watch the AFI Top 100 American movies

Since AFI edited and updated their movie list in 2007, I feel like I still need to see removed movies that I hadn’t seen plus the ones on the new list.

Movies on the new list that I have seen:
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring—This is one of my favorite movies.
71. Saving Private Ryan
72. The Shawshank Redemption
83. Titanic—I’m sure others are wondering why this movie made the list, as am I.
89. The Sixth Sense—What amazed me about this movie was even months after it came out, everyone would just say “go see this movie” and not give away the surprise. Nobody, or nobody I ran into, ever gave it away.
97. Blade Runner—When I was first dating my husband, he loved this movie and we’ve watched so many versions of it.
99. Toy Story—With kids, how could I not have seen this movie? In fact, I’ve seen it more than all these other movies combined, I can assure you.

So, I’ve seen a total of 32 movies off the 2007 list or 27 off the 1998 list. Guess I’m liking the updated list, even though some of my 1998 list seen movies were removed.

So, since writing my entry in Sept 2006, I have not made much progress on this goal. I don’t know if my husband gave up on it or what has happened. Tonight, we watched
46. A Clockwork Orange

My husband wants to do this because of aspiring film-making. So, I am roped in as well. If my husband has already seen them, I’m unlikely to actually watch them. But, I’ll list the ones we have seen. I’m being rather loose in my “have seen.” If I’ve seen part of them, they make my list. Even if I was young and its been 20 years, I’m listing them. There’s not enough time in the world for me to re-watch all the movies on this list and do anything else on my 43things list.

I have seen:
84. Fargo (Why is this on the list? I saw it at the college Theater, obviously in college. I HATED it with a passion. A friend from my all-women residence hall took me.)
83. Platoon – I cried so hard. I simply remember the scene with Willem Dafoe with his arms outstretched and Adagio for Strings playing. I remembering watching this in our observatory with my dad when I was an adolescent.)
Oh, I have to say, I won’t watch Rocky on principle. Don’t ask.
75. Dances with Wolves – I really liked this movie and watched it a lot. my husband hates this movie and Kevin Costner, so I doubt we’ll watch it again.
73. Wuthering Heights – Watched in high school literature. We had a tendency in my high school lit classes to read classics and then see the movies based upon them.
72. Ben-Hur – It is unlikely I have not seen this as it is my father’s favorite movie. So I am sure I have been subjected to it since we got our VCR when I was 12. I think my DH plans on watching this again. Maybe he and my dad can have some male bonding with it and I’ll be left off.
71. Forrest Gump – Another movie I really enjoyed when I saw it. I think I saw it in the theater with my mother.
65. The Silence of the Lambs – We watched this as a family. My mother wanted to see it badly, but is not a fan of scary movies. We had all the lights on in the house.
60. Raiders of the Lost Ark – I’ve seen this many times, but it sticks out that my DH and I watched this on tv on our wedding night.
58. Fantasia – I’ve seen this many times and we often put it on the DVD player in our van for long trips so there is music that we all like and something for the kids to watch.
55. The Sound of Music – I don’t think I’ve seen this since high school, although last week I walked into my friend’s lab as I was leaving and sang “So long, farewell, aufviedersehn, goodnight!”
49. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – Who hasn’t seen this movie? We have it on DVD from the collector’s edition.
48. Jaws – I swear when we went to Florida when I was in junior high, every time we turned on the tv after crashing from swim and Disney, a Jaws movie was on. I think I saw them all that summer.
41. West Side Story – Ooh, another one I really liked. I watched this with my dad. We used to sing parts of it to each other.
40. North by Northwest – Just watched that one last night after DH recorded it on Tivo for this goal of his.
34. To Kill a Mockingbird – Another one I saw for lit class in high school, although I’ve watched it with my mother too. The book is such a classic and should be required reading for all Americans (I’m not sure everyone will get it in a lit class.)
29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – Just watched that as I study a biophysical chemistry article for an exam this afternoon.
25. E.T. – Um, saw that in the theatre when it came out. Had nightmares for months. (And I don’t scare easy, nor have nightmares often – at least not hallucinagenic ones – that I still remember vividly.) Refuse to ever watch it again.
20. One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest – Saw this in high school, not sure what setting, but do remember a few scenes.
15. Star Wars – Yep. Many times.
11. It’s a Wonderful Life – “Every time a bell rings, an angel earns its wings.” Don’t think I’ll subject myself to that one. Attending Catholic elementary and high school, I watched in school many years.
9. Schindler’s List – Definitely have seen. Own on video.
6. The Wizard of Oz – Again, reruns on tv, who hasn’t seen this? Actually, my kids enjoy it and I know we’ve watched it at least once in the past 4 years.
5. Lawrence of Arabia – My grandmother took me to see this when it played a special feature at a local theatre that actually has since been torn down. It was boring. I remember desert scenes – oh wait, that’s the entire 3 hour movie.
4. Gone with the Wind – Watched with my parents on tv.
1. Citizen Kane – Watching right now with my DH and trying to study, and do laundry, and get papers graded.

25 out of 100 isn’t too bad for not yet reaching age 30, is it? I’m sure my number will increase drastically over the next month.