Ask HN: Which movies did you watch multiple times?

77 points by manx ↗ HN
I think that could be a good measure for great movies.

193 comments

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Star Wars: over 10 times

Contact: over 10 times

The Quiet Earth: over 10 times

I'm not much of a film buff, there's nothing I've watched over 20 times. Except Butt Babes in Bondage.

in no particular order; HEAT, Aladdin, Lost Highway, Waking Life, Sonatine, Apocolypse Now, Punch Drunk Love.. lots more
Groundhog Day
Very meta response. Also watch out for that step its a DOOOOOOOZY.
(comment deleted)
24 Hour Party People

Dogtown and Z Boys (Documentary)

Godzilla

Rollerball

Monty Python and The Holy Grail

Star Wars

The Hunger

Caddy Shack

Fear of a Black Hat

Straight Out of Compton

You’ve got to be more specific about Star Wars. Are you also counting the one in which Luke drinks milk from the tit of an animal? LMAO
If you ever visit a dairy farm, you may be in for a big surprise...
Whoa - 24 Hour Party People right up there at the top, and in such company.
Best measure is to check out which movies have not disappeared from the hard disk. And that is both Solaris'es and couple of Kurosawas. And Leningrad Cowboys. Mostly because infinite source of funny snippets and memes.
- Nolan: Tenet, the Prestige, Memento, Interstellar

- MCU/Marvel: Iron Man 1-3, Cap Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 1-2

- Scifi: Coherence, Volition, Primer, Predestination

- Mystery/Thriller: Shutter Island, Triangle

- Action: Commuter (+anything Liam Neeson), Wanted, Salt

- Comedy: Shaolin Soccer, Wolf of Wall St

- Horror: The Conjuring (+universe)

A person that can appreciate Nolan’s Tenet gets automatically befriended by me.
Likewise:) But the more I watch it, the more I understand why it was labelled as 'pretentious' by first-time watchers.
In case you didn't know: Coherence is almost entirely improv - there was no script, and it was shot in just 5 days. I don't tell people before they watch it, because you can't tell. The cast each got a notecard each day of shooting, but they had no idea what was coming, and even were fed lies about the others.

> "We shot over five days, and instead of a script I had my own 12-page treatment that I spent about a year working on. It outlined all of the twists, and reveals, and character arcs and pieces of the puzzle that needed to happen scene-by-scene. But each day, instead of getting a script, the actors would get a page of notes for their individual character, whether it was a backstory or information about their motivations. They would come prepared for their character only. They had no idea what the other characters received, so each night there were completely real reactions, and surprises and responses. This was all in the pursuit of naturalistic performances. The goal was to get them listening to each other, and engaged in the mystery of it all.

> ...They were completely in the dark. All the surprises you see are real... You’re improvising along with the actors as a director, and cameraman. My DP, Nic Sadler, and I told them, 'You can go anywhere you want in the house and we’ll follow you. We’re not going to rehearse it or block it.' We just treated it almost like a documentary unfolding in front of us."

Source, and spoilers: https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/how-gotham-nomine...

Woah! I knew it was improv, but didn't know it took just 5 days! I'm convinced Coherence trivia is as interesting as the movie.
Tenet to understand wtf they were saying
Office Space, Demolition Man, Fight Club, City of Ghosts (2004), The Big Short, Ghost Dog, Slacker, most Tarantinos, various 60s italo-westerns, BTTF 1 & 2.

But there's a lot more movies coming to mind that deserve a 2nd watching imo, just haven't done so yet. Eg. most Coen Bros ones come to mind.

I believe you're correct but using the adverb 'deliberately' watched multiple times would be a slightly more accurate measure.
2001, Office Space, King of Hearts, They might be giants, Godfather trilogy
- The Sting - The quintessential con movie.

- Amadeus - "Too many notes, Mozart!" A heavily romanticized retelling of the somewhat apocryphal rivalry between Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

- Disney's Robin Hood - Get the dope on your horoscope~

- The NeverEnding Story - Because who didn't want to soar through the air on a luck dragon?

- Iron Monkey (少年黃飛鴻之鐵馬騮) - A retelling of the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-hung, with classic wire-fu and excellent fight choreography.

All of Stephen Chow's movies.
Mad Max: Fury Road. Great with a surround system, especially the sandstorm section.

1917. Great cinematography

Tenet. Makes much more sense than the first time. Better on surrounds

The Hateful Eight. The small cast feels very much like Margin Call. Great storytelling

Prey. Very good

World War Z. Pure action.

I recommend watching Tenet with the viewing guide, spacetime diagram, and FAQ from /r/tenet.
And subtitles.
I feel like the understanding curve for Tenet is an opens-downward parabola.

The first time you're just along for the ride

The 2nd, 3rd time you're piecing it together.

After you think about it too much you realize that it's great cinema but parts of it doesn't work ("So the Protagonist emerges from the turnstile, going backwards in time, shoots at himself (!!!), misses, and then those bullet holes in the shatterproof glass travel backwards in time until... the glass is manufactured in the glass factory?")

(Yes? Or am I missing something? Let me know if I am - the 'bullet holes going backwards in time' bugs me. Like, why would contractors install the bullet-ridden panel? :) )

At this point , I think it’s quantum that has collapsed at a particular point of time and people just don’t remark (just studied quantum computing). Let say a, b, c, d are successive points in time and c is when the protagonist decides to go back in time and he revert back in b. The whole b-c timeline collapses due to the simultaneous time directions.
I'm going to check out Mad Max for that! My show off my home theatre sound / Atmos go to movies are Edge of Tomorrow, Dune, and the newer Blade Runner.
I very highly recommend World War Z the audiobook version. It's great, and IMO, much better than the movie.
Furiosa didn’t have the grandiosity and great pacing of Mad Max: Fury Road, but it still had great audio. I’d rewatch with a better sound system.
Groundhog Day, I’ve been watching it every day since it was released.
Deeply ashamed I never thought of that joke
Do you also watch Memento?
A tattoo on my thigh says I don’t
* Laurel Canyon (Christian Bale/Kate Beckinsale)

* World War Z

* The Proposal

* The Dark Knight

* Assassination Nation

* Live Die Repeat

* Real Genius

* Back to the Future

* Top Secret!

* Alien Nation

* Star Wars (the first 2 made)

* American Ultra

* Deja Vue (Denzel)

* Mumford

* Groundhog Day

* State and Main

* Star Trek (Chris Pine)

For me, anything based mostly on story or suspense is out, because I know what's going to happen. Even if they are some of my favorites. So usually it's for the visuals, music, or action.

Hardcore Henry I've probably watched the most. Such an absolutely wild action movie.

For visuals, I've watched What Dreams May Come(despite it being pretty heavy) and Tarsem Singh's "The Fall" probably five times each. The latter is hard to find, but definitely worth a watch if you come across it.

I've always loved What Dreams May Come and felt similarly about The Fountain. Do you have any other recommendations?
I actually haven't seen that one, I'll check it out.

I liked the visuals in Life of Pi a lot. Also, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, for obvious reasons.

What dreams may come is sublime, and sad and beautiful. I've rewatched and remain charmed.

Try 2006's The Fall for another special film that surprises your heart and gives a visual treat.

Also really enjoyed What Dreams May Come despite its lack of success at the box office.

People are probably already aware of the fact, but it is based on a novel of the same name by Richard Matheson — who also wrote I Am Legend (which has had its own fair share of film adaptations).

Back to the Future 1 and 2, but I don't think I've ever successfully seen all of 3.
You are a true connoisseur, bravo!
Gladiator

Snatch

Donnie Darko

Halloween (1979)

Anything by Tarantino

Blue Velvet

Scream

hackers, office space, grandma’s boy, indiana jones are movies I’ll watch forever.
I rarely re-watch movies, and will fall asleep if I try, but I can always watch The Fifth Element.
I don't know what kind of deal the creators of The Fifth Element have done but I'm pretty sure more than 50% of the time I check into a hotel if I turn on the tv it will be playing on one of the channels and I'll watch it from whatever point it is up to.