current updates on the quest

For the past 4 months we've been in the midst of our cross-country move. We haven't been able to watch any oscar or afi films. We have seen a couple of flicks in the theater, and some old favorites, but nothing to update the list with yet. Keep hanging in there, though, and we hope to continue the blog posts very soon!

Un-forgiven

Unforgiven (1992) is on both the oscar list and the afi 100 list. I guess we expected it to be different- more like a classic western about a town than a story about some assassins. But it was still very good and we both enjoyed it. We were shocked when Morgan Freeman showed up. Didn't realize he was in it, and I was sad when he died. Very pretty scenery.

On Deck: ?

Gimme More Stewart

Today we watched Vertigo (1958) which is #61 on the AFI top 100, but on the 10th anniversary list (released in 2007) it was bumped up to #9. Pretty cool. We liked it but didn't think it was as good as Rear Window. bR's reaction: disembodied heads. gR's reaction: many more strange falling sequences, lots of staircases, Madeleine's make-up looked like paint... but it was a really awesome twist at the end. It was a total surprise and gR was NOT expecting it!! Excellent story and the classic dialogue, style, costumes and music were all delightful.

On Deck: not sure... maybe Unforgiven?

Gimme Stewart

Tonight we watched Rear Window (1954) which is ranked #42 on the AFI list. bR has seen it before- this was gR's first time. gR loved it...

1. Grace Kelly's Mark Cross overnight bag
2. Jimmy Stewart is a photographer
3. the couple that lowers their dog down in a basket to potty
4. Miss Lonely Hearts hooks up with the songwriter
5. the sequence at the end where Hitchcock speeds up the film to make the running seem more frantic
6. the scene where Jimmy Stewart falls out the window
7. he broke his other leg... oh the irony.

gR was able to spot Hitchcock right away when he appears in the songwriter's apartment (in case you didn't know, he appears in all of his films). bR turned the light off right when Thorwald starts creeping up to Jimmy Stewart just to freak gR out... seconds later the living room lamp also went out (on a timer) which heightened the creepiness.

It was a fantastic movie. Many consider it Hitchcock's best film. We'll let you know if we agree once we see the rest.

On Deck (to continue our Hitchcock kick): Vertigo

Apocalypse Wow

Last week we watched Apocalypse Now. It is ranked #28 on the AFI top 100 list. gR was confused when all the french people showed up. Thank god for wikipedia to fill in the historical gaps for her. bR didn't realize it was based on the book Heart of Darkness, which is also weird since that is about a river in the Congo, not Vietnam. We've decided that any movie with Dennis Hopper in it is pure gold. Definitely a movie everyone needs to see at least once.

On deck: Rear Window

the ryans' movie quest

We've decided that our movie quest is deserving of it's own blog. It is so substantial... so daunting... and so intriguing to all of you that updating our list movie by movie via blogging is the only logical answer. We'll blog about movies we've already checked off when we have a spare moment. Otherwise, we'll try to update posts as we go.

To see the original movie quest announcement, click here

To see the movie quest spreadsheet, click here