>Also, which movies would you consider the most essential? There's a chance I haven't seen or even heard of a good amount of them honestly. I'm 21 and even of the ones I mentioned, I still haven't seen a few (namely Rocky & Die Hard bc there's like a million films in each of their series)

Some films that are an absolute MUST SEE if you haven't watched them (I've tried to include a mixture of mostly older masterpieces, and in different genres):

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

War and Peace (1966-67 quadrilogy)

Waterloo (1970)

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 and 1979 adaptations)

Paths of Glory (1957)

Come and See (1985)

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Spartacus (1960)

Ben Hur (1959)

The Ten Commandments (1956)

Cleopatra (1963)

El Cid (1961)

The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

Khartoum (1966)

Tora Tora Tora (1970)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

A Night to Remember (1958)

Titanic (1997)

Solaris (1972)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The Deer Hunter (1978)

Heaven's Gate (1980)

The Dollars Trilogy (1964-66)

Schindler's List (1993)

City of Life and Death (2009)

Red Sorghum (1987)

Empire of the Sun (1987)

Battle of Algiers (1966)

Kelly's Heroes (1970)

Patton (1970)

Potop/The Deluge (1972)

Battle of Neretva (1969)

Stalingrad (1993)

Andrei Rublev (1966)

Stalker (1979)

Ran (1985)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Dersu Uzala (1975)

The Piano (1993)

Far and Away (1992)

Whale Rider (2002)

Once Were Warriors (1994)

James Bond fanchise (Connery to Craig)

Out of Africa (1985)

The Goonies (1985)

One Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

The Longest Day (1962)

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Lion of the Desert (1981)

Khan Asparuh (1981 trilogy)

Mihai Viteazul (1972 duology)

The Lord of the Rings (2001-03 trilogy)

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Dunkirk (1958)

Dunkirk (2017)

Das Boot (1981)

Gallipoli (1981)

The Lighthorsemen (1987)

Chunuk Bair (1992)

Napoleon (1927)

Napoleon (1955)

Austerlitz (1960)

Darkest Hour (2017)

The Fifth Element (1997)

The Evil Dead fanchise

Bad Taste (1987)

Meet the Feebles (1989)

Braindead /Dead Alive (1992)

Heavenly Creatures (1993)

The Frighteners (1996)

King Kong (1933)

King Kong (2005)