movie madness v. first round

related reading:

movie march madness
movie march madness v. nominations

here are the first 32 seeds which were selected based on popularity from the submitted nominations. remember, please, to vote for only one movie in each match up. here are the matchups:

Trainspotting (1) vs. Gladiator (32)
Chinatown (16) vs. Contact (17)
American Beauty (8) vs. Apocalypse Now Redux (25)
requiem for a dream (9) vs. Amelie (24)
A Clockwork Orange (4) vs. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (29)
The Godfather (13) vs. Office Space (20)
fight club (5) vs. Fargo (28)
The Big Lebowski (12) vs. Platoon (21)
Pulp Fiction (2) vs. Forrest Gump (31)
Beetlejuice (15) vs. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (18)
Goodfellas (7) vs. Casino (26)
2001 A Space Odyssey (10) vs. The Breakfast Club (23)
The Matrix (3) vs. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (30)
12 Monkeys (14) vs. Full Metal Jacket (19)
Shawshank redemption (6) vs. Dr Strangelove (27)
Adaptation (11) vs. Schindler's List (22)

some heavyweight battles here. who should progress? who should fall? discussion in this thread and don't forget to vote.

alasdair

Forgive me for editing the poll - didn't effect any votes, just made it more clear who the matchups were

i kinda wish some of these movies had been grouped more in their 'genre.' for example requiem for a dream vs amelie? and beetlejuice vs eternal sunshine? these are kinda ridiculous to compare because they are SUCH different styles of film. the first example especially, i LOVED both films.

interesting poll none the less

^ there was plenty of time for discussion of issues like this in the original thread: movie march madness . sorry you missed it.

that said, to the extent that we can, if you have trouble viewing these matchups relatively, try grading the 'goodness' of these movies in an more absolute sense and just vote for the one that has the higher number?

alasdair

Sweetness ali.

"Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction"

lol.

Can we post our selections? We all know we want to judge each other. Nah, I'm not for singling each other out but it'd be fun for me to see where everybody else made their decisions. :D

Nah...it makes sense. We're choosing the better movie not the better genre flick. Besides it makes for a better poll as to why someone thinks Ferris is better the Matrix or viceversa. Awesome matchups!

AmorRoark said:

Can we post our selections? We all know we want to judge each other. Nah, I'm not for singling each other out but it'd be fun for me to see where everybody else made their decisions. :D

Click to expand...

i'd like these to be public polls as well. (sorry if i missed the discussion, ali. )

^ i just defaulted to private in case anybody did not want others to see their selections. there's certainly nothing stopping people posting their votes.

unless there's a strenuous objection, we'll make the other rounds public. cool?

it's funny, when i first came up with the seedings and looked at some of the matchups, i thought they were kind of silly but i had to think about some of these a lot more than i thought i would have to at first glance.

alasdair

the pulp fiction forrest gump match is like a 1 seed vs a 16 seed. hhahaha/

felix said:

"Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction"

lol.

Click to expand...

I think Forrest Gump was waaaaay better than Pulp Fiction!

But I guess I'm the only one

alasdairm said:

^ there was plenty of time for discussion of issues like this in the original thread: movie march madness . sorry you missed it.

that said, to the extent that we can, if you have trouble viewing these matchups relatively, try grading the 'goodness' of these movies in an more absolute sense and just vote for the one that has the higher number?

alasdair

Click to expand...

yeah, no worries i just thought some of the matchups were hard to compare becasue they were such different styles of movies that were intended to bring up certain emotions. and yeah, i just graded the movies on my relative 'goodness' scale

i can see, as someone else said, that this would lead to a more interesting debate though.

Fargo vs Fight Club was a tough choice, went with Fargo...I think the Cohen Brothers trump Fincher any day, and the acting is far superior in Fargo.

Office Space vs Godfather is an interesting one too. I went with Office Space as Godfather is a classic, but it seems to lose its charm after repeat viewing. Office Space is a classic too, but after working in a office for a stint, everything in the movie is pretty much true.

Trainspotting (1) vs. Gladiator (32)
Chinatown (16) vs. Contact (17)
American Beauty ( 8 ) vs. Apocalypse Now Redux (25) - I think the orig beats out American Beauty. Not sure though. Redux sucks, its too long.
requiem for a dream (9) vs. Amelie (24) - I haven't watched Amelie in so long
A Clockwork Orange (4) vs. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (29) Kubrick always wins out. Gilliam is pretty shitty in comparison.
The Godfather (13) vs. Office Space (20)
fight club (5) vs. Fargo (28 )
The Big Lebowski (12) vs. Platoon (21) This is a no-contest imho. Charlie Sheen. is. shit.
Pulp Fiction (2) vs. Forrest Gump (31)
Beetlejuice (15) vs. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (18 )
Goodfellas (7) vs. Casino (26)
2001 A Space Odyssey (10) vs. The Breakfast Club (23) This is a wacky matchup. Breakfast Club is good, but 2001 good? Nah....not even close.
The Matrix (3) vs. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (30)
12 Monkeys (14) vs. Full Metal Jacket (19) The best war movie ever made vs. Bruce Willis. Who would you pick?
Shawshank redemption (6) vs. Dr Strangelove (27) All the people who choose Shawshank can take their emotionalism elsewhere, thanks. j/k
Adaptation (11) vs. Schindler's List (22) Kinda a rewatch for both. I think Ralph Fiennes powns here.

Trainspotting (1) vs. Gladiator (32)
Chinatown (16) vs. Contact (17)
American Beauty (8) vs. Apocalypse Now Redux (25)
requiem for a dream (9) vs. Amelie (24)
A Clockwork Orange (4) vs. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (29)
The Godfather (13) vs. Office Space (20)
fight club (5) vs. Fargo (28)
The Big Lebowski (12) vs. Platoon (21)
Pulp Fiction (2) vs. Forrest Gump (31)
Beetlejuice (15) vs. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (18)
Goodfellas (7) vs. Casino (26)
2001 A Space Odyssey (10) vs. The Breakfast Club (23)
The Matrix (3) vs. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (30)
12 Monkeys (14) vs. Full Metal Jacket (19)
Shawshank redemption (6) vs. Dr Strangelove (27)
Adaptation (11) vs. Schindler's List (22)

The most difficult choices for me:

Shawshank redemption (6) vs. Dr Strangelove (27)
Adaptation (11) vs. Schindler's List (22)

Hahaha I always make polls public. In any case....voted!

^ again, it was a slip of the finger. in the original discussion, i specified that all polls would be public. the rest will be.

i am excited to see people embrace this. tell your friends to vote!

my picks:

Trainspotting (1) vs. Gladiator (32)
Chinatown (16) vs. Contact (17)
American Beauty (8) vs. Apocalypse Now Redux (25)
requiem for a dream (9) vs. Amelie (24)
A Clockwork Orange (4) vs. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (29)
The Godfather (13) vs. Office Space (20)
fight club (5) vs. Fargo (28)
The Big Lebowski (12) vs. Platoon (21)
Pulp Fiction (2) vs. Forrest Gump (31)
Beetlejuice (15) vs. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (18)
Goodfellas (7) vs. Casino (26)
2001 A Space Odyssey (10) vs. The Breakfast Club (23)
The Matrix (3) vs. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (30)
12 Monkeys (14) vs. Full Metal Jacket (19)
Shawshank redemption (6) vs. Dr Strangelove (27)
Adaptation (11) vs. Schindler's List (22)

alasdair

my selections are bolded. there were some tough choices, but i'm pretty happy with mine.

smotpoker, you're NOT the only one to take forrest gump over pulp fiction. i liked pulp fiction, but forrest gump blows it out of the water IMO.

Trainspotting (1) vs. Gladiator (32)
Chinatown (16) vs. Contact (17)
American Beauty (8) vs. Apocalypse Now Redux (25)
requiem for a dream (9) vs. Amelie (24)
A Clockwork Orange (4) vs. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (29)
The Godfather (13) vs. Office Space (20)
fight club (5) vs. Fargo (28)
The Big Lebowski (12) vs. Platoon (21)
Pulp Fiction (2) vs. Forrest Gump (31)
Beetlejuice (15) vs. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (18)
Goodfellas (7) vs. Casino (26)
2001 A Space Odyssey (10) vs. The Breakfast Club (23)
The Matrix (3) vs. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (30)
12 Monkeys (14) vs. Full Metal Jacket (19)
Shawshank redemption (6) vs. Dr Strangelove (27)
Adaptation (11) vs. Schindler's List (22)

I think it's more fun if you add an explanation.

Trainspotting (1) vs. Gladiator (32)
Easy choice. Gladiator is a classic example of flash over substance.

Chinatown (16) vs. Contact (17)
Another easy choice. Contact is a very decent sci-fi flick, but Chinatown is easily one of the best 10 films ever made. John Huston, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, Roman Polanski and Robert Towne? Are you kidding me? That's like the Harlem Globetrotters of movies. Plus the daddy issues in Contact were pretty sappy. Floresheim shoes and a guy getting his nose cut open are one million times cooler.

American Beauty (8) vs. Apocalypse Now Redux (25)
The fucked up back story alone clinches it.

requiem for a dream (9) vs. Amelie (24)
Requiem for a dream gets overhyped on this site. Amelie was sweet and bizarre, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet gets a bonus point for his body of work.

A Clockwork Orange (4) vs. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (29)
Gilliam vs. Kubrick. That's a fight for the ages. Almost too tough to call. I went with Fear and Loathing because of Johnny Depp performance (actually I just needed an arbitrary reason to make up my mind).


The Godfather (13) vs. Office Space (20)
No explanation needed.

fight club (5) vs. Fargo (28)
Both exceptionally well made and exceptionally disturbing films with elements of black comedy. But Fargo has better acting and writing. Fight Club is slicker. Tough choice.

The Big Lebowski (12) vs. Platoon (21)
They are both mediocre over hyped films in my opinion, but I've never really liked Oliver Stone's style.

Pulp Fiction (2) vs. Forrest Gump (31)
Love Forrest Gump, but looking back on this head to head match up it does seem a little too sweet and infantile compared to the bare knuckled bad ass avalanche that was Pulp Fiction.

Beetlejuice (15) vs. eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (18)
Michael Keaton acting insane and cool set designs are nice, but a Charlie Kaufman script is a thing of immaculate beauty. And in this case, expertly executed by a director who was completely on the same level.

Goodfellas (7) vs. Casino (26)
Wtf? These are the same movie.


2001 A Space Odyssey (10) vs. The Breakfast Club (23)
Let's see, one of the most innovative, visually dazzling and influential films of all time. Or a feel good teen drama that could only have been made and appreciated and existed in the bizarre time/fashion bubble known as the 1980s?

The Matrix (3) vs. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (30)
See above.

12 Monkeys (14) vs. Full Metal Jacket (19)
Gilliam and Kubrick should not be facing off in the first round! And twice! Both phenomenal films, with world class directors. But 12 Monkeys is kind of a cop-out; time travel stories seem deeper than they are because they can literally mean anything at all. They are about time travel! They don't ever make sense!! Still, very hard choice. I flipped a coin.

Shawshank redemption (6) vs. Dr Strangelove (27)
Dr. Strangelove is by FAR the greatest satire and probably the greatest comedy film ever made. Peter Sellers is also one of the greatest actors to ever live, and if his performances don't floor you in Dr. Strangelove you need to go to India and find yourself.

Adaptation (11) vs. Schindler's List (22)
Loved the writing in Adaptation, but Schindler's List is one of the most perfectly made films I've ever seen.