I love reading those top film lists. In college I watched a lot of movies. I did decently well in grad school too, but I've fallen off since then. It's my goal this summer to work my way through the college library's fabulous film collection. We've got an interesting collection of classics, current, foreign, and indie films.
Part of the impetus for this happened in the last 2 days. I somehow let slip to one of my co-workers that I'd never seen Schindler's List. This from one history/politics buff to another was shocking. Now I have my reasons, but finally with a little goading (and a side deal) I'll be watching it soon. The other was reading Kyle's blog post. Boy did I suck at that one. Ten movie quotes and I know one. Wow.
This led me to looking at AFI Top 100 and their 10 Top 10. I do rather horribly in both. I have seen all 10 animated films. :) However, I haven't seen any in the mystery top 10! Even for the Yahoo 100 Modern Classics, I can only say I've seen 27.
Clearly there are a few big films I've never seen. No Casablanca, or Citizen Kane, or any of the Godfather Trilogy, or It's a Wonderful Life, or 2001: A Space Odyssey. I'm not entirely sure where to start after Schindler's List. Maybe I'll find a list I like, and post the ones I've seen and let you all pick a movie a week for me to watch this summer. I'm liking this plan :)
Part of the impetus for this happened in the last 2 days. I somehow let slip to one of my co-workers that I'd never seen Schindler's List. This from one history/politics buff to another was shocking. Now I have my reasons, but finally with a little goading (and a side deal) I'll be watching it soon. The other was reading Kyle's blog post. Boy did I suck at that one. Ten movie quotes and I know one. Wow.
This led me to looking at AFI Top 100 and their 10 Top 10. I do rather horribly in both. I have seen all 10 animated films. :) However, I haven't seen any in the mystery top 10! Even for the Yahoo 100 Modern Classics, I can only say I've seen 27.
Clearly there are a few big films I've never seen. No Casablanca, or Citizen Kane, or any of the Godfather Trilogy, or It's a Wonderful Life, or 2001: A Space Odyssey. I'm not entirely sure where to start after Schindler's List. Maybe I'll find a list I like, and post the ones I've seen and let you all pick a movie a week for me to watch this summer. I'm liking this plan :)
I fare pretty badly when it comes to lists like these too. I find it hard to work my way through them, though, it kinda takes out the fun and spontaneity for me.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who's working his way through the IMDB top 250 (which sadly changes all the time and when new big films like Dark Knight come out it pushes some real classics off). I hope you post about the ones you watch!
There are tons of classics I haven't seen too! Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, the Godfather trilogy so you're not alone! I totally want to follow along while you watch these. Maybe we could do a movie club, where we watch them and discuss!
ReplyDeleteDon't think about it in terms of checking things of a list. Use the list as a guide and just see where it takes you. Maybe you watch "Sunset Boulevard" and all of a sudden want to watch everything directed by Billy Wilder. Maybe you enjoy Dustin Hoffman's performance in "Kramer vs. Kramer" so much you want to see everything he's been in. You approach things casually like that and you'll suddenly be surprised how many classics you've seen on the list.
ReplyDeleteOh I know that checking them off a list is awful. But I need a starting point I think. And suggestions. I figure that's where you all come in. What are your fave classic movies?
ReplyDeleteMine are probably African Queen and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
I have a list on my refrigerator of movies that I want to see. It started because I went through AFI's Top 100 and realized I needed to see a lot more movies (for being a self declared movie buff I was failing). The list has been going for three years now and is constantly changing. I take stuff off, add new ones, and friends and family are always writing on my list. It's actually pretty fun.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I need a movie to watch I always turn to my list for ideas, but it's not always the first place I look...more of a guide really.