Mine would be Annihilation while very stoned.
Spirited Away. I first watched it on cable (with ad breaks!) on my parent’s tiny crt, definitely not ideal
Annihilation is a good one 🐻
Saving Private Ryan or The Shawshank Redemption.
Both outstanding movies and heavy hitters as far as the visuals and storyline go. Getting to experience the landing in France, the terror of the knife fight, the satisfaction as the warden and Hadley got their comeuppance… yeah, that would be fantastic to experience again.
Clue, it is awesome knowing what’s coming but it’s so fucking wild the first time.
If you need to be stoned, then that, Interstellar, Solaris (2002), Sunshine or Sphere.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I’ve seen it too many times now for me to know if it’s really as good as I find it, but I think I’d really like it all over again if I could forget it.
I came to say this. We watch it most times it’s on. So good! But also so emotionally exhausting!
Princess Mononoke.
I was maybe 10 years old when I first watched it on a pirated DVD copy.
The best way to watch any movie
Probably Contact. I cried at the line:
spoiler
“They should have sent a poet.”
I’m rewatching cosmos rn, and am gonna watch contact again when I’m finished. Such a good movie.
I won’t be very original, but first thing that came to my mind is Fight Club.
But actually, it is best to watch the second time, once you know what is happening, but I want to experience this plot twist one more time. If someone didn’t watch it already, please so not spoiler it to yourself.
Lord of the Rings. In cinema, but the extended cut.
I watched the CinemaWins (on youtube) videos for LOTR and it motivated me to watch them again but with my mind sort of turned off and focused on the present moment, so that, for example, I can focus on the greatness of the Moria scene instead of thinking “here comes the Balrog”. It made me appreciate the greatness, emotion and impact of some scenes again.
I’d love that, but I don’t know if my butt could handle being in a theater seat that long.
The extended editions do have intermissions built in, at least.
Your Name
Trainspotting
Vanilla Sky. That movie is a bizarre trip even when you do know what’s going on. But when you don’t, it’s a positively surreal experience.
Tarsem Singhs “The Fall”
It is still to this day the most powerful piece of art I’ve seen. I wish I could recreate that experience. I still remember thinking, at about a quarter of the movie through, that this was the best movie I’ve ever seen, and it got better and better. The theater was packed, everyone there was completely drawn into the movie and you could feel the room sharing emotions, it was powerful enough, here almost 20 years later, I can still feel that connection.
Jurassic Park
Harry Potter. All of them. I’m currently reading the books, and I know that when I’m done I’m going to be so disappointed that there’s nothing left to experience the first time.
If you haven’t listened to Jim Dale’s audiobook version, it’s a great way to have a third way of revisiting that story!