You haven't seen X movie!? A List.

My wife is very often right, about a lot of things. One of the best features of having a partner is that, if you do it right, you get a person in your life who observes you closely and - as opposed to the person in the mirror staring back at you - gives it to you relatively straight. They get to observe your perspective, experiences, and takes from the outside and say: I see you, this is where you're particularly strange.

So when she said I've kinda missed a lot of obvious movies for someone who says they "like movies", I believe her. The two best examples from this year is that I had never seen Titanic or The Devil Wears Prada.

What I also realized is that this happens quite often with others - hearing "Wait! You haven't seen X?!" and, always searching for great ways to convince myself to sit down and watch a movie, I think that might be a good way to build a list for myself. Maybe it's a good one for you too.

I'm going to check these off as I watch them, and give a quick ranking of how much I "should have watched them" or if they were actually skippable, along the way.

Here's the rating system:

• Meh (0 stars): Don't get the fuss.
• Fine (0 stars): Glad I saw it, won't revisit.
• Should have watched sooner (3 stars): Really enjoyed my time with the movie, would happily watch 30 minutes if I saw it was playing on cable.
• What was I thinking missing this!? (4 stars): Huge oversight not seeing it to this point in my life. Will 100% rewatch and tell friends about it.

Enjoy.

• 25th Hour
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (watched half)
• 500 Days of Summer: Should have watched sooner.
  • Really liked this one. The soundtrack was nostalgic for me (2009 was my freshman year of college and many of my favorites were featured), great performances, different type of (not) love story. Led to a lot of discussion of who was right (neither of them) and how people in love make desperate choices to fill their own holes.
• After Hours
• All the President's Men
• Along Came Polly
• Amadeus: Should have watched sooner
  • I feel like a bit of an idiot ranking this 3 rather than 4 star but I'm here to be honest about my overall experience with these 'must watch' films. I did enjoy it a lot. The set design and locations are stunning - all filmed in Prague in the mid-80s to imitate 1700s Vienna. The acting is the other highlight, F. Murray Abraham especially masterful as Salieri, obsessing over a rival who's the physical embodiment of that Don Draper meme: "I don't think of you at all." It stays a 3 because I'm not sure I'd want to rewatch it start to finish any time soon (it's long, and the director's cut is longer). I do want you to watch it though, and talk to me about it.
• Amelie
• Animal House
• Apocalypse Now
• A League of Their Own
• Bad Boys
• The Bad News Bears
• Basic Instinct
• Beetlejuice
• Before Sunrise
• Beverly Hills Cop
• Big
• Blade Runner (Original)
• Blues Brothers
• Body Heat
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Chinatown
• Collateral
• Coneheads
• Cool Hand Luke
• Dances With Wolves
• The Deer Hunter
• Do the Right Thing
• Drinking Buddies
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High
• Father of the Bride
• Flight
• Friday Night Lights
• Garden State
• Get Out: Should have watched sooner
  • Yup! Should have seen this sooner. On the edge of the couch for most of this - intense, with a bunch of great performances. Will rewatch down the road. Only knock: I was a little horrored out, having just seen Backrooms and Obsession in theatres.
• Ghost in a Shell
• Glengarry Glen Ross
• The Godfather (I and II)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
• Goodfellas
• The Green Mile
• Grandma's Boy
• Gremlins
• Groundhog Day
• Heathers
• High Fidelity
• Homebound
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Howl's Moving Castle
• The Hurt Locker
• The Iron Giant
• The Jerk
• Kicking and Screaming: What was I thinking missing this!?
  • Surprised how much I enjoyed this one. Not to be confused with the Will Ferrell soccer comedy, this is a mid-90's movie about a group of friends stuck in the purgatory between what they've been told to do and doing whatever they want with the rest of their lives after college graduation. The plot is secondary to the set pieces, and it's a slow burn - not always things I enjoy in a comedy - but it won me over anyway. Looking forward to a rewatch.
• L.A. Confidential
• La La Land
• Last of the Mohicans
• Lethal Weapon
• Malcolm X
• The Master
• Michael Clayton
• Midsommar
• Miracle
• My Best Friend's Wedding: Meh/Fine
  • Just wasn't that fun of a hang - Julia Roberts' character is a true sociopath and the interpersonal relationships are strange throughout. I could see the nostalgia appeal, but as a first time watch in 2026 it wasn't for me, though it did help me fully appreciate this all-time Cracked video for the first time, so I'm grateful for that.
• Notting Hill
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• Paddington 2
• Parasite
• Pretty Woman
• Reality Bites
• Repo Man
• The Revenant
• Rushmore
• Say Anything
• Selma
• The Shawshank Redemption: What was I thinking missing this!?
  • Maybe the best thing I've rented at home in the past year. Not a hot take to say that this movie is incredible. Love that it's essentially a collection of short stories, they all kept me completely wrapped the whole time. Although I hadn't seen it I did realize while watching that I had observed over the years a couple of the main plot points/twists of the narrative so little about what happens in the final 45 minutes was a surprise to me. This is however the first one on this list that I am certain I will rewatch at some point in the future. We'll see if any others reach that level. Also, took me about 45 minutes to realize Andy is the same actor who plays Bernard in Silo, which is hilarious because I can't imagine many people recognize Tim Robbins from Silo in Shawshank and not in reverse.
• Sicario
• Sixteen Candles
• Sorcerer
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
• Spirited Away
• Stand By Me
• Stop Making Sense
• Stranger Than Fiction
• Taxi Driver
• There Will Be Blood: What was I thinking missing this!?
  • This was a really enjoyable watch and I think the definition of the category. I'd heard for years that there wasn't really a plot to the movie and that it was slow and the implication was that this movie was a project akin to working your way through War and Peace. I see a bit of all of that while watching this for the first time but it's kind of a feature rather than a bug? It gave a lot of time to appreciate the performances and the cinematography and it helps that there's an undercurrent of tension that absolutely never lets up. That kept me locked in even when the plot slowed. Plus now I get the references to the milkshake monologue that have been going over my head forever.
• Tommy Boy
• Top Gun: Maverick: Should have watched sooner.
  • I remember watching the original for the first time in high school and loving the experience. It was everything I wanted in an 80's movie - characters with just enough there for me to be emotionally invested in, campy scenes, great action, an awesome villain. This had a lot of that and it looked incredible, it is one of those movies however that when you think about any aspect for more than two seconds a whole set of issues come branching out. That said I loved being in the world while it was on my tv and think it would have been a truly special movie theatre experience. This is all saved by my conviction that the entire movie post stolen fifth-gen fighter crash is a Jacob's Ladder scenario.
• Total Recall
• Toy Story 3
• Vacation
• The Waterboy
• The Wedding Singer
• Whiplash
• White Men Can't Jump
• Withnail & I
• The Wrestler
• Videodrome
• Zodiac: What was I thinking missing this!?
  • Super duper enjoyed this one. Really impressive feat keeping the viewer strung along for the entire movie when we know the killer won't be caught. Think that was successful because of how real and tangible the world feels and the level of performances brought by the cast. The John Carroll Lynch scene was a particular standout. Could write a lot more about this movie but I'll just leave it at the statement that I will absolutely be rewatching this in the future.