All-time classic films of recent years

[radiator]

I was talking to a pest-control expert friend of mine just the other day about a mousetrap I laid from which the bait had been snaffled without setting it off. We both brought up Mission: Impossible at virtually the same time. You too are probably imagining, right now, a cute mouse in a black pullover dangling from a rope harness to snatch the experimental cheese from the mousetrap while The Music plays in the background - and if you weren't, you are now. And, unfortunately, will be for several days to come.

I think that's when a film's on this list, when it's become part of everyday communication.

Anyway, he said it was probably a shrew - too light to trigger the mechanism.

I think thats exactly the kind of thing the OP is getting at - whether its a particular scene, or a key visual or a musical cue or whatever, that point when a piece of media reaches that saturation point where it becomes a common reference point, or a verb.

Lots of people here are just listing films that are commonly accepted as being 'good' or having a dedicated fanbase, but that's really not the same thing at all. I don't really see anyone referencing Before Sunset in the same way as your Mission Impossible example.

[Funt Solo]

I don't really see anyone referencing Before Sunset in the same way as your Mission Impossible example.

Unless your entire social circle is made up of middle-aged art house aficionados.

[The Legendary Shark]

We need to do a Mission: Impossible into Indiana Jones' Warehouse, snatch the Pink Panther without getting Sopranoed by Thanos, get it to a Steptoe then do a hasty Shawshank and hope there isn't a Spartacus at the end of it.

Speaking Jedi, of course.

[radiator]

whether its a particular scene, or a key visual or a musical cue

Or - and I think this is a big one - a particular actor or performance, or a specific pairing or character and performer (or two actors paired together with an undeniable chemistry) can really be the x factor that can catapult an otherwise 'decent' movie into the cultural stratosphere.

I'm thinking of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games, Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man, Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski and Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood, that kind of thing.

[The Legendary Shark]

When Harry met Sally.

Don't look at me like that. You know who I'm talking about...




I'll be in my bunk.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I was talking to a pest-control expert friend of mine just the other day about a mousetrap I laid from which the bait had been snaffled without setting it off. We both brought up Mission: Impossible at virtually the same time. You too are probably imagining, right now, a cute mouse in a black pullover dangling from a rope harness to snatch the experimental cheese from the mousetrap while The Music plays in the background - and if you weren't, you are now. And, unfortunately, will be for several days to come.

I think that's when a film's on this list, when it's become part of everyday communication.

Anyway, he said it was probably a shrew - too light to trigger the mechanism.

I think thats exactly the kind of thing the OP is getting at - whether its a particular scene, or a key visual or a musical cue or whatever, that point when a piece of media reaches that saturation point where it becomes a common reference point, or a verb.

Lots of people here are just listing films that are commonly accepted as being 'good' or having a dedicated fanbase, but that's really not the same thing at all. I don't really see anyone referencing Before Sunset in the same way as your Mission Impossible example.

You are correct.  And the mouse thing is equally relevant - I am battling an infestation as we speak.

[The Legendary Shark]

I was thinking of that as I typed - and wondering if the board itself now has a mouse infestation. We should probably set traps on the Warm/Wet/Cold thread...

[sheridan]

I was talking to a pest-control expert friend of mine just the other day about a mousetrap I laid from which the bait had been snaffled without setting it off. We both brought up Mission: Impossible at virtually the same time. You too are probably imagining, right now, a cute mouse in a black pullover dangling from a rope harness to snatch the experimental cheese from the mousetrap while The Music plays in the background - and if you weren't, you are now. And, unfortunately, will be for several days to come.

I think that's when a film's on this list, when it's become part of everyday communication.

Anyway, he said it was probably a shrew - too light to trigger the mechanism.

So you're saying that Tom Cruise was too light to set off the trap?  Well, I knew he was short...