Progress 8/30

Rewatches:
- Das blaue Licht
- Donnie Darko
- Loving Vincent
- The Kings of Summer

Top 3
- Donnie Darko
- Unforgiven
- Repo Man
Bottom 3
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- The Man With the Iron Fists

The Prompts:
1. Happy April Fool’s Day! Watch a comedy starring an actor who isn’t usually known for being in comedic films.

2. An actor who never fails to make me laugh is Peter Falk, who was on my 2022 most-watched actors list. Watch a movie starring one of my all-time most watched actors.

3. Peter Falk often collaborated with John Cassavetes, who is the current subject on my podcast, Gone But Not Forgotten, which I co-host with my best friend Louise. Watch a movie we've mentioned in an episode or starring someone we've covered on the show (Sharon Tate // River Phoenix // Brittany Murphy // Elvis Presley // Natalie Wood // John Garfield // Judy Garland // John Cassavetes).

4. The third prompt is also one on The Other Filmmakers Challenge, which I’m co-hosting. Watch a movie directed by an early female film pioneer (basically any female directed-film released BEFORE 1960). Some ideas to start with: Ida Lupino // Dorothy Arzner // Alice Guy-Blache // Lois Weber // Mabel Normand // Germaine Dulac // Lotte Reiniger // Frances Marion // Leontine Sagan // Maya Deren // Edith Carlmar // Jacqueline Audry // Muriel Box

5. Today is the anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, one of my personal idols and someone who was a pioneer in the music industry. Watch a movie with grunge/punk themes. Here is a list of some ideas.

6. Watch a movie starring a singer.

7. One of my mom’s favorite singers is Elvis Presley. Watch one of my family members’ favorite films.

8. Watch a movie featuring real-life siblings.

9. John and Joan Cusack are one of my favorite Hollywood sibling duos. They started their careers in iconic ‘80s teen films. Watch an ‘80s movie starring a member of the Brat Pack. Please pick from this list.

10. While they may not be the world’s greatest actors, I feel like the Brat Pack doesn’t get the recognition they deserve for being the faces of an entire generation/decade of film. Sometimes the rarest movies are the best ones. Watch the most obscure film on your watchlist.

11. I love watching movies that not many people have heard of and finding out which are hidden gems and which ones deserve to be forgotten. I recently made a challenge to watch Oscar nominated/winning films with less than 10k logs on Letterboxd. Watch one of the movies in the challenge.

12. Today is my beloved Saoirse Ronan’s birthday! She is only one of two people who has earned four Oscar nominations by the age of 26. Watch one of Saoirse's movies.

13. Little Women is one of the first films I remember identifying with on an extremely personal level and was so glad I could watch it at the theater when it came out. Rewatch a movie that changed your life and see if it still resonates with you.

14. I usually gravitate more towards actors rather than directors. Watch a movie directed by an actor. Here’s a list to get you started.

15. Watch a movie mentioned in Turner Classic Movies’ Essential Directors book.

16. Today is Charlie Chaplin’s birthday, who was a pioneer in acting and directing in the early 20th century. I’ve only seen one of his films and am embarrassingly not very familiar with silent movies (it’s a knowledge gap I’m hoping to fill). Watch a silent film released between the 1890s-1920s.

17. Charlie Chaplin was involved in many scandals, including being on the yacht when director Thomas Ince was murdered (Chaplin was supposedly the intended target). I don’t like true crime but am interested in all the wild stuff that went down in the early days of Hollywood. Watch a movie or documentary about Old Hollywood. Here’s a list to get you started.

18. Today is Kenny Ortega’s birthday! He was the choreographer for Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ music video, which pays homage to Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ number in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. What a movie that he was involved with - whether it be directing or choreography.

19. Kenny Ortega made some of my all-time favorite Disney Channel Original Movies. Watch a DCOM.

20. A majority of DCOMs are available on Disney+ and I feel like the world is so run by streaming services now. Physical media still deserves love! Watch a DVD you own (but haven’t seen yet), something from your library or a video store, or go see a new release at a theater!

21. I’m lucky to have a great video store where I live and I go there often to get recommendations. Unfortunately that means my watchlist piles up and I neglect films I added to it a long time ago. Watch one of the movies that has been on your watchlist the longest or that you've been putting off for a while.

22. I like to ask my grandma for music and movie recommendations from when she was my age. Ask someone you know what some of their favorite musical artists are and watch a movie with one of them on the soundtrack.

23. My grandma grew up in a really small town. Watch a film set in a small town in America (real or nonexistent). Here’s a list to get you started.

24. Where I live, it rains a lot in the springtime. Watch a movie with a scene set in the rain. Here’s a list to get you started.

25. The last prompt was recommended by my best friend Louise! She’s trying to watch every single movie in the 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die book. Watch a movie on the list.

26. Today is my birthday!! Watch one of my favorite films.

27. One of my favorite Instagram accounts is called Cakes in Cinema, which posts stills of cakes from all kinds of movies. Watch a movie featured on their page.

28. I used to bake a lot but don’t anymore. Finish a movie that you started but didn’t complete, or watch a movie on my ‘couldn’t finish watching’ list.

29. While my incomplete watches list is very long, I like to binge actors’ filmographies. Right now I’m focused on Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda. Watch one of their movies.

30. Today is Kirsten Dunst’s birthday! She is one of my favorite actors and I’ve watched almost all of her movies. Watch a film she’s starred in or one of her favorites - list supplied by my friend/#1 Kirsten Dunst fan, Nicholas.