I'm on a roll

After my last update I felt the urge to continue being good about updating. It'll probably still take me quite awhile to be all the way caught up and be current with my movie watching. But this is good...I'm motivated.

1. The Crowd was not an easy film to get a hold of, it hasn't been released on DVD yet and Rocket Video was fresh out of VHS copies of it. It was finally on TCM (woo TCM). I don't know what I would do without my Time Warner equivalent to TiVo and TCM. I really enjoy King Vidor as a director and was very interested in the plot. Very sad, but also very interesting.
2. The LA Public Library (downtown branch) came through for me for The Docks of New York. This was a gritty film, I found the story interesting, but none of the lead characters were likable. The man guy was a bit of a bastard and the main woman was a little bit of a snot.
3. An Andalusian Dog was a tough one for me to watch. Here's some backstory,I have a very strong, passionate dislike for all things eye-ball related. So when I saw the cover art I knew I would have issues. I respect the artistic integrity of a film like this, but I think it just wasn't for me. It felt like I was caught in someone else's bad dream. Maybe that's what they were going for, if so kudos to Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali!
   
4. The Passion of Joan of Arc was another one of those films that I felt while it did have merit was a bit boring. Don't get me wrong I did appreciate the simplicity and the story telling, and the lead actress was phenomenal. I did like the use of close-ups and lack of make-up.
5. More Buster Keaton YAY!!! Steamboat Bill Jr. Such a great film, it contains the famous front of a house falling down on Buster but he remains unscathed gag. Very funny, and a cute love story to boot.
6. Maybe I'm not fit to talk about films, cause I don't love all these old films with technical merit, I mean I do see why they're influential, but I just find them horribly boring and not that interesting....that was the case with Storm Over Asia. I didn't enjoy it and don't really have much else to say about it.
7. I really enjoyed this Hitchcock film, although it might not be fair, I kind of like all Hitchcock films, but still Blackmail is really excellent for a number of reasons. It shows the potential that was to come from Mr. Hitchcock, while still standing on it's own as a film. There is a great amount of suspense, like all good Hitchcock films and you want the 'bad guy' to get away with it. Great film.
8. Another weird film here, with elements that are influential and interesting. The Man with the Movie Camera felt like a montage of weird events, strange documentary.
9. I enjoyed Pandora's Box, I liked that the story took twists and turns, had ups and downs. And while the lead female character was fundamentally unlikable you were still able to care a bit about what happened to her. At this point I've seen some of these movies about 9 months ago or more so.... I kind of can't comment on too many specifics. I wish I had been better about this, but this is why I'm trying to catch up now and get up to date so I can blog about movies I've watched recently instead of trying to remember.
10. The Blue Angel was an interesting film and I can see how Marlene Dietrich's career took off after a movie like that. The subject matter was a bit raunchy for the time, a college professor pining after a lady of the night.....how controversial for 1930.
    

Alright I think that's enough for this post, I hope I get up to date soon....I'll be working on it.

I'm kind of the suckiest

So, it's been quite awhile since my last post. I guess I'm not really cut out for blogging. But I also have a feeling no one is reading the blog anyway, so the only person I'm letting down is myself, oh well.

So the last movie I've watched from the list is Pandora and the Flying Dutchman for some reason I did not enjoy this film. I don't think I'm a James Mason fan, I also didn't like Odd Man Out (which I had to record from TCM cause it isn't out on DVD yet, it seems like a number of James Mason Movies aren't on DVD, I wonder why that is). Anyway, since I've sucked at updating I'll just try to do a quick update of some of movies I've watched over the last few months. My current total of movies watched from the list is now 438 so I have a feeling it'll take a few entries for me to catch up.

1. Thanks to Netflix I got to view Battleship Potemkin. This movie had a lot of stunning visuals and depicted a period of social unrest very well. I wouldn't say I puffy hearted this movie, but I am glad I saw it. And I appreciate the influential film making techniques that are now so prominent.
   
2. Now I can say that I did indeed puffy heart the next film on the list, The Gold Rush!! So great. I love Charlie Chaplin. Since I wasn't specific when I asked Netflix for this movie I ended up with the version that wouldn't be considered the original version. The version I viewed included narration by Charlie Chaplin, which I guess you can't complain about, but I am curious to see the film without the narration, which was probably the way the movie was intended to be seen.
3. Next up was The Big Parade, this movie I had a hard time getting a hold of. It was not on Netflix it was not at the Library so I ended up renting it from Rocket Video. I felt like this film illustrated an interesting perception of the first world war, and also presented a sweet love story. I enjoyed it and for the most part I'm surprised by how much I've enjoyed watching silent films, I've really developed a respect for the style.
4. Metropolis was brought to me by Netflix, I was very impressed with this film and really like Fritz Lang's movies. There was a lot of sub-plot that was so interesting.
5. I was able to see Sunrise after it was on TCM. Gonna take a moment to say that I love TCM. Now back to Sunrise, I was surprised by the subversive nature of the plot of this film. Maybe this is cause it's hard to imagine that there were infidelities or murder plots in 1927. But I'm glad it all ended well for the most part.
6. Another Buster Keaton film...The General. This was one of the first silent films that I got from Netflix. I watched this movie about a year ago and LOVED it.
7. The Unknown is a fabulous movie. Lon Chaney plays an armless (or so we think) carnival performer who you can't help but care about. I was so moved by this film and became immediately endeared to Lon Chaney, it was also very interesting to see a very young Joan Crawford.
8. So, I think I'm alone with my feelings about The Jazz Singer....I think it may have been because for it was built up so much. In all my music classes I was instructed that the first film to utilize sound was the Jazz Singer, it was the answer to questions on some of my tests, I may have had unrealistic expectations. And I always have problems when I see films with "black face," I know and understand that it was something from the time frame and shouldn't be perceived as offensive, but when I see it I'm just instantly uncomfortable and put off by it. But, I guess with all of that aside and the fact that the use of sound was revolutionary and was the trailblazer for all future films with sound, I can't dislike the film that much, there were just elements of it that I didn't enjoy.
9. I was lucky enough to track down Abel Gance's epic Napoleon at the library in my hometown in NY. Shockingly this film is not available on DVD. While I was home for this past Winter Break I decided to check for some of the films I hadn't been able to find anywhere else, I was pleasantly surprised that they had it. I was just plain surprised that it was almost 4 hours long. Even with that running time I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were some many fascinating editing techniques and it was an interesting story. Definitely worth it.
10. At first I thought I wouldn't be able to find The Kid Brother, but through research discovered that this film was on a Harold Lloyd compilation DVD which was available through Netflix. I'm not a big fan of Harold Lloyd...I mean some of the situations he got himself into were funny, but I just didn't vibe with him, but I'm still willing to check out more of his films.

Alright, I think 10 is enough for now, I'll be back to bore you with more updates soon. :)

I'm feeling ambitious today

Very slow day today, so I'll continue with the updating.

The next two movies on the list weren't my cup of tea. There were two movies where again I see the significance, but I wasn't entertained by them and I could've lived a happy and full life having never seen them. Strike was brought to me by Netflix, it's about a Russian factory going on strike and about the revolutions in Russia during the early 1900s, some interesting effects but just not my kind of movie. Next was Greed, which happened to be aired on the Fox Movie Channel, so I recorded it. I was surprised by it's length, but I guess when it comes to Erich Von Stroheim, you come to expect a lengthy picture. The story was fairly interesting and shows what happens when people become overcome with greed, but for some reason this film didn't resonate with me. It was slow and was easy to zone out during. Perhaps this is due to being from the MTV generation, but I think I have a high tolerance for movies that are any length, as long as it's interesting, and I guess this just wasn't for me.

The next two films on the list were infinitely more engaging to me, both from Netflix. The Last Laugh was kind of a ridiculous story of a very hard working doorman who was demoted, due to his age, to a washroom assistant and who's pride wouldn't let him tell his family and friends what had happened, he then comforts a wealthy man as he dies in the washroom and inherits his fortune. The filmmakers don't take themselves too seriously, with a title card saying how the story should end with the poor disenchanted old washroom assistant living out his days in embarrassment, but instead this is made-up so we allow him to inherit a fortune. And the film then concludes with him as a happy wealthy man, who is proud again. I was very impressed with the lead actor, who carried the film, Emil Jannings.

I also very much enjoyed the next movie, Seven Chances, this was another Buster Keaton film, as I've said before I really, really like Buster Keaton movies, and this one was no exception. The plot is a little silly, a struggling businessman stands to inherit his grandfather's fortune, but only if he's married by 7pm on his 27th birthday, and wouldn't you know it, the movie begins on his 27th birthday. As you can imagine hilarity ensues, from women rejecting his proposal, to a fleet of upset brides chasing Buster.

After these 2 lighter films comes the much darker 1925's The Phantom of the Opera, starring the magnificent Lon Chaney. I didn't know what to expect from this film, I have seen the 2004 version of the movie, as well as the Broadway show, so I definitely knew the story. And I had heard how scary Lon Chaney's make-up had been at the time. And I have to admit, it's still scary by today's standards. I was impressed by this film, mostly with Lon Chaney, but also because I was surprised that the emotions and the intrigue would be able to come across in a silent film. What's important to note is the ball scene which was filmed in color. I tried to read up about it, but I can't be certain that it was the first use of color film, and I couldn't find out why it was used for just that one scene.

That's enough for now, more to come.

Some More

So, I'm not the best at updating, but I've been pretty good at movie watching.

Since my last update I've seen 23 more films from the list. I didn't stay in strict chronological order, cause sometimes after watching a netflicked movie I'd want to watch something else and did want it to be from the 1001 list so I'd watch a movie I'd recorded with my DVR from TCM.

And I'm also now not sure of the best way to post about the list. Would it be best to just go in chronological order of the whole list even if I've seen the movie months ago or years ago, or should I should just mention the movies I've seen recently? I can't really decide which would work best. I'm leaning towards doing what I did with the last post which was make the bulk of the post about recent viewings and then touch on the previously seen films, or films I've skipped over for various reasons. Well I'll keep posting like that and see how I like it.

The first new movie I saw since my last post was La Souriante Madame Beudet. A French film from 1922. After I discovered that it wasn't available on video or DVD, I did a google search to find out more about it and saw that I could view the whole film on google video. Which was quite surprising. The quality was decent enough, the only problem was that there were no English subtitles, the title cards were in French. But I think I got the gist of the film from the acting and images. Seemed like an early film about feminism and women's rights, which I'm all for.

Next were a bunch of movies from Netflix. First up was 1922's Nosferatu. I had an interesting experience with this film. I put the movie in the DVD player and I first noticed something was amiss when the background music started to sound like a cat meowing. It then changed to the main theme music from Home Alone. I thought there must be something wrong here, usually silent movies come with their own soundtrack, but it's usually music that was arranged and composed from that time period that was played in the movie houses with the movie. Not contemporary music, certainly not meowing and the song from Home Alone. I decided to double check the menu to see if there were any clues to what was going on, checked the physical disc and discovered that I had in my possession the 'Gothic & Industrial Re-mix of Nosferatu. I wasn't really too into that, so I reported the mistake to Netflix and then the next day got the original version of the film. It was more enjoyable with the original music, very creepy film, just take a look at that guy.

Next was Haxan, from 1923. I honestly didn't enjoy this film too much, it felt like a documentary at first, with odd images and quotations about witchcraft and less than savory activities. Then once the action got started, it just seemed like weird imagery for the sake of weird imagery.
Next up from Netflix was Foolish Wives, directed by and starring Erich Von Stroheim from 1923. This was another film that didn't really do anything for me. It felt very long and epic, but the story didn't warrant so much hub-bub. It was just about a man who was a con artist and got money from various women, but interesting to see Erich Von Stroheim's earlier work.



Next, was my first exposure to Douglas Fairbanks, in 1924's The Thief of Bagdad. At first I couldn't get over how similar Aladdin was to this movie. I guess it's because it's a common story, or part of Arabian folklore, but sometimes I resent the fact that I don't get to see these stories for the first time. I can't help but compare older movies to movies that came after them, rather than the other way around. Once I kind of got over the similarities I started to appreciate the movie on it's on and found it to be a fun adventure.


The movies that I have previously seen or skipped cause it was unavailable:

1. Nanook of the North, I rented from Netflix a couple of months ago. It was a pretty entertaining documentary, although some of the scenes and elements seemed staged or manipulated, I read more about it and discovered that this is a common belief. Either way an interesting documentary on an interesting group of people, and I really liked seeing how an igloo is built!
2. Our Hospitality from 1923 is a wonderful! Buster Keaton movie. I absolutely adore Buster Keaton and this movie was the first one of his I watched. I saw it a few months ago and was completely surprised by how funny silent comedies could be. The physical comedy is just great.
3. According to IMDB, The Wheel is not availble on video or DVD. But I'll continue looking for it.
   

Well, this is starting to turn into a very long post so I'll stop now, more movies next time.

A Very Silent Weekend

Welcome Back!

So I began my chronological viewing of the list this weekend. It turned out that I needed to find a resource other than Netflix for the first few films on the list, because some of the movies have never been released on DVD or weren't widely released. I decided to check Rocket Video which is a great! rental store in Los Angeles, they have almost any movie that has ever been released on Video or DVD, if you're in the LA area I highly recommend them for any hard to find movies. And they came through for me this weekend, thanks to them I was able to get my hands on:


'A Trip To The Moon' from 1902, this French short film was directed by George Melles and was highly impressive. I didn't realize so much could be done with film in 1902, I was not expecting this from one of the first films. The effects are stunning and you know they're not computer generated, which somehow makes it more interesting to watch. Oddly enough this film is also available through youtube. It's two separate files, and well worth watching.


I was also able to get 'The Great Train Robbery' from 1903. Both movies were on a DVD that contained a collection of Silent films from the early 1900s called 'The Movies Begin.' This movie was enjoyable to watch as well, also better than I had anticipated, what's worth noting is the coloring in of the negatives for a couple of the women's dresses. I was very impressed by this film as well.
After these 2 shorts I tackled the next film I haven't seen on the list, 1921's Swedish film, 'The Phantom Carriage.' This movie utilized a lot of interesting camera effects and included some layering of the negatives to get the effect of the un-dead interacting with the living. The movie reminded me of the series Dead Like Me and had hints of 'It's A Wonderful Life.'

My Sunday consisted of what I have to believe is the longest silent film in all of humanity. It's called 'Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler. It's a German film directed by Fritz Lang. While it was VERY! long at over 4 hours, it was also very good. It had a lot of whimsy and fun to it. It reminded me a lot of 'The Sting' and movies like 'Ocean's Eleven', pretty much any movie with a heist. There were a lot of fun disguises and a lot of intrigue. I'd definitely recommend it, but I don't know if I could watch it again.

I made a lot of headway on the list this weekend, my total is now at 279.

The movies that I had seen previously or skipped for one reason or another are:

1. Birth of a Nation from 1915. I Netflicked this D.W. Griffith directed movie a few months ago. I found it to be a bit slow and not too engaging, but I see the significance it has in the history of cinema, but I don't need to see it again.
   
2. Les Vampires from 1915, this movie has not yet been released on Netflix and is in my Saved Queue, to be released at some point.
   
3. A few months ago I Netflicked Intolerance another D.W. Griffith epic from 1916, this was a bit difficult to watch, I found it to be racist and derogatory, but I guess that was the way people thought and what they felt at the time, so it's relevant.
4. I really enjoyed The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a German film from 1919. While I may have spent the first half thinking that somnambulist was a made-up word for a sleep walking creature, I still enjoyed the film for it's wonderful storytelling and interesting images. I've also decided that it's the first film to utilize flashback as a form of narrative, I could be wrong.
   
5. The next two films on the list that I netflix'd awhile ago are two more epics from Mr. D.W Griffiths. Broken Blossoms, another one of his films that I found to be a bit racist I guess it was the social climate at the time, and today is just very dated, but I found it to be offensive and almost hard to watch.
   
6. The other was Way Down East, which was a convoluted love story and starred Lillian Gish.
   
7. I haven't been able to find the next film on the list, Within Our Gates. According to IMDB it's available on DVD, but I couldn't find it on Netflix or at Rocket Video, so the hunt is still on.
8. On the list after the Phantom Carriage comes Orphans of the Storm, which was by far my favorite D.W Griffith's movie. It had an engaging plot and characters you cared about and rooted for.
   
9. It seems that the next movie on the list La Souriante Madam Beudet is not availble on DVD or Video so I'll have to skip this one for the time being.
   

I made a lot of headway on the list this weekend, my total is now at 279.

Next up are some more silent films. Stay tuned.

First Post

Hello and welcome to my blog.

This is going to be my attempt to keep an up-to-date journal of the movies I've seen while trying to complete the list of 1001 must see movies. For reference here is the list that I am basing my viewings on: 1001 Movies You Must See


Here's a little background before we get started. Let me explain the list, there's a book titled "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die" as you can see it has a very scary picture of Jack Nicholson on the cover from the movie 'The Shining.' You've probably seen it in a bookstore, it's a book published by Barons and edited by Steven Jay Schneider. I hadn't taken much interest in the book in the past, but I had recently been watching a lot of classic films and decided to see how many of the movies I had seen, thinking I would have an impressive number.

This was not the case, when I first talley-ed up the movies I had seen from the list I had only seen 201 of the movies. I was shocked. I've always been a fan of movies, took a couple of classes in college, but I guess I hadn't seen enough of the bigger, more important films. That was when I decided to make a real effort to see more of the films on the list. That and because one of my best friends had bested me by seeing more than twice as many of the movies as me and I had to defeat him. :)

At first, I was a bit haphazard about how I was going to tackle all these movies. I decided to add movies from the list that I had always wanted to see, but put off watching, to my Netflix queue. Let me take this moment to express my love of Netflix and say that it is the main source for the movies from the list. I didn't want to get too involved and just get movies from Netflix from this list, so I continued getting current movies, or TV shows and just staggered in movies from the 1001 list.

From October of 2006 thru around last week (July 2007) I got my number of seen movies up from 201 to 265 and I was having a lot of fun with the project, seeing movies I had always wanted to see and some that sounded interesting to me. But last week I decided that what might make more sense would be to watch the movies in chronological order, so I take away an experience and see how film has progressed and evolved over the years. And I would have more order instead of a hodge-podge of cinema.

So I felt like this blog would help me do a better job of working through the list in order. So here we go! :)