UPDATED 4/7/10
Growing up I used to watch my favorite movies over and over until they seeped into my bones. I can still recite Heaven Can Wait or China Syndrome verbatim (and I often do). In college I liked to watched three movies a day: one in the theater, one in film class and one on VHS in the dorm.
But as I’ve gotten older and busier and more addicted to internet porn, my cinema intake has dwindled dramatically.
So in the spirit of if not now, when?* and because I’m supposedly a “filmmaker”, I have made a solemn commitment to watch at least one movie a day during the month of April. This may not sound impressive to a lot of you Gen Y media hounds but guess what I don’t need to impress you so get off my back.
I’m planning out the titles in advance. A mix of classic, recent, current, foreign, domestic, arty and farty–movies I’ve been meaning to see over the years but never got around to (except one per week I’ve seen before but was very young and/or asleep and/or in a drive-in making out with Jenny Hovis so don’t remember it.)
Some of these are showing in theaters, others I’ll watch on DVD or in friends’ home media rooms with recliners and root beer (but on the last night, to celebrate, the “root” is going away and it’s gonna be straight up “beer” – YES…GET READY!)
It’s not in stone so if you have a suggestion of something I HAVE to see let me know. Or if something is playing in NYC (or L.A. April 5-14).
Because of the anticipated intense public interest in this amazing project I will be publishing a 900 page coffee table book about my experience and there will be an HBO special about it as well as an exhibition at the Smithsonian.
THE LIST:
WEEK 1
Th 4/1 – AN EDUCATION
Watched alone, in my office on DVD at 9am. As a morning person I particularly enjoyed the experience of watching a movie this early. Performances were amazing.
Fr 4/2 – TERMS OF ENDEARMENT
I’d seen this when it came out but I was 13 and barely remembered it. Wow does it hold up. Watched at home with my wife and her mom. Laughed laughed laughed then sobbed sobbed sobbed.
Sa 4/3 – FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Again watched at home with my wife. Fabulous!
Su 4/4 – (postponed)
Had a big family day and then packed for traveling then passed out. Any day I miss I’ll make up at the end.
WEEK 2
Mo 4/5 – (postponed)
Planned on watching a movie on the flight to L.A. but was working and ran out of time. I suck.
Tu 4/6 - (postponed)
Played squash after work then sat down to watch a movie in my hotel in L.A. but passed out. Oops. This is hard — I didn’t expect to be working so much (editing “Childrens Hospital” which debuts this summer on Adult Swim) so it’s harder than I thought to schedule the time!
We 4/7 – ACE IN THE HOLE
Tonight my friend Jason graciously offered to host a group of friends to watch “Down By Law” in his lovely home theater. My only job was to bring the DVD. But I screwed that up. So we instead watched this awesome Billy Wilder movie that most of us hadn’t seen. Movie month is back on!
Th 8 – METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER
Fr 9 – DOUBLE IDEMNITY
Sa 10 – ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
Su 11 – PANS LABRYINTH
WEEK 3
Mo 12 – GOLD RUSH
Tu 13 – BARRY LYNDON
We 14 – LIFE IS SWEET
Th 15 – HURT LOCKER
Fr 16 – LA STRADA
Sa 17 – KICK ASS
Su 18 – DIVING BELL AND BUTTERFLY
WEEK 4
Mo 19 – RULES OF THE GAME
Tu 20 – BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
We 21 – LORD OF THE RINGS
Th 22 – THE CRUISE
Fr 23 – PRECIOUS
Sa 24 – HUMPDAY
Su 25 – RED BALLOON
WEEK 5
Mo 26 – 400 BLOWS
Tu 27 – SHAMPOO
We 28 – 1000 CLOWNS
Th 29 – THE SEARCHERS
Fr 30 – CITY LIGHTS
*Coined by Rabbi Hillel and later used as the slogan for the Cleveland Jewish Community Federation’s 1978 welfare fund drive.
You gotta see “Death Becomes Her” if you haven’t already. Bruce Willis’ best comedic performance.
You should check out D. Wain’s seminal film, “Wet Hot American Summer.” It is an American classic that is still 16 years away from reaching it’s 25-year anniversary. At that point, a brown-ray 3D virtuadisc edition will be released to much public note and fanfair, finally raising the work to the attention it deserves. The fart track will be included. Get ahead of the curve now, David!
on the 21st you have “Lord of the Rings”? We talking the live action movie or the animated, and just the first one? Or the whole deal? If the latter, sounds like a quite of a Wednesday undertaking. I don’t think I’d be able to do that on a Weekend day let alone a weekday.
Got some good movies in there, and actually a lot I have yet to see myself. Sounds fun, and hopefully it is!
i will do this too. for no specific reason other than it sounds awesome.
Greenberg was fantastic and should be easy to come across in NY or LA. I promise you’ll love it. Promise.
I saw it and liked it a lot!
loving the charlie chaplin films on there. “the kid” is another gem from him. if you haven’t “kiss kiss, bang bang” it’s a great watch(not a timepiece).
loving the charlie chaplin films on their. “the kid” is another gem from him. if you haven’t “kiss kiss, bang bang” it’s a great watch(not a timepiece).
Because Red Balloon is a short, you should follow it up with another French film. Have you ever seen Murmurs of the Heart? It’s strange, but absolutely worth seeing.
I’ll give you three. If you haven’t seen any of these, I would highly recommend…
1. Betty Blue
2. George Washington
3. The Last Detail
Check out Gentleman Broncos if you haven’t already
heres a few more suggestions:
1. Pather Panchali (India)
2. West Is West (1987)
3. Yol (Turkey)
4. Loving (starring George Segal)
5. The Heiress (starring Montgomery Clift, Dir: William Wyler in addition to ‘best years of our lives’)
6. Melody (starring Jack Wild, you’ll love it. can get japanese import dvd easily http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=PCBH-50097 )
7. A New Leaf (Elaine May)
8. Lookin’ To Get Out! (the new dvd they released of the Hal Ashby film, if you like his other stuff)
9. Flåklypa Grand Prix (classic, much better fun animated film than ‘Up’, get it at http://www.caprino.no/ )
10. Los Olvidados (Bunuel)
11. Intimate Lighting ( http://www.secondrundvd.com/release_il.php )
12. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
13. Mad Dog Morgan (Australia feat. Dennis Hopper)
14. Wake In Fright (Australia)
15. Last American Hero (starring Jeff Bridges)
16. Whisper of the Heart (1995 Japanese Animation classic)
17. A Summer’s Tale (Rohmer)
18. The Set-Up (Robert Wise)
19. Touchez Pas Au Grisbi
20. The Cloud-Capped Star (India)
* i also want to second the other guy’s opinion, i think the best Chaplin to watch is ‘The Kid’
* you have some films i loved on your list. very interesting picks. those mike leighs are brilliant. im gonna seek out 1000 clowns sounds great.
* i would drop Hurt Locker, Up and Eternal Sunshine from your list. i think you can find better films than those.
theres my 2 cents
i can make more suggestions if you want
good luck
Have you caught any of those early Bogdonovich’s like The Last Picture Show or Paper Moon? Two recent gems I came across recently and really dug. Rules of the Game, Eternal Sunshine, Diving Bell & 400 Blows are all the bomb. This is an awesome idea, I wanna hear your thoughts as you go! ps really like the new site