Introduction

Almost 14 years ago, while we were still in college, a good friend and I began collecting the entries on the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Movies list. When we started, many of the films were out-of-print or only available on VHS. We built our collection quickly at first, focusing on the well-known movies on the list, and spent many weekends watching the films. I continued collecting after college, acquiring missing entries and upgrading VHS to DVD or Blu Ray as they became available. My collection is now complete, and I'd like 2016 to be the year in which I watch ALL of them. I figured I'd document the endeavor here and invite any who'd like to participate to contribute however they'd like. Here are the "ground rules":

1. I'm working from the original list published in 1998, not the updated list in 2007. You can find the original list HERE.

2. I will pick 2 films from the list every Sunday and post a reaction to each film no later than the following Saturday. Early on, it will probably just be a blog post, and I ask for any who are interested to join in the conversation by commenting!

3. While I will be watching and responding to every film (or at least trying to), I don't expect everyone to do the same. Just watch the ones you want to watch. Comment/participate as you wish!

3. Both the focus and the format of the discussion are flexible, as I hope to move past whether or not we "like" the films, delving instead into what they might mean to us personally or how they are (or are not) culturally significant. I also anticipate (and even hope) that this endeavor takes a different form as more people get involved. If you live in the Minneapolis area, perhaps we can stage screenings. If you live far away, maybe we can record online discussions and publish them as a podcast. Or maybe we can record video comments and make a mini-documentary about this process. I'm open to whatever! I'm just excited about the idea of watching AND DISCUSSING these films.

Happy 2016!