Blog Love

I really do intend to give this blog some more attention in the coming weeks, but let's get the ball rolling on that by giving some attention to another blog. As many of you already know, the inspiration (and look) for my own blog was largely a result of reading and commenting on my friend John Williams' blog---A Special Way of Being Afraid. While there are definite similarities (a little bit of sports, a little bit of movies, a little bit of politics, a little of this and a little of that), John's writing is typically more thoughtful and detailed than what you might find here. This should come as little surprise as John has made a living editing books, writing freelance articles, maintaining a separate blog about books, and also betting on horses...though I suspect that last source of income is more of a hindrance than a help.

Like me, John goes back and forth between allowing his real-world responsibilities to encroach on his routine blog updates, but he's come out firing on all cylinders in 2010. He's had several good posts this year, but the sequence of posts I've really been waiting for began earlier today. John, who has written many an excellent film review over at Pajiba.com, has elected to count down his 100 favorite films of all-time, a daunting task even if you don't give it the level of care and thought I'm certain he's put into this project. It's the kind of project I'd love to do for myself one day, but it's also one that, quite frankly, I just don't have the patience for. I'm not sure how one can rank and compare Broadcast News vs. Freebie and the Bean, but I'm pretty sure I might kill myself if I tried.

Still, over the last last few months when he announced his plans to create this list, John seems to have methodically reviewed a list encompassing almost every movie ever made. He admits an omission or two is possible, but you can be sure this list was not thrown together haphazardly. I encourage you all to check out his countdown (hint: Avatar will not be on his countdown). I, too, will be checking in on it and offering up my own two cents on his selections. If nothing else, I can tell my Netflix queue is going to have several new titles added in the coming weeks. His first five movies in the countdown are as follows:

100) Dressed to Kill
99) Airplane & Anchorman (he's already cheating!)
98) Broadway Danny Rose
97) Donnie Brasco
96) Hoop Dreams

Of these six films, I've seen four for sure...with Dressed to Kill and Broadway Danny Rose being the two movies I'm familiar with but not entirely sure I've "seen." I think Airplane is the only one from these six that would be on my own list, and I cringe at it getting equal billing with Anchorman, but the rest of the picks are solid selections. I always considered Donnie Brasco to be slightly overrated, and the initial impact of Hoop Dreams has faded in my memory, but if John says a film is this good, it probably means I should take a second look...and so should you.