Jason = Blogging inspiration!

I was doing my monthly check of Jason's blog and saw a couple things I wouldn't mind doing on my own blog. The two lists of movies that he included inspired me to see how "movie literate" I am. Although looking over the first list, I'm going to have to call shenanigans on movie critics in general...

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/EDITOR/60419010

* 2001: A Space Odyssey
The 400 Blows
* 8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
* Alien
All About Eve
Annie Hall
* Apocalypse Now
* Bambi
The Battleship Potemkin
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Red One
The Bicycle Thief
The Big Sleep
*Blade Runner
Blowup
* Blue Velvet
Bonnie and Clyde
Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
Carrie
* Casablanca
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
Chinatown
* Citizen Kane
* A Clockwork Orange
The Crying Game
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Days of Heaven
Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Do the Right Thing
* La Dolce Vita
Double Indemnity
*Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
* E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial
Easy Rider
* The Empire Strikes Back
The Exorcist
* Fargo
* Fight Club
Frankenstein
The General
* The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
* Gone With the Wind
* GoodFellas
* The Graduate
Halloween
A Hard Day's Night
Intolerance
It's a Gift
* It's a Wonderful Life
* Jaws
The Lady Eve
* Lawrence of Arabia
M
Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
The Maltese Falcon
The Manchurian Candidate
Metropolis
Modern Times
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
Night of the Living Dead
* North by Northwest
Nosferatu
On the Waterfront
Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
Pink Flamingos
Psycho
* Pulp Fiction
Rashomon
* Rear Window
Rebel Without a Cause
Red River
Repulsion
The Rules of the Game
* Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
* Schindler's List
The Searchers
* The Seven Samurai
Singin' in the Rain
Some Like It Hot
A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
* Taxi Driver
The Third Man
Tokyo Story
Touch of Evil
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Trouble in Paradise
Vertigo
West Side Story
The Wild Bunch
* The Wizard of Oz

So I beat Jason by... a few. I got 32. So I'm a noob when it comes to movies. Honestly, a lot of "must see" movies are tremendously overrated. Of the "classic" movies on this list that I've seen, I would only watch a few more than once. 8-1/2, Casablanca, Dr. Strangelove, The Graduate, It's A Wonderful Life, Rear Window, and that's it. Seven Samurai is terrible, as is Citizen Kane and the Godfather movies. Sure, they were groundbreaking films, but they've aged noticably and don't stand up to new movies at all.

Then there's the second list, compiled but what I'm assuming is NOT a movie critic. We'll see how I fare on this one...

Action
*Raiders of the Lost Ark
*Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
*The Terminator
*Scarface
*Goodfellas
*The Matrix
*Saving Private Ryan
*Braveheart
*Equilibrium
*Sin City
*Full Metal Jacket
*Speed
*Blade
*The Boondock Saints
*Charlie’s Angels
*Batman Begins
*The Last Samurai
*Underworld
*Spider-Man
Demolition Man
Kick Boxer
Enter the Dragon

Scary
*The Shining
*Aliens
*The Sixth Sense
A Nightmare On Elm Street
Scream
The Exorcist

Kids
*A Christmas Story
*E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
*The Lion King
*Toy Story
*The Incredibles
The Karate Kid
*The Neverending Story
*Pirates of the Caribbean
Gremlins
Ice Age

Drama
*Rain Man
*The Shawshank Redemption
*Schindler’s List
Hotel Rwanda
Million Dollar Baby
Crash
Murderball
Cinderella Man
*Interview with the Vampire
*The Godfather Trilogy
*Jerry Maguire
*Good Will Hunting
*Rounders
Blood in Blood Out
Two for the Money
The Devil’s Advocate

Comedy
*Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
*Airplane!
*The Blues Brothers
Practical Magic
Wedding Crashers
How To lose a guy in 10 days
*Monty Python and the Holy Grail
*Dumb and Dumber
*There’s Something About Mary
*Meet The Parents
Dodgeball
*Miss Congeniality
Spanglish
*The Wedding Singer
*50 First Dates
The Evil Dead
*Top Secret

Thriller
*Pulp Fiction
*The Usual Suspects
*The Silence of the Lambs
*Fight Club
*Reservoir Dogs
*Se7en
*American History X
*Trainspotting
*The Green Mile
*V for Vendetta
The Craft
*The Game
The Net
*Dracula
*The Bourne Identity
*Ocean’s Eleven
*Twister

Foreign
La Vita è bella (Life is Beautiful)
*Cidade de Deus (City of God)
*Lola rennt (Run Lola Run)
*Ying xiong (Hero)
*Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
*Le Pacte des loups(Brotherhood of the Wolf)
Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries)
El Crimen del Padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro)
Amores Perros (Love is a Bitch)
*Akira
*Kôkaku kidôtai (Ghost in the Shell)

72, not too bad. Although I disagree with many of the choices. Time will tell... Since I've got nothing better to do, I'm going to compile my own list. It's going to be a lot shorter though, since I think you can get a good grasp on american cinema (I'm only going to include American movies, with a separate section for some noteworthy foreign films) with less than 102 movies. I've also given the reason I think the movie is a must see.

Modern Films (fairly recent movies that have yet solidify themselves as "classics") -
Fight Club - Arguably Fincher's best movie, as well as showcasing the talents of Brad Pitt and Edward Norton
The Lion King - Superlative Disney animation and voice acting
Pulp Fiction - Tarantino's best, also has Sam Jackson in one of the most famous roles ever, along with John Travolta, a modern day film great
Say Anything - John Cusack's breakout role, and a good example of an 80s teen flick
The Breakfast Club - John Hughes best, showcases teen star brat pack Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estavez, Anthony Michael Hall, and ubiquitous character actor Paul Gleason
The Terminator - One word: Arnold
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - This is how we do epics in the modern day
Office Space - Poignant yet hilarious commentary on the American office culture, supreme example of a quotable script
Braveheart - Mel Gibson for the win, also an excellent example of the historical epic
Wall Street - Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, all the 80s stars, with Oliver Stone at the helm. Also examines the excess of the 80s from a financial as well as social standpoint
American Pie - Redefined the teen comedy genre
Memento - One of the most original movies ever made, with the Batman franchise rejuvenated, Christopher Nolan is going to be huge
The Big Lebowski - The Coen brothers' best, Jeff Bridges and Philip Seymour Hoffmann giving outstanding performances, and another example of a quote-worthy flick
The Princess Bride - I think pretty much everyone has seen this, one of the most quotable movies ever
Die Hard - Good example of the "stupid action movie", influenced Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer, made Bruce Willis a star
The Usual Suspects - Supreme example of the surprise ending, almost put Sixth Sense here
The Silence of the Lambs - Example of the serial killer movie and one of the best psychological thrillers ever. Anthony Hopkins is one of the greats, Jodie Foster isn't too bad either
Forrest Gump - Tom Hanks is at the top of his game here, and lots of quotes/history lessons within



Classics (films that are well regarded as classics, or are at the top of their genre) -
Snow White - Excellent example of an older Disney animated film
Rear Window - Hitchcock's best, also has Jimmy Stewart, one of the all time greats
Dog Day Afternoon - One of Pacino's best roles, and Sidney Lumet is one of the best directors ever
Full Metal Jacket - Kubrick's best film, and one of the best war movies ever
The Empire Strikes Back - Self explanatory
Lawrence of Arabia - Some of the best cinematography ever by Freddie Young, best directing ever by David Lean, and Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Peter O Toole, and Omar Sharif make this one of the best cast movies ever
To Kill a Mockingbird - Gregory Peck in one of the greatest roles ever, shows why he's one of the best of all time
2001 - A Space Odyssey - Another Kubrick classic, this time in space: defined the modern day science fiction epic
Alien - Ridley Scott's greatest, defines the sci-fi thriller
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - An example of how a trippy adult thriller can appeal to kids as well, Gene Wilder is amazing
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - I've never seen it but I've heard nothing but good things, and I needed an example of the spaghetti western, and Clint Eastwood needs to be represented
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Harrison Ford's greatest role other than Han, great example of a well-paced action-adventure "popcorn" movie
Blade Runner - Another Ridley Scott classic, redefined what a science fiction movie set on Earth should look like
Back to the Future - Example of a stupidly entertaining movie that you can watch over and over, also made Michael J Fox a star
A Christmas Story - Self explanatory
The Graduate - Dustin Hoffman is one of the greats, also one of the most easily identified with movies ever

Some foreign films that are must see:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Most quoted movie ever, defines much of geek/gamer culture
Lola Rennt - Superlative German cinema
8-1/2 - Fellini was tremendously influential, and this is his best
Ghost In the Shell - One of the best examples of Japanese animation available
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Good example of modern day asian filmmaking
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels - Modern day British cinema at it's best, very quotable
Cidade de Deus - Modern latin cinema
City of Lost Children - Modern french flick

Ok, I'm tiring of this. Let me know of any glaring omissions...

SOTM: Mellowdrone - Oh My
MOTM: Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex
BOTM: Modelo (from a can!)