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So, I finally rewatched Rear Window for the first time in like 20 years last night. Prior to then, I would have given it the nod over Halloween, no question asked. Afterwards, I'm not so sure - I feel like the back half is interesting and fairly tight, but the first half feels a little too languid to keep my interest these days. Plus, while the very beginning is incredibly economical in getting across details and teaching you everything you need to know, the way that the film elides time and conversation afterwards feels a little forced. It's still good, but now I don't think I can give Hitchcock the nod over Carpenter, on this round. Round 2 is going Hitch's way, no matter what. So Round 3 is going to be the real contest here. I still think advantage is Hitchcock - I don't think very much of the Carpenter Village of the Damned, and that was reinforced when I watched it for last year's April Challenge, but the rewatch undid Rear Window in my eyes. I'll have to rewatch Spellbound, again for the first time in 20 years, and see if it fares any better; considering that everyone and their mother rates RW as the better film and it kinda sank itself, I think Hitch is weaker here than I might have previously expected. Class3KillStorm fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Sep 19, 2023 |
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Sep 19, 2023 16:07
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I think Hitchcock probably gets hurt a little bit by his films sharing so much in common be it cast or rough setups or favorite tricks. That leaves you comparing him against himself a lot I think in a way you don’t if you just watch a new film each year or something. There’s lots of directors like that. You may love Wes Anderson once every year or six months or whatever but if you watched a bunch of his films in a week or two you’d probably get sick of him a little.
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Sep 19, 2023 20:57
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STAC Goat posted:favorite tricks... Wait, you get bored of seeing the same tracking/dolly shot in every single movie? I like Wes Anderson's movies
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Sep 20, 2023 11:58
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Spellbound seems particularly overshadowed by Vertigo, which has similar themes done much better. And I'm not all that big a fan of Vertigo, even.Spellbound I found to be mediocre. I will have to rewatch Village of the Damned to see how it measures up.
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Sep 20, 2023 17:40
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Carpenter's Village of the Damned is not a very good movie, and it's certainly an inferior remake. But there are scenes in it that are better than anything in Spellbound, especially on a horror level. So it'll get my vote. The Ward is not good at all, with only a handful of redeeming qualities. Anything would beat it, and North by Northwest is more than enough to get Hitchcock the nod. So the final, for me, comes down to Halloween vs. Rear Window, and I still don't know how it will go.
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Sep 22, 2023 07:42
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Its Friday! So for the last time this year you have just about 43 hours left to watch the Bracketology movies and/or vote in the polls? We're crowning a champion and it sounds like it might be a lot closer than first impression seemed so don't forget to get your vote in. And then an end to our little movie club until next year. I mean, except for the HalloweeNIT stuff because I'm insane and can't take a vacation. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST Sept 24th (or when I get to it) Next Week! The HalloweeNIT!
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Sep 22, 2023 21:54
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I really thought that if I felt Halloween really held up (I hadn't watched it all the way through in years) it would end up taking the crown in the last match-up. It's a seminal film, one that shaped the genre for a decade or more, and in my opinion Carpenter's finest horror. I still found it brilliant in how simple it manages to be. Something I noted after seeing all these Carpenter films close together is that he really lets his (not-villain) characters be human, whatever demented situation they might be in. But then I watched Rear Window. That's a film I love but I was prepared to give the horror nod to Carpenter this time. Except Rear Window is not only a thoroughly entertaining film filled with tension (including sexual tension) but it includes its own meta-commentary on why people love to see the macabre. And without slighting Carpenter I think it is the better-constructed film; the way all the elements fit together really is remarkable, and the acting is just a bit stronger in Hitchcock's movie. It struck me that both of these films kind of pack most of their most disturbing material into the third act (though Halloween does have a really strong open), and build to the climax gradually and with expert pacing. I'm glad to vote for Hitchcock (he was my initial entry back in the very first tournament, though I only tossed him in since nobody had done it by then), but won't be at all disappointed if Carpenter takes it either. A really great final.
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Sep 24, 2023 07:02
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Congratulations to our 2023 Spook-a-Doodle Bracketology Tournament & Movie Club Champion John Carpenter!   He did it. The legendary name of horror manages to pull a victory in his final run in Bracketology. Using the last of his films including TV movies and late career bombs Carpenter has pulled it off and won the entire thing. It was arguably his most famous film Halloween that stole a victory away from Hitchcock’s Rear Window quite comfortably but it was the Village of the Damned vs Spellbound that made the real difference. Even though Hitchcock drew a unanimous win with North by Northwest over the Ward the luck of the draw has a Best Picture Oscar nominated film of his in Spellbound falling to Carpenter’s largely looked past remake of Village of the Damned. Still what came through much of the week was that while Village might be forgotten and flawed its not generally received as “bad”. And ultimately its good horror elements seem to have won out over Hitchcock’s largely romantic pseudo psych film. An incredible clash of the titans that once again came down to the luck of the RNG draw and our group’s sometimes surprising subjective tastes and decisions. But that’s how Bracketology works. If it were just as simple as counting credentials we’d get this done a lot easier and a lot less fun. Its about the random matchups and impressions of our pool. And this time it all broke right for a legend as John Carpenter gets to retire from Bracketology calling himself a champion. Carpenter is the second solo director to win the entire tournament and first since Ken Russell and the introduction of teams. It was a curious turn of events that we ended up having Carpenter vs Hitchcock in the finals as they were the only 2 solo directors in the Elite Eight, 2 of 3 in the Sweet Sixteen, and 2 of 7 in the field of 32. Teams had the majority of the field the entire tournament but ultimately it was the two Masters of Horror that won out to the end. Stats wise Carpenter picks up his 10th and 11th wins to stand alone atop the crowd for most wins at a drat impressive 79% win percentage. Alfred Hitchcock picks up his 9th victory for second place overall and will be back again next year to try and make another run and over take Carpenter in the numbers even if he lost this clash. The season stats page on the spreadsheet has been updated however I made a bunch of mistakes in the spreadsheet this year so I’m gonna have to go through it again this winter. But it can give you a general look at how things went, what countries we visited, and how the decades did. The most interesting thing I see from the numbers I do have is that our victorious movies were really evenly divided from the 1970s to 2020s with 8-10 wins in each decade. Even with Hitchcock’s Championship run and 6 victories we still just don’t generally pull as much from pre-70s horror. But we pull pretty evenly from everything since it seems. However we continue to be pretty US heavy as America accounts for over 70% of the victorious films. Feel free to check out the stats on the spreadsheet although again, I gotta go through it all to fix my mistakes. Sorry about that. But it should provide a rough picture at least.      And that’s it. That’s our 2023 tournament. Thank you all for taking part wether it was nominating teams, voting in our weekly polls, or posting your thoughts. Whether you did it every week, one week, or just whenever you could find the time in this busy year. I enjoy providing this little distraction from life’s complications and hopefully being a stable thing you can count on every week to give some weird matchups of random movies to look forward to. I fully intend to be back at it in December with a new nomination thread and a 2024 tournament provided life cooperates. Knock on wood.  🎃🧑💻 Spook-a-Doodle Bracketology HalloweeNIT ’23👩💻🎃 And if you haven’t gotten your fill of random matchups and voting I’ll be once again doing the HalloweeNIT this October as part of my October Challenge. Be on the look out for the challenge thread from Basebf later this week and if you wanna take part in the HalloweeNIT challenge here’s the first round matchups. The deal is simple. Its the last 16 nominees that didn’t make this year’s Bracketology tournament. I’m gonna draw films, watch them, and put up votes and pull a champion out of this October tournament who will then become the first member of the 2024 tournament. And if you watch and review all the films here or in the October Challenge thread then you get yourself a bonus bye to give to any nominee in the 2024 tourney past the nomination vote. This is the first round if you want to watch and get a jump on things. I’ll draw the second round October 5th. And even if you don’t want to watch the movies you’re always welcome to vote in the polls to decide what I watch this October. Vote until 12 noon EST October 5th (or until I get around to it) Sweet 16 - 1. Takashi Shimizu’s Suicide Forest Village vs. 16. Bruno Mattei’s Private House of the SS - 2. (Darthemed’s Team The World Ends in Anime!) Osamu Kamijo’s Violence Jack: Harlem Bomber vs. 15. Lamberto Bava’s Demons 2 - 3. Brian Trenchard-Smith’s Atomic Dog vs. 14. (deety’s Retrofantasma) Giulio Paradisi’s The Visitor - 4. (Kangra’s Undying Love) Fred Burnley’s Neither the Sea Nor the Sand vs. 13. (Darth’s Team Killer Jobs) Robert Malenfant’s The Night Caller - 5. (twernt’s I Never Meta Documentary I Didn't Enjoy) Jason Baker’s Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini vs. 12. (Tarnop’s Paradise By The Gaslight) Patrick Brice’s Creep - 6. (Goat’s Larry Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix) Larry Fessenden’s Wendigo vs. 11. (Moomin Dreams’ The Ring Cycle) Eric Valette’s Super Hybrid - 7. (mbd’s Older Than America) Georgina Lightning’s Older Than America vs. 10. (Goat’s Lucky McKee and Friends) Lucky McKee’s Red - 8. (Goat’s Around the World With Bracketology) Alejandro Hidalgo’s The House at the End of Time vs. 9. (Kangra’s So Scared I Soiled My Armor) Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys Thanks to everyone and have a wonderful spooky season and holidays! Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Sep 24, 2023 20:34
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Congrats to Carpenter; a worthy win. Thanks for a fantastic tournament, Goat. I think the round set-up was a good idea, because it's interesting to compare the set of films from one director (or set of directors) in a short period. This way we got that both late and early.
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Sep 24, 2023 23:03
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Let’s hear it for Roy Ward Baker, shown by the charts to be the real winner this year! And huge thanks to Goat for running this for us again this year, fighting through illnesses and movies antithetical to his tastes to keep the cinematic showdowns rolling from reel to reel, week to week. Condolences in advance for the anime you’ll be watching in the HalloweeNIT run as a result of my team nominations. That said, I fully intend to nominate more animated horror next year, and if it should come from Japan, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
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Sep 25, 2023 00:23
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Loving it! Thanks so much again for sacrificing your sanity in running this tournament. It's been great fun!
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Sep 25, 2023 01:11
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Something I forgot to mention but I think is an interesting and impressive piece of trivia. Even though Hitchcock lost he picked up his THIRD unanimous shutout victory of the tournament with North by Northwest to join Notorious and 39 Steps. Its a pretty incredible run and if the draws had just lined up a little differently he might not only have won but put together the most dominant performance in Bracketology history. Carpenter is retired now unless someone wants to make the case for Darkstar, Big Trouble in Little China, and Starman. I would but this feels like a perfect place for him to go out. I know he's got something coming out this October but I think that's a TV series? I'm not even sure if its fictional? I dunno. But I'll watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9cRV4_Qgew
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Sep 25, 2023 01:16
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Wow he finally won it, I thought it would never happen. Maybe it's a sign that this is the Knicks year as well. As always thanks GOAT for all the work you put in.
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Sep 25, 2023 14:06
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I didn't get a chance to work in a rewatch of Spellbound, and I forgot to vote for the other two matchups, but they ended up shaking out how I expected them to. After having rewatched Rear Window, I'm not surprised that my initial gut reaction of "Hitchcock could sweep the whole finals" ended up not panning out. Glad that JC finally managed to take the title that we all knew he deserved, though. Thanks again Goat for putting this whole thing together, and running it for so long, despite how it's obviously driving you insane. Darthemed posted:Let’s hear it for Roy Ward Baker, shown by the charts to be the real winner this year! Well, certainly he's the nicest one up there, by percentages.
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Sep 25, 2023 15:12
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I have a hard time parsing the op but this seems fun? You start up again in December?
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Sep 25, 2023 20:54
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N. Senada posted:I have a hard time parsing the op but this seems fun? You start up again in December? Yeah I’ll start a new thread for nominations around end of November/start of December. Loosely new thread should be open day after American Thanksgiving and tourney should be set day after Christmas. I’m gonna work in cleaning up the op and making it easier to digest. Condensing information sadly isn’t in my skill set but I’m looking at it as a growing opportunity.
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Sep 25, 2023 21:33
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Pretty sure I forgot to vote in the finals but it ain't a problem, all my choices won. Thanks as always, Goat!
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Sep 26, 2023 05:29
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The first round has been decided by votes and the second round has been drawn. 8 more movies added to my October list. 7 more to come.         Violence Jack and Demons 2 are somehow a tie and thus it went to a coin flip. How did that go? Well I’m filled with rage and regret. I hate everyone and everything from the random number generator to the physical coin i flipped to myself for doing this. Why do I do this to myself? We may never know.  Elite Eight 1. Takashi Shimizu’s Flight 7500 vs. 9. (Kangra’s So Scared I Soiled My Armor) Julian Doyle’s Chemical Wedding 2. (Darthemed’s Team The World Ends in Anime!) Osamu Kamijo’s Violence Jack: Hell’s Wind vs. 7. (mbd’s Older Than America) Jeff Barnaby’s Rhymes for Young Ghouls 6. (Goat’s Larry Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix) Larry Fessenden’s Depraved vs. 14. (deety’s Retrofantasma) Thom Eberhardt’s Sole Survivor 12. (Tarnop’s Paradise By The Gaslight) Patrick Brice’s Creep 2 vs. 13. (Darth’s Team Killer Jobs) David Wellington’s The Carpenter Vote in the Elite Eight until 12 noon EST Oct 12th! STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Oct 6, 2023 |
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Oct 6, 2023 07:55
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Kind of makes me smile to see my didn't-make-it teams doing so much better in the secondary tournament.
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Oct 6, 2023 17:46
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Rhymes for Young Ghouls is great, hope you enjoy it!
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Oct 8, 2023 14:39
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Hey hey hey, still doing this! Watching second round movies until I pass out so I can vote! And if you wanna vote you can too! Decide who I draw in the Final Four and who has a 1/4 chance to make next year's tourney. Vote in the Elite Eight until 12 noon EST (or when I get to it) Oct 12th!
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Oct 12, 2023 05:40
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I did say "when I get to it."    I am saved from anime but I suspect I'm not out of the woods. Dogtooth is raising flags. But we're getting close to the end and I'm adding less movies to my huge list. Just four left now and then the Championships to see who will be the HalloweeNIT '23 Champion and the first entry into the 2024 Spook-A-Doodle Bracketology Tournament & Movie Club.  1. Takashi Shimizu’s Innocent Curse vs. 12. (Tarnop’s Paradise By The Gaslight) Yorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth 6. (Goat’s Larry Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix) Jenn Wexler’s The Ranger vs. 7. (mbd’s Older Than America) Jeff Barnaby’s Blood Quantum Vote in the Final Four until 12 noon EST (or when I get to it) Oct 19th! Spreadsheet Letterboxd List STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 08:25 on Oct 13, 2023 |
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Oct 13, 2023 07:56
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STAC Goat posted:Dogtooth is raising flags Dogtooth has several scenes with content that you've previously said is a trigger for you so yeah, probably one to skip (sorry)
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Oct 13, 2023 08:22
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And so fall my teams, as if people didn’t want Goat watching anime… Or occupations turned into horror premises…
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Oct 13, 2023 18:51
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Blood Quantum is a local production for me and very dear to my heart so I can't see not voting for it. That other matchup though is something, guess it's time to get around to watching Dogtooth.
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Oct 14, 2023 15:33
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Its still Bracketology so you know what that means. My team loses and the team I'm afraid of wins by an AI coin flip.  So we have a championship match for the 2023 HalloweeNIT. One of these two teams makes the 2024 tournament. That same team will produce a 31st film for me to watch this month. So please, please, be kind. I really don't wanna watch another Dogtooth. The Championship! 7. (mbd’s Older Than America) Tracey Moffatt's Bedevil vs. 12. (Tarnop’s Paradise By The Gaslight) Patrick Brice's There’s Someone Inside Your House Vote to decide who wins the 2023 HalloweeNIT and becomes the first entry in the 2024 Spook-a-Doodle Bracketology Tournament & Movie Club until 12 noon EST (or when I get to it) Oct 26th.
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Oct 20, 2023 06:18
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If a tournament ends and the guy running it doesn't notice did it happen? Ok, I'm late because I had a bad day yesterday but we have a 2023 HalloweeNIT champion!  Congrats to mbd and their Older Than America team on not only becoming the third HalloweeNIT winner but for becoming the first of 64 entries into the 2024 Spook-a-Doodle Tournament! And in order to get to 31 films for my HalloweeNIT challenge (one I don't know if I'm gonna manage finishing) the last bonus draw is Nyla Innuksuk's Slash/Back! And that means I thankfully don't have to watch The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Dodged a bullet there. Thanks for everyone who participated. I'm done here now finally. I'll be back with a new thread around American Thanksgiving end of November with the 2024 thread after I recharge, clean up the spreadsheet, and try and make the rules legible. Wish me luck. and Happy Halloween!
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Oct 28, 2023 06:27
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Happy Halloween, and thank you for running the tournament through thick and thin and terrible movies! Take care of yourself and enjoy the chance to rest!
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Oct 29, 2023 22:55
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Late to say aww yea! Glad my team is gonna have a spot in the 2024 tournament!
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Nov 6, 2023 02:37
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New thread and season. In case you have this bookmarked and didn't notice. Nominations are happening. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=4048730
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Dec 6, 2023 15:39
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