#98 Yankee Doodle Dandy

#98 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) 126 mins.

Ok, I freely admit that I probably never had picked this to be in my top 100 or to even watch. However, watching movies that i normally wouldn't is the reason for going through the list. 

James Cagney portrays George Cohan, in this pseudo bio-pc. Like other movies made during WW II there is a very patriotic theme. Oh, it's also a half step away from being a full blow musical. Some of the songs include: "The Yankee Doodle Boy", "Over There", "You're a Grand Old Flag", "(I Wish I Was in) Dixie's Land", "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", "America, My Country 'Tis of Thee", etc. You get the point, they did everything but try to sell War Bonds.

Even with songs, this film barely kept my attention.  I literally had to rewind twice to watch portions that I dozed off during watching. And note to self, add new rule don't watch films in bed after 10 pm.  I see my list of rules growing and they are beginning to sound like the rules from Gremlins.

While on the topic of rules and not feeding after midnight, I'm going to add another rule as well.  Popcorn, my sister Sara reminded me the other day that Boy Scout popcorn sale is coming up soon.  I have tons of popcorn left over from the last sale and as well as mini micowave bags that I gave out as Halloween treats.  the Halloween ones i thought were a great idea. http://www.actii.com/products/halloween.jsp  But anyways, I need to get rid of some of these and eating a bag during each film sounds like a plan to me.

In conclusion, I could have seen this film not even making the list.  It was #100 in the 1997 list and was luck to move up the two spots in the ten years between the polling.

Movies Watched: 3

Movies to go: 97

Total Running Time: 418 min.

Up next: #97 Blade Runner (1982)

#99 Toy Story

#99 Toy Story (1995) 80 mins.

Released in 1995 as the first of many amazing Pixar releases that have entertained countless families for over 16 years.

We've probably all seen Toy Story and know how good it is.  I have a hard time really understanding how it did not score higher on the list.  I would have rather seen Toy Story closer to the mid 60s.  It was truly a groundbreaking film and technology.

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen steal the show and continue to do so with the releases of  Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.

Always with Disney and Pixar there are many hidden jokes and gems for you to find.  Just this viewing I noticed that Buzz Lightyear pushes a toolbox off a milkcrate to free Woody, the toolbox has a Binford Tools logo on in.  A clear nod to Tim Allen's gig of Home Improvement at the time of production.

Pixar does release some good movies and they almost never fail.  Well...maybe not A Bug's Life, but Ratatouille has got to be up there as probably my favorite.


Movies Watched: 2
Movies to go: 98
Total Viewing Time:  292 min.


Up Next...#98 Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Swing and a miss...

I tried to watch #99 Toy Story on Friday night.  Yup after sitting trough all 3 1/2 hours of Ben-Hur, I fell asleep about half way through Toy Story and it's only like 90 mins.

Going to try to get through it tonight.

Yes, I've probably seen this movies a dozen times, but gotta stick to the rules.  ALL 100 movies, in order.

# 100 Ben-Hur

So, I started off this adventure by watching #100 Ben-Hur last night.  Released in 1959 it grabbed a ton of Oscars in 1960.  I had seen it before, but totally forgot how long it is actually.  It came on 2 DVDs, yes two.  Netflix says it's running time is 222 minutes while IMDB puts it at 212 minutes.  Either way that's over 3 1/2 of Charlton Heston trying to portray a Jew.  Throw in a naval battle, a chariot race, revenge, leprosy, and a cameo of Jesus. And that is a long time


It's probably the longest movie on the list, but it really does not drag too badly. Yes, there is a Jesus element that added to the running time. But can you really cut out the big JC to save 20 minutes?  After you hit 3 hours you can throw in about anything you want, just ask Peter Jackson...


Oh a sidenote. the original novel the movie is based from, was written by General Lew Wallace.  Wallace was born in Indiana, spent his childhood in Indy, and died in Crawfordsville.


Here's the link to the IMDB page:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052618/

Movies watched: 1
Movies Left: 99
Total viewing time: 212

The General Idea

So here's what is going on.  I'm burnt out on watching random movies and TV shows.  I need some sort of plan for my viewing pleasure.

About two years ago I came across the AFI Top 100 Movies list (2007 version), I went through and checked off what I had already seen and then started watching some that I had not seen.  Well...just picking one out of the list every once in a while did not work.  I think Lawrence of Arabia sat on my table for like a month, before sending it back unwatched.  I think my count after this failed attempt put my total viewed somewhere around 40.

The plan is to watch all 100 movies in order, starting at #100 (Ben-Hur) and finishing with #1 (Citizen Kane).  I of course belong to Netflix and started entering them into my queue.  All but 1 are available with Netflix; about 35 of the titles are available on Blu-ray and about 20 are available through streaming.  The only title not available is  "Shane",  a western from the 50s.

My first thought is to watch at least two films a week and my finish will be around Labor Day next year.  However, anyone who has watched movies with me knows that I can watch 2 a day and more on the weekends.  My Netflix membership allows my 2 disks out at a time and unlimited streaming.  With the quick turnaround time with the disks and streaming, I could do much more than two in a week.

The rules for this project are simple.  Watch ALL 100 in order, write a quick and simple review on this blog, watch at least two movies a week, and keep track of the total running time of the movies.

Netflix should have the first two movies in my mailbox tomorrow #100 Ben-Hur and #99 Toy Story

Here is a link to a PDF of the AFI Top 100 list, if you care to play along.
http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/100Movies.pdf?docID=301