Alright. So. A few weeks back I was thinking about fiction and media and common knowledge because I’m that kind of weird nerd and I realized that, while I’ve seen a good amount of movies, I’ve not seen even more. A lot of capital-F Films are missing from my experiences, as are tons of those movies that “everyone” has seen. And at this point, I’m wondering why I haven’t gotten around to it. I mean, I’ve got access to the largest archive of human creative achievement in the history of the species!

So why haven’t I ever sat down and watched a John Wayne movie? Why do I only pretend to know Sigourney Weaver from Alien when really she’ll always be that lady from Galaxy Quest in my mind? I mean, I’ve never even seen a Coen Brothers movie, even though I know that they’re supposed to be works of art. I don’t even have an excuse, really. But what I do have is an opportunity.

I’ve compiled a list of movies that I should’ve seen by now. It’s not a perfect list, nor a complete one. Mostly it’s a mad scramble of stuff my friends, coworkers and I brainstormed every now and then. Some genres, like Westerns and Dramas and Horror, are entirely foreign to me, so the choices there are sort of placeholders for whatever fits as the best-of for that category. But with the help of whoever reads this, I’d like to expand and refine the list and watch one of these quote-unquote classic films every week in semi-random order, starting on the first day of 2016. And then, of course, I’ll write up a sort of first-timer’s review and post it here.

So without further ado, the list. Suggestions for additions and removals are encouraged by anybody. I can’t possibly say every movie I have seen, but I’m game to respond to any feedback given.

1. 12 Angry Men
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Alien
4. Amelie
5. American History X
6. Annie Hall
7. Apocalypse Now
8. The Big Lebowski
9. Big Trouble in Little China
10. Blade Runner
11. Blazing Saddles
12. Brazil
13. O Brother Where Art Thou
14. Cabin in the Woods
15. Carrie
16. Citizen Kane
17. Chinatown
18. A Clockwork Orange
19. The Color Purple
20. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
21. Dead Poets Society
22. Die Hard
23. Dirty Dancing
24. Doctor Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
25. Duck Soup
26. Evil Dead
27. The Exorcist
28. Fargo
29. The French Connection
30. From Dusk Till Dawn
31. Full Metal Jacket
32. Gojira
33. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
34. Goodfellas
35. Good Will Hunting
36. Gremlins
37. A Hard Day’s Night
38. Heathers
39. Jaws
40. Jerry Macguire
41. Judge Dredd
42. Kill Bill
43. Kung Fu Hustle
44. Lost in Translation
45. The Magnificient Seven
46. Malcolm X
47. Modern Times
48. Monty Python’s Life of Brian
49. No Country for Old Men
50. North by Northwest
51. Office Space
52. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
53. On The Waterfront
54. The Prestige
55. Primer
56. Pulp Fiction
57. Raging Bull
58. Repo Man
59. Reservoir Dogs
60. Rocky
61. Scarface
62. Schindler’s List
63. Shawshank Redemption
64. Shawn of the Dead
65. The Shining
66. Silence of the Lambs
67. Some Like It Hot
68. Stand By Me
69. Terminator
70. The Third Man
71. To Kill A Mockingbird
72. Top Gun
73. Wet Hot American Summer