I love watching movies. I’ve loved watching movies since I was a little girl, but back then I watched mostly Disney movies and Star Wars. I started with the AFI’s top 100 list back in 9th grade, before they made the new list in 2007. This was very inconvenient, as I had watched many of the movies they removed from the list by the time they changed it(Fargo, Amadeus). Nevertheless, I soldiered on and decided what better way to spend my winter term then to watch a lot of great movies and see if they actually deserved to be on the list at all.
As of February 6th 2010, I have seen 75 out of 100 movies on the AFI’s top 100 list. I have no idea how many hours that is, but it’s a lot. Just over winter term, I watched 26 movies spanning eight decades(nine if you include watching half of Fellowship of the Ring). Genres include film noir, gangster, silent, black and white, color, talkies, musicals and thrillers among many others. In total, I have sat through 3514 minutes of film this winter term. That means 58.56 hours or 2.44 DAYS of movies. That’s a hell of a lot of movies. I watched nine new movies, which i’m very proud of and watched seventeen others that were fun to watch again(except Gone With the Wind. way.too.long). I’d say that’s success if I’ve ever seen it.
Out of all the movies I watched over winter term, my favorite new movie was It Happened One Night. I really didn’t know what to expect when I watched it and it blew me away. It was interesting historically as well as being an overall entertaining film. I also discovered my love for Clark Gable because of this movie. So good. My least favorite is a tie between A Streetcar Named Desire and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. I know they had great performances and what not, but they both just made me really uncomfortable. I watch movies to be entertained and I cringed too much to actually enjoy these films. Ew.
In general, I believe that the American Film Institute did a fairly good job at picking the best American films out there. I am now of the opinion that Casablanca should be number one and not Citizen Kane. I know Citizen Kane is a great film, but I feel Casablanca is far more engrained into the minds of Americans than Citizen Kane. I’d also venture to say that Gone With the Wind should not be as high up as it is on the list. In this day and age, Gone With the Wind feels way too dated to be in the top ten. Top twenty is where I think it should go. Most of my opinions can be found in my other blogs. I wish a Coen brothers film was on the list, maybe Fargo or No Country For Old Men. Also, The Shining is another worthy film, but not every film can make it onto the list. It’d also be nice if the AFI recognized more recent movies in their next top 100 list.
With all the terrible films coming out these days, it’s important to look back on what American cinema can be. It certainly has potential way beyond what most filmmakers use it for these days. Also, comedies can be just as good, if not better than many of the dramas that regularly get Oscars and best performance nods. If more young people watch the greats, then maybe we can achieve a higher level of cinematic experience in the films of today.
