The Goal

So, I am a freshman in college; its my first semester and already I am considering my options, basically whether or not to drop out. I have never liked school very much, all of the assignments that must be handed in, all of the grades that must be had. Since I was little, I always wondered why I could never just learn, why it always had to be about the assignment or the test, why the thing that mattered most was the number you received at the end of the year. Now that I am in college, I feel like, rather than continue to complain, I should take matters into my own hands. As I continue to work towards earning a degree from a four year liberal arts college in the northeast, I am going to simultaneously take my education into my own hands.

Last week I began reading "The Film Club," a memoir by David Gilmour. The book chronicles a father and son after the son drops out of high school upon his father's approval. As an alternative education, the father (Gilmour) requires his son to watch three movies a week of Gilmour's choosing. Raised by a movie buff father and as a screenwriting major myself, I figured this book would be right up my alley. Little did I know, the book came at exactly the right time. More than half way through my first semester at college and, just as with high school, I hated the physical act of "school." I wanted to quit. When I picked up the book, I expected to be reading about some of the greatest films ever made; instead, I was getting a life lesson on what happens when you deviate from the norms of society, with the movies as a mere side note in each chapter. Although I have not yet finished the book, I have become inspired to commit a similar act; to watch, what I believe will be, the 100 greatest movies in one year.

I am going to spend the rest of 2009 accumulating my list of movies. I am going to utilize "The Film Club" as well as other books on film history and criticism. I am going to scrutinize dozens of lists by various publications and web site. And, if there is anyone out there actually reading, I would LOVE any suggestions you may have. I will begin the watching on January 1, 2010 (at midnight) and hope to have the 100 movies watched by December 31, 2010. This blog will be used to document my adventure as I compile the list and then as I go through watching each movie. At the end of next year, we will see if those were, in fact, the 100 greatest films of all time.