Top 20 Incredible Movies You'll Probably Never Watch Again

Romance movies are inherently rewatchable, because who doesn’t love to watch love? However, if you’ve seen “Blue Valentine” you know this movie is as much about love as it is about destruction and heartache. We do get to enjoy some moments of loving courtship and relationship growth between Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling. However, we see that while also witnessing their booze and anger-filled future that very quickly wipes the smile off your face. This bleak and un-fairytailed look at love certainly isn’t something most of us want to consider as a possibility, so - as good as the film is - why would we watch it again?

Studio Ghibli has produced some of the best animated movies of the last 40 years - and many, like “Spirited Away,” are so beautifully written and drawn that they almost demand a rewatch. “Grave of the Fireflies” is also well-drawn and the writing is powerful, but the film isn’t an easy one to get through. Set in 1945, the film follows war orphans Seita and Setsuko as they try to make it through the final months of World War II. The emotional ride the film takes you on is well worth it and of the utmost quality. But it could be a while before you’re ready to take the heartbreaking ride again.

We’ll admit that a musical by director Lars von Trier, starring Björk as a poor Czech immigrant losing her eyesight in 1964 Washington state might not sound like a film you’d want to see even once - let alone a second time. However, as odd as the premise sounds, and as uncertain of Björk’s acting ability as folks might’ve been - “Dancer in the Dark” proved to be one of the best films of the 21st century’s first decade. It’s also one of the darkest (no pun intended) and most heartbreaking - with a finale act that truly wrenches at your gut and doesn’t let go. A feeling many might not want to relive.

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Caden Cotard - a theater director whose obsessions with putting on the most realistic of stage productions see fiction and reality meld together. Trying to explain Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” is like trying to explain a brilliantly confusing physics problem. To call the movie polarizing is a major understatement. Few films have divided critics as this film did. The movie topped many best-of-the-year lists and made it to the top of Roger Ebert’s list of the best films of the 2000s. On the flip side, it also landed on a number of respected worst-of-the-year lists, calling it - among other things - incomprehensible. You probably have to watch this movie at least twice to understand it… But would you?

The holocaust has been depicted in numerous movies, but never quite like in “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” The film tells its story through a young boy - the son of an SS officer - who becomes friends with one of the young prisoners in the camp. Films about this horrific time in human history are utterly important but also hard to watch. “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” adds a brutal twist at the end, just in case you weren’t crying yet. Despite the criticism from scholars about historical inaccuracies, the movie was mostly well-received. But it also isn’t screaming for a second viewing.

If you’ve been avoiding watching Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” because of its 3-hour and 26-minute run time - we can tell you that at least it’s shorter than “The Irishman” (albeit only by 3 minutes). Scorsese is without question one of the greatest directors to ever step behind a camera, and both films are high-quality additions to his amazing oeuvre. However, given their lengths, they’re also both additions to an amazingly sore rear-end and not getting anything else done that night. Both films are must-sees, but freeing up another 3 and a half hours to watch either one a second time - that’s probably not in the cards for most of us.

Some may refuse to watch the film even once - let alone a second time - due to the sexual harassment claims filed against actor Casey Affleck in 2010. #MeToo reasons aside, “Manchester by the Sea” is a deeply emotional drama with fully-formed characters and writing that IndieWire, in 2018, deemed the 5th best screenplay of the 21st Century. But it sure isn’t an easy movie to watch - and it will, as critic Peter Travers said, “[take] a piece out of you.” For most of us, one piece is enough.

Those of us whose only experience with Shakespeare is forced readings of his work in high school English classes are probably not super excited about a 4-hour version of “Hamlet.” But when that version is the stunningly beautiful honoring of the Bard’s words that was Kenneth Branagh's 1996 film, well, we should all be excited…. To see it once. You didn’t mishear us, the film is 4 hours long. It’s so long that when the film premiered in theaters back in 1996, there was an intermission. It’s without a doubt one of the best film versions of a Shakespeare play ever made. But you’d have to be an uber Shakespeare stan to block off another 4 hours to watch this one twice.

Whether you’ve ever seen it or not, you probably know what “Sophie’s Choice” is about - given how it’s made its way into our pop culture lexicon, getting referenced on shows like “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory.” While Rachel may think the movie is “only okay” - we must remember that her favorite movie is “Weekend at Bernie’s.” While the term heart-wrenching is thrown around a lot, there might be no better place to use it than when talking about “Sophie’s Choice” and the literal “choice” Sophie must make. As Raj puts it…. “It’s rough!”

It feels odd seeing a Steven Spielberg film on this list given how the great director has made some of the most rewatchable movies of the last 50 years. Who hasn’t watched “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park” multiple times? How many of us can quote “Catch Me If You Can” because we’ve gone back to it again and again? And yet, while “Lincoln” is thorough, well-filmed, and features a truly amazing performance from Daniel Day-Lewis - it could possibly be deemed, by some - as a little slow. We’re not saying it’s dull, but we could see the pacing - accompanied by the 2-and-a-half-hour run time - keeping this one off your re-watchable list.

With a score of 100, “Boyhood” is the best-reviewed film of the 21st Century on Metacritic. A 12-year epic that took 12 years to complete, as the story and the actors aged, grew, and evolved throughout this phenomenal feat. While the movie thankfully isn’t 12 years long, it does run for a good two-and-a-half hours - and if we’re being honest… not much actually happens. Well, life happens of course - but the true brilliance of this experiment in filmmaking is the characters, not the plot. For many, the lack of “action” could mean spacing out a second viewing until 12 years later would be the way to go.

Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic interpretation of “Heart of Darkness” set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War is not only one of the greatest war movies ever made - it’s one of the best films of all time. However, while there are several intense moments and action sequences - much of the film’s 2+ hour runtime is also replete with actionless conversations and slow meditations on war and life. If you’re looking for a shoot-em-up style war movie then revisiting this lengthy Palme D’Or winner probably won’t fit the bill.

Okay, so we all know about “Citizen Kane” and how it is considered by many critics and historians as the greatest movie ever made. It features a brilliant script, great acting, and techniques that - while commonplace today - were revolutionary in 1941. The influence of Orson Welles’ film cannot be overstated. With all that in mind, you have to see this film… once! After that you can talk about it and understand all the references to it in film and pop culture - but are you going to watch it again? Given some of the slow conversations and drawn-out flashback sequences - for most people, the answer is no. Also, once you know the mystery of what “Rosebud” is, a second viewing will never be as fresh.

Mahatma Gandhi was an incredibly important political and historical figure - and more than deserving of a biopic. In 1982 he got a really good one - and one that earned itself 11 Oscar nominations - winning 8 of them, including Best Picture, Actor, Director, and Original Screenplay. However, with that being said, the film is also over 3 hours long and moves at a somewhat less-than-quick pace. We wholly support Gandhi’s belief in change through non-violence, but a little more action might’ve made those 3 hours feel less like, well, 3 hours.

Ya, we get it, “Gone with the Wind” is a great movie and - when adjusted for inflation - is still the highest-grossing movie of all time. But it is also really long, clocking in at 3 hours and 40 minutes (and that's without the overture and entr'acte). It also pushes an inaccurate and more positive-facing view of the South in that time along with racist tropes that make it a little - shall we say - uncomfortable to watch these days. Frankly, my dears, we don't give a damn if we never watch “Gone with the Wind” again.

David Lean's 1962 epic tells the tale of T. E. Lawrence - a British lieutenant fighting in the Ottoman provinces during WWII who finds himself torn between his native land and the desert tribes he befriends and fights alongside. “Lawrence of Arabia” is Steven Spielberg's favorite movie of all time and one that he saw four times over the first four weeks of its release back in 1962. However, while we no doubt respect Spielberg's opinion on the quality of the film - at just under 4 hours long - we'll watch it once and take his word on it for the other three times.

Many films about drugs provide a positive resolution to the despair that addiction causes. Often giving the characters an uplifting final act to leave the audience on a high note (no pun intended). Well, Darren Aronofsky didn't get the memo. His brilliant and hypnotic “Requiem for a Dream” is a visually stunning and brilliantly crafted descent that begins in despair and pushes on down the path to more despair. It's a film that few who see it will ever forget, and because of that - may not feel the need to see those things again.

In 1841, Solomon Northup was a free Black man in the Northern United States when he was conned, drugged, and transported to the South as a slave. Northup spends the next 12 years as a slave - getting bought and sold, beaten and almost killed until finally getting his freedom and his family back. It's a true and harrowing account of injustice in a time and place where injustice was the norm for certain groups of people. The film doesn't pull its punches and in so doing, forces the audience to confront some despicable truths about humanity. Truths that once seen might not want to be revisited - at least for a while.

It’s brilliant, beautiful, allegorical, and one of the true cinematic masterpieces of the 20th century. Although, to some - especially in an age of social media and short videos that provide instant gratification - “2001: A Space Odyssey” might seem a little boring. Director Stanley Kubrick called the film “basically a visual, nonverbal experience” and he isn’t wrong. There’s pretty much no words spoken for the first twenty and the final twenty minutes of the film - as well as a 10-minute stretch in the middle. Unfortunately, this might not be something many people are willing to sit through a second time.

“Schindler's List” is the film that finally got Steven Spielberg his first-ever Academy Award for Best Director. It also took home a very well-deserved Best Picture Oscar and is often part of conversations about the greatest films of all time. While the 3+ hour runtime might be a hindrance to the movie’s rewatchability, the biggest reason you’ll probably not go back to this one anytime soon is the subject matter. Being about the holocaust, the film is a hard reminder of the worst humanity can do to each other - something we should all see and should never forget. But, also not a memory we’re always ready for.