Let's Finally Watch This

It's 1914. Out of Italy comes what many classify as the first film epic. In this silent film, the girl Cabiria survives an eruption from Etna, is kidnapped by pirates, nearly offered to the god Moloch, and spends years as a servant. Meanwhile, Roman soldier Fulvius Axilla and his Samson-like servant Maciste cross paths with Cabiria and their destinies are entwined as Rome wars against Carthage and...

It's 1904. French director Georges Méliès is at the height of his career, creating fantastic, creative movies in the early days of cinema. Like his earlier A Trip to the Moon, this film is about a fantastic voyage, but as the Institute of Incoherent Geography visits mountain villagers, the surface of the sun, and monster-infested oceans, it is in some ways a more frantic and adventurous movie. Wha...

It's time to wrap up another season of Let's Finally Watch This . We start by making a few corrections, filling in a few gaps in this season's discussion of film exhibition, and discussing how film continues to change up to the present. But, then, the heart of the episode--our Ranking of Essentialness for this season's movies! We also share our personal favorites from the season. Thanks for joinin...

It's 2013. The top-grossing film of the year is Disney's Frozen , but that's not the only important fairy-tale based animated film released this year. In Japan, Studio Ghibli released The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, a beautiful, compelling retelling of the Japanese folk tale, "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter." It's a film that lets us experience Japanese history, Japanese animation, and the creativ...

It's 2003--and it's the holidays. Many of our standard Christmas movies were released in the 1940s, but since the 1990s, there has been a resurgence of Christmas movies, creating a number of new holiday classics. Among those is Elf , directed by Jon Favreau, a movie nearly everyone has seen, except for Let's Finally Watch This co-host Timothy Deal. What Elf offers casual movie fans who have always...

It's 1993. Multiplexes have arrived, and there are plenty of movies to show— Jurassic Park, Tombstone, Schindler's List , the original Super Mario Bros. movie.... Okay, not all are great, but it was a time of the blockbuster. In the middle of this comes Sleepless in Seattle , an iconic romantic comedy with the now-classic pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. What Sleepless in Seattle offers casual m...

It's 1983. The blockbuster age has started, and the top-grossing movie of the year is The Return of the Jedi . However, another pivotal space movie is also released this year, The Right Stuff , a film examining the early years of the space race. Based on the book by Tom Wolfe , The Right Stuff follows the journey of the Mercury Seven as they undergo grueling trials and first-of-their-kind flights....

It's 1973. We're in the middle of the New Hollywood era, when movies tended to be more uncoventional and often darker. However, some movies are still all-around fun . The Sting , an Academy Award-winning caper movie featuring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, dives into the underworld of the 1930s with effortless skill. Two con men attempt to take revenge on a crime boss by swindling him out of his...

It's 1963. We're crossing the Atlantic to visit Italy, a preeminent filmmaking country. In the 1950s-60s, Italian film was largely known for Commedia all’Italiana (“Comedy in the Italian way”), spaghetti Westerns (westerns made in Italy), and Post-Neorealism (a movement moving past realism to explore existential themes). Famed Italian director Frederico Fellini pushes past this last in his critica...

It's 1953. We're in the middle of the Golden Age of Hollywood; we're also in the pinnacle decades of the western, a truly American plot. Westerns have been around almost as long as movies (see The Great Train Robbery ) . Shane is an essential and quinessential example of the genre. It tells the story of homesteaders in an isolated Wyoming valley defending their land from land-hungry ranchers, with...

It's 1943. World War 2 is raging, and nearly all the movies are war-related in some way. Into this comes a story of evil visiting idyllic small-town America. The director is the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock; and the movie, Shadow of a Doubt , is not as flashy or as well-known as some of his others, but it is a compact, character-driven story. Hitchcock himself said several times that it wa...

It's 1933. It's the Depression, and audiences want movies that don't sugarcoat the truth, but they want escapism too. That means it's time for a new type of musical. Hollywood released more than 100 musical films only three years earlier in 1930, but by 1933, they had largely disappeared as a genre. Choreographer Busby Berkeley helped revive them with several films, including this episode's movie,...

It's 1923. The building blocks of classic Hollywood are coming together and the people are enjoying silent movies in their movie palaces in the years following the Great War. Director Cecil B. DeMille, known for the biblical epic 1956 movie The Ten Commandments , releases a movie with the same title in this year. What this first The Ten Commandments offers casual movie fans who have always meant t...

It’s 1913. The movie industry is starting to move from the East Coast out west, and nickelodeons are a growing staple of American society. Out of those burgeoning years of the movie industry and newly minted movie stars come Mabel Normand, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, and the Keystone Cops, all of whom are involved in this episode's short, Mabel's New Hero. What  Mabel's New Hero  offers cas...

Welcome to season 2 of Let's Finally Watch This, a podcast for casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies. Once again we're traveling through the century, highlighting one movie from each decade from 1903 to 2013. In each episode, we'll highlight what's going on film history, how the chosen film affected future movies, and, of course, whether the movie itself is actually worth...

It's the end of Season 1. It's been a trip. Now it's time to look back at the constants and changes that accompanied a century of film. We'll also give our own Ranking of Essentialness for this season's movies. We've enjoyed this trip through cinema history, and we hope you've enjoyed this initial season of Let's FInally Watch This as well. See you next year!

It's 2012. Movies are experimenting with 3-D and Blu-ray is making inroads. This movie, considered a prime example of good 3-D storytelling, follows Pi, an Indian man whose story will, according to some, "make you believe in God." That story involves being adrift at sea with a Bengal tiger. What Life of Pi offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: a gorgeous, visually...

It's 2002. Sequels and franchises are everywhere, and digital filmmaking is just beginning. This movie, however, is the exception that proves the rule. Gangs of New York , directed by Marin Scorsese, fully embodies 1862 New York as it examines tribalism, crime, and revenge in the relationships of immigrant and "native" Americans. What Gangs of New York offers casual movie fans who have always mean...

It's 1992. The Age of Blockbusters continues, but a wide assortment of genres are making their way to the box office. New independent filmmakers are up and coming. This movie, Unforgiven , is a revisionist western following a reformed outlaw and assassin as he decides to take on one last bounty to help provide for his two children. What Unforgiven offers casual movie fans who have always meant to...

It's 1982. The era of blockbusters is upon us, movie technology is changing, and science fiction is popular. Into this mix comes Blade Runner , a visually groundbreaking sci-fi/noir set in far-off future of 2019, where detectives call blade runners track down and kill rogue replicants (androids) which have been outlawed on Earth. What Blade Runner offers casual movie fans who have always meant to...

It's 1972. "New Hollywood" is in full swing with its loosening moral standards, greater artistic freedom, and more ambiguous endings. But it's also an era of disaster movies, with this episode's movie, The Poseidon Adventure , being a prime example, as passengers of the overturned ship struggle for survival. What The Poseidon Adventure offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classi...

It's 1962. We're in early "New Hollywood Era," when movies begin to lean into more complex themes and ambiguity. This episode's movie is Lawrence of Arabia , an epic historical drama about British officer T.E. Lawrence and his time in the Ottoman Empire regions of Hejaz and Greater Syria during World War I. What Lawrence of Arabia offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic mov...

It's 1952. TV is competing with movies, so movies are going color and going for spectacle. This episode's movie is Singin' in the Rain , a musical full of romance, comedy, and charm starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. What Singin' in the Rain offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: energetic dance numbers, laugh-out-loud humor, brilliant color...

It's 1942. World War II looms large on the American mind--but not in this movie. This episode's movie is The Magnificent Ambersons , a family drama about changing times directed by Orson Welles. What The Magnificent Ambersons offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: intricate cinematography, complex characterizations, and a behind-the-scenes story as interesting as t...

It's 1932. Silent films are out. Talkies are in. This episode's movie is Horse Feathers , a Marx Brothers comedy (ostensibly) about a college president trying to recruit football players for the big game--but that's just an excuse for the humor. What Horse Feathers offers casual movie fans who have always meant to watch classic movies: ridiculous hijinks, musical numbers, indiscriminate mockery, a...