1001 Movies to See Before You Die

Hey everyone. While I was putzing around on the Internet earlier today, I stumbled across a book called "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die". I knew about the 'best of the best' movie lists on sites like IMDB, but I had forgotten about this book as well. Apparently it's published on a yearly basis with different films cycling out in order to make room for recent pieces.

I like these types of lists because it helps push me towards watching something really impactful that I may not have found otherwise. I decided to see how I matched up against the list and... it's not pretty. Like I mentioned before, there are movies that were on this 1001 list in earlier publications of the book and have since been taken off, so I found the list with every movie that was on the list even once. Here's a link by the way: http://1001films.wikia.com/wiki/The_List

So, out of the "1001", here are the movies that I have definitely watched all the way through (there are others that I'm less certain, so I kept them off for now):

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)

Gone With the Wind (1939)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Fantasia (1940)

Pinocchio (1940)

Dumbo (1941)

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Guys and Dolls (1955)

West Side Story (1961)

The Nutty Professor (1963)

The Great Escape (1963)

Mary Poppins (1964)

The Sound of Music (1965)

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo) (1966)

The Jungle Book (1967)

The Producers (1968)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

American Graffiti (1973)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Star Wars (1977)

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Grease (1978)

The Muppet Movie (1979)

The Jerk (1979)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Airplane! (1980)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

The Evil Dead (1982)

A Christmas Story (1983)

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

The Terminator (1984)

Ghostbusters (1984)

This is Spinal Tap (1984)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Back to the Future (1985)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

The Princess Bride (1987)

The Naked Gun (1988)

Big (1988)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)

Batman (1989)

Field of Dreams (1989)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Schindler's List (1993)

Groundhog Day (1993)

Jurassic Park (1993)

The Lion King (1994)

Forrest Gump (1994)

Babe (1995)

Toy Story (1995)

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Independence Day (1996)

Titanic (1997)

There's Something About Mary (1998)

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Fight Club (1999)

The Matrix (1999)

Gladiator (2000)

Meet the Parents (2000)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Amélie (Le Fabuleux Destin d' Amélie Poulain) (2001)

Monsoon Wedding (2001)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Chicago (2002)

Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) (2006)

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)

Children of Men (2006)

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

The Dark Knight (2008)

Wall-E (2008)

District 9 (2009)

Avatar (2009)

Inception (2010)

The Social Network (2010)

Bridesmaids (2011)

Lincoln (2012)

Les Misérables (2012)

Argo (2012)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

 

They feel a little more significant on their own, but that's 91 from over 1000. That list also includes a large number of international films. As I was going through the list, I was a little surprised with the number of horror films on the list, but it started to feel like confirmation bias. 

 

Anyway, I think I want to watch more movies on this list. I'm not going to say "I need to see all the movies" or "I'm going to go up to 1000 in a year", but again, I think this would push me towards what I may watch otherwise. Feel free to look at the list of all the movies themselves and see how you fare. I will admit that there are some pretty big titles that are on the list but I haven't seen them. (Here are some that I've seen but I want to see again before putting them on this list: Dr. Strangelove, The Godfather, and No Country for Old Men.)

I think what I'll try to do is give little updates here and there if I watch new movies with general thoughts. I'll admit that I do own a few of the other titles already, so it's all about sitting down and watching them. That's what weekends are for, right? 

Anyway, I should get some sleep to make the most of tomorrow, which will be Pumpkin Destruction Day. So... go forth and smash thine pumpkins responsibly. 

DFTBA