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My Movie Bucket List

The summer I graduated from university I took the opportunity of a bit of downtime to start to work through those films “you need to watch.” There are loads of books and online lists of all of the films you need to see before you die (one of which I really enjoyed working through recently), but there are some films that find their way on each. I’m talking about those films where people’s jaws drop to the floor if you were to mention that you haven’t them. “OMG you would LOVE that!… HOW have you never seen that?... You haven’t LIVED until you have watched it,” etc etc.
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That summer I made full use of the LoveFilm offer of a free month’s subscription, and then eventually succumbed to paying for a few more. The idea of renting DVDs online seems dated already but at the time it was a great chance for me to get hold of all of the classic films I wanted to work through. I would have a list of films I ‘needed’ to watch and I would receive one on the doormat every other day. I then had to watch it as soon as possible so that I could get it back in the post and receive the next one on the list. Despite my best efforts there are still some films I ‘have’ to see. One day I will do a post on my attempt to educate my girlfriend with films she hadn’t seen (Jurassic Park was one!... see, I’m doing it now), but for now here is my list of movies that I’ve never caught but really probably should have.
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  • Citizen Kane (1941)
  • Casablanca (1942)
  • On the Waterfront (1954)
  • Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
  • Dr Zhivago (1965)
  • Deer Hunter (1978)
  • Apocalypse Now (1979)
  • The Blues Brothers (1980)
  • Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
  • JFK (1991)
  • Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
  • The Blair Witch Project (1999)
  • Spirited Away (2001)
  • Amélie (2001)
  • City of God (2002)
  • Oldboy (2003)
  • V for Vendetta (2006)


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Embarrassingly, I actually own a fair few of these... *awkwardly glances over at Apocalypse Now still in it’s cellophane.* Hopefully I’ll start chipping away at this list over the next few months.

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