I did it!
So, with The Gold Rush I come to the end of my AFI Top 100 challenge. After originally challenging myself to do it in 50 days, that quickly failed and it soon became years. Itâs been 6 years and I've finally finished. I saw some exceptional films, some that really surprised me, some that Iâd been meaning to watch for a long time, and only a few that I didn't like. Being 2017, they might do another revision to the list so I'll get a chance to watch some more movies.Â
Here a few of the movies that surprised me:
-Film 38 -Â âSunrise: A Song of Two Humansâ 1927 - This was a beautiful representation of German Expressionism in film. As I said, because of this it seems unfair to call it a great American film, but nonetheless it was beautiful and compelling and all around a great film.Â
-Film 33 - âIntoleranceâ 1916 - I thought this would be a struggle due to its length, but I ended up loving it. It had so many female protagonists and such high, particularly the Mountain girl.
-Film 41 - âApocalypse Nowâ 1979 - This was another one I thought I might not enjoy. I expected, like most war films, especially Vietnam films, that this would be draining and depressing. Instead it was poignant and thoughtful and compelling. I loved it.Â
-Film 24 -Â âBringing Up Babyâ 1938 - This was a sheer delight. Sadly, the screwball comedy is a genre that isnât really seen these days and I think it should make a comeback. But in the meantime, we can watch Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant doing an excellent job in this farcical film.Â
Since it took me so long to finish this challenge, its interesting to see how my opinions of particular films have changed over the years, and how my viewing of some films now has warranted different reactions to how I imagine I would have viewed them 6 years ago. In particular, All About Eve is one that at the time, I didnât think was that great. On later reflection and an increased knowledge of film and film history, I think that it is now one of my top films out of this list, especially because of Bette Davisâ exceptional performance. On a different note, I think had I watched the couple of Robert Altman films on this list, in my initial run 6 years ago, I wouldnât have had as great an issue with them as I do now.Â
That alone has probably been one of the best parts about doing this challenge, I Â have a record of how my opinions have changed as Iâve aged, and just generally I have a record of what movies I watched and what I thought of them (an invaluable record considering I can barely remember what happened in some of the earlier films I watched). I think moving forward, Iâll try and do another film challenge like this. It forces me to watch significant movies that I otherwise might not have watched, and often introduced me to some of my favourite films.Â
It feels like the end of an era, Iâll no longer have movies to procrastinate watching. Well, at least, until the next film challenge.Â















