Movie Marathon #2

[AZ]

 

It's time for another movie marathon. Starting 10:00 CET on the 6^th of July, me and my buddy will (hopefully, if we manage) watch 16½ movies in a row with only short breaks in between.

 

Some of you might remember me and my pal having done the same during last Christmas holiday. Back then we "only" managed to see 13½ films in a row or, if you prefer, 25½ hours of film. Here is the topic of that marathon.

 

As last time, we have prepared this pretty well and we will buy many bottles of Coke, Red Bull, Dextrose energy packs, chocolate bars etc etc. As for food, we will eat Tacos.

 

We're going with the same rules as last time, that is, maximum 5 minutes of break between every film. And all films have been double checked by us so that no one is malfunctioning. This time we'll be in my basement which, imo, is the perfect place to watch movies (being quite chilly in these hot summer days and all)

 

Yeah, so here's the schedule:

 

6^th July

 

10:00 - The Last King of Scotland - 2006 - 118 min - Color - 7.8/10 on imdb
(Originally, we should have watched this one on the previous marathon, but we where just too tired to pull it off.) Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s. Forest Whitaker won an Oscar for best leading actor.

 

11:58 - Break

 

12:03 - His Girl Friday - 1940 - 92 min - Black & White - 8.1/10 on imdb - #215 on the top 250
A Classic screwball comedy in which a newspaper editor (Cary Grant) uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. Directed by the cult-favourite Howard Hawks. (New film for my buddy, I have seen it once before)


13:35 - Break

 

13:40 - Quiz Show - 1994 - 128 min - Color - 7.5/10 on imdb
An idealistic young lawyer (Rob Morrow) working for a Congressional subcommittee in the late 1950s discovers that TV quiz shows are being fixed. His investigation focusses on two contestants on the show "Twenty-One": Herbert Stempel (John Turturro), a brash working-class Jew from Queens, and Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), the patrician scion of one of America's leading literary families. Based on a true story. Directed by actor/director Robert Redford.

 

15:48 - Break

 

15:53 - The Score - 2001 - 120 min - Color - 6.8/10 on imdb
A dream-like trio with Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Marlon Brando; sadly, this was to be Brando's last actor performance. An aging thief hopes to retire and live off his ill-gotten wealth when a young kid convinces him into doing one last heist.

 

17:53 - Break

 

17:58 - Romance & Cigarettes - 2005 - 102 min - Color - 6.3/10 on imdb
A down-and-dirty musical set in the world of working-class New York, tells a story of a husband's journey into infidelity and redemption when he must choose between his seductive mistress and his beleaguered wife. Directed by John Turturro and starring James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi and Christopher Walken.

 

19:40 - Break

 

19:45 - Umbert D - 1952 - 86 min - Black & White - 8.3/10 on imdb - #187 on the top 250
Umberto Domenico Ferrari, an elderly and retired civil servant, is desperately trying to maintain a decent standard of living on a rapidly dwindling state pension. But he's up against his tyrannical landlady, who keeps demanding rent that he can't pay (while renting his room out to prostitutes during the day), and his only friends are the pregnant housemaid and his little dog Flike. One of the most famous of the Italian neo-realisms, directed by Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves). (New film for my buddy, I have seen it once before)

 

21:11 - Break

 

21:16 - Gladiator (extended version) - 2000 - 164 min - Color - 8.3/10 on imdb - #115 on the top 250
This film really doesn't need any background as I figured most of you have seen it already. However, we are about to watch the extended version which is approx. 20 minutes longer than the theatrical version.

 

7^th July

 

 

00:00 - Break

 

00:05 - An American Werewolf in London - 1981 - 94 min - Color - 7.5/10 on imdb
A Horror-Comedy about Two American tourists in England who are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists. Directed by John Landis (The Blues Brothers)

 

01:39 - Break

 

01:44 - Un chien andalou (An Andalusian Dog) - 1928 - 16 min - Black & White - 8.1/10 on imdb
A film made by the master of surrealism, Luis Buñuel (his first film actually), this short-film features one of the most unforgettable and most disturbing shots in the history of cinema: A woman's eye is slit open--juxtaposed with a similarly shaped cloud obscuring the moon moving in the same direction as the knife through the eye. "An Andalusian Dog" consists of sixteen minutes of bizarre and surreal images that may or may not mean anything. (New film for my buddy, I have seen it once before)

 

02:00 - Break

 

02:05 - Frost/Nixon - 2008 - 117 min - Color - 8.0/10 on imdb
A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.

 

04:02 - Break

 

04:07 - Revolutionary Road - 2008 - 115 min - Color - 7.7/10 on imdb
A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children.

 

06:02 - Break

 

06:07 - Gran Torino - 2008 - 118 min - Color - 8.4/10 on imdb - #76 on the top 250
This may be the most highly anticipated film of the entire marathon. Starring and directed by the one and only, Clint Eastwood.

 

08:05 - Break

 

08:10 - Sukiyaki Western Django - 2007 - 95 min - Color - 6.5/10 on imdb
A revolver-wielding stranger crosses paths with two warring clans who are both on the hunt for a hidden treasure in a remote western town. Knowing his services are valuable to either side, he offers himself to the clan who will offer up the largest share of the wealth. This Japanese production features writer/director Quentin Tarantino in a small role (and that being the only reason why we're about to see this film.)

 

09:45 - Break

 

09:50 - The Last Tycoon - 1976 - 119 min - Color - 6.3/10 in imdb
F.Scott Fitzgerald's novel is brought to life in this story of a movie producer (Robert De Niro) slowly working himself to death. Featuring an all star cast with Tony Curtis, Ray Milland, Robert Mitchum, Jack Nicholson, Donald Pleasence etc. This was going to be Elia Kazan's (On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire) last feature film.

 

11:49 - Break

 

11:54 - Livet i 8-bitar (Bit by Bit) - 2002 - 82 min - Color - 4.5/10 on imdb
Despite the poor rating on imdb, this is one of the films on this marathon that me and my pal look most forward to see. The reason? It is a film about video games and we both LOVE video games :P
"J", the main character's goal is to become the world master of NES. He struggles with his traditional Jewish family and non-Jewish girlfriend who demand that he grow up and get a job. Real problems arise when "J" awakes to discover that his right hand is missing. This Swedish release should indeed be very interesting to watch.

 

13:16 - Break

 

13:21 - The Simpsons Movie - 2007 - 84 min - Color - 7.6/10 on imdb
This film really does not need any information. I guess all of you are familiar with The Simpsons and originally this was planned to be our last film of our previous marathon, but we just couldn't make it all the way. (New film for me; I haven't watched it before but my buddy has)

 

14:45 - Break

 

14:50 - Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith - 2005 - 135 min - Color - 7.9/10 on imdb
We have both watched this one before, although it was back when it first was released, approximately 4 years ago, so this one should be exciting to watch again (if we can make it all the way till here).

 

17:05 - END of Marathon

 

Now, following this, we have two movies in "reserve" that is if we feel we will be able to watch even more films:

 

Reserve Film #1:
17:10 - Stranger Than Fiction - 2006

 

18:59 - Break

 

Reserve Film #2:
19:04 -Vals im Bashir - 2008

(we haven't seen any of these reserve films)
 

 

20:31 - THE END

 

Bear in mind that it is VERY unlikely that we will be able to watch more films after Star Wars 3, which is our main goal, but if we feel that we can sit through another film, then why not?

 

If we do manage to watch all movies from the first to Star Wars 3, we will have watched approx 30 hours of film! That will break our former record with 4½ hours!!

 

Lastly, I would like to mention that yesterday, we had a sort of "warm-up" (a mini-marathon), that is we watched "only" 8 films in a row to see how decent our shape was. And here are the films of yesterday:

 

Catch-22 (1970)
The Man from Earth (2007)
The Killer (1989)
Ben X (2007)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Seven Pounds (2007)
My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
Mun mot mun (2005)

 

We managed to sit through these 8 films without any problem. The Killer was probably the best of these, although none were bad except "The Hills Have Eyes" which neither of us liked. Now we both are deeply looking forward to this marathon and I think we are even more motivated now than we were last time.

Discuss! Make preds or whatever

"To be continued..."

[DavidK5]

Good luck! I actually had a mini film marathon this past Saturday where I watched 6 Hitchcock films (all in the imdb250) in one day (they were having a Hitchcock marathon on the Turner Classic Movies TV channel). However, this wasn't much at all compared to what you're doing, considering there were long breaks between some of the films, and I actually took a nap during one of those breaks

[Cyberwrath87]

Hehe, I'm probably the biggest Hitchcock fan in the Elite, but opted to skip the TCM marathon since I own all of them on DVD

Anyway this looks like a solid list, and I have a lot of respect for someone who can sit through so much film. I'm sure I would pass out after 4-5 no matter how good the movies were. How are you planning on staying awake?

[Ngamer]

I love movies, but rarely ever choose to see more than one per day because I prefer giving the experience some time to settle in.  I broke my rule last month though with a very rare "marathon" when two friends and I watched my DVDs of Terminator 1 and Terminator 2, then immediately drove out to the Terminator Salvation midnight show.  That was a pretty cool experience, but I can't see myself ever wanting to stretch beyond the 3 or 4 mark.

Brief comments on what I've seen:

The Last King of Scotland - pretty crazy movie that I'm not sure I loved, but Whitaker is spot on and I was glad to see him take home the Oscar

His Girl Friday - one of the most enjoyable films of the 40's IMO

Quiz Show - really liked this film, well deserving of the Best Pic nod

Umberto D - I've been trying to convince myself to see this movie for three years now; no luck so far

 

Gladiator - oh, didn't realize there was an extended edition.  I'll have to look into this

 

 

An American Werewolf in London - everyone says this is such a classic, surprised I haven't watched it yet.  I will soon

 

 

Frost/Nixon - excellent film, but I think I'd have run it earlier in the marathon as I could see someone falling asleep to Nixon droning on and on (which he does on purpose- the whole point of the interviews from his perspective was to waste as much time as possible, for reasons you'll understand soon enough)

 

Revolutionary Road - absolutely fantastic film, and I don't think there will be any threat of falling asleep here because Leo and Kate are both so perfect for their roles and captivating.  this is the role Winslet should have won her Oscar for, and I'd have liked to see Leo nominated as well

Gran Torino - good movie and a good choice for his late, as there's plenty of humor and shockingly racist moment that should keep you on the edge of your seats

 

 

The Simpsons Movie - very entertaining and a nice easy way to wrap up the marathon

 

 

Revenge of the Sith - the best of the prequels, certainly, but I think I'd have ended on something a little shorter.  perhaps the idea is to stay awake by chuckling at Hayden Christensen's line readings?  if so this could have been a smart choice

 

 

Stranger Than Fiction - quirky and a weird role for Will, but this movie really caught me off guard and I ended up loving it despite some weak points

 

 

[Quiet Bol]

Cool, I like reading about these and checking out your lineup of films. I think you'll hit your first lull while watching Umberto D but then you'll probably be fine until An Andalusian Dog. Luckily, that's only 16 minutes of pain, but then you'll get restless during Frost/Nixon and Revolutionary Road, despite both being good films. Gran Torino may be good enough to grant you a second wind, but the next 3 should do you in. You won't get to the Simpsons movie, and if you do, you'll be too tired physically and too tired of watching movies to enjoy it. Sorry, but I just had to go for another perfect prediction...good luck finishing the whole list!

I'm disappointed you didn't make any special mention of The Man From Earth from your mini-marathon. I thought it was pretty fascinating (and should be watched by Jon if he hasn't already gotten around to it!).

[AZ]

Staying awake: We will drink lots of energy drinks and such and we are both quite energetic persons. That's all there is to it (and we love movies which should be pretty obvious by now) Hopefully, we will get fascinated in most of the films. Last time we did not sleep properly before starting the marathon, so this time we will start 2 hours later on the day than last time. Another thing is that it is summer now which will make it a bit easier staying awake (being brighter and all)

Agrees with what Ngamer and QB said about watching many movies the same day. This sure is insanity, but that's the main issue, right? It's probably true that we would enjoy these films a bit more if we just saw one or a few at a time (at least the later of the films since it will get harder and harder to stay focus). But in our opinion, this does not really ruin the experience.

"The Man From Earth" was very interesting and we got captured immediately. Fascinating for sure.

Also, I didn't knew you owned all Hitchcock's films on DVD, Cyber. That's really cool. I've seen them all and I have most of them on DVD; not the most unknown though since they are impossible to get a hold of over here.

[youseinthehouse]

I hope you're not squeamish about eyeballs!

[Cyberwrath87]

Well what I meant was I owned all the Hitchcock DVDs of movies they showed during the TCM marathon, which was probably 9 or so. However, I do have 46 of his 53 movies on DVD (some of the early ones are terrible quality and barely work, though). The only 2 I haven't seen yet are Downhill and The Skin Game, only because I cant find working prints anymore. Will have to torrent someday!

Good luck in the marathon BTW

[RWG]

I couldn't disagree more with Jon regarding Quiz Show... it's your typical historical documentary-ish boring ass film.

That being said, Frost/Nixon at 2am will murder you. Good luck.

[Carathorn]

hahahaha

[AZ]

The only 2 I haven't seen yet are Downhill and The Skin Game, only because I cant find working prints anymore. Will have to torrent someday!

 

That's funny. I have a Box with 9 of Hitchcock's earliest films and "The Skin Game" is one of them. However, I am not surprised you haven't got "Downhill" since that one got least votes on imdb of all his films (which should make it his most unknown)

 

lol @ Frost/Nixon will murder us; we'll see; hopefully not

[Cyberwrath87]

The Skin Game is in one of my box sets. It's just unwatchable because of uncontrollable skipping and horrendous sound quality... though the constant skipping is why I had to stop watching about 16 minutes in. Skipping a second or two every now and then is one thing, skipping for minutes at a time is another.

[AEB]

Good luck Axel. I apparently posted in the old topic so I hope this is the right one.

[Darth Vader]

Yeah my fault, sorry. As i was saying... The world record is 121 hours. Go for untied
go go go

[AZ]

121 hours!? And our target is only 30

Edit: The marathon will begin at 10:00 CET on the 6th afterall. Sorry if this lead to any confusion.

Also, thanks for all the good wishes everyone

 

[Darth Vader]

Are ya finnished with the movie marathon?

[NathanStinson]

Yeah, we want updates/thoughts on movies:D

[Quiet Bol]

He's got almost half a day of movies left! And then he'll need sleep!

[AZ]

It has almost got 7 hours since we stopped watching movies. The last one we watched was "Star Wars 3" and by that we reached our target of approximately 30 hours of film!

This was not easy by any means; originally we felt really good and the first time we got a bit restless was during "American Warewolf". Following that, we saw 3 interesting films from last year (+ And Andalusian Dog) and they all were very good and quite easy to watch (and Frost/Nixon didn't murder us). However, after "Gran Torino", only a few minutes into "Sukiyaki Western Django" the struggling really began. "Sukiyaki Western Django" was simply not a good film and the next one..."The Last Tycoon" was just...completely boring despite all the famous actors in supporting roles and it didn't have any "entertaining value" whatsoever. My good pal had a hard time staying awake during "The Last Tycoon" and I probably would have too, IF I didn't have such a stomach ache. "Livet i 8-bitar" was also a disappointment because we expected the plot to focus a lot more on the actual games and platforms (such as NES, N64) than to "J's" family. The ending wasn't the most satisfying either. The latter 3 films I mentioned (all of which were after eachother) were probably the worst films of the entire marathon. ("Western Django" probably the worst)

The last two films (Simpsons & Star Wars 3) were pretty good and we both somehow cheered up a bit although we had a hard time staying awake at some parts.

Not much to say about the first movies of this marathon. "The Last King of Scotland" was good and Whitaker certainly convinced us why he won the Oscar, "Quiz Show" was a bit too long but quite pleasent to watch at; the same goes to "The Score" although that movie had some cliché's and stuff (the end was quite surprising though). "Romance & Cigarettes" was the worst film if you don't count that "Western, Tycoon, 8-bitar" trio.

Best film of the marathon? "Gladiator" (although the bio version is better than this extended version) and "Gran Torino" imo. (special mention for "Last King of Scotland".) As for my pal, he mostly liked the same as I did but would like to add "Umberto D".

We will be back with another marathon! Not really sure when (probably during xmas holiday). Until then, thanks for reading this and encourage us performing this and all that stuff I hope we did not disappoint ya

[vitor]

Sometimes you guys scare me

[Spaceman-Spiff]

the fact gran torino is getting any appreciation at all is the most terrifying aspect of this topic

only move i've ever seen in theatres that i wanted to walk out of

[Quiet Bol]

That's some impressive movie watching!

[RWG]

the fact gran torino is getting any appreciation at all is the most terrifying aspect of this topic  
 
  only move i've ever seen in theatres that i wanted to walk out of

That's because you're a pink commy boring shepherded liberal media douchetard.

[ShadowZero64]

I got exhausted just reading about this