I’m a sucker for movies that challenge me to be a better person, ones that help me remember to live each moment to the fullest. If you’re going to spend two hours of your life doing something, you might as well walk away fired up about living a richer life. Here are my top 13 picks that will leave you inspired and excited about living life more abundantly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Ntqg2BiVg1. Dead Poets Society: English professor John Keating inspires his students to a love of poetry and to seize the day.
2. Young @ Heart: A story of the Young at Heart Chorus, a group of senior citizens who perform contemporary and classic rock and pop songs.
3. Yes Man: A guy challenges himself to say “yes” to everything for an entire year.
4. Peaceful Warrior: A chance encounter with a stranger changes the life of a college gymnast.
5. City of Angels: Seth, an angel watching over Los Angeles, begins finding his job difficult as he falls in love with Maggie, a beautiful heart surgeon.
6. Evan Almighty: God contacts Congressman Evan Baxter and tells him to build an ark in preparation for a great flood.
7. The Bucket List: Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die.
8. Rudy: Rudy has always been told that he was too small to play college football. But he is determined to overcome the odds and fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame.
9. Braveheart: William Wallace, a commoner, unites the 13th Century Scots in their battle to overthrow English rule.
10. Mr. Holland’s Opus: A frustrated composer finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.
11. Chariots of Fire: The story of two British track athletes, one a determined Jew, and the other a devout Christian who compete in the 1924 Olympics.
12. Rocky: A small time boxer gets a once in a lifetime chance to fight the heavyweight champ in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.
13. Frequency: An accidental cross-time radio link connects father and son across 30 years. The son tries to save his father’s life, but then must fix the consequences.
Did I miss one? What’s your favorite most inspiring movie?
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Believe it or not, “V for Vendetta” – because it reminds me to watch out for the little things that erode our freedom. It’s particularly poignant as we’re coming up to an election here.
Personally, you tagged one of my most inspiring movies in one of your other tags: “ET”. It always reminds me to be thankful for my family and “phone home” regularly. I also love Chariots of Fire and Rocky. None of the sequels ever came close to topping the first “Yo, Adrian!”
I love Dead Poets Society. No matter how many times I watch it, I never get tired of it. Robin Williams is brilliant. I also liked Patch Adams. That one was fun. And Meryl Streep’s Music of the Heart. Hillary Swank’s Freedom Writers! Those movies have inspired me tremendously. I’ve never Holland Opus but I’ve heard it’s a great movie. Been meaning to watch it, now that I remembered it again. I shold look it up.
Kim,
I love this post! I am such a fan of movies and especially movies that inspire. On this list I’ve seen Yes Man and Rudy and I love them both. I’ll have to catch up now!
La Vita E Bella… its an italian movie with english subtitles about this Jewish/Italian family during the Holocaust
Disney’s “The Kid” is great. It helps us understand
that in the end, it all turns out o.k.
K & J,
Wow, it has been awhile! Almost done with flight training and looking forward to moving on. There are a couple movies missing on your list.
1. The Ultimate Gift
2. The Blindside
3. Saving Private Ryan (I know it’s war but hey..)
4. Spaceballs
5. The Three Amigos
I think these should be on your list
Later,
– Cubby –
Some movies you haven’t mentioned are that I found truly inspiring.
1. My Left Foot
2. October Sky
3. The Greatest Game Ever Played
4. Schindler’s List
5. Remember The Titans
6. Coach Carter
7. Life as a House
8.Invictus
9. The Truman Show
10. Men of Honor
11. Forrest Gump
12.Pursuit Of Happyness
13. Gladiator
14. Akeelah and the bee
15. Lion King
16. The Great Debaters
17. Gandhi
18. Erin Brockovich
19. Good Will Hunting
20. Finding Forrestor
21. Tucker – The Man and his dream
22. Rescue Dawn
23. SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
24. Eight Below
and the 25th one is a documentary I liked very much.
25. Man on wire
why don’t you try Facing the Giants and Fireproof. let’s see if your list becomes 15. God bless.
I loved Amazing Grace. It is the true story of William Wilberforce’s struggle and victory to abolish the slave trade in England. Truly inspirational!
Thanks for these movies.Good Inspiring movies
How has no one mentioned “My Sister’s Keeper” .. If that doesn’t inspire you to appreciate life I don’t know what else possibly could.
ok here’s me and i think you should have…
1. Bruce almighty (not something you would typically think of as inspiring lol…)
2. stand and deliver:
this one is a less popular one. its about a man who has to teach a class of kids that are teenagers and hardly know how to use fractions. in the end, they took a calculus test, and they all got 4s and 5s! Now these kids are all Hispanic and African-American, people, in our racist world, think that they cheated. so they take it again, and they all get 4s and 5s again!
i have 2 more
you might think im crazy for this first one, but if you really think about it..
Horton Hears a Who! I MEAN, THINK ABOUT IT! ITS ABOUT AN ELEPHANT WHO PERSEVERES, RIGHT?!
and then, our latest addition to our inspiring movie line
soul surfer
Great List, however i would like to add :
1. The Green Mile (Giving without Expecting anything in return)
2. Pay it Forward (Helping)
3. The Shawshank Redemption (Determination).
ohhh how did i forget to mention,
Erin Brockovich !
No pursuit of Happiness??? That’s like the BEST inspiring film of ALL TIME
Your list is great – here’s a few more that I repeatedly watch when I need a little lift.
First, Do No Harm (with Meryl Streep)
Lorenzo’s Oil
Billy Elliot
The Cutting Edge
A Civil Action
Paulie
Gullliver’s Travels
K-Pax
To Sir With Love
Legally Blonde
Most of these movies have a predominant theme – never give up no matter what. So I don’t…
Big Miracle and Flash of Genius too…