A To Do List: 100 Acclaimed Films I still haven't seen and need to

By: willow

I’ve seen a lot of films, but I do have quite a few blind spots. I’m going to make this list of 100 acclaimed films I haven’t seen to date. I’m going to work through these and try to watch all of them in a timely manner. I’ll post in here once I’ve seen one of them with a star grade or whatever. Hope you all enjoy. Hopefully this inspires me to work harder on getting some classics watched. As I watch each film I will remove it from the list.

Films Watched
1. City Lights (Chaplin, 1931) 4/5
-Loved Virgina Cherril and Charlie Chaplin’s chemistry. The comedic parts are extremely well done and the romance is one of the best I’ve seen. The film really won me over in the third act. Great start to this list.

2. M (Lang, 1931) 5/5
-I was told by a couple people that I would end up loving this and they were right. Just every aspect of the film is incredible. Need to see more Lang.

3. Once Upon a Time in America (Leone, 1984)- 5/5
-Leone is a master of cinema. This is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. Although I still probably prefer TGTBTU as my favorite Leone.

4. The Exterminating Angel (Bunuel, 1962)- 4/5
-Bunuel has impressed me so much with the three films of his I’ve seen to date. The Exterminating Angel is devilishly funny and dreamlike. The downward spiral that all of these characters go through is incredibly interesting to watch and Bunuel delivers both tension and comedy in a masterful way.

5. Blow-Up (Antonioni, 1966)-4/5
Antonioni makes some of the more visually pleasing films I’ve seen and this is no different. Blow-Up is a slow burn, but endlessly captivating. Plus The Byrds.

6. Lolita (Kubrick, 1962)- 4/5
I have a feeling this film is going to be swirling around in my head for a while so I’m going to wait on giving it any sort of rating. There were some elements that I thought were brilliant, but there were also some places where I felt there was some obvious studio interference here. I also felt that the screenplay was toned down quite a bit because of the subject matter and I’m not really sure how I feel about that, but as I said there are some brilliant moments here. Peter Sellars for example is a godsend and the first hour or so is damn near perfect in my opinion. So I may come back and write a bit more about this film after I’ve let it sit for a while. Definitely going to read the book now. I feel it will be much better than the film.
EDIT- I suppose I’ll settle for a 4/5.

7. Being John Malkovich (Jonze, 1999) 4/5
Charlie Kaufman is a guy I’ve admired for a while because he writes unique scripts that delve into both fantasy and real life. All in all he makes the viewer think a bit with his words which is always a good thing. I wouldn’t call this his thought provoking work or even his best but it’s worthy of being compared to the likes of Synecdoche New York and Eternal Sunshine. I liked the whole “Does your body define who you are?” aspect here and I think Kaufman riffs on that wonderfully. Malkovich is good stuff.

8. Straw Dogs (Peckinpah, 1971)- 5/5
Probably the best film I’ve ever seen about the idea of violence.

9. The Red Balloon (Lamorisse, 1956)- 5/5
Considering how much I love Lamorisse’s White Mane it came as no surprise that I also loved this film. The Red Balloon is one of the more charming experiences I’ve had with any film in recent memory. I’ve had quite a few great experiences with this list so far, and The Red Balloon is maybe my favorite to date. The scene with where the boy meets the girl with the blue balloon made my heart sing. Just a perfect little film. Love love love.

10. Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936)- 4/5
I’m not entirely sold on Chaplin yet, but I find myself liking his films more and more each day. Modern Times was my third Chaplin film and once again he impressed me. Most of the time I react more to spoken comedy, like in stand up, and find slapstick relatively boring. Chaplin is one of the few guys that really make slapstick work for me (Woody Allen being another). The romance here isn’t quite as strong as City Lights (but what romance is?), but it’s quite good. I’m interested in seeing more of Chaplin’s work at this point in my cinematic life.

11. All About My Mother (Almodóvar, 1999)- 5/5
Could contend for my favorite film of the year to date. A Film like this is the reason why I spend so much time with cinema. Almodovar made, what I consider to be one of the finest female films of all time here. The main reasons why I love AAMM so much is because of the dialogue and the characters. A lot can be said about Almodovar’s female characters and how accurately he portrays women of all kinds, but I’ll simply say that I think the man is a brilliant writer based off of this lone film. I ADORE this work of art.

12. Cries and Whispers (Bergman, 1972)- 5/5
Cries and Whispers might be my favorite Bergman. It’s up there with Fanny and Alexander right now, and with more thought I think that could easily change. Considering that Fanny and Alexander is one of my favorite films of all time that would tell you how much I loved Cries and Whispers. It’s an absolutely devastating film soaked in beautiful compositions. Bergman is one of the very best.

13. Nights of Cabiria (Fellini, 1957)- 4/5
I never have any idea what to say about movies after watching them so I’m going to keep this very short. Cabiria is the second Fellini film I’ve seen and I’m still quite impressed with the man’s work. I’m a beginner when it comes to both Fellini and Italian cinema, but I would like to watch more from that country and Fellini in general. I don’t like Cabiria as much as 8 1/2, but comparing a film to 8 1/2 is ridiculous anyway. Giulietta Massina was incredible. I need to see more from Fellini.

14. Yi Yi (Yang, 2000)- 5/5
A Perfect movie and a new favorite.

15. Paris, Texas (Wenders, 1984) 5/5
Obviously starting to sound like a broken record here, but this film was fantastic. I guess there is a reason why I should watch these films, and that reason being they are all great. Paris, Texas could easily contend for my favorite of this list. bla bla bla great cinema is great. Right? Yes.

16. 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957) 4/5
Well acted, extremely well directed, and extremely entertaining.

17. Hiroshima Mon Amour (Resnais, 1959) 3/5
First film in this set that didn’t impress me on a grand scale. There are certainly aspects here that I thought were fantastic, but I found it to be a bit overbearing at times. A beautiful looking film though, and worthy of being watched by many a cinephile, just not really my type of film.

18. The Seventh Seal (Bergman, 1957) 4.5/5
I definitely should have gotten around to this sooner. Nearly perfect on every level. The only thing that didn’t really blow me away was the music. Beautiful film.

19. Talk to Her (Almodovar, 2003) 4/5
Really solid film. Almodovar is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors

20. Down by Law (Jarmusch, 1986) 4/5
I feel like Down By Law isn’t as good as Jarmusch’s best work but I had a blast with it. Tom Waits <3

21. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pasolini, 1964) 5/5
One of the very best films I’ve ever seen

22. Wild Strawberries (Bergman, 1957) 4.5/5
An astounding film about all facets of life. Bergman really knocks me out on almost every occasion.

23. The Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939) 5/5

24. North by Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959) 4.5/5

25. Repulsion (Polanski, 1965) 5/5

26. The Piano (Campion, 1993) 5/5

27. The Elephant Man (Lynch, 1980) 5/5

28. Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais, 1961) 3.5/5