Author Topic: Film Poll XVI: Beyond Thunderdome  (Read 14502 times)

Ocicat

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on: January 24, 2008, 06:40:43 AM
Well, Empire snuck past Fight Club with a last minute tie-breaker, with Young Frankenstein ("That's steen! Frankensteen!") just a vote behind that.

For anybody coming in late, here's the deal: I made a giant list of films with geek appeal, drawn from IMDB's top rated 250 movies, and their list of best SF, horror, and fantasy films.  I added in a few I hear discussed a lot, either among my friends on on the board here.  The winner of each week's poll gets moved forward, and faces four new films picked at random from my list.  We've gone through over half the films in the list, but still have 50 more to go.

If a film wins 4 times in a row, it gets retired.  In theory - this hasn't happened yet.  In case of ties, both films face off again the next week, along with new movies.



Russell Nash

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Reply #1 on: January 24, 2008, 08:15:54 AM
It's a geek vs. snob race so far.



gelee

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Reply #2 on: January 24, 2008, 12:37:51 PM
I have to throw in with CK.  Great flick.



Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #3 on: January 24, 2008, 12:45:55 PM
Only one of these movies satisfied a thirty-year craving to see it made, took full advantage of great casting, used eye-popping CGI to full effect, AND... moved me to tears with a thematic subtext of the nobility of self-sacrifice by the average person for the greater good.

And Life of Brian was a close second.  :)

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Darwinist

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Reply #4 on: January 24, 2008, 07:29:10 PM
Only one of these movies satisfied a thirty-year craving to see it made, took full advantage of great casting, used eye-popping CGI to full effect, AND... moved me to tears with a thematic subtext of the nobility of self-sacrifice by the average person for the greater good.

And Life of Brian was a close second.  :)

Yeah, I voted for Mad Max also.   :)

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.    -  Carl Sagan


Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #5 on: January 25, 2008, 02:49:34 AM
Only one of these movies satisfied a thirty-year craving to see it made, took full advantage of great casting, used eye-popping CGI to full effect, AND... moved me to tears with a thematic subtext of the nobility of self-sacrifice by the average person for the greater good.

And Life of Brian was a close second.  :)

Yeah, I voted for Mad Max also.   :)

Oh... I was thinking of Young Frankensteen...  ::)

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Russell Nash

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Reply #6 on: January 25, 2008, 08:05:53 AM
And now CK is getting bitch slapped by ESB.  Not a pretty sight.  ESB really hit the booster rockets hard.



eytanz

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Reply #7 on: January 25, 2008, 08:12:31 AM
Well, CK is a great film, but the crowd in these forums is comprised of people self-selected because they like SF (or horror), not because they like necessarily like great cinema for its own sake.

Also, the way the poll is structured tends to bias the results. Since ESB was already present on two previous polls, I've had more time to recall it and what I like about it.



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Reply #8 on: January 25, 2008, 09:58:13 AM
I went for Mad Max 2 partially, I suspect, because I'm contrary and partially because it's the only one of the films that wrong footed me.  The ending of Mad Max 2 just staggered me at the time, and still does.



DKT

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Reply #9 on: January 25, 2008, 05:04:47 PM
Well, CK is a great film, but the crowd in these forums is comprised of people self-selected because they like SF (or horror), not because they like necessarily like great cinema for its own sake.

Also, the way the poll is structured tends to bias the results. Since ESB was already present on two previous polls, I've had more time to recall it and what I like about it.

Just to add: I liked Citizen Kane a lot, and one day I might watch again, but it doesn't compare to what ESB did to me and how many times I'll watch that movie.


Chodon

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Reply #10 on: January 25, 2008, 06:03:35 PM
"Empire.  Definitely Empire.  I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Bobba Fett.  It ends on such a down note.  That's what life is, a series of down endings.  All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets."*

*Name that quote

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DKT

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Reply #11 on: January 25, 2008, 06:13:24 PM
I'm guessing Clerks, although I'm not 100% sure.


gelee

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Reply #12 on: January 25, 2008, 07:36:07 PM
Well, CK is a great film, but the crowd in these forums is comprised of people self-selected because they like SF (or horror), not because they like necessarily like great cinema for its own sake.

Also, the way the poll is structured tends to bias the results. Since ESB was already present on two previous polls, I've had more time to recall it and what I like about it.

Just to add: I liked Citizen Kane a lot, and one day I might watch again, but it doesn't compare to what ESB did to me and how many times I'll watch that movie.
I'm sure I'll draw a lot of boos, but I've never really cared much for the whole "Star Wars" franchise.  They were fun, but I just never really got anything out of them.



DKT

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Reply #13 on: January 25, 2008, 07:36:54 PM
Well, CK is a great film, but the crowd in these forums is comprised of people self-selected because they like SF (or horror), not because they like necessarily like great cinema for its own sake.

Also, the way the poll is structured tends to bias the results. Since ESB was already present on two previous polls, I've had more time to recall it and what I like about it.

Just to add: I liked Citizen Kane a lot, and one day I might watch again, but it doesn't compare to what ESB did to me and how many times I'll watch that movie.
I'm sure I'll draw a lot of boos, but I've never really cared much for the whole "Star Wars" franchise.  They were fun, but I just never really got anything out of them.


BOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  ;D

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Chodon

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Reply #14 on: January 25, 2008, 07:44:18 PM
I'm guessing Clerks, although I'm not 100% sure.
DKT wins the prize!

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DKT

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Reply #15 on: January 25, 2008, 08:45:39 PM
Wait?  There's prizes?!?!  ;D


Chodon

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Reply #16 on: January 25, 2008, 11:42:09 PM
Wait?  There's prizes?!?!  ;D
What?  You didn't get it?  Someone must have stolen it.  What horrible luck.

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Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #17 on: January 26, 2008, 12:43:37 AM
I'm sure I'll draw a lot of boos, but I've never really cared much for the whole "Star Wars" franchise.  They were fun, but I just never really got anything out of them.


I was five years old, and had just received this marvelously detailed 3-3/4" tall golden man as a gift.  Then I was taken to a place with plush, fold-down seats and air conditioning (this was Phoenix, 1977, so that was still kind of a big deal), and with a blast of trumpets and a blare of lights (the 20th Century Fox lead-in still gives me goosebumps), the most amazing series of mind-blowing images I had ever seen began to wash over me... and standing there, big as a house, was that same golden man that I held clutched in my fist.  And he spoke so... strangely...

Needless to say, that made a very strong first impression; so any subsequent Star Wars-related decisions on my part are heavily biased. 

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stePH

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Reply #18 on: January 26, 2008, 02:12:53 AM
I'm guessing Clerks, although I'm not 100% sure.
DKT wins the prize!

If I'd been here sooner, I'd have answered with 100% surety.  That's the film that brought me and my wife together.  Specifically, the "salsa shark" bit is "our scene" :D

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wakela

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Reply #19 on: January 26, 2008, 02:51:17 AM
Quote
(the 20th Century Fox lead-in still gives me goosebumps)
I went the longest time thinking that the 20th Century Fox music WAS the beginning of the Start Wars music. 

I think our love for Star Wars is a generational thing.  We were young and impressionable when it came out, and we had all the toys.  I had a completely ambivalent attitude to the new Transformers movie and couldn't believe they made a movie about toys so long out of fashion.  But a younger friend of mine couldn't believe how little I cared.  Not that I am comparing Star Wars to Transformers, I know Star Wars revolutionized everything, I just think we are biased simply because we were young when the first one came out. 



wakela

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Reply #20 on: January 26, 2008, 02:54:02 AM
Wow.  I can't bring myself to vote.

I would like to point out that the question is "Which movie do you like the most?" Not "Which movie do you think is the best?"
CK is of course a great movie, but not enjoyable the same way the others are. 

Now the Magnificent Ambersons with the lost footage on the other hand...



Ocicat

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Reply #21 on: January 26, 2008, 06:14:01 AM
Now the Magnificent Ambersons with the lost footage on the other hand...

*laughs*

Now there's a thought!  A poll of your favorite movies from the Impossible Dreams universe...

*laughs more*



stePH

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Reply #22 on: January 26, 2008, 06:32:44 AM
Now there's a thought!  A poll of your favorite movies from the Impossible Dreams universe...

Mine just might be the Battlefield Earth trilogy, or Heavy Metal: The Incal (hell, come to that, I'd also like to see Alejandro Jodorowsky's Dune.)

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gelee

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Reply #23 on: January 26, 2008, 01:54:13 PM
Quote
(the 20th Century Fox lead-in still gives me goosebumps)
I went the longest time thinking that the 20th Century Fox music WAS the beginning of the Start Wars music. 

I think our love for Star Wars is a generational thing.  We were young and impressionable when it came out, and we had all the toys.  I had a completely ambivalent attitude to the new Transformers movie and couldn't believe they made a movie about toys so long out of fashion.  But a younger friend of mine couldn't believe how little I cared.  Not that I am comparing Star Wars to Transformers, I know Star Wars revolutionized everything, I just think we are biased simply because we were young when the first one came out. 
I'm guessing I'm only about 4 years younger than TAD, based on his recolection of 1977.  Jedi was the only one I saw in movie theatres.  I loved those ewoks.  Heh, how many people remember the Ewoks sequal?  I think it was made for TV.  Yeah, I loved that too.  Maybe seeing them out of order ruined it, but I had a few action figures, as well as a speeder that exploded when I smacked it into something.
The first movie I can actually remember clearly seeing in a theatre was E.T..  My mom took me for a matine, then promptly dragged the whole family (including my very reluctant dad) out to see it again that night.
As for the transformers, yeah, I have some great childhood memories of that show, but I've heard so many bad things about the movie that I haven't bothered to see it yet.



Chodon

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Reply #24 on: January 26, 2008, 04:27:11 PM
As for the transformers, yeah, I have some great childhood memories of that show, but I've heard so many bad things about the movie that I haven't bothered to see it yet.
Strangely enough I watched Transformers this morning, so the whole thing is fresh in my mind.  It was good.  Not Star Wars good, but still good.  The visuals were impressive.  Who doesn't like to see giant robots beating the hell out of each other?  I think the CG was a little overdone.  I would have liked the transformers a little less detailed, in fact.  There are so many little nooks and crannies on the things that it was distracting.  Just too much to look at.  The story was good, and the acting was good too.  I give it the Chodon seal of approval.

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