Hey all!
So it's been about 2 1/2 months since I last wrote...part of that was due to our big vacation to Disney, but much of it was just due to apathy.
The name of this blog is The Favorite Movie Tournament. It was supposed to be a 10th anniversary extravaganza, and then I just let it go. A pox on myself (by not on my house...Rosie and Grace don't deserve any poxes).
The biggest thing in my way is sheer repetition...I know what my favorite movie is, and I don't know if there's enough variation in 10 years to change that. Which leaves me with a quandary...what should I do?
Some possibilities:
- Run the tournament again...if it ends up being Young Frankenstein again, that's fine. The seeding may well be different, and it may end up in a match it doesn't win, and another film rises to the top.
- Revisit the original tournament...rewrite the original discussion and invite more discussion from my readers.
- Something completely different that I haven't thought of.
I really would like input from you guys out there...what do you all think?
Also, there was discussion with someone about possibly doing a film-themed podcast, which I still think would be a great idea. Maybe whatever this tournament becomes could be somehow incorporated into that...?
Until next time (which I promise will be sooner)!
PS - Congrats to "The Shape of Water"!
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Monday, February 26, 2018
Back and ready for the Oscars!
So it's been over a month since my last post, ...much of this is due to the first half of February being my family's celebration period. My birthday is Feb 3rd, my wife Grace's is on the 8th, and my daughter Rose's is on the 9th. Oh, and Valentine's Day is my wife's favorite holiday. :) So, needless to say, there was a lot of parties and merriment...especially when you have someone turning 6. Rose had a school party at our house (my wife runs a preschool out of the house), a school party at school, a family party, and a friends' party. Yeah.
So, when last I wrote, I still had three films left to see to complete all nine Best Picture nominees..."Phantom Thread", "Call Me by Your Name", and "Darkest Hour". Well, I've now seen all three, and I'll tell you a bit about them in that order (which is the order I saw them).
"Phantom Thread". I've only seen a few of Paul Thomas Anderson's films..."Punch-Drunk Love", "Boogie Nights", "There Will Be Blood". I've liked all three (I really liked "Punch-Drunk Love" and was happy with the other two). This film was good, but it was not a film for me. It was definitely a film for someone who loves the art of dress-making. The story was good, and Daniel Day-Lewis wasas good as I've ever seen him. But it was just...good to me.
"Call Me by Your Name". Whew. I was not a fan of this film for the first 90 minutes. It's a picturesque love story set in Italy, where everyone except Michael Stuhlbarg (no offense...see below) is incredibly attractive. Timothee Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel...all of them as just beautiful, and the Italian countryside accentuates it. But it was slow...dreadfully slow at times. And then a break happens, and the emotion of it breaks open, and Mr. Stuhlbarg has a monologue that knocked me for a loop. I'd go back and watch that bit of the film again and again. He's a dad, and he's not supposed to be beautiful, but what he says to his son is so incredibly powerful, I can't suitably describe it other than say that it was the best, and basically saved the film for me.
"Darkest Hour". This was a good film to end with. It deals with the two weeks that follow Winston Churchill's appointment to Prime Minister. I still don't believe that was Gary Oldman. I know that he's credited as being Churchill, and everyone KNOWS he played Churchill, but I watched that whole film and I didn't see Oldman at all...I saw Winston Churchill. It's a great film, and Oldman (fine!) is the best at what he does...I can't imagine him not winning Best Actor. It's also a great film to watch just before watching "Dunkirk", as the two films take place nearly simultaneously.
So that's all nine! If I had to pick a winner, I'd guess "Shape of Water", followed by "Lady Bird".
Until next time!
So, when last I wrote, I still had three films left to see to complete all nine Best Picture nominees..."Phantom Thread", "Call Me by Your Name", and "Darkest Hour". Well, I've now seen all three, and I'll tell you a bit about them in that order (which is the order I saw them).
"Phantom Thread". I've only seen a few of Paul Thomas Anderson's films..."Punch-Drunk Love", "Boogie Nights", "There Will Be Blood". I've liked all three (I really liked "Punch-Drunk Love" and was happy with the other two). This film was good, but it was not a film for me. It was definitely a film for someone who loves the art of dress-making. The story was good, and Daniel Day-Lewis wasas good as I've ever seen him. But it was just...good to me.
"Call Me by Your Name". Whew. I was not a fan of this film for the first 90 minutes. It's a picturesque love story set in Italy, where everyone except Michael Stuhlbarg (no offense...see below) is incredibly attractive. Timothee Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Amira Casar, Esther Garrel...all of them as just beautiful, and the Italian countryside accentuates it. But it was slow...dreadfully slow at times. And then a break happens, and the emotion of it breaks open, and Mr. Stuhlbarg has a monologue that knocked me for a loop. I'd go back and watch that bit of the film again and again. He's a dad, and he's not supposed to be beautiful, but what he says to his son is so incredibly powerful, I can't suitably describe it other than say that it was the best, and basically saved the film for me.
"Darkest Hour". This was a good film to end with. It deals with the two weeks that follow Winston Churchill's appointment to Prime Minister. I still don't believe that was Gary Oldman. I know that he's credited as being Churchill, and everyone KNOWS he played Churchill, but I watched that whole film and I didn't see Oldman at all...I saw Winston Churchill. It's a great film, and Oldman (fine!) is the best at what he does...I can't imagine him not winning Best Actor. It's also a great film to watch just before watching "Dunkirk", as the two films take place nearly simultaneously.
So that's all nine! If I had to pick a winner, I'd guess "Shape of Water", followed by "Lady Bird".
Until next time!
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Academy Awards
It's definitely my favorite season...OSCAR season!
There are nine Best Picture nominees this year:
- Call Me By Your Name
- Darkest Hour
- Dunkirk
- Get Out
- Lady Bird
- Phantom Thread
- The Post
- The Shape of Water
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
I am officially ahead of the game in my nominee-watching, having seen SIX of the above films...just saw "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" earlier today.
This is an excellent film. Frances MacDormand is a powerhouse as the main character, and the other main characters (specifically Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell) are stellar as well. It's also a film that establishes early on that there won't be a happy ending. It's a real life piece, and there are moments of happy, but the foundation of the film is based on a very awful incident, and the story doesn't deviate from that. There are no good guys or bad guys. Just people.
So that leaves three films: "Call Me By Your Name", "Darkest Hour", and "Phantom Thread". I will most likely see them individually, though I'll be curious to see what the lineup for AMC's Best Picture Marathon is...they'll have five of the films on the Saturday a week before Oscar night, and the other four the day before the Oscars. If those three just happen to end up on the same day, it might be easier for me to just watch 'em all in a row.
Slowly but surely putting together the Master List of films for the FMT. Coming soon.
There are nine Best Picture nominees this year:
- Call Me By Your Name
- Darkest Hour
- Dunkirk
- Get Out
- Lady Bird
- Phantom Thread
- The Post
- The Shape of Water
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
I am officially ahead of the game in my nominee-watching, having seen SIX of the above films...just saw "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" earlier today.
This is an excellent film. Frances MacDormand is a powerhouse as the main character, and the other main characters (specifically Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell) are stellar as well. It's also a film that establishes early on that there won't be a happy ending. It's a real life piece, and there are moments of happy, but the foundation of the film is based on a very awful incident, and the story doesn't deviate from that. There are no good guys or bad guys. Just people.
So that leaves three films: "Call Me By Your Name", "Darkest Hour", and "Phantom Thread". I will most likely see them individually, though I'll be curious to see what the lineup for AMC's Best Picture Marathon is...they'll have five of the films on the Saturday a week before Oscar night, and the other four the day before the Oscars. If those three just happen to end up on the same day, it might be easier for me to just watch 'em all in a row.
Slowly but surely putting together the Master List of films for the FMT. Coming soon.
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Movie season
When I was younger, I'd get to the movie theater every week. I'd go to opening nights, midnight shows, and see films three, four, five times.
Times have changed, and I just don't have the ability to do that any more. Work, family, and just being too old to stay up past midnight have altered my theater-going jam.
Also, I nearly always go to the theater alone. Partially, this is because I like to see films early in the day, which often doesn't jive with others' schedules. Also, many of the films I want to see aren't necessarily what others want to see. so at some point in my life I became very comfortable with going solo.
One routine I've been able to maintain over the past five or so years is that I commit myself to seeing all of the Best Picture nominees for the Academy Awards. Typically, when the nominations come out (this year, it'll be at about 8am on Tuesday, the 23rd), I will have seen one or two during the year, and then I have to strategize some way of seeing the other seven or eight (the nominee list maxes at 10 and has been anywhere from 8-10 since the Academy expanded the number in 2009). AMC Theaters has a yearly Best Picture marathon, held over two Saturdays, where they screen half of the nominees on one day, and half on the other day. I've taken advantage of that more than a couple times.
This year, I'm confident I will have seen a lot of the nominees. I've already seen "Dunkirk" (loved it), "Lady Bird" (loved it), "Get Out" (really awesome), and "The Shape of Water" (so beautiful).
Earlier this week, I watched "The Big Sick" on Amazon Prime. I love Kumail Nanjiani, mostly from "Portlandia", and he's great in this. The whole cast (especially Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) is great, and the story is pretty wild.
And last night I saw "The Post" which was (as expected) exactly what I wanted it to be in a Spielberg-directed historical drama starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. If you loved "All The President's Men" or "Spotlight", you'll enjoy this very much.
I also have plans to see "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" this week, and "The Darkest Hour". I (of course) have no idea what the actual nominees will be, but everything I've read have the above listed films in the mix, along with a couple of others ("Call Me by Your Name", "Phantom Thread", and "The Florida Project"). We'll see on Tuesday.
I don't want to put up a post without some sort of update on the FMT, so I'm going to be rejiggering the "big list" (the 200+ film list that gets trimmed). It may be larger, but it'll still get separated into multiple conferences. In the past ten years, the NCAA tournament has changed from one play-in game to four (known as the First Four), so the field starts with 68 teams, so I'll probably mimic that.
Until next time!
Times have changed, and I just don't have the ability to do that any more. Work, family, and just being too old to stay up past midnight have altered my theater-going jam.
Also, I nearly always go to the theater alone. Partially, this is because I like to see films early in the day, which often doesn't jive with others' schedules. Also, many of the films I want to see aren't necessarily what others want to see. so at some point in my life I became very comfortable with going solo.
One routine I've been able to maintain over the past five or so years is that I commit myself to seeing all of the Best Picture nominees for the Academy Awards. Typically, when the nominations come out (this year, it'll be at about 8am on Tuesday, the 23rd), I will have seen one or two during the year, and then I have to strategize some way of seeing the other seven or eight (the nominee list maxes at 10 and has been anywhere from 8-10 since the Academy expanded the number in 2009). AMC Theaters has a yearly Best Picture marathon, held over two Saturdays, where they screen half of the nominees on one day, and half on the other day. I've taken advantage of that more than a couple times.
This year, I'm confident I will have seen a lot of the nominees. I've already seen "Dunkirk" (loved it), "Lady Bird" (loved it), "Get Out" (really awesome), and "The Shape of Water" (so beautiful).
Earlier this week, I watched "The Big Sick" on Amazon Prime. I love Kumail Nanjiani, mostly from "Portlandia", and he's great in this. The whole cast (especially Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) is great, and the story is pretty wild.
And last night I saw "The Post" which was (as expected) exactly what I wanted it to be in a Spielberg-directed historical drama starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. If you loved "All The President's Men" or "Spotlight", you'll enjoy this very much.
I also have plans to see "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" this week, and "The Darkest Hour". I (of course) have no idea what the actual nominees will be, but everything I've read have the above listed films in the mix, along with a couple of others ("Call Me by Your Name", "Phantom Thread", and "The Florida Project"). We'll see on Tuesday.
I don't want to put up a post without some sort of update on the FMT, so I'm going to be rejiggering the "big list" (the 200+ film list that gets trimmed). It may be larger, but it'll still get separated into multiple conferences. In the past ten years, the NCAA tournament has changed from one play-in game to four (known as the First Four), so the field starts with 68 teams, so I'll probably mimic that.
Until next time!
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
First FMT Transcript is up!
Good morning to all!
It's currently snowing here in Edison, NJ, and I'm blogging from home today. I felt it necessary to share the current state of my desk:
This is like one of those "How Many Things Can You Find in This Picture? (Old Nerd Edition)". Primed Ork minis, a MTG dual land, Dum-Dum wrappers (I didn't eat them...my daughter is conditioned to bring me the wrappers so that I can input codes to get swag), unprimed Ork minis, a Netflix disc, Origins commemorative dice, and....my AARP card. 😛
Went out and saw "Lady Bird" yesterday. Such a sweet film. Saoirse Ronan is so great in this, and she's the main strength of the story. It's a coming-of-age film, but without any of the stereotypes or tropes. Loved it.
I've finished re-formatting the transcript of the original FMT! I'll include a public link for the document. It clocks in at 188 (!) pages, but you'll see that each page was a single blog post, many of which were not overly long. Check it out if you haven't seen it before (or check it anyway, if only for the nostalgia).
The Original FMT Tournament transcript
As I'm still working on the format of the 10th Ann'y edition, I'm looking for comments about what you liked and didn't like about my first go-around. I want to enhance the new one and make it more interactive and more spiffy. Let me know your thoughts!
Until next time!
It's currently snowing here in Edison, NJ, and I'm blogging from home today. I felt it necessary to share the current state of my desk:
This is like one of those "How Many Things Can You Find in This Picture? (Old Nerd Edition)". Primed Ork minis, a MTG dual land, Dum-Dum wrappers (I didn't eat them...my daughter is conditioned to bring me the wrappers so that I can input codes to get swag), unprimed Ork minis, a Netflix disc, Origins commemorative dice, and....my AARP card. 😛
Went out and saw "Lady Bird" yesterday. Such a sweet film. Saoirse Ronan is so great in this, and she's the main strength of the story. It's a coming-of-age film, but without any of the stereotypes or tropes. Loved it.
I've finished re-formatting the transcript of the original FMT! I'll include a public link for the document. It clocks in at 188 (!) pages, but you'll see that each page was a single blog post, many of which were not overly long. Check it out if you haven't seen it before (or check it anyway, if only for the nostalgia).
The Original FMT Tournament transcript
As I'm still working on the format of the 10th Ann'y edition, I'm looking for comments about what you liked and didn't like about my first go-around. I want to enhance the new one and make it more interactive and more spiffy. Let me know your thoughts!
Until next time!
Friday, January 12, 2018
A new day, and a new blog!
Good day to everyone out there, and welcome to my shiny new blog!
As many of you know, almost 10 years ago, I embarked on a mission to "scientifically" determine my favorite movie of all time. As I was a big NCAA college basketball fan at the time, I decided to use that method to figure out a winner.
So I drew up a list of 230+ films, slotted them into conferences, picked a number of conference winners, then chose a number of "at-large" bids, all to get to 65 deserving films that would populate a bracketed tournament. The seedings would be generated via the IMDB Top 250 rankings, as well as their users' ratings.
And then the tournament began! First, the "play-in" game...Yellowbeard vs. The Return of the King, with the winner having the unenviable task of beating Casablanca, the overall #1 seed.
Over the next six months, match-ups were posted and the films were compared head-to-head, using categories such as plot, director, quotability, and intangibles. The tourney went from 65 to 64 to 32 to 16 to 8 to 4, with such eclectic matches as Weird Science vs. Citizen Kane or Sin City vs. The Philadelphia Story.
At last, we got to the Final Four: Airplane, Murder by Death, Young Frankenstein, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. And when all was said and done, Young Frankenstein was the Champion!
I was very proud of the work I put in on what started as just an excuse to watch a bunch of films, and there were a few friends and family along the way that followed along, even going as far as filling out their own brackets and making wagers!
So with the 10th Anniversary looming (April 8th was the first blog post), I want to do it again! I know my love for films has only grown, but my tastes may have changed. I know I look at the original list of 230+, and I can't believe some of my choices.
And seriously, how did Star Wars: A New Hope not make the tournament??
Anyway, over the next week, I'm going to finish reformatting the original blog posts and put them up here for you guys to peruse. I'll also be discussing format (will it only be a written blog? What about a podcast? Video?) and lists of films so that once April hits, I'll hit the ground running.
Also, tell anyone you can about this blog. I'd love to have a big audience to geek out about this with me. 😊
As many of you know, almost 10 years ago, I embarked on a mission to "scientifically" determine my favorite movie of all time. As I was a big NCAA college basketball fan at the time, I decided to use that method to figure out a winner.
So I drew up a list of 230+ films, slotted them into conferences, picked a number of conference winners, then chose a number of "at-large" bids, all to get to 65 deserving films that would populate a bracketed tournament. The seedings would be generated via the IMDB Top 250 rankings, as well as their users' ratings.
And then the tournament began! First, the "play-in" game...Yellowbeard vs. The Return of the King, with the winner having the unenviable task of beating Casablanca, the overall #1 seed.
Over the next six months, match-ups were posted and the films were compared head-to-head, using categories such as plot, director, quotability, and intangibles. The tourney went from 65 to 64 to 32 to 16 to 8 to 4, with such eclectic matches as Weird Science vs. Citizen Kane or Sin City vs. The Philadelphia Story.
At last, we got to the Final Four: Airplane, Murder by Death, Young Frankenstein, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. And when all was said and done, Young Frankenstein was the Champion!
I was very proud of the work I put in on what started as just an excuse to watch a bunch of films, and there were a few friends and family along the way that followed along, even going as far as filling out their own brackets and making wagers!
So with the 10th Anniversary looming (April 8th was the first blog post), I want to do it again! I know my love for films has only grown, but my tastes may have changed. I know I look at the original list of 230+, and I can't believe some of my choices.
And seriously, how did Star Wars: A New Hope not make the tournament??
Anyway, over the next week, I'm going to finish reformatting the original blog posts and put them up here for you guys to peruse. I'll also be discussing format (will it only be a written blog? What about a podcast? Video?) and lists of films so that once April hits, I'll hit the ground running.
Also, tell anyone you can about this blog. I'd love to have a big audience to geek out about this with me. 😊
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