So here we are, at the end of this project, nearly two years after I started it, and all thanks to the writers of Enterprise, who made season three so unwatchably shitty that I couldn’t countenance the idea of going back to it. And I guess also thanks to film critics, who picked a list of movies interesting enough that I did keep going back to it.

Most of what I wanted to say about this list and these movies as a whole, I said at the halfway point. To that, I’ll add that there really is some sense to these rankings, as the movies in the top half of the list were noticeably better than those on the bottom half, but that even down here at the bottom, it’s more winners than losers; we’re still solidly into “deservedly highly regarded” territory.

So way back near the beginning, back before I really believed I was actually going to go through this whole list, a friend was all “I’ll be interested to see where you come out at the end of this,” and the simple answer is: After two years of watching the movies off this list almost exclusively, it’s genuinely difficult to remember what it would have been like not to have seen all these movies. I can’t even say how my opinion of classic/arthouse movies has changed, because I don’t remember that I had much of an opinion before.

Now that I’m done, of course, the question is what I’ll watch next. I was lightly tempted to go back and rewatch the dozen or so movies that I had previously watched, and didn’t rewatch over the course of this project, just to see how much my reaction to them has changed, but: nah, fuck it.

I also gave a bit of thought to going on to the directors’ list. It has a ton of overlap, obviously, but it also has some movies that aren’t on the critics’ list — the first is Fellini’s La Strada at #26; the further down the list you go, the more divergence there is — but I think on reflection, I’m just going to use that as a source of loose recommendations, rather than as a list to be bound by.

Because honestly, as useful as it was to have the tight constraint of the list, as beneficial as it was to be forced to step outside (sometimes waaaay outside) my comfort zone, I’m pretty jazzed about the idea of being able to watch whatever the fuck I want now. I’ve spent the last year seeing Filmstruck feature movies and directors and themes that sound intriguing, and having to be all, “well, I’ll have to remember that for later.” It’s later now, and I am savoring the taste of sweet, sweet freedom.

But all the same, I’m going to miss this. They update this list every ten years, and it’ll be interesting to see what the next one in 2022 looks like, but the 2012 list is always going to be my list.