Welcome to the Vault
by Andrew Collins
Like many homeschoolers, I had a pretty sheltered upbringing. I harbor no hard feelings about this. It’s probably a good thing that I wasn’t watching R-rated flicks in middle school and that I never had a video game console until high school. But once I got to college, I found out that I had missed out on a lot of legitimately good things — like movies. They are fantastic and unlike any other art form. But my newfound passion soon turned to disappointment as I realized most of what plays on the silver screen does not live up to the medium’s potential. In short, most of them aren’t very good. The majority of “motion pictures” today are like candy: sweet, enjoyable, and pretty, but not very satisfying. They’re a dime a dozen. We walk into the theaters with modest expectations and rarely find those expectations exceeded. At times I get downright sick of Hollywood’s overwrought sequels and CG travesties. Like many of you, I’m always on the lookout for something different — not even great necessarily, just interesting.
Fortunately, I found a solution. I don’t have to look forward to whatever’s coming out in theaters in order to see a great film. We have more than half a century of cinematic history full of films that have been lauded and idolized for decades — and I haven’t seen most of them. So I am setting out to see if they’re worth the acclaim, and better yet whether they hold up under the scrutiny of a new generation.
Join me, if you like, as I leave the summer’s blockbusters and worn-out rom-com reworks behind for the storied vault of the film canon. I’ll start with two films that many consider all-time greats: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia. From there, who knows what we will find.
