Sullivan's Travels



Seen this before in my "trying to appreciate filmmakers that my favorite filmmakers like" series (The Coen Brothers). Have to say I liked the Lady Eve more than this, regardless of the classic status of this in Sturges' oeuvre. The actors felt much more naturalistic in that over Sullivan's. And the ending came off as a ton more cornball in this. Overall, not as modern feeling as the Lady Eve. Lana Turner was pretty hot in this though, but kind of freaked me out dressed as the hobo. Which brings me to another sticking point. The hoboing up of Joel McCrea was retarded, and if hobos had some kind of advocacy group they would totally boycott this. But, the O' Brother Where Art Thou fake title was pretty genius, regardless of Sturges stealing that from the Coens too.


Singin' in the Rain



I was really dreading this, as I hate most musicals. The dance routines in this felt pretty repetitive. (How many times can you tap dance and flail your arms and differentiate the whole mess, really?) But, the transitions in this were great. And the pace towards the end, working up to a frenzied, nightmarish dance orgy, was perfect. So, not the best movie ever, and an annoying musical none the less. But an interesting film, technically speaking.


Pulp Fiction



This is the movie made me start making movies. I was 14 when this came out, and thought it was the coolest thing ever, and promptly starting making knockoffs of it with my friends. I'm sure every filmmaker has one of those movies, and this was it for me. It still stands up pretty well today, especially script and acting wise. An important movie for me in that it really pushed me into filmmaking and led me to watch other stuff it was influenced by.


Pickpocket



Meh. Interesting that Paul Schrader cited this as the main influence for Taxi Driver, since we're talking influences. I can definitely see that, as it's just a dude in a room most of the time operating on the outskirts of society. But, didn't really move me. File under boring, foundation-laying movie.


Sunrise



Again, the transitions in this film make the movie for me. Added to the fact that they had to do everything in camera. Very cool. Re-watching for the list.


Citizen Kane



This is one of those movies that I'm supposed to like, and that I do really like, and that every time I watch it I like more. I paid attention to the pacing of the scenes this time, and the building of the story within the stories. I guess the theme of the film, the way you can build a character through other people's interpretations of them. Genius movie.


Rashomon



I watched this after Citizen Kane intentionally, as this directly takes from Kane's formatting. I'm not as interested in the subject matter, but the formatting is used to great effect in this film. In the Altman intro, he spoke about how this was the first movie he'd ever seen that pointed the camera up (the sun through the trees). Pretty neat.


JFK



Favorite Oliver Stone movie. This still scares the shit out of me, and I watched it late one night when Megan was out of town and scared myself. I couldn't go to sleep. Anyways, great editing and ability to get a ton of information across pretty clearly. You never have a hard time following or keeping up, despite large amounts of info being presented during the film's entire runtime. Oh, and this film is 100% right. Don't be an asshole and disagree.


Fargo



One of my favorite movies. But not my favorite Coen Bros. film. Perfect movie, though. I recently saw this poster for the first time, and it's amazing.


The Diving Bell and the Butterfly



This wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, or as depressing I should say. But I also don't feel like it said enough. It was kind of just there and then ended. The P.O.V. stuff was well done, and they got away with doing it for so long at the beginning of the film, but I felt the whole thing ultimately kind of just...lay there.

Sorry.


It Happened One Night



For some reason, I'm a sucker for a really good romantic comedy. I could see myself doing one someday. It's very easy to do terrible, formulaic ones, but when it works I really like them. This one, When Harry Met Sally, sue me. I love how Clark Gable keeps telling her how to do things or bragging about how much of an expert he is at stupid little things like giving piggy-back rides or hitchhiking. Hysterical.


The Godfather



I don't know, the second best movie ever after Godfather II. I finally read the book last year some time, and kind of wished they'd done some more of the Johnny Fontane storyline with the Vegas girl who gets the vaginal reconstruction surgery. I basically wish those movies were 20 hours longer. I guess I should just read the rest of the books.


Fellini Satyricon



Um... wow. What the fuck was this? Not a big fan of art films that go nowhere, and this felt like the king of them all, but glad I finally saw it. The film's influenced less crazed films that worked twenty times better, so I guess it's good that this exists and goes as far as it does so it's not necessary for anyone else to ever do it again.


Unforgiven



"They put a sign on 'em!?!"


Brazil



This is a great movie, but I was a little bored with it this time, as I've seen it way too many times growing up. I think Gilliam's stuff works best when it's a weird little surprise.


To Kill A Mockingbird



Sometimes you just don't learn until your much older that your dad is a stone cold dog killer. Sometimes you find out the truth when you're 6 years old. It's all a part of growing up.