1000 Films

The Guardian has published a list of 1000 films that "best sum up the dazzling achievement and variety of the movies." It's a good list, because it is varied. It's clear that they were trying to find films to represent just about every type, tone, and style - as well as the "greats."

While there may be some I would have chosen differently (from Roeg's films, I'd have chosen Performance rather than Don't Look Now, and from Luhrman I'd have gone with Strictly Ballroom rather than Romeo + Juliet) - and a few missing that I would have included (Cat People, Gods and Monsters, Bound, Secretary) - there were enough of movies I was delighted to unexpectedly find on the list such as Buckaroo Banzai, Repo Man, Robocop, and Hot Fuzz (and two Greenaway films) that I'm generally impressed by it.

After going over the whole list, and taking a tally, I've watched just under 400 of them. Probably more, but since most of the westerns I would have watched with my dad when I was a kid, and many of the European films I watched when I was in grad school and was, erm, "altered" - I wasn't certain which I'd seen. I'm sure there's another dozen or more that I'd remember as soon as I started watching them.

Enjoy!