#10 - Watch 3 More Movies From the AFI List

 #15 - 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

8/6/23

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be doing a movie/concert for 2001: A Space Odyssey laster this year, so I thought I'd watch it first to decide if I wanted to see it with the symphony playing the score. (I saw Star Wars: A New Hope this way a couple months ago, and it was so so fun.) 

I have been meaning to watch this for a long time anyways, as Kubrick and spooky stuff is totally up my alley. So I was very happy to see it on HBO Max.

Welp. I didn't get it. At all.

Like, with everything going on with AI right now, the fact that Kubrick was able to imagine space travel with an AI in 1968 is pretty impressive. (Plus, they imagined this all happening in 1992.) 

And the cinematography was incredible.

But, I didn't get it. I even looked it up, and I was like, oh, yeah, well, okay. So I don't understand how it's on the AFI list and won Oscars. 

But. Here we are.

#18 - The General (1926)

12/13/23

Why. Why is this on this list? I'm sure there's some reason, likely related to the year it was released, but I am so on the dislike side of indifferent that I'm not going to look it up. It's just about a Confederate dweeb who wants to join the Confederate Army and they won't let him but then he saves the day with his nerdy skills and luck, and then there's some slapstick and him just tossing around this woman he supposedly loves. And why is she even in the middle of the combat area? Eh. Whatever. For fun. I was actually looking forward to another silent film because I've actually enjoyed others on this list. This one? Not so much.

#9 - Vertigo (1958)

12/31/23

Okay. This one. Yes. I get it. I suspected the twist, but then, when it's revealed to the viewer, it only intensifies the story. I could not figure out how the other characters were going to learn of the twist and what they'd do when they did. The cinematography was amazing. And the intensity kept getting amped up. I think this was the first Hitchcock film I've watched (somehow), and I'm pretty sure I'm going to add watching more to my list for next year. Fantastic.