I signed up for Netflix last week so I can start catching up on the dozens (and dozens) of movies I’ve wanted to watch but never got around to; I’ve always been pretty awful about watching movies as they come out. I signed up partly due to school. In my Middle Eastern Film class, we started watching Lawrence of Arabia, and it reminded me of the fact that there are a lot of really good movies that I’ve never seen, both classics and more recent offerings (“recent” for me being in the last, uh, 10 years or so).
Last week was a good week to sign up, as I had plenty of time to watch movies while laying around on hydrocodone. Things we’ve watched so far:
Lawrence of Arabia
I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this at first, but I ended up loving it. Lawrence is a really interesting character, and watching the film actually prompted me to throw a biography of his on my “to read” list. I also got a kick seeing Obi Wan, er, Alec Guinness, in the role of Prince Faisal.
I also thought the scenery was amazing. I can’t imagine how difficult it was filming all of that in the desert (I didn’t get around to watching the Making Of stuff on the DVD). It was doubly impressive because I knew none of it was CGI.
Citizen Kane
I again wondered whether I’d like this or not, but I ended up enjoying it. I talked to my friend Joshua about it beforehand, and he commented that it didn’t really feel that old considering it was made in ‘41. I agree; other than the black and white factor and a few give-aways (like the fuzzy lighting on closeups of female characters), it felt very modern. The plot was great, and I thought Welles was excellent. I can certainly see why it’s hailed as one of the greatest movies ever. I’ll probably go back and watch this again to see if I can pick up anymore from it.
The one negative for me: before watching it, I accidentally stumbled onto what “Rosebud” was, so I knew how the movie ended before even getting settled into my chair.
Bourne Identity
Looking this movie up on IMDB really showed me how out of it I am in regards to movies. I thought hat it had come out “a few years ago”, when in reality it came out seven years ago. Okay, so I’m a little behind…
I liked this one as well, even though there were a few silly things. For example – since when do you go to a high security bank and gain access to an account by just giving the account number, with no I.D.? I need to book a flight to Switzerland…
Bonus points to the makers for having people in foreign countries actually speaking foreign languages (French, German, etc.). As I’m into languages, I thought it was a really nice touch.
If you’ve got any favorite movies, drop ‘em in the comments, and I’ll add them to my list of movies to check out. It just might take me a year or two to get to it. 
Comments 8
About the Citizen Kane ending… yeah, it’s kind of one of those things that seeing enough referential pop culture will ruin for everyone. Kind of like how it would be damned near impossible for anyone to watch Empire Strikes Back and be surprised at the revelation near the end about Luke’s parentage. Really, avoiding such spoilers is one of the best reasons to avoid putting off seeing movies indefinitely.
It’s almost a decade later and I’m still shocked that I managed to not see The Matrix until a year after release and still be surprised at that twist, which the advertisements did a fine job of leaving mysterious.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 8:13 am ¶Ironically, Citizen Kane has been out nearly 70 years, and I only stumbled upon the meaning of Rosebud a week or two ago. Go figure. Curse you, internet.
What twist are you referring to in The Matrix? I’ve seen it a number of times, and so I can’t really remember any “whoa!” moments at this point.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 10:04 am ¶SPOILER ALERT to any people who have yet to uhh… see or hear anything about the Matrix movies?
The advertising showed lots of impossibly fancy fighting action, but never actually said what “the Matrix” in the movie was. I believe the website was actually whatisthematrix.com. So the whole thing of humankind being trapped in a computer simulation was not expected.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 5:10 pm ¶Ah, okay. I vaguely remember that now, but yeah, until you brought it up, I’d completely forgotten it. I’ve seen it enough times and heard enough about it to the point that I’m unable to hear “the Matrix” without immediately thinking of a computer-constructed reality.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 5:45 pm ¶I never understood why Citizen Kane is considered such a great film. It’s good, but not great in my opinion.
If you haven’t seen Casablanca I recommend that one if you like class. It’s cliche now and very famous but it, in my opinion, is better than CK.
Have you seen Gattica? That’s another of my faves. One I saw recently which really impressed me was Lions for Lambs. A great Redford flick.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 6:25 pm ¶Bourne Identity was the first movie I saw with my now-fiané. I’d rather not be reminded that it was seven years ago, thanks.
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 8:07 pm ¶I think part of the reason that it’s considered great is due to when it was made; the fact that it’s nearly 70 years old and still feels so modern is quite a feat. I’ve seen things much younger than Citizen Kane that felt much older to me, and not in a good way.
I’ve not seen Casablanca or Gattica; I’ll add ‘em to the list (or the Netflix queue, as the case actually is).
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 9:41 pm ¶Seven years? But that’s good. In the day and age of Twitter, relationships more typically die after a few seconds, don’t they?
Posted 30 Mar 2009 at 9:43 pm ¶Post a Comment