#63 Cabaret

While I found the movie to be adorable (Liza Minelli is wonderful as Sally Bowles, you can certainly tell Judy Garland is her mother because she immersed herself in the role and was able to capture Sally's sexuality, naivety and vulnerability ) it wasn't as good as I expected it to be from all the hype I have heard about it over the years. The soundtrack is wonderful, there is no denying it and Fosse does a great job depicting the ambiguity of Brian and Sally towards the Nazi uprising and impending World War 2 in Berlin because they are so distracted by their love affair and the night life of the Kit Kat Club, which is so true. (I can't tell you the exact date of when our troops first landed in Afghanistan or Irag.....some time after 9/11 right? But I CAN tell you all about the retard I was dating at the time and how for some stupid reason....young and clueless....I thought he was the one). Ahhhh to be young and in love and have the whole world ahead of you. I remember when Kiel and I were dating and when we first got married how we felt like the world existed just to give us a play place. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed. But then the world shoved itself into our lives and now our world is dictated by politics and war. But.....right when he first gets back from a deployment, before the dust has settled, and before there is any indication that he has to do anything other than be with me, we have a bit of that beautiful ambiguity as well.

#9 Vertigo

Well I love James Stewart....so thats a perk. I love Alfred Hitchcock...so that's a perk. I love movies with a twist...so that's a perk. This movie was great! It was certainly better than Psycho but probably because of the wonderful leading cast of James Stewart and Kim Novak. They were both amazing and able to give their characters all the complexities and dimensions they needed in order for this movie to be believable and as successful as it was/is. The audience is really able to feel Scottie's sense of paranoia as he unravels a case of murder, love, deception and betrayal. I'm glad it was able to show the love between Madeline/Judy and Scottie without being overt or cheesy because I just wouldn't be able to take it. Yesterday, I said goodbye as my husband left for a trip that would eventually place him in Afghanistan (I'm assuming he is almost there or perhaps somewhere in Europe on a layover). Thankfully I was able to avoid that horrible first night of crying hysterically and being lost in my own negtive thoughts by going out with my girlfriend Krissi and getting ridiculously smashed (I even did a couple shots for my husband and the other spouses that are in my position).

Well fuck me sideways. I am getting ready to enter the last month and have only viewed 44 movies. I had to take a break because over the past week I was in Norfolk, VA, spending time with Kiel. I am so thankful that I was able to have that week with him but now he is gone, it is over and I gotta get back to all the chores and tasks I eft behind (which will also keep me so busy I won't think about how lonely the holidays are without my husband). I really gotta get cracking. Well I am watching Cabaret right now. I have Bonnie and Clyde and Yankee Doodle Dandy at my house and The Lord of the Rings, Apocalypse Now and Intolerance (*shudder*) on my instant queue and I'm going to borrow Schindler's List  from my Dad and closer to Christmas will borrow It's a Wonderful Life from my in laws. I'm going to finish this list dammit!!!!!!!

#14 Psycho

I can't say that the movie surprised me. Of course I had seen the Gus Van Sant  remake that came out in the late 90's. Although it was interesting to see just how much Gus Van Sant had taken from the Hitchcock classic. The scripts are exactly the same, the music, even a lot of the cinematography was super identical. But....the shower scene is much scarier in the Hitchcock vision because it is left up to the viewer's imagination. And Anthony Perkins was a much better Norman Bates that Vince Vaughn (although I do love him) because Perkins was able to demonstrate how Norman first seemed to be this innocent naive boy and then the audience gets to slowly descend into his madness. Amazing performance.

I'm sure that if I had never seen the 1998 version of Psycho, I would be able to enjoy and appreciate the original much better, but since I have seen the 1998 version and I saw it first, I wasn't surprised with the ending, I knew what was going to happen, I could even quote the script. So if you want to truly appreciate Psycho- see the Hitchcock version first!!!!!!!!!!! Seeing the Van Sant version and then seeing the Hictchcock version will only ruin it for you!

# 91 Sophie's Choice

The credits are rolling. Tears (and in effect, my mascara) are running down my face and I wish so badly that a) Kiel was here to snuggle with me and b) Loki wasn't napping so I could snuggle with him. I have never had a movie make me cry hysterically and uncontrollably like this before. It was painful and beautiful at the same time. Meryl Steep did an incredible performance playing the vulnerable and tormented Sophie. Peter MacNicol also did a great job showing the innocence and naivety of Stingo and Kevin Kline was easily able to play the role of Nathan, a mentally ill, but charismatic man.


To watch the flash backs of what Sophie had to endure in Auschwitz was heartbreaking and then to see how she is never able to find peace and continues to gravitate to Nathan (whom we learn is mad). It makes one wonder if their was any other option for Sophie at the end of the movie. Would any of us be able to keep on living and be able to find happiness in life after what she had to endure? Ugh....Loki needs to wake up. I need to give him lots and lots of kisses.

# 52 Taxi Driver

This movies really perplexed me because it didn't have straightforward answers to it. Was Travis Bickle really a hero or was he just fucked in the head? How different would the movie have ended if he had succeeded in what appeared to be an assassination attempt? If this movie doesn't show what PTSD can do to someone....wow. Insomnia, narcissism, murder. And Jodie Foster's portrayal of a pre-pubescent prostitute was incredible. Cybil Shepard didn't really impress me, but maybe because I still thought of her as the ho from The Last Picture Show. Still it was a very good movie, really showcasing De Niro in his younger days as an incredible actor.

#51 West Side Story

Ok......I have to admit the opening number had me wondering if maybe there really was a Gay Mafia out there, but other than that I really liked the movie. The songs were wonderful, the actors are great (aside from how many of the "Puerto Ricans" were just white people with brown makeup...."brown face" if you will) and the story was timeless. The movie didn't drag and I can't believe that it was 2 1/2 hours long! Plus it's no shocker that I am a sucker for a love story/ tragedy. I just love a good cry!

# 12 The Searchers

Ok so I can understand how The Searchers is considered to be such a great movie. It's a great story- a man's returns from war to his family out west, family is slaughtered by Indians, aside from his nephew and his young niece (she was abducted by the Indians). So Man takes his nephew and searches all over to find his niece. Great idea for a story and the characters were very complex and real (Ethan's conflicting emotions due to his racism was very well played. Laurie was a great example of a woman walking the line of feminine independence as much as she could for the late 1800's, but didn't overdo it and displayed that she was still a girl that wanted the traditional get married have a family bru-ha-ha). But I just didn't like it. I personally think that John Wayne is grossly over-rated as an actor, the movie dragged horribly at times and I've stated before that I really am not a fan of westerns. It doesn't mean that I don't respect The Searchers as a movie, I can totally see how it got a top 20 spot on the list....it's just not my thing.

So as soon as my sister gets her ass back in the room, we are going to watch West Side Story with Natalie Wood (who played the older Debbie in The Searchers). And my car finally arrives today in a few hours!!!! Then later tonight I am totally indulging and making Goodwitch's (Kiel's grandmother's) peanut butter fudge. Hopefully there will be some left over after the weekend because I want to go visit my in-laws either Sunday or Monday.

# 46 It Happened One Night

Oh how I love Clark Gable! This movie was great! It was romantic and funny- how could I have not seen this before?!?! It really is a classic!! A runaway socialite, an unemployed reporter who just found the story of his career and "the walls of Jericho," (very cute joke throughout the movie for us grown ups *wink wink*). Made me wish I had Kiel here to snuggle up to, but I should be seeing him next week. I hope I get to, I miss him so much and it has only been a couple of weeks! Of course, where ever he goes (given that my car is here) I will load up the car and go see him. The east coast isn't THAT big HAHAHAHA!

#40 The Sound of Music

Ya know, I'm really surprised this movie wasn't higher on the list! This was a great movie (I don't mean a great musical or a great musical movie, I mean a great movie. PERIOD!). Julie Andrews was absolutely stunning (of course she is still stunning today so it's not like that was much of a surprise). This was just a great movie! Romance, music, family, Nazis....LOVED IT! And I was able to watch it with Loki and he loved it too (he loves music).

So this movie puts me at 37, meaning that I have 63 more movies to watch before January 1st. I'm starting to get worried if I will be able to do it all .That's a lot of freaking movies! It means that I will have to try to watch about 2 every day. And no more skipping days. Next week Loki and I may be driving to Norfolk to see off Kiel before he leaves the country for Crap-ghanistan. I suppose I will have to resort to watching movies on my computer, but I'm running out of movies on the instant queue to watch. Hopefully there will either be more movies added to instant queue or I will be able to find some titles in the DVD libraries of my parents and in laws. Grrrr.... It's not over until it's over dammit!

# 35 Annie Hall

This movie was so cute!!!!!! Woody Allen was cute, Diane Keaton was cute and together it was just a huge ball of cuteness for 1 hr 32 min! The story of just a regular couple living in New York, their ups and downs, their beginnings and their end. It was just great! It was funny, romantic, and quirky. To see this couple that is having difficulties and you want them to stay together so badly but then realize that they had their time together and they love each other but aren't supposed to be with each other any more. Don't we all have exes like that? Someone that gets under your skin and you love them but know that you are better off as friends? No?....huh maybe it's just me.

Tomorrow I think I will knock out The Sound of Music.  It's one of my mom's favorite movies and I do love Julie Andrews so hopefully I won't be disappointed.

# 95 The Last Picture Show

Holy crap.....this movie was boring as all hell. I watched this last night with my sister and we just weren't very impressed overall (plus I was interrupted every so often trying to get Loki to go to sleep). The actors were great but it was just so effin boring. The nudity and sex was the only saving grace. Jacey (Cybil Shepard) was a total ho......fo' sho. Although Cloris Leachman was phenomenal. It was interesting to see her in a dramatic role. And she really was beautiful when she was younger! Timothy Bottoms was adorable and so naive (but that just made him more adorable) and easily overshadowed Jeff Bridges. I could have done without the black and white, but sure that was probably just an artistic stance as a metaphor for the "good ol' days" of the 50's and the innocence of youth and such. I grasp that it is a coming of age movie and such, but the nudity and sex seemed to take an almost gratuitous role instead of complimenting the movie further and just took away from the movie. Seriously. When the movie got going we could have gone without seeing Jacey try to fuck anything that moved every five minutes.

So maybe tonight I will tackle The Sound of Music of maybe It Happened One Night or maybe Annie Hall or The Searchers. My Instant queue has a few movies to tide me over while I wait for Cabaret  and Psycho  to arrive in the mail. 

#17 The Graduate

I loved this movie! It was sexy, funny, romantic and dramatic! Who knew Dustin Hoffman could be sexy? I've always known him as old! And who the hell knew Anne Bancroft could be so freaking fierce?!? The way she seduced Benjamin and looked amazing throughout the entire film was almost inspiring! Just a great story- young man graduates college and is pressure to fall into line and be a grown up- go to graduate school or get a job or get married. Instead he rebels and has an affair with the totally sexy, totally fierce Mrs. Robinson. Then he falls in love with Mrs. Robinson's daughter and has to prove his love to her after she is heartbroken to learn that her boyfriend banged her mom. Together they rebel against everyone and run away together! LOVE IT! Great movie! Definitely one of my favorites! And who doesn't love the Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack?!

#81 Spartacus

So as the credits were rolling and I saw that Spartacus was directed by Stanley Kubrick, my initial thought was that perhaps this would be like Marie Antoinette with a sort of funky twist to a historical tale. But it is an epic movie by any definition and seemed to be more an early Gladiator than anything else. I wish Kiel had been here to watch it with me, because he would've loved it (I miss him so much already and it has only been two weeks!). And the ending really had me in tears (Spartacus crucified, but still alive, looking down at his wife and child, knowing it is the last time he will ever see them but also knowing that his child was born free) Kirk Douglas was so powerful in that moment because he was kept his face hard and strong but with his eyes you could see so much emotion- pain, pride, happiness, it was so beautiful. Not to mention the battle scenes were pretty boss considering it was done without the use of all the modern effects that we take for granted in our movies today. It was also refreshing to see that Kubrick made a movie that wasn't a total mind fuck (like Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket or A Clockwork Orange).


So my car isn't here yet and locked in the trunk of my car is my x-box which is my main source for watching instant queue movies. I know I could watch them on my computer but...ehhhh.... According to the netflix website, The Graduate should be waiting for me in my mailbox. I have to admit, I am super psyched about watching this movie. I saw a special about it on AMC a few months ago calling it one of the "movies that changed the world." Plus, in a few months, I should hopefully be a graduate.