I don’t subscribe to New Year’s Resolutions because no you’re absolutely not going to start changing everything about yourself to look like Glen Powell or Sydney Sweeney as soon as January 1st hits. BUT sometimes I make goals and they work out1, like the time I chose to fill in some pop culture blindspots by watching at least one “old” movie each month.
Forefathers sit down, as the reason I put the word “old” in quotation marks is that I arbitrarily decided to make the year 2000 my cutoff to determine the age of a movie.
Wrapping up 2024, this is the third year I’ve stuck to this, and it’s been fun to check in on classics I’ve heard of but never seen, or even ones I’ve never heard of but are cited as inspiration for current culture. If for nothing else than answering a specific old trivia question when it arises. Below is my ranking of the old movies I watched this year, very apples-to-oranges because none of these years-apart movies would be compared on any other lists:
St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
80s movies love to have you confused about the title’s meaning for 90 minutes then drop some monologue explaining it out of nowhere.
The Last of Sheila (1973)2
70s movies love to lay out an exciting premise then take one hour to get to the inciting incident.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Iconic that the “Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby” haircut transcended culture but in context everyone makes fun of her and thinks it’s hideous. Like when I watched The Exorcist last year, I think there’s no way a movie like this can live up to hyperbolic statements like the SCARIEST MOVIE EVER!
And when I say “transcended culture” I am picturing Tyra Banks referencing it in every single “makeover episode” of America’s Next Top Model.
Rear Window (1954)
“I look in people's windows / In case you're at their table. / What if your eyes looked up and met mine / One more time?” - Taylor Alison Swift
I am not extremely familiar with one Aflred Hitchcock (maybe I’ll watch more!) but I think my idea that there would be twists and turns had be guessing endings that may have excited me more than the actual ending.
Twins (1988)
An earnest comedy with a nefarious fraud plot and Arnold Schwarzenegger in-jokes and we need more of that (see also: Jingle All the Way) [see below: I’m an Arnold Schwarzenegger head.
Die Hard (1988)
This is a good movie but I understand how young straight men voted for Trump because of how one guy once posted on Reddit about Die Hard being a Christmas movie and then that evangelized every other straight man to never have another original thought... Like okay Jumanji is also a Christmas movie.
The Graduate (1967)
A big misunderstanding that leads to a fun third act fight in an unexpected location… hey is this a Marvel Studios picture?!
Casino (1995)
Martin Scorsese has a passion for introducing 45 old white guys whose names I will never know then killing them over the course of 3 hours with narration like, “and then Lucky needed to go”.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
A little long (and/or unevenly paced) and yet the ending left too much open for my liking. But that didn’t take away from the tensionnnnn and also 2 A-List-actor butts!
Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991)
After the autumn of giant concert movies that was 2023, I started my year with this — as a movie, a bit long and meandering in its flow, but such a great way to start to get Madonna for maybe missing so much of her career (yes I have previously mentioned the pipeline from watching this movie to almost buying Celebration Tour tickets). Not that I was naïve to Madonna’s pop influence but the path is clear from this to Britney to Beyoncé to Gaga to Taylor to every pop girlie. I get it now 🥵
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 sweaty high-waisted pairs of pants (compliment) [very good]. People with brains rot would call this a bottle episode and people with taste would nominate it for Emmy’s if it was an episode of TV.
True Lies (1994)
Arnold my king!! For the second year in a row on this “project”, an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie is in the top spot so I suppose my thesis is what all of Gen X and above knew since the 80s: he’s a star!
I may have been way less impressed with other, future James Cameron work (Titanic, Avatar, head of them?) had I seen Schwarzenegger riding a horse into a slowly rising hotel elevator pursuing a criminal. Jamie Lee Curtis is hot! Bill Paxton with a 90s side part and a mustache is hot! Romantic action comedy!!!!
If you have a favorite movie that existed before your birth, let me know and maybe I’ll watch it in 2025! And stay tuned as I round up some favorite new watches from the year soon. If you got this far without subscribing, do it now!
Those specific cases like when I said I’d stop drinking soda at 17 or start flossing daily in my twenties.
Probably the least known of my choices but this consistently came up as inspiration for Rian Johnson when creating Knives Out and it’s extremely clear, especially when looking at Glass Onion.
I also watched The Last of Sheila because of Knives Out. Fun fact that you might already know: it’s the only film written by Stephen Sondheim, and he co-wrote it with the guy from Psycho (a great Hitchcock movie!).