Ever since joining Spout.com a while back, I've come to learn a lot about film in general and my movie watching habits. One of the more prominant things is how the Movies I've Watched By Decade chart. Since I first starting watching movies at a high rate 2+ years ago, it's not surprising that most are from this decade. They seem to be more accessible, and more prominant on my mind as being ones I want to see. Plus, when deciding what to watch with my wife or with friends, we usually decide on something recent, as most casual movie watchers prefer. Nothing wrong with that. But I've found that because about 50% of the films I've seen are from this decade, I'm missing out on a lot. Of course I'm trying to watch the classics from each decade--it's a slow process but I'm getting there. But there are a lot of good ones out there I'd never stumble across unless forced to in a way, which is why I've decided to focus on one decade at a time, for now anyway.
Since I've seen a fair share of 2000 and newer flicks, I've decided to focus on the 90s next. I have just over 200 to watch to catch up to the 2000s, and I've made some progress to date. I'll need to watch a few more than that because I won't constrict myself to solely 90s films, but this will be my focus for the next year or so. This project really brings back some great movies I saw long ago but don't remember (Groundhog Day), some hidden gems (The Virgin Suicides), and even some guilty pleasures (I Know What You Did Last Summer). Really, it's hard to miss a lot of the great movies out there when taking this approach.
When this is all over I'll move on the 80s, the great decade I was born in. I have even more films to watch from that decade in order to equal the 2000s, but I'll feel that much more knowledgable after I do it.