Looking back on the past decade, there are movies I can't seem to escape. They're embedded in who I am. They've shaped my ideals, my views on life, and, in general, what life's about. Somehow, I've come to terms with a lot of things I have gone through based on how these films make me feel. To me, they represent the human condition, and while mostly fiction, I find myself in all of them:

Crash (2004)
We crash into each other every day, and we never take the time to realize. What a simple concept. I saw Crash in theaters the day it came out, one of the few people to do so. And it's been my favorite movie ever since. The ideas of race examined in the are nothing new, but they slap you in the face. Sometimes we get caught up thinking we live in a world where race relations and understanding are things that are no longer issues in society. But truly, they are now more than ever. With our first black president in office, it's a movie about the need for people in this country to truly appreciate our differences that makes me proud to be an American.

Garden State (2004)
Everybody raves about Zach Braff, like he's some kind of indie, hipster director who did something groundbreaking with Garden State. Not true. The true appeal, for me, is how mainstream and relatable the core concept of Garden State is. Our parents and grandparents think we're a generation of slackers who don't give a shit about anything, when actually, we're a generation of young adults who want so badly to care, and just figure out who were are. We just don't know how.

American Beauty (1999)
I read a blog the other day saying that director Sam Mendes' new film Away We Go is his first that shows potential of having any heart. Such ignorance. Anyone who doesn't believe that American Beauty has heart is missing out on one of the truly emotionally gripping films made in the past 25 years. American Beauty is a dark satire on suburban America and at the heart lies souls of characters who have spent the bulk of their lives trying to live a "perfect" life that is  unachievable. There's true heart in that, because it reflects the struggles in all of us. Spectacular.

Higher Learning (1995)
Months before leaving my hometown of Rochester, NY to attend college two hours away, my whole perspective was rocked by Higher Learning. Don't get me wrong, the issues tackled in the film a tad bit extreme, to say the least, but the examination of a group of college freshman experiencing a new world of diversity and the ideas of race, sex and class. I grew up in the inner-city, but having attended Catholic schools all my life, I never realized how sheltered I truly was until college. Higher Learning braced me for some of those shock waves.