Mindbending films
by ryansassy1 | created - 05 Jul 2014 | updated - 06 Jul 2014 | PublicIf you love second guessing your assumptions, being surprised by twists and turns of the plot, and perhaps like a bit of the supernatural to creep into the plot now and then, these are movies for you.
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1. Mr. Nobody (2009)
R | 141 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.
Director: Jaco Van Dormael | Stars: Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Linh-Dan Pham
Votes: 245,740 | Gross: $0.00M
One of the most cerebral films about alternate timelines and the end results of the choices we make at pivotal moments of our lives, as told by a 120 year old man and his 9 year old self. Fascinating and moving.
2. Identity (2003)
R | 90 min | Mystery, Thriller
Stranded at a desolate Nevada motel during a nasty rain storm, ten strangers become acquainted with each other when they realize that they're being killed off one by one.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes
Votes: 267,029 | Gross: $52.16M
Psychological mind bender with a stellar cast.
3. The Sixth Sense (1999)
PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, starts treating a young boy, Cole, who encounters dead people and convinces him to help them. In turn, Cole helps Malcolm reconcile with his estranged wife.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams
Votes: 1,050,687 | Gross: $293.51M
So well known it's almost become a cliché, but the Sixth Sense did have a shocking plot twist when it was out in theaters ..back in the day.
4. Flatliners (1990)
R | 115 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Five medical students experiment with "near death" experiences, until the dark consequences of past tragedies begin to jeopardize their lives.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin
Votes: 93,372 | Gross: $61.49M
A little creepy at times. Great build of suspense, solid performances by all involved.
5. Stay (I) (2005)
R | 99 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A psychiatrist attempts to prevent one of his patients from committing suicide while trying to maintain his own grip on reality.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, Ryan Gosling, Kate Burton
Votes: 85,986 | Gross: $3.63M
This film has a wonderful twist and it just resonates with me for some reason.
6. Cloud Atlas (2012)
R | 172 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Directors: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 374,280 | Gross: $27.11M
Using the same core group of actors, this film allows them to play different characters at different points in history. The themes of moral evolution and awakening consciousness are well explored.
7. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,051,471 | Gross: $171.48M
Classic existentialism, and a great visual film to boot.
8. Eraserhead (1977)
Not Rated | 89 min | Fantasy, Horror
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates
Votes: 127,372 | Gross: $7.00M
Disturbing and brilliant. I still haven't made up my mind about this one.
9. Inception (2010)
PG-13 | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe
Votes: 2,548,806 | Gross: $292.58M
You could debate endlessly about the final outcome of Inception. Intricately plotted, and boasting great performances from a dream cast.
10. The Prestige (2006)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After a tragic accident, two stage magicians in 1890s London engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion while sacrificing everything they have to outwit each other.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine
Votes: 1,440,191 | Gross: $53.09M
Another Nolan masterpiece. The reveal at the end will have you questioning -- could the magic have been real?
11. The Giver (2014)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
In a seemingly perfect community without war, pain, suffering, differences or choices, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man, the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Taylor Swift
Votes: 125,571 | Gross: $45.09M
When this comes out in theaters next month, I will have more to comment on. Meanwhile, if it follows the book at all, it will be a fantastic mind bender.
12. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Gerry Robert Byrne
Votes: 1,077,326 | Gross: $34.40M
I didn't like this film at first, but each viewing showed more to appreciate about how well thought out it was, as well as the great visual tricks employed by the director. And of course, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are wonderful.
13. Life of Pi (2012)
PG | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain, Tabu
Votes: 666,539 | Gross: $124.99M
Simply a gorgeous film in every way, and also leaves you questioning which version of reality was the "true" version.
14. The Others (2001)
PG-13 | 104 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
In 1945, immediately following the end of Second World War, a woman who lives with her two photosensitive children on her darkened old family estate in the Channel Islands becomes convinced that the home is haunted.
Director: Alejandro Amenábar | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, Fionnula Flanagan, Alakina Mann
Votes: 393,039 | Gross: $96.52M
Deliciously creepy ghost story...awesome twist.
15. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,321,577 | Gross: $37.03M
The ultimate "didn't see it coming" for me..
16. Awake (2012)
TV-14 | 43 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
After a car accident takes the life of a family member, a police detective lives two alternating parallel lives, one with his wife and one with his son. Is one of his "realities" merely a dream?
Stars: Jason Isaacs, Laura Allen, Steve Harris, Dylan Minnette
Votes: 21,487
Yes a tv series, but fits perfectly into the mindbending theme. I wish it had been renewed for another season.
17. Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)
R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven
Votes: 117,797 | Gross: $26.12M
gritty and fascinating, choose your reality.
18. Naked Lunch (1991)
R | 115 min | Drama, Mystery
After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands
Votes: 56,631 | Gross: $2.54M
Kafka.
19. Haunter (2013)
Not Rated | 97 min | Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
A teenager is stuck in a time loop that is not quite the same each time. She must uncover the truth, but her actions have consequences for herself and others.
Director: Vincenzo Natali | Stars: Abigail Breslin, Peter Outerbridge, Michelle Nolden, Stephen McHattie
Votes: 18,699
A not-bad ghost story with a twist. Light mind-bending..
20. The Grey (2011)
R | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After their plane crashes in Alaska, six oil workers are led by a skilled huntsman to survival, but a pack of merciless wolves haunts their every step.
Director: Joe Carnahan | Stars: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Dallas Roberts
Votes: 263,258 | Gross: $51.58M
Heavy symbolism in a gritty survivor story. Strange use of CGI instead of real animals, adds to the surreal elements of this tale.
21. Sucker Punch (2011)
PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A young girl institutionalized by her abusive stepfather retreats to an alternative reality as a coping strategy and envisions a plan to help her escape.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone
Votes: 252,660 | Gross: $36.39M
Apparently I'm in the minority who thought this was a very good movie: loved the action, the visual effects, the soundtrack; and the plot kept me guessing. Perhaps because I hadn't heard of the comic on which it was based, I had not preconceived ideas about how Sucker Punch "should" have been, and I enjoyed it greatly.
22. The Uninvited (2009)
PG-13 | 87 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Anna returns home after a stint in a mental hospital, but her recovery is jeopardized by her father's new girlfriend and ghastly visions of her dead mother.
Directors: Charles Guard, Thomas Guard | Stars: Emily Browning, Arielle Kebbel, Elizabeth Banks, David Strathairn
Votes: 85,031 | Gross: $28.57M
On the surface, a ghost story. Try to outguess what's really going on here.
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