The Beginning

How it Began

Just 22 days ago i turned 17 years old. 17 is extremely young when it comes to film years. What I mean by film years is that the average 17 year old mind has an attention span no greater than 90 minutes, and the inability to enjoy film for being something more then simply escapism. I am among the few to have been blessed with this deadly disease, the love of cinema, at such an early age. My obsession with the movies began around the year 2000, i was merely 9 years old. My brother, who is 4 years older then me, was 13 and began following that years academy awards. He is the one mainly responsible for my obsession with the art form, and that is displayed by the fact that in that year, while the majority of this countries 9 year olds were drooling over popcorn flicks such as Pokemon: The Movie, and Disney's Dinosaur, I was enthralled in films such as Gladiator, and Memento. I vividly remember screaming and crying because my father could not bring himself to take me to see Steven Soderbergh's Traffic. Although Traffic I was not allowed to see, my father was still brave and ultimately understanding enough to take me to see films like Gladiator and Cast Away. The films I did not see in the theater were always rented by my older brother, who would always let me sit in on his viewings of most of the titles. There is no doubt that my underdeveloped mind could not comprehent all of the moral messages and meaning of the films, I was truly amazed by the stories, and power of good cinema. Each year my interest grew more and more, and I would watch more then enough quality films to develop my top ten list, which my brother and I would compare and hold many conversations about, which is also vastly responsible for the development of my appreciation for all things cinema. As my knowledge grew, and interest deepened, I began to try and see all of the films which are considered "must sees", such as Casablanca, The Godfather, and Citizen Kane.

It has been 8 years now since I was crying to see Traffic, and sneaking multiple viewings of films such as Requim for a Dream and The Contender, and now I feel that my eye has been trained to a point where I can go back, and examine the development of Hollywood itself, from 1960 until present day. I plan on taking at least 10 major films from each year, and watching them in chronological order. I will post the list for each year, and my reviews for the films I watch.

Here is my first list for 1960:

1. Elmer Gantry
2. The Sundowners
3. L'Avventura
4. Hiroshima, My Love
5. Exodus
6. The Magnificent Seven
7. The Alamo
8. Inherit the Wind
9. The Virgin Spring
10.Breathless
11.Spartacus
12.The Apartment
13.Psycho
14.Sons and Lovers