[This is another thing I did for Facebook, but wanted I'd post here, too. I posted the thing recently about books that made a big impact on me over the years, starting from when I was a wee wittle sprog, but movies have been important, too, in different ways. And not all science fiction movies, either. Anyway, see what you think.]

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey. I first saw this at about age five or six, not long after it first came out, in the late 60s. I hardly remember. My grandparents took me to see it at a drive-in theatre one night. Was baffled. But grokked enough to know this was something for me. Finally saw it properly in 1978, a re-release, and was all "ZOMG!!!1!!!WTF!PHWOAR!!!"

Still feel that way. :)

2. Forbidden Planet. First sf movie I grokked properly. I was about ten or so. Saw it on TV, and loved it. Have seen it many times since, always on TV. Loved the scope and the ideas, even before I found out about the whole "The Tempest" thing, which only made it way more impressive. Have always had a thing for "superintelligent godlike aliens" as a result of this movie, and 2001. If you’ve ever hated the godlike aliens in my books, these two movies are why they are there. :)

3. Various Billy Wilder movies, notably, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevarde, Stalag-17. We had a late-night movie thing on local TV when I was about 17-18, and they showed quite a number of Wilder pictures, which were all noir-ish and fabulous, in luminous black and white. Loved Sunset Boulevarde, which opens with a dead guy, floating in a pool, filmed from underneath. He’s the narrator. That hooked me like few hooks since.

4. The African Queen. First Bogart movie I ever grokked. Just stared, aghast, gobsmacked, at this amazing film, fully absorbed. The leeches! The welding a new propeller! The sizzling chemistry between Bogart and Hepburn (ah, Hepburn!). The wonderful twist with the torpedoes! So much to love! :)

5. The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was 18, it was 1981, and I saw all these oddly-dressed people milling around the old Kimberley Cinema on Barrack St around midnight on Friday nights. What was that about? One night I went and found out. Oh my! :) What a hoot! Went along many more times. Wore clothes that it was okay if they got wet. :)

6. Bambi. Oh, man. <shakes head> Oh, man, oh man. If you felt upset about the ending of my first book, this movie is why. I have refused to watch it again, to this day. It’s just…too much.

7. Fantasia. An uneven masterpiece. Some of it chock full of unbearable sugary tweeness, but then there’s the bit with the orchestra and the sound waves. There’s "Night on Bald Mountain", with Ave Maria playing, there’s "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice". So much to like, but also so much to sit through impatiently, drumming fingers.

8. Alien. First sf movie since Forbidden Planet to make me sit up and take notice (and crap my pants). Such a shock to the system at the time. Just awesome.

9. Blade Runner. Saw this on first release, and (to be honest) didn’t quite get it. Didn’t matter. It was such a wonderfully complete world, so finely detailed/textured. Conveyed the radical sf idea that the future would be full of old, recognisable stuff as well as all the whizzy stuff, that older people in that world would remember our world. Have seen it many times, including the superior Director’s Cut, and love it desperately. Played the videogame released several years back (partly good). Have snaffled screenshots from the DVD for use as desktop wallpaper. Ooooh. Utterly hated the sequel novels.

10. Star Wars, et al. Well, obviously. Felt like somebody had plugged a car battery into my brain’s pleasure centre and just let it rip for two hours. Very first one still my favourite. Second one clearly better movie, (and don’t get me started on the Ewoks and the partying in the third outing), but still love the original best. Prequel films–<makes face>. Lego Star Wars videogames marvellous fun, particularly the games made from the prequel films, where Jar Jar is (a) a useful character, and (b) has no dialogue.

12. Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan. "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" ‘Nuff said. First Trek film to convey sense of gravitas. Tension! Heartbreak! Kirk’s horrible wig! The remarkable dancing blood stain on his jacket! "From the fires of hell I spit at thee!" Oh my! :)

13. Plan 9 From Outer Space/Robot Monster. These two I’ve always seen together as a double-feature. Have paid good money to see these two films. Utterly dire, as bad as you have heard, and then some. Cheap, beyond camp, head-shakingly bad. Can’t pick between Plan 9’s use of Bela Lugosi’s *dentist* standing in for Lugosi (who died mid-production), and doing all his scenes with his face hidden; or the bubble machine in Robot Monster, sitting on an ordinary wooden kitchen table, emitting all these bubbles. Baffling.

14. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (and special edition). The 70s were great for sf movies. Loved this one, particularly Richard Dreyfus, coming slowly unhinged in the first half, alienating his beautifully drawn family, building that giant sculpture of the mountain. Just stunning. Loved the recut Special Edition, with the extra footage at the end, and missing the dull bits from the original.

15. What? It’s 15 already? Crap. Hard to pick just one. Roman Holiday? The Maltese Falcon? Psycho? Blazing Saddles? What about recent movies? Apocalypse Now (have not seen the recut Redux version)? Wrote a uni essay about that movie, so very familiar with it. Marathon "Is it safe? Is it safe?" Man? The Princess Bride? Hmm. Oh, wait. Peter Watkin’s fictional documentary, The War Game. Utterly. Harrowing. What would the beginning of a nuclear war in Europe/Britain in the 60s be like? This film conveys a profoundly upsetting, dreadful and highly plausible picture of how it might be. Saw it again recently on Google Video, and was shaken for hours. I grew up with the Cold War, sure I would live to see nuclear war, so this film pressed all the right buttons, so to speak.

Wow, 15 hardly scratches the surface, eh? I love movies like few other things. During the years when I was on a disability pension, I saw millions of movies, for about $2.50 a shot. Just fantastic, sometimes seeing three movies in a day. Now, with no pension discount, movies are $16/adult. It’s a bloody scandal. Watching on DVD is good, but just not the same. You need the cinema experience for full impact.