Movie list update

A little over a year ago I posted a list of classic movies that I was ashamed to admit that I hadn't seen. I vowed at the time to watch as many of them as possible during 2010 to further deepen my knowledge of film and broaden my palette. Left to my own devices I will wallow in trashy films for weeks on end with only the occasional 1930s thriller or gangster film or serial thrown in to break things up. I love many types of movies but digging deeply into the various forms of Euro-Trash is what I'll always feel the most desire to do. It was not always so for me, but in the last 15 years or so that is the turn my viewing habits have taken - witness this blog! So I set out to tackle about one from my list of shame each month and.... I almost succeeded. Not that I finished the list---

MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949)
SHANE (1953)
GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
42ND STREET (1933)
THE LADY EVE (1941)
NASHVILLE (1975)
SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
GIANT (1956)
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945)
LA STRADA (1954)
8 ½ (1963)

...but I was able to knock a few off of it. Unsurprisingly I enjoyed each one even if I didn't find all of them to great movies. GONE WITH THE WIND was an overlong slog through a nasty woman's life redeemed by magnificent Hollywood filmmaking and some excellent performances. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO was likewise too long but its pleasures were fascinating and overall I liked it more than I thought I would. 8 ½ was amazing and just as mesmerizing and amusing as its reputation had lead me to expect. THE LADY EVE is a truly funny and charming movie that I know I'll return to in the future when I need a good laugh. MIGHTY JOE YOUNG was a good, solid film but easily one of the lesser of its type. SHANE was a standout western that really is a classic deserving of the accolades heaped on it over the years.

But of all the films I checked off this list the best was the wonderfully beautiful, bittersweet BRIEF ENCOUNTER. I was not prepared for such a touching story and I'm not too proud to admit that it had me welling up with tears on more than one occasion. A simply brilliant movie I can only encourage anyone interested in good movies to watch and see what good dialog, nuanced acting and sharp direction can create.

So the movies that are left on my list are--

ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
42ND STREET (1933)
NASHVILLE (1975)
SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
GIANT (1956)
LA STRADA (1954)

..and to that I want to add THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP, ARMY OF SHADOWS, EL CID and ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS. I don't know how many of them I'll see in 2011 but I promise to try to get to them all.