Sunset Boulevard is taunting me

Remember this post? When I was trying to figure out the movie I should be most ashamed of not having seen?

The results from the comments section told me unambiguously that Sunset Boulevard was at the top of my List of Shame.

And just lately, the universe has started to wave it in my face.

First it was when going through the archives of old Filmspotting podcasts. Having come in at episode #347, I decided to go back and dig through some of what I missed, and episode #300 seemed like a good place to start (if I wasn't going to start at episode #1, that is). Why episode #300? Well, they were listing their favorite movies of the decade encompassing 2000 to 2009, and since I engaged in an activity like that myself, I thought it would be fun to compare and contrast.

Episode #301? The beginning of their Billy Wilder marathon, with Sunset Boulevard as the first film up for discussion.

Knowing how much I want to cross this movie off my list of shame, I stopped listening to the podcast then and there, and haven't resumed. It's not that I expect to actually watch Sunset Boulevard before I resume the podcast, but I do expect to potentially fast forward through the discussion -- despite my statements to the contrary in this post.

Then just now I received my weekly email from Cinespia, which tells me which movie they're showing this Saturday night in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. That may sound morbid, but it's actually a very wholesome Saturday evening activity, often involving a picnic, bottles of wine, and even maybe the children, assuming that none of those elements contradict each other. In two previous visits, I've seen The Philadelphia Story and Lolita.

This Saturday? You guessed it: Sunset Boulevard.

And what a terrific location it would be to watch this consummately Hollywood movie.

I forwarded the email to my wife, intending to suggest that we go. Yes, we have a son who is not quite two, but we took him to an evening screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark last August, when he was not quite one. If it worked then, it could work now.

But before I even had the chance to type anything out, I remembered that she'd be exhausted from having to work all day Saturday. Not to mention that my son has been sick, so we probably shouldn't expose him to such things anyway. So instead my email was a "bad timing, eh?" type sentiment.

Sunset Boulevard, soon, you will be mine.