15 Geek Movies to See Before You Die

It’s a fun read. For those attention-challenged, here’s a summary list:

  • Brazil
  • The Matrix
  • The Fifth Element
  • Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
  • Serenity
  • Dark City
  • 12 Monkeys
  • Shaun of the Dead
  • Darkman
  • Army of Darkness
  • Wargames
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • Office Space
  • Repo Man

22 replies on “15 Geek Movies to See Before You Die”

  1. Never seen Brazil..
    Guess I’m gonna have to check it out…

    But the rest are definitely fun!! LOL

    Monty Python is the best, I think… but then I’ve loved that for years… it’s such fun in the SCA http://www.sca.org/ to hear all the quotes and just being fun…

    Yeah. I’m a geek. And yeah.. I’m proud of it!! :)

    Movies I would add for my own personal Geek list:
    Twister
    The Crow
    The Lost Boys
    Men In Black
    Independence Day
    Long Kiss Goodnight
    Battlefield Earth
    What the Bleep
    Chronicles of Narnia

    Okay… so.. I’m weird.. LOL

    Ah well, back to work..
    Just thought I’d share..

    k

    • Re: Never seen Brazil..

      Yeah. I’m a geek. And yeah.. I’m proud of it!! :)

      Movies I would add for my own personal Geek list:
      Twister
      The Crow
      The Lost Boys
      Men In Black
      Independence Day
      Long Kiss Goodnight
      Battlefield Earth
      What the Bleep
      Chronicles of Narnia

      I’d include ID4 and The Crow, and while the rest (that I saw) were definitely good, I’m not sure I’d call them Cannon for Geekdom.

      • Re: Never seen Brazil..

        Yeah. I’m a geek. And yeah.. I’m proud of it!! :)

        Movies I would add for my own personal Geek list:
        Twister
        The Crow
        The Lost Boys
        Men In Black
        Independence Day
        Long Kiss Goodnight
        Battlefield Earth
        What the Bleep
        Chronicles of Narnia

        I’d include ID4 and The Crow, and while the rest (that I saw) were definitely good, I’m not sure I’d call them Cannon for Geekdom.

        LOL
        Well, they are from my own personal "geek" files.. *grin*
        But then, I’m not sure I would consider 12 Monkeys, Shaun of the Dead, or Serenity "Cannon for Geekdom" either..

        Ah well… opinions are great, aren’t they? The world wouldn’t get around without ’em. :)
        k

        • Re: Never seen Brazil..
          I agree about 12 Monkeys being borderline off the list. Repo man? In? No way.

          Must adds include:
          – Sneakers
          – Goonies
          – Time Bandits
          – The one with Buckaroo Bonzaii
          – Solyent Green is people!
          – Star Wars
          – – Spaceballs (Attached to Star Wars for obvious reasons)(They’ve gone to plaid!)
          – Dark Star
          – Logans Run
          – Blade Runner
          – Tron
          – Andromeda Strain
          – Maybe Jur.Park ("This is Unix, I can use this system!") Chrichton is geeky right?
          – Some steam-punk stuff (A la Steamboy)
          – And some Anime (Ghost in the Shell? Akira?)
          – Dune
          – Clerks
          – RHPS (Let’s do the time warp again!)
          – Contact (Or a good Rendezvous with Rama movie if one is ever made, or Enders Game if that ever makes it.)
          – Something from PKDick w/o a "super-mega-star" in the lead role.
          – Short Circuit (Naw, never mind on that one)
          – Weird Science
          – Mystery Science Theater 3000
          – Mirror Mask (A movie made by a comic book and sci-fi giant)
          – The Apple 1984 commercial. (Wait, you said movies)
          Spaceballs (They’ve gone to plaid!)
          – We need some more dystopic cyberpunk . . . Nothing beats William Gibson . . . Johnny Nem(I can’t spell it)onic.
          – Or just Hackers because their target was The Gibson!
          – The Net (It sucked so much, but I guess not at much as Hackers)

          Nonfiction:
          – The one about Kevin "He hacked the nuclear missiles with a cellphone" Mitnick.

          And, the great big king off all these "geek movies"
          – The Lord of the Rings trilogy

          • Re: Never seen Brazil..

            Must adds include:

            – Dune

            While I’ve seen all of the film versions of Dune except for the latest "unauthorized" cut, I must say that Dune is a must read book. The movies, while ok, cannot measure up to the book at all.

  2. 73% C-
    Wow: I’m only 11/15. Otherwise, the list sounds accurate, though I’d want to include at least one Star Wars, and Ice Pirates.

    (Because I love Ice Pirates)

    • Re: 73% C-

      Wow: I’m only 11/15.

      So am I, though two of the movies I haven’t seen (Brazil and Dark City) are movies I’ve bought but haven’t had time to watch yet. (I also need to see Shaun of the Dead, which I’ve wanted to see for a while, and Repo Man.)

      • Re: 73% C-

        Wow: I’m only 11/15.

        So am I, though two of the movies I haven’t seen (Brazil and Dark City) are movies I’ve bought but haven’t had time to watch yet. (I also need to see Shaun of the Dead, which I’ve wanted to see for a while, and Repo Man.)

        Same ones for me, except instead of Dark City, it’s Darkman.

        Dark City, is definitely a good one, though.

  3. all
    I’ve seen them all.

    and I agree with previous posters, The Crow and StarWars should be there. Persaonlly I’d bump Brazil and Repo Man.

    I mean really… What ever your feelings for the original, or subsequent trilogy are… How could you possibly exclude Star Wars?

    • Re: all

      I’ve seen them all.

      and I agree with previous posters, The Crow and StarWars should be there. Persaonlly I’d bump Brazil and Repo Man.

      I mean really… What ever your feelings for the original, or subsequent trilogy are… How could you possibly exclude Star Wars?

      Right, if for nothing more than to understand all the Force jokes and light saber envy.

  4. The List is… life
    Nice headline. I fully agree with the Matrix and Repo Man, but Wargames? Brazil is questionable too. Other than Star Trek IV and Dark City I have seen them all. Some I would add:

    Sin City
    Desperado
    Dead Alive
    All four of Romero’s Zomibie movies (Night,Dawn,Day,Land)
    Time Bandits
    Mel Brooks History of The World part 1
    Dark Star
    Fear and Loathing in Vegas
    King Kong (1970’s version)
    Eraserhead
    Oldboy
    House of 1000 Corpses
    Devils Rejects
    Logan’s Run

    And DO NOT FORGET about what is sure to become an instant geek classic-GRINDHOUSE!!! It opens April 15th and I intended to see it opening night. If you got beef with my list step up. Replys are appreciated.
    P.S. The one TV series everyone MUST SEE before the die is The Prisoner, the classic espionage series of 1960’s UK television.

  5. No matter where you go, there you are…
    The adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the eighth dimension!

      • Some repeats, obviously….

        I haven’t seen Army of Darkness or Office Space but I’ve see the rest, and might add:

        -The original, pre-prequel Star Wars trilogy.
        Ghost World
        The Day the Earth Stood Still
        Mystery Men

  6. Hmmmm
    I own eight of these, and quite honestly I could see myself owning them all as they are quite good, yet some of them are making me scratch my head – I can understand Wrath of Khan, but Voyage Home too? Office Space and Repo Man seem a little out of place, and do you really need The Matrix when you’ve got Dark City?

    Where are Weird Science, Young Frankenstein, Time Bandits, Real Genius, Blade Runner, The Crow, Back to the Future and Akira? Those last three are the huge glaring holes here in my mind (and I have to say I’d probably go with Time Bandits over Twelve Monkeys in a fight between Gilliam movies to list after Brazil).

    • Re: Hmmmm

      I own eight of these, and quite honestly I could see myself owning them all as they are quite good, yet some of them are making me scratch my head – I can understand Wrath of Khan, but Voyage Home too? Office Space and Repo Man seem a little out of place, and do you really need The Matrix when you’ve got Dark City?

      Where are Weird Science, Young Frankenstein, Time Bandits, Real Genius, Blade Runner, The Crow, Back to the Future and Akira? Those last three are the huge glaring holes here in my mind (and I have to say I’d probably go with Time Bandits over Twelve Monkeys in a fight between Gilliam movies to list after Brazil).

      Real Genius!! That’s the one I couldn’t remember!!! I do love that movie!! *grin*

      k

  7. good list
    I love that the lists are all personalized, it’s given me a few to add to Netflix.
    Office Space is THE geek movie.
    I’ve added Brazil and Repo man since I haven’t seen those.

    Dark City has to be on the list, not only was it a great movie, but it’s underrated and not well known. It adds to the fact that if you can say you saw it, you’re far more likely to be a geek.

  8. A few more
    Off the top of my head:

    – Akira
    – The Last Starfighter
    – Highlander
    – Enemy Mine
    – Wargames

    • Re: A few more
      Oh yeah, forgot:

      – Any movie directed by Akira Kurosawa
      – Any Western with Clint Eastwood, Terence Hill or Lee Van Cleef

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