Top 100 Movies!

Since I renewed my movie-watching goal two weeks ago I have managed to cross several films off the list: Tootsie, Fargo, An American In Paris, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and Chinatown. I would have liked to write full reviews for all of them, but it's been a busy week for me so instead here are a couple thoughts on each:

Tootsie: I think I already mentioned this one. I like funny movies and this was a funny movie. I also love Dustin Hoffman, who is an incredible actor. So this one got a high score in my book.

Fargo: I enjoyed watching this movie, but I don't know if it deserved to be on the Top 100. I haven't seen many Coen films, but I preferred No Country For Old Men to this one. I think No Country has a greater right to be among the Top 100. Maybe someday it will be. Still, Frances McDormand is a great actress and her character was pretty endearing.

An American In Paris: I hated this movie. I didn't like the plot or the characters, I don't think Gene Kelly is as great an actor as people claim, and the 18-minute ballet wasn't enough to get me to buy the 30 second resolution to the film. I understand why it is ranked among the Top 100 but I still think it is a crappy movie and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Yankee Doodle Dandy: I put this one off for years knowing nothing about it because I assumed it was going to be an army musical. Turns out it is about Broadway. It was actually pretty good. Cagney is not a great singer, though. In fact, his voice is pretty annoying. But the movie was fun to watch, for a musical. I've had the songs stuck in my head for the past five days though, and I could've done without that.

Chinatown: Absolutely brilliant. I love Nicholson. I also think Huston did an incredible job in this movie, particularly in the end scene where he's coming, zombie-like, for the little girl even after getting shot in the arm. It is saying a lot for me to say I like a film noir, because in general I dislike the genre and all of its cliches. But this one was entertaining and kept me guessing. Also it was one of the few that Matt tolerated (the only other one he watched with me was Fargo, which he spent a good 30 minutes googling afterward trying to figure out "why it was good").

I have a pile of DVDs sitting next to my TV waiting to be watched in the coming weeks. The Apartment, Raging Bull (which I might have already seen but gotten confused between Rocky and On The Waterfront... I'll watch it again nonetheless), Lawrence of Arabia, Bonnie and Clyde, and Midnight Cowboy are hopefully my next five. I'm still waiting for Midnight Cowboy to come in the mail, so hopefully I get to that in the next couple weeks. Otherwise I'll have to replace it with a western... yuck.