Shows to Fire Your Moral Imagination
If you enjoy questioning what 'good' and 'bad' really mean, these stories will twist your brain into knots.
(note: this list is in random order)
(note: this list is in random order)
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19 titles
- CreatorLisa JoyJonathan NolanStarsEvan Rachel WoodJeffrey WrightEd HarrisAt the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, waits a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence.(is it moral to create synthetic life forms so that we can act out our dark sides without consequence?)
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsBrad PittEdward NortonMeat LoafAn insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.(really: 3 movies in one --> a commentary on consumerist society, a journey into an underground cult, and a crusade to change the world)
- CreatorLaeta KalogridisStarsChris ConnerRenée Elise GoldsberryDichen LachmanSet in a future where consciousness is digitized and stored, a prisoner returns to life in a new body and must solve a mind-bending murder to win his freedom.NOTE: Season 1 of 'Altered Carbon' is excellent; avoid Season 2!
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsHarrison FordRutger HauerSean YoungA blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.(what obligations do we have to synthetic life forms we create?)
- CreatorGlen A. LarsonRonald D. MooreStarsEdward James OlmosMary McDonnellJamie BamberWhen an old enemy, the Cylons, resurface and obliterate the 12 colonies, the crew of the aged Galactica protect a small civilian fleet - the last of humanity - as they journey toward the fabled 13th colony, Earth.(is it moral to commit genocide when you are fighting for your species' survival?)
- DirectorJames Ward ByrkitStarsEmily BaldoniMaury SterlingNicholas BrendonStrange things begin to happen when a group of friends gather for a dinner party on an evening when a comet is passing overhead.(if your alternate universe double threatens your existence, are you justified in killing them?)
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsTom CruiseColin FarrellSamantha MortonJohn works with the PreCrime police which stop crimes before they take place, with the help of three 'PreCogs' who can foresee crimes. Events ensue when John finds himself framed for a future murder.(is it fair to punish people BEFORE they commit an evil act?)
- DirectorJim MickleStarsBoyd HolbrookCleopatra ColemanBokeem WoodbineA Philadelphia police officer struggles with a lifelong obsession to track down a mysterious serial killer whose crimes defy explanation.(if you could time travel and kill Hitler before he committed his atrocities, would you do it?)
- DirectorAndrew NiccolStarsEthan HawkeUma ThurmanJude LawA genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.(is it moral to biologically-engineer our society? And how does individual spirit factor in?)
- DirectorMichael SpierigPeter SpierigStarsEthan HawkeSarah SnookNoah TaylorAs his last assignment, a temporal agent is tasked to travel back in time and prevent a bomb attack in New York in 1975. The hunt, however, turns out to be beyond the bounds of possibility.(what lengths will you go to in order to stop a mass killing?)
- DirectorF. Gary GrayStarsGerard ButlerJamie FoxxLeslie BibbA frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free.(a revenge story with so much collateral damage; if you care for the protagonist, then do NOT watch the last ten minutes)
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsCasper Van DienDenise RichardsDina MeyerHumans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.Important: this is a SATIRE of fascism, and needs to be viewed accordingly
- DirectorLana WachowskiLilly WachowskiStarsKeanu ReevesLaurence FishburneCarrie-Anne MossWhen a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.(is it wrong to choose a false reality of comfort over an authentic reality of despair?)
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJonathan PryceKim GreistRobert De NiroA bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.(another SATIRE, this time of human bureaucracy and consumerism)
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsGuy PearceCarrie-Anne MossJoe PantolianoA man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.(if you want to question your reality and your values, this film will hit the spot, and bruise it over and over)
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsLeonardo DiCaprioJoseph Gordon-LevittElliot PageA thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.(are ideas and dreams so valuable that they merit the attention of mercenary bounty hunters?)
- DirectorTakeru NakajimaYoshiyuki OkadaShouta KitamotoStarsRay ChaseDoug StoneKaiji TangOn the planet Latimer, reawakened Takeshi Kovacs must protect a teenage tattooist named Holly while investigating the death of a yakuza boss alongside Gina, a strangely familiar no-nonsense CTAC agent.(can you justify preserving a tribal culture through deception and murder?)
- DirectorDuncan JonesStarsSam RockwellKevin SpaceyDominique McElligottAstronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.(how does isolation and loneliness shape your morality?)
- DirectorDuncan JonesStarsJake GyllenhaalMichelle MonaghanVera FarmigaA soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.(can a 'Groundhog Day' day perspective redefine the worth of your life?)