I promise that I am going to watch Fred Astaire dancing his heart out soon and provide my feedback, but I thought that for just a moment, I’d pause and talk briefly about 62 movies that are NOT on the AFI top 100 list. Some came out after 2007 and thus could not have been …
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#91 Sophie’s Choice
1982’s drama Sophie’s Choice clocks in at #92 on the AFI list, although, as we will discuss later, I do not understand why. Sophie’s Choice is set in 1947 Brooklyn where a young writer from Virginia named Stingo has just moved to a boarding house. His first night, he sees a couple breaking up in …
#92 Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese’s 1990 biopic of the life of mobster Henry Hill clocks in at #92 on AFI’s list. Full disclosure – I’ve seen this movie over 100 times before and it has been one of my favorite movies for as long as I can remember. The film opens with a scene from a car where …
#93 The French Connection
1971’s The French Connection clocks in at #93 on the AFI list. The movie opens with some shots in France and a murder in a stairwell. Next, we meet Popeye Doyle, played by Gene Hackman and his partner, Buddy Russo, tossing a largely African-American bar and then running down and beating a suspect. After beating …
#94 Pulp Fiction
1994’s Pulp Fiction was my favorite movie growing up, bar none. It came out when I was 16 years old and I’d never seen anything like it. A bizarre gangster mashup of blood and guts, witty dialogue and colorful characters, in rewatching the film I reached the conclusion that it is still the perfect film …
#95 The Last Picture Show
1971’s ode to 1950s small town Texas, The Last Picture Show clocks in at #95 on the AFI list. Like Do The Right Thing (which I review last), it was not on the 1997 AFI list but was added to the 2007 list. A couple of interesting notes about the film. It was shot in …
#96 Do The Right Thing
Clocking in at #96 on the AFI list is Spike Lee’s 1989 classic Do The Right Thing. Set in New York in the summer of 1989 in chronicles the tale of one neighborhood’s struggle with racial issues. Clocking in at two hours, it is an average length dramatic film. New York is in the middle …
#97 Blade Runner
1982’s Science Fiction blockbuster Blade Runner clocks in at #97 on the AFI list. Starring Harrison Ford, Daryl Hannah, Sean Young and a very creepy Rutger Hauer, the film was one that I recalled loving as a kid, but also a movie that I hadn’t seen in close to 30 years. Set in 2019, which …
#98 Yankee Doodle Dandy
One of the older films on the list, 1942’s Yankee Doodle Dandy was the perfect 4th of July watch. It chronicles the life of Irish-American playwright, song writer, singer and vaudeville performer George Cohan. This film was interesting for a few reasons. First, my sad ignorance of late 19th century and early 20th century culture …
#99 Toy Story
In some ways, you could not find a sharper contrast than between #100 Ben Hur and #99 Toy Story. Toy Story clocks it a mere eighty one minutes (and is actually about 5 minutes shorter than that when considering credits) versus Ben Hur’s 3:45+. It is a light-hearted, animated, not a live-action epic. In a …
