Wednesday, January 23, 2008

I've still seen more movies than you

Inspired by defective yeti: my adventures through the revised AFI Top 100 Films list.

green = stuff I've seen (47 films on this list)
yellow = stuff I've seen but don't remember well (6 films on this list)
red = stuff I've never seen, or have seen in chunks, or out of order (47 films on this list)

Just for the record, I don't understand what some of these are doing here -- Pulp Fiction? West Side Story? Huh. Also, many of my favorite films are not on here, which I sort of understand (The Princess Bride, for example, isn't exactly historical or paradigm-shifting, and neither is Sneakers), but what about Gattaca? Or The Muppet Movie? Gattaca addresses hot button issues like genetic determinism in an increasingly Big Brother-like society, and didn't the Muppets pioneer the extensive use of puppetry in a feature film?

Or am I on crack? (Which wouldn't surprise some people, I guess.)

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. Raging Bull (1980) [I did take a class in screenwriting taught by Mardik Martin, though]
5. Singin' In The Rain (1952)
6. Gone With The Wind (1939) [I've seen chunks of this on TV]
7. Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler's List (1993)
9. Vertigo (1958)
10. The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
11. City Lights (1931)
12. The Searchers (1956)
13. Star Wars (1977)
14. Psycho (1960) [this one is hugely embarrassing for me] Seen it! BRILLIANCE.
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
16. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. The General (1927)
19. On The Waterfront (1954)
20. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
21. Chinatown (1974)
22. Some like It Hot (1959)
23. The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) [tried reading the book, couldn't do it]
24. E.T. The Extra-terrestrial (1982)
25. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
26. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
31. The Maltese Falcon (1941) [rented it and fell asleep]
32. The Godfather Part II (1974)
33. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975) [read the book and the MAD Magazine parody]
34. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937) [read the original fairy tale, as well as the written version published by Disney with animation stills]
35. Annie Hall (1977)
36. The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
37. The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)
38. The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
40. The Sound Of Music (1965)
41. King Kong (1933) [I still know the whole story -- impossible to avoid in our society]
42. Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45. Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night (1934)
47. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
48. Rear Window (1954)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)
51. West Side Story (1961) [tried watching this twice, hated it and turned it off in disgust]
52. Taxi Driver (1976)
53. The Deer Hunter (1978)
54. M*A*S*H (1970) [saw episodes of the TV show]
55. North By Northwest (1959)
56. Jaws (1975)
57. Rocky (1976) [read the parody in MAD Magazine] Seen it! Made me cry with happiness.
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933) [tried watching, decided I'm not into the Marx Brothers and turned it off]
61. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
62. American Graffiti (1973) [read the parody in Mad Magazine]
63. Cabaret (1972)
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
67. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) [read the play]
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982)
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
73. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
75. In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
76. Forrest Gump (1994) [I've seen this entire film out of order]
77. All The President's Men (1976) [read the MAD magazine parody]
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997)
84. Easy Rider (1969) [did meet the cinematographer, though, plus I read the MAD Magazine parody]
85. A Night At The Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999)
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie's Choice (1982) [I don't think I could handle this]
92. Goodfellas (1990) [many guys have yelled at me for this]
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994)
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)
96. Do The Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner (1982) [in my personal top three]
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story (1995)
100. Ben-hur (1959)

I've put many of the red-titled films on my must-see list for this year. And, hey, since I'm baring my soul and subjecting myself to public mortification as an 'uncultured' filmmaker (never mind that I've seen, like, a bajillion foreign films, as well as another bajillion American films released before 1950), here's what else is on my list, since people keep mentioning these at me all the freaking time:

The Karate Kid (1984) Seen it. I don't understand the big deal, but it's a decent yarn I guess.
Y tu mamá también (2001)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
City of God (Cidade de Deus, 2002)
Chocolat (2000)
Breathless (À bout de souffle, 1960)
The Untouchables (1987)
Unfaithful (2002)
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Chungking Express (Chung Hing sam lam, 1994)
Decline of the American Empire (Le Déclin de l'Empire Américain, 1986)
Scenes from a Marriage (Scener ur ett äktenskap, 1973)

Okay, I'm off to do productive things. Let the bloodshed of Astrid's Filmmaking Credibility begin.

5 comments:

  1. some of mine although it requires some updating..

    http://waterhole-forma.blogspot.com/
    2006/09/my-movies-some.html

    you might have seen more a-listers but that don't make them all dead interesting :))

    ReplyDelete
  2. I only watch things all the way through if they're "dead interesting." So there, sarchi!

    Also, I checked out your newform blog, and I have to say a) great choice of images, and b) I am ALL ABOUT THE MEN'S POCKY. I'll even add a "w00t" to seal the deal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. don't suppose you have a flickr account then..??

    or.. have seen any of these pictures..

    http://pictureyear.blogspot.com/2008/
    01/air-mcelroy.html

    ..but know the genre!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Put some of them my To-See list.
    I also pick 'Bladerunner' at the top. And would also recommend 'Chocolat' it leaves a good taste.
    But I have two that are human relationship oriented and are a must see: 'Decline of the American Empire' by Denys Arcand and 'Scenes from a Marriage' by Ingmar Bergman, I hope that if you can see them, you'll enyoy them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Javier: I've heard of both your recommended films, and I've heard only good things. I'll add them to my list, thank you!

    ReplyDelete