There's the "1001 Movies to See Before You Die", the "AFI 100"…

Neither of these are bad lists to start with. The "AFI 100" is going to be all American films (some Hitchcock films get a pass because they were filmed in the U.S.?).

"1001 Movies…" has a number of film critics contributing — and all the usual suspects are on the list. Fortunately it includes a good deal of foreign films, silent films, art-house films… So it covers a larger gamut of course.

The wife and I are now up to the 1980's and finishing up a Turkish film from 1982. I suppose we're 5 years into this, perhaps a couple years still before we've done the 1000.

Why go in order? Partly context — you can see how films have "evolved", see when new ideas show up. But also there is some pragmatism: if left to my own devices, skipping around, I might leave until last the silent films, the French New Wave (sorry, I've been only slowly coming to enjoy them), the several-hours-long films, Warhol's films, etc.