Thursday, January 27, 2011

My New Year Starts in February

For years, I've been wanting to expand my horizons when it comes to movie-watching. For the most part, I think of reading books and watching movies as wasted time, mostly because I pick out the cheesy ones that don't really make me think or even hold my attention. In fact, I usually have movies on as sort of background noise while I'm doing other things. When I pick a good one, though, I know it because I can't look away, it keeps me thinking long after it's over, and it actually affects me in some way.

My thought is, though, if I purposely choose to watch the best movies of all time, then they ALL have to be that good, right? I'm sure they won't be, but some of them must be. Here is one of my New Years 2011 resolutions: to watch, or at least to begin watching, the top 100 American movies of all time.

Rules:
  • I have to watch the entire movie, and NOT to be doing anything else at the same time. No phone, no facebook, no to-do lists, maybe laundry.
  • I'm going to try to watch mostly in order from #100 to #1, but that all depends on what I have on my Netflix instant queue and whether it's Trav's turn to pick out the movie for ourNetflix disc list.
  • Here is the list I'm using: http://www.afi.com/100years/movies10.aspx
  • I have to watch ALL of them, and for those I've already seen, I'll be watching them again!

I'll be honest... I'm not a great writer, and I'm certainly not great at reviewing or critiquing movies, so please don't expect too much out of this. I'm really doing this blog for me, so I can document what I've done and so I can remember exactly how I felt after I watched these movies for the first time.

Anyways.... here goes!

6 comments:

  1. I love this idea! You're going to have some musicals to watch... :) One suggestion, I looked at the list, and it has both The Godfather and Godfather II on there, I would think it would be best to watch the Godfather first, even though it's higher on the list. I'm excited about this!

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  2. hmmm....I've decided to do this, too. And the same order, but as sar suggested....godfather before godfather II....Are you going to do 2 movies a week, so you can get it done in a year?

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  3. Sar, there will definitely be some musicals! It actually seems like it's a well-rounded list, and they're not at all my usual movies. I think you're right on the Godfather movies. Saby, what do you think... should we wait until we get to the top 10 before we watch both of them? And I'm not sure if I can do that schedule, but I'm willing to try! Right now I'm super-motivated, so I could probably start out doing even more than that.

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  4. I'm really liking doing them in order....and I've actually seen Godfather I (it's been a while). I'm still undecided, but we have a long way to go before we make our decision!

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  5. Just found this blog since I noticed you were following mine. =o)

    I hope you've been having fun! I've loved it, and I'm at 98 movies right now (but have taken a summer hiatus as you appeared to do as well).

    Looks like we definitely have different opinions on some of the films, but that's something that makes this fun. You are right that there are some bad films on the list (some that are just plain terrible), but there are also amazing gems that you'll be glad you discovered.

    Hope you don't mind if I make comments on your posts! =o)

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  6. I've had a great time with it so far, and I hate that I had to take the summer "off" of movie-watching, but I'll be starting back up next month.

    I've loved reading your opinions on some of these movies, but I've tried to keep myself from looking at your blog until after I've seen the movie and decided for myself what I thought about it.

    Comment away! I'll be commenting on yours, too, once I start back up.

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