Skip to main content

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.
Image result for embarassed gif
Source
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.
Source

  • 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)


 creep arrival apocalypse now gabber picnic mud bath GIF
Source

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Manchester by the Sea (2017)

Source If there is one way to get me giddy for a film, it’s having Friday Night Lights' very own Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) in it.  Although other fans of one of the greatest TV shows ever may also be hoping for a 2 hour Chandler motivational speech, that isn't how Manchester by the Sea pans out.  Instead Kenneth Lonergan (who writes and directs) has created a deeply moving and realistic look at grief, family and loss.  A comedy it ain't, but Manchester by the Sea was a film I could have watched for another 5 hours so attached was I to it's characters and story.  It's subject matter makes it a difficult sell, but I really hope this finds an audience as it was an enthralling piece of work. Source The story is a difficult one to tell while avoiding certain spoilers, but I think that is important so as not to lessen the impact of particular scenes.  Essentially, Manchester by the Sea is about Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) -  a man forced to care fo...

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Source During a badly hungover train journey from London back home last weekend I turned to some classic Flight of the Conchords tunes on my iPod to get me through. The New Zealand duo have a back catalogue of parody songs and two HBO television series, and if you haven’t checked them out before then I strongly recommend. When I got home and collapsed on the sofa I began scrolling through Netflix for an easy to watch film to nurse me through the dying embers of my killer headache, and turned to a comedy co-created by one of the pair, Jermaine Clement. He and Taika Waitiki co-wrote, directed and starred in this hilarious horror mockumentary about cameramen granted full access to the house of a Wellington based vampires. What We Do in the Shadows was exactly what I needed. Source I missed the film during it’s original release in cinemas. To my mind it wasn’t out for long, and that was a shame as I was huge fan of Clement’s Flight of the Conchords work in particular. He an...

Wonder Woman (2017)

Source You may have heard this already, but Wonder Woman is a bit good.  I've grown pretty tired of the superhero formula and constant revolving door of money machine films in similar packaging, but was really impressed with the freshness of Deadpool (2016) and in particular, Logan   (2017) .   One of my favourite YouTube subscriptions , Nerdwriter , analysed this evolution of the superhero genre in his most recent video and put it much better than I ever could - suddenly, it's an interesting time to be making a superhero movie again. Source Saying that, until the positive reviews began to stream in I was approaching the release of Wonder Woman with a fair bit of trepidation.   DC film have obviously been really disappointing, drab affairs of late.  Although I caught Man of Steel (2013) and Suicide Squad (2016), I'll admit that it's negative reception put me off sitting through over 3 hours of Batman vs Superman.  It's a shame as although Man o...