re: I'm not a movie buff. What movies do I HAVE to see?

I'm going to give you too many because I'm copying a list a friend of mine asked for, when she decided to become a film geek. These were the films I told her she should watch to be a film geek:

11 CLASSICS
1. Casablanca
2. Citizen Kane
3. The Godfather Pts I & II
4. City Lights
5. Vertigo
6. Bringing Up Baby
7. To Kill a Mockingbird
8. Once Upon a Time in the West
9. Chinatown
10. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
11. The Third Man

11 FOREIGN FILMS
1. Rashomon
2. The Bicycle Thief
3. The Seventh Seal
4. City of God
5. La Grande Illusion
6. 8 ½
7. Wings of Desire
8. Festen
9. 400 Blows
10. M
11. Metropolis

11 MODERN CLASSICS
1. Fight Club
2. Blue Velvet
3. Memento
4. Pi
5. Barton Fink
6. Downfall
7. Das Boot
8. Slacker
9. The Prestige
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
11. Reservoir Dogs

Pick and choose as you will. But my big advice is when you find something you like, use that as a springboard to find other movies. Like Rashomon? Seek out Kurosawa's career? Like Slacker? American indie waits for you. Festen? Time to read up on Dogme 95.

Don't view any list as an obligation, view it as treasure map.