Things to Come

In this post, I made reference for an idea for a Wednesday feature that I didn't plan to start before the new year. Well, New Year's is almost upon us, so I'll share my big idea. I was inspired by the "A Movie A Day" column over on Ain't It Cool News. In the interest of expanding my own movie knowledge, I'd like to do something similar. However, I don't have a massive collection of unwatched DVD's like that feature's writer, so I have to come up with another way to find movies. I've decided to start by looking at the winners of the Best Picture Oscar chronologically starting with 1929's "The Broadway Melody". Now, this isn't going to simply be a series of reviews (though I'm sure my opinion of the film will figure in). I hope to be able to discuss technical and storytelling aspects of the film as well as, maybe, introducing a little historical perspective. To this end, I've established a couple of rules for myself: first, I will watch each movie at least twice (which may prove to be more of a chore with some films). This is to ensure that I don't miss anything important and hopefully to keep outside influences from coloring my feelings toward the film. Second, I will refrain from multi-tasking while watching the movie. I have a bad habit when watching movies at home, of trying to do other things while I watch. When I do this, I usually end up missing small chunks of the movie and that would be counter-productive to my purposes here.

So, that's my plan. I'll start as soon as I get the chance to view "The Broadway Melody". I welcome any input anybody's got.