there are too many fucking movies to watch, where can i find something that feels more like a curriculum and less like an endless list? some structure would help this adhd director

Question

there are too many fucking movies to watch, where can i find something that feels more like a curriculum and less like an endless list? some structure would help this adhd director

Grier · Answer

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies: Might as well go straight to the source! And I quote “The American Film Institute proudly curates lists to celebrate excellence in the art of the moving image. They reflect the collective opinion of a wide range of scholars, artists and experts who champion the power of the art form.”

Vickie · Answer

Criterion Channel: For years I assumed a Criterion subscription was $40/month or something but realized last month it’s actually cheaper than the ad-free tier of basically any other streaming service?? I love that there is no algorithm that tries to immediately auto play clips the second you open the app. I love their tightly edited set of collections and that you can filter movies by country, decade and director. Really easy way to discover and dig deep into older art house cinema!!

JaperMoon · Answer

Pick a director, watch a lot of their movies: Some suggestions:
Joan Micklin Silver
Robert Altman
Agnes Varda (pictured)
Jacques Demmy
Earnst Lubitch
Spike Lee
Abbas Kiarostami
Federico Fellini
Charlie Chaplin
Francois Truffaut 
Yasujirō Ozu

And a reminder that you can watch a movie over multiple nights because movies are long and sleep is important.

JaperMoon · Answer

Film History Text Books: Film Art is a good one to start with.

And A History of Narrative Film (much bigger).

MIT has a film history class thats free, you can download the syllabus and watch the lectures on youtube (this was my 2020).