Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

I do love Jimmy Stewart, and I was fun to see him so young in this film. Likewise, I do adore Claude Rains, so this film had two advantages off the bat. I believe that most American civics students are shown this film as a sort of lesson about filibustering and the process of how bills go through the houses of Congress, etc., etc., but for those who don't know, it's a moralistic tale about a green Jr. Senator who singlehandedly takes on the Washington political machine, and a graft bill sponsored by his Sr. Senator. David vs. Goliath in the senate, and instead of a slingshot we have the filibuster. The movie does seem like a guise to be a civics lesson and tends to be preachy about political corruption but it's a fun watch. It does have a major plot hole in that no one moves for a vote of cloture, which would be the legal, and plausible way to end Jefferson Smith's filibuster, however that wouldn't make for a good Hollywood story.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

The movie literally made me want to vomit with all the Jingoistic display. I realize this movie did come out right after Pearl Harbor was bombed so there was a lot of patriotic fervor, but all the brash flag waving, and celebration of American bullyism was just too much for my post-colonial, post 9/11 stomach. The movie was made to be a tribute to George M. Cohan, 'the man who owns Broadway', whom, I'll admit I've never heard of till now, despite being a Broadway fan, yet the movie was entirely too much of a caricature to be any sort of a meaningful dedication. I don't know if it was Cohan's dance style, the manner in which James Cagney mimicked it, or even Cagney's own style of dance, but it looked ridiculous when compared with the grace and class of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Generally I love movie musicals, but I found myself almost fast-forwarding through all the songs in this. I'm sorry, I just can't say anything positive about this as have no idea why it is even on the list (even if it is #98).

The Searchers

Wasn't overly fond of it. Beautiful sweeping shots of the landscape, which I hear was David Lean's inspiration for many of the shots in Lawrence of Arabia and some shots in Star Wars. John Wayne is the begrudging hero who embarks on a quest to find his long lost niece Debbie, played by Lana (younger) and Natalie (older) Wood. It makes one wonder if Natalie Wood is the female version of Jimmy Stewart--she is in so many movie 'classics'. I don't really fancy Westerns, and this didn't really change my mind. They say it is director John Ford's greatest masterpiece but, as I said, I wasn't wowed (then again I haven't seen any of his other movies). See it if you decide to see every movie on the the AFI list, otherwise, don't bother.

2001: A Space Odyssey

So as a Computer Science major I am sort of embarrassed that I only just now saw this movie. AWESOME!!! Oh my god, Stanley Kubrick is fricking awesome--the visuals in this movie are simply amazing. For those of you who haven't heard, this movie is revolutionary in the realism Kubrick used in picturizing his version of the future. Likewise, the soundtrack is primarily compromised of classical pieces, such as Strauss' legendary "Thus Spake Zarathustra", and to say the spoken dialogue is 'sparse' would be an understatement. All I can say is go (re)watch this on an HD tv with blu ray. Considering this was shot in the late 1960's the special effects on this movie are awesome. They are seamless and believable without the spectacle and obvious use of CG that features in the Star Wars trilogy.

On a side note, as a CS major, the whole idea of HAL 9000 being programmed into a mobius-loop is a cool idea. Kind of like an unending loop but in more than on dimension.