100 Films -- Days 40 through 47

Has it really been a week since I last updated this? Oops...

Last Tuesday's movie was Anna Karenina. I wanted to finally see a Greta Garbo film during this challenge. I thought maybe it would be Grand Hotel, but there was a copy of AK on the shelf at the library. It was fair; a little melodramatic, but that's probably the point.

Wednesday night's film was The Manchurian Candidate. That had some moments I didn't expect from a movie from that era. Also I didn't expect the performance from Sinatra -- he usually doesn't show that vulnerability in his roles. Another great movie.

No movies on Thursday and Friday.

On Saturday I saw Fellini's La Strada and Adam's Rib with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. La Strada was very touching and beautiful. Adam's Rib is Tracy and Hepburn at the top of their game. Very nice.

All About Eve was Sunday's movie. Bette Davis's "comeback" picture, and rather true-to-life...

Monday night's film was The Public Enemy with James Cagney. One of the gritty Warner Brothers gangster pictures from the early 1930s, this is a really great film and the source of the famous "grapefruit scene".

No movie this evening.

100 Films -- Days 35 through 39

Thursday night I saw Scarlet Street, a really great noir from Fritz Lang.

No movie on Friday night.

Saturday night's film was Zorba the Greek. This is just the kind of movie I need to see. It's all about taking what life gives you and making the best of it.

Sunday I watched both Blow-Up ("Swingin' London, Baby") and The Bad and the Beautiful. I've been wanting to see The Bad and the Beautiful for a long time, since I had seen clips from it in documentaries. It was a decent movie. I'll have to re-read Ebert's essay on Blow-Up so I know what the heck is going on there.

Tonight's movie was Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. That's a twisted little movie. You can really see where Hitch was going in his later work while watching this.

Bonus: The list of 400 candidate films nominated for the AFI Top 100 Films.

Still five days behind...

100 Films -- Days 32 through 34

No movie on Monday night.

Tuesday we saw two films: The Seventh Seal and Meet Me in St. Louis. How's that for a double-feature?

Today I watched Grand Illusion, Renoir's film about war and humanity. Excellent.

Still five movies behind.

100 Films -- Days 24 through 31

Sorry again for the long delay. Because of a recent life-changing event, I thought about scrapping this project. With all of the thoughts and prayers of family and friends, there is a temporary solution (starting tomorrow), so I'm going forward.

I took an involuntary break for a few stunned days, but on Wednesday I saw To Be or Not to Be. Friday night's film was Chinatown. I watched Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song on Saturday afternoon, then Mrs. Kaiju and I spun the DVD of Shaun of the Dead. This afternoon we saw The Third Man, and this evening I watched Sunrise. Sunrise has some great tracking shots and visual effects, including one matte shot that I didn't think was possible in 1927. What a beautiful film!

I caught up a bit this weekend, so I am only five movies behind schedule. Somehow I need to pick up the pace.