Last night, the American Film Institute had one of their fun, clip-filled specials that makes me want to hole up in my apartment and do nothing but watch movies for a month. The show took 10 genres, and showed their top 10 of each genre. Some of the movies were newer, some were older, but I felt each film definitely qualified as a classic.
Which is why this list really irritated me. Not because all the movies on this list are not worth watching, but I just don’t think that most of them are “classics.” And I can’t quite figure out why some of them are included. Granted, this list excludes films made prior to 1983, but still…
What makes a film classic?
Yeah, I saw that and was quite annoyed with it! I read parts 1 and 2 and I think I had seen a total of 6 movies! Out of 50!! I was somewhat less than amused.
Definitely an interesting list. I’ll have to look at the top 50 too. Who knew Austin Powers would be a classic. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever had the misery to sit through.
The AFI’s Fantasy list didn’t make any sense to me. Did Eric tell you that we watched “Harvey”? That was the stupidest movie I’ve ever seen. I really don’t understand how it actually won awards. If someone could enlighten me, that would be great.To answer your question, I feel like a classic should be good every time you watch it. A movie isn’t “classic” just because it was impressive or revolutionary for its time. So movies making lists by the merit of “First to do such-and-such” bother me.
good reasoning matt! i enjoyed looking at the list but i too wondered about some of them. probably the ones i haven’t seen and have no desire to see.thanks julie for keeping me in the know about movies. it makes me want to watch some!
Jennie–I know!Jen–yeah, Austin Powers was painful for me too.Matt–you are so smart. Eric didn’t tell me about Harvey. I saw it as a play. Don’t think I need to see it as a movie. I also get annoyed with “it was the first” mentality. Sarah–happy to provide you with summer fun! 🙂