Of the AFI list, I've seen and don't get the love for --

The Godfather
The Graduate (though I probably should have seen it at 21 instead of 41)
Chinatown (but Nicholson and Dunaway both make my teeth hurt)
Annie Hall

Birth of a Nation belongs in a whole nother category. It (and if I saw GWTW today, I'd probably say the same of it) is a technically brilliant and innovative telling of a story that didn't need to be told.

Anyone seen Amateur by Hal Hartley? This is one wacky movie.

Is that the one with Isabelle Huppert as the ex-nun who writes porn? I haven't seen that. But I do love Hal Hartley.

Fred, man, those are some of my favorite movies, *ever*. I'm getting verklempt.

That's the one. Also there's an amnesiac and corporate assassins.

I think I like it, a lot. The characters aren't really so much characters as Line Delivery Devices, but it's odd and funny.

My take on the Big 10:
1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
I get why it's here, but I can't rewatch it.
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
There is no limit to my love for this movie.
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
Stunningly good, but won't be in my personal Top 10.
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
Haven't made it through; hate all the characters.
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
Awesome.
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
Watched this once a year on my birthday until age 12.
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
Didn't speak to me.
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
Not sure if the whole movie deserves to be in the Top 10.
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
I can't objectively judge this movie. It's too Spielbergy.
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
Was this a movie? I thought it was gratuitous Gene Kelly. Which is perfectly fine.

The Graduate (though I probably should have seen it at 21 instead of 41)

I saw it recently and also didn't really see what was so ultrabrilliant about it, but I generally liked it.

Chinatown (but Nicholson and Dunaway both make my teeth hurt)

I haven't puzzled out what makes this one of the best screenplays ever, but again, I liked it.

Annie Hall

I saw this again a few months ago. Still funny. Subtitle scene? Brilliant. Waiting for the movie scene? Great. And I don't know, it seems to do a good job of tracking the rise and fall of a relationship without making judgments. And now that I think about it, the final line makes me think the movie's not too different from Eternal Sunshine.

I haven't puzzled out what makes this one of the best screenplays ever

Have you read Story by Robert McKee? He works a lot on the screenplays of Casablanca and Chinatown and if you agree with his criteria for what's a good screenplay, he'll convince you.

I wish I was all analytic like y'all so I could describe why I love them. But I'd get boring, anyways, like the Homicide pimpage.

Erika, I'll give you The Graduate. I can see how the youth of the '60s took it to heart. But I think you need to see it at a certain time of your life to appreciate it. And I saw it a lot later. (Edit: And Raquel said it in 4 words....)

And I saw Godfather on basic cable. So it may have been edited for content. (And the novel has special meaning for me as a sex ed class, but that's another story....)

Have you read Story by Robert McKee? He works a lot on the screenplays of Casablanca and Chinatown and if you agree with his criteria for what's a good screenplay, he'll convince you.

I haven't. files name away in brain for future reference

But hey, any movie where the director gets to slit the lead actor's nose is a winner, right?

Hmm, depends on which channel... And maybe I do watch movies like a renegade member of Woodstock Nation. And it's not every mom and daughter that have a tender moment because "Luca Brassi sleeps with the fishes."