Personal Canon: A Top 100

Here I go again. I love a good project and this one is a doozy. I will be counting down 100 Movies I Think About When I Think About the Movies: A Personal Canon. You may recall I tried this once before but this time I'm serious. I need something juicy to sink my teeth into whenever the upcoming Oscar season bores --it does on occassion: Oscar excitement, buzz, and news tends to come in waves rather than steady drops from right about now through the big night in February.

So herewith a few thoughts about the project.



This list is NOT

• A greatest films of all time list. That list... well, I know you want it, but the truth is this: I see 100 newish movies a year and so it takes me a while to work my way back through the classics. I have seen a lot of movies in my life but I'm particularly weak on the 1940s and 1960s. I haven't seen enough films yet to do such a list. Ask me again in 2008. If I think a film is great (qualitatively) but I have no particular feeling for it outside of respect then it won't be here. The Godfather, for example, tops a lot of Top 100 Lists but it won't be on mine. It is great, yes. No argument here. But, because I am not personally attached to it, it's missing. Understand?
• Set in stone. Expect revisions in years to come (provided I am still writing about movies in years to come. And I hope to be. Donate!)
  

What is this list, then?

• It is a list of 100 films that I have some sort of deeper than usual relationship with. The original impetus for the list came years ago when Cinemarati asked its members to compile their top 100s under the heading "Movies I Think About When I Think About the Movies" Hence: "A Personal Canon." In some cases --let's say approximately 50% of the list --they'd also be on a list of "greatest movies of all time that I've seen"
  

How was it compiled?

1. I looked at charts of everything I've seen and loved.
   
2. I eliminated short films, television series, documentaries, and then (this is the sad part) any feature film from the past ten years. New movies have an unfair advantage being so fresh in the memory. And, for all the conjecture in the world, you really don't know how you'll feel about them in 10 years. Plus they get a lot of attention here and everywhere else anyway...
   
3. I looked again at a list of everything I've seen from 1915 to 1997 and picked about 200 movies.
   
4. I eliminated things I greatly respect but don't particularly love. Or flicks I love but didn't feel like watching again.
5. I put them in order of affection / meaning / greatness to me. An excruciating process. If you ask me again tomorrow the order would change.
   
   

What you should do with the list

• Read it. Enjoy it. Laugh at it. Praise it. Scratch your head at it in confusion. Whatever. "lick it up baby, lick it up" (Yes Heathers will be on the list)
  
• Use it for rental ideas.
  
• Comment on it. Everything is better if its participatory.
  

The list kicks off on Monday November 13th. I'll put a couple of movies up each week. If I've written reviews of them previously, there could be reruns (but most entries will be brand new)

* Oh, and before I get started... I should thank Nick who trailblazed the way with his non-greatest but 'movies I most love to love' list, a highly entertaining and diverse collection.