1001 Movies To See Before You Die: 2nd Update

Just to get this as up to speed as possible, I thought I would quickly list everything on this list that I’ve watched so far in 2010. Most of these I had seen before, but starting with clean slate, thought it would be cool:

An Andalusian Dog (1928) – This is that Salvador Dali move you’ve probably seen clips from…the silent film with the lady who gets her eyeball sliced open with a razor blade. The rest of the film is just as unsettling

Duck Soup (1933) – Had to introduce my youngest daughter to the Marx Brothers somehow!

High Society(1956) – One of my wife’s favorites. While it’s an inferior musical version of The Philadelphia Story, the “Swellegant, Ellegant Party” duet with Bing and Frankie is pretty awesome

The Bridge on the River Kwai(1957) – Showed this to my oldest daughter on Memorial Day. How many kinds of awesome is this movie??!! Damn, Alec Guinness was the shit!!

Patton(1970) – While I’ve seen this a million times, I watched this earlier this year while recovering from surgery. I was completely out of my mind on hallucinogenic painkillers at the time, and so watching George C. Scott shooting at fighter planes with his service revolver was a surreal experience.

Dirty Harry(1971) – While I was convalescing from the aforementioned surgery, I made a point of watching all of the Dirty Harry movies in a row. And I discovered the unsung hero of that series: Albert Popwell. He was the guy who Clint was pointing the gun at in the first movie when he does the “Do ya fell lucky punk” speech. But in Magnum Force he plays a pimp driving a cartoonishly pimped out Cadillac who smothers his ho in the back seat, in The Enforcer he plays the jive talkin’ leader of a Black Panther-like organization, and in Sudden Impact he plays a cop friend of Harry’s that gets shot to death in Harry’s apartment. The only one of the series he wasn’t in was The Dead Pool, but at least we got “James” Carrey lyp-synching Welcome to the Jungle in that one. So let’s hear it for Albert Popwell!

Serpico (1973) – Terrific movie, I hadn’t seen it before now.  This was back when Pacino could act.

Mad Max(1979) – So I watched all 3 Mad Max movies in a row.  The Road Warrior is still the best.  But some parts of Beyond Thunderdome are embarrassingly bad.  Tina Turner has one of her henchmen dressed playing a saxaphone with long Kenny G hair and dangly clothing.  He looks like that Sergio character Jon Hamm has been doing on Saturday Night Live lately!

This Is Spinal Tap(1984) – “The bigger the cushion, the better the pushin!”

Toy Story(1995) – In the run up to Toy Story 3 I watched the first two the night before.  Still great.  In fact, the day that Pixar finally makes a bad movie, which they are yet to do, I think I will die a little inside.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) – I watched this whole series in a row as well.  Not sure why they pick the third film over the other two since they all seem to be of a piece.  But rarely has Matt Damon been better.

The Class(2008) – If you ever need to know what’s so difficult about being a teacher, you need to watch this movie.  Then go out and vote yes on your next school levy, cuz these people don’t get paid enough.  I know this is a French school, but the issues in the classroom are universal.

So that is the update for the year so far.  I’ll add more as I go.

About

I'm a family man who got his Drama degree back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and now works at a desk. I love movies of all kinds, and I am still working my way through the list of 1001 movies you must see before you die.

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