#35 on the list: Watch all the AFI's top 100 films. I'm currently at 47/100.

I watched "Do the Right Thing" the other night. (Spike Lee film)

So I think I've finally found a movie that tops Scarface for the number of F-bombs.

Seriously...

Aside from the tacky backdrop, painful 80's outfits, and gratuitous boob-shot, the story was a good one, depicting just how stupid and destructive racism is, and how oppression is just a time-bomb, ticking away.

The oppressive heat of a New York City summer provides an analogous backdrop for the oppressive racial tension in the racially mixed Brooklyn neighborhood where the story takes place. Racial tension and defiance eventually culminate in the death of Radio Raheem and the ensuing riot that errupts as the police drive off with his dead body.

The mob's anger is, on the surface, directed at the police for the choking death of Radio, but is rooted in and fueled by the underlying racial tension in which the neighborhood, and society at large, is steeped.

When the police leave the scene after Radio's death, the mob turns on Sal, his sons, and the pizzaria where the conflict began. Mookie, Sal's employee, sees the direction that things are heading and lobs a trash can into the window of the pizzaria, causing the crowd to shift its attention to the building and away from Sal and his sons.

To me, the film veritably screams "open your eyes!" Look how stupid we've been as a society! Look at how pointless and destructive our "views" are! Look at how much better things could be if we set aside our "imagined" differences. It sounds cliche', but how long will it take, for god's sake?!?! When will we get to the point where we've "ALL" had enough of the bullshit?

My humble opinion.....

So, in order to achieve #35: watch the AFI's top 100 films, I queued up the movies in our Blockbuster account and they've been arriving in the mail. Trouble is, hubby really isn't all that interested in watching films made before 1980, 1970...1960....In fact, he's not all that interested in *most* of the movies on the list. Many of them date back several decades or more. So that means I fit them in when I can, when he's busy...when the house is otherwise empty and I have some spare time.

Hah!

Who has that?!?

In any event, while some of them have been enjoyable and entertaining, I'm finding that I'm not as impressed with them as I thought I would be. I can appreciate that some of them were very notable for the effort and creativity that went into the making of them, and that the acting was considered extraordinary for the time....but lets face it...acting has evolved over the years. Many of the films leave much to be desired (special effects notwithstanding), when compared to the movies of today.

Baz Luhrmann says "Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth."

I would suggest that there are many ways to interpret "Top 100 Films". As I watch these movies, I am often left with the fact that there are many other more modern movies that I have seen, many of which are NOT on this list, that I find more enjoyable, more entertaining, more moving, than the ones selected by the AFI.

If the AFI's Top 100 films are each to be taken as a vignette, a study of the times and methods employed in film-making when each was made, and are meant to be viewed only within the framework of the films of its era, then the list might be renamed the AFI's Top 100 Film-Study Films.

If, on the other hand, the Institute would suggest that each of these films is to be considered superior without regard to the time-frame in which it was made, then I would suggest that for the sake of *nostalgia*, many of these are being dusted off and recycled for more than they are worth.

The value that I am finding in many of them stems more from the "perspective" on society that they reflect, a sort of history lesson. Attitudes, attire, values, morals and pop culture are revealed in them that gives me a clearer image of the times in which my parents and grandparents lived. It is the backdrop in these movies that I often find interesting and entertaining, less so the acting.

And the bottom line in all of this is: I'm no expert. This is just my humble opinion. I'm not a film student. Maybe I'm just not seeing things from the same "informed" perspective as the AFI....but I do know what I like...and what I don't. And really, I'm not so dissatisfied that I would remove the goal from my list, since there are a number of movies that are surprisingly delightful, and I don't think I want to miss the opportunity to discover a hidden gem or two.