Primer is one of those movies I always hear about when people want to talk about how good their movie taste is, but don't actually know anything about. The whole Libyans thing was always weird to me and something I've never paid much attention to, but the rest of that. Wow, I'm going to have to rewatch BttF. I love the first movie and enjoy II and III a lot, but the first is up there for my favorite movies and I need to see it from the lens you just provided. Might need to watch Madoka Magika too, but I've never really watched any anime. Sidebar: Speaking of Los Angeles-ness, I saw The Terminator in one of the small theaters around here last night, and the atmosphere in that movie makes so much more sense on the big screen.
I can attest to kb's statement. I've only watched Spirited Away before watching Madoka Magica, and I think Madoka Magica is amazing. Makes Inception look like child's play. The first two episodes (only like 40 minutes screen time) seem very puzzling but it's intentionally so. By the third and fourth episode I was hooked.
You don't need to have any appreciation for anime to get Madoka Magika.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puella_Magi_Madoka_Magica#Critical_reception I've been thinking about this. Non-guitarists can watch Eddie Van Halen and go "damn, that dude can play." Guitar players are more likely to point to Steve Vai or Yngwie Malmstein because their technical chops far exceed Van Halen. Fewer people listen to their music, though. Non-motorcyclists can watch the Isle of Man and be impressed. Motorcyclists can watch the Isle of Man and know that even if they disobeyed the speed limit they couldn't get around that track in less than an hour and here the top guys are, churning it in fifteen minutes. If you watch Back to the Future and don't know much about structure, it's a fun film. If you watch Back to the Future and know anything about screenwriting you recognize that you need Yngwie Malmsteen's chops to play that tune. And I gotta tell ya. Watching Madoka from a writer's perspective they do shit that you didn't know was possible. I hit the end of Episode 3 and knew I was watching something masterful. I hit the beginning of Episode 10 and my jaw literally dropped. I'm not that into Anime. I appreciate the art form but I'm not a big fan. "Magical girls" are a shit genre. Watching Madoka Magica unfold is like watching Mary Lou Retton score her Perfect 10 except instead of being a spunky little trained-by-Bela teenager Mary Lou is a 40-year-old roller derby washout. You know that Susan Boyle video, where you're watching and you're going "I fucking hate American Idol, I hate talent shows, this lady is weird looking, why am I doing this HOLY SHIT SHE CAN SING?" As a writer, that's Madoka Magica. For you, it might just be a good anime.Scott Green of Ain't It Cool News commented that the series was "hugely admirable" and he would give it the highest possible recommendation to anyone even slightly interested in anime.
Production I.G's Katsuyuki Motohiro watched Puella Magi Madoka Magica after hearing opinions that it exceeded Neon Genesis Evangelion. Upon viewing the series, he was so amazed that he began analyzing Urobuchi's other works and was then motivated to request Urobuchi to write the crime thriller Psycho-Pass.