1. O. Snow

    O. Snow New Member

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    Movies and Shows That Make You Write

    Discussion in 'Entertainment' started by O. Snow, Dec 9, 2013.

    Just curious, do any of you have any movies or shows that really get you in the mood for writing? Maybe something you saw just once that made you jump into a new project or even something you watch over and over just for that inspired feeling. For me it's things like:

    The Words
    (500) Days of Summer
    Captain America
    Odd Thomas
    Good Will Hunting
    About A Boy

    No idea why, but I've watched each of these movies countless times, and whenever I'm having writer's block I watch one of them and usually end up being able to move on in my project.
     
  2. rhduke

    rhduke Member Reviewer

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    Yeah, there's certain movies that just make you feel like you could write a whole novel in one night after watching them :p There's lots of movies that inspire me to write:

    Contact
    The Last Samurai
    The Lord of the Rings
    The Bourne Trilogy
    Cloud Atlas
    Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
    Armageddon
    Sunshine
    Gladiator
    Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

    I've watched all of them many times.. except Cloud Atlas which I plan to watch sometime this week since this thread reminded me of it.
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2013
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  3. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    David Lynch
    Fellini
    Kubrick
    Hitchcock
    Anything by those guys.
    V - the 80's version.
    Oh and the Planet of the Apes I love those movies.
     
  4. Thomas Kitchen

    Thomas Kitchen Proofreader in the Making Contributor

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    Lord of the Rings trilogy.
    Dexter.
    Breaking Bad.
    Watchmen.
    Doctor Who.

    Those are just a few. :)
     
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  5. live2write

    live2write Senior Member

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    Strange Days
    Limitless
    Highlander (only the first one)

    American Horror Story
    Firefly


    Ones off the top of my head
     
  6. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    My sparks tend to come from the edutainment channels. Science Channel, Discovery Channel, that kind of thing.
     
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  7. HarleyQ.

    HarleyQ. Just a Little Pit Bull (female)

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    Goodfellas
    Godfather I and II
    Documentaries about mental disorders, mobs, prisons, drugs, poverty, and gangs
    The TV show The Killing
     
  8. T.Trian

    T.Trian Overly Pompous Bastard Supporter Contributor

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    Our current WIP has been influenced by:
    Battlestar Galactica
    Aliens (even though our story has neither aliens nor robots)
    Firefly
    A Clockwork Orange
    Full Metal Jacket
    Platoon
    Futurama
    Stalingrad
    Stargåte SG-1
    Lilja 4-Ever
    The Ninth Legion
    Salo
    Event Horizon
    American Psycho

    Other movies that have introduced other stories:

    For medieval stuff
    Pasolini's Canterbury Tales
    Seven Samurai (though we haven't written any samurai)
    Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail
    Silent Hill
    Duellists
    A Knight's Tale
    Robin Hood
    Flesh + Blood
    The LOTR trilogy
    Princess Mononoke
    Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (the BBC version, not the crappy Hollywood one)

    Contemporary / Dystopian stories
    V for Vendetta
    Natural Born Killers
    Taxi Driver
    Supernatural
    Dead Man's Shoes
    Once Were Warriors
    Shot Through the Heart
    American Beauty
    Sirens
    Rules of Attraction


    I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty, but Kat can fill in the rest.
     
  9. the1

    the1 Active Member

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    @O. Snow your list of movies is almost identical to mine. Especially (500) Days of Summer. I don't know what it is exactly.

    It might be the fact that I love Zooey Deschanel (I also like most of Levitt's stuff as well).

    Overall, the film is just something that I find myself easily identifying with. I love it's unconventional structure, moving forwards and backwards through time - definitely one of my favourites in that genre.
     
  10. TessaT

    TessaT Senior Member

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    Spirits Within but no Advent Children?!
     
  11. rhduke

    rhduke Member Reviewer

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    the action was good but the other chars barely got screen time. it felt like they were just there to show face. sorry :( i wanted to like it
     
  12. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    The news. :)
     
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  13. ConnorackCarolina

    ConnorackCarolina New Member

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    There are two novels I'm working on at the moment. One is a psychological sci-fi thriller (Novel #1), the other is a coming of age superhero/crime story (Novel #2).

    Novel #1 Inspirations
    • Molly Ringwald movies, particularly those made by John Hughes.
    • The Game
    • John Frankenheimer's Seconds
    • The Hannibal Lecter films, particularly Manhunter and The Silence of the Lambs.
    • Jacob's Ladder
    • The Silent Hill video game series
    • The works of David Cronenberg and David Lynch
    Novel #2 Inspirations
    • To Live and Die in L.A.
    • Superman: The Movie
    • The Driver
    • Drive
    • The French Connection
    • Dirty Harry
    • Watchmen
    • Akira
    • Neon Genesis Evangelion
     
  14. Fitzroy Zeph

    Fitzroy Zeph Contributor Contributor

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    Interesstingly enough I don't get jazzed to write from watching movies, although I enjoy cinema quite a bit.
     
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  15. TessaT

    TessaT Senior Member

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    It was mainly about Sephiroth and Cloud, that's true. ;)

    And I don't tend to get inspired by movies much. Its music that does it for me, and it totally depends on what's going on in the story. If the music and the plot are in sync, then there's writing magic!! Currently I'm been listening to The Hunger Games station on Pandora, and its been working out swimmingly for me. :D
     
  16. Thomas Kitchen

    Thomas Kitchen Proofreader in the Making Contributor

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    @ConnorackCarolina - You may want to consider playing/watching a playthrough of Deadly Premonition for novel #1, if you haven't already checked it out. :)
     
  17. Liam Johnson

    Liam Johnson New Member

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    Breaking Bad, Twin Peaks and The Sopranos.

    Memento, Mulholland Dr. and Let The Right One In.

    et al.
     
  18. Poziga

    Poziga Contributor Contributor

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    Disney's animation movies! :)
     
  19. Okon

    Okon Contributor Contributor

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    Ditto @Fitzroy Zeph. Movies are enjoyable, but they don't inspire me.

    Music, on the other hand, inspires me to do everything. That's for another thread, though;).
     
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  20. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    Ridley Scott's Prometheus and JJ Abrams' Star Trek. I watch them and I think, "I can write better than this stupid, illogical, pathetic, braindead pigshit."
     
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  21. Fitzroy Zeph

    Fitzroy Zeph Contributor Contributor

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    That's a bit harsh, don't you think? Prometheus was at most stupid, illogical, pathetic, braindead dogshit. While Star Trek, well, that's another matter all together, it's supposed to be really bad or it's not really good.
     
  22. ddavidv

    ddavidv Senior Member

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    Clerks
    Chasing Amy


    Writer/director Kevin Smith is, well, peculiar, but one thing he does is studies people and creates wonderfully realistic characters. Then he makes those characters say all the things and ask the questions we only think of doing in real life.
     
  23. Poziga

    Poziga Contributor Contributor

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    Uff, I agree here. Sometimes when I listen to music on a bus I get nervous/anxious to write.
    Also, some of the movie soundtracks are very inspiring.
     
  24. Robert_S

    Robert_S Senior Member

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    The Star Trek series was a major influence for me and despite my MC becoming a cyborg and the influence character already a cyborg, Terminator had little to no influence (Terminator was a robot, not a cyborg). A major influence on my concept of cyborgs was the movie "Cyborg 2087."

    Strangely, I guess I'm kind of doing something similar to Halo, but I didn't know the influence character was an A.I. and I didn't even know what HALO was until about 6 month ago, long after I was already working out the details of my story.
     
  25. J. McGrath

    J. McGrath New Member

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    Game of Thrones
    Firefly
    American Horror Story
     

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