Well at least the salsa was good.

Recently i've come to the realization that i am a reluctant fan of westerns. I downloaded The Good The Bad and The Ugly with every intention of watching it, but constantly passed it up to watch something else. And yet, when i finally forced myself to sit through it i was blown away by how much i enjoyed that movie. and so, when our random number generator selected Butch Casidy and The Sundance Kid i was stoked! having accepted my love of the western, i was ready to be blown away by this classic movie that tops almost every "must See" list out there.

Two good things came from watching this movie. I got it over with, and i discovered a cure for my insomnia. I don't know if it was the mood we were in, or if the ber had gone to out heads, but Mo her husband and myself spent more time yawning, and watching the clock than actually enjoying the movie. I'm still not sure which part is supposed to be so great, was it the 27 minute long chase scene? How many times did they have to drive home the fact that Butch and the Kidd were in deep shit? They actually stop three or four times to consider the men chasing them, and each time their conclusion is "well, better keep running". Finally they escape by jumping off a cliff into the river below. If only that river could have been a bed of rocks i may have saved 45 minutes of my life.My favorite part (asides from the ending) was the opening tavern scene. Watch it on youtube, and then move on to somthing better. you're not missing anything.

But all sarcasm aside, i would love for someone to explain why this movie is so well regarded. What is done in this film that isn't done ten times better in other movies?

To go with southwestern feel of the movie, Mo made up a batch of her simple yet delicious salsa (with some cilantro from my very own garden). Its was amazing, and as always salsa and beer make a perfect couple.

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.

Have you ever gone to a funeral, and all of a sudden you can't resist the urge to laugh? Maybe its the sounds of the church pew squeaking under your ass,or maybe its the way Aunt Esters moles look like the constellation Orion. Once it happens, you're screwed, and all that is left is to imagine that special place in hell you will soon occupy. Once you boil the situation down to its base hilarity, there is no turning back. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is exactly what the 1960's felt like for Stanly Kubrick. At the very height of the cold war, when both sides were just waiting to give each other a thermonuclear kick in the ass, he made a film that made the whole mess seem... well, silly.

Based on the novel Red Alert, Dr.Strangelove is an amazing example of satire. Nowadays i feel like "satire" and "spoof" are interchangeable terms when it comes to comedies, but Kubrick nailed it. Take for example my favorite scene from he whole movie (and i now have many), when the American president Merkin Muffley has to call U.S.S.R president Dimitri, and inform him that all hell has broken loose and a wing of renegade bombers are about to nuke Russia. The conversation boils down to a banal exchange over how much the two leaders enjoy speaking to one and other, and who is the most sorry for the situation. meanwhile in the background we can see the US bombers displayed on a map getting closer and closer to their targets. I could feel myself getting incredibly tense as these two world leaders wasted time over trivialities, while the destruction of the world was edging ever closer. And that's in 2011! I've never had to ask myself what a nuclear bomb would do to my city, but in the 60's this was all people could think about. The whole thin is very effective, and incredibly funny.

In Honour of our first Black and White film, Mo came up with a meal to match. Black Bean Soup, with jalapeño and Cumin. As well as black olive, and Mozzarella skewers. She used a little bit of tzatziki as a garnish, and the whole meal was amazing.

Drugs, Car Chases, and Poughkeepsie.

As i turns out, the first movie selected was one i know practically nothing about. The French Connection. I think maybe this was the best way to get started on the whole adventure. Since Mo and i were taking absolutely no expectations in with us, we were both open to being pleasantly surprised by by this 70's police drama. Definitely one of the things i enjoyed most was Gene Hackmans portrayal of Detective "Popeye" Doyle (based on real life detective Eddie Egan). The man is violent, crude, a heavy drinker, more than a little racist, and a bit of a man whore. But he does have the redeeming quality of being a genuinely good man who wants to see justice done. I often get the feeling that this is the happy medium most cops actually fall into, flawed but ultimately they are motivated by the best intentions. So its not surprising to learn that Hackman spent quite a lot of time in the back of a squad car preparing for the role.

The other part of the movie that stands out is the chase scene. Now keep in mind this isn't just any chase scene it is the chase scene; considered by most to be the best put on film. But i have to admit, when the time finally arrived i wasn't all that impressed by what i saw. The entire thing just felt like one big cliche. Driving against traffic? Check! rear ending another car with "hows my driving?" bumper sticker? Check! Narrowly avoiding a lady and a baby carriage? Check! i was actually pretty annoyed. This epic chase scene which apparently made all of Hollywood blow a collective load, was full of the same shit they cram into every action sequence involving anything from a monster truck to a shopping cart. But then it hit me that what sets The French Connection apart is that it did it first. This scene was considered so perfect that other filmmakers have been trying to emulate it for years. And that's pretty sweet.

As i said, Mo and i were both really surprised by just how much we enjoyed this movie. Which as it turns out is a great motivator for the rest of the project. We've accepted that there are going to be some movies on the list that we hate. There is a three and a half hour silent film about about "loves struggles though the ages" on there, and we both agree we will be blind drunk by the end of it. But the French Connection reminds us of why we wanted to do this in the first place, and we're excited for the next!

*Note* We actually watched this separately before the blog was started, and as a consequence don't have a meal for this one. And yes, i know we missed a great opportunity to make french food. But i guarantee there is some amazing stuff on the horizon!

How have i not seen Citizen Kane!?

I consider myself one hell of a movie buff. When i was young i spent countless hours in my Aunts basement, which had more VHS tapes the the average Blockbuster, selecting a movie and random, watching it, and then putting it back to watch another. I was the only ten year old who loved The Oscars more than Christmas, and never lost at six degrees of Kevin Bacon. It's only gotten worse from there. Now whenever i watch a movie i must first consult wikipedia and learn as much about it as possible. When the movie is finished i spend at least an hour on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and read through all of the trivia for the film, its soundtrack, and investigate what other movies the principle actors have been in.

With all this in mind, I'm often amazed at all of the movies i haven't seen. Take for instance, Citizen Kane. I'm sure plenty of people have not seen this, especially since most movie goers cant stand the thought of sitting through anything black and white. But for someone like me this is a huge oversight. Or even better yet, The Graduate. Even my grandmother had seen it! (though she probably tried to watch it on a microwave oven).

Mo on the other hand, loves to cook. And not in the Susie Homemaker, meat and potato's kind of way. This woman cooks a new recipe for her family almost every night! her kids probably think corn dogs are exotic, and i know for a fact they eat vegetables that i can hardly pronounce. To me, making a popsicle means shoving a toothpick in some koolaid and praying to the sweet baby Jesus you can pry it out of the ice cube try when its frozen. To Mo it means making this. I shit you not. Imagine Martha Stewart with pin up girl tattoos and a slightly lower conviction rate, and you have a petty good picture of Marissa "Mo" Morden

And so it was Mo who struck upon our current endeavor. Watch all one hundred movies on The American Film Institutes must see list, and pair each one up with a sweet new recipe. We're using a random number generator to tell us which movie we are watching next, which will hopefully keep us from watching all the exciting movies first and then being stuck with nothing left but silent films from the 1930's. We've already agreed that wine will be a crucial ingredient for watching some of those. The Blog is really just a chance to share the experiance wit anyone who is interested, and share the amazing meals we are no doubt going to enjoy. I'm sure at some point i'm going to try my hand at the cooking, and i've already told Mo she is going to have to be brave and write a post from time to time. We're not quite sure how we're going to structure this thing yet, but i know we are both super excited to start.