Approved Movies

This is a list of /tg/ approved movies, organized into loose genres, alphabetically.

Add important details in brackets.

Science Fiction

• 5th Element, The
• The Abyss
• Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
• Animatrix - short Program [animated] (how to pull certain /tg/ cliche right)
• Appleseed
• Appleseed: Deus Ex Machina
• Avalon [Japanese, with original, Polish voices - this is very important, avoid English dubbing or official subtitles like fire, they change most of dialogues into incomprehensive mess]
• Babylon A.D. [director's cut]
• Blade Runner [final cut]
• Blade Runner 2049
• Boys from Brazil, The
• Brazil
• Children of Men
• Chronicle [2012]
• Cyborg [1989]
• Dark City
• Dark Star
• District 9
• Donnie Darko
• Doomsday
• Dune
• Dredd [2012]
• Edge of Tomorrow
• Enemy Mine
• Equilibrium
• Event Horizon
• eXistenZ
• Fortress [1992]
• Galaxy Quest
• Gattaca
• Ghosts of Mars
• Hell [German]
• I, Robot
• Immortal [French]
• Inception
• The Iron Giant [animated]
• The Island
• Johnny Mnemonic
• K-Pax
• Logan's Run
• Looper
• The Lord Inquisitor [animated]
• The Matrix
• Men in Black [only the first one]
• Metropolis [1927]
• Metropolis [animated]
• Moon
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind [animated]
• O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization [Polish] (best unofficial Paranoia movie)
• Outlander
• Pacific Rim
• Paycheck (as an exercise of handling hooks and plot devices)
• The Prestige
• Primer
• Prospect
• Red Planet
• Robocop [1987]
• Robocop 2
• Robot Jox
• Rock & Rule [animated] (preferably with Canadian dubbing, as American one simply sucks)
• Snowpiercer
• Solaris [1972, 2002]
• Source Code
• The Sphere
• Stalker [Russian]
• Star Wars [original trilogy]
• Star Trek (The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, The Undiscovered Country, First Contact and Beyond for sure, the Search for Spock and the 2009 film if you want some more)
• Stargate [1994]
• Starship Troopers
• Strange Days
• Sunshine
• Terminator
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• The Thirteenth Floor
• THX 1138
• Time Cop
• Titan, AE [Animated]
• Total Recall [1990]
• Transformers: The Movie [Animated, 1987 version only]
• Treasure Planet [Animated]
• Twelve Monkeys
• Ultramarines:The Movie [Animated]
• WALL-E [animated]

Horror

• 28 Days Later
• 30 Days of Night
• 9th Gate
• Alien
• Aliens [preferably director's cut]
• Alien 3 [obligatory director's cut]
• Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre [French] - preferably helped with the original mini-series from the 60s.
• Brotherhood of the Wolf [French]
• Cabin In The Woods
• Carrie [1976] - any sequel or remake is disapproved
• The Company of Wolves
• Dagon [Spanish]
• The Descent
• Dog Soldiers
• Doctor Sleep
• Eraserhead
• Evil Dead [trilogy]
• Event Horizon
• The Exorcist
• From Dusk Till Dawn [more of a parody than straight out horror; sequel is also worth it]
• From Hell
• The Gift [2000]
• Ginger Snaps (sequels are optional)
• Hellraiser
• The Hunger [1983]
• In the Mouth of Madness
• Interview with the Vampire (and gender-flipper Byzantium)
• Kwaidan
• The Lighthouse [2019]
• The Masque of the Red Death
• Mulholland Drive
• Nattevagten [Danish]
• Near Dark (the second half of inspiration for Vampire: The Masquerade after Interview)
• Onibaba [1964]
• Overlord
• Pandorum
• Pitch Black
• Rosemary's Baby [1968]
• The Shining
• Silent Hill [2006]
• Split Second [1992]
• The Thing [1982]
• The Vast of Night
• Virus [1999]
• The Void
• Witchfinder General
• The VVitch [2015]

Fantasy

The essential fantasy trilogy (not on the list because it's so obvious that this is a /tg/ approved movie).

• 10,000 BC
• The 13th Warrior
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
• The Beastmaster
• Beowulf [animated, 2007]
• Big Trouble in Little China: Mind you, it's Urban Fantasy. Also, very 80s.
• Blade 1 & 2
• The Brothers Grimm
• Camelot [1988]
• Circle of Iron [1978, also known as The Silent Flute]
• Clash of the Titans [1981]
• Conan the Barbarian [1982]
• Conan the Destroyer
• Constantine
• The Dark Crystal
• Death Trance [Japanese]
• Deathstalker 2 (ignore both 1 & 3)
• Dragonheart
• Dragonslayer
• Erik the Viking
• Excalibur
• Fantaghirò [Italian TV movie series]
• Fire and Ice [animated]
• The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
• Hellboy (only the first one; the 2004 one)
• Highlander (only the first movie, because there can be only one; "Highlander II: The Quickening" is /tg/ unapproved, but worth a watch if you just want to see an insanely bad movie and a solid lesson in how *not* to extend a setting)
• The Hobbit [animated]
• Hawk the Slayer
• Heisei Generations FOREVER [tokusatu]
• How to Train Your Dragon [animated]
• Howl's Moving Castle [animated]
• Immortal [French]
• Ink [2009]
• Innocent Blood [1992]
• Jabberwocky [1977]
• Jason and the Argonauts [1963 and the 2000 TV version]
• Jumanji (and if you have spare time - the animated TV show too)
• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle & The Next Level
• Krull
• Kull the Conqueror
• Labyrinth
• Ladyhawke
• The Last Unicorn [animated]
• The Last Witch Hunter
• Legend [1985]
• Legendary Weapons of China [Chinese]
• Lord of the Rings [animated]
• Masters of the Universe [1987]
• Neverending Story
• Night Watch [Russian]
• The Nightmare Before Christmas [animated]
• Odd Thomas
• Ondine
• Pan's Labyrinth
• The Polar Bear King [Norwegian]
• Princess Mononoke [animated]
• The Princess Bride
• Red Sonja
• Reign of Fire
• The Return of the King [animated]
• Ronal The Barbarian [animated]
• SAGA - Curse of the Shadow
• The Secret of NIMH [animated]
• Snow White and the Huntsman (the visuals are definitely worth enduring it)
  • Same with the sequel, The Huntsman: Winter's War
• Solomon Kane
• Song of the Sea [animated]
• Secret of Kells [animated]
• Stardust
• The Sword and the Sorcerer
• Sword of the Stranger [animated]
• The Thief and the Cobbler [animated, The Recobbled Cut]
• The Thief of Baghdad [1924/1940]
• Time Bandits
• Trollhunter [Norwegian]
• Underworld (first movie, rest of the franchise is purely optional)
• Vidocq [French]
• Voyage of the Unicorn [TV movie]
• Willow
• Wizards [animated]
• Wolfhound of the Grey Hound Clan [Russian]

Comedy

• 1 chance sur 2 [French]
• 48 hours
• Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
• Beverly Hills Cop 1 & 2 (and let's pretend 3 doesn't exist)
• The Big Hit
• Big Lebowski
• Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (sequel is approved too).
• Blues Brothers
• Braindead [1992]
• Buffalo Soldiers [2000]
• A Chinese Ghost Story [Chinese] (1987) - sequels are optional, remake is shunned
• Cocoon (1985)
• Coming to America
• The Cornetto Thrilogy:
  • Shaun Of The Dead
  • Hot Fuzz
  • The World's End
• The Cuckoo [Russian]
• Dark Dungeons
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas [1998]
• A Fish Called Wanda
• Fletch
• Forrest Gump
• Fright Night [1985 & 2011]
• Futurama Bender's Game - A Futurama movie created in honor of Gary Gygax's death. Basically a parody to Dungeon and Dragons and Lord of the Ring. It also counts as a science fiction film because well, is Futurama.
• The Gamers trilogy (preferably with dice subtitles)
• Gentlemen Broncos
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• Grosse Pointe Blank & War, Inc.
• Groundhog Day
• In Bruges
• The Incredible Army of Brancaleone [Italian]
• Kindergarten Cop
• Kung Fu Hustle
• Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels
• The Mask
• The Men Who Stare at Goats
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• Monty Python's Life of Brian
• The Naked Gun 1 & 2 (3 can be skipped)
• Nothing to Lose
• The Raven [1963]
• Secondhand Lions
• The Sister Act
• Snatch
• Space Balls
• Spies like us
• Stay Tuned
• The Sting
• Taxi [French]
• Trading Places
• Tremors
• Tropic Thunder - all-bard party at war
• Vabank [Polish]
• We're No Angels (both the 1955 and 1989 versions)
• What We Do In The Shadows
• Your Highness
• Zombieland

Adventure

• The Adventures of Robin Hood [1938]
• The African Queen
• Alatriste [Spanish]
• Armour of God & Armour of God II: Operation Condor (or "Operation Condor 2: The Armour of the Gods" & "Operation Condor", if you are American and fat) [Chinese]
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire [Animated]
• Berman-Thorpe trilogy, a genre-defining thing for knight epics
  • Ivanhoe [1952]
  • Knights of the Round Table [1953]
  • The Adventures of Quentin Durward [1955]
• Black Robe
• Le Bossu [1959/1997, French]
• Bulletproof Monk
• Captain Blood
• Captain Fracasse [French]
• Cast Away
• The Crimson Pirate [1952]
• Cutthroat Island
• Don Cesare di Bazan and it's remake, The Seventh Sword [Italian]
• Erik the Conqueror [French-Italian co-production]
• Fanfan la Tulipe [1952, French]
• Flesh+Blood
• Flight of the Phoenix [1965/2004]
• The Ghost and the Darkness
• The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
• Greed in the Sun [French]
• Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan [the only approved Tarzan production]
• Hidalgo
• Himalaya [1999]
• The Horseman on the Roof [French]
• Indiana Jones [trilogy only - outside the original 3 there are no others]
• Ivanhoe [1982]
• Janosik [2009, Polish-Slovakian co-production]
• Kerim, Son of the Sheik [Italian]
• King Kong [1933, 2005]
• King Solomon's Mines [1985]
• Kon-Tiki [Norwegian]
• The Last Legion
• Last of the Mohicans
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• The Librarian [TV movies franchise]
• Long Way North [animated]
• The Man Who Would Be King
• Le masque de fer (1962)
• The Mummy [1999 - and only this one]
• National Treasure
• The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak [French Indiana Jones spoof] (avoid English dubbing, it kills all the jokes)
• Pirates (1986)
• Prince of Persia
• Queen of the Desert
• Quest for Fire [1981]
• Renegades [2017] (a perfect Merc 2000 module)
• Revenge of the Musketeers [French, also known as Daughter of d'Artagnan]
• The Road to El Dorado [Animated]
• The Rocketeer
• Romancing the Stone [and it's remake/update The Lost City]
• The Sandokan series [Italian, 1964]
• The Sea Hawk
• Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
• Six Days, Seven Nights
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
• The Snow Walker
• Stand By Me (how to handle atypical quest with atypical party)
• The Swordsman in Double Flag Town [Chinese]
• The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974)
• Tintin - both the 2011 motion capture and old feature animations from the 60s (animated TV series is meanwhile approved cartoon)
• Tomb Raider [2001] (Just bring lots of alcohol and friends)
• The Vikings (1958)

Western

• 3:10 to Yuma [1957]
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Dances with Wolves (preferably extended edition; warning - it runs for almost 4 hours, but is well worth it)
• The Dark Valley [Austrian]
• Django [1966]
• Django Unchained [unrelated with the above]
• Dollars Trilogy [A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - preferably extended cuts]
• The Good, The Bad, The Weird [Korean] (Korean cut, not the international!)
• The Hateful 8
• High Noon
• High Plain Drifter
• Jeremiah Johnson
• The Magificent Seven [1960]
• Man of the West
• My Name Is Nobody
• Once Upon a Time in the West
• Open Range
• Outland
• Pale Rider
• Quigley down under
• Rango [animated]
• Rio Bravo
• Showdown at The O.K. Corral
• Silverado
• They call me Trinity
• Tombstone
• Treasure of the Silver Lake (along with other Winnetou films) - a warning of what happens if you have no clue how to run a western setting.
• True Grit (1969 and 2010 versions)
• Two Mules for Sister Sara
• Unforgiven
• The Wild Bunch
• The Outlaw Josey Wales
• White Sun of the Desert (Soviet "eastern")

Action

• Beach of the War Gods [1973, Chinese]
• The Blade [Chinese]
• Blood Diamond
• Blue Thunder
• Centurion
• The Chronicles of Riddick
• Collateral
• Commando
• The Dark Knight
• The Departed [and original Infernal Affairs]
• Die Hard 1 & 3 (and only those two)
• Elite Squad 1 & 2 [Brazilian]
• Escape from New York
• Five Deadly Venoms [Chinese]
• Five Elements Ninjas [Chinese]
• The Hand of Death [Chinese]
• Hanna
• Hard Boiled [1992]
• Haywire
• John Wick
• Kill Bill, Volumes 1 and 2
• Knight and Day
• Last Action Hero
• Lethal Weapon 1 & 2 [or entire quadrilogy]
• The Long Kiss Goodnight
• Mad Max series
• Mission Impossible 3 & 4 (and only those two)
• Predator & Predators
• Ronin [1998]
• The Running Man
• Running Scared [2006]
• Steel Dawn
• Streets of Fire
• The Taking of Tiger Mountain [Chinese] - be ready for lots of action cheese
• The Transporter (only the first one)
• Triple Frontier
• True Lies
• The Untouchables
• Waterworld (preferably the Ulysses Cut)
• Wild Wild West

War

• The 9th Company [Russian] (watch original version - English dub is just awful)
• Alexander [Final Cut version, avoid like fire theatrical cut]
• Apocalypse Now
• The Bridge on the River Kwai
• A Bridge Too Far
• Colonel Wołodyjowski [Polish]
• Crimson Tide
• Come and See [Russian]
• Das Boot: [extended, serialised version - takes 5 hours, worth every minute]
• The Deluge [Polish]
• The Dirty Dozen
• The Dogs Of War
• Full Metal Jacket [1987]
• Fury
• Gallipoli
• Gettysburg
• Glory
• Gods and Generals
• Guns of Navarone
• Hell in the Pacific
• Kelly's Heroes [and it's remake/update Three Kings]
• Kingdom of Heaven [extended director's cut]
• Lawrence of Arabia
• Legionnaire
• Lone Survivor [2013] (as a case study of how and why high-level characters aren't invulnerable)
• Lord of War
• Manhunt [2012, Polish]
• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (how to maritime)
• Mulan [Chinese from 2009 and animated from 1998]
• Platoon
• Red Cliff [Chinese full cut]
• Sahara [1943/95, *not* the adventure flick from 2005]
• Sharpe series [TV movies starring Sean Bean]
• Soldier [1998]
• Soldier of Orange [Dutch]
• Spartacus [1960]
• Thin Red Line
• War [2002, Russian]
• Waterloo [1970, Russian]
• Windtalkers
• Where Eagles Dare
• Zwartboek [Dutch, only after watching Soldier of Orange]

Crime

• American Animals
• Black Rain
• The Casino
• Chinatown
• Crimson Rivers [French] (avoid English dubbing, it's horrible)
• Dobermann [French] (chaotic evil campaign)
• Dog Day Afternoon
• Donnie Brasco
• The Disappearance of Alice Creed (how to conserve details)
• The Emperor of Paris [French]
• Entrapment [1999]
• Escape from Alcatraz
• French Connection
• The Godfather I & II
• Gone Girl
• The Good Thief
• The Handmaiden [Korean] (just watch it blind, don't read anything about it)
• Heat
• Heist [2001] (all-Rogue campaign)
• Hell or High Water
• A History of Violence
• In the Shadow [2012, Czech]
• Insomnia [2002]
• Italian Job [1969 & 2003]
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• L.A. Confidential
• Layer Cake
• Matchstick Men
• Money Train
• Mr Brooks
• The Nice Guys
• No Country for Old Men
• Ocean's Eleven [2001]
• Palmetto
• Payback [both theatrical and director's cut - two different films]
• Plunkett & Macleane
• Pulp Fiction
• Red Rock West
• Reindeer Games
• Reservoir Dogs
• The Score
• A Simple Plan
• Sneakers
• The Spanish Prisoner
• Sweat [2002, French] (stay away from English dubbing, it mistranslated half of the dialogues)
• That Man from Rio [French] (preferably HD restored version)
• The Thief [1981]
• The Thieves [Korean]
• The Thomas Crown Affair [both 1968 & 1999]
• The Town [2010]
• Training Day
• Trance [2013]
• The Truth About Charlie
• Twilight [1998]
• The Usual Suspects
• The Witness [1985]
• The Yakuza

General

• Mazes and Monsters - The "so bad it's good"-type movie. Based on a novel by a hack writer for Cosmopolitan that assumed Dallas Egbert III's disappearance had something to do with gaming. Starring Tom Hanks and the World Trade Center Towers (it was made before their destruction)
• 7 Samurai [Japanese]
• 8MM
• After the Dark (killer GM galore)
• Aguirre, the Wrath of God [German]
• Amadeus
• The American
• As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me [German]
• Astropia
• Aragami [Japanese]
• Azumi [Japanese] - sequel is optional
• The Blood of Heroes/Salute to the Jugger [goes under both titles] - two words, my friend: "Walk slowly"
• Baraka [obligatory HD restored version]
• A Boy and His Dog
• Caligula [1979]
• Capricorn One
• The Cell
• The City of Lost Children
• A Clockwork Orange
• The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
• The Day After [1983]
• Dead Calm [1989]
• Death Wish [1974] (sequels are so hilariously bad they are painful to watch)
• Deliverance
• Der Untergang/Downfall
• Les Diaboliques [both French original and the remake from 1996]
• Dirty Harry (the rest of the series is optional)
• Dr. No
• The Dressmaker
• The Duelists
• The Fall
• Falling Down
• Fight Club DON'T TALK ABOUT THIS
• First Blood
• Fort Saganne [French]
• The Game [1997]
• Gangs of New York
• Geronimo: An American Legend
• Ghost Dog
• The Great Escape
• Harakiri [Japanese]
• Heavy Metal [animated]
• Hero [Chinese]
• The Hidden Fortress [Japanese]
• House of Flying Daggers [Chinese]
• Humanity and Paper Balloons [Japanese]
• In The Name Of The Rose
• The Insider
• Jurassic Park
• Kagemusha [Japanese]
• Koyaanisqatsi (rest of the Qatsi trilogy is optional. Soundtrack is also approved.)
• The Last Valley
• Legend of the Eight Samurai [Japanese]
• Léon: the Professional
  • And its spoof, Wasabi
• The Lion in Winter [1968]
• The Lives of Others [German] (how to Lawful Evil)
• The Madness of King George
• Miracle Mile
• The Mission [1986] (novelisation is approved literature, greatly expanding the story into TTRPG campaign territory. Also, amazing soundtrack.)
• Money Talks [1997]
• Nick of Time
• Ninja Wars [Japanese]
• North by North-West
• Nowhere in Africa [German]
• On the Beach [1959 & 2000]
• Once upon a time in China 1 & 2
• Papillon [1973]
• The Piano
• Ran [Japanese]
• Rashômon [1950]
• The Road
• Rob Roy
• Run Lola Run [German]
• Runaway Train
• Les Samurai [French]
• Sanjuro [1962]
• Sense and Sensibility
• Sekal has to die [Czech-Polish co-production]
• The Seventh Seal
• Shawshank Redemption
• Six-String Samurai
• Sorcerer [1977, obligatory HD restored version]
• Superman [1978] & Superman 2 [1980]
• Surviving the Game
• The Sword and the Rose
• Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
• Tai-Pan
• Tasogare Seibei [Japanese]
• Temptation of a Monk [Chinese]
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
• Throne of Blood [Japanese]
• Trash Humpers
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
• Unbreakable
• Vatel [French]
• WarGames
• The Wild Hunt
• Yôjinbô [Japanese]
• Zatōichi [at least the 2003 film]
• Zipang [Japanese]