The most intimidating part of this blog is now upon me. Part of me has wanted to do this for a long time. Another part has been apprehensive. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Citizen Kane
Fantasy Academy Awards Ceremony
Okay, so this is a little indulgent. But I can’t help but think that all this Academy Award talk in which I have been engaging can be diverting in this quest from casual movie watching to competency in film. What I would like to do is bring back the discussion from contemporary films and set our sights backwards again, towards the vast world of cinema that encompasses over a hundred years of art and culture. So, I’ve decided to go back and set up my own hypothetical awards ceremony, complete with honorary awards and imaginary glamor. Imagine a red carpet with Miley Cyrus in her fishnet leggings and Audrey Hepburn in her black Givenchy dress; Jared Leto’s long hair followed by Humphrey Bogart in unbelted wool jackets. The notion is enchanting, sure. Those basketball or football video games that I like to play often have a “fantasy draft” setting or a pick-up game kind of setting were you can do the most absurd things: you can have LeBron James play against Oscar Robertson, or have the Detroit duo of Isaiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer take on Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman. Why not do something like that for movies? I consider this “fantasy academy” a well-earned journey into the indulgent imagination of my own self. It is time to let all those worlds, the world of John Huston, the world of Federico Fellini, the world of Robert Bresson, the world of Martin Scorsese, and the world of Christopher Nolan, all come together in the ultimate exposition of glamor, art, competition, and class. And considering the fact that my lists of the greatest directors and movies and acting performances are buried so deep in this blog, I feel like a resurrection of these lists in some new form is not an altogether bad idea, especially considering the fact that I just posted a page which, in essence, restated all the principles and theories that this blog has laid out thus far. As long as I’m in the “reviewing” mode, I might as well review those earlier lists by having a little fun; having my own awards ceremony in my head.
The nominees are listed in alphabetical order. There are 10 nominees for each category. The winners are in bold. I have hyperlinked all but one of the nominees to clips online (most of which can be found on YouTube) for your viewing pleasure. Continue reading
The 22 Most Important Films of All Time
While historical significance certainly plays its role in helping me determine my favorite films (see my “Greatest Films of All Time” list), other factors played equally poignant parts: my own personal bias, the impact of the film upon viewers, film quality and popularity, to name a few. But, insofar as this blog is designed to help the casual movie-goer become a competent one, I must help by making more specialized lists. This particular list looks at historical and cinematographic significance as a complex dual-characteristic: namely, “importance.” Often, lists of this type go by the name of “influential.” But “influential” means important only in the context of history and fad. “Important,” on the other hand, involves the goal of this blog. These films are “important” in that they help create a backdrop wherein one can contextually understand the development of film and the proper languages of film—as André Bazin would put it—which open your eyes to the world of cinema. I wish I had paid better attention to lists like this one in my early days of movie-going. I believe that it would have helped a lot.
The following movies were “influential” to other movies that followed. They are “important” to you and to me, the viewers, in our attempt to become more competent movie-watchers. Continue reading
My Countdown Video
I had some time; I made this video. These are 100 films (mostly American) that I think everyone needs to see on their journey towards film competency. THIS IS NOT A LIST OF THE GREATEST FILMS EVER. It is a list of some of the greatest films ever, films that I think everyone should see before they start making claims that they are true movie-buffs. It is set to the sublime score of John Williams’ Schindler’s List. Please excuse two typos in the titles of the film. Continue reading
A Slice of Cake 