On my phone, I keep a list of movies that I want to see, and these are usually movies that look interesting to me after I've seen snippets of them at the Oscars every year. During my senior year of college, I also took a "music in political film" class that helped to put more movies on the list. But, there are some movies that seem to be so classic that I thought I should add them to my 30 before 30 list. Most of the movies on this list came from IMDB's Top 250 Movies list (and some of them I had already seen, so I didn't bother putting them on the list again).
17.1: Pulp Fiction: 7/26/15
This was my first ever Quentin Tarantino movie. I really liked it, and I thought the way he brought all the threads together at the end was really effective. (I couldn't quite get over John Travolta's hair, though...yikes. Not becoming at all.) Really interesting movie, and it had some funny parts too. 7/10
17.2: Scarface: 5/8/16
Right now the movies I'm watching are based solely on what's available on Netflix. Since Scarface was on there, I hit this one next. One word: VIOLENT. Yikes. Lots of blood! I watched this one by myself on a Sunday night accompanied by chocolate chip pancakes; next time I'll skip the eating while watching this bloody movie. There was also a LOT of snorting cocaine: towards the end of the movie, it happened multiple times in a frame. Guess that's what I should expect in a movie about a drug kingpin! Also, swearing. Lots of it. One of my favorite scenes might have been when Elvira says, "Can't you stop saying fuck all the time?" Hey girl, that's exactly what I was thinking too.
BUT, I really, really liked this one. The character development of Tony Montana was fascinating, and Al Pacino did an absolutely stunning acting job. It also put some of my rusty Spanish skills to use! And the use of music was a bit cheesy, but strangely overall very effective. Highly recommend, as long as you can handle lots of blood in movies. 8.5/10
17.3: The Godfather: 5/27/16
I realized (after looking through Netflix and Amazing Video multiple times) that I'm sitting on a goldmine of free movie rentals: the UT library! What I didn't think of, though, was the fact that these DVDs may have some substantial damage to them since they've probably been in the library since they came out. Thankfully, for this movie that wasn't such an issue until the very last scene--the entire last minute was skipped over and it went straight to the credits. I had to look up "the ending of the godfather" on YouTube. Bless modern technology.
I'm not sure what to think about this one. Honestly, I had a HORRIBLE time trying to keep all the characters straight: who was whom, who was in which family, who was trying to kill whom, who was married into which family, on and on. I'm thinking watching it again would definitely help. But again, Al Pacino won me over. Not in the sense that I loved his character, but that he did a great job of developing his character. I did appreciate the themes in the movie, about family and honor and loyalty. Maybe I'm weird, or you have to be a huge Italian mafia aficionado to appreciate the nuances of this film, but somehow I wasn't nuts about this one. (*Edit: after talking with Tim, he said he felt the same way the first time he saw it. Maybe I'll give it another try in a few months and see how I feel then.) 7/10
17.4: Fight Club: 5/28/16
Yes, I know, two in a row. Whatever. This was one of the only other ones I could get from the UT library. And holy hell was it fantastic.
I LOVED THIS MOVIE. I was engaged the whole time and it was awesome and I can't say any more without giving anything away so GO WATCH IT NOW! 15/10
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| This damage made my DVD player freak out. Not cool. |
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| The first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club. |
17.5: The Boondock Saints: 1/6/19
Definitely took a big break from this one but there's no excuse to not finish this goal in the next month! I had actually seen the ending of this movie twice before while at parties in undergrad, but had never seen the first hour and 45 minutes. It brought up an interesting concept of what happens when citizens play God; thought-provoking and mostly enjoyable (although it could tie with Scarface for the amount of times they threw the f-bomb around). 7/10
17.6: The Pianist: 2/17/19
What a haunting story. This could probably tie with Schindler's List for me in regard to heartbreaking atrocities. Loved this one. 10/10
17.7: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: 8/11/19
I found this DVD at Half Price Books for $5 and realized it was a sign for me to buy it and finally finish watching all my movies. I'm fairly certain this was the first Clint Eastwood movie I've seen, and he was pretty great. The movie itself was SO LONG (almost three hours) and very longwinded. And, being made in the 60s, the music and cinematography and camera work weren't up to the same standards as I've seen lately with the improvements that technology has made. But, I loved how all the story lines came together. There was definite comical chemistry between Blondie and Tuco. And it might have gotten me interested in watching more Westerns? 8/10
17.6: The Pianist: 2/17/19
What a haunting story. This could probably tie with Schindler's List for me in regard to heartbreaking atrocities. Loved this one. 10/10
17.7: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: 8/11/19
I found this DVD at Half Price Books for $5 and realized it was a sign for me to buy it and finally finish watching all my movies. I'm fairly certain this was the first Clint Eastwood movie I've seen, and he was pretty great. The movie itself was SO LONG (almost three hours) and very longwinded. And, being made in the 60s, the music and cinematography and camera work weren't up to the same standards as I've seen lately with the improvements that technology has made. But, I loved how all the story lines came together. There was definite comical chemistry between Blondie and Tuco. And it might have gotten me interested in watching more Westerns? 8/10
14 down. 16 to go!
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