10. Finish Watching all the movies on the National Film Registry Made since 1986

Did you know that there are over 900 movies on the National Film Registry? So many. SO. MANY. And while I do very much like movies, I think completing that list is a lifetime bucket list not a 40 for 40 list, so I'm just going to try and watch all those films that were made in my lifetime, since 1986, and there are only114 of those.

Starting off, I had watched only 38 of them. Which in my defense, is still a lot, and the National Film Registry has a pretty impressive number of obscure (yet amazing) titles, that you don't just accidentally happen upon. So this is where I started:

From here, I started locating where I could watch the more obscure documentaries (the answer is ALWASY the library) and just finding where the rest were streaming, and started watching while I was working on other things at the house, or snowed in, and I'm going to include some thoughts as I watch the rest of the 76 movies on this list. These are in no particular order except in the order that I decided to watch them:

Fake Fruit Factory - Short film, and an important vignette into life for women in Central America in the 80s

Goodfellas - I hadn’t ever seen it and it was really good (if VERY violent)

Lunch Date - Another short one but a very funny story about not making assumptions based on appearances

Hoosiers - Sweet story, Gene Hackman is doing a lot of yelling at teenagers though…

She’s Gotta Have It - Spike Lee started out great and continues to be great. Interesting story line and he weaves in the black culture of New York City so well. Absolutely belongs on the list

No Country for Old Men - Well. This was horrific. I’ve been told this movie has the most diagnostically accurate portrayal of a psychopath ever filmed. I believe it. Yikes.

Precious Images - Do you want to watch the entire history of American film in 6 minutes? This is your short.

Selena - Such an amazing story and the music is phenomenal. And then the end makes your heart ache.

Luxo Jr. - Pixar short with the lamps. Adorable.

Who Killed Vincent Chin? - This should be required for every american history class. Unbelievable story about racism and a wild miscarriage of justice.

Tin Toy - I may have nightmares about the terrifying uncanny valley of the baby in this Pixar short.

The Red Book - Experimental short about…memory? I honestly don’t know. I thought I was losing my mind by the end.

Scratch and Crow - I think this short is a…metaphor? I don’t think I do well with experimental film. It just makes me feel slightly unhinged…which may be the point.

The Thin Blue Line - I don’t know if there is such a genre as horror documentary, but this is it. Amazing Errol Morris film but the entire time I was dumbfounded and horrified.

The Fog of War - Great documentary, but downright shocking at times. I am now adding it to my Vietnam/Nixon film watch order: The Post, Fog of War, All the President's Men, then Mark Felt.

20 Feet from Stardom - Lovely documentary about backup singers and it has a ton of really cool cameos from the artists that they worked with. Loved it and the music was great.

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision - Documentary about Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam War memorial and the Civil Rights memorial (among many other things). Really moving and you get to see the vision behind how she works and builds these extraordinary spaces.

Roger & Me - This Michael Moore film is better than Bowling for Columbine. No joke. It's so well edited and the city of Flint, Michigan is a character unto itself. The story of what happens when a company town is abandoned by the company. Really feeling that one right now...

Drums of Winter - This documentary legitimately made me cry. It's about a native Yu'pik community in Alaska that was documenting their traditions, especially their drumming and dancing traditions, along with the story of why they were forced to give up many of those traditions in the 1920s. When it was filmed (1977) many of the elders were unsure whether their culture would even survive. I started crying because when I looked up the drumming and dancing practices now, they are alive and doing well in the hands of the children and grandchildren that descended from these elders.

Platoon - Possibly the most violent movie I've ever watched in my life? Definitely deserves to be on this list for what I have to imagine is a fairly accurate portrayal of some experiences of the Vietnam War (on both sides).

One Survivor Remembers - Very intense film that I think needs to be shown to every high school student. It's a simple but very moving interview with Holocaust survivor Gerda Klein interspersed with photos from WWII of the places and people she describes.

Tongues Untied - We are back to the high art film. This is a spoken word film with associated imagery and movement. The rhythms and repetitions were definitely unsettling at times, but it's an interesting perspective to hear.

Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser - I am not a big jazz fan, but I had heard of Thelonious Monk because I knew about the song 'Round Midnight. A jazz-style documentary of a jazz legend. Which is to say that the entire thing feels a bit unstructured and fluid at times, but is still nonetheless a beautiful story.

Hoop Dreams - This is a long-form documentary that spans several years for two boys from their Freshman year of high school into their Freshmen year of college in the pursuit of a dream of playing professional basketball. It's very well made but hard to watch at times because it highlights some tragic and exploitative aspects of programs intended to help these boys reach their potential.

Buena Vista Social Club - Lovely documentary about Cuba and the rich culture of Cuban music and musicians.

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt - I haven't cried this hard over a movie in a long time. Unbelievable storytelling about those lost to AIDS.