That’s a lot of time in front of the TV

February 25th, 2009 at 11:02am Will Pfeifer

As someone who loves watching DVDs, I tip my hat to Matthew Dessem. For the past few years, he’s been watching every single title in the Criterion Collection (in order!) and blogging about it.

He explains just why he’s taken on this daunting tax in an interview over at the Life of Zane blog:

“In 2004, when I started the project, I was looking for a way to learn more about foreign film. I suppose what most people do is work down a list of directors or genres, but that didn’t really appeal to me–I have Attention Deficit Disorder, so the thought of spending a month watching nothing but Fellini was terrifying. The Criterion Collection seemed like a good mix of different types of movies in a close-to-random order, so that’s where I started.”

And here, if you want to read Dessem’s thoughts on the dozens of movies (so far), here’s his blog. I especially recommend his write-up on ARMAGEDDON, which, as Dessem points out, is the one movie many people think doesn’t deserve a spot in the Criterion collection. (Dessem disagrees — and makes a damn good case for its inclusion.)

Entry Filed under: DVD reviews