PERSONAL BETTERMENT PROJECT KICKOFF
There are a lot of movies I haven't seen. A lot of classic movies, movies that it's even a little embarrassing to admit I haven't seen. For someone who works in Hollywood (tangentially, at least, at the moment) and enjoys a status among his friends (who really ought to know better) as some sort of film expert, there is really no excuse for never having seen, for instance, Casablanca or Gone With the Wind. And yet, I am that person. Me is I.
So, in an effort to correct this one small defect in my person, I have decided to spend this year (and probably part of the next) watching the movies on the AFI Top 100 Movies list. You could quibble with this list; you could say it's safe and obvious and middle-of-the-road, and you wouldn't be wrong, exactly; but see above for but two of many obvious movies I have never seen. So this is what I'm doing. (Of course, just as soon as I decide to watch all these movies, AFI decides to go and make another list, but I'm sticking with the one we've got. I'm not in any rush to see Crash again, I'll tell you that much.)
So anyway I'm starting at the top and working my way down. First up is Citizen Kane, a movie I actually have seen--on the big screen, no less, but in a pretty crappy print. I'm going old-school with this project, so each movie will have a newsreel (15 minutes of Headline News, I guess) and a cartoon--I think it's possible to pair each movie with a Simpsons episode that references it. At least a half-dozen Simpsons episodes have alluded to Citizen Kane, but the best one is the fifth-season episode "Rosebud," in which Mr. Burns pines for his childhood teddy bear Bobo. Kane also gets an overture, courtesy of The White Stripes. The lyrics of their song "The Union Forever," from White Blood Cells, are made up entirely of quotes from the film. Here's a recording from their 2001 Peel Session, along with its sister song "Little Room."
MP3: "Little Room/The Union Forever (2001 Peel Session)" by The White Stripes
I'm firing up the DVD player Saturday at 2:00 sharp. Feel free to drop by.
There are a lot of movies I haven't seen. A lot of classic movies, movies that it's even a little embarrassing to admit I haven't seen. For someone who works in Hollywood (tangentially, at least, at the moment) and enjoys a status among his friends (who really ought to know better) as some sort of film expert, there is really no excuse for never having seen, for instance, Casablanca or Gone With the Wind. And yet, I am that person. Me is I.
So, in an effort to correct this one small defect in my person, I have decided to spend this year (and probably part of the next) watching the movies on the AFI Top 100 Movies list. You could quibble with this list; you could say it's safe and obvious and middle-of-the-road, and you wouldn't be wrong, exactly; but see above for but two of many obvious movies I have never seen. So this is what I'm doing. (Of course, just as soon as I decide to watch all these movies, AFI decides to go and make another list, but I'm sticking with the one we've got. I'm not in any rush to see Crash again, I'll tell you that much.)
So anyway I'm starting at the top and working my way down. First up is Citizen Kane, a movie I actually have seen--on the big screen, no less, but in a pretty crappy print. I'm going old-school with this project, so each movie will have a newsreel (15 minutes of Headline News, I guess) and a cartoon--I think it's possible to pair each movie with a Simpsons episode that references it. At least a half-dozen Simpsons episodes have alluded to Citizen Kane, but the best one is the fifth-season episode "Rosebud," in which Mr. Burns pines for his childhood teddy bear Bobo. Kane also gets an overture, courtesy of The White Stripes. The lyrics of their song "The Union Forever," from White Blood Cells, are made up entirely of quotes from the film. Here's a recording from their 2001 Peel Session, along with its sister song "Little Room."
MP3: "Little Room/The Union Forever (2001 Peel Session)" by The White Stripes
I'm firing up the DVD player Saturday at 2:00 sharp. Feel free to drop by.
Labels: afi project, movies, music, simpsons
