So, it's almost holiday time for everyone, which means everyone's busy and everyone's traveling somewhere. We're no different and the next couple weeks are going to be hectic. Therefore, we decided we should have just enough time to finish our next year, 1942, then take a short break until after the New Year. With that said, may we present the 1942 Best Picture, Mrs. Miniver.
Ahh yes, Mrs. Miniver. From the very beginning of our Best Picture challenge, way before we watched it, Mrs. Miniver carried a stigma to it. We had never heard of it, it was old, and the title was just the name of some woman. We were dreading it. It got to the point where it became a running joke all the way up until the point that we watched it. And what would you know? We both actually liked it. Quite a bit. It's a old WWII flick, but it was less about the war and more about a small town, and more specifically the Miniver family, in the days leading up to the war. It had great acting and character development, and kept us interested. I gave it a 4, while Kim gave it a 4.5, giving it an 8.5. Not bad at all for a movie we thought was going to be horrible. But I guess it did win a Best Picture...
Anyway, onto our picks for the lovely year of 1942...
Adam: The Pride of the Yankees
Kim: Roxie Hart
YAY! I finally picked a movie! Kudos to me. So, yeah, I went with the ole baseball flick about Lou Gehrig. Yeah, I'm not a Yankee fan, especially today's Yankees, but I have no issue with the old timers, and Gehrig was one of the best. So there you have it. As for Kim, like I said in the last post, she picked a movie she's never seen! And then I said "sort of", which seemed to draw a lot of boos or something. I just meant that, while she has never seen Roxie Hart, she has seen many times the movie Chicago, which is essentially the same story. That's all. No biggie. Both movies should be fun times, and we'll get back to you before Christmas for our thoughts. In the meantime...
Which movie from 1942 is your favorite? Mrs. Miniver, The Pride of the Yankees, or Roxie Hart? What movie from 1942 would you have picked? Let's hear your thoughts (if Blogger lets you post them!)
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
1950: All Done.
Before we begin, we would just like to apologize on behalf of blogger.com for not letting some of you post comments. We love hearing from anyone and everyone, so if it doesn't let you one night, try try try again! We have faith that the system will work eventually. But don't give up!
Now onto business. We only had to watch one movie from 1950, which was fine by us, considering it wasn't a very strong year for films (as reaffirmed by mother). As you read from last post, we very much enjoyed the Best Picture from this year, All About Eve. The movie we watched was a cute and just a little bit kooky film titled Harvey. Let's move quickly through the plot details, and if you've never seen the film before, I am not making this up. The movie stars good ole nice guy James Stewart, who plays this guy who is a fan of the drink, and who also happens to have an invisible 6 foot rabbit friend named Harvey. Basically Harvey goes with him wherever he goes, but that's mainly local bars. James Stewart pretty much talks to everyone he comes across throughout the film, introducing them to Harvey, gives them his "card", and invites them over to his house for dinner. His sister is pretty much ashamed of him and tries to have him committed into a mental institution. Lots of craziness ensues, and I won't give away anything else, except that James Stewart would like you over his house for dinner. Tomorrow night sound good?
Kim, who as we know has seen this movie before, has decided this is her new favorite movie. She believes everyone at some point in their lives should watch this film. As much as she liked All About Eve, she definitely liked Harvey more.
For me, however, the jury is still out. I enjoyed Harvey, thought it very cute and funny and had a nice message. But I'm not sure, after first viewing, that I can get past the ridiculous premise of this movie. It was certainly well acted and James Stewart could have gotten me over to dinner in 2 seconds, but for the most part, when I was watching this film, I was like, "are you serious?" pretty much over and over again. It's a close call in my book, but I am going to have to swing the other way and put my vote down for All About Eve this year. (Sorry honey!)
We've picked our next year - and I can happily announce that I did not pass and Kim picked a movie she's never seen (sort of....) We'll post back soon!
Now onto business. We only had to watch one movie from 1950, which was fine by us, considering it wasn't a very strong year for films (as reaffirmed by mother). As you read from last post, we very much enjoyed the Best Picture from this year, All About Eve. The movie we watched was a cute and just a little bit kooky film titled Harvey. Let's move quickly through the plot details, and if you've never seen the film before, I am not making this up. The movie stars good ole nice guy James Stewart, who plays this guy who is a fan of the drink, and who also happens to have an invisible 6 foot rabbit friend named Harvey. Basically Harvey goes with him wherever he goes, but that's mainly local bars. James Stewart pretty much talks to everyone he comes across throughout the film, introducing them to Harvey, gives them his "card", and invites them over to his house for dinner. His sister is pretty much ashamed of him and tries to have him committed into a mental institution. Lots of craziness ensues, and I won't give away anything else, except that James Stewart would like you over his house for dinner. Tomorrow night sound good?
Kim, who as we know has seen this movie before, has decided this is her new favorite movie. She believes everyone at some point in their lives should watch this film. As much as she liked All About Eve, she definitely liked Harvey more.
For me, however, the jury is still out. I enjoyed Harvey, thought it very cute and funny and had a nice message. But I'm not sure, after first viewing, that I can get past the ridiculous premise of this movie. It was certainly well acted and James Stewart could have gotten me over to dinner in 2 seconds, but for the most part, when I was watching this film, I was like, "are you serious?" pretty much over and over again. It's a close call in my book, but I am going to have to swing the other way and put my vote down for All About Eve this year. (Sorry honey!)
We've picked our next year - and I can happily announce that I did not pass and Kim picked a movie she's never seen (sort of....) We'll post back soon!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Year 11: 1950
I pose a math question for anyone who is reading this. There are 78 years of movies we are selecting for this challenge. 1930-2007. We select our years randomly. We each have 10 years in which we can "pass", which means over the course of the challenge we will each select 68 movies. I have, as you already know, pre-selected which years I am going to pass. What are the odds that we would select 3 years in a row in which I would pass? If you are looking for further information, at the time of my "3 pass years in a row" we had already selected 8 years to watch (which means we had 70 years left) and I had already used 2 of my passes (I had 8 left). If you can figure that out, I would love to know. Now that I've ruined the surprise, let's move on to our next year, 1950...
Ahhh 1950. This was one of our early early movies we watched in our Best Picture challenge. The Best Picture that year was a fun little flick called All About Eve. It starred Bette Davis, who played a bitter, aging actress who didn't want to give up the spotlight, and Anne Baxter, who played a young, (deceitful!) aspiring actress who "idolized" Bette Davis' character. It was a very pleasant film to watch, and even though it started slowly, the plot really picked up and there were some good twists and turns. There is even a brief cameo of a young Marilyn Monroe before she hit the big time. I gave the film a 4.5 and Kim gave it a 4.35, giving it a solid 8.85 score. This was probably the first older movie we really enjoyed.
And then there were our 1950 selections...yes this is the fun part, but not really (Let me tell you, this is driving me nuts!!)....
Adam: PASS (5 used already! 5 left!)
Kim: Harvey
I'm sorry, but I remember looking through movies from 1950 and I just couldn't find any good ones I'd seen already, or any that I really wanted to watch. Call me uncultured, call me whatever. It is what it is. But I told you that not all my passes are from the 1930s!! As for Kim, she stuck to her usual guns, picked a movie she's seen already and loves, which I know is a big controversy in itself, but in reality I'm totally cool with. It's really part of the reason we started this second challenge. Anyway, she's a big James Stewart fan, and an even bigger fan of imaginary six foot rabbits, so this seemed to be the perfect fit. I have never seen this movie, so it should be good times.
We will post back shortly with our post-Harvey comments! In the meantime, which movie do you like the best, All About Eve or Harvey? What 1950 movie would you pick? We love all the responses, so tell your friends, family, neighbors and strangers to respond as well!
Ahhh 1950. This was one of our early early movies we watched in our Best Picture challenge. The Best Picture that year was a fun little flick called All About Eve. It starred Bette Davis, who played a bitter, aging actress who didn't want to give up the spotlight, and Anne Baxter, who played a young, (deceitful!) aspiring actress who "idolized" Bette Davis' character. It was a very pleasant film to watch, and even though it started slowly, the plot really picked up and there were some good twists and turns. There is even a brief cameo of a young Marilyn Monroe before she hit the big time. I gave the film a 4.5 and Kim gave it a 4.35, giving it a solid 8.85 score. This was probably the first older movie we really enjoyed.
And then there were our 1950 selections...yes this is the fun part, but not really (Let me tell you, this is driving me nuts!!)....
Adam: PASS (5 used already! 5 left!)
Kim: Harvey
I'm sorry, but I remember looking through movies from 1950 and I just couldn't find any good ones I'd seen already, or any that I really wanted to watch. Call me uncultured, call me whatever. It is what it is. But I told you that not all my passes are from the 1930s!! As for Kim, she stuck to her usual guns, picked a movie she's seen already and loves, which I know is a big controversy in itself, but in reality I'm totally cool with. It's really part of the reason we started this second challenge. Anyway, she's a big James Stewart fan, and an even bigger fan of imaginary six foot rabbits, so this seemed to be the perfect fit. I have never seen this movie, so it should be good times.
We will post back shortly with our post-Harvey comments! In the meantime, which movie do you like the best, All About Eve or Harvey? What 1950 movie would you pick? We love all the responses, so tell your friends, family, neighbors and strangers to respond as well!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
1937 Doneville
OK, I'm going to keep this post short and sweet. For the year 1937, since as you know I passed yet again, we only watched Snow White, a Disney classic. In fact, it was the first feature length Disney movie ever made. Of course, we've all seen it at some point in our lives, and we all know the story. Evil witch thinks she's prettiest, but no magic mirror says snow white is prettiest, evil witch hires henchman to put snow white's pretty heart in a box, henchman can't bring himself to do it, kills pig instead and put's the pigs heart in a box, snow white is scared and runs away, finds some dirty unkempt house in the woods, cleans it up and takes a nap, 7 dwarfs who whistle own the place, dwarfs and snow white become friends, witch pretends to be old woman selling apples, apples are poisoned, stupid snow white eats apple, snow white dies, witch dies and falls off cliff being chased by 7 dwarfs, prince comes and kisses snow white while she is dead, snow white is awakened from death because it was true love's first kiss, they live happily ever after.
That was one long sentence. Well, to sum it up, we both liked it better than the Best Picture that year, The Life of Emile Zola. You would too, unless you hate Disney and are into 19th Century French Literature. One funny thing we came up with during Snow White was that every one of the Dwarfs appeared to have a disability and they would make for an interesting self-contained classroom. Let's see....
Doc: Learning Disabled and Dyslexic
Grumpy: Emotional Disorder
Sleepy: Narcolepsy
Sneezy: Rare medical condition
Dopey: Developmentally Disabled (and mute)
Happy: Down's or William's syndrome (look it up)
Bashful: Autistic/Asperger's (in the socially awkward sense)
Alright, so in all seriousness, we've picked our next year and you will truly not believe it. Stay tuned!
That was one long sentence. Well, to sum it up, we both liked it better than the Best Picture that year, The Life of Emile Zola. You would too, unless you hate Disney and are into 19th Century French Literature. One funny thing we came up with during Snow White was that every one of the Dwarfs appeared to have a disability and they would make for an interesting self-contained classroom. Let's see....
Doc: Learning Disabled and Dyslexic
Grumpy: Emotional Disorder
Sleepy: Narcolepsy
Sneezy: Rare medical condition
Dopey: Developmentally Disabled (and mute)
Happy: Down's or William's syndrome (look it up)
Bashful: Autistic/Asperger's (in the socially awkward sense)
Alright, so in all seriousness, we've picked our next year and you will truly not believe it. Stay tuned!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Year #9 and Year #10: 1930 & 1937
(Let me preface this entry by stating that I do not have anything against movies from the 1930's. Of the few I have seen, I have enjoyed most of them. I even loved a few of them. But what you are about to read is going to suggest otherwise....)
Why the hell do we keep picking years from the 30's? I mean, come on! In our 10 years we have selected thus far, 5 years have been from this wretched decade. And, frankly, it's making me look bad. These 10 passes we've received for this challenge were supposed to be spread out over the course of months and nobody was supposed to realize that I just about passed my way through this entire decade. (note: my passes were pre-selected if you were at all lost during my tirade). Well, not now. This cruel twist of fate (or random selection, whatever you want to call it) has put my 1930's bias right in the forefront. We first picked 1930. the earliest year we have to watch movies from. Well, guess what, we ain't watchin none. Don't give me that look, it's just the way it is, so suck it up. If you want further explanation, here you go....
Adam: PASS (3 used, 7 left)
Kim: PASS (1 used, 9 left)
Boo ya! Read it and weep. If you don't like it, take it up with consumer affairs. But it gets even better. More on that later. First I would like to briefly talk about the wonderful Best Picture from 1930 - All Quiet on the Western Front. No movie we could have picked from this year could have beaten this anyway. Whether you are pro-war, anti-war, or indifferent-to-war, this is a movie everyone should be watching, in their homes, in schools, wherever. It's basically a WWI that focuses on a group of school age boys who enthusiastically join the war feeling like they're invincible and are going to be heroes, then quickly learn the true horrific nature of war. I called it poignant, even though I am not quite sure what that word means. But there are certain scenes that will leave you with chilled fascination. I gave it a 4.5 score, while Kim gave it a 4.475 (Kim and her crazy scores!), totaling 8.975, a very respectable score. See, I'm not a 30's hater. Oh wait, yes I am.....
For the love of God, after we picked (and passed on) 1930, our VERY NEXT pick was 1937. Come on, man! (Think Keyshawn Johnson) This is where things started to get ugly, especially on my end. Let me show you how.
Adam: PASS (4 down, 6 to go)
Kim: Snow White
I swear I picked some movies from the 30's, so please don't be harsh. At least Kim picked a movie this year. But enough on this subject - we must move forward! The Best Picture this year was The Life of Emile Zola (yeah, we hadn't heard of it, or him, either). It was one of the earlier films we watched, so we don't remember much, but it was a decent film. Basically, this guy Emile Zola (real guy, for real) was this writer who was French and such, and he did some important things like 150 years ago. Don't ask me what. I gave it a score of 3, while Kim gave it a 3.6 and was interested enough in the movie that it didn't make her fall asleep. So, it finished with a 6.6, which was on the lower end of the scale, but certainly not the worst.
As for our picks, I seriously couldn't find any movie I wanted to watch in these years. I'm sure that somewhere, out there, there are some I would find enjoyable, but I'm just not a risk taker, I guess. Speaking of risk taking, Kim's one selection of Snow White was another safe selection of a movie she's already seen (but really who hasn't?) She swears she has selections of movies she hasn't seen, so I guess she's dealing with her own controversy...
We'll write back soon after we've watched the Disney classic, but for all you reading at home, now is your chance for audience participation. Who is more lame? Adam - who is too scared to watch old movies so he just skips them all, or Kim - who is too scared to watch films she hasn't seen so she just picks ones she has. And, of course, please tell us which movie was your favorite! All Quiet on the Western Front, The Life of Emile Zola, or Snow White, plus what other movies from 1930 or 1937 do you like? (if you know or have seen any) Lots of loaded questions on this post, so have fun!
Why the hell do we keep picking years from the 30's? I mean, come on! In our 10 years we have selected thus far, 5 years have been from this wretched decade. And, frankly, it's making me look bad. These 10 passes we've received for this challenge were supposed to be spread out over the course of months and nobody was supposed to realize that I just about passed my way through this entire decade. (note: my passes were pre-selected if you were at all lost during my tirade). Well, not now. This cruel twist of fate (or random selection, whatever you want to call it) has put my 1930's bias right in the forefront. We first picked 1930. the earliest year we have to watch movies from. Well, guess what, we ain't watchin none. Don't give me that look, it's just the way it is, so suck it up. If you want further explanation, here you go....
Adam: PASS (3 used, 7 left)
Kim: PASS (1 used, 9 left)
Boo ya! Read it and weep. If you don't like it, take it up with consumer affairs. But it gets even better. More on that later. First I would like to briefly talk about the wonderful Best Picture from 1930 - All Quiet on the Western Front. No movie we could have picked from this year could have beaten this anyway. Whether you are pro-war, anti-war, or indifferent-to-war, this is a movie everyone should be watching, in their homes, in schools, wherever. It's basically a WWI that focuses on a group of school age boys who enthusiastically join the war feeling like they're invincible and are going to be heroes, then quickly learn the true horrific nature of war. I called it poignant, even though I am not quite sure what that word means. But there are certain scenes that will leave you with chilled fascination. I gave it a 4.5 score, while Kim gave it a 4.475 (Kim and her crazy scores!), totaling 8.975, a very respectable score. See, I'm not a 30's hater. Oh wait, yes I am.....
For the love of God, after we picked (and passed on) 1930, our VERY NEXT pick was 1937. Come on, man! (Think Keyshawn Johnson) This is where things started to get ugly, especially on my end. Let me show you how.
Adam: PASS (4 down, 6 to go)
Kim: Snow White
I swear I picked some movies from the 30's, so please don't be harsh. At least Kim picked a movie this year. But enough on this subject - we must move forward! The Best Picture this year was The Life of Emile Zola (yeah, we hadn't heard of it, or him, either). It was one of the earlier films we watched, so we don't remember much, but it was a decent film. Basically, this guy Emile Zola (real guy, for real) was this writer who was French and such, and he did some important things like 150 years ago. Don't ask me what. I gave it a score of 3, while Kim gave it a 3.6 and was interested enough in the movie that it didn't make her fall asleep. So, it finished with a 6.6, which was on the lower end of the scale, but certainly not the worst.
As for our picks, I seriously couldn't find any movie I wanted to watch in these years. I'm sure that somewhere, out there, there are some I would find enjoyable, but I'm just not a risk taker, I guess. Speaking of risk taking, Kim's one selection of Snow White was another safe selection of a movie she's already seen (but really who hasn't?) She swears she has selections of movies she hasn't seen, so I guess she's dealing with her own controversy...
We'll write back soon after we've watched the Disney classic, but for all you reading at home, now is your chance for audience participation. Who is more lame? Adam - who is too scared to watch old movies so he just skips them all, or Kim - who is too scared to watch films she hasn't seen so she just picks ones she has. And, of course, please tell us which movie was your favorite! All Quiet on the Western Front, The Life of Emile Zola, or Snow White, plus what other movies from 1930 or 1937 do you like? (if you know or have seen any) Lots of loaded questions on this post, so have fun!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
1999 done!
Alright, so we finally got through our 1999 selections. Let's see...
First we watched "Virgin Suicides", which starred Kirsten Dunst, James Woods and Josh Hartnett, yet somehow managed to be a legitimate movie. It was about a set of 5 sisters, the youngest of which commits suicide and the events that follow. The girls' strict parents try to help them maintain normalcy while at the same time sheltering them from the evils of the world, and in the end, well... I won't spoil it for you, but it doesn't quite work out the way the parents intended. It was worth watching, not great but certainly not bad. American Beauty tops it without fail.
Last night we muscled through the 3+ hours of "Green Mile" starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan. Really excellent movie. We had both seen it before, and Adam had watched it pretty recently, but I hadn't seen it in ages, and I realized as we were watching it how little of it I actually remembered. Tom Hanks was great as usual, and Michael Clarke Duncan was excellent, and should have won Best Supporting Actor in my opinion (he lost to Michael Caine that year for his role in Cider House Rules, which I haven't seen, but there's no way it beats Duncan as the uneducated black drifter John Coffey.) This movie brought me to tears and that is not easy to do, so it has to win points there. As far as whether or not American Beauty beats it in term of Best Picture-ability, I'm sure Adam thinks that though Green Mile is excellent, it doesn't top American Beauty, and I see them as pretty evenly matched. I could not sit through Green Mile nearly as easily as I can American Beauty, but that doesn't make it a worse movie.
The next year(s?) have been drawn, so a new blog will come soon. Stay classy kids.
First we watched "Virgin Suicides", which starred Kirsten Dunst, James Woods and Josh Hartnett, yet somehow managed to be a legitimate movie. It was about a set of 5 sisters, the youngest of which commits suicide and the events that follow. The girls' strict parents try to help them maintain normalcy while at the same time sheltering them from the evils of the world, and in the end, well... I won't spoil it for you, but it doesn't quite work out the way the parents intended. It was worth watching, not great but certainly not bad. American Beauty tops it without fail.
Last night we muscled through the 3+ hours of "Green Mile" starring Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan. Really excellent movie. We had both seen it before, and Adam had watched it pretty recently, but I hadn't seen it in ages, and I realized as we were watching it how little of it I actually remembered. Tom Hanks was great as usual, and Michael Clarke Duncan was excellent, and should have won Best Supporting Actor in my opinion (he lost to Michael Caine that year for his role in Cider House Rules, which I haven't seen, but there's no way it beats Duncan as the uneducated black drifter John Coffey.) This movie brought me to tears and that is not easy to do, so it has to win points there. As far as whether or not American Beauty beats it in term of Best Picture-ability, I'm sure Adam thinks that though Green Mile is excellent, it doesn't top American Beauty, and I see them as pretty evenly matched. I could not sit through Green Mile nearly as easily as I can American Beauty, but that doesn't make it a worse movie.
The next year(s?) have been drawn, so a new blog will come soon. Stay classy kids.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Year #8: 1999
So, we've finally reached the modern era and we're going to party like it's 1999. This is the first year we have selected in which we were actually alive at the time of the movie's release. So it should be fun times. Things were good back in 1999. The music was good. Oh no, wait, I'm mistaken - the music was GREAT. Ahhh...weren't those the days? It just so happened that the movies weren't so bad that year either (I know, some of you are still thinking...he picked "Nookie"? Really?) The Best Picture from '99 is quite simply one of the best movies ever made, and if you have never seen it, you should truly be ashamed of yourself. In fact, if you haven't seen it, stop reading right now, get in your car and RENT it. NOW. Watch it tonight. Twice. You owe it to yourself. Please. But since you have seen it, because come on, no one could possibly deprive themselves like that, you can stay right in front of the computer and read away. Oh, by the way, the Best Picture I'm talking about was American Beauty.
When we started our enormous task of watching every Best Picture since 1928, we were scared. There were A LOT of movies we had never even heard of, much less seen. Of the movies we had seen, there were only a handful of them we owned or had seen more than once. American Beauty was one of the very few that we not only owned and seen more than once, but we actually watched it quite frequently. It is probably on my Top 5 list and not much further down on Kim's list. Suffice it to say, this movie was a comfort during our challenge, knowing that at some point we were going to choose it. For those who don't know (and you do know), American Beauty stars Kevin Spacey and is about a normal American family that is anything but normal. It is a great blend of humor, drama and suspense, while also throwing in a touch of bizarre. I gave it a perfect 5 without hesitation, and the much tougher critic Kim gave it a 4.875. That totals a very solid 9.875, one of the highest scores in our challenge.
And that brings us to our selections. Let me tell you, there was A LOT to choose from. Especially in the more recent years, we could have been looking at hundreds of movies released in any given year (if you were wondering, we did most of our research on the world wide web, but who doesn't these days?) We each could have picked at least 10-15 movies we wanted to watch. I'm sure if you looked at a list just from 1999, you would feel the same way. But we did each have to choose only one, and here is what we picked...
Adam: The Virgin Suicides
Kim: The Green Mile
My pick, The Virgin Suicides, was originally a 1993 novel that I had come across every now and then during my days at Barnes & Noble. In fact, my first year at B&N was 1998, so I'm sure the release of the film a year later increased the number of copies circulating through. I have never read the book or seen the film (Kim has never even heard of it), but I remember both were well received. There were plenty of movies that I had seen and liked from 1999, and in some years I will pick that kind of movie, but this year I'm rolling the dice and taking a chance. Results to follow.
Kim went in the direction of "seen and liked" movies this year, but had a tough decision between Fight Club and The Green Mile. Both movies she had, you guessed it, seen and liked. I have seen and liked them both as well. But ultimately, Kim went with John Coffey and the gang. It's a long one, but a goodie, so it should be a pleasant evening in front of the tube.
Alright, so that's all I have for tonight. Just one last thing as you all know. Which one is your favorite? American Beauty? Virgin Suicides? Green Mile? What would have been your 1999 selection? Go nuts and have fun with it! We'll post back soon!
When we started our enormous task of watching every Best Picture since 1928, we were scared. There were A LOT of movies we had never even heard of, much less seen. Of the movies we had seen, there were only a handful of them we owned or had seen more than once. American Beauty was one of the very few that we not only owned and seen more than once, but we actually watched it quite frequently. It is probably on my Top 5 list and not much further down on Kim's list. Suffice it to say, this movie was a comfort during our challenge, knowing that at some point we were going to choose it. For those who don't know (and you do know), American Beauty stars Kevin Spacey and is about a normal American family that is anything but normal. It is a great blend of humor, drama and suspense, while also throwing in a touch of bizarre. I gave it a perfect 5 without hesitation, and the much tougher critic Kim gave it a 4.875. That totals a very solid 9.875, one of the highest scores in our challenge.
And that brings us to our selections. Let me tell you, there was A LOT to choose from. Especially in the more recent years, we could have been looking at hundreds of movies released in any given year (if you were wondering, we did most of our research on the world wide web, but who doesn't these days?) We each could have picked at least 10-15 movies we wanted to watch. I'm sure if you looked at a list just from 1999, you would feel the same way. But we did each have to choose only one, and here is what we picked...
Adam: The Virgin Suicides
Kim: The Green Mile
My pick, The Virgin Suicides, was originally a 1993 novel that I had come across every now and then during my days at Barnes & Noble. In fact, my first year at B&N was 1998, so I'm sure the release of the film a year later increased the number of copies circulating through. I have never read the book or seen the film (Kim has never even heard of it), but I remember both were well received. There were plenty of movies that I had seen and liked from 1999, and in some years I will pick that kind of movie, but this year I'm rolling the dice and taking a chance. Results to follow.
Kim went in the direction of "seen and liked" movies this year, but had a tough decision between Fight Club and The Green Mile. Both movies she had, you guessed it, seen and liked. I have seen and liked them both as well. But ultimately, Kim went with John Coffey and the gang. It's a long one, but a goodie, so it should be a pleasant evening in front of the tube.
Alright, so that's all I have for tonight. Just one last thing as you all know. Which one is your favorite? American Beauty? Virgin Suicides? Green Mile? What would have been your 1999 selection? Go nuts and have fun with it! We'll post back soon!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
1955: Guys and Dolls and Rebels
Tonight I am flying solo, as my adorable wife is on the West Coast right now, enjoying zoo animals of all varieties. Thus it is I alone who is your tour guide into the deep dark unknown, known only as 1955. Without further adieu (and proceed with caution), here is the rundown...
As stated earlier, the winner this year was Marty, although Herb Stemple (played by John Turturro in Quiz Show) would try to tell you otherwise. I was trying to find the movie clip, but I'll do you one better with the actual footage of the famous scandal. Anyway, we loved Marty (Kim especially), so it was going to be hard to beat.
The first movie we watched was Kim's pick, Guys and Dolls. It starred Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra (both did a great job in this movie - and Brando can sing!). It was basically about these guys who just wanted to shoot craps all the time and make bets, so Brando bet Sinatra he could take this straight edge bible chick to Havana with him, and thus crazy events and a lot of singing and dancing ensue. It's a rock solid musical filled with laughs, classic tunes, and a warm-filled ending. It's like they say with books - a very easy read - this was a very easy watch.
And then there was my pick, Rebel Without a Cause. To give you a background, the actors who played the 3 main roles (James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo) all died tragically at ages way too young. In fact, James Dean was killed in a car crash one month before this film was released. That is especially eerie, considering the famous scene from this film is a wholesome, family friendly game of chicken off a cliff between Dean's character Jim Stark and some goon named Buzz. This movie was basically about this loner guy, played by Dean, who is really cool and tough but for some reason doesn't fit in with all the other cool and tough guys in school. He falls for Natalie Wood, who is basically the groupie of the tough and cool guys, and thus crazy events but no singing or dancing ensue. We both felt it was a good film, but it got a little cheezy and silly at times, and may be a bit overrated due to the tragedy that followed the stars of this film.
To tie things up short and sweet, neither Guys and Dolls or Rebel Without a Cause could quite live up to the Best Picture this year. Marty wins. Marty wins.
We've selected our next year, and it's a good one! Stay tuned.
As stated earlier, the winner this year was Marty, although Herb Stemple (played by John Turturro in Quiz Show) would try to tell you otherwise. I was trying to find the movie clip, but I'll do you one better with the actual footage of the famous scandal. Anyway, we loved Marty (Kim especially), so it was going to be hard to beat.
The first movie we watched was Kim's pick, Guys and Dolls. It starred Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra (both did a great job in this movie - and Brando can sing!). It was basically about these guys who just wanted to shoot craps all the time and make bets, so Brando bet Sinatra he could take this straight edge bible chick to Havana with him, and thus crazy events and a lot of singing and dancing ensue. It's a rock solid musical filled with laughs, classic tunes, and a warm-filled ending. It's like they say with books - a very easy read - this was a very easy watch.
And then there was my pick, Rebel Without a Cause. To give you a background, the actors who played the 3 main roles (James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo) all died tragically at ages way too young. In fact, James Dean was killed in a car crash one month before this film was released. That is especially eerie, considering the famous scene from this film is a wholesome, family friendly game of chicken off a cliff between Dean's character Jim Stark and some goon named Buzz. This movie was basically about this loner guy, played by Dean, who is really cool and tough but for some reason doesn't fit in with all the other cool and tough guys in school. He falls for Natalie Wood, who is basically the groupie of the tough and cool guys, and thus crazy events but no singing or dancing ensue. We both felt it was a good film, but it got a little cheezy and silly at times, and may be a bit overrated due to the tragedy that followed the stars of this film.
To tie things up short and sweet, neither Guys and Dolls or Rebel Without a Cause could quite live up to the Best Picture this year. Marty wins. Marty wins.
We've selected our next year, and it's a good one! Stay tuned.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Year #6 and Year #7: 1938 & 1955
By now, you're possibly wondering, why are there 2 years on this post? Or maybe you're not wondering at all. Or maybe you've already figured it out. Or maybe you don't really care and you just want me to get on with this post. Well for those of you who chose Choices A or D, today is your lucky day (sorry to those who chose Choice B, and if you chose Choice C, quit it you're freakin me out). Anyway, we first selected 1938. The Best Picture that year was an oldie and a goodie, called You Can't Take it With You. This was good ole Frank Capra pic, whom we loved throughout our 1st Movie Challenge (he also directed It Happened One Night which you will learn about at an unspecified later date). You Can't Take it With You scored a nifty 9.8 (I gave it a 5, Kim gave it a 4.8). It was a wonderful film starring James Stewart, filled with great laughs, very endearing characters and a nice overall message. As it turns out, no other film from that year will even get the chance to compete with this film, because this is what happened.....
Adam: PASS (Adam 2/10 used, Kim 0/10 used)
Kim: Bringing up Baby: VETOED (Adam 1/5 used, Kim 1/5 used)
So yeah...no movie this year. I'm not sure if Kim or I have mentioned this yet, but all my passes have been pre-selected, so basically when I picked all my movies, I left 10 years blank. Kim actually picked a movie every year, but will use passes if she decides she doesn't want to watch the movie she picked that year. In this case, she debated about using a pass, but ultimately went with Bringing up Baby, a comedy starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. I think she picked it because it has a leopard in it. It sounded like it had some potential, but I decided I really needed a break from all these old movies (our 3rd 30's year already) and I decided my interest level wasn't high enough to sit through it, so BAM i vetoed it.
So with no 1938 movie, we moved on to our next year. 17 years later, and we've landed in 1955. This was another good year for a Best Picture. Maaaaaaaaarty. Good stuff. This was about a fat, ugly dude named Marty (played brilliantly by Ernest Borgnine) who is like the nicest guy in the world but can't seem to get a date. Very cute and very funny, we both loved it. It scored a 9.4 (4.5 from me and 4.9 from Kim). This was the only movie in the whole challenge that Kim nearly broke into tears. That's how good it was. So, the 2 movies we picked for this year have a lot to live up to...
Adam: Rebel Without a Cause
Kim: Guys and Dolls
Yes, this could get interesting. I picked Rebel because of its cultural significance and whatnot, but really because it looks like a cool and tough film. It stars two of the more tragic figures in Hollywood history - James Dean and Natalie Wood. I'm really looking forward to it. Kim chose Guys and Dolls because she had worked on the play in high school and had a lot of fun with it, so she watched this movie way back when and really liked it then, so she wanted me to see it (she also plans on showing me her High School's production) It stars a singing Marlon Brando, which I'm sure will be fun.
Ok...We want to hear from you! 2 questions tonight....1) Favorite film: Marty, Rebel Without a Cause, or Guys and Dolls? 2) Were there any movies from 1938 that you may have enjoyed? (I know, it was a long time ago, so you may have never even SEEN a movie from 1938, but if you have, let us know!)
We will post back shortly after we've seen the films!
Adam: PASS (Adam 2/10 used, Kim 0/10 used)
Kim: Bringing up Baby: VETOED (Adam 1/5 used, Kim 1/5 used)
So yeah...no movie this year. I'm not sure if Kim or I have mentioned this yet, but all my passes have been pre-selected, so basically when I picked all my movies, I left 10 years blank. Kim actually picked a movie every year, but will use passes if she decides she doesn't want to watch the movie she picked that year. In this case, she debated about using a pass, but ultimately went with Bringing up Baby, a comedy starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. I think she picked it because it has a leopard in it. It sounded like it had some potential, but I decided I really needed a break from all these old movies (our 3rd 30's year already) and I decided my interest level wasn't high enough to sit through it, so BAM i vetoed it.
So with no 1938 movie, we moved on to our next year. 17 years later, and we've landed in 1955. This was another good year for a Best Picture. Maaaaaaaaarty. Good stuff. This was about a fat, ugly dude named Marty (played brilliantly by Ernest Borgnine) who is like the nicest guy in the world but can't seem to get a date. Very cute and very funny, we both loved it. It scored a 9.4 (4.5 from me and 4.9 from Kim). This was the only movie in the whole challenge that Kim nearly broke into tears. That's how good it was. So, the 2 movies we picked for this year have a lot to live up to...
Adam: Rebel Without a Cause
Kim: Guys and Dolls
Yes, this could get interesting. I picked Rebel because of its cultural significance and whatnot, but really because it looks like a cool and tough film. It stars two of the more tragic figures in Hollywood history - James Dean and Natalie Wood. I'm really looking forward to it. Kim chose Guys and Dolls because she had worked on the play in high school and had a lot of fun with it, so she watched this movie way back when and really liked it then, so she wanted me to see it (she also plans on showing me her High School's production) It stars a singing Marlon Brando, which I'm sure will be fun.
Ok...We want to hear from you! 2 questions tonight....1) Favorite film: Marty, Rebel Without a Cause, or Guys and Dolls? 2) Were there any movies from 1938 that you may have enjoyed? (I know, it was a long time ago, so you may have never even SEEN a movie from 1938, but if you have, let us know!)
We will post back shortly after we've seen the films!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
1968: Odd and Odder
Before I begin on our 2 selections from 1968, I forgot to give all you fine readers our overall score for Oliver! I gave it a 4, while Kim gave it a 4.275 (she's very specific in her scores hehe), totaling a very respectable, but not exceptional 8.275. OK, let's get to the picks!
The first movie we watched was Kim's pick, The Odd Couple. Kim has seen it before (and enjoys it thoroughly), but I had never seen it, thus I will give you my take on it. I thought this was a very clever, funny little film. Jack Lemmon (whom I love from the 1960s best Picture The Apartment) and Walter Mattheau had excellent chemistry. They bounced off each other like that old video game pong, which by the way since I'm such a nice guy can be played here . It had some good ole fashioned slap stick comedy, but it also contained sophisticated humor, which as you know I can truly appreciate. It may not have been your typical Best Picture type, but it was quality stuff.
Then we watched my film. Whew. 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was an odyssey alright. I had watched it in high school, but I think we skipped through scenes back then, so much of what we just watched was new to me. And Kim realized as well how little of this movie she had previously seen. But seriously, this movie needs an attached user guide or something. Certainly very interesting and completely ahead of its time (nice call by Kubrick - a moon landing one year before the apollo), but this movie is whacked. It's filled with crazy symbolism and hidden themes and practically zero explanation of anything. First you got the monkeys, and boom then you're on the moon, and wham then you're heading to Jupiter, and then kapow you're in this white room. It's like whoa. And in between all that, like practically nothing happens, but it's all still something. It's basically up for you to decide what everything means. We did enjoy the HAL 9000 - he was about as creepy as a monotoned small circular red light could be. So yeah, good times.
Oliver!, The Odd Couple and 2001 were all very very different kinds of movies. It's hard to say for sure which we enjoyed the most. But we're both picking The Odd Couple, and here is why. We were able to just sit back, relax and enjoy The Odd Couple. It was a nice, lighthearted comedy that didn't require much thought. Certainly, if you're in the mood for a big production Musical, go with Oliver! and if you're in the mood to be provoked/confused, 2001 is your choice for the night.
Well, we've selected our next movies - and there was a little bit of drama - so stay tuned!
The first movie we watched was Kim's pick, The Odd Couple. Kim has seen it before (and enjoys it thoroughly), but I had never seen it, thus I will give you my take on it. I thought this was a very clever, funny little film. Jack Lemmon (whom I love from the 1960s best Picture The Apartment) and Walter Mattheau had excellent chemistry. They bounced off each other like that old video game pong, which by the way since I'm such a nice guy can be played here . It had some good ole fashioned slap stick comedy, but it also contained sophisticated humor, which as you know I can truly appreciate. It may not have been your typical Best Picture type, but it was quality stuff.
Then we watched my film. Whew. 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was an odyssey alright. I had watched it in high school, but I think we skipped through scenes back then, so much of what we just watched was new to me. And Kim realized as well how little of this movie she had previously seen. But seriously, this movie needs an attached user guide or something. Certainly very interesting and completely ahead of its time (nice call by Kubrick - a moon landing one year before the apollo), but this movie is whacked. It's filled with crazy symbolism and hidden themes and practically zero explanation of anything. First you got the monkeys, and boom then you're on the moon, and wham then you're heading to Jupiter, and then kapow you're in this white room. It's like whoa. And in between all that, like practically nothing happens, but it's all still something. It's basically up for you to decide what everything means. We did enjoy the HAL 9000 - he was about as creepy as a monotoned small circular red light could be. So yeah, good times.
Oliver!, The Odd Couple and 2001 were all very very different kinds of movies. It's hard to say for sure which we enjoyed the most. But we're both picking The Odd Couple, and here is why. We were able to just sit back, relax and enjoy The Odd Couple. It was a nice, lighthearted comedy that didn't require much thought. Certainly, if you're in the mood for a big production Musical, go with Oliver! and if you're in the mood to be provoked/confused, 2001 is your choice for the night.
Well, we've selected our next movies - and there was a little bit of drama - so stay tuned!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Year #5: 1968
Hello, 1968! It's nice to be back in more recent times after the last 2 selections. The Best Picture for this year was Oliver! This was one of the many musicals we watched throughout our first challenge. We thought this movie was very fun and enjoyable to watch. Kim had seen it before, so she knew what to expect, but she still found it entertaining. Most of the songs were good, especially the one where Fagin (our favorite character) plays the flute with an umbrella, which can be seen here. Anyway, on to our picks...
Kim: The Odd Couple.
Adam: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Kim had originally selected Rosemary's Baby, but changed her mind at the last second to the Mattheau/Lemmon comedy The Odd Couple. This was ok with me - I have seen Rosemary's Baby and didn't care for it. She has seen the Odd Couple and really enjoys it, plus she was more in a comedy mood than horror mood especially considering Rosemary's Baby was about a possessed baby. I haven't seen Odd Couple, so I'm looking forward to it as well.
I selected 2001: A Space Odyssey because it's one of those interesting, strange, bizarre movies that's culturally significant and fun to watch from time to time. I last watched it in high school, whereas Kim has seen parts, but never sat through the whole movie.
We may be watching the Odd Couple tonight, and 2001 in the near future, so stay tuned for our results.
In the meantime, I am introducing a brand new interactive segment to the blog. We would like to know which of our 3 movies this year (if you've seen them) you liked the most. Is it Oliver!, The Odd Couple, or 2001: A Space Odyssey? Also, feel free to post any of your other favorite movies from 1968!
Kim: The Odd Couple.
Adam: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Kim had originally selected Rosemary's Baby, but changed her mind at the last second to the Mattheau/Lemmon comedy The Odd Couple. This was ok with me - I have seen Rosemary's Baby and didn't care for it. She has seen the Odd Couple and really enjoys it, plus she was more in a comedy mood than horror mood especially considering Rosemary's Baby was about a possessed baby. I haven't seen Odd Couple, so I'm looking forward to it as well.
I selected 2001: A Space Odyssey because it's one of those interesting, strange, bizarre movies that's culturally significant and fun to watch from time to time. I last watched it in high school, whereas Kim has seen parts, but never sat through the whole movie.
We may be watching the Odd Couple tonight, and 2001 in the near future, so stay tuned for our results.
In the meantime, I am introducing a brand new interactive segment to the blog. We would like to know which of our 3 movies this year (if you've seen them) you liked the most. Is it Oliver!, The Odd Couple, or 2001: A Space Odyssey? Also, feel free to post any of your other favorite movies from 1968!
Friday, October 23, 2009
1936 done
Ok, so for 1936 we watched "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" and we were disappointed. (To sum things up for you, Adam now refers to this movie as "Mr. Stupid-head goes to Loserville" starring Hairy Loser)
Directed by Frank Capra, needless to say we had high hopes going in. We have really enjoyed several of his other films (You Can't Take it With You, It Happened One Night and Its a Wonderful Life) and this one let us down a little bit. It was a nice movie, a simple story and had a good moral, but we just couldn't... get into it. We felt absolutely no attachment to Gary Cooper, who plays the main character, Mr. Deeds. Even the supporting roles we felt were weakly portrayed and while this movie had potential to be good, it just couldn't win us over.
The best picture from this year, The Great Zigfeld, deserved the win over this one. Ziggy was much more entertaining, and it probably helped that going into it we didn't have very high expectations (which worked to this movies disadvantage)
That's really all I have to say, and all I think needs to be said. We have drawn the next year and our movies have been selected, so that will be coming soon. In the meantime, stay classy.
Directed by Frank Capra, needless to say we had high hopes going in. We have really enjoyed several of his other films (You Can't Take it With You, It Happened One Night and Its a Wonderful Life) and this one let us down a little bit. It was a nice movie, a simple story and had a good moral, but we just couldn't... get into it. We felt absolutely no attachment to Gary Cooper, who plays the main character, Mr. Deeds. Even the supporting roles we felt were weakly portrayed and while this movie had potential to be good, it just couldn't win us over.
The best picture from this year, The Great Zigfeld, deserved the win over this one. Ziggy was much more entertaining, and it probably helped that going into it we didn't have very high expectations (which worked to this movies disadvantage)
That's really all I have to say, and all I think needs to be said. We have drawn the next year and our movies have been selected, so that will be coming soon. In the meantime, stay classy.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Year #4: 1936...One freakin year later!
The next year we "randomly" selected just happened to be one year after our last pick. Tough luck on this one...2 really old movies in a row, but what can ya do? Well, you don't have to do anything, reader. It is us, Kim and I, who must do. And what we must do is each pick another old movie to watch. And then watch them, of course. Or do we? More on that later. First, I will briefly review the Best Picture of 1936...The Great Zigfield.
We both liked Flo Ziggy (as we call it - the movie was about legendary stage show producer Florenz Zigfield and his follies). It definitely had its entertaining moments (see: It's Delightful to Be Married number), but otherwise it wasn't anything special, though for some reason we reference this movie more often these days than most of the other Best Pictures. I gave it a 3.5/5, whereas Kim scored it a 4.3/5. Not bad, not bad - overall 7.8 is a respectable score. Also, for those keeping score, we failed to report in our previous post our scores for the last movie Mutiny on the Bounty, which I gave a 3.5 as well, but Kim only gave it a 3.45. Total score: 6.95.
Ok, on to our 1936 picks!
Adam: Romeo & Juliet (VETOED!)
Kim: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
So, the first veto made its appearance for this year (we each get 5, Kim now has 4 left). I wanted to watch the first full length "talkie" version of Romeo & Juliet.
Kim says: Let me butt in here- Ok, so the way I see it, Romeo and Juliet is Romeo and Juliet. I've seen many versions of it, read the play several times, and especially having been made in 1936, I'm sure it won't be any kind of special interpretation. I mean, they're probably just gonna put on silly costumes and go word-for-word from the play, which isn't one of my favorites by old Billy Shakespeare anyway, and I just wasn't in the mood. Of course, you could argue that I've wasted a veto on a movie that could have been easily suffered through considering I would know what I'm getting into, but I'm not interested in suffering through anything if I can help it. Back to Adam...
ok.....thanks honey for that "brief" explanation of why you didn't want to watch it (I got in a quick nap!) haha. So, basically, we're not watching Romeo & Juliet.
Kim picked Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (which I did not veto), and you may recognize the name, as it was "remade" a few years back by Adam Sandler, simply called Little Nicky. Yeah, that's a joke. It's basically about a schmo who inherits a lot of money and, well, 2 hours later and it's over. Kim picked it because it was directed by Frank Capra (who directed 2 of our favorite Best Pictures - It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it With You) and also because she confused it with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, another Capra film, starring Jimmy Stewart. Mr. Deeds stars Gary Cooper, for those who want to know.
We'll watch the movie and post back soon! (we already have it, so it hopefully won't be too long, less than a month at least!)
We both liked Flo Ziggy (as we call it - the movie was about legendary stage show producer Florenz Zigfield and his follies). It definitely had its entertaining moments (see: It's Delightful to Be Married number), but otherwise it wasn't anything special, though for some reason we reference this movie more often these days than most of the other Best Pictures. I gave it a 3.5/5, whereas Kim scored it a 4.3/5. Not bad, not bad - overall 7.8 is a respectable score. Also, for those keeping score, we failed to report in our previous post our scores for the last movie Mutiny on the Bounty, which I gave a 3.5 as well, but Kim only gave it a 3.45. Total score: 6.95.
Ok, on to our 1936 picks!
Adam: Romeo & Juliet (VETOED!)
Kim: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
So, the first veto made its appearance for this year (we each get 5, Kim now has 4 left). I wanted to watch the first full length "talkie" version of Romeo & Juliet.
Kim says: Let me butt in here- Ok, so the way I see it, Romeo and Juliet is Romeo and Juliet. I've seen many versions of it, read the play several times, and especially having been made in 1936, I'm sure it won't be any kind of special interpretation. I mean, they're probably just gonna put on silly costumes and go word-for-word from the play, which isn't one of my favorites by old Billy Shakespeare anyway, and I just wasn't in the mood. Of course, you could argue that I've wasted a veto on a movie that could have been easily suffered through considering I would know what I'm getting into, but I'm not interested in suffering through anything if I can help it. Back to Adam...
ok.....thanks honey for that "brief" explanation of why you didn't want to watch it (I got in a quick nap!) haha. So, basically, we're not watching Romeo & Juliet.
Kim picked Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (which I did not veto), and you may recognize the name, as it was "remade" a few years back by Adam Sandler, simply called Little Nicky. Yeah, that's a joke. It's basically about a schmo who inherits a lot of money and, well, 2 hours later and it's over. Kim picked it because it was directed by Frank Capra (who directed 2 of our favorite Best Pictures - It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it With You) and also because she confused it with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, another Capra film, starring Jimmy Stewart. Mr. Deeds stars Gary Cooper, for those who want to know.
We'll watch the movie and post back soon! (we already have it, so it hopefully won't be too long, less than a month at least!)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
1935 LES NOT SO MISERABLES
So, hey everyone. This is Adam speaking. Yeah, I know. Don't get used to it. Haha. It's been a few weeks since we've posted, but we FINALLY watched Les Miserables. WOO HOO! As what often happened during our Best Picture Challenge, we hit a little rut. Sometimes it happens. We'll watch a bunch of movies all at once, and then go a month without watching one. If you're one of these crazy people who follows this blog, get used to it. But I digress. Wow, I can say anything I want on this thing, because it's MY blog. Well, our blog - but I'm writing it this time! Wanna hear a joke? What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino? Elephino! OK, back to movie business.
The Best Picture of 1935 was Mutiny on the Bounty, as we already told you. About this guy on a ship who decides things are unjust and starts a mutiny. Things get crazy, men go overboard, a little Gilligan's Island stuff going on there, you know the deal. Clark Gable, by the way, is the best actor in history. Just pointing it out there. Anyway, for this challenge I used one of my big fat passes (we each get 10) because there was nothing I wanted to watch from this year. Trust me, not a great year for movies. Kim found Les Mis, because she had seen the musical or something like that. Plus, come on, it's Les Mis!
We decided right away that we both liked Les Mis and found it very watchable. It kept our interest and was definitely very well made. I particularly liked Charles Laughton (who was also in Mutiny) mainly due to all the funny faces he made in the movie. Kim said she would even watch it again without a problem. That means it couldn't have been too bad. For those who don't know or haven't seen the film (or read the book, or seen the musical), it's about this guy who steals some bread and ends up in the Gallows (our favorite place from Ben-Hur), which is basically torture jail. He spends 10 years there, then is free but has to show up for parole and such every once in a while. He becomes poor and wretched, but some super nice priest guy lets him in and straightens him up into a giving person, as opposed to a taking person. Flash forward years later, and this same guy, under a different name, is now also a super nice guy, but now he's rich too. And then there's this police guy (played by Laughton) who suspects he's this former convict who missed a parole date years ago. Horse chase ensues, and, well, you can find out the rest on your own time. Good stuff though.
If faced with the choice of Les Miserables or Mutiny on the Bounty - it's definitely a close call. We watched Mutiny so long ago, that it's almost unfair to decide. But I think I would go with Les Mis. The jury is still out with Kim.
We already chose our next year and movies, but we'll post that in the next day or two just to keep you hanging!!!
The Best Picture of 1935 was Mutiny on the Bounty, as we already told you. About this guy on a ship who decides things are unjust and starts a mutiny. Things get crazy, men go overboard, a little Gilligan's Island stuff going on there, you know the deal. Clark Gable, by the way, is the best actor in history. Just pointing it out there. Anyway, for this challenge I used one of my big fat passes (we each get 10) because there was nothing I wanted to watch from this year. Trust me, not a great year for movies. Kim found Les Mis, because she had seen the musical or something like that. Plus, come on, it's Les Mis!
We decided right away that we both liked Les Mis and found it very watchable. It kept our interest and was definitely very well made. I particularly liked Charles Laughton (who was also in Mutiny) mainly due to all the funny faces he made in the movie. Kim said she would even watch it again without a problem. That means it couldn't have been too bad. For those who don't know or haven't seen the film (or read the book, or seen the musical), it's about this guy who steals some bread and ends up in the Gallows (our favorite place from Ben-Hur), which is basically torture jail. He spends 10 years there, then is free but has to show up for parole and such every once in a while. He becomes poor and wretched, but some super nice priest guy lets him in and straightens him up into a giving person, as opposed to a taking person. Flash forward years later, and this same guy, under a different name, is now also a super nice guy, but now he's rich too. And then there's this police guy (played by Laughton) who suspects he's this former convict who missed a parole date years ago. Horse chase ensues, and, well, you can find out the rest on your own time. Good stuff though.
If faced with the choice of Les Miserables or Mutiny on the Bounty - it's definitely a close call. We watched Mutiny so long ago, that it's almost unfair to decide. But I think I would go with Les Mis. The jury is still out with Kim.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Year # 3: 1935
So what's next on the agenda? A real beauty of a year known as 1935. This was the year of "Mutiny On The Bounty", which coincidentally was also one of the first movies we watched in the last challenge, one of the first very old movies we saw. It wasn't a great movie but it certainly was good enough that we were no longer dreading the old movies. It did much better than expected, lets put it that way. Plus it introduced us to one of our new favorite actors, the "Best Picture" guru himself, Clark Gable, and you have to give it props for doing that.
By the way if you are interested in historical movie artifacts, the model ship used for cut-away shots of the Bounty in the 1935 film is actually housed in Jenkinson's Aquarium. Really. Anyway...
Kim's pick: Les Miserables
Adam's pick: PASS
For this year I chose one of the original film versions of "Les Miserables." I've seen the musical on broadway, but never the play and never one of the movies. It's such a famous piece of literature though, I figured why not.
Adam chose to "pass" on 1935, and he did not choose to veto Les Mis, so that's all that is on the horizon. Hopefully we'll get it watched in less than a week this time. As always, stay tuned!
By the way if you are interested in historical movie artifacts, the model ship used for cut-away shots of the Bounty in the 1935 film is actually housed in Jenkinson's Aquarium. Really. Anyway...
Kim's pick: Les Miserables
Adam's pick: PASS
For this year I chose one of the original film versions of "Les Miserables." I've seen the musical on broadway, but never the play and never one of the movies. It's such a famous piece of literature though, I figured why not.
Adam chose to "pass" on 1935, and he did not choose to veto Les Mis, so that's all that is on the horizon. Hopefully we'll get it watched in less than a week this time. As always, stay tuned!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
1953: DONE!
Well, we FINALLY got around to our 1953 movies, we managed another double feature! In case you've forgotten, our choices for this year were "War of the Worlds" and "Stalag 17" so let's see how they did...
First we watched WOTW. It was pretty much an ok movie. Generally cheesy in terms of special effects, but what can you expect from 1953, right? I'm sure it was way ahead of its time. It was a short movie (under an hour and a half!) which we enjoyed, no hundreds of useless sub-plots that movies nowadays have which make them run well over 2 hours, just the story, told simply. Aliens invade earth, scientist tries to save the Earth, aliens end up dying of something no one really had control over. It was very interesting to watch because you could see a lot of movies that had pulled scenes from it for inspiration, like "Signs" and most notably "Independence Day." I enjoyed this movie because it gave me a chance to reference both Joe Dirt (it aint a rock its a meteor dumb-dumb) and Mars Attacks (maybe to them doves mean war...) which are both excellent films worth quoting. So overall we think this was an alright movie, not going to watch it again, but glad we've seen it and don't HAVE to see it again. The best picture of this year was "From Here To Eternity" and we felt this fell a little short of that. VERY different movies, but the Best Picture winner was a smidge better. Moving on to...
Stalag 17. A comedy/mystery/suspense movie about American POW's being held in Germany. Good movie, well-done, humor and suspense mixed well together. Some humor was cheesy, but most was understated and well-placed. We felt this movie had a "Best Picture" feel to it especially for the time, and it held up very well to the winner from that year. In fact we both enjoyed this movie more than the winner from this year. They were actually quite similar (both war movies with some humor and some action mixed together) but we enjoyed this one more overall. I personally knew what to expect because I had seen it, though many years ago, but it did not disappoint my expectations. We highly recommend it to the movie buffs out there :)
First we watched WOTW. It was pretty much an ok movie. Generally cheesy in terms of special effects, but what can you expect from 1953, right? I'm sure it was way ahead of its time. It was a short movie (under an hour and a half!) which we enjoyed, no hundreds of useless sub-plots that movies nowadays have which make them run well over 2 hours, just the story, told simply. Aliens invade earth, scientist tries to save the Earth, aliens end up dying of something no one really had control over. It was very interesting to watch because you could see a lot of movies that had pulled scenes from it for inspiration, like "Signs" and most notably "Independence Day." I enjoyed this movie because it gave me a chance to reference both Joe Dirt (it aint a rock its a meteor dumb-dumb) and Mars Attacks (maybe to them doves mean war...) which are both excellent films worth quoting. So overall we think this was an alright movie, not going to watch it again, but glad we've seen it and don't HAVE to see it again. The best picture of this year was "From Here To Eternity" and we felt this fell a little short of that. VERY different movies, but the Best Picture winner was a smidge better. Moving on to...
Stalag 17. A comedy/mystery/suspense movie about American POW's being held in Germany. Good movie, well-done, humor and suspense mixed well together. Some humor was cheesy, but most was understated and well-placed. We felt this movie had a "Best Picture" feel to it especially for the time, and it held up very well to the winner from that year. In fact we both enjoyed this movie more than the winner from this year. They were actually quite similar (both war movies with some humor and some action mixed together) but we enjoyed this one more overall. I personally knew what to expect because I had seen it, though many years ago, but it did not disappoint my expectations. We highly recommend it to the movie buffs out there :)
Friday, September 4, 2009
Year # 2: 1953
In 1953 the Best Picture was "From Here to Eternity." Adam gave it a 4 out of 5, I gave it a 3.5 giving it a total score of 7.5 out of 10. To be perfectly honest, I don't remember that much from it. It was one of the first movies we watched during the first challenge, which was like... 2 years ago. According to our reviews it was pretty good, and one thing I do remember is that Frank Sinatra was in it, and he was pretty good in it. I seem to remember the famous scene from that movie (the beach scene where they are rolling around in the waves kissing) being WAY overrated. Anyway, this should be an interesting year in terms of comparing movies. So, with that in mind...
Adam's pick: War of the Worlds (the original, no Tom Cruise)
Kim's pick: Stalag 17
I picked Stalag 17 because it's a movie that I watched in my German class in high school and I haven't seen it since but I remember LOVING it. (yes, we are allowed to pick movies we've seen before) It's about POW's during WWII trying to break out of their camp. It's a drama-ish movie but has lots of good comedy, so I'm pretty stoked. Right now I'm feeling like it's already a better movie than From Here to Eternity, but we must be fair and we'll wait and see.
Adam picked War of the Worlds because it is a classic movie that he thinks everyone should have to see, and it was successful as a re-make (which he actually never saw, but I did, and I hate Tom Cruise, but I will try not to hold that against this version.) I must say I'm curious about this one, because I'm not a sci-fi person, but here's the one redeeming quality: it's only 85 minutes. Sweeeeeet.
The last 2 movies are in the mail and these 2 are already on the netflix queue so we should get them early next week. So as always, stay tuned.
Adam's pick: War of the Worlds (the original, no Tom Cruise)
Kim's pick: Stalag 17
I picked Stalag 17 because it's a movie that I watched in my German class in high school and I haven't seen it since but I remember LOVING it. (yes, we are allowed to pick movies we've seen before) It's about POW's during WWII trying to break out of their camp. It's a drama-ish movie but has lots of good comedy, so I'm pretty stoked. Right now I'm feeling like it's already a better movie than From Here to Eternity, but we must be fair and we'll wait and see.
Adam picked War of the Worlds because it is a classic movie that he thinks everyone should have to see, and it was successful as a re-make (which he actually never saw, but I did, and I hate Tom Cruise, but I will try not to hold that against this version.) I must say I'm curious about this one, because I'm not a sci-fi person, but here's the one redeeming quality: it's only 85 minutes. Sweeeeeet.
The last 2 movies are in the mail and these 2 are already on the netflix queue so we should get them early next week. So as always, stay tuned.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
1976 DOUBLE FEATURE done!
=Whew!= So we finally got marathon man in the mail, and decided tonight was the night to watch both that and taxi driver, in one shot. Let's start with...
TAXI "you lookin at me?" DRIVER
Good movie. Dark and creepy, makes me never want to get in a cab EVER. Or run for political office for that matter. Robert DeNiro is a lovable psychopath who drives a taxi and is in love with Sybil Shepherd (and you can't blame him, she looks hot in this movie) but it's not in the stars for them, especially after he takes her to an, um.. "adult" movie theater on their 2nd date. She's apparently not into that. Women, right? So then he gets all pissed off and goes a little nuts, almost hits 12 year-old prostitute Jodi Foster with his cab, buys a lot of guns, tries to assassinate the senator who Sybil was campaigning for (unsuccessfully) and then decides to become Jodi Foster's sweet old Uncle Crazy and gives her money to go back home and live a normal life. Lots of twisted stuff going on. Our overall assessment of this one is: It's well done and DeNiro is excellent, but it doesn't live up to the best picture of the year, Rocky. So lets move on to...
MARATHON "is it safe?" MAN
Another very good movie. More of a mystery/action type flick than the full-on creepfest that taxi driver was. Hoffman is a history student going for his PhD, writing his dissertation on his father who was innocent of some charges that we never really figured out; had something to do with the McCarthy hearings. Hoffman's brother played by Roy Scheider is a double agent for the US and the leftover Nazis, particularly the head leftover Nazi played by sir Lawrence Olivier. Scheider is killed because Olivier thinks he's going to rob him when he gets a bunch of diamonds, and then he thinks that Scheider shared information with Hoffman, so he tries to kill him too. Here's the beauty: he uses dental torture. FANTASTIC. I had a dentist appointment today and my teeth hadn't even completely healed yet while we were watching this, and it was pretty traumatizing. Anyway pretty much everyone dies at the end, just like in Taxi Driver. Actually the two movies had a lot of weird little similarities, but I can't remember most of them now. So the overall consensus is: Another good movie, felt more modern than Taxi Driver and a little more engaging in general. Adam was happy to watch any movie with Lawrence Olivier that wasn't Hamlet (best picture, 1948)
Between the two we both enjoyed Marathon Man more than Taxi Driver, which actually surprised me. We had gotten a more positive response to the taxi driver pick than marathon man. Neither of them, however would have gotten our vote over Rocky for best picture.
Stay tuned sometime in the near future for our post on our next year and the movies we chose (they've already been drawn, but it's after midnight, and I'd rather go to bed and make you wait)
GOODNIGHT!!!
TAXI "you lookin at me?" DRIVER
Good movie. Dark and creepy, makes me never want to get in a cab EVER. Or run for political office for that matter. Robert DeNiro is a lovable psychopath who drives a taxi and is in love with Sybil Shepherd (and you can't blame him, she looks hot in this movie) but it's not in the stars for them, especially after he takes her to an, um.. "adult" movie theater on their 2nd date. She's apparently not into that. Women, right? So then he gets all pissed off and goes a little nuts, almost hits 12 year-old prostitute Jodi Foster with his cab, buys a lot of guns, tries to assassinate the senator who Sybil was campaigning for (unsuccessfully) and then decides to become Jodi Foster's sweet old Uncle Crazy and gives her money to go back home and live a normal life. Lots of twisted stuff going on. Our overall assessment of this one is: It's well done and DeNiro is excellent, but it doesn't live up to the best picture of the year, Rocky. So lets move on to...
MARATHON "is it safe?" MAN
Another very good movie. More of a mystery/action type flick than the full-on creepfest that taxi driver was. Hoffman is a history student going for his PhD, writing his dissertation on his father who was innocent of some charges that we never really figured out; had something to do with the McCarthy hearings. Hoffman's brother played by Roy Scheider is a double agent for the US and the leftover Nazis, particularly the head leftover Nazi played by sir Lawrence Olivier. Scheider is killed because Olivier thinks he's going to rob him when he gets a bunch of diamonds, and then he thinks that Scheider shared information with Hoffman, so he tries to kill him too. Here's the beauty: he uses dental torture. FANTASTIC. I had a dentist appointment today and my teeth hadn't even completely healed yet while we were watching this, and it was pretty traumatizing. Anyway pretty much everyone dies at the end, just like in Taxi Driver. Actually the two movies had a lot of weird little similarities, but I can't remember most of them now. So the overall consensus is: Another good movie, felt more modern than Taxi Driver and a little more engaging in general. Adam was happy to watch any movie with Lawrence Olivier that wasn't Hamlet (best picture, 1948)
Between the two we both enjoyed Marathon Man more than Taxi Driver, which actually surprised me. We had gotten a more positive response to the taxi driver pick than marathon man. Neither of them, however would have gotten our vote over Rocky for best picture.
Stay tuned sometime in the near future for our post on our next year and the movies we chose (they've already been drawn, but it's after midnight, and I'd rather go to bed and make you wait)
GOODNIGHT!!!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Still no "Marathon Man"
Apparently some punk kid in our neighborhood tried to open up our mailboxes with a wire contraption of some sort and now the mailpersons can't get in there. They have had to call the head honchos in to put a while new lock on the mailboxes for the houses in our little area of the development. Crazy. They didn't even tell anyone this, Adam had to call them and it took a few days to get the explanation out of them, and they said they weren't sorting the mail at all, but they told us they would sort ours out, because we wanted our mail, thankyouverymuch.
Aside from all that nonsense, Adam went to the post office to pick up our mail today and still no Marathon Man. So we had to tell Netflix and they're going to send it again.
So, here's the plan: tomorrow (weds) we are going to go watch the last home blueclaws game, because I didn't get to go to any this year, and I rather enjoy minor league baseball. Thursday I have a dentist appointment at 4 but after that we will FINALLY start watching our movies. As long as we have both movies we are thinking we still may watch both movies in one sitting, but that will ultimately be decided the day of.
So check back Thursday!!!
Aside from all that nonsense, Adam went to the post office to pick up our mail today and still no Marathon Man. So we had to tell Netflix and they're going to send it again.
So, here's the plan: tomorrow (weds) we are going to go watch the last home blueclaws game, because I didn't get to go to any this year, and I rather enjoy minor league baseball. Thursday I have a dentist appointment at 4 but after that we will FINALLY start watching our movies. As long as we have both movies we are thinking we still may watch both movies in one sitting, but that will ultimately be decided the day of.
So check back Thursday!!!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
an unsolved mystery
Adam and I originally were going to do a double-feature today and watch both movies in one shot. They're both pretty short (together they are shorter than gone with the wind, which by the way won the best picture oscar in 1939) so we figured it would be fun to watch both in one day. So here's what happened instead:
Adam worked until 1:00, which we knew about already. Adam also had a fantasy football draft today, which we knew about already. It was supposed to start at noon, and they usually don't take very long, 2 hours maybe. WELL, it started late and took for-ev-er and it wasn't done until like 6:00! Crazy.
On top of that, we didn't get any mail today. I guess it wouldn't be so weird if we hadn't gotten zero mail yesterday either, and we always get mail. We were supposed to get "Marathon Man" in the mail yesterday, and we didn't. Netflix is usually very prompt. Very rarely the movies are a day late, but never more than that. Sooo... we're not really sure whats going on. It's not a holiday is it? Anyway so even if we had time (which we didn't because Adam was also going to a quasi-bachelor party tonight) we couldn't have watched both movies today because we only have one.
Quite the mystery, eh? So anyway we're gonna see if anything comes Monday and if nothing does we're gonna call the post office or, I don't know, something. Tomorrow is out for taxi driver because Adam works until 1 and I work at 3 (I'll probably leave the house around 1:30. Point Pleasant. In the summer. On the weekend. Yeah.)
So we'll be waiting for a little bit longer to get this challenge started. grr....
Adam worked until 1:00, which we knew about already. Adam also had a fantasy football draft today, which we knew about already. It was supposed to start at noon, and they usually don't take very long, 2 hours maybe. WELL, it started late and took for-ev-er and it wasn't done until like 6:00! Crazy.
On top of that, we didn't get any mail today. I guess it wouldn't be so weird if we hadn't gotten zero mail yesterday either, and we always get mail. We were supposed to get "Marathon Man" in the mail yesterday, and we didn't. Netflix is usually very prompt. Very rarely the movies are a day late, but never more than that. Sooo... we're not really sure whats going on. It's not a holiday is it? Anyway so even if we had time (which we didn't because Adam was also going to a quasi-bachelor party tonight) we couldn't have watched both movies today because we only have one.
Quite the mystery, eh? So anyway we're gonna see if anything comes Monday and if nothing does we're gonna call the post office or, I don't know, something. Tomorrow is out for taxi driver because Adam works until 1 and I work at 3 (I'll probably leave the house around 1:30. Point Pleasant. In the summer. On the weekend. Yeah.)
So we'll be waiting for a little bit longer to get this challenge started. grr....
Thursday, August 27, 2009
While we wait...
I figured while Adam and I are waiting for Taxi Driver and Marathon Man to arrive via netflix, I would explain how this new challenge is going to work.
The years are going to be drawn randomly again. We found that this was perfect in the first challenge because then you don't get stuck watching all the older movies at once or movies that are very similar one right after the other. We are going to take turns drawing years, and the person who picks the year is the person whose movie gets watched first (for example, I picked 1976 so we are going to watch Taxi Driver first then we will watch Marathon Man.)
We are not going to rate these movies 1-5 or anything. We have the blog and we figure we'll just discuss our feelings on the movies here. The main thing we are going to do is see if the other movies live up to the Best Picture of that year. You would think that in a challenge where you are watching all movies that won "Best Picture" that they would all be relatively good movies, but you'd be wrong. Believe me. There were some bad movies. More of that as the years come.
Now, the fun part: This challenge has some added bonuses! First of all, Adam and I are allowed 5 "vetoes" which means if Adam picks a movie that I absolutely have no desire to watch, I can veto it, and we don't have to watch it! Woo hoo! In that case, we will only watch one movie from that year. UNLESS... I choose to "pass." Adam and I also have 10 "passes" we are allowed to use. That means that if we have looked through the movies of a year and not found one that we like, we are allowed to "pass." I know that it seems like a lot, 10 passes and 5 vetoes, but there are 77 years worth of movies to watch and 2 movies for each year, so we thought it would help us move this challenge along a little bit quicker. Adam and I have already prepared our movie lists and at this point I have not factored in any "passes" (I have a movie picked for every year, in other words) so I will probably just play the passes with my mood. We aren't required to use 10 passes or the 5 vetoes, they are just there for our convenience.
Adam has informed me that Taxi Driver should arrive today! So as always, stay tuned!
The years are going to be drawn randomly again. We found that this was perfect in the first challenge because then you don't get stuck watching all the older movies at once or movies that are very similar one right after the other. We are going to take turns drawing years, and the person who picks the year is the person whose movie gets watched first (for example, I picked 1976 so we are going to watch Taxi Driver first then we will watch Marathon Man.)
We are not going to rate these movies 1-5 or anything. We have the blog and we figure we'll just discuss our feelings on the movies here. The main thing we are going to do is see if the other movies live up to the Best Picture of that year. You would think that in a challenge where you are watching all movies that won "Best Picture" that they would all be relatively good movies, but you'd be wrong. Believe me. There were some bad movies. More of that as the years come.
Now, the fun part: This challenge has some added bonuses! First of all, Adam and I are allowed 5 "vetoes" which means if Adam picks a movie that I absolutely have no desire to watch, I can veto it, and we don't have to watch it! Woo hoo! In that case, we will only watch one movie from that year. UNLESS... I choose to "pass." Adam and I also have 10 "passes" we are allowed to use. That means that if we have looked through the movies of a year and not found one that we like, we are allowed to "pass." I know that it seems like a lot, 10 passes and 5 vetoes, but there are 77 years worth of movies to watch and 2 movies for each year, so we thought it would help us move this challenge along a little bit quicker. Adam and I have already prepared our movie lists and at this point I have not factored in any "passes" (I have a movie picked for every year, in other words) so I will probably just play the passes with my mood. We aren't required to use 10 passes or the 5 vetoes, they are just there for our convenience.
Adam has informed me that Taxi Driver should arrive today! So as always, stay tuned!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Year #1: 1976
The Best Picture oscar for 1976 went to Rocky. This was an excellent film, one that neither of us had ever seen in its entirety and we were very impressed. We gave this movie a PERFECT 10. So, needless to say, the other movies from this year have a lot to live up to. Let's see what's on the agenda...
Adam's Pick: Marathon Man
Kim's Pick: Taxi Driver
Adam doesn't remember why he picked Marathon Man other than "it looked interesting" but I remember that the only reason I chose Taxi Driver was because it was the movie that inspired John Hinkley to attempt an assassination on Ronald Reagan based on Jodi Foster's performance. So it has to be pretty good, right? I guess we'll find out sooner or later... stay tuned!
Adam's Pick: Marathon Man
Kim's Pick: Taxi Driver
Adam doesn't remember why he picked Marathon Man other than "it looked interesting" but I remember that the only reason I chose Taxi Driver was because it was the movie that inspired John Hinkley to attempt an assassination on Ronald Reagan based on Jodi Foster's performance. So it has to be pretty good, right? I guess we'll find out sooner or later... stay tuned!
First, let me explain...
Ok, so Adam and I decided after watching the Best Picture reel that was played at the Oscars a few years ago that we wanted to go back and watch every single movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture since it started, in 1928. So we did. How we did it was we typed out each movie title and the year it won the Best Picture award and we drew them randomly. Then we either rented it via netflix, borrowed it or watched our own copy, or in the case of some of the older ones, we actually had to buy VHS copies. As part of the challenge we also had to re-watch movies we had both already seen, to maintain consistency. Our first movie of the challenge was "Dances with Wolves" from 1990 and the final movie we watched was "Silence of the Lambs" from 1991 (which was mere coincidence in terms of their release dates.) We also rated the movies on a scale of 1-5 each then combined the scores to give them a total score out of 10. We would also go through all of the academy awards of that particular year and talk about who won each award as well as who was beaten in each category.
Ok, so that challenge is done. Now we move on to our next challenge...
We found that as we were going through each year, there were many times when we would come across other movies from the same year that we would rather watch than the one which won the Best Picture oscar. So we have decided that our next challenge is to go through years 1930-2007 (we skipped on 1928 & 1929 even though those were both pretty good movies, and we stopped at 2007 because thats where our original challenge stopped. It took us a long time to complete...) and this time we get to choose a movie. Any movie we want to watch from that year, as long as it did not win the Best Picture oscar and we feel it is somehow culturally significant.
OK!! So now we are ready to get started on our new challenge and we would like for you to join us on our journey! What we will do here is tell you what year we will be watching our next movies from, which movies we have chosen as well as what won the oscar that year and how we rated it. Sound good? Alright!
Ok, so that challenge is done. Now we move on to our next challenge...
We found that as we were going through each year, there were many times when we would come across other movies from the same year that we would rather watch than the one which won the Best Picture oscar. So we have decided that our next challenge is to go through years 1930-2007 (we skipped on 1928 & 1929 even though those were both pretty good movies, and we stopped at 2007 because thats where our original challenge stopped. It took us a long time to complete...) and this time we get to choose a movie. Any movie we want to watch from that year, as long as it did not win the Best Picture oscar and we feel it is somehow culturally significant.
OK!! So now we are ready to get started on our new challenge and we would like for you to join us on our journey! What we will do here is tell you what year we will be watching our next movies from, which movies we have chosen as well as what won the oscar that year and how we rated it. Sound good? Alright!
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