1977)
– In Heaven, everything is fine. In Heaven, everything is fine. You’ve got your good things. And I’ve got mine.

Fantasia (1940)
– What you’re going to see on the screen are the designs and pictures and stories that music inspired in the minds and imaginations of a group of artists. In other words, these are not going to be the interpretations of trained musicians, which I think is all to the good.

Fanny och Alexander (1982)
– The world is a den of thieves and night is falling. Evil breaks its chains and runs through the world like a mad dog.

Fargo (1996)
– guess you think you’re… you know, like an authority figure, with that stupid fuckin’ uniform, huh buddy? King clip-on-tie there, big fuckin’ man, huh? You know these are the limits of your life, man. The rule of your little fuckin’ gate here. Here’s your four dollars, you pathetic piece of shit.

Festen (1998)
– Here’s to the man who killed my sister… to a murderer.

Fight Club (1999)
– You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your fucking khakis. You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

Gattaca (1997)
– I was never more certain of how far away I was from my goal than when I was standing right beside it.

Gladiator (2000)
– Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe they fought and died for nothing.

Ghostbusters (1984)
– I don’t have to take this abuse from you, I’ve got hundreds of people dying to abuse me.

Gomorrah (2008)

Good Will Hunting (1997)
– See you Monday. We’ll be talking about Freud and why he did enough cocaine to kill a small horse.

Goodbye Lenin! (2003)
– She’s up there somewhere now. Maybe looking down at us. Maybe she sees us as tiny specks on the Earth’s surface, just like Sigmund Jähn did back then. The country my mother left behind was a country she believed in; a country we kept alive till her last breath; a country that never existed in that form; a country that, in my memory, I will always associate with my mother.

Half Nelson (2006)
– Who might say that Aristotle’s wrong, right? But that doesn’t make any sense; these things need each other. The idea that… that all God’s creations are perfect, perfect – so just to suggest that – that a tree it’s – it’s crooked and it’s straight… it’s strong and it’s weak… is to suggest that – that God created something imperfect. They do however acknowledge it in people; we are sinners but we can strive to be good just not in nature itself I guess.

Hellboy II : The Golden Army (2008)
– The humans… the humans have forgotten the gods, destroyed the earth, and for what? Parking lots? Shopping malls? Greed had burned a hole in their hearts that will never be filled! They will never have enough!

High Fidelity (2000)
– What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

Hoop Dreams (1994)
– That’s why when somebody say, “when you get to the NBA, don’t forget about me”, and that stuff. Well, I should’ve said to them, “if I don’t make it, don’t you forget about me.”

Hot Fuzz (2007)
– Ever fired your gun in the air and yelled, ‘Aaaaaaah?’

Hunger (2008)
– When you’re hung from a cross you’re gonna say anything. Jesus offers him a seat next to his daddy in a place called paradise you’re always gonna put your hand up and have a piece of that.

In Bruges (2008)
– After I killed him, I dropped the gun in the Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions. Shortly thereafter the instructions came through – “Get the fuck out of London, you dumb fucks. Get to Bruges.” I didn’t even know where Bruges fucking was.

Idioterne (1998)

Jaws (1975)
– Fellows, let’s be reasonable, huh? This is not the time or the place to perform some kind of a half-assed autopsy on a fish… And I’m not going to stand here and see that thing cut open and see that little Kintner boy spill out all over the doc.

La Haine (2005)
– Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good… so far so good… so far so good. How you fall doesn’t matter. It’s how you land!

La Pianiste (2001)

Last King of Scotland (2006)
– You dare try to poison me? After everything I gave you? I am Idi Amin! President-for-life and ruler of Uganda. I am the father of Africa.

Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (2007)
– A poet once said, “Only a fool laughs when nothing’s funny”.

Lilya 4ever (2002)
– Sorry, but I’m not sure it’s a good present. It’s windy, there’s a mist. It’s so cold. And this world isn’t that good.

Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)
– I made a promise, Mr Frodo. A promise. “Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee.” And I don’t mean to. I don’t mean to.

Los Cronocrímenes (2007)
– We still have a while before it starts raining.

Lost Highway (2007)
– You were in the house, calling my name, but I couldn’t find you. Then there you were, lying in bed… but it wasn’t you. It looked like you, but it wasn’t.

Los Amantes del Círculo Polar (1998)
– I’ll love you always and if the petrol runs out, I’ll die.

L.A. Confidential (1997)
– Come to Los Angeles! The sun shines bright, the beaches are wide and inviting, and the orange groves stretch as far as the eye can see. There are jobs aplenty, and land is cheap. Every working man can have his own house, and inside every house, a happy, all-American family. You can have all this, and who knows… you could even be discovered, become a movie star… or at least see one. Life is good in Los Angeles… it’s paradise on Earth.” Ha ha ha ha. That’s what they tell you, anyway.

Malcolm X (1992)
– A man curses because he doesn’t have the words to say what’s on his mind.

Mean Streets (1973)
– What’s the matter, you too good for this ten dollars? Huh? You too good for it? It’s a good ten dollars. Know somethin’ Mikey? You make me laugh. You know that?

Memento (2000)
– So where are you? You’re in some motel room. You just – you just wake up and you’re in – in a motel room. There’s the key. It feels like maybe it’s just the first time you’ve been there, but perhaps you’ve been there for a week, three months. It’s – it’s kind of hard to say. I don’t – I don’t know. It’s just an anonymous room.

Mies Vailla Menneisyyttä (2002)

Moon (2009)
– I hope life on Earth is everything you remember it to be.

Mulholland Dr. (2001)
– When you see the girl in the picture that was shown to you earlier today, you will say, “this is the girl”. The rest of the cast can stay, that’s up to you. But that lead girl is “not” up to you. Now you will see me one more time, if you do good. You will see me, two more times, if you do bad. Good night.

Nanook of the North (1922)

Natural Born Killers (1994)
– We’ll be living in all the oceans now.

No Man’s Land (2001)
– Neutrality does not exist in the face of murder. Doing nothing to stop it is, in fact, choosing. It is not being neutral.

Oldeuboi (2003)
– Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.

On the Waterfront (1954)
– You want to know what’s wrong with our waterfront? It’s the love of a lousy buck. It’s making love of a buck – -the cushy job – -more important than the love of man!

Once (2006)
– What’s the Czech for “Do you love him”?

Ondskan (2003)

Pi (1998)
– Something’s going on. It has to do with that number. There’s an answer in that number.

Primer (2004)
– Meticulous, yes. Methodical, educated; they were these things. Nothing extreme. Like anyone, they varied. There were days of mistakes and laziness and in-fighting, and there were days, good days, when by anyone’s judgment they would have to be considered clever. No one would say that what they were doing was complicated. It wouldn’t even be considered new, except for maybe in the geological sense. They took from their surroundings what was needed and made of it something more.

Rain Man (1988)
– What you have to understand is, four days ago he was only my brother in name. And this morning we had pancakes.

Raging Bull (1980)
– Friends. They’re in a huddle. Big business meeting. By the pool, they sit around and talk. Big deals. They make sure she can hear. Big Man. Get the fuck outta here. Big shot. Get ’em all in a back room, smack ’em around, no more big shot, without his gun. They’re tough guys. They’re all tough guys.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
– This site also demonstrates one of the great dangers of archaeology; not to life and limb, although that does sometimes take place. I’m talking about folklore.

Rear Window (1954)
–When two people love each other, they come together – WHAM – like two taxis on Broadway.

Repulsion (1965)
– Well, next time you forget, maybe you’ll let me know.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)
–Now we come to step three. This… drives… most… people… crazy.

Rocky (1976)
– Stay in school and use your brain. Be a doctor, be a lawyer, carry a leather briefcase. Forget about sports as a profession. Sports make ya grunt and smell. See, be a thinker, not a stinker.

Romper Stomper (1992)
– That’s a picture of my mum. Isn’t she beautiful? Everyone says I look like her. I’m not saying I’m good looking, I’m not saying that, but we do look alike. She’s dead now. Was a car accident. She had her head chopped off. I think it’s good to be able to talk about these things without cracking up, you know. Besides I know she’s still with me somehow. I think that when I have kids, she will be one of them, sort of reincarnated.

Satyricon (1969)
– Ascilto… what does the poet say? Each moment presented may be your last, so fill it up until you vomit… or something such?

Say Anything (1989)
– Brains stick with brains. The bomb could go off and their mutant genes would form the same cliques.

Se7en (1995)
– Fuckin’ Dante… poetry-writing faggot! Piece of shit, motherfucker!

Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)
– Garbage. All I’ve been thinking about all week is garbage. I mean, I just can’t stop thinking about it.

Silence of The Lambs (1991)
– You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition’s given you some length of bone, but you’re not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling? And that accent you’ve tried so desperately to shed: pure West Virginia. What is your father, dear? Is he a coal miner? Does he stink of the lamp? You know how quickly the boys found you… all those tedious sticky fumblings in the back seats of cars… while you could only dream of getting out… getting anywhere… getting all the way to the FBI.

Sin City (2005)
– Do you think I’m tired? You think I’m getting tired? You’re the one who’s gonna crack! You’ll crack! You’ll cry and beg! You’ll Scream! Oh, yeah, you’ll scream, you big, fat, ugly cow! You’ll scream!

Solyaris (1971)
– You mean more to me than any scientific truth.

Sånger från Andra Våningen (2000)
– Blessed be the one who sits down.

Schindler’s List (1993)
– They cast a spell on you, you know, the Jews. When you work closely with them, like I do, you see this. They have this power. It’s like a virus. Some of my men are infected with this virus. They should be pitied, not punished. They should receive treatment because this is as real as typhus. I see it all the time. It’s a matter of money? Hmm?

Star Wars (1977-1983)
– Did you hear that? They shut down the main reactor. We’ll be destroyed for sure. This is madness.

Submarino (2010)

Sunset Boulevard (1950)
– Yes, this is Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, California. It’s about 5 0’clock in the morning. That’s the homicide squad, complete with detectives and newspaper men.

Terminator 2 : Judgment Day
– No, no, no, no. You gotta listen to the way people talk. You don’t say “affirmative,” or some shit like that. You say “no problemo.” And if someone comes on to you with an attitude you say “eat me.” And if you want to shine them on it’s “hasta la vista, baby.”

The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
– You let that guy turn us into clowns tonight. We were always small time, but we were never clowns.

The Conversation (1974)
– I’m not afraid of death, but I am afraid of murder.

The Dark Knight (2008)
– Why so serious?

The Deer Hunter (1978)
– You have to think about one shot. One shot is what it’s all about. A deer’s gotta be taken with one shot.

The Element of Crime (1984)

The Fly (1986)
– What am I working on? Uhh… I’m working on something that will change the world, and human life as we know it.

The Fountain (2006)
– It’s all done except the last chapter. I want you to help me. Finish it…

The Good, The Bad and the Weird (2008)
– They died like dogs. Died in vain. Actually, no one dies in vain. Only those left behind feel empty.

The Lion King (1994)
– Let me get this straight. You know her. She knows you. But she wants to eat him. And everybody’s okay with this?

The Big Lebowski (1998)
– Oh, the usual. I bowl. Drive around. The occasional acid flashback.

The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
– Yeah, I worked in a barbershop, but I never considered myself a barber. I stumbling into it. Or married into it, more precisely.

The Shawshank Redemption
– I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you’ll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank.

The Royal Tenenbaums
– Why would a reviewer make the point of saying someone’s *not* a genius? Do you especially think I’m *not* a genius? You didn’t even have to think about it, did you?

The Verdict (1982)
– You couldn’t hack it as a lawyer. You were a bag man for the boys downtown and you still are, I know about you.

The Wrestler (2008)
– I just want to tell you, I’m the one who was supposed to take care of everything. I’m the one who was supposed to make everything okay for everybody. It just didn’t work out like that. And I left. I left you. You never did anything wrong. I used to try to forget about you. I used to try to pretend that you didn’t exist, but I can’t. You’re my girl. You’re my little girl. And now, I’m an old broken down piece of meat… and I’m alone. And I deserve to be all alone. I just don’t want you to hate me.

This is England (2006)
– You might look about four, but you kiss like a fourty year old!

Trainspotting (1996)
– I don’t feel the sickness yet, but it’s in the post. That’s for sure. I’m in the junkie limbo at the moment. Too ill to sleep. Too tired to stay awake, but the sickness is on its way. Sweat, chills, nausea. Pain and craving. A need like nothing else I’ve ever known will soon take hold of me. It’s on its way.

Training Day (2001)
– To protect the sheep you gotta catch the wolf, and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf.

Twelve Monkeys (1995)
– …5 billion people will die from a deadly virus in 1997… /… The survivors will abandon the surface of he planet… /… Once again the animals will rule the world…

Un Chien Andalou (1929)

Un Prophète (2009)

Vertigo (1958)
– Here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you; you took no notice.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
– P-p-please, Eddie! Don’t throw me out. Don’t you realize you’re making a big mistake? I didn’t kill anybody. I swear! The whole thing’s a set up. A scam, a frame job. Ow! Eddie, I could never hurt anybody. Oow! My whole purpose in life is to make… people… laugh!

2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968)
–I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you.