Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Movies to Watch Before I Die

One of my mid-year resolutions is to watch more movies. However, I just can’t watch any movies to fulfill it, right? Thus, I came up with a list of what to watch.

Some movies in my list were released just recently, but I missed watching them in cinemas (The Fighter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid). Others were released way before I was born, like Citizen Kane, which was released in 1941 (my parents weren’t born yet then either).

A lot of movies here are from different best-movies-lists: Time’s All-Time 100 best films, AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies, and Yahoo’s 100 Movies to See Before You Die. I included in my list those that are common in these lists, like The Godfather and Casablanca. They must be that great to be included in three best-movies-lists. There are other such movies in those lists, but I am not familiar with them, so they were not included.

I have watched some of the movies here already, but I was either too young or too dull to understand them then, so I’m going to watch them again, like The NeverEnding Story and The Matrix. Others are actually film adaptations of books that are, or used to be, on my 'to read list,' like The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ll just watch the movies to save time. Hehe

If some great films are not on the list, that’s probably because I have seen them already, like all the Harry Potter movies (except for the last one not shown yet). Also, Porco Rosso is the only film of Hayao Miyazaki here because I have watched all of his other films (the major ones).

I was able to obtain copies of some of the movies, and all I have to do is watch them. If you have copies (DVD or PC format) of any of them, I will be truly grateful if you can let me borrow them.

(list, in alphabetical order, after the jump)

127 Hours (2010)
2001 - A Space Odyssey (1968)
500 Days of Summer (2009)
Alice in Wonderland (any of the three versions released)
Alien (1979)
Almost Famous (2000)
Amelie (2001)
American Beauty (1999)
Billy Elliot (2000)
Black Swan (2010)
Blind Side, The (2009)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
Casablanca (1942)
Charlotte's Web (2006)
Chronicles of Narnia (series)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Clueless (1995)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
E.T. (1982)
Easy A (2010)
Ella Enchanted (2004)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Fighter, The (2010)
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
Godfather, The (1972)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Goodfellas (1990)
Graduate, The (1967)
Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Great Gatsby, The (2000)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The (2005)
Hurt Locker, The (2008)
Jaws (1975)
Kick-Ass (2010)
Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Lord of the Flies (1963)
Lost in Translation (2003)
M*A*S*H* (1970)
Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Matrix, The (1999)
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
NeverEnding Story, The (1984)
Norwegian Wood (2010)
Pan's Labyrynth (2006)
People vs. Larry Flint, The (1996)
Porco Rosso (1992)
Pride and Prejudice (2005)
Princess Bride, The (1987)
Psycho (1960)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Schindler's List (1993)
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Sophie's World (1999)
Sound of Music, The (1959)
Star Wars (Episodes 3, 5, and 6)
Tangled (2010)

Taxi Driver (1976)
Time Machine, The (1960)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Tron (1982)
Vanity Fair (2004)
West Side Story (1961)
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)

(Note: Those with strikethrough are the movies I have already watched. Updated October 14, 2011.)

4 comments:

Paul Xymon Garcia said...

great list! i recommend adding more movies from the golden days of hollywood: sunset boulevard, vertigo, etc. also from french new wave and italian neorealism. they're gotta be on any movies-to-see-before-i-die list. :)

Karlow said...

thanks, paul, for the movie suggestions. will add them to my list. :)

Li'L rAsCaL said...

I have copies of the ff:

500 days of summer
diary of a wimpy kid
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
chronicles of narnia (the warrior the witch and the wardrobe
tangled
y tu mama tambien
black swan
alice and wonderland
127 hours

if you're into asian films (wong kar wai) or european films I also have some. :)

Karlow said...

leelai, ikaw ba to? napanood ko na yung diary of a wimpy kid kagabi. meron na kong alice in wonderland, ung kay tim burton. peram naman nung rest. thanks!