Mick LaSalle wrote about some classics he had not seen: To Kill A Mockingbird, Blade Running, An Affair to Remember, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Young Frankenstein. He proceeded to watch them and give his thoughts, summarily dismissing 2001 in particular. Kevin Lee from Shooting Pictures, who’s on a quest to watch all 1000 films on the They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They? list, took offense, and responded. The blogosphere – in particular Jonathan Lapper (Cinema Styles) and Dennis Cozzalio (Sergio Leone’s Infield Fly Rule) – continued the discussion. Jeff Wells of course did also, calling LaSalle’s post “brave”, and eliciting almost 300 comments I don’t have the time or energy to go through.
Who am I to stay behind? Below is a copy of the comment I left on Jonathan’s blog – and I definitely recommend going over there to read his post first. I’ve only seen 2 of the 5 films on LaSalle’s list, and probably somewhere between 100 and 200 of the Shooting Pictures list, so I might not seem equipped. But with the film canon growing bigger and bigger, and more movies worth seeing coming out all the time, it’s worth considering how completist we can be. You’ll find the comment after the jump.
