Fifteen Sticky Movies

(Dear Facebook friends: I appreciate the thought when you "tag" me in your "notes," but instead of wrestling with Facebook's user-hostile interface and hiding my content inside their walled garden, I choose to post my omphaloskepsistic lists on the public Internet, where anyone can find and ridicule them. Hugs and kisses, me.)

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen movies you've seen that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  Khaaaaaan!
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
  Confused me for a long time until I realized the entire film was all about food and eating. Watch it again, you'll see what I mean.
• Star Wars
  The first movie I can remember seeing in a theatre.
• Memento
  A simple story told in a complicated way.
• Office Space
  D and I saw this movie because we ran into some friends of ours in line at the theatre, and it's what they were going to see. We were very pleasantly surprised.
• The Sixth Sense
  Still M. Night Shyamalan's best film.
• Casablanca
  Bogie was always at his best when playing antiheroes.
• Strange Days
  Not an entirely successful modern film noir, but I love the atmosphere.
• Zero Effect
  I still wish someone had bought the pilot and made a TV series out of this, but I guess House is an acceptable compromise.
• Brick
  Old-school noir laid on so thick it's like butta. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Third Rock from the Sun) acts the hell out of this role (and his character in The Lookout—kid's got some chops).
• It's a Wonderful Life
  How I met my wife.
• Galaxy Quest
  Another pleasant surprise. D and I saw this on Christmas Day, not expecting much, and we got a grand adventure. Also the film debut of young Justin Long ("I'm a Mac").
• Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
  Watched in half-hour increments during high school lunch periods. After the climactic battle, I made a comment about a "phallic victory," when I actually meant to say "Pyrrhic victory." Eh, I was a teenage boy. I blame the hormones.
• Waitress
  RIP, Adriennne Shelly.
• Planes, Trains and Automobiles
  RIP, John Hughes.

NB: Ask me this on a different day and I'd probably give you a different list.

~CKL