Summer Movie List

Summer Movie List

Below is a list of the movies that I am going to try to watch this summer. Hopefully I will grow in my understanding of the medium through these films. I always love summer because it frees me up a little bit to geek out over film. Here's the list. Feel free to recommend other films or tell me where I've gone wrong (or view some for yourself. The list is not copyrighted).

M. Hulot’s Holiday

The final Jaques Tati film (The Illusionist, which I had no idea was a Tati film until I read it in Ebert’s blog) will be airing decades after the man’s death. In preparation for the event, I will take my head knowledge about the filmmaker and convert it to experience by watching all of his celebrated whimsical comedies.

Playtime

The next adventure for Hulot.

Mon Ocle

The one after that. Really, for as big a fan of Keaton and Chaplin as I am, all these films just look awesome.

Monsieur Verdoux

I’m going to watch some more Chaplin over the summer. Never can get enough Chaplin. Some of his talkie stuff never interested me until I saw a lot of people claim this one as a masterpiece on par with his silent work. We will see people. We will see.

The Kid

One of the last essential Chaplin silent comedies that I have left to see. It’s an hour long and I even own it. Shouldn’t be too hard.

High and Low

Working on my Kurosawa. Getting away from reflective dramas and Samurai epics, I want to see some of the filmmaker’s variety this summer.

Stray Dog

This pic also reflects the above sentiment, and I geek out over the thought of a Kurosawa film noir.

Solaris

Tarkovsky’s Andre Rublev did nothing for me (I hear it’s a multiple viewer, so maybe I will get back to it eventually). However, as a sci-fi geek (who turned film elitist some time later), the key to my heart is through my inner nerd(I tried being more metaphorical by using blaster or lighstabre there, but realized they implied something entirely different). I get the feeling this will be a far more effective experience.

Mulholland Dr.

Too many people had this film on their end of the year best list for me to exclude it. Not sure what I will get. The only Lynch I’ve seen is Elephant Man (which I hear is by far his most traditional film). Looking forward to it.

Floating Weeds

There is a vague chance I will drop the entire rest of my summer’s plans and just watch Ozu. Floating Weeds has been on my radar for years (since Ebert called it one of his ten favorite movies of all time), but only now that I’ve seen several Ozu films do I think I’m really ready to appreciate it like it deserves.

Le Doulos

Last summer Melville was probably second only to Renoir for filmmakers to wow me. This summer I move away from his more established epics and watch some of his films that many of the New Wave filmmakers credited as influential in their work.

Bob Le Flambeur

Refer to the above comments on Le Doulos.

I Walked with a Zombie

I can’t get enough of Jaques Tourneur and Val Lewton. This is supposedly their best pairing (at least in the subjective opinions of my friends who’ve seen them).

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

More Lewton. His movies are amazing. I get the feeling that if I ever wind up making films, they will hopefully be like Lewton’s.

The Death of Mr. Lasarescu

I have a definitive favorite film of 2007 (No Country for Old Men), 2008 (Wall-E), and 2009 (Where the Wild Things Are). However, I continue my search for a definitive favorite film from 2006. This dark comedy has gotten a lot of positive feedback, and many tell me this is where my search will end.

Broadcast News

It seems minor, but I acted in a scene from it for a class and have read the screenplay. Seems a like a cute little film. Nothing mind-blowing, but that’s not necessary.

Punch Drunk Love

I’m going to give Paul Thomas Anderson another chance. If I like this, then tack Magnolia onto the viewing list. Otherwise, he will remain a guy who I really, truly do respect, but just can’t get into, like Scorsese.

La Dolce Vita

One of the most necessary films I haven’t seen; I confess I’ve only seen two Fellini films (8 1/2 and I, Vitelloni), and I consider one of them (8 1/2) to be a masterpiece.

The Lower Depths

Last summer Jean Renoir revived my love of cinema. This movie has been on my queue longer than I care to mention.

La Bete Humaine

More Renoir. I have a feeling I won’t be able to get enough of this guy over the summer.

The River

Still Renoir, but was recommended to me by a list of unsung classics. http://obscureforgottenunloved.blogspot.com/2010/05/40-critically-acclaimed-but-little-seen.html

Bela Tarr

No idea why it was in my queue, but when I saw it there, I read some critical response (which I must have also done a year ago when I first put it there) which excited me for it. It looks intriguing. I sometimes like reaching into a hat and seeing what I pull out.

Ride Lonesome

Also recommended in the aforementioned unsung classics list as the MOST under-appreciated movie of all time. As my top pick for that honor (Make Way for Tomorrow) comes in second on that list, I am excited to see this one.

Apocalypse Now

Still haven’t seen it. By definition that means I really need to. Forget what I said about La Dolce Vita. This is easily the most essential film on my list.

The Conversation

I have this incredible desire to see Tetro (for some reason I can’t really explain), but I feel like first, I should watch all the rest of essential Coppola. This and the above movie should suffice.

The Decalogue

The ten hour opus is something I tried to do last summer. It’s one of the most revered creations in cinema, and it definitely is one of the most acclaimed films I have not seen.

Metropolis: The Complete Version

Even taking into consideration Toy Story 3, Scott Pilgrim, and Inception, the return of Fritz Lang’s epic sci-fi masterpiece to the cinema is easily my most anticipated movie event of 2010.

The Asphalt Jungle

John Huston hasn’t really been on my radar for quite a while. All of his movies have somewhat underwhelmed me, but I’m going to give him another shot.

Barry Lyndon

I haven’t watched a Kubrick film since high school (almost four years now). 2001: A Space Odyssey is having a free screening near the end of the summer. I will almost certainly be attending that, but in the meantime, I’d really like to keep moving on in the man’s filmography.

The Killing

Early Kubrick excites me. Don’t know why. The movie has a great reputation as a top notch thriller.

The Stranger

I was stupid enough to believe the propaganda that Orson Welles only made one complete movie in his career, and it was the best movie of all time (Mr. Adarkin... I kid, I kid). Eventually I believed that he got two movies made (Touch of Evil, which had to wait forty years to get the director’s vision in front of an audience). Then earlier this year I saw The Trial, which absolutely blew me away. This summer I’m going to watch all the Welles I can get my hands on.

The Lady from Shanghai

It’s the only other Welles I can find on Netflix. I’m sure I will do more searching and hopefully find more.

I’ve also hoped to find some way to get my hands on some obscure silents (like stuff from Sjostrom, Pabst, Stroheim, and Lubitsch), but with no plan on how to get some of that stuff, I will have to keep scouring the internet for cheap ways of finding them.