When I was a kid (1970’s) the state of things had been fairly consistent for decades and would remain so. There were very few tv channels and also there hadn’t been decades of built up shows to rerun. So anyone watching tv for 40 or 50 years pretty much saw the same stuff. We had a collective social experience and we all knew the same references.
The media landscaped changed and now a days it’s quite common to meet people that were never part of this. And if you just look of the math of it, most of the best shows ever made were made prior to the last 10 years so for people who don’t normally access tv’s and movies they are missing out on the best entertainment ever made. Also, with growing catalogs the best shows aren’t shown as often so even folks trying to see these shows aren’t given nearly as many opportunities. Of course with streaming you can get all the shows ever but then the filter of what to watch in an ocean of shows is hard to get through.
With all that in mind I’ve made My Movie List. It has two tabs, the must see movies and movies that are in my “like” category. I’d recommend seeing the must see movies in chronological order for a few reasons:
- Many movies reference other movies. I’ve seen tons of funny, scary, and other things fly right over the head over some one because they don’t know that the movie is saying something more than what is obvious because of the reference they are making.
- Also you can see the art grow and the cross pollination of ideas by watching them in order. You will be able to see why a given movie might have been much bigger in it’s day because you now know that there was nothing like it ever before. Where as if you watch it without that knowledge, after you’ve seen a hundred copies of it’s style it may not seem that great.
- When watching them in order you will get to see how actors started their careers and where they went. This matters because the modern viewer won’t realize that a given movie was a star studded blockbuster, or that a famous actor is doing a very funny cameo, etc. because they don’t know movie history.
Of course you can just pick and choose within genre’s you like, my hope is for people to be happy.
Now everyone has their own “like” list. It will include good movies and flat out bad movies that you like for some odd reason where people hear you say you like it and look at you oddly. My “like” list is mostly good movies but there are some odd balls on it to.
Be open to all genres. There always a few special movies in each genre that rise to the everyone likes level. After you’ve seen enough shows you will be able to tell if it’s your style or not in just a few minutes.
Now with that being said you’ll notice I don’t have many silent picture movies listed and that is because they really don’t hold up. Now there are many amazing scenes in silent pictures but those are best viewed in a youtube mash up of Buster Keaton videos and such.