Saturday, January 1, 2011

11 Films in 2011 Challenge


LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, boys and girls of all ages, WELCOME to 2011! For those of you uninitiated 2011 comes after 2010, but just before the world ends in 2012. It also features many unique debates.

For example: 1/1/11 or 11/11/11 - which will be more awesome? Also, if you propose to someone at 11:11 on 11/11/11 how long before you receive your 'super-duper-wonder-hero-man' card in the mail? (I already have three - score.)

So, if you're asking yourself now what is the point of the headline, well I can tell you. There's been a handful of films I've been putting off watching for quite some time. I'll admit I haven't avoided them all for equal reasons. Certain ones I avoided for length others for subject matter, and a couple just because I don't care much for a director-actor involved. Yet, I feel as if certain classics aught to be watched irregardless of my personal aversion towards them.

As such, I have decided to make a challenge with myself. New year, new films, and with it comes the knowledge that I shall be exposing myself to some of the greatest works in cinematic history... so long as I survive! Here we are: the ELEVEN films I WILL watch in 2011:
  1. All About Eve
  2. Tokyo Story
  3. Das Boot
  4. La Dolce Vita
  5. Amadeus
  6. Straw Dogs
  7. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
  8. Frankenstein (1931)
  9. Battle of Algiers
  10. Judgment at Nuremberg
  11. Aguirre, the Wrath of God


HOWEVER, I don't want this to JUST be a me thing. In the comments I want you to come up with 11 classics you haven't seen for whatever reason, and challenge yourself to see them! Enjoy the new year everybody!

18 better thoughts:

MovieNut14 said...

Um, considering I spent almost two years watching classics, there aren't that many left. But the ones I'd include are:

Harvey
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
A Face in the Crowd
Cinema Paradiso
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Elmer Gantry
Pulp Fiction
There Will Be Blood
The Shop Around the Corner
American Psycho
The Bad and the Beautiful

Unknown said...

All About Eve
Boyz n the Hood
East of Eden
The Godfather
Gone With the Wind (saw it a long time ago, but I was young enough to where it doesn't count in my book)
Intolerance
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Rebel Without a Cause
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Paul Arrand Rodgers said...

Be prepared for disappointment on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre front.

filmgeek said...

Ooh, good list. Straw Dogs and Tokyo Story are two films I REALLY need to see. Especially Straw Dogs as it was filmed down the road from me. MY 11 (and I may need to remind myself of this and I always seem to forget about these things...)

The Godfather
Schindler's List
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
The Nun's Story
How to Marry A Millionaire
Gone With the Wind
The English Patient
Straw Dogs
Tokyo Story
The Gold Rush
sex, lies and videotape

Andrew Robinson said...

I understand the sentiments in this post...

I've been meaning to watch Kubrick's The Killing and Harvey for over a year now and for one reason or another I just haven't pressed play.

I wish you the best of luck sir and may 2011 be an awesome year for everyone.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I'd have to look, although I've seen several of those movies. Need to think on this one...

Stevee Taylor said...

I bought La Dolce Vita last year, so I have to watch it this one. Here's my list anyway:

1. La Dolce Vita
2. The Godfather Part II
3. Network
4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
5. The Shining
6. All the Spiderman movies
7. All the Harry Potter movies
8. Requiem for a Dream
9. Rebecca
10. The Assasination of Jesse James...
11. Trainspotting

John Gilpatrick said...

I dig this idea. Here are my 11:

Seven Samurai
The Thin Red Line
Strangers on a Train
The Philadelphia Story
Apocalypse Now
Hamlet (Olivier version)
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Blade Runner
Blue Velvet
A Clockwork Orange
La Dolce Vita

Alex said...

Ok. Let's do this. And good luck, everyone!

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Piano Teacher
Seven Samurai
The Seventh Seal
The Shawshank Redemption
Godfather II
Schindler's List
3-Iron
Paris, TX
La Dolce Vita
Chinatown

Brian Dunn said...

I'm totally in! I'm going to choose the top films on They Shoot Pictures Don't They's 1000 Greatest Films list that I haven't seen.

If anyone's not familiar with the list, check it out:

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_all1000films.htm

Here are my 11 film promises for 2011:
1. The Rules of the Game
2. Tokyo Story
3. L'Atalante
4. Touch of Evil
5. La Dolce Vita
6. Grand Illusion
7. Children of Paradise
8. The Night of the Hunter
9. Ordet
10. L'Avventura
11. Persona

Simon said...

La Dolce Vita, which is evidentally a lot more commong than I thought.

The 400 Blows

Some other shit.

Hal said...

The 400 Blows
8 1/2
Ace in the Hole
Band of Outsiders
Barry Lyndon
Breathless
La Dolce Vita
Once Upon a Time in America
Passion of Joan of Arc
Seven Samurai
White Heat

Unknown said...

Somebody put Il Divo on your list - La Dolce Vita is overrated.

Richard said...

Inland Empire
Rope
Brokeback Mountain
The Hidden Fortress
Solaris (original)
Rosemary's Baby
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Raising Arizona
Sixteen Candles
Clerks

And I'm going to pretend I've never seen Raiders of the Lost Ark so I can watch it for the 65th time.

Is that cheating?

edgarchaput said...

'The Godfather Part II' in its entirety.

'Gone with the Wind'

Those are the two that come to mind right now.

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen some of the greatest classic flicks, so I'm hoping to rectify that. Here are some of the movies on my Netflix queue I hope to see this year.

1. Philadelphia Story
2. Citizen Kane
3. North by Northwest
4. Wings of the Dove
5. Mutiny on the Bounty
6. Red Riding Trilogy
7. Mosquito Coast
8. Animal Kingdom
9. The Getaway
10. The Dinner Game
11. Collateral

Fletch said...

LOL at Richard's Raiders joke.

You already saw my list. Here are the top 11 I would call classics:

The Shining
Seven Samurai
A Fistful of Dollars
Blazing Saddles
Bonnie and Clyde
Casablanca
Dog Day Afternoon
Night of the Living Dead
This is Spinal Tap

(gap)

Oldboy
City of God

Chris said...

No promises I will get to these 10 classics in 2011, but I certainly want to watch them in future:

Written on the Wind (1956)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Targets (1968)
It's a Gift (1934)
Modern Times (1936)

Abre los ojos (1997)
Dekalog (1-10)(1989)
Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
The Word (1955)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

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