Singular dishes brought in by those who believe they have a gastronomic treasure they must share with the world.
And yet, look at the serving table at the end of any potluck and you'll find patterns in the chaos.
....Dishes devoured by all, Corningware licked clean of all morsels.
....Some plates receiving quite a few interested noshers, etching impressionist Pac-Man's in the pie plate.
....Then there are those (usually some kind of creamed leafy vegetable concoction) that are left to assume room temperature. Things either so distasteful or visually unappealing that they are left uneaten and pristine.
....There are still others that defy the odds. Offerings that look GREAT as you scoop them up and equally HORRIBLE as you spit it into your napkin; and some that perhaps didn't attract the eye but would've had you in culinary heaven had you but dared to try it.
Movies have that same mystique. Films both good and bad that most everyone has experienced, or hidden gems that are passed over.
We all have classic movies that, for whatever reason, slipped beneath our radar. Perhaps you were abroad studying, or going through a nasty divorce, or sleeping incessantly due to a raging case of mononucleosis.
Admitting to those missed cinematic nuggets often illicits incredulity by your friends. In our gaming group, there is an uber geek who recently confessed to never having seen ANY of the Star Wars films. I'll pause a moment while your face corrects itself from the unmistakable "WHA????" face you're making right now...
I took an inter-stroll over to the American Film Institute (AFI) website and found a list of the top ten films in ten different genres, just to check and see what quintessential flicks escaped my ready gaze.
The link, in case you want to synthesize your own "film cred": http://www.afi.com/10top10/
Genres they chose:
Animation
Romantic Comedy
Western
Sports
Mystery
Fantasy
Sci-Fi
Gangster
Courtroom Drama
Epic
Add up your score from each category to give yourself a "film cred" score out of 100.
What films passed you by?
For me, here are some notable overlooks:
Romantic Comedy: Annie Hall, Moonstruck
Western: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Sports: The Hustler
Mystery: Chinatown
Sci-Fi: Clockwork Orange
Gangster: Scarface, Bonnie and Clyde
Courtroom Drama: To Kill a Mockingbird, Judgment at Nuremberg
Epic: Laurence of Arabia, Ben-Hur, Schindler's List
True, the list is subjective and there are many notable omissions (no horror categories, ergo no Stephen King films; no straight up dramas...so Citizen Kane is nowhere to be found), and the Top Tens themselves are prone to debate (as lists always do), but this is a good place to start.
So, what's your score. I came up with 54. I thought I'd have a few more than that. Granted, many films on the list date back to the 30's and 40's, but it's a very good representative sample.
One thing is clear, I gotta put my Netflix to work...
[EDITOR'S NOTE: We actually discussed this on tonight's taping of the Happy Time Magic Hour. When we get the show up on the intrawebs, I'll add the link here]
[EDITOR'S NOTE: We actually discussed this on tonight's taping of the Happy Time Magic Hour. When we get the show up on the intrawebs, I'll add the link here]
