This reminds me, so many films, so little time.
I confess, I like the style of a lot of the earlier movie posters.
I confess, I like the style of a lot of the earlier movie posters.
I've started watching one film every day 3 years ago. Much less time investment than one would imagine. It all comes down to finding a good system to plan what to watch not just sit down and have an analysis paralysis. Once (after a few months) I’ve figured out my current plan where I _have to_ watch certain films it became incredibly easy to keep up.
(not the OP)
Right now I'd say Tokyo Story (1953) is the best film I've ever seen.
I watched it because it's on every list of best films, so expectations going in were high. It's not overrated. I don't cry from movies but I did when watching this one. Very subtle and relatable.
Edit: Since we're here, "The Fall" (2006) and "City of God" (2002) are some of my other favorites.
To pick a decade, the 1930's surprised me with a number of good films that I had not seen. It's also the first "modern" decade in a sense — the films are starting to have the kind of narrative you expect from a film (and have sound).
"Love Me Tonight" (1932), "Stella Dallas" (1937) were new to me and enjoyable.
It was the era of the classic big-spectacle Hollywood dance numbers that I knew of but had not seen. These greats from 1933 alone: "42nd Street", "Footlight Parade", "Gold Diggers of 1933".
Fritz Lang's "M" (1931) if you have not seen it. The infamous "Freaks" (1932) that, by its reputation, I thought would disturb me more than it did. "Captain Blood" and the "The Adventures of Robin Hood" are Errol Flynn in his prime…
Bonus link: Ginger Rogers in the classic opening to "Gold Diggers" — and her impromptu Pig Latin verse: https://youtu.be/UJOjTNuuEVw
Neither of these are bad lists to start with. The "AFI 100" is going to be all American films (some Hitchcock films get a pass because they were filmed in the U.S.?).
"1001 Movies…" has a number of film critics contributing — and all the usual suspects are on the list. Fortunately it includes a good deal of foreign films, silent films, art-house films… So it covers a larger gamut of course.
The wife and I are now up to the 1980's and finishing up a Turkish film from 1982. I suppose we're 5 years into this, perhaps a couple years still before we've done the 1000.
Why go in order? Partly context — you can see how films have "evolved", see when new ideas show up. But also there is some pragmatism: if left to my own devices, skipping around, I might leave until last the silent films, the French New Wave (sorry, I've been only slowly coming to enjoy them), the several-hours-long films, Warhol's films, etc.