Sluggah
All-Star
I've got a prediction for Sluggah's next pick. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I'll tell you later if I guessed right or not. Scouts honor.![]()
Verdict?
I've got a prediction for Sluggah's next pick. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I'll tell you later if I guessed right or not. Scouts honor.![]()
Verdict?
If I’m stuck at this dreaded cabin during the holidays, I’m going to need the world’s greatest Christmas movie to watch. Which, coincidentally also happens to be the world’s best pure action movie, so who cares what time of year it is...
Ouch! That one hurt! excellent choice of I didn't get to make it for myself jerk!With my 3rd pick in the TDOS Cabin in the Woods Movie Draft, I select:
Memento (2000)
View attachment 7796
This was the first addition to my DVD library, and a welcome edition to my cabin collection. Set against a background of paranoia and grief, the story follows the protagonist Leonard in his quest to solve his wife's murder following a brain injury (erasing his ability to form new memories). Each frame builds from the last scene, then the first scene in intervals of short term memory to the climactic middle of the film in a methodical, linear progression of genius film making. This is the film that put Christopher Nolan on the map for me.
IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
I'm on a bus right now and an Adam Sandler sequel has been playing over the loud speakers in Spanish for the last hour. I'm in need of a palate cleanser.
In that spirit, I'm leaping to what I consider the opposite side of the cinematic spectrum. A film I took first overall in the last movie draft and one that has remained an undisputed mainstay in my personal favorite list since the day I first took a dip in its majestic madness.
Ran - 1985
(Movie Poster Place Holder)
It's difficult for me to talk about Ran in anything but grandiose terms. The westerner's shorthand description is "Shakespeare's King Lear with Samurai" and as both useful and awesome as that description sounds, I think it does Ran an injustice; The film is hardly that derivative.
This is the film that took Akira Kurosawa more than a decade to make. The man created a storyboard of personally hand painted art pieces for this movie. He described the only film he made in the decade prior - a rather ornate and ambitious sweeping epic in its own right - as a mere "dress rehearsal" for Ran. In his own mind, this was Kurosawa's magnum opus - the whole of roughly 50 years of experience and vision brought to life.
And the result, at the age of 75, with many, especially in Japan, considering him old-fashioned and washed-up, Kurosawa produced a beautifully dark and intensely rich tapestry of chaos, betrayal, revenge, and greed that is stunningly gorgeous in cinematography, score, and paradoxically the use of bright, vivid colors.
Ran is mind-bending both in its grand scale scope and ability to intimately portray characters who are mostly wicked, but have, disturbingly, very relatable, human motivations. Lady Kaeda is among my favorite anti-hero/villains of all time specifically because I don't wholly know which category she belongs.
Ran also has one of my singluar favorite scenes in all of cinema: The centerpiece of the film - an entire chaotic castle siege battle scene completely wiped of its natural sounds leaving only the haunting orchestra score. It's disoreanting, uncomfortable, and even a little suffocating not because the viewer is watching soldiers butcherred, buildings burned, and geisha committing seppuku, but because the mind knows it's not hearing the sounds it expects to with those images and can't quite make it right.
The brilliance of Ran is it takes this natural reaction of the audience and uses it to make viewers identify with the main character on screen who is literally losing his mind in the chaos of the flames and bloodshed surrounding him - and makes us identify with him in that way. You kind of feel like you're losing your mind too.
For decades when Kurosawa was asked which of his own films was his favorite, he would give his stock answer "My next one." (an answer I've always found especially clever). That is until 1985. After that and for the rest of his life, his answer was Ran.
Who am I to argue with the little general?
Ran - 1985
With my 3rd pick in the TDOS Cabin in the Woods Movie Draft, I select:
Memento (2000)
View attachment 7796
This was the first addition to my DVD library, and a welcome edition to my cabin collection. Set against a background of paranoia and grief, the story follows the protagonist Leonard in his quest to solve his wife's murder following a brain injury (erasing his ability to form new memories). Each frame builds from the last scene, then the first scene in intervals of short term memory to the climactic middle of the film in a methodical, linear progression of genius film making. This is the film that put Christopher Nolan on the map for me.
IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Voilà, the first direct hit I take... Well done!
Die Hard (1988)
Looks like the Joker pick timed out.
I've really enjoyed all the Marvel movies for what they are (a big fun loopy rollercoaster of a summer blockbuster) and with only 12 rounds in the draft, I knew I'd want one of the Avenger movies on my island. I decided to take the one that not only was the heaviest emotionally, but also has just about every hero to date in it:
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/
The biggest and baddest Marvel movie yet, this one has just about everyone except Ant-Man and Hawkeye. And they are all here to fight Thanos and his minions. Overstuffed? Yes. But it has to be to fit this much superhero goodness into one movie. I've got Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Dr. Strange on a space ship while Thor and the GotG are hanging out together. Most of the rest are gathering in Wakanda to take on the evil space army, including Hulk refusing to come out to play and play so Banner takes over the Hulkbuster Iron Man suit instead. Even Peter Dinklage is in on this film, playing, of course, a giant. Really. So much fun in this one.
Oh, and Thor gets a new toy. And a new eye. Too bad his aim wasn't just a bit better. Maybe he should have cleaned it off first?
From wiki:
The film received praise for the performances of the cast (particularly Brolin's), visual effects, emotional weight of the story, and action sequences. It became the fourth film and the first superhero film to gross over $2 billion worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of all time and in the United States and Canada, as well as the highest-grossing film of 2018. In its opening weekend, it grossed $641 million worldwide and $258 million domestically, setting the records for the highest-grossing openings for both. Infinity War became the fastest film in history to reach a worldwide gross of $1 billion, doing so in 11 days, and the second fastest film to reach $2 billion worldwide in 48 days, behind Avatar (2009).
If I'm stuck on the island for a year, no better way than to watch the prelude to what may be an even bigger film event next year when the sequel drops.
View attachment 7845
Some of you are acting like this is a punishment. A year or more in a beautiful cabin in the woods and 12 of my favorite movies to watch when I get bored sounds like paradise to me! But we're not all wired the same, so I get it. I suspect VF21 just put this whole thing together so we can help her decide what to add to her collection next.![]()
I was honestly considering Chinatown vs Taxi Driver for my 70s film first choice. So if it makes you feel any better you're hurt me back.My 4th pick, after shifting around a few of my movies that got picked...
Chinatown (1974)
View attachment 7851
Write up coming soon
Round 4 Selection:
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid - 1969
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0064115/?ref=m_nv_sr_1
Write up forthcoming....
Round 4 Selection:
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid - 1969
Write up forthcoming....
Again, everyone, please make sure to not reference films not yet selected!