A Guide to Kanye West's Favorite Movies

From 'Wreck-It Ralph' to 'There Will Be Blood,' we try to understand Kanye through his film preferences.

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Did you know that Kanye West is a cinephile? Seriously, his love for film goes deep, and he's always had a knack for packing movie references into his lyrics, unabashedly admitting he's seen everything from Shrek to The Devil Wears Prada. And he doesn't spare expenses when it comes to cinema either—the dude will drop $500 per movie to get new releases screened at his home theater or rent out theaters for special occasions (last year he surprised Kim with a Steve Jobs screening on her birthday, which is kind of weird but I guess also sweet and Kim apparently loved it so who am I to say). He and the wifey—whose relationship he compares to Romeo and Julietinitially bonded over Star Wars (that's so nerdy-cute), they see a lot of movies together, and they reportedly even want to make a movie together soon (that'll surely happen any day now).​

Kanye's enthusiasm for the cinema isn't casual, and his taste covers a wide range of genres and eras. Outside of his heavy film-referencing rhymes and his weirdly strong allegiance to Will Ferrell films (he's sampled Blades of Glory and has starred in Anchorman 2), Kanye has often mentioned his favorite movies via tweets and interviews, each name-check revealing a little more about the endlessly fascinating rap deity. Surely there are probably a few more references made in his upcoming album, Swish turned Waves turned T.L.O.P., but here we try to figure out a little more about who Kanye is based on the all-time favorite movies he's already copped to. 

The Holy Mountain (1973)

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There Will Be Blood (2007)

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OF ALL TIME! This is an important movie for Kanye, who claims he's seen it "over and over, into that 30 times and 40 times." It hasn't been THAT long since the movie came out, meaning he averages about four views of There Will Be Blood a year, which might I add is over two and a half hours long. That's a lot of fucking There Will Be Blood. Anyway, it's no surprise Kanye is into an auteur filmmaker such as Paul Thomas Anderson, whose 2007 epic follows Daniel Day Lewis' miner character Daniel Plainview in a story about oil, religion, and greed. Plainview is, like Kanye, a lone visionary who's often misunderstood in his mission to expand his empire. Kanye also probably has a complicated relationship with capitalism, something that's personified by Plainview's character (a stark contrast from Paul Dano's hyper-religious counterpart, Paul Sunday). Whatever Kanye's takeaway is, There Will Be Blood is a certified classic. He and I would both agree it is a must-see. 

Akira (1988)

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Pacific Rim (2013)

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Pacific Rim wasn't really my kind of movie (Pan's Labyrinth, on the other hand, very much is), but I can see why Kanye loves it. He's hinted at his inner anime geek multiple times (I mean, he's out here looking up top 10 animes on YouTube), so he's already part of the Pacific Rim fanbase, but it gets even better for him with director Guillermo del Toro's stylistic flourish. Kanye makes a point to reassure everyone this is not just "another 'Robot' movie" and he's right, even though aesthetically it's very much Godzilla meets Transformers. It's not even just another "Monster" movie, either. Judging by his other favorite films I feel like Kanye is very interested in movies about the human condition, and what is unique to Pacific Rim's disaster story is that the human race isn't necessarily to blame for the apocalypse. It's a unique take on dystopian fiction. Also, it's not surprising someone who considers Akira an all-time fave would also like Pacific Rim

P.S. There's a rim joke to be made here but... I won't go there. 

Menace II Society (1993)

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12 Years a Slave (2013)

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American Psycho (2000)

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The Walk (2015)

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Lmao this movie is so silly, I'm having a hard time taking Kanye's comments seriously. Just when I'm like, "Man, Kanye has good taste in movies!" he throws out something like The Walk, in which Joseph Gordon-Levitt puts on a really goofy French accent to portray the high-wire artist Philippe Petit. 2008's Petit doc Man on Wire is a much better film but alas, Kanye considers this 2015 biopic a "modern elegant masterpiece." Not hard to see why a movie about a genius most people thought was batshit crazy would resonate with Kanye West. But still, there are so many other better films about people like that. 

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

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I can't stop laughing at this clip of Kanye yelling "HAVE Y'ALL EVER SEEN WRECK-IT RALPH?" What a random ass movie to throw out... And then he compares himself to none other than Vanellope Von Shweetz, the nine-year-old girl who is a glitch in the animation's video world game? Just watch his explanation above. 

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