Hey Strangers...

So.

I'm not doing a year in review this year.  I'm also dragging this blog out of mothballs.  I need this.

For those unaware, Amy and I were divorced this year.  There is no commentary on that necessary, and I will edit any out of the comments section.  Doing a year in review seems...silly..and not really something I want to discuss...this year.

I, however, have started a new adventure.  A lot of you went on the steakhouse tour.  I thank you for that. This is one that I've been bandying about for several years.  I like lists.  I like tangible goals.  This is one.

I have started to watch every single film in the AFI Top 100 (10th Anniversary Edition).  The goal is to finish by December 31, 2014.  I'm 3+ into it today (I have to re-watch one - see below).  I will be posting thoughts about the films, but more importantly, I think, my thoughts on the process.  I will also post about my thoughts on whether I feel the film is worthy of the list, or if there are arguments that can be made to eliminate it ("The African Queen" has already been viewed...and this is going to be discussed...).  It's a monumental undertaking, I think.  Well.  Maybe not that monumental, but a fun one.  Writing about it makes it challenging.

Now.  The ground rules.  I've seen 53 of these films as of today.  I thought it was more, but it's not.  Many of the ones I haven't watched are films that I've had on various DVRs for months and never watched.  Many are movies that I've watched dozens of times.  Even at that, I'm watching all 100.   I want a perspective on all of them that is current.  Yes, I watched "Gone With The Wind" - when I was a teenager.  I think I might have a completely different perspective on it.  Among the films I am NOT looking forward to (and I've managed to avoid these two so far in life) are "Schindler's List" and "Sophie's Choice."  It will be nice to be able to, you know, actually discuss those with some amount of authority...but I don't relish the idea of what will be a very painful few hours.

Preliminary thoughts on the list:

1.  I've seen "A Night at the Opera" and "Duck Soup."  The Marx Brothers are worthy of our admiration, and certainly carve a huge niche in the annals of film.  Their talent, timing, comedy, well, everything...is historic.  Do I really think they deserve 2% of the total top 100 films of all time?  No.  I do not.  I wonder, given time, if we won't feel the same way about "Anchorman" or "Caddyshack" in the future.  Brilliantly quotable.  Lots of individually very funny scenes.  Not necessarily the most cohesive of films.  Bah.  That's probably blasphemy.  Call me a blasphemer.

2.  I'm not sure that Charlie Chaplin is represented enough.  "The Kid" is not on the list, and neither is "The Great Dictator."  I dast say "The Great Dictator" deserves it just because of the chutzpah in making it.  It certainly addressed the horrors we didn't know want to know about at the time in WWII better than "Casablanca" did.  AND, it did it before America was even in the war.

3.  Black films appear to be underrepresented.  I think "Boyz N The Hood" might belong, and "Malcolm X" was a brilliant film.

4.  There is also a lack of respect given horror/scare films.  My sister rightly pointed out that "Night of the Living Dead" probably belongs.  No "Alien."  "Frankenstein?"  "Dracula?"

5.  "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is a terrible movie...but it belongs in any list about the top 100 films of all time just for what it continues to do to audiences.  I'm reasonably certain the funding was American...so come on.

6.  "The Sixth Sense" is on the list...and that twist ending was shocking.  However, didn't "The Usual Suspects" have as good, if not a better, twist?  It was made first, too.

That's all for today.  I've watched "The African Queen," "The Apartment," and "On the Waterfront" thus far.  I started "North by Northwest," pretty much watched about 75% of it...but fell asleep.  I'll post about those in the next couple days.