REVIEW LINKS

Posted by Matt Algren

In mid-June 2007, I was talking to some friends about movies and I realized something: I’ve missed a shocking number of films over the years. I’m not talking about duds like Juwanna Mann or Waterworld either. I’m talking about the great movies that define generations, movies like Citizen Kane, Jaws, Blazing Saddles, and Gandhi. For God’s sake, I was nine years old when it came out, and I’ve never seen E.T. The Extra Terrestrial! I went home that night, disturbed about what I had discovered. Upon further reflection, I realized that I have been derelict in other areas of my cultural education too. What you’ll find here is my reviews of movies, books, music, or anything else that I should have done before but haven’t. Things like, oh, I don’t know, stepping foot on an airplane. Here’s the most important thing you will read on this page:

I am not a media reviewer by trade. I have no training for this.

I’m in a little over my head, if you ask me. So if I get something wrong, or don’t ‘get it’, or make a fool of myself in some way, please take a few deep breaths and drop a comment after you’ve calmed down. I’d love to talk about it with you (maybe you can help educate a few other readers as well as your humble host), but I don’t deal with needless abuse very well. This list is a work in progress. It will continue to be updated as I review more movies and find more that I should watch. Movies I’ve watched are bolded and linked. I’m open to suggestions! If you don’t see something here, let me know. It might be that I’ve seen it, but I probably just need to add it to the list.

Films

  • 11:14
  • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
  • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • 3:10 To Yuma (1957)
  • 3:10 To Yuma (2007)
  • The 39 Steps
  • 300
  • After the Thin Man
  • Airport
  • Airport 1975
  • Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
  • All About Eve
  • All Quiet on the Western Front
  • All The Pretty Horses
  • Amélie
  • American Graffiti
  • An Affair to Remember
  • An American in Paris
  • Anchors Aweigh
  • Animal Crackers
  • Apollo 13
  • Arsenic and Old Lace
  • The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
  • The Band Dick
  • Band of Brothers
  • Batman Begins
  • A Beautiful Mind
  • The Beguiled
  • Being There
  • Ben Hur
  • The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
  • The Best Years of Our Lives
  • The Big Sleep
  • Big Trouble in Little China
  • Biloxi Blues
  • Birdman of Alcatraz
  • The Birds
  • The Blair Witch Project
  • The Bourne Identity
  • The Bourne Supremacy
  • The Bourne Ultimatum
  • The Boy Who Could Fly
  • Breakfast at Tiffany’s
  • The Bridge Over The River Kwai
  • Brief Encounter
  • Bringing Up Baby
  • Brokeback Mountain
  • Bulletproof Monk
  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  • Caddyshack
  • Capote
  • Casablanca
  • Casino Royale (2006)
  • Cast Away
  • Children of Heaven
  • Chocolat
  • A Christmas Story
  • The Circus
  • Citizen Kane
  • City Lights
  • Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind
  • Constantine
  • Cool Hand Luke
  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  • The Courtship of Eddie’s Father
  • The Crying Game
  • The Darjeeling Limited
  • Dead Man Walking
  • Dial M for Murder
  • The Diary of Anne Frank
  • Die Hard
  • The Dirty Dozen
  • Doctor Zhivago
  • Dolemite
  • Double Indemnity
  • Duck Soup
  • E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
  • East of Eden
  • Empire of the Sun
  • Escape From Alcatraz
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • A Fistful of Dollars
  • The Flamingo Kid
  • For a Few Dollars More
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls
  • From Here to Eternity
  • Gandhi
  • Giant
  • Gigi
  • Gladiator
  • The Glenn Miller Story
  • God Grew Tired Of Us
  • The Godfather
  • The Godfather Part II
  • The Godfather Part III
  • Gone Baby Gone
  • The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chis (2003)
  • Goodfellas
  • The Graduate
  • The Grapes of Wrath
  • The Great Dictator
  • The Great Gatsby (1974)
  • The Greatest Show On Earth
  • Guys and Dolls
  • Hang ‘em High
  • High Plains Drifter
  • His Girl Friday
  • Holiday
  • Hopscotch
  • Hot Fuzz
  • How the West Was Won
  • Howard’s End
  • In the Name of the Father
  • Independence Day
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • Inherit the Wind
  • The Iron Giant
  • It Happened One Night
  • It’s a Wonderful Life
  • James and the Giant Peach
  • Jaws
  • Jean de Florette
  • Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)
  • Juno
  • Key Largo
  • King Kong (1933)
  • King Kong (2005)
  • Knocked Up
  • La Bamba
  • La Cage aux Folles
  • Laura
  • The Last Samurai
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • Like Water for Chocolate
  • Lilies of the Field
  • Little Man Tate
  • The Lost Weekend
  • M
  • The Maltese Falcon
  • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much
  • The Manchurian Candidate

More Films

  • Manon of Spring
  • Metropolis
  • Midnight Cowboy
  • Le Million
  • Mixed Nuts
  • Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
  • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
  • Mrs. Miniver
  • Modern Times
  • Moonstruck
  • The Music Man
  • Mystic River
  • The Neverending Story
  • A Night at the Opera
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas
  • North by Northwest
  • O Brother Where Art Thou
  • Old Yeller
  • Once
  • Once Upon a Time in the West
  • The Outlaw Josie Wales
  • The Ox-Bow Incident
  • The Painted Veil
  • Pale Rider
  • Pan’s Labyrinth
  • Persepolis
  • Philadelphia
  • The Philadelphia Story
  • The Piano
  • Pickup on South Street
  • Pirates of the Penzance
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • The Pride of the Yankees
  • The Pursuit of Happyness
  • Random Harvest
  • Ratatouille
  • Rear Window
  • Rebel Without A Cause
  • Reno 911!: Miami
  • Risky Business
  • Rocky
  • Rope
  • Sabrina
  • Saving Private Ryan
  • Say Anything
  • Scarface
  • Sense and Sensibility
  • Serpico
  • Seven Year Itch
  • Shane
  • The Shawshank Redemption
  • Shenandoah
  • Seven Years in Tibet
  • The Simpsons Movie
  • Singin’ in the Rain
  • Soylent Green
  • Some Like It Hot
  • Sorry, Wrong Number
  • Speed
  • Spider-Man 2
  • The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
  • The Sting
  • Stranger Than Fiction
  • Strangers on a Train
  • A Streetcar Named Desire
  • Sunset Boulevard
  • Superbad
  • Superman Returns
  • Swing Time
  • Thief of Bagdad
  • The Thin Man
  • The Third Man
  • Thelma & Louise
  • This Film Is Not Yet Rated
  • Three Amigos
  • Titanic
  • To Be or Not To Be (1942)
  • To Catch a Thief
  • To Have and Have Not
  • To Kill A Mockingbird (film)
  • Toy Story 2
  • The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
  • Tristan & Isolde
  • True Grit
  • Tuesdays with Morrie
  • Under The Sun
  • Unknown Chaplin
  • Vertigo
  • Walk The Line
  • West Side Story
  • Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  • The Wild Bunch
  • Wild Zero
  • X-Men
  • Yankee Doodle Dandy
  • You Can Count On Me
  • Zero Hour!

Books

  • 1984
  • American Born Chinese
  • A Farewell to Arms
  • Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
  • Book Review: The Arrival
  • Bone
  • Catch-22
  • The Catcher in the Rye
  • A Clockwork Orange
  • Death Comes for the Archbishop
  • A Death in the Family
  • Fahrenheit 451
  • Fun Home
  • The Hunt for Red October
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
  • Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
  • Moby Dick
  • Native Son
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
  • Persepolis
  • Pilgrim’s Regress
  • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
  • A Prayer for Owen Meany
  • Red Ranger Came Calling
  • Slaughterhouse-Five
  • The Sun Also Rises
  • A Tale of Two Cities
  • To Kill A Mockingbird (novel)
  • Ulysses
  • Winesburg, Ohio

Misc.

  • Drive a stick shift
  • Fly in an airplane
  • Get a smart phone
  • Get iPod
  • Get in a fist fight
  • Karaoke
  • Parachuting
  • Ride in a hot air balloon
  • Ride in a public bus
  • Ride the subway
  • Ride in a train
  • See the ocean again (the last time was in 1991)
  • Sky diving
  • Solve a Rubik’s Cube
  • Visit the Grand Canyon
  • Visit Hawaii
  • Visit New York City

5 Responses          

  1. Maria on July 11th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
    1

    You MUST start your book list with “To Kill a Mockingbird.” MUST!!

  2. da bum of bums on August 22nd, 2007 at 4:35 pm
    2

    Jane Austen movies or books!

    Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck

  3. Patricia on September 25th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
    3

    You need to add Lawrence of Arabia and almost any other David Lean directed movie. All brilliant and wonderfully filmed

  4. Matt Algren on September 26th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
    4

    Thanks, Patricia. I’d've sworn that Lawrence of Arabia was on there. I added it and a couple other Lean movies.

    I’m up to 184 on the list, so I think I’ll be busy for a while!

  5. Ben M on March 17th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
    5

    You have it on your list, but definitely have to recommend The Manchurian Candidate (the one with Angela Lansbury and Frank Sinatra), Sunset Boulevard, The Bridge Over The River Kwai, and All About Eve. Actually, I wish there were checkboxes next to the movie names so I could add my stamp of approval next to many of them. Looks like a good list. I am sorry that will have to sit through Lawrence of Arabia. That’s all I will say.


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