Film Fight

Recap

2009-04-15T22:17:00.000-07:00

I'd like to recap the results of the four Film Fights we've had. Of the 124 films that we've voted on, 20 have appeared on at least one top ten list. I've listed these 20 films below, along with the number of times each has made it to the top ten. Congratulations to the 3 films that appeared on all four top ten lists. They must be pretty good.

My intention was to make a composite top ten list. I think the 9 films that have appeared on more than one top ten list should probably be included. Originally, I was going to say that films introduced in competition 3 or 4 (indicated with an asterisk) should be given some extra consideration, but now that I see the results, I don't think either of those would be my personal choice. Actually, I don't know which I would include as #10. Quite possibly Yojimbo, but there are a few other films on that list that I might pick instead. You pick your own #10 from that list, okay?

It's been fun. As I said before, I might do Film Fight #5 some day, but it won't be any time soon.

4 2001: A Space Odyssey
4 My Life as a Dog
4 The Third Man
3 Brazil
3 Cool Hand Luke
3 The Godfather
3 Midnight Cowboy
3 Seven Samurai
2 Blade Runner
1 Casablanca*
1 Citizen Kane
1 City of God*
1 A Clockwork Orange
1 Dr. Strangelove
1 A Face in the Crowd
1 M
1 Ran
1 Run Lola Run
1 To Kill a Mockingbird
1 Yojimbo

Results of Film Fight #4

2009-04-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

We have winners. Escape Goat and I were each right about the group of death, in different ways. Escape Goat is right, because I've chosen to keep both of the runners-up from group D as top ten films. I'm right because, without IMDB votes, group A has a four-way tie for second place, with #1 not far ahead. Even with the IMDB votes it's a close call. By the way, I'm not officially counting IMDB votes, but I did use them to break some ties, such as the one in group A. (I do have enough votes with counting IMDB. Bill voted on paper Sunday night.)

Before I give you the results, I wish to point out that I will write one more post, sort of a recap of... well, just come back in a couple days and see.

The winners of the five final groups are

2001: A Space Odyssey
Casablanca
The Godfather
My Life as a Dog
Seven Samurai

A while back, I got an anonymous comment opining that 2001 doesn't belong on an all-time top ten list. But Anonymous never came back to vote, and 2001 keeps winning.

It was fairly easy for me to pick films 6 through 9, but number 10 was a bit tough. I finally decided to give the nod to a film that, while excellent, hasn't made it to the top ten before. Selected from the 10 runners-up, the bottom half of top ten list #4 is (in alphabetical order)

Brazil
City of God
Cool Hand Luke
Midnight Cowboy
The Third Man

There you have it. Again, please remember to come back in a couple of days to read the final post.

Final Groups

2009-04-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears that it's time for the very last round of voting. We have come to the final round of what will be the last Film Fight, at least for a while. At this point we have a top 25 list that is hard to improve. In Film Fight number 4 only 5 newcomers displaced previous winners to make it into the top 25 (Paths of Glory, The Maltese Falcon, Papillon, Trainspotting, The Gods Must Be Crazy). It would only become harder for a new contender to make the list. Sure, there are some excellent films that I've unintentionally overlooked, such as Taxi Driver, but right now I can't think of enough real contenders to make another complete Film Fight worthwhile. I will keep a list of possible contenders, and maybe someday, if the candidates look promising enough, I'll post another competition. But for now at least, this is the finale.

Vote as usual in the comments section. Vote for up to three films in each group, in order of preference (best film first). If you haven't seen one of the films in a particular group, I encourage you to only vote for two films in that group. If there is more than one film you haven't seen in a particular group, you might only vote for one film in that group. You don't even have to cast votes in every group.

Group A)
City of God
Touch of Evil
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Maltese Falcon
2001: A Space Odyssey

Group B)
La Strada
Schindler's List
My Life as a Dog
Paths of Glory
A Clockwork Orange

Group C)
Trainspotting
Casablanca
Blade Runner
Brazil
Papillon

Group D)
Citizen Kane
Yojimbo
The Third Man
The Godfather
Midnight Cowboy

Group E)
Seven Samurai
Bombay
M
Cool Hand Luke
The Gods Must Be Crazy

Vote soon!

Results: Fight #4, Round 2

2009-04-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

Well, a classic film has been voted out of our competition after a good run. We must say farewell to The Wizard of Oz. As a salute, I offer the following video. I recommend that you view it, even if you're not into Bobby McFerrin.

The inclusion or non-inclusion of IMDB "votes" had no real effect in this round. Officially, I am including them. I am also negating their effect. You see, in Group F, without the IMDB votes, Trainspotting makes it to the next round. With the IMDB votes, M makes it to the next round instead. But this is the round in which I get to rescue one film from the chopping block, or cutting room floor, if you prefer. So I will count the IMDB votes, but I will use my rescue vote to include Trainspotting in the final 25.

As usual, I have put the actual group winners in boldface type in my previous post. In my next post (tomorrow), I will place the final 25 films in their groups for the final competition. So come back soon.

Round 2 of Film Fight #4

2009-04-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, looking at the results from round 1, we won't be able to have the On the Beach vs. On the Waterfront matchup I wanted to see. But I do have the new groups for round 2. Groups were chosen the same way I've done before, ensuring in each group a mix of newcomers and previous winners. Of course, one group must contain one poor newcomer against four previously established winners. I tried to limit the number of top ten films in this group to keep it balanced.

Vote as usual in the comments section. Vote for up to three films in each group, in order of preference (best film first). If you haven't seen one of the films in a particular group, I encourage you to only vote for two films in that group. If there is more than one film you haven't seen in a particular group, you might only vote for one film in that group. You don't even have to cast votes in every group.

Group A)
Seven Samurai
The Manchurian Candidate
Paths of Glory
The Wizard of Oz
Casablanca

Group B)
Schindler's List
Boogie Nights
Bombay
¡Three Amigos!
Citizen Kane

Group C)
After Hours
A Clockwork Orange
The Third Man
Platoon
2001: A Space Odyssey

Group D)
Straw Dogs
The Maltese Falcon
Midnight Cowboy
Wonderland
Brazil

Group E)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Papillon
On the Waterfront
The Vanishing
The Godfather

Group F)
La Strada
Miller's Crossing
M
Trainspotting
Yojimbo

Group G)
Cool Hand Luke
The Snapper
City of God
Little Miss Sunshine
Blade Runner

Group H)
Touch of Evil
The Gods Must Be Crazy
Let the Right One In
Full Metal Jacket
My Life as a Dog

Vote soon!

Results of Competition #1, Round One

2009-04-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

I did not get any votes from Bill this time, nor any new voters, but it's time to declare winners. I'm reasonably content with the results as they are, anyway. I did compile a set of votes based on IMDB user ratings. This time it makes no difference whether these votes are included or not, the top three films in each group would be exactly the same, either way. (However, not the "votes", but the ratings themselves played a small role, as I will explain shortly.)

I was outvoted in a couple groups, but can't really argue with the outcomes. In group B, I really feel that The Killing Fields is an excellent film, but The Maltese Falcon was included instead. As I said, I can't really argue with that, as the latter film is a fine one, packed with extraordinary performances. In group E, I voted for The Jerk, which I do think is a very funny, very original classic film. But of course Paths of Glory got through instead, which is fine by me. I probably voted for The Jerk simply because I've seen it far more times and remember it better. But Paths of Glory is an excellent, important film.

I was also outvoted in group D, but that was a little more complicated. Earlier I mentioned the IMDB "votes". According to IMDB, the top three films in this group are Platoon, Boogie Nights, and Parenthood (in that order). Thus, the other two films in this group got no votes from IMDB. When I combine EscapeGoat's votes my my own (with or without the IMDB votes), the top two films are Platoon and Boogie Nights, but for third place there is a tie between Wonderland and Amazon Women on the Moon. I could break this tie by picking my own favorite, but these are two very different films, hard to compare. As I said before, neither one got any IMDB "votes", but I decided to use their IMDB ratings to break the tie. Thus Wonderland squeaks into the next round. Too bad about Amazon Women on the Moon, it is a very funny, talent-packed film. But it is interesting that Boogie Nights and Wonderland, forced into the same group, both made it to the next round. Only one Steve Martin film out of three, though.

The group winners appear in boldface type in my previous post. The next round will be posted shortly, either late tonight, or sometime tomorrow.

Fight #4, Round One

2009-04-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

Another sign that it's about time to end this blog is that it's getting harder and harder to form a list of 25 new contenders. I do have a list for you, though. It includes Wonderland, which I should point out is the 2003 film starring Val Kilmer. I've included mostly because of the inclusion this time around of Boogie Nights. Both of them are based on the porn star John Holmes, although Boogie Nights is more fictional. Dumb luck put them in the same group. I thought about cheating a little bit to put them in separate groups, but I decided to just let the random chance have its way.

There are a couple of other mini-themes in this first round, by the way. There are several war films. There are a few Steve Martin films. I'm curious to see whether or not On the Beach makes it past this round to battle On the Waterfront.

Having to specify precisely what Wonderland I'm including gives me an opportunity to remind you that, unless otherwise specified, any film discussed here in the original of that title, not a remake. Note that when you think about Rollerball and when you think about The Vanishing, which is the excellent 1988 film from the Netherlands, not the crappy 1993 American remake with the tacked-on happy ending.

By the way, The Maltese Falcon that we're talking about here is not the original film, but the 1941 version with with Humphrey Bogart. Not all remakes suck. I should also point out that After Hours is the Martin Scorsese film from 1985.

One other thing occurred to me just now. It's interesting that The Great Santini and The Sound of Music landed in the same group. They are quite different films, but I've been watching The Great Santini tonight, and there's a scene near the beginning that very much reminds me of the Von Trapp family until Julie Andrews got the father to mellow out a bit. I suspect very much that was what the director was going for.

Vote as usual in the comments section. Vote for up to three films in each group, in order of preference (best film first). If you haven't seen one of the films in a particular group, I encourage you to only vote for two films in that group. If there is more than one film you haven't seen in a particular group, you might only vote for one film in that group. You don't even have to cast votes in every group.

Group A)
The Gods Must Be Crazy
Little Miss Sunshine
Miller's Crossing
Rollerball
On the Beach

Group B)
The Maltese Falcon
The Vanishing
Trainspotting
The Killing Fields
The Sterile Cuckoo

Group C)
¡Three Amigos!
The Sound of Music
Full Metal Jacket
The Great Santini
The Snapper

Group D)
Wonderland
Amazon Women on the Moon
Boogie Nights
Platoon
Parenthood

Group E)
After Hours
The Jerk
Papillon
Paths of Glory
Suspiria

Vote soon!

Final Results #3

2009-04-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

Well, there are some clear signs that I should bring this blog to an end soon, or at least radically change the format. Some of my favorite movies are no longer even making it into the runners-up list (hence I can't include them in the top ten without breaking my own rules). I do have a list of more than 25 films that we have not considered yet, so I think I'll run one more iteration. At that point, I intend to do some "best-of-the-best" recap or something, then give it a rest.

I did include IMDB-generated "votes" in the final round. They only produced one change in the results. Because of the inclusion of these votes, Citizen Kane is the winner of Group A. That film did not get my first vote, but given the two possible outcomes, I thought it was the more reasonable. Anyway, the winners of each of the five final groups, making the top half of this competition's top ten list are

Citizen Kane
The Godfather
M
My Life as a Dog
Seven Samurai

No surprise about The Godfather, it pretty universally gets #1 votes, but I am surprised that M sneaked in there. It's been in our Film Fights since the beginning, and has never made the top ten before. (Actually, I voted it higher than I usually do, but it still surprised me to see it in the top five.) To fill out the top ten, I ended up choosing one more film from each of the five groups. I think that's the first time that's happened. Anyway, I chose:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Brazil
A Clockwork Orange
The Third Man
To Kill a Mockingbird

Yeah, yell all you want, that's what you get for voting out my favorites.

The next (and final) competition will begin shortly.

Final Round of Competition #3

2009-03-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

In the final round, I do count the votes a little differently, but you don't have to worry about that. Vote as usual in the comments section. Vote for up to three films in each group, in order of preference (best film first). If you haven't seen one of the films in a particular group, I encourage you to only vote for two films in that group. If there is more than one film you haven't seen in a particular group, you might only vote for one film in that group. You don't even have to cast votes in every group.

And as far as that bit about counting the votes differently, you may recall that the top pick in each of the five final groups will be included in the top ten list for this competition. From the list of ten runners-up (two from each group), I will select the other half of the top ten list.

Here are the final groups:

Group A)
Citizen Kane
The Wizard of Oz
A Clockwork Orange
On the Waterfront
Midnight Cowboy

Group B)
Brazil
Seven Samurai
Touch of Evil
Schindler's List
Cool Hand Luke

Group C)
Let the Right One In
Straw Dogs
Casablanca
To Kill a Mockingbird
M

Group D)
Bladerunner
The Godfather
The Manchurian Candidate
Yojimbo
2001: A Space Odyssey

Group E)
The Third Man
Bombay
City of God
My Life as a Dog
La Strada

Results of Competition #3, Round 2

2009-03-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

We are now getting to the point where the competition to get into our top 25 has become very tough. There were some tough calls to make in more than one group. To see the top three films in each of the eight groups, see the bold-face entrees in my previous post. But here are some details:

I once again constructed a set of "votes" based on user ratings on IMDB. These votes only created different results in two groups: A and H. I decided against using these votes in this round because of the effect they would have had on group A. With these votes, The Silence of the Lambs would be voted in, without these votes The Wizard of Oz gets the nod. I didn't vote for either of those films, I would have included Ran, but given the choice, I think The Wizard of Oz is the more deserving of the two.

Group H was very contentious. Sure, 2001 and La Strada made the top 25. But what about #3? With the IMDB "votes", it would be Psycho. Without the IMDB votes (and I'd already decided not to use them this round), it's a tie between The Andromeda Strain and Straw Dogs. There were a number of ways I could have broken this tie. I voted for Straw Dogs but not The Andromeda Strain, but I wanted this to be as democratic as possible, and I could see other tie-breakers that would give the opposite result. Since Escape Goat didn't vote for either one, I gave him the opportunity to do what I did in Group A, and cast the deciding vote. He chose Straw Dogs.

As far as how my personal choices fared, well I've already mentioned group A. In group C, I chose Bombay over Touch of Evil, but was outvoted. (Actually, that was a tie broken by the IMDB "votes".) I was badly outvoted in groups F and G, and we've covered group H.

We must bid farewell to A Face in the Crowd, which was in our original top ten. Several other excellent films are out of this competition forever. But remember, we now have a list of 24 films. I get to choose a film to save as #25.

Ran would be a strong contender for #25. Actually, all of the films we are voting on at this point are quite good. But I chose Bombay, because it has it all. On every level that you would want to evaluate a film, Bombay is there. It has cinematography, humor, music (and of course dance), drama, a really important message, influence, etc. It starts out a light-hearted romantic Bollywood musical and halfway through it turns into very serious, nasty, ugly commentary on religious intolerance. And it was banned in India for a while, or something like that. So we are keeping this one, for now.

Well, I guess that about covers it for now. I'll post the groups for the final round tomorrow. Come back soon and vote, I value your opinion almost as much as my own. Well, at least half as much, anyway.

Competition #3 - Round 2

2009-03-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

I have the groups for round two of the current Film Fight. This works exactly the same as it did in competition #2. The 15 new films and our top 25 from the last competition are divided into 8 groups of 5 films each. Seven of the groups contain 3 films from competition two and 2 new films, one group contains 4 films from competition two and 1 new film. No films is placed in a group with another film it just competed against. I had sort of feared that City of God, Slumdog Millionaire, and Bombay would somehow all land in the same group, but that did not happen.

Vote as usual in the comments section. Vote for up to three films in each group, in order of preference (best film first). If you haven't seen one of the films in a particular group, I encourage you to only vote for two films in that group. If there is more than one film you haven't seen in a particular group, you might only vote for one film in that group. You don't even have to cast votes in every group.

Group A)
The Wizard of Oz
Cool Hand Luke
The Silence of the Lambs
Ran
The Third Man

Group B)
Blade Runner
Slumdog Millionaire
Seven Samurai
Eating Raoul
M

Group C)
Bombay
Touch of Evil
The Godfather
Let the Right One In
The Nightmare Before Christmas

Group D)
A Face in the Crowd
The Manchurian Candidate
The Lord of the Rings
City of God
A Clockwork Orange

Group E)
Midnight Cowboy
Pulp Fiction
Yojimbo
The Last King of Scotland
My Life as a Dog

Group F)
Brazil
Casablanca
The Exorcist
In Cold Blood
On the Waterfront

Group G)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Schindler's List
MASH
Dog Day Afternoon
Citizen Kane

Group H)
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Andromeda Strain
Psycho
La Strada
Straw Dogs

First Round Results from Competition #3

2009-03-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

The votes are in. I did a little something different this time, though. While I was waiting for people to vote, I generated a set of votes based on user ratings on IMDB. While I may not do this again, it worked out fairly well this time. This extra set of votes had only two effects. First, we will include Touch of Evil in the next round rather than Groundhog Day. I think this was probably the right choice, even though Groundhog Day is a nice film, and I can clearly remember the first time I saw it. The second effect of this extra set of votes is that The Silence of the Lambs will be included in the next round rather than Throne of Blood. This choice seems a little more controversial, but those films were in a tough group. I think this choice is okay, due to the fact that we already have a few Kurasawa films included in our competition, and because I see Throne of Blood not so much as a great film, but as a film with a few truly inceredible scenes.

On a more personal note, I only got outvoted in a couple of groups. I did vote for Throne of Blood. What bothers me more, though, is the inclusion of Eating Raoul instead of Videodrome. I like them both, but I voted the other way around.

To see the full list of winners, view my previous post, where I have put the winners in boldface type. These 15 winners will now have to compete against our previous top 25. I will post the groups for round two soon. Possibly tonight. More likely I will wait a day or so. We shall see.

Competition #3

2009-03-20T19:48:00.001-07:00

I hope you are ready for another Film Fight. I believe this will mark the first time I've included a documentary film in the list of contenders. I'm also going to bend my rules just a bit.

I don't expect everyone who reads this blog to have seen every film on the list. However, I don't feel that it would be right for me to include a film that I haven't seen myself. This time I have included one film that I have not yet seen. However, a copy is supposed to be on it's way from Netflix. Hopefully I will get it in the mail tomorrow, so I can watch it Saturday night. At any rate, I should be able to watch it before first round voting is complete.

There's another film that I haven't seen yet that I wanted to include in this Film Fight, but Netflix keeps sending me other films in it's place. I realize I have other options, but I think I'll hold off on this one, maybe include it in a future competition. I'm pretty sure it would get voted out in the first round, anyway.

So, here are the films for Round 1. Voting will proceed as usual. Vote for your top 3 picks from each group, in order of preference (best film first). If you wish, you can vote for just one or two films from any group, but that won't give your vote any extra weight. Have fun.

Group A)
Crumb
Dog Day Afternoon
The Face of Another
Casablanca
Pulp Fiction

Group B)
A Boy and His Dog
City of God
Touch of Evil
Slumdog Millionaire
Groundhog Day

Group C)
The Andromeda Strain
Schindler's List
The Last King of Scotland
Poltergeist
Repo Man

Group D)
In Cold Blood
Johnny Was
Videodrome
Eating Raoul
Let the Right One In

Group E)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
The Manchurian Candidate
La Strada
The Silence of the Lambs
Throne of Blood

Final Results for Competition #2

2009-03-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

The final results are in. Four films from our original top ten list have been replaced. Those films are Dr. Strangelove, A Face in the Crowd, Run Lola Run, and Yojimbo. In fact, Dr. Strangelove and Run Lola Run did not even make the top 25 this time around, and are thus completely eliminated from future competitions. I wanted to include Yojimbo in the new top ten list, but the list already contains two other Kurasawa films, so I thought I'd give the nod to something else.

At any rate, the new top ten list, in alphabetical order is

2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
Brazil
Cool Hand Luke
The Godfather
Midnight Cowboy
My Life as a Dog
Ran
Seven Samurai
The Third Man

A new competition will begin shortly. There are one or two films I'd like include in the competition which I have not actually seen yet, so I'm not ready to post the new list of contenders. Check back in a few days.

Comp 2 is nearly over

2009-03-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

The votes are in. Bill delivered votes in person, this time, so I do have the minimum requirement of three sets of votes. I correctly picked the winners of two groups (C and D), but was outvoted in the other three groups. I am a bit disappointed to see Straw Dogs and The Exorcist not even make it to the runners-up list, but that's the way it goes.

The five group winners are

The Third Man
Seven Samurai
Midnight Cowboy
Ran
The Godfather

The ten runners-up are

2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
My Life as a Dog
On the Waterfront
Cool Hand Luke
Bombay
M
Brazil
Citizen Kane
Yojimbo

From this list of ten I will select five films to complete the top ten list for competition #2. If you wish to express an opinion, feel free to do so, but realize that this last stage is basically my call. The complete top ten list will be posted soon, followed shortly by one more (possibly the last) competition.

Comp 2, Final Round

2009-03-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here are the groups for the final round of the second Film Fight. You may, as usual, select your top 3 picks from each group. Keep in mind, though, that the top pick from each group makes into our top ten list, with five more films selected at large from a list of 10 runners-up (2 runners-up from each group). Also keep in mind that you can always suggest films for inclusion in future film fights. At the moment, I'm about five films short of having enough film ideas for Competition #3.

Group A)
2001: A Space Odyssey
Blade Runner
The Third Man
The Nightmare Before Christmas
To Kill A Mockingbird

Group B)
My Life as a Dog
On the Waterfront
Seven Samurai
Psycho
The Wizard of Oz

Group C)
Cool Hand Luke
MASH
The Lord of the Rings
Midnight Cowboy
Bombay

Group D)
M
Straw Dogs
Ran
A Face in the Crowd
Brazil

Group E)
The Godfather
A Clockwork Orange
Citizen Kane
Yojimbo
The Exorcist

Nine to Five

2009-03-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

Nine films in our last Top 25 list have been replaced. Nine of the films we added in this new competition have replaced previous entries to form the new top 25. Coincidence? I think not.

In 6 of the 8 round two groups I was outvoted a little bit. Group B was obvious, everyone agrees on that. The votes for group H also agreed with me, in general. In the other six groups, I was somewhat outvoted, but I used my rescue vote on Cool Hand Luke, so only five of my picks lost out.

You can look at the previous post to see how the groups played out, but the net result is that

Dr. Strangelove
The City of Lost Children
Scarface
Run Lola Run
Baraka
Alien
Memento
Blue Velvet
The Deerhunter

have dropped out of our competition forever. They have been replaced, in the new top 25, by

The Godfather
Psycho
Citizen Kane
The Wizard of Oz
To Kill a Mockingbird
MASH
On the Waterfront
Ran
The Exorcist.

Yes, it's an imperfect process. It's meant to be. The new top 25 is, in no particular order,

Cool Hand Luke
M
Blade Runner
The Godfather
Bombay
Brazil
Seven Samurai
A Clockwork Orange
The Third Man
Psycho
Straw Dogs
2001: A Space Odyssey
Citizen Kane
The Lord of the Rings
A Face in the Crowd
The Wizard of Oz
Midnight Cowboy
My Life as a Dog
To Kill a Mockingbird
Yojimbo
MASH
On the Waterfront
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Ran
The Exorcist

I will post the groups for the final round tomorrow-ish. Vote soon.

Comp 2, Round 2

2009-03-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

The first round results are in. See comments on the previous post to see how a couple readers voted. Also see the previous post for the round 1 results; I've put the winners from each group in bold-face type. I correctly predicted the winners of groups A, B, and C. (It would have been pretty difficult for anyone to get Group C wrong.) I was outvoted in groups D and E. (I voted for Frida and Night of the Hunter.) As I said, though, I'm quite willing to be outvoted this time around.

To the 15 winners of Round 1, I've added the top 25 films from the first competition. I've divided this list of 40 films into 8 groups of 5. Each of the groups contains 3 of the top 25 films, plus 2 of the newcomers, except the first group, which contains 4 from the top 25 and just 1 newcomer. I've set things up so that no two films that were just up against each other appear in the same group. Other than that, the placement is random. So don't give me any crap about Vertigo and Psycho appearing in the same group, it was just the luck of the draw.

From each group we will select the 3 best films. Vote as in Round One. This will produce a list of 24 films, and I will then rescue 1 film to complete our new top 25 list. The third round, in which we select the top 10, will proceed exactly as round three in the previous competition.

The groups are

Group A)
Cool Hand Luke
M
The Deerhunter
Blade Runner
The Godfather

Group B)
Bombay
Brazil
Seven Samurai
Osama
The Brother from Another Planet

Group C)
A Clockwork Orange
Alien
The Third Man
Vertigo
Psycho

Group D)
Straw Dogs
2001
Blue Velvet
Citizen Kane
A Life Aquatic

Group E)
The Lord of the Rings
The City of Lost Children
A Face in the Crowd
The Wizard of Oz
Picnic at Hanging Rock

Group F)
Midnight Cowboy
My Life as a Dog
Dr. Strangelove
Heavenly Creatures
To Kill a Mockingbird

Group G)
Yojimbo
Run Lola Run
Baraka
MASH
On the Waterfront

Group H)
Scarface
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Memento
Ran
The Exorcist

Competition #2

2009-03-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hello again. As mentioned in my previous post, I started this blog with a vague process in mind by which I could keep evolving and, hopefully, improving my top ten film list. That process involves a series of competitions, the first being somewhat unique, but all subsequent competitions running similarly to each other. Thus, I need to run one more competition to show how this will work.

The top 25 films from the previous competition will automatically be included in this competition, but not until round 2. (They get a bye in the first round.) The first round will consist of 25 films that have not shown up in any Film Fight so far. (I'm keeping a list of the films we're discarded.) I've placed these 25 films in 5 groups of 5. We will select the top 3 from each group. My plan is to add these films to the previous competition's top 25 to produce a list of 40 films, without "rescuing" any other films from round 1, but we'll see. That might end up being unfair to some great film, but I don't think I'll be changing my mind.

So vote now, you can't fix it later. (Unless you can.)

Here are the groups. As further "proof" that this competition is to be more democratic than the first one, and is not so much intended to be my top ten as it is a group effort, consider that I never would have included films like Mystery Men, The Running Man, or Bull Durham if I were only listing my own favorites. So vote, damnit. And remember you can always suggest a film for the next competition, assuming there is one.

Group A)
Osama
The Godfather
Vertigo
Bull Durham
Apocalypse Now

Group B)
The Running Man
Duck, You Sucker (also known as A Fistful of Dynamite)
The Wizard of Oz
Ran
The Brother from Another Planet

Group C)
Mystery Men
MASH
Heavenly Creatures
The Killer Inside Me
The Exorcist

Group D)
Picnic at Hanging Rock
A Life Aquatic
Frida
To Kill a Mockingbird
Jaws

Group E)
Citizen Kane
Night of the Hunter
On the Waterfront
Psycho
Sideways

Final Results

2009-02-28T20:14:00.000-08:00

First, just to clear the deck, I own no monkeys. That having been said, I can announce the final results of this first film-competition-selection-process-thing. Escape Goat posted his choices in a comment, and our top picks were exactly the same in groups C, D, and E. We differed on groups A and B, and for now my votes carry a bit more weight. Escape Goat's votes help determine the runners-up, though, so his picks may still land in the top ten. My top picks from each of the five groups are

Dr. Strangelove
Yojimbo
Midnight Cowboy
The Third Man
My Life as a Dog

These five films are automatically in the top list list this process is meant to produce. There are ten runners-up, which will be listed below. It pains me greatly that Brazil didn't even make runner-up, but, well, it didn't.

Cool Hand Luke
2001
Seven Samurai
Straw Dogs
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Run Lola Run
Blade Runner
A Face in the Crowd
The Deerhunter
Blue Velvet

Final votes have been tallied. I think I would have put Straw Dogs on the list, but I gave Escape Goat's votes weight equal to that of my own votes. So Straw Dogs is out and A Face in the Crowd is in.

Before I post give you the final list, I wish to point out that it really isn't final. I envisioned this blog as an ongoing process. When one competition ends, a new one begins. Successive competitions should run somewhat different from the first, since we already have a top 25 list of films which should not only be included in the next competition, but should be given some priority. To fully demonstrate how I think this ought to work, I need to run one more competition. (All future competitions, if any, will run the same way as the second, so I can quit after the second, if I so wish.) Anyway, if you can think of any films I should include in the next competition, let me know. I already have a decent list of films which could be included, but don't let that stop you from making suggestions. One thing to take note of, though, no film eliminated in rounds 1 or 2 will ever be considered again.

So anyway, here's the first top ten list produced on this blog, in alphabetical order.

2001
Blade Runner
Cool Hand Luke
Dr. Strangelove
A Face in the Crowd
Midnight Cowboy
My Life as a Dog
Run Lola Run
The Third Man
Yojimbo

Round Three

2009-02-26T20:34:00.000-08:00

With a little help from my friends I've chosen the four extra films that will complete my first official top 25 list. The films are

The Deerhunter
Dr. Strangelove
Memento
Seven Samurai

One observation: I was wrong about which group had the great films. I mentioned groups D and F, I think. It turns out that all but one of the films in group G made it to the top 25.

Before going any further, I'd like to point out that every film that made it to the top 25 list is excellent, and it's a shame I have to throw out even one, not to mention fifteen films to make a top ten list. But I'll do it. Here's how. I've randomly divided the 25 films into five groups of five. With one exception I've made sure that no two films that were in the same group during round 2 are in the same group during round 3. I had to make one exception because of the six films that made it from group G. One of the round 3 groups has to contain 2 of those films.

The selection will proceed somewhat differently from the previous two rounds. From each of the five groups, we need to pick the best film. Those five films automatically make the top ten. We will also pick 2 runners-up from each group. From those 10 runners-up, we'll select five to complete the top ten list.

Another observation: Group B seems quite violent.

The groups are listed below. Send me your votes, please.

Group A)
Cool Hand Luke
2001
Dr. Strangelove
Brazil
The City of Lost Children

Group B)
Seven Samurai
Straw Dogs
Yojimbo
Scarface
A Clockwork Orange

Group C)
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Run Lola Run
Midnight Cowboy
M
The Lord of the Rings

Group D)
The Third Man
Bombay
Baraka
Blade Runner
A Face in the Crowd

Group E)
Alien
Memento
Blue Velvet
My Life as a Dog
The Deerhunter

Round Two - Updated

2009-02-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

If you wish to refer to my previous post, I've put the 16 films that I've restored to the list that will be in round 2 in red bold-face type. You can see that I'm not including any extra films from group B, but all films from group F have made it to the second round. (Also recall that My Life as a Dog has been added to the list, and will almost certainly make the top ten.)

I've gone ahead and randomly sorted these 49 films into 7 groups of 7 films each, with the one requirement that no more than 2 films that were in the same group in round one can be in the same group in round two. The groups appear below. It seems that groups D and F will require some tough calls. However, I am reserving the right to restore a few films to the round three list after the initial cut has been made. I (or we, if I can get some input from you) will choose 3 films from each group, to produce a list of 21 films. I/We will then restore 4 films to the list, to produce a top 25 list. That would probably be a good place to stop, but we'll have one (?) more round to produce a top ten list. Then we'll either call it quits or start all over again, adding some of the films that have so far been left out of the "competition", such as Casablanca.

Update: No one has indicated to me what films they prefer from any of these groups. I take it upon myself to make the next cut. The top three films in each groups now appear in bold-face type. As i have previously mentioned, 4 extra films will be selected to make a top 25 list, so let me know what I missed. A few of these choices were very tough.

Group A)
Ararat
The Devil's Backbone
Straw Dogs
The Third Man
Night of the Living Dead
Big Night
Alien

Group B)
M
The City of Lost Children
Pan's Labyrinth
Gojira
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
A Face in the Crowd
Gods and Monsters

Group C)
The Lord of the Rings
Bonnie and Clyde
Earth
A Clockwork Orange
The Grifters
The Hidden Fortress
Cool Hand Luke

Group D)
Waiting for Guffman
Pulp Fiction
Brazil
Pi
Memento
Midnight Cowboy
Yojimbo

Group E)
Blood Simple
River's Edge
Resevoir Dogs
Scarface
Blue Velvet
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Bombay

Group F)
Baraka
Dancer in the Dark
Felicia's Journey
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Requiem for a Dream
My Life as a Dog
Eraserhead

Group G)
Dr. Strangelove
The Deerhunter
2001
This is Spinal Tap
Run Lola Run
Seven Samurai
Blade Runner

Round One - Early results

2009-02-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't received any suggestions as to what films I should select from each of the groups, so I've decided the winners myself. The winners are bold-faced in the list below. Now, this process may be a bit unfair to films that happened to be particularly strong groups, so I'm going to rescue 16 of the films that didn't pass the first cut to create a list of 48 winners. I encourage you to look at the list below and tell me which of the films I've cut that I should rescue.

In addition, I've decided that the excellent film My Life as a Dog has such a special place in my heart that it deserved a first-round bye. It will now be added to the second round, creating a list of 49 films that I'll divide into seven groups of seven. Thus, not many films will have been eliminated in this round, but I'll try to make the next round more stringent.

There is one other thing I should have mentioned. I generally take a dim view of remakes, particularly remakes of movies there were excellent the first time around. Unless otherwise noted, the films I list here are the originals, not remakes. That having been said, the film Scarface that appears in my list is not the original, but the 1983 version. The Lord of the Rings refers, of course, to the series of three films directed by Peter Jackson. Also, River's Edge is exactly that, not to be confused with the 1957 film The River's Edge. If anyone notices other cases that may cause confusion, please let me know.

A)
Veer-Zaara
The Lord of the Rings
Midnight Cowboy
Koyaanisqatsi
2001
Resevoir Dogs
Alien
Pan's Labyrinth

B)
Dead Alive
O Brother Where Art Thou?
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Big Night
Fargo
Pi
Warriors
M

C)
Best in Show
The Hidden Fortress
Felicia's Journey
This is Spinal Tap
Pulp Fiction
Gods and Monsters
X-Men
Scarface

D)
The Third Man
The Saddest Music in the World
Requiem for a Dream
Eraserhead
Gojira
Run Lola Run
Juno
Z

E)
Quadraphenia
River's Edge
Allegro Non Troppo
Bonnie and Clyde
Blue Velvet
Seven Samurai
A Clockwork Orange
Bicycle Theives

F)
Bombay
Memento
Ararat
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Blood Simple
The Devil's Backbone
Blade Runner
Waiting for Guffman

G)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Brazil
Cool Hand Luke
A Face in the Crowd
Urgh! A Music War
Straw Dogs
The City of Lost Children
Yojimbo

H)
Night of the Living Dead
Dr. Strangelove
Baraka
Boy's Don't Cry
Earth
Dancer in the Dark
The Grifters
The Deerhunter

Round One

2009-02-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, I started with the list of 27 films mentioned in my previous post. To that list, I added quite a few more films that I like very much. I then counted up the films I had listed, and I had slightly more than 50 films. I decided to add several more to bring the total to 64. Due to the process I used to compose this list, there are a few films that clearly won't make the next cut. I'm pretty sure you'll laugh at some of the choices I've made. That's kind of the way I wanted it. For that matter, I've left out some films that should clearly be on the list, like Citizen Kane and The Godfather, but I'll deal with that later.

The next step was to randomly divide these films into 8 groups of 8. When nearly done with this process, I found that I had miscounted. I actually had 65 films, and needed to discard one. I decided to toss out the Eddie Izzard film as it is just a film of his stand-up comedy routine. A totally arbitrary distinction, and I certainly don't want to ignore concert/stand-up films in general, nor documentaries for that matter. After all, Urgh! A Music War is on the list. I had to get rid of one film though, and Eddie Izzard was the odd man out. (You have to admit, he is an odd man.)

So, the next step is to choose the 4 best films out of each group of 8. I have a pretty good idea which of those films I'll choose, but I'd be happy to hear any suggestions/preferences. Which films out of each group do you prefer? Here are the groups:

A)
Veer-Zaara
The Lord of the Rings
Midnight Cowboy
Koyaanisqatsi
2001
Resevoir Dogs
Alien
Pan's Labyrinth

B)
Dead Alive
O Brother Where Art Thou?
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Big Night
Fargo
Pi
Warriors
M

C)
Best in Show
The Hidden Fortress
Felicia's Journey
This is Spinal Tap
Pulp Fiction
Gods and Monsters
X-Men
Scarface

D)
The Third Man
The Saddest Music in the World
Requiem for a Dream
Eraserhead
Gojira
Run Lola Run
Juno
Z

E)
Quadraphenia
River's Edge
Allegro Non Troppo
Bonnie and Clyde
Blue Velvet
Seven Samurai
A Clockwork Orange
Bicycle Theives

F)
Bombay
Memento
Ararat
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Blood Simple
The Devil's Backbone
Blade Runner
Waiting for Guffman

G)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Brazil
Cool Hand Luke
A Face in the Crowd
Urgh! A Music War
Straw Dogs
The City of Lost Children
Yojimbo

H)
Night of the Living Dead
Dr. Strangelove
Baraka
Boy's Don't Cry
Earth
Dancer in the Dark
The Grifters
The Deerhunter

Introduction

2009-02-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Larry. Here's the deal. I'm going to create a list of my top ten or so favorite films by letting the films slug in out in a silly imaginary tournament. After this process in complete, and if anyone cares, I may let anyone out there suggest other titles, after which I would employ some sort of voting procedure to create, not my personal top ten list, but an ever-changing, increasingly meaningless top ten list of the masses. It's still a pretty vague idea, still gradually forming in my mind.

At any rate, the way I chose to begin this project was to form an alphabetic list of favorite movies, one film for each letter of the alphabet, plus one film starting with a numeral. This list is based largely of the DVD's sitting on my shelf. In some cases, it was hard to come up with any good film starting with a particular letter. In other cases, ("B" in particular) it was very difficult to limit myself to a single film. The list is given below. An asterisk indicates that I was able to think of at least one other candidate starting with the same letter. Cases where I had to scratch my head and really think to come up with even one film are probably obvious.

2001
Alien*
Brazil*
A Clockwork Orange*
The Devil's Backbone*
Eraserhead*
Fargo
Gods and Monsters*
The Hidden Fortress
Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill
Juno
Koyaanisqatsi
The Lord of the Rings
Midnight Cowboy*
The Nightmare Before Christmas
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Pi*
Quadraphenia
Run Lola Run*
Scarface*
The Third Man*
Urgh! A Music War
Veer-Zaara
Waiting for Guffman*
X-Men
Yojimbo
Z