2020 Movie Challenge

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Grand Hotel (1932)
Fantasia (1940)
Paisan (1946)

Heavy Metal (1981)
Dreams (1990)
Magnolia (1999)

Amores Perros (2000)
I've only seen Magnolia, which I love. I generally consider movies which cross cut between various storylines to be a different sub-genre, but I'll check the rest of those out.
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The trick is not minding
And finished!
Would have had this finished up a few days ago but watched Oliviers Hamlet instead, which was excellent btw.
A lot of great films this year via this challenge!
Looking forward to next year. See you all there!

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Congrats!

I watched both Rome Open City and Shoplifters this week, so I consider myself officially finished, unless there are any other errors on my list.



The trick is not minding
Congrats!

I watched both Rome Open City and Shoplifters this week, so I consider myself officially finished, unless there are any other errors on my list.
How was Shoplifters? I saw it’s available on Hulu and planned on watching it.



Also answers to Jabba
Officially finished on my end as well!

Main Challenge  


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What follows is a short recap of my challenge:

Highlights:
- Using Mifune in the 10 films by the same actor category to complete Kurosawa's filmography.
- Using South Korea as my country of choice to binge all of Bong's films within a week.
- Sinking my teeth deeper into Fellini.
- Completing MoFo's top 100 sci-fi list.
- Watching for the first time films from Austria, Senegal, Chile, Cyprus, Mali, Egypt, Peru, Estonia, Guatemala, Iceland, Andorra, Saudi Arabia and Mongolia.

Favorite Picks:
- The Cremator: I accidentally bumped into this Czechoslovakian gem on Kanopy and it turned out to be one of the eeriest films I have ever watched.
- Memories of Murder: Excellent piece of noir cinema and my personal favorite of Bong's filmography.
- A Place in the Sun: A dramatic film with a story reminiscent of a great American classic novel. Clift was the ideal casting and the story hit all the right notes.
- Stray Dog: Kurosawa stepping out of his comfort zone with one of the first ever Japanese detective stories. It included elements that reminded me of Body Heat.
- Harakiri: A very well told and choreographed samurai story. It reminded of some of the best work of Kurosawa, combined with the realistic absurdity of the fights in Oldboy.
- Parasite: Its praises have already been sung enough. Even though I found Memories of Murder more compelling, this shows Bong has his best work ahead of him.
- 1917: Unique, if only from a directorial standpoint. Great cinematography to boot.
- Cairo Station: Not a mind-blowing film, but one that definitely caught me pleasantly by surprise. Very solid throughout which was quite unexpected for a first blind venture into Egyptian cinema.
- To Be or Not to Be & Bringing up Baby: Both were surprisingly funny and it is very rare for comedy to hold up that well 80 or so years later.


Biggest Disappointments:
Yip Man, The Handmaiden, WR: Mysteries of the Organism, half of the Fellini films I watched (especially his later ones)



The trick is not minding
Officially finished on my end as well!

Main Challenge  


Nightmare Mode  


What follows is a short recap of my challenge:

Highlights:
- Using Mifune in the 10 films by the same actor category to complete Kurosawa's filmography.
- Using South Korea as my country of choice to binge all of Bong's films within a week.
- Sinking my teeth deeper into Fellini.
- Completing MoFo's top 100 sci-fi list.
- Watching for the first time films from Austria, Senegal, Chile, Cyprus, Mali, Egypt, Peru, Estonia, Guatemala, Iceland, Andorra, Saudi Arabia and Mongolia.

Favorite Picks:
- The Cremator: I accidentally bumped into this Czechoslovakian gem on Kanopy and it turned out to be one of the eeriest films I have ever watched.
- Memories of Murder: Excellent piece of noir cinema and my personal favorite of Bong's filmography.
- A Place in the Sun: A dramatic film with a story reminiscent of a great American classic novel. Clift was the ideal casting and the story hit all the right notes.
- Stray Dog: Kurosawa stepping out of his comfort zone with one of the first ever Japanese detective stories. It included elements that reminded me of Body Heat.
- Harakiri: A very well told and choreographed samurai story. It reminded of some of the best work of Kurosawa, combined with the realistic absurdity of the fights in Oldboy.
- Parasite: Its praises have already been sung enough. Even though I found Memories of Murder more compelling, this shows Bong has his best work ahead of him.
- 1917: Unique, if only from a directorial standpoint. Great cinematography to boot.
- Cairo Station: Not a mind-blowing film, but one that definitely caught me pleasantly by surprise. Very solid throughout which was quite unexpected for a first blind venture into Egyptian cinema.
- To Be or Not to Be & Bringing up Baby: Both were surprisingly funny and it is very rare for comedy to hold up that well 80 or so years later.


Biggest Disappointments:
Yip Man, The Handmaiden, WR: Mysteries of the Organism, half of the Fellini films I watched (especially his later ones)
Were these all first time viewings for you as well, Jabs?



Memories of Murder: Excellent piece of noir cinema and my personal favorite of Bong's filmography.
I saw this in the theater when it was first released and loved it. Then in 2008 I was in grad school and saw it was playing at a local theater. I asked a friend to come along and when we got there the tickets were like $15. I was like "$15!" and the person at the box office said, "Well, yeah. Because of the director Q&A." I was like, "THE WHAT??!?!?!?!" So then I got to see Memories of Murder on the big screen and see Bong Joon-ho. I wish I could say that I asked an amazing question, but all my brain could do was go "Squeeeeeeeeee!!!!!".

Yip Man, The Handmaiden, WR: Mysteries of the Organism, half of the Fellini films I watched (especially his later ones)
I'm sorry you were disappointed by The Handmaiden. I thought it was really beautifully shot and also darkly funny.



Didn't know about this challenge, but as the year winds down, I think I might have completed a couple of this...

Main Challenge  


Nightmare Mode  


I didn't put everything in some categories, like foreign language, etc. just some for a glimpse.
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Also answers to Jabba
I saw this in the theater when it was first released and loved it. Then in 2008 I was in grad school and saw it was playing at a local theater. I asked a friend to come along and when we got there the tickets were like $15. I was like "$15!" and the person at the box office said, "Well, yeah. Because of the director Q&A." I was like, "THE WHAT??!?!?!?!" So then I got to see Memories of Murder on the big screen and see Bong Joon-ho. I wish I could say that I asked an amazing question, but all my brain could do was go "Squeeeeeeeeee!!!!!".
Oh that is exquisite!


I'm sorry you were disappointed by The Handmaiden. I thought it was really beautifully shot and also darkly funny.
Honestly, its IMDb score and director made me expect something solid at the very least, but it turned out to be trite through and through. The gratuitous softcore pornography did not help either.



Didn't know about this challenge, but as the year winds down, I think I might have completed a couple of this...

I didn't put everything in some categories, like foreign language, etc. just some for a glimpse.
Your monthly challenges are one of the main reasons I had quite a few films that I could load into this challenge when I joined it in June/July.



Your monthly challenges are one of the main reasons I had quite a few films that I could load into this challenge when I joined it in June/July.
I'm glad. I'm still wondering what to do for 2021. Part of me wants to continue in the same way, but part of me also wants to do something different. We'll see.



Challenge  


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The trick is not minding
Well then congratulations are in order!

How many people that completed the challenge does that make? 5?


speak up people!
Iro, You, Me, Tak and Siddon. 5 as far as I can tell.