Top 5: Movies We Can't Believe We've Never Seen
This Top 5’s topic is Movies We Can’t Believe We’ve Never Seen and is a chance to reflect upon movies that are perpetually on “the list,” but ones I have never quite dedicated the time to do a viewing. To make my list, i scoured famous top movie lists, reviewed my Netflix queue, and thought about memories of conversations about film where people’s reactions were: “What?! You’ve never seen that movie?!”…which happens more often than I would like to admit.
Gibelwho Productions Top 5 Movies We Can’t Believe We’ve Never Seen:
5. Austin Powers
4. (any) James Bond
3. (most) Alfred Hitchcock classics
2. Brazil
1. Metropolis
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997): When this film came out initially in the late ‘90s, I was uninterested in seeing the Mike Myers comedy, but the film has been on my list ever since watching his appearance on Inside the Actor’s Studio where he talked about his invention of the character and inspiration for the story. Myers was definitely persuasive and he piqued my interest, (although perhaps not strongly enough to compel me to seek out a copy and screen the film), but I do concede that I need to see Austin Powers vie against his nemesis Dr. Evil.
James Bond: Speaking of Austin Powers, the inspiration for the characters and tropes in that trilogy derive from the classic spy 007, and I have somehow not seen any of the Bond films. That’s right, any of them. In film school, I had a choice between a Bond or Spielberg class and I opted for the latter, as Spielberg was such a present voice in my life up to that point and I had no context around the super spy. At this point, when I watch Bond films, I want to do it right (according to my own set of internal and crazy rules). Read the books, watch the films in order, and listen to the James Bonding podcast. An ambitious project, typical for my style, and probably why I haven’t started it yet.
Alfred Hitchcock: I didn’t escape film school entirely missing out on Hitchcock (saw The Birds in the aforementioned Spielberg class as one of his influences), but didn’t view most of his classics, including Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo and North by Northwest. While I didn’t fully enjoy The Birds(I was far more interested in the romantic comedy angle in the first segment before the birds come to ruin the movie), I know Hitchcock is a master of his craft and his films are consistently rated as some of the greatest in film history. Therefore, this is a huge gap in my film knowledge that must be rectified with a Hitchcock marathon.
Brazil (1985): This film, directed (or perhaps envisioned) by Terry Gilliam, constantly comes up in critical film discussions and has been a big hole in my knowledge of independent cinema. Dystopian futures are my favorite film genre, so this film’s tone is absolutely in my zone, and I’m also intrigued by the stories of Gilliam’s fights with the studios, including the massive re-editing of the film that changed it dramatically from Gilliam’s initial cut. Similar to Blade Runner (another of my favorite dystopian future films), I’m curious to check out both versions of the film and decide for myself.
Metropolis (1927): Hailed as the first full-length science fiction and one of the best examples of German Expressionism, this classic has been on my list since I learned of its existence in film school. The story is set in another dystopian future, one rooted in Art Deco and Futurist design, and deals with the differences that divide the urban classes. The history of this film also fascinates me - numerous attempts have been made to restore the film, with a new version making its debut in 2010 based on a damaged full print found in an Argentinian museum. A mix of sci-fi, film history, and an alluring aesthetic - all combine to make Metropolis the number one movie I can’t believe I haven’t seen.
Honorable Mentions:
Solaris (1972 / 2002): Another sci-fi classic and its more modern remake didn’t quite make my Top 5 list, but is certainly a surprise that I haven’t gotten to this pairing. An intriguing mystery that explores the psychological effects of living in space, the films are said to match the slow moving narrative of the book in which it was based.
THX 1138 (1971): Seems that 1970s science fiction about dystopian futures are on the fringes of my list. This film was the directorial debut of George Lucas and based off a short film he made while he was still in film school at USC. Interested to see Lucas’ point of view as a filmmaker before he made the pop culture trilogy that defined his career.
Seven Samurai (1954): This seminal film has been the influence on countless films that reference, imitate, and replicate; therefore, it goes without saying that I need to see the source material in order to more fully appreciate its progeny. Additionally Akira Kurosawa is a master filmmaker and I should be more familiar with his oeuvre.
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957): David Lean’s films are momentous, extremely long, and the absolute definition of epics, with this film as no exception. The sheer commitment of time (runtime is close to 3 hours) and mental effort most likely explains the lack of viewing, along with the desire to view this on the big screen. Living in Los Angeles often affords such opportunities (I recently screened Lean’s other masterpiece, Lawrence of Arabia at the Egyptian theater), so hopefully I can catch this film somewhere around town.
The Revenant (2015): An upcoming film I can’t believe that I won’t watch is the latest by Alejandro Inarritu and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, who has an incredible amount of Oscar buzz surrounding his performance. This year we have made quite an effort to view all the Best Picture nominees, but this film in particular I don’t have an overwhelming desire to watch. Leo’s performance seems to hinge on him making suffering in the cold and injuries from a bear fight look realistic, and even the promise of beautiful nature shots doesn’t counter the unappealing hours of potential suffering along with Leo. We ended up skipping it before the Oscar ceremony, which makes the odds of me seeing it drop sharply, but still can’t believe I wasn’t a completist on the Best Picture list of films.
