I watch movies A lot. I already consider myself a movie connoisseur [Atleast compared to anyone I know…].
However I understand that Many, and I say many as in… most, people have seen more and better movies than me. That’s just how it is. [-I am only 16 though…]
So what are some movies that are just Completely mandatory to even consider calling myself a connoiseur?
(ask if you want a list of ones I’ve seen… but movies that I would expect you to say First would probably be:
Schindler’s List
Full Metal Jacket
etc.)
Which by the way, I have seen.
Just one for now, but a film everyone should see is Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil. IMHO, it’s the best film Welles ever made, which by definition makes it the best film ever made.
If you’re seriously wanting to become a connoiseur, I’d suggest starting from the very beginning, seriously. It’s the best way to learn about how film grammar was formed and has changed since. Here’s a rough guide to some signpost flicks (Cobbled from memories of my first year cinema class.)
Watch these in order
The Lumiere shorts
A Trip to the Moon
Any Mack Sennett shorts you can find
Birth of a Nation (A difficult one as it’s so incredibly racist, but invaluable for learning about cinema’s most influential director.)
Gold Rush
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Not a great film per se, but it’s style was revolutionary)
Un Chien Andalou
Metropolis
Battleship Potempkin
Nanook of the North
Man with the Movie Camera
The General
Greed
Sunrise
The Last Laugh
Napoleon (Preferably in a theatre with the three screen set up.)
Nosferateu
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Jazz Singer (This is purely for educational purposes, the movie itself stinks)
The Blue Angel
King Kong
Scarface
The Front Page
Triumph of the Will (See Birth of a Nation)
Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs
Stagecoach
The Rules of the Game
Citizen Kane
The Maltese Falcon
Sullivan’s Travels
Henry V
A Matter of Life and Death
Bicyle Thief
Crossfire
Rashomon
Singing in the Rain
Tokyo Story
Ugetsu Monagatore
Monieur Hulot’s Holiday
On The Waterfront
Panther Panchali / Aparajito / The World of Apu
The Red Balloon
Night Of The Hunter
The Searchers
The Seventh Seal / Wild Strawberries
Touch of Evil
A Bout de Souffle
The 400 Blows
Psycho
Lawrence Of Arabia
A Hard Days Night
Blow Up
Persona
Belle De Jour
Dr Strangelove
8 1/2
Bonnie & Clyde
2001
Easy Rider
Kes
The Wild Bunch
Midnight Cowboy
Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss Song
Woodstock
Walkabout
Aguirre, Wrath of God
Godfather
The Conversation
Bad Lands
Chinatown
Don’t Look Now
Profondo Rosso (Deep Red)
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Taxi Driver
Annie Hall
Jaws
Star Wars (Duh)
The Tin Drum
Halloween
Raging Bull
E.T.
This Is Spinal Tap
The Decalogue
Wings Of Desire
When Harry Met Sally
Sex, Lies & Videotape
The Killer
Do The Right Thing
Goodfellas
Jurassic Park / Terminator 2
Pulp Fiction
I’m assuming you’ve probably seen a lot of stuff from the 90’s onward.
I’ve probably missed a couple, but All of these films are lardmarks in some way, shape or form.
Go through them all, some you’ll enjoy, some you’ll hate, but each is a doorway to a whole bunch of other great films. For example the two film noirs I’ve included - The Maltese Falcon and Touch of Evil bookend the first wave of noir films, follow that path and you find another 300 films to look for, a substantial percentage of them being above average.
The main point is, follow your taste, if you try to be a enclyopedia of all film you’ll go nuts, find what you like and then specialize, when you’ve finished that field, move on to another. I’m a noir/horror/shakespeare freak.
If you don’t care for Riefenstahl’s propaganda in Das Triumph Des Willens, the Olympia is a good place to start for her. Try to get it in two parts, not the edited American edition.
Are there actually… Cinema classes? Where you just watch and learn about movies?
If so, I live in WA, you know any schools that may have a class of that sort?
But seriously… I can’t possibly watch all of those movies. I mean… even assuming they will all be on VHS at my local video store and actually be available?[My video store is notorious for not carrying good movies]
Each one would cost about $2.00.
So I’m guessin that would be about $150-200 to rent all of those movies…
A bit much for me.
But thanks for suggesting them, I may check some out.
However… let me kinda rephrase my question.
Are there any movies that, if I were to tell someone I really enjoy watching movies and I watch a lot of them, and they suggested it and I reply that I haven’t seen it, would they be astounded?
That is so badly worded but oh well… I gotta go to school in… well it starts in less than 10 minutes.
Also, lissener lives in Seattle. He is a film god. He may have suggestions on where you can get some quality films for little or no cost (i.e., film libraries or film clubs.)
Once you have a credit card, you can subscribe to NetFlix, the on-line DVD rental service that users like me love. For $20/month, you can watch as many films as you wish (up to 3 at a time), with no return deadlines.
Yes, that Sight and Sound Top Ten list, which I linked above.
Also, cable channels like Turner Classic Movies and Fox Movie Channel show numerous classics every month.
Some upcoming classics on TCM:
Jan. 23: Rules of the Game (from the Sight and Sound Top Ten)
Jan. 25: The Lady Eve *#
Jan. 25: Rear Window *#
Jan. 25: The Shop Around the Corner *#
Jan. 26: Exodus *
Jan. 27: Modern Times *#
Jan. 27: The Hospital #
Jan. 28: The African Queen *#
Jan. 29: The Public Enemy #
Jan. 31: Rocco and His Brothers *
Jan. 31: Vertigo *# (from the Sight and Sound Top Ten)
Jan. 31: Psycho *#
Almost every Australian University has a Cinema department (Despite the governement cuts). One way of finding a lot of these films is to visit the university libraries. If your lucky some, like Melbourne Uni, will have a system that allows you to watch films on site without a card. Plus you also have WAPA over there, which I’m sure has a excellent collection. Otherwise, your local library may have something.
Well there’s the other thing. 90% of watching these films is tracking them down, and that takes getting up and going to every Video store in your neighbourhood, then the next neighbourhood and so on. I belong to about ten video stores in my local area alone. Find the ones with the best weekly deals, and the biggest “classics” section. There are places that do $5 for 5 weekly deals and so on. Then it’s a matter of sitting down and watching one a night. Not easy, but do able.
Ilsa_Lund, Checking the local library sounds like a decent suggestion.
I belong to the Timberland Regional Library (In Centralia: small town). So it’s not that large of a library, so I may check but I’m doubting it.
LeechBoy, I live in a small town, and the only video stores in my locale are are basically a Hollywood Video, Video Update, and then a couple much smaller lesser ones.
Hollywood video… has more new movies, and Video Update has more movies that people wouldn’t normally rent on a day-to-day basis, so I could prolly find some of them there. However between the two… and perhaps attempting at some futile searches in other smaller ones, It’s doubtful I will find many of them.
But Thanks for your suggestions, I will prolly try the library, and try renting atleast some of them, my income permitting…
Movies that, Well… I basically figured I already needed to see them. But after reviewing that Sight and Sound list thing, I plan to watch:
Citizen Kane
Vertigo
The Godfather Movies (Haven’t seen them for awhile… and not quite in their entirety)
2001: A Space Odyssey
The others are by foreign actors and would be difficult to acquire, or I just learned about 'em. So the ones listed above are ones I’ve heard about and now I need to.
