2012 Movie Tournament: Suggestion Box

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

First things first: THIS IS A NON-SPAM THREAD! Simply posting "Fight Club" and /quitting is not enough, and will (likely, if anybody is paying attention to this section these days) result in a myocardial infarction. I mean infraction.

If you couldn't figure it out from the thread title, the forums will play host to another Movie Tournament this October, on the heels of the upcoming Battlezone Tournament! Details are still being worked out, but this is a thread for any/all suggestions, as well as a place to start listing films you think should be included.

You should know, if you list "Citizen Kane" or "Toy Story 3" or "Gladiator" or any other movie that the people putting this together would have obviously come up with...I'll probably red rep you. It's like 2 points, so you have no reason to care, but still, obvious choices are obvious.

This is a place for you to fight for those "fringe" films that will be on the cusp of either going in, or being left on the curb to die. This is the place for you to justify wanting "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" included; if you don't speak up now, any complaints you may have at a later time will be completely ignored.

This is also a place for you to fight for the best films in any given series. There are a limited amount of spots on the list; there's no room for 3-4 Batman films, every film in the Avengers series, or the whole collection of Bond movies. "Star Wars" or "Empire Strikes Back"? Which Toy Story film enters competition? These are questions you will answer here, or I will answer for you come tournament time. There will also be a thread posted in the General Spam Discussion sub-forum when it gets closer to tournament time where I'll announce what films will for sure, and for sure not be included. Or some of them anyways.

Have fun, think carefully before defending or objecting against a film. You may be your favorite movie's only hope for making it into the 2012 Movie Tournament.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I'll go into more detail and probably suggest some others when I'm home but my first suggestion is Seven Samurai. It brings an international flavour to the tournament and the director was influential to many Western directors too. Plus its one of the best action films and was revolutionary for its time.

Seven Samurai.

 

[hatehabsforever]

How about Enemy Mine? Lou Gossett Jr. and Dennis Quaid in a science fiction film from the '80's (I think). Great movie with a good story, plenty of action, featuring one of my favorite actors. I'm not sure how well known this one is, but it's one of my favorites.

While on the topic of one of my favorite actors, there's Dragonheart as well. Quaid as well as the vocal talents of Sean Connery, another one of my faves from a while ago.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Something I was thinking about but it does depend on the Star Wars fans and which entry they choose for their franchise, but if they go for Empire, then Terminator 2 HAS to be picked. Both are brilliant and iconic films, but crucially as they are both sequels it could make things even tougher. Following this line of thinking, will one of the regions be a 'sequels' section? It could make things interesting but if you want to limit franchises to only one entry then it could scupper everything.

My second nomination would be for 12 Angry Men. I'm sure there will be suggestions for more recent films along the way but there's more classics out there besides Citizen Kane and Gone With The Wind that deserve to be discussed. Its a very simple film but written, directed and performed incredibly well and continues to be influential even now.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

If they go for Empire, then Terminator 2 HAS to be picked. Both are brilliant and iconic films, but crucially as they are both sequels it could make things even tougher.

It's not even a competition here in my opinion; Terminator 2 is the best of the films in its series and will be included. Unless, by some stroke of fate there is anybody who can change my mind and make me see the light as to why the original was better.

Following this line of thinking, will one of the regions be a 'sequels' section? It could make things interesting but if you want to limit franchises to only one entry then it could scupper everything.

As I've said before, I don't like the idea of breaking things up into their own niche. The BZT does it to make action between "Humans" and "Supers" balanced. The WZT had divisions to add gimmicks and location stipulations to each match; we don't have that sort of division in the film industry. I want each film to go out there and strut its stuff against the best of the best. If it loses it loses, but it won't be because we handicapped it to get to the final rounds.

My second nomination would be for 12 Angry Men.

Fantastic movie. The 90's remake was also decent, but nowhere near as solid as the original. This is actually one of the reasons I wanted to open up the tournament this time to all movies from all genres in all time periods. Because I think films like "12 Angry Men" should be able to stand up to today's greats, if people are willing to do their homework. And that'll be another issue unto itself I'm sure. This is on the list, but it's nearer the bottom because many haven't ever seen it. Meaning there's a chance it could be nudged out, but I wouldn't bet on it.

How about Enemy Mine?

If we had 200 spots I'd say "maybe". It's not a bad movie, and the last time I saw it I remember really enjoying it. Unfortunately I don't think it deserves a place in the top 128 films. Unless you can get more support behind it, I'm saying no.

While on the topic of one of my favorite actors, there's Dragonheart as well.

I always thought this to be a highly over-rated movie. But I know its pretty widely loved, so I'll have to discuss it with some other people helping me out, and if some more of you throw your support behind it I'll re-consider.

I'll go into more detail and probably suggest some others when I'm home but my first suggestion is Seven Samurai.

Yes.

 

[Loveless]

Well I could easily go with any of my Top 20 from Flickchart

Spoiler

1. American Beauty
2. Dawn of the Dead
3. Stand by Me
4. Magnolia
5. Amélie
6. Let the Right One In
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
8. Blade Runner
9. The Tree of Life
10. The Dark Knight
11. Se7en
12. 12 Angry Men
13. The Godfather Part II
14. Finding Nemo
15. The Godfather
16. WALL·E
17. Up
18. Donnie Darko
19. Where the Wild Things Are
20. Gone Baby Gone

but instead I'm going to nominate the best film I've seen this year, which is...

Chronicle

Loved it. On the surface a simple film about superheroes, on deeper inspection an examination of teenage isolation, bitterness and how it warps your perception.

 

[GrandSword]

It's not even a competition here in my opinion; Terminator 2 is the best of the films in its series and will be included. Unless, by some stroke of fate there is anybody who can change my mind and make me see the light as to why the original was better.

The original Terminator film is an amazing piece of work and for me better the the second. It is the ultimate chase/action/sci fi even horror movie. The movie itself brings forth fear to the audience that the second one doesn't for many reasons. One being that Kyle Reese, is a man, which throughout the movie shows he is very capable of being hurt, where as the "Good Arnie" gets shot time after time, but really can't be hurt and the audience doesn't connect with any fear for our heroes, it's just cool that the robot is on the side of the good guys. In T2, the T1000, is there hunting them down but seems missing for much of the 2nd act. T2 has some fantastic action sequences, but T1 brings some extreme real life to it's ones as the cyborg hunts Sarah and Kyle down wherever they hide. There is also the relationship between the two heroes that grows bringing about the great twist at the end.

The movie is a triumph and T2 seems to be almost a shot for shot remake of the first. The Terminator arrives, the hero arrives, they are chased, and even a truck comes after them while in a utility where the end battle ends up in a factory, where the hero dies to preserve the future.

My favourite movie is Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is just an amazing movie and really brings forth the heroes journey superbly. The movie has one of the greatest opening sequences in history along with great characterisation and continuos movie plots that keep the story flowing at break neck speed. Raiders contains some of the most iconic moments in history, with the rolling ball, the grabbing of the hat, the ark, the well of the souls where indy pinpoints the burial chamber with a crystal and a ray of light, falling in front of the cobra, the fight under neath the plane, the battle on the truck where Indy goes under it, and the insane ending.

Just one of the greatest films and iconic characters in movie history and is my pick for this tournament.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Well I could easily go with any of my Top 20 from Flickchart

Spoiler

1. American Beauty
2. Dawn of the Dead
3. Stand by Me
4. Magnolia
5. Amélie
6. Let the Right One In
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
8. Blade Runner
9. The Tree of Life
10. The Dark Knight
11. Se7en
12. 12 Angry Men
13. The Godfather Part II
14. Finding Nemo
15. The Godfather
16. WALL·E
17. Up
18. Donnie Darko
19. Where the Wild Things Are
20. Gone Baby Gone

but instead I'm going to nominate the best film I've seen this year, which is...

Chronicle

Loved it. On the surface a simple film about superheroes, on deeper inspection an examination of teenage isolation, bitterness and how it warps your perception.

Chronicle was fantastic. I normally hate found-footage film, but they did such an excellent job of doing things the rest of the genre had never had the common sense to think up. "What's that? We can use more than one camera!?" The way they incorporated social media footage and handicams, and news reporters and all that into the filming was just really cool. The scene where the camera rotates in a circle as he's surrounded by cell phones and personal cameras is, in my opinion, one of the most clever scenes in all of film. Simple, yet brilliant. I'm going to push for it to be on the list, but it's new enough that I'll probably have to get a near-unanimous acceptance from everyone else helping out.

The rest of your list, save for maybe three or four films, has a damn good chance of all being included. So...you should be a happy camper come October.

 

[Alex]

Christ I have a lot of films I'd like to go through.

Well here goes

Taxi

And no I'm not talking the American version I'm talking about the 1997 Luc Besson version with Marion Cotillard.

I'll go out on a limb and say its one of the best car films of the last twenty years, with realistic driving sequences and an engaging story that while is a bit far fetched (German bankrobbers) is still grounded in realism.

Singles

This is probably my favourite rom-com, and not just because its set in Grunge era Seattle. The romances actually seem somewhat realistic and not like the typical Katherine Heigl ones. The characters actually have three dimensional characteristics and it actually plays out like what a somewhat realistic romance would play out like. Sure you've got rom-com cliches in there, but I'll take it over the majority of the ones that are churned out nowadays. Plus it was directed by Cameron Crowe, the guy that gave us Jerry Maguire

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Well I could easily go with any of my Top 20 from Flickchart

Spoiler

1. American Beauty
2. Dawn of the Dead
3. Stand by Me
4. Magnolia
5. Amélie
6. Let the Right One In
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
8. Blade Runner
9. The Tree of Life
10. The Dark Knight
11. Se7en
12. 12 Angry Men
13. The Godfather Part II
14. Finding Nemo
15. The Godfather
16. WALL·E
17. Up
18. Donnie Darko
19. Where the Wild Things Are
20. Gone Baby Gone

See, if we could agree that the 3 bolded films there as well as T2 and Empire plus another sequel like Toy Story 2 were improvements on the original installments, then maybe there are enough candidates for a sequels only region? I can imagine some cracking debates happening just to nominate say, Godfather 2 over Godfather and Empire over Star Wars. Could whet the appetite quite substantially!

Good to see Where the Wild Things Are in your top 20 Loveless, my mum has my copy but I've been jonesing to watch it again even though it tends to leave me a blubbering wreck. That howl at the end gets me every time.

 

[Loveless]

See, if we could agree that the 3 bolded films there as well as T2 and Empire plus another sequel like Toy Story 2 were improvements on the original installments, then maybe there are enough candidates for a sequels only region? I can imagine some cracking debates happening just to nominate say, Godfather 2 over Godfather and Empire over Star Wars. Could whet the appetite quite substantially!

My opinion of T2 is much the same as my opinion of Aliens. It's a lot of fun but in comparison to the original film, significantly dumbed down. Proper films followed by blockbusters.
As far Godfather Vs Godfather II, I just can't see the argument for the original. It's a classic film but it's really just the setup for Michael Corleone to take the stage & the compare & contrast of why he fails.

Good to see Where the Wild Things Are in your top 20 Loveless, my mum has my copy but I've been jonesing to watch it again even though it tends to leave me a blubbering wreck. That howl at the end gets me every time.

It's heartbreaking and a much better film than it's given credit for.

 

[¡Roján!]

Lucky Number Slevin for me, Killam. Fantastic cast and a sleeper hit that I believe can go far in the tourney. The twist at the end is in the top two twists ever with The Usual Suspects, another movie which has to be in there.

 

[Bernkastel]

I'd like to nominate the movie Twister. It has remained one of my all time favorite movies since I saw it saw it in theaters as a child. It's a non stop action roller coaster ride of entertainment with special effects that really haven't aged, even by today's standards. The screenplay was co-written by Michael Crichton, so its got some bite to it.

I've shown this movie in an attempt to satisfy the expectations of some of the fussiest of my friends, and even they've enjoyed it.