Sports (1/09 - 5/09)

We were sitting around, tossing out ideas for the next series, when it occurred to us that we hadn't ever thought of one of the most obvious themes: sports! We decided to pick one movie from each major sport, hopefully opting for movies that weren't known by heart (i.e., no "Bull Durham"). "Caddyshack" was exempt from that rule, because, well, it has to be the golf movie.

1. Baseball: The Natural (1984)
2. Basketball: Hoosiers (1986)
3. Football: Brian's Song (the remake, 2001)
4. Hockey: Slap Shot (1977)
5. Running: Chariots of Fire (1981)
6. Soccer: La Gran Final (aka The Great Match, 2006)
7. Boxing: Diggstown (1992)

(Skipped a gathering to go see "Unwigged and Unplugged" on stage with the TIST guys. Can laughter be called a sport?)
8. Skateboarding: Thrashin' (1986)
9. Golf: Caddyshack (1980)

Time for a summer hiatus... and figuring out what the next series will be!

Brother Directors (10/18 - 12/08)

Knowing that we have a lot of fans of the Coen brothers and the Farrelly brothers, we thought we'd dig around to find some other sibling pairs. We blurred the lines a bit -- not all of the movies have both brothers directing, but they straddle writer / director / producer roles. There were more pairs out there than we expected!

1. Farrellys: Me, Myself & Irene (2000)
2. Coens: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
3. Zuckers: The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
4. Hughes: Menace II Society (1993)
5. Wachowski: V for Vendetta (2005)
6. Pang: Bangkok Dangerous (1999) - not the Nic Cage remake!

We stopped there, but here are a few other powerhouse pairs to check out:

• Hennegans ("The First Saturday in May")
• Wayans ("Don't Be a Menace to South Central...")
• Weitzes ("American Pie" and "About a Boy")
• Weinsteins ("Playing for Keeps")
• Shaws (kung fu movies)
• Quays (old animated movies)

Spy Thrillers (1/08 - 5/08)

The next genre we picked was spy thrillers, from the old-school to the new-wave, from the comic to the bizarre.

1. The 39 Steps (1935)

2. Ronin (1998)

3. From Russia with Love (1963)

4. Sneakers (1992)

5. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)

6. Spies Like Us (1985)

7. The Bourne Identity (2002)

(Incidentally, I like all of the Bourne movies, and I can't say that about many other trilogies. Maybe Back to the Future and LOTR. Before AC can comment, I'll 'fess up that I haven't seen the Godfather II and III, but that doesn't bode well for me adding it to the list. Star Wars and Harry Potter go beyond trilogies, but I still don't think they're as consistently good. Same holds for Indiana Jones, Ocean's 11/12/13, the Die Hards, and the Matrix flicks. In my humble opinion, of course.)

Christopher Walken (10/07 - 1/08)

After some discussion, the idea came up to pick someone who tends to have supporting or bit parts in cool movies. Although Steve Buscemi was high on the list, crazy Christopher Walken won out.

1. King of New York (1990)
2. The Rundown (2003)
3. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
4. Hairspray (2007)
5. Romance & Cigarettes (2005) - this one we went to see at the Varsity Theatre, finally hitting the screens after years of delay
6. Saturday Night Live: The Best of Christopher Walken (2004) - more cowbell!

One of the things we noticed (and loved) about CW is that he almost always manages to dance in his projects. Too too great! One of the best examples is the video to "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim (2001): http://www.astralwerks.com/fbs/woc/

Animation (3/07 - 6/07)

With the rise in Japanese animation, and the ever-expanding Pixar/Disney conglomerate, we decided to feature a short series of animated movies next.

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) plus two shorts: Boundin' (2003) and Creature Comforts (1989)
2. Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no haka, 1988) and Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)
3. Toy Story 2 (1999)
4. The Iron Giant (1999)
5. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)
6. Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi, 2001)
7. Cowboy Bebop (Kaubôi bibappu: Tengoku no tobira, 2001)

I have to say, though: I think The Incredibles (2004) is still the best of the best.

Obscure Grab Bag (9/06 - 2/07)

With a core group of 6 - 8 people, we figured it'd be fun to have each person bring one movie from his/her personal collection to show to the group. The one parameter: it needed to be a film that most other people wouldn't have seen. Before the movie was played, the owner explained (in 3 sentences or less) why they like/love/own it.

1. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) - AC
2. His Girl Friday (1940) - me
3. Oldboy (2003) - CL
4. Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) - JC
5. Two Hands (1999) - JB
6. Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984) - KJ
7. The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) - AL and SP
8. The Bounty (1984) - KA

I may be one of the only ones who went out and rented the first "Breakin'" soon after...

Movies Set in Chicago (2/06 - 5/06)

This was a slightly random theme, but allowed for a nice variety of movies. We stretched the definition to allow for movies that were partially set in Chicago, if not entirely set there. (I'm not 100% positive of the order below. Ah well.)

1. The Sting (1973)
2. The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
3. North by Northwest (1959)

4. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) - the big winner of the series
5. The Untouchables (1987)
6. Road to Perdition (2001)
7. The Fugitive (1993)
8. Blues Brothers (1980) - close second

Clint Eastwood (11/05 - 2/06)

Somewhere around this time we started using online surveys to see what people wanted to watch (a little more democratically). We decided to pick one actor (in this case, Mayor Clint) and watch an array his movies.

1. Per un pugno di dollari, aka A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
2. Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
3. Dirty Harry (1971)
4. Every Which Way But Loose (1978) with Clyde!
5. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
6. Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
7. Unforgiven (1992)
8. In the Line of Fire (1993)

OK, so it's not totally a democracy. I vetoed "Million Dollar Baby" and that's just life.

Documentaries (9/04 - 5/05)

Next up: documentaries! Talk about a difficult list to narrow down. This is the one genre/theme that AL and I keep saying we'll do again, since there are so many more we want to watch.

I'm not sure if this is the complete or correct list. I'll keep digging and I'll edit this post if I find more.

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Manufacturing Consent (1992)
Trekkies (1997)
42 Up (1998)
American Movie (1999)
Spellbound (2002) - not the Hitchcock
Lost in La Mancha (2002)
The Corporation (2003)
Fog of War (2003)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984) - finishing with the best mockumentary of all time

I could've sworn we watched "Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room" but maybe I saw that on my own. Hm.

Film Noir (2/04 - 6/04)

The first series was a success, so we decided to continue on and picked Film Noir as our next theme. There are a ton of movies out there, but we didn't want to overdose, so we stuck with seven + a bonus parody at the end.

1. Double Indemnity (1944)
2. Mildred Pierce (1945)
3. The Big Sleep (1946)
4. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
5. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
6. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
7. The Third Man (1949)
8. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Reviewing the list now, I'm struck again by the number of great directors, actors, and actresses represented.

Btw, if you have personal favorites that aren't on this list (or other lists), please do comment about them. I know my dad thinks that the original "DOA" should've made the cut.

Movies That Changed Us (2/03 - 12/03)

We started the series in February of 2003, meeting at my house on alternate weeks. We took a break over the summer (it's a travesty to stay inside on a Seattle summer night), and then continued through December.

We decided to go in chronological order (the reverse of how Nick Clooney presented them in the book). After each movie, we'd skim-read his chapter and usually lambast his writing or theories. As we all know, the reason "top ten" lists are fun is because we get to disagree with them! I think most would agree, however, that we're glad we saw the movies.

Here are the movies, in the order we watched them. [The links will take you to IMDb.com for more info.]

1. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
2. The Big Parade (1925)
3. The Jazz Singer (1927)
4. Morocco (1930)
5. Love Me Tonight (1932)
6. Triumph of the Will (1935)
7. Boys Town (1938)
8. Stagecoach (1939)
9. The Great Dictator (1940)
10. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
11. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
12. The Snake Pit (1948)
13. On the Waterfront (1954)
14. Marty (1955)
15. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
16. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. Taxi Driver (1976)
19. Star Wars (1977)
20. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

As you can see, all but the last three were made before 1970, so the list is heavily biased for Nick Clooney's generation. I think my generation would venture a lot of other options for the post-1970 decades... so maybe someone needs to write a follow-up book! (It could be like Lazy Sunday, Lazy Monday, etc.)

There's no denying the firepower in the cast and crew of these movies, though. The list includes major directors (Ford, Sturges, Scorsese, Kazan, Kubrick), heavy-hitting actors (Brando, Chaplin, Crosby, Wayne, Tracy, De Niro), and sultry actresses (Dietrich, Loy, de Havilland, Taylor). The topics weren't lightweight either: KKK, Nazis, abortion, insane asylums, homosexuality, war, plastics...

By far, Star Wars had the biggest turnout.

How it all began

Back in December of 2002, AL and I both happened to hear the same piece on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=865008

(Gotta love NPR and their online archives.)

To save you the effort of following the link, the piece was about a then-new book called The Movies That Changed Us by Nick Clooney (yes, George's dad and the late Rosemary's brother). The book is basically a list of the twenty movies that Clooney (not the general public) believes had the biggest impact on American culture. Not, mind you, the best movies of all time. Nor did they have to be very well-made movies, as we later discovered. He devoted one chapter to each movie, to explain why it made the cut.

After hearing the story, AL and I talked about the fact that we hadn't seen most of the movies mentioned... and since neither of us have the patience (discipline?) for book clubs, we thought that maybe a movie series would be the perfect solution. Friends getting together, every other week, to watch a movie that they'd never seen (or hadn't seen in a long time). Throw in some vegetarian taco fixings beforehand, and discussion (if warranted) afterwards... and you have the makings of a great ritual.

And thus it began!