Watching every film on the National Film Registry

[Red]

Growing up I used to be one of those guys who was always like "movies just don't appeal to me" or "I'm not much of a movie guy" since I thought they were too long and either really stupid entertainment or too pretentious, so I never really gave them a chance and just casually dismissed the medium.

But recently I've realized that throughout all this I've been missing out on some great cultural capital over the past century. So as a part of "reinventing myself" to become a more artistically literate person, I've decided to watch every single film listed on the National Film Registry's list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Film_Registry

This will probably take a few years at least unless I watch like ten films a week.

Initially, I was planning on doing the AFI top 100, but not only is that list fairly short, it is far too restrictive and looks ONLY at the biggest and most essential stuff. Meanwhile, the NFR, while of course including the biggest and most essential stuff (there's a lot of overlap), also includes a lot more niche content, and more variety, since it wasn't just compiled by a bunch of snobby critics. Not only does it include films, but it includes a lot of indie stuff, documentaries, short subjects, and experimental artistic stuff. And even then, this is still scratching the surface, but it serves as a succinct opener to American cinema. Of course there are some things in there that are questionable (Iron Man? Home Alone? Spy Kids? Really?). I might also delve into the Criterion Collection after this, which has essential films globally (I'm looking at UK, French, and Japanese cinema next).

Will watching all of these films make me a film buff? Not really, since I'm only going through the most significant stuff, and a real film buff spends his or her time on film analysis and watching everything he or she can get their hands on. But I can at least pretend to be more well versed.

Anyway, I've made a spreadsheet cataloguing every film I've seen so far on this journey. I've seen a lot of the films listed before, but for the intents of this list, I'm gonna rewatch them all for the sake of completeness. You can see my ratings and any comments I made here, and if you scroll to the right you can see what each of my ratings indicate.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

So far the vast majority of the films I've seen have been good or artifacts, which basically are films that are only listed due to their importance in the development of film technologically, or only listed because of their importance in extremely niche contexts. Only one film on here I've watched I actually fucking hated, and over 80 films in that isn't so bad.

Thoughts?

[aroneous]

That's quite the list, I've seen a good number of them but still that only amounts to like 2%. I'm not at all confident at my ability to keep up with your pace, I might get to one per month (at most). Though I'll probably get around to watching a lot of the "artifact" short films. It's a real shame that Nacho Libre isn't on there.

As for my own recommendations, I guess I'm obligated to suggest some French films. There is of course the film "Amélie" which is pretty well-known worldwide, though it wasn't really my favorite. Though I did quite like another film by the same director, "Delicatessen", which is about cannibals in post-apocalyptic France, it's pretty funny. There are also some films adapted from novels by Marcel Pagnol, in particular I enjoyed "Jean de Florette" and its sequel "Manon des Sources" (Manon of the Spring), I quite like the setting and the soundtrack, and as a French learner it was interesting to hear their funny southern accents.

Regarding other international films, from the UK the first one that comes to mind is Trainspotting, if you want to watch a movie about heroin junkies in Scotland (I actually read the book in high school, of my own free will). From Japan, you can't go wrong with Seven Samurai, Yojimbo/Sanjuro, Rashomon, and other Kurosawa films. Then there's all of the Miyazaki animated films, my favorites are Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. And of course some other non-Miyazaki studio Ghibli movies, "When Marnie was There" if you're at all into soppy stuff (I'm not in general, but this one *almost* got me going). Otherwise, I'd also recommend the Brazilian movie "City of God", it has some pretty harrowing scenes but it's a very interesting portrayal of organized crime in Brazilian slums.

[Red]

That's quite the list, I've seen a good number of them but still that only amounts to like 2%. I'm not at all confident at my ability to keep up with your pace, I might get to one per month (at most). Though I'll probably get around to watching a lot of the "artifact" short films.

Again this will likely take a few years if I manage to watch three films a week. There are also a lot of documentaries, but I'm allowing myself to watch those on 2x speed if available. Depends on what type of stuff you're interested in, I can reccomend some stuff as I go along the list. So far my favorite 'Artifact' films are Winsor McKay's stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32pzHWUTcPc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq7hMuiz1mI

I've considered watching the films in order of release so I see a nice evolution of American film, but that might be a tedious slog. Haven't ruled it out entirely though.

It's a real shame that Nacho Libre isn't on there.

They add 25 films a year so don't give up hope.

As for my own recommendations, I guess I'm obligated to suggest some French films. There is of course the film "Amélie" which is pretty well-known worldwide, though it wasn't really my favorite. Though I did quite like another film by the same director, "Delicatessen", which is about cannibals in post-apocalyptic France, it's pretty funny. There are also some films adapted from novels by Marcel Pagnol, in particular I enjoyed "Jean de Florette" and its sequel "Manon des Sources" (Manon of the Spring), I quite like the setting and the soundtrack, and as a French learner it was interesting to hear their funny southern accents.

When this is done I'm gonna go through French films, includeing stuff from the French New Wave. I should learn a bit of French so I don't have to rely on shit subtitles. I might mainly reference the Criterion Collection on this one: https://www.criterion.com/shop/browse/l ... try=France

Perhaps as a lifelong goal I'll go through the entirety of the Criterion Collection.

Regarding other international films, from the UK the first one that comes to mind is Trainspotting, if you want to watch a movie about heroin junkies in Scotland (I actually read the book in high school, of my own free will). From Japan, you can't go wrong with Seven Samurai, Yojimbo/Sanjuro, Rashomon, and other Kurosawa films. Then there's all of the Miyazaki animated films, my favorites are Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. And of course some other non-Miyazaki studio Ghibli movies, "When Marnie was There" if you're at all into soppy stuff (I'm not in general, but this one *almost* got me going). Otherwise, I'd also recommend the Brazilian movie "City of God", it has some pretty harrowing scenes but it's a very interesting portrayal of organized crime in Brazilian slums.

I am really interested in viewing Japanese cinema and seeing how it developed alongside western cinema, and seeing how many films are ripped off from Japan (Fistful of Dollars is just a Western version of Yojimbo).

[brimstoneSalad]

Something I might have gone for as a youngin' if the internet as such existed back then. I don't pay enough attention to watch current movies and remember what went on in them.

It could be a useful project to go through the registry and offer an environmental/vegan perspective critique on the films, and highlight those that are more socially valuable with consideration for their didactic (moral) qualities.

[Red]

Something I might have gone for as a youngin' if the internet as such existed back then. I don't pay enough attention to watch current movies and remember what went on in them.

If it makes you feel any better I've barely seen any films released in the past 25 years. Maybe 30-40 max. My strategy is to just wait until the decade is over to see what films actually are good and which ones are just hyped up trash.

You have to keep in mind though that cinema died in 1999. Only 12 good films have been released since then, most of them in 2000, having already been shot in 1999. Film reached its creative peak in works such as Lawrence of Arabia, 8½, and Seven Samurai, elevating the medium to a true art form. However, thanks to the Phantom Menace and the ever-increasing reliance on CGI, all of this potential has been squandered, and it has been turned into fast-cutting, color-graded sludge for attention-deficit morons who look at their phones the entire time (i.e., the lowest common denominator – stop trying to turn cinema into YouTube-tier greenscreen spectacle for people who think storytelling peaked with Avengers: Endgame).

It could be a useful project to go through the registry and offer an environmental/vegan perspective critique on the films, and highlight those that are more socially valuable with consideration for their didactic (moral) qualities.

I would really need to reach for a lot of them, though I could point out the consistent lack of focus on animal rights issues present.

There are though a lot of films that resonated with me, not just on moral levels but also existentially. I've grown to prefer films with morally dubious characters and ambiguous and/or cynical endings, rather than films with one clear good guy where everyone enjoys a happy ending, though of course seeing the same type of ending over and over again does get tiring regardless of tone.

I think a more interesting thing to look out for in sci-fi films, is if they view eating animals the same way they do now, or if they have technology to mimic meat. Like this scene in 2001:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U5_p29naIM
'What's that? Chicken?"
"Something like that. Tastes the same anyway."

Not sure if that was included to point out how humans would eventually move beyond animal agriculture or because astronauts wouldn't be able to sustain themselves on just meat.

[brimstoneSalad]

Film reached its creative peak in works such as Lawrence of Arabia, 8½, and Seven Samurai, elevating the medium to a true art form.

I have to disagree with that; I think cinematic storytelling has continued to evolve and even improve. I'm not saying Laurence of Arabia isn't good, but sometimes less is more. There has usually been at least one good movie each year since 2000, though sometimes not in English and often an animated entry (the younger demographic and less mature subject matter don't inherently undermine the artistry).
Not saying there's not MORE garbage than good, but there has always been. Old garbage just fades, and is less in-your-face with modern advertisement.

Kind of how there's still good music, but modern stations lose that signal for the noise and the oldies stations have had them selected for them by survivorship so it seems like old stuff was better. The '80s/'90s station today, not bad, but I guarantee you the radio with flooded with incredibly bad stuff in the '80s and '90s. Even MJ had some bad songs that almost nobody remembers, not going to mention them because I don't want to start a fight.

[Red]

@brimstoneSalad
You probably already guessed this but that was a copypasta (well, a modified one). I don't think anyone doubts every era of film is basically 5% amazing, 10% good/great, 70% average, and 15% garbage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law

I think my problem with kids movies, even if they're good, is that I always find them too predictable since they almost always have a happy ending. But I heard that Flow film was pretty good, plus China is starting to have their stuff be available to Western audiences.

That said, there is a case to be made that it's likely no era of film will be as good as the 70s, not because every film from that decade was good, but because that was the peak of the New Hollywood era when writers and directors weren't shackled to the Hays Code, having the era be a breeding ground for experimentation and new ideas, and also due to the political climate at the time following an era of unprecedented progressivism (Vietnam War, Watergate, Cold War tensions) which led to a sense of cynicism that bled into culture. Then after the success of Jaws and Star Wars, studios recognized that they can make a fortune off of blockbuster thrillers, and while there were some great films from that era, culturally the 80s will always be associated with cheesiness and oiled up muscly marines going back to Vietnam (The decade in general was a cultural nadir). Oh, and teen dramas (yuck). The innovation and charm of 70s cinema is unlikely to be bested, but we'll see.

I think of all the films genres, comedies age the worst and it isn't even close. I could go on a three hour rant, but for now, I'll just say that pretty much every comedy I've seen on the NFR list I barely laughed at, if at all.

And as someone who has listened to some deeper cuts throughout the decades, particularly rock music, I can confirm most of it is either unremarkable or just plain bad. It is interesting though that these days I'm seeing the "Old music used to be so much better!" line so little these days, probably because music is so democratized and it's easier to find contemporary artists (in non-mainstream genres) that are great and older artists that aren't.

BTW I don't think anyone will give you a hard time for saying Jackson's Invincible is a pile of dogshit, but similarly it's to be expected that any artist with a large enough discography will inevitably have a few duds.