Kevin: Why hello there friends, family, and enemies! How are your self-quarantine days going? Does each day feel like a month to anyone else?! Of course it does! We are all miserable together.

Here at Flimsy Film Critics we like to focus on the silver lining and while it’s pretty tough to find a positive in a literally deathly situation, we are still trying to enjoy our time at home. I’ve been practicing my handstands while hanging out with my best friend (social distancing doesn’t apply to married couples right?). And we have also sat through quite a few movies.

Which brings me to the main point of this post. My friend Jesse had a great idea to keep ourselves entertained through this unprecedented time. Jesse, what is the great idea and how are you holding up during these strange times?

Jesse: Introverts were made for quarantines, Kevin. Staying at home, ignoring the outside world and spending time on all of the hobbies that we love and never have time for? This is OUR moment! That being said, I do miss my family and friends. And sports. I REALLY miss sports.

But like you said, we’re all about the silver linings. My sister gave me a poster for Christmas titled, “100 Movies Scratch Off Bucket List.” As you can likely surmise, it is a poster with a list of 100 movies, but it also features a little scratch off picture for after you watch each movie. It’s a pretty cool novelty for a film fanatic like me and a much more interesting way to check things off a list.

Anyway, I suggested to Kevin that since we’re all under quarantine and have all this extra time on our hands, why not attack this list together, watch all these movies and make a series where we write about it? Kevin either actually liked the idea or he’s being really nice because he doesn’t want to stifle my creativity. Either way, it’s much appreciated, my friend.

So what about this series are you looking forward to, Kevin? Are you chomping at the bit to share how overrated some of these movies are or are you genuinely looking forward to seeing some of them for the first time?

Kevin: I’m looking forward to you watching Oldboy, the top-notch Korean film that will leave you absolutely shook. You won’t be able to forget it! I’m also looking forward to the act of crossing off so many classic films on my movie bucket list. There’s movies on here that I should have seen already that I am ashamed I haven’t like Casablanca, Scarface, and The Goonies. Plus, crossing things off lists is very satisfying.

There is something I am not looking forward though. The dark secret behind this “100” Movies Bucket List is there are actually 104 movies because it lumps in the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy and the original Star Wars trilogy together. That means I will have to attempt to get through Lord of the Rings, something I have failed many times in the past. I think at this point my official watch history is I fell asleep during the first one, skipped the second one, and begrudgingly sat through the entirety of the third one in a theater. I got up multiple times thinking it was over only to realize the movie had a lot of fakeout endings. As you know I’m not too good with the whole middle earth genre (still never planning to catch up on Game of Thrones) so this will be a painful experience to say the least.

I’m going to assume you will enjoy my suffering but what else are you looking forward to? And how should we go about this project? Should we each watch every movie (we are quarantined after all) or should we divide and conquer?

Jesse: I really love the idea of us each watching every movie on that list. One thing this quarantine has taught me is that there are plenty of ways for you to connect with people without actually seeing them. And while tackling 104 movies together seems rather daunting, we aren’t doing much else at the moment and even when all of this is over, that still gives us plenty to post about in the post-quarantine world. On top of all that, it sounds like you’re going to need some moral support to get through Lord of the Rings. I got you pal!

What say you, Kevin? Are you ready to embark on this grand adventure with me? And what should we be looking for and paying attention to as we rewatch the 104 greatest films of all-time (according to a random movie poster)?

Kevin: I am READY! Let’s do this and let’s make sure we review as many of these classics as possible because people want to know our opinions on movies that are already beloved right?

Things to look for? Maybe we will get in a fight over a few movies on the list. Maybe you’ll finally catch the Korean films bug that I caught. Maybe our relationships will slowly falter as we spend days of our lives watching movies from a random poster. There are so many possibilities!

And for those of you at home who want to watch along or see us progress, I have taken the liberty to translate the poster into a friendly excel/sheets document to view. Jesse and I have already marked which movies have seen. Are we going to rewatch those? Who the hell knows, stay tuned to find out!

So Jesse, what say we get this started this weekend? What will you dive into first? I’m thinking I might start with a modern like Moonlight mostly because I think I saw it was available on Netflix.

Jesse: Is it a cop out if I also say that Moonlight jumped out at me too? It’s even potentially a two for one, since it’s currently sitting on my movie shelf and I still haven’t watched it.

I’m convinced this is the way to go. Any last thoughts?

Kevin: My last thought, I wish you luck on this journey my friend. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility (to review as many of the 104 movies as possible). That’s how that quote goes right?