Directors The Best Film of 2005 Tournament (1 Viewer)

[Bill McA]

The 40 Year Old Virgin - watched the longer Unrated version

Sin City

 

[SteveGon]

Abstain - No Hitch, don't care to see it.
Abstain - No TFTM.
The Upside of Anger - Close.
Abstain - No TFS.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

Hitch (over the theatrical version of 40 Year)
Sin City
abstain (no Lies)
The Family Stone (leaning towards Rich's thoughts)

 

[Adam_S]

Hitch - superb film, one of the very best of last year, the glut of great films however, prevented it from edging into my top ten.

Sin City (what I said about Hitch)

the Family Stone - which I saw twice in theatres and loved a great deal, and it made my top ten.

 

[Brook K]

Advancing:

Sin City over Two For the Money - 4-1 (agreed)

The Family Stone over Crash - 3-1 (agree, though I didn't think much of The Family Stone. I really didn't mean to set Crash up to go out in the 1st round)

Continuing Round #1


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Continuing Please Vote if You Can

The Forty Year Old Virgin tied 2-2 with Hitch

The Upside of Anger tied 1-1 with Separate Lies (I haven't seen Hitch or Lies so can't break the ties)

 

[Rich Malloy]

Hold off? But this is the first round where I won't have to register a single abstention!

 

[Brook K]

Ok, you can now VOTE

Sorry, I started the round on wifi at a car dealership while waiting for my oil to get changed. My car was done before I got finished so I had to shut down until I got back home and then I had various things going on until I could get back to posting.

Also, this may be the last round until next week. I'm going out of town either tomorrow morning or on Friday. I might post some bonus brackets if I have time tonight.

The above brackets take us past the half way point of the 1st round.

 

[JohnRice]

Big old quad abstain for me.

 

[Rich Malloy]

The final addition puts the kibosh on my first non-abstention round!

No Direction Home

Hustle & Flow (I can't help but think these matchups aren't exactly random! That said, the fine performance by Terrence Howard, along with a welcome sense of authenticity and verisimilitude place H&F miles above the "commodified faux bohemia" (thank-you Chocano!) that causes the bile to rise in my throat whenever I think of the movie "Rent". Ok, more Chocano (and thanks again for putting into words the bilious hatred I have for this schlock): "'Rent' is commodified faux bohemia on a platter, eliciting the same kind of numbing soul-sadness as children's beauty pageants, tiny dogs in expensive boots, or Mahatma Gandhi in Apple ads. It's about art, activism and counterculture in the same way that a poster of a kitten hanging from a tree branch ("Hang in There!") is about commitment and heroic perseverance. It represents everything the people it pretends to stand for hate. And it doesn't even know it. The most amazing thing about "Rent" (and be sure to look for that adjective on a movie poster near you, with an exclamation point attached) is how painfully dated and achingly false the movie feels, when its central concerns are real and more relevant than ever. How is that possible? Because to scratch "Rent's" Gap fashion grunge-wear surface is to hit a mother lode of disconnect and contempt for the very things it has co-opted. Is it fair, or even seemly, to expect even a modicum of authenticity or cool from a Hollywood adaptation of a Broadway musical? Probably not. But this constant corporate exhumation and trotting around of counterculture's corpse — it's not fun anymore."

Me and You and Everyone We Know

abstain (sigh)

 

[SteveGon]

Abstain - Want to see both but haven't gotten around to it.

Abstain - Seen neither. Might give H&F a spin, not much interest in Rent.

Abstain - No HE. Might rent it.

Abstain - No FB. Might rent it.

 

[Elizabeth S]

abstain on all.

Got a couple of those in my "to watch" pile -- will edit with vote if I can get to them in time.

*edit* 6/3/06: Happy Endings. While parts of "Me and You" are amusing, I hated the lead character and found her nothing short of a stalker.

 

[george kaplan]

I'll cast a moral vote for Hitch (I haven't seen the 40 year old Virgin, but Hitch is surprisingly good).

Of course all this non-vote will do is ensure someone who can vote will vote for the film I haven't seen.

 

[tyler payne]

abstain
Hustle & Flow
abstain
abstain

 

[Bill McA]

abstain - no Inside Deep Throat

abstain - no Rent...I will watch it tonight just for BrooK!

Happy Endings - the only thing I liked in You and Me was the little boy who wanted to swap poop!

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - but I did really enjoy Four Brothers, some of which was shot right here in Hamilton

 

[Brook K]

Don't watch Rent on my account. You might have a better time swapping poop.

I enjoyed Four Bros. too. Entertaining shoot 'em up action and a cool car chase. It could have used a crocodile sword fight, but then again, what movie couldn't?

 

[JohnRice]

Managed to see Separate Lies, so I'll break the tie for...

The Upside of Anger

 

[Jan H]

Just caught this tourney, good stuff. I can vote on 3 of these. Yay!

ABSTAIN (saw neither)
HUSTLE AND FLOW - Easily. Rent is like 'Hair.' Dated and phony, with exactly zero memorable songs. How this show won the Pulitzer Prize for drama is utterly astonishing to me. Any movie with a song with the word 'pimp' in the title is preferable to a film where the cast looks like they just jumped out of a Hummer carrying a triple Macchiato before shooting started.
HAPPY ENDINGS - Close. Two excellent under-the-radar indies.
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA - It suffers in comparison with the LOTR films, but it's earnest, well-acted, and true to the spirit of the book. Four Brothers was fun, but an utterly implausible plot was too much for me to look past.

 

[Bill McA]

Hustle & Flow - Rent seemed like 525 thousand 600 minutes looong. Hair is great, Rent isn't

 

[Brook K]

Thanks John The Upside of Anger advances 2-1

Bill, you were warned. No memorable songs? Mostly, but the 525,600 Minutes song has stuck in my head and grown on me, but otherwise you're spot on. I gave it a "C", maybe too much credit? I've never seen Hair but should be watching it next week along with Tommy and Evita.

Rich, I only said some of the matchups were random. More often I put whatever shared theme strikes my fancy. (Downfall vs. The Producers was my favorite so far and no one could vote on it :frowning: ) Also I try not to put the most popular films up against each other in the 1st round.

Anyway, I am going out of town in the morning so won't be checking back for awhile. I'm going to leave the current matches open and post a few more:

Round 1 Continues


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[JohnRice]

Sheesh, I've only seen one of these and that was just a few days ago. Plus, I have no idea what that is Layer Cake is up against.