So, this has to be the dullest movie trailer ever.
How could any movie ever live up to this kind of hype??
Category: Uncategorized
Do the Right Thing. Except that no one did.
Do the Right Thing
Starring: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Rosy Perez, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson, Martin Lawrence, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis
Director: Spike Lee
Screenwriters: Spike Lee
Year: 1989
Major Award Wins: None
Before I get started, let me apologize for my longer-than-expected hiatus. When I started this little project, I was already in trouble. Eight movies a month in order to watch 100 movies in a year. I’ve now missed two months. Oops.
I’ll blame a full slate of new and returning favorite fall season TV shows, the World Series (Go Kansas City Royals!), and the end of my summertime insomnia that allowed me to write these blogs in the wee hours of the morning. Not to mention two movies in a row for which I felt a wholehearted “meh.” Not much inspiration to stay up late and write. Hopefully, once I get to the films I’ve watched and loved my whole life, those write-ups will come easily and quickly.
Now, let’s get to Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.”
First Impression: “So, exactly how long is Rosy Perez going to dance to Public Enemy? Why is she wearing boxing gloves? This is going on for a really long time. I’m bored already. Why does she dance so angry?”
It all takes place on one block in Brooklyn, on the hottest day of the year. And you can tell right from the start that tensions are high, tempers are short, and something really bad is going to go down.
So that’s probably why, 30 minutes later, I was almost bored when nothing had really happened. The first half of the movie almost plays as a series of vignettes. A sort of day-in-the-life of the many kooky characters living on this block. Almost like “Love Actually”… if “Love Actually” was less about “love” and more about “racial tensions in a post-civil rights movement era.”
On this Brooklyn block are a multi-generational mix of black families and friends who commiserate about the heat and share a history that you really feel, even though you haven’t seen any of it. You just know these people have been together on this block for so long that they are not so much neighbors as they are an extended family. And then there’s the Italian father and sons who run the corner pizzeria, and the Korean grocers across the street. Let’s just say you could do a pretty fantastic high wire balancing act on the tension that exists between these business owners and residents.
And it’s Spike Lee himself, whose character Mookie is placed right on that high wire—working for Sal, the pizza guy, but living with his friends on the block who love the pizza but hate the fact that only Italian singers and entertainers are pictured and framed on the walls. (To which I, personally, say… what the hell? It’s a pizza place! Let them have their Italian singers on the walls. What does it matter? But maybe that’s just my unending love for Mr. Francis Albert Sinatra talking…)
To add fuel to the fire (no pun intended for those of who’ve seen this film), there’s Sal’s antagonizing son, Pino (the ever-excellent John Turturro), who makes everything worse with his racist rants and outward hostility. It was an act that for the first half of the movie I thought was precisely that: an act. I thought it would come out that he doesn’t hate the local residents, but in fact wants to be one of them. Or maybe he loved one of them. Or he really envied them. Or something. But no. He was truly just a racist.
So, there’s the heat, the racist attitudes (from all sides), the constant—and I mean constant—playing of Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” and an ever-present animosity with the neighborhood beat cops. And then there’s the fact that Sal, the 50-something Italian pizzeria owner, is hopelessly and unrequitedly in love with Mookie’s sister, a young, beautiful African American woman. And no one likes that. No one.
Here’s the spoiler alert that you knew was coming: Things explode. Literally and figuratively. There’s the death of a beloved community member at the hands of the cops. There’s anger over the Italian celebrities-only love at Sal’s. And, in the end, Sal’s pizzeria is set ablaze and burned to ash in a moment of mob mentality zeal for the ages.
It used to be that I would watch older movies about race issues and shake my head thinking “Boy, things sure were crazy back then”—films like, “Driving Miss Daisy,” which was also released in 1989 and went on to win an Academy Award for Best Picture that year. But here are the two disturbing thoughts I couldn’t get out of my head with “Do the Right Thing”: 1. This isn’t an “old” movie. Not to me. I was 13 years old when this film came out! This is in-my-lifetime race issues that should be long past. And what’s even sadder is that… 2: It’s STILL happening! The young black man dying because of the over zealous actions of the police, the racial divides no one wants to cross to try and understand each other, and much (so much) more. The thing that struck me the most about this film is how much things have changed: dancing, clothes, hairstyles, slang, … hell, Brooklyn itself! But how much has sadly stayed exactly the same.
Best quote: “WE LOVE ROLL CALL, Y’ALL! Boogie Down Productions, Rob Base, Dana Dane, Marley Marl, Olatunji, Chuck D, Ray Charles, EPMD, EU, Alberta Hunter, Run-D.M.C., Stetsasonic, Sugar Bear, John Coltrane, Big Daddy Kane, Salt-n-Pepa, Luther Vandross, McCoy Tyner, Biz Markie, New Edition, Otis Redding, Anita Baker, Thelonious Monk, Marcus Miller, Branford Marsalis, James Brown, Wayne Shorter, Tracy Chapman, Miles Davis, Force MDs, Oliver Nelson, Fred Wesley, Maceo, Janet Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, George Clinton, Count Basie, Mtume, Stevie Wonder, Bobby McFerrin, Dexter Gordon, Sam Cooke, Parliament-Funkadelic, Al Jarreau, Teddy Pendergrass, Joe Williams, Wynton Marsalis, Phyllis Hyman, Sade, Sarah Vaughn, Roland Kirk, Keith Sweat, Kool Moe Dee, Prince, Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, Bessie Smith, Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Steel Pulse, Little Richard, Mahalia Jackson, Jackie Wilson, Cannonball AND Nat Adderley, Quincy Jones Marvin Gaye, Charles Mingus AND Marion Williams. We wanna thank you all for makin’ our lives just a little brighter here on We Love Radio! ” – Mister Senor Love Daddy
Final impression: It was hard to get through. I fell asleep a few times. It actually took me a few days. But in the end, what surprised me was that the movie went exactly where I had been anticipating all along and yet, I was so surprised and saddened when it got there. I have mixed feelings about this one. The message: powerful, important and poignant. The delivery left something to be desired.
Final rating: 2.5 out of 5 birthday candles
Chris O’Meter: I didn’t even try. It was already a few weeks after the last movie. I needed to just watch and he needed to sleep.
Next up: The Last Picture Show. I have no idea what it’s about, really. A movie house, I think. What will the last picture show be?? Only one way to find out…
Blade Runner: I’m not ready for 2019. It looks weird.
Blade Runner
Starring: Harrison Ford, Sean Young, Rutger Hauer, Edward James Olmos, Daryl Hannah
Director: Ridley Scott
Screenwriters: Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples
Year: 1982
Major Award Wins: BAFTA wins for Cinematography, Costume Design, Production Design/Art Direction
We knew the time would come eventually. And so it is, four movies in, we found a film on this list that I flat-out did not like. I bring you #97: Blade Runner.
First Impression: “Remember when it was a thing to show all the titles BEFORE the movie started? I wonder when that stopped. I should look that up. Ooh, Edward James Olmos and Daryl Hannah are in this, too? Well, things are looking up!”
After a few days of reflection and thought I think I can’t pretty easily explain why Blade Runner did nothing for me: I should have watched it in the 1980s, the way Ridley Scott intended. The problem is that you can’t watch a “visionary” movie about the future when you’re now only four years away from said “future.” I absolutely could not stop focusing on all the things they got wrong. As I type, I can’t recall a single thing they got right. Ok, one thing: Harrison Ford in a trench coat with an upturned collar is all kind of goodness. And timeless.
I mean, c’mon, we’re talking 37 years into the future. They predicted flying cars; a completely different Los Angeles with strange, monolithic, pyramid-style buildings, and a southern California population which, for some unexplained reason, is 90% Asian. To say nothing of the fact that there are androids so advanced that we can’t tell the difference between them and humans and who have become self aware.
And yet… all the TVs are still the boxy old tube sets? TV shows and video-phone calls are full of static as though the reception is coming through bunny-ear antennae? Everyone still reads newspapers? Everyone still smokes? Daryl Hannah is supposed to be sexy and fashionable wearing a Tina Turner-style wig and leg warmers, looking like she just stepped out a Motley Crew video? Are you kidding me?
My point here is if you’re going to make a movie about the future, you really need to put it so far into the future that it doesn’t matter what is wrong or right—we’ll never know. Or don’t tell us when this future is. I couldn’t stop comparing Blade Runner to “Her” or the AMC show “Humans,” both set in an ambiguously near future not too different from our own, except for the super-cool advancements in technology. And also “Minority Report,” set 50-some years in the future, where many of the technological advancements on ares we are already starting to use (see: iPads) and a much better predictor of where things are headed. In my opinion, those are the right way to do a “future” project. This is not.
So, OK. I’ll put that piece of the puzzle over here in a little box and I’ll shut it with a key, and not think about it. Promise. Well, I promise to try anyway. Instead, I’ll focus on the story.
Set in 2019, Blade Runner is the story of Rick Deckard (Ford), a Blade Runner, which is a type of cop who specializes in tracking down Replicants (human-looking androids) for what purpose I don’t really understand. They got to be too smart and are now forbidden, I think. Or just some of them are? He’s trying to track down one specific group of Replicants who have returned to earth from where I don’t know. Through his detective work, Deckard meets Rachael (Sean Young) who is a Replicant but doesn’t know it at first. The entire film is narrated by Ford, a la Humphrey Bogart in about a half-dozen P.I. film noirs. It was clever in theory, I’m sure, but it just made me laugh. And not in a good way.
I’ll say this, the idea of making a sci-fi futuristic film noir is an interesting one. You’ve got Harrison Ford (in a trench coat!) playing the dejected cop who gets sucked into one last case, and the beautiful dame woman Replicant (Young) that he just can get outta his mind. I half expected Ford’s cheesy narration at one point to say, “She walked into my office with shoulder pads that went on for days…” OK, fine. Interesting.
But that doesn’t matter when, half-an-hour in, I’m still not really sure what the movie is actually about. Who is he after? Rogue Replicants, ok. But why? What did they do exactly? And what was so compelling to make him come back? Wasn’t he retired? Did I miss a key plot device that made this case especially interesting to him?
So now I’m confused at the plot, annoyed at the “future” stuff, and I send my dozing husband off to bed. And immediately regret it. Half-way through, the movie practically becomes a horror film. Oh my God, there is a tiny little Prussian general with a disturbingly large Pinocchio-ish nose and walking Teddy Bear Napoleon thing. Both Replicants, both walking and talking in a creepy old abandoned building, created/invented by… someone I’m supposed to care about. But all I care about is how totally freaked out I am in my living room. All by myself. At midnight. Then there’s Daryl Hannah who, at one point, I wonder “Did I just see her cartwheel into the room there in the background? Surely not.” Then, 20 minutes later, in one of the most unsettling movie make-up jobs I’ve ever seen (and, yes, I’m including The Walking Dead here) she does bust out all kinds of gymnastics while beating the hell out of a poor guy. What. Is. Happening? I don’t know. And I don’t like it.
And let’s not forget the weird stripper with the snake who tries to kill Deckard then takes off running through the streets in a bikini and a clear rain cost. It was supposedly an intense chase scene, but I could only focus on how obvious her stunt double is through the entire thing. Like, really bad. It’s the little things, Ridley.
If you’ll permit me a moment to get my key out and open my little box of annoyance at this point… why is it that in 2019, seedy bars in bad parts of town are the place where every woman—and I literally mean every woman—is wearing a tiny hat with a birdcage veil and all kinds of crazy ruffles and giant shoulder pads? Was it a costume party? Why is it just this one place? Was it Birdcage Veil night with two-for-one drink specials? What did it mean? Probably nothing, and that’s what really bothered me about it.
In the third act, I saw the foreshadowing on the wall that I predicted would save the entire film. I called it! We were totally about to find out that Deckard was a Replicant himself, and all this time he didn’t know it! He talked about how he never before had emotions and how he’s changing. There’s a scene when he’s looking at old photographs and I remembered how the creator of the Replicants had shared the fact that they download all kinds of memories into their brains so they think they’re human. At one point, the main bad guy critiques him by saying “That was irrational and unsportsmanlike.” Was that a message that he knew Deckard was a Replicant? He tells Rachael in one scene, “I dream music.” Did that mean he dreamed of music but didn’t know music while awake? Odd, right? For a good 10 minutes, I was convinced this movie was totally about to redeem itself with a fantastic plot twist. And then… wait for it… it totally didn’t. Nope, not at all. In the end… SPOILER ALERT… it was a love story. He runs off with Rachael and they drive off into the sunset together. What? So it was a love story all along? I was supposed to be rooting for them to get together? The cop and the robot (and her hair)? Was it sci-fi? Romance? Thriller? Horror? It was all of it. And it was a mess.
P.S. Don’t even get me started on how underutilized Edward James Olmos was in this.
Best quote: “Replicants weren’t supposed to have emotions. Nether were Blade Runners. What the hell is happening to me?” – Rick Deckard
Final impression: It was worth a few MST3K-type jokes at the clothes and the dialogue. But other than that, I really didn’t see anything worth enjoying about this film. It was confusing, ugly, with bad narration, and a terrible ending. Forgive me, film Gods, but I just don’t get it.
Final rating: 1 out of 5 birthday candles
Chris O’Meter: 29 minutes. “It’s basically Han Solo meets Dick Tracy? I like Han better. I’m going to bed.”
Next up: We tackle 1980s race relations with Spike Lee. Oh, the 80s. Remember when race relations was a hot topic? How quaint.
Up next: Blade Runner
Tonight’s viewing is #97 Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford and… other people, I’m sure.
I hear this movie has something to do with black market human-looking robots. I’m expecting that at some point they explain what the term “blade runner” actually means. I hope it doesn’t have to do with running around with sharp objects. As a mother, I am categorically opposed to that.
Yankee Doodle Delightful
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Starring: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Richard Whorf, Walter Huston and Jeanne Cagney
Director: Michael Curtiz
Screenwriters: Robert Buckner, Edmund Joseph
Year: 1942
Major Award Wins: Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Score, Best Sound
Number 98 on the AFI Top 100 list: James Cagney’s “Yankee Doodle Dandy” from 1942. And even though I’m a lifelong lover of Hollywood musicals, I really was not interested in this one. Maybe it’s because it was James Cagney whom I’ve never been drawn to. Or because a musical without Technicolor seems like spaghetti without the sauce. Or maybe I just never ran across it at 1am on Turner Classic Movies. Because, let’s face it, I watch just about anything I come across on TCM at 1am.
First Impression: “I have no idea what’s happening. What year is this supposed to be? Who is this person? He’s meeting the president? Which president; a real president? This is a true story, right? What are they talking about?”
If you want to know every single thing I knew about Yankee Doodle Dandy before this viewing, watch this trailer. Got it? Great, you’re all caught up now. Let’s get to it.
This movie begins late in George M. Cohan’s life, when he’s summoned to the White House to meet FDR. He’s an old man, in heavy stage make up and he’s walking into the White House… and I’m confused. One confusing, no-expository-dialogue conversation later and the movie-long flashback begins. Back—way back!–to Cohan’s birth on July 4th, 1878 (“Born on the 4th of July!”) We watch him born to a couple of actors, and grow to be a child stage-actor himself. A douche-baggy, smart-ass, full-of-himself ego maniac at the age of 10. And it’s right about this point that I realize I really have no idea who in the hell George M. Cohan was and why exactly we need a whole movie about him. I resist the urge to Google him and just keep watching.
So, let me now bring you up to speed on just who George M. Cohan was. Actor, producer, singer, playwright, composer, lyricist, dancer and all-around entertainer of the end of the 1800s and the first few decades of the 20th century. For his Broadway shows, he wrote the patriotic songs you (kinda) know and love, like “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “Over There,” which became the song of World War I. The guy was beloved on Broadway. (Oh, yeah, he also wrote “Give My Regards to Broadway.”) There’s a statue of him in Times Square, for crying out loud. He’s in numerous halls of fame, this is only one of the movies made about his life, and there are even some Broadway shows about him (how meta!). But all this happened so long ago. So I was kinda “meh” about it all at the start. The confusing beginning didn’t help. Then there was the bit where the Cohan family performs in black face about 10 minutes in that made me really nervous. But it was somewhere around the 20-minute mark when I officially became enchanted.
It was the meet cute between George and his soon-to-be wife, Mary, where I found myself smiling and even giggling a little. It was the awkward proposal many scenes later that had me almost a little weepy. And it was James Cagney himself that left me sort of slack-jawed.
Ok, so maybe I’m an idiot but I really had no idea the guy was a straight-up dancer, entertainer, show man. My whole life, when I thought of James Cagney I thought, “You dirty rat…” Basically, my whole understanding of Cagney boiled down to a couple-dozen bad impressions I’ve seen of him throughout my life. So imagine my delight when I found him charming, adorable, funny, talented and could do this!
To sum up: James Cagney is the shit and I am now planning to watch many more of his movies.
But back to this Cagney movie. I thought it would be stiff, the acting: bad, the story: cheese-tastic. I never expected anything from it because it didn’t have Gene Kelly dancing or Rogers & Hammerstein composing. But boy was I wrong. Yes, the acting is dated, for sure. But get beyond that and you have a compelling story that’s funny and sad and just downright entertaining. The story covered Cohan’s birth to his childhood to his professional successes and failures. His lifelong friendship with his business partner, his love story with his wife, his retirement, and his coming out of retirement. It covered a lot of ground, but the pacing was great. It never slowed. It never felt long. And director Michael Curtiz used a very clever tool to show the passage of time—one long shot of the ever-changing marquees on Broadway and the hit songs that accompanied each show. Before you knew it, 20 years had gone by. It never bored me.
And hell if I didn’t get weepy at least four times. Once for the romance, once for sad goodbye at his father’s death bed, once more for the great ending and once for a reason I couldn’t even believe myself: patriotism, plain and simple. (And it’s kinda nice that I’m writing this post in the middle of the night, the clock having just turned to Sept. 11th.)
I’m the first to admit that I roll my eyes every damn time someone cranks up “Proud to be An American” at a picnic or sporting event. I can’t help it. It’s seven layers of cheese all wrapped up in a “Let’s go kill all them A-rabs” kind of patriotism that just makes me feel ill. But damn if I didn’t well up with tears at the Cohan classics! I actually found myself rewinding and re-listening to the lyrics of “You’re a Grand Old Flag” because I had never really paid attention before. It’s beautiful and it made me… yeah, I’ll say it: proud to be an American. You better believe I’m going to remember these lyrics for July 4th next year:
“You’re a grand old flag. You’re a high-flying flag. And forever in peace may you wave. You’re the emblem of the land I love. The home of the free and the brave. Every heart beats true under red, white and blue; where there’s never a boast or a brag. But should old acquaintance be forgot, keep your eye on the grand old flag!”
“And forever in peace may you wave.” God, I love that. Well done, Mr. George M. Cohan.
Final impression: Please watch this movie. Especially if you’re a fan of old musicals and never gave this one a fair shot. I promise you’ll like it. If you flat out don’t like black and white films or musicals, OK I’ll give you a pass. But you should at least check out Cagney’s other work, like I plan to do. I am now a full-fledged fan. Of Cagney’s. Of Cohan’s. And of Yankee Doodle Dandy’s. Great movie.
Also, this happens. And how can you not love this?
Best quote: “Look at this guy Cohan. He’s got them lined up at the box office. I’ve never seen this guy but his name’s all over the place. Look at that: ‘Cohan and Harris presents George Washington, Jr.’ starring the author and composer, George M. Cohan. I wonder what the M stands for. Oh… modesty.” – Eddie Foy
Final rating: 4.5 out of 5 birthday candles
Chris O’Meter: 18 minutes. “I can think of a lot of color movies that could have taken its place on the list. This is terrible. I’m going to bed.”
Next up: Cars fly and Harrison Ford does something with androids. 2019 looks amazing.
Coming up next…
Late last night, I watched “Yankee Doodle Dandy” starring James Cagney. My thoughts are still to come, but in the meantime why don’t you get yourself acquainted with George M. Cohan?
Toy Story: It truly never gets old, and reminds me that neither should I
Toy Story
Starring: Voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles, Annie Potts, Laurie Metcalf, Jim Varney
Director: John Lasseter
Screenwriters: Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow
Year: 1995
Major Award Wins: Special Achievement Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to John Lasseter for the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film
Number 99 on the AFI 100 Movies list: Toy Story. That visionary, groundbreaking tale of a cowboy, a spaceman, and their Andy; the movie that established the virtually unknown team at Pixar as genius storytellers.
First Impression: “So excited, so excited! Kids, be quiet, it’s starting! Mommy’s trying to listen! Shh…. Well, hmm… that kid is creepier looking than I remembered…”
Let’s start here: I’ve seen Toy Story. A lot. Like, a whole lot. I have two children. And when my now-7-year-old was about 2, it just played in a constant loop in our house. Between the original and its (in my opinion) superior sequel, there was a good year of my life when it was all Woody and Buzz, all the time. My youngest—my daughter—is a Jessie fan, so she naturally sees no need to watch the first Toy Story. So, it’s actually been awhile. And for this little experiment, that was a good thing.
Being that for at least the past year, the Pixar movies I’ve seen most recently have been Inside Out (obviously), The Incredibles, Up! and Toy Story 3, and the holiday-themed Toy Story specials, I was actually really surprised by how (forgive me, John Lasseter) crude the animation was. I’m talking specifically about the humans. Andy, his mom, the birthday party kids, Sid and his kid sister were creepy as hell. It’s Uncanny Valley territory for sure, and I’m so glad that Pixar figured this out. It’s a little disturbing. The toys themselves still look great. If you’ve recently seen T.S. 3, you can definitely see how much better they are now, but it still holds up. And being that we’re talking about 25-year-old animation, that’s really saying something.
So, now what else can I talk about? I could probably dazzle you by pointing out the delicious little Easter Eggs and “Did you know?!” facts. I won’t do that. I could blow your mind with a completely amazing theory about Andy’s mom. But, nah. I could even delight you with the behind-the-scenes knowledge of how they convinced Tom Hanks to be Woody. But you don’t want to see that. (Side note: You totally, 100% want to see that.)
Instead, let me just give you a run down of the things that jumped out at me that never really hit me before this viewing:
- Holy crap, Joss Whedon was the screenwriter?! How did I not already know that? Note to self: Check out his IMDB page to see what other masterpieces are “hiding” in his resume. And while you’re at it, be sure to check if there’s any new news on a Dr. Horrible sequel.
- Shouldn’t the plot of Toy Story 2 really have been Slinky’s revenge? I mean, until Buzz came along, Woody and Slinky were clearly besties. Never mind Woody and Andy—the real tragedy of Buzz’s arrival is that Slinky Dog totally got pushed aside while Buzz squirmed into the coveted number 2 spot! Never forget, Slinky! Never forget.
And after all he did to save him, too. - What. The. Hell. is up with Andy’s mom’s pants? Even for 1995. Was there no woman at Pixar willing to stand up and say, “No! No, no, no. No self-respecting single mom would be caught dead wearing those leggings. For the love of God, put that woman in a nice, comfortable pair of jeans.”
4. What is wrong with Sid’s parents that they don’t see the psychopath they are raising? We should all be thankful that he showed up as a garbage man in Toy Story 3 and not an intruder at Sunnyside Daycare. In hindsight, I wonder if—in this post-Columbine, -Virgina Tech, -Sandy Hook, -Aurora Colo, world–would they still have made Sid quite so creepy? Long ago, it was “What a little jerk!” Now, it’s downright unnerving.
5. God Bless Randy Newman. You know in movies when they say that “New York, itself, is a character.” That’s how I feel about Randy’s music here. It might as well be a narrator, but a narrator that makes your toes tap, or your eyes well up with tears. It’s just perfection, dammit.
Best quote: “I don’t believe that man has ever been to medical school.” – Buzz Lightyear
Final impression: Totally holds up. Aside from the creepy human animation, this feat was downright revolutionary. And the story itself? Impeccable. Let’s be honest with each other, you have—at some point—looked at your kids’ toys and made a little extra effort. You placed them gently on the bed instead of tossing them in the corner. You felt bad when your kid pushed a former favorite aside when a shiny new one was unwrapped on Christmas morning. Hell, you even walked downstairs in the middle of the night, saw the dolls grouped together on the couch and wondered to yourself, “Did I just walk in on something?” That didn’t exist before this movie. Pixar and Toy Story did that. And that ain’t nothin’.
Final rating: 4 out of 5 birthday candles
Chris O’Meter: I watched this one with the kids, not Chris. We had a busy week and, in an effort to not fall behind, I needed to watch it and still get the kids to bed on time. In fairness, he does enjoy this movie so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he would have made it all the way through.
Next up: James Cagney sings and dances… and apparently doesn’t kill anyone. Boo!
A 40th Birthday Challenge
I probably should have planned this out before my 39th birthday. I could have watched the first one on the list ON my actual birthday. I could have really started the year off on the right foot. Alas. I’m almost a week into the year and just coming up with the idea. Oh well, nothing like a looming deadline for motivation.
That deadline: August 23, 2016. It’s the day I turn 40. It’s fine. I’m not upset. I’m not mid-life crisising. I’m looking forward to it, actually. My 30s have been great – had two kids, started my own business, put the husband through law school, finally took a European vacation, built the dream house… it’s been a pretty great decade. So I’m not looking to accomplish any life-altering milestones or fill some emotional void.
Not at all. That’s not me.
It’s more like I wanted to be able to say, “Yeah, before I turned 40, I just thought it would be fun to…” and that’s where I got stuck for a few days. It had to be something I enjoyed. It had to be something doable. I’m a working mother of two. It HAD to be doable. So why not do something I really like doing?
After a few days of mulling it over, I had it. I’ll watch all 100 movies on the AFI list.
Simple. Not earth shattering. Not expensive. Not life changing. Just fun. I love movies. I love watching movies. I love trying to write movies. So why not make sure I’ve seen all the best ones?
So, let’s get started.
In case you don’t know about the AFI List, let’s start there. The American Film Institute’s goal is to “preserve America’s film heritage.” A group 1,500 AFI members, including Hollywood screenwriters, directors, actors, producers, cinematographers, editors, executives, film historians and critics get together and… well, I don’t actually know what they do. But at some point they created this list of the of the 100 best movies of the past 100 years: AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies List.
I’ll watch them from 100-1, and blog about each one as I go, whether it’s my first time or a repeat viewing. I’ll give it some ratings and discuss some pros and cons of the film. Warning: There WILL be spoilers. I’m not going to do a scene-by-scene breakdown. But I’m not holding back on the big plot points. I’m going to assume that if you reading this, you’ve seen the movie or don’t care to be spoiled on a movie that came out 10-100 years ago.
To get started, I decided to break the complete list out into the following categories, based on my viewing status and general attitude toward them as I enter this little experiment; a little benchmark on where things stand:
The Favorites
These are the movies I would include on my own personal list of favorites. I can recite dialogue verbatim, I can (and do) sing along with all the songs (loudly at times). I may or may not have attempted to learn the dance steps to certain numbers during some summer vacations in the 80s. No video footage exists, so we’ll never know for sure. But, the bottom line is this: I. Love. These. Movies.
- Singin’ In the Rain
- West Side Story
- Casablanca
- Gone with the Wind
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- The Sound of Music
The Classics
These are the movies I’ve seen—many more than once. I really liked them, I respect them, and I will enjoy watching them again and sharing my thoughts.
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- All About Eve
- Pulp Fiction
- The Godfather
- The Godfather II
- Schindler’s List
- The Wizard of Oz
- City Lights
- Star Wars
- Psycho
- E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
- The Philadelphia Story
- Rear Window
- Jaws
- American Graffiti
- Network
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Saving Private Ryan
- The Shawshank Redemption
- The Silence of the Lambs
- All the President’s Men
- Modern Times
- Titanic
- Easy Rider
- Forrest Gump
- The Sixth Sense
- Goodfellas
- Toy Story
Saw it Once, Maybe
These are the “Yeah… I saw that once… I don’t really remember the plot… or whether I saw the whole thing…” movies. Some on this list I remember liking when I saw it, but now I’m pretty fuzzy on the details. Some of them I remember not liking, but can’t remember exactly why. Basically I just can’t be sure what my opinion is going in either way. I just know that at some point in my life, I have seen more than a one-off scene or a trailer for these movies.
- Citizen Kane
- On the Waterfront
- The Graduate
- Some Like it Hot
- Dr. Strangelove
- It Happened One Night
- A Streetcar Named Desire
- The Deer Hunter
- The Gold Rush
- Duck Soup
- Cabaret
- Tootsie
- The Wild Bunch
- Bringing Up Baby
- Swing Time
- Vertigo
I’m So Ashamed
These are the movies I know are great. Everyone says they’re great. As an almost-40-year-old movie lover, by now I should have seen these movies. But for whatever reason, I haven’t. This is the list that I’m ashamed of. And most excited about. I very much look forward to checking these off the list. This list is the reason I’m doing this challenge.
- Taxi Driver
- Raging Bull
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- The General
- The Grapes of Wrath
- Smith Goes to Washington
- The Maltese Falcon
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Annie Hall
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Bonnie & Clyde
- Midnight Cowboy
- M*A*S*H
- North by Northwest
- Rocky
- The African Queen
- A Clockwork Orange
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- The Apartment
- A Night at the Opera
- 12 Angry Men
- Sophie’s Choice
- The French Connection
- The Last Picture Show
- Do the Right Thing
I Don’t Have to Watch These, Do I?
Mostly, this category includes westerns, war and detective movies – ugh. I’m not ALWAYS opposed to these kinds of movies. But way more often than not, I’m just bored to tears by them. The others include movies that—from what I’ve seen or heard—I just have no interest in. So, this category will be a test for me. I hope I’ll be turned around, but I’m not expecting to be.
- The Searchers
- Chinatown
- High Noon
- Double Indemnity
- Apocalypse Now
- King Kong
- Shane
- In the Heat of the Night
- Spartacus
- Platoon
- Blade Runner
- Yankee Doodle Dandy
- Ben-Hur
Please Don’t Make Me Watch it Again (or Whose idea was this, anyway?)
I’ve seen these movies. They were difficult to get through. I’m not at all looking forward to watching them again. This is the list that made me pause at this whole idea. Luckily, it’s short.
- Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- Unforgiven
Never Heard of It
Until I reviewed the AFI list, I had never heard of these movies. I have no idea who stars in them or what they’re about. Therefore, I have no opinion about them whatsoever.
- Nashville
- Sullivan’s Travels
- Sunrise
I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you! I look forward to your thoughts, feedback, questions and opinions on these movies. And I’m really looking forward to check this challenge off the list before the clock strikes 40. Someone get the popcorn!
Movie Challenge 40 