2021 Film Challenge

Tools    





Also answers to Jabba
Much like the opportunities for seeing things I never would in the HoFs, this is an excellent personalized extension of delving into films/genres/etc. I've really needed to experience and yet, have not.
And thereby, I should also thank @Jabs for playing Host on this. VERY f@ckin cool!
You are most welcome. If you know of others that may enjoy this do share it with them.


On an unrelated topic, my progress so far has been quite satisfying, logging in a film per day. Last January I barely had 6-7 films in this.



The trick is not minding
You are most welcome. If you know of others that may enjoy this do share it with them.


On an unrelated topic, my progress so far has been quite satisfying, logging in a film per day. Last January I barely had 6-7 films in this.
Same! Last year I scrambled to complete this come December. I am to finish this sooner, and have put a huge dent into the normal mode already. I’ll have an update in a week



Looking forward to seeing more love for Destiny.

Everything I've seen from Lang (Destiny, M, Metropolis, The Big Heat) has been very good or great.

Aiming to see Scarlet Street this year.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Looking forward to seeing more love for Destiny.

Everything I've seen from Lang (Destiny, M, Metropolis, The Big Heat) has been very good or great.

Aiming to see Scarlet Street this year.
Destiny was the first to get on my list and Scarlet Street is really good. Though I am a bit bias since it's got my boy Edward G. Robinson in it.
__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes
~Mr Minio



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I think "M" is the greatest thriller ever. Just an overall great movie.
M is great. I own the criterion edition 😎
Metropolis blew me away last year.
I've seen it a number of times through out the years and each time I sit in awe.



Also answers to Jabba
One boring afternoon last year, I wanted to check if I was lagging behind on my challenge so I wrote this quick and easy program to do it for me. I am a bit too lazy to make it into an app but I thought I'd share it with the rest of you and see what you think.

It's as simple as entering the amount of films you have watched for the challenge and the program lets you know if you need to pick up the pace or not.




Saw a few more and decided on a few of the Lists


C. I coulda been a contender:
[Watch a film that has won the following awards in any category]
3. BAFTA Marty (1955) Best Picture/Foreign Actor/Actress 1956 REVIEW

J. Are we there yet?
[Watch one film for each of the miscellaneous challenges listed below]
4. a film directed by a woman The Nightingale (2018) Directed by: Jennifer Kent REVIEW


"Nightmare Mode"
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times!
watch 10 films released in the same decade
1930s
Vampyr (1932) REVIEW

Chekhov, Method or Meisner?
watch 10 films featuring the same actor
Joan Fontaine

I have a vision...
watch 10 films from the same director
Fritz Lang

I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore
watch 10 films from the same country
France
Le Doulos (1962) REVIEW

You should have Nightingale under Oceana because you are doing the Hall of Fame and that can cover 1/3rd of the main hall


I know you said you were interested in trying it...just wanted to point out that when you finish the 24th Hall of Fame you are going to have 30% of it finished


4. New Hollywood (1968-1980) - Hard Times
1. Cannes Film Festival- Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Academy Award - The Sea Inside
3. BAFTA - Day of the Jackal
4. Independent Spirit Awards - Antoine Fisher
1. North America - Rudderless
2. South America - Secret in their Eyes
3. Europe - The Whisperers
4. Asia - Man from Nowhere
1. Anthony Mann/Dennis Hopper/Elia Kazan/Stanley Kubrick - Barry Lyndon
5. Néstor Almendros/Jack Cardiff/Sven Nykvist/Gordon Willis
Shame
2. Sight & Sound's top 100 (any category) - La Dolce Vita
4. IMDb's top 250 (2020 finalized edition) - The Deer Hunter
5. Steven Jay Schneider's 1001 movies - Vampyr
2. World War II - In A Glass Cage
4. a film directed by a woman - Aniara



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
You should have Nightingale under Oceana because you are doing the Hall of Fame and that can cover 1/3rd of the main hall


I know you said you were interested in trying it...just wanted to point out that when you finish the 24th Hall of Fame you are going to have 30% of it finished


4. New Hollywood (1968-1980) - Hard Times
1. Cannes Film Festival- Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Academy Award - The Sea Inside
3. BAFTA - Day of the Jackal
4. Independent Spirit Awards - Antoine Fisher
1. North America - Rudderless
2. South America - Secret in their Eyes
3. Europe - The Whisperers
4. Asia - Man from Nowhere
1. Anthony Mann/Dennis Hopper/Elia Kazan/Stanley Kubrick - Barry Lyndon
5. Néstor Almendros/Jack Cardiff/Sven Nykvist/Gordon Willis
Shame
2. Sight & Sound's top 100 (any category) - La Dolce Vita
4. IMDb's top 250 (2020 finalized edition) - The Deer Hunter
5. Steven Jay Schneider's 1001 movies - Vampyr
2. World War II - In A Glass Cage
4. a film directed by a woman - Aniara
Thanks Siddon! I will seriously be using a very large chunk of this.
I was originally going to put The Nightingale in Oceana (my dumb old @ss add to look that up, not realizing it was Australia and nearby islands to the north lol) and when I saw it was directed by a woman, it just felt ideal for that one. The serendipity of it, since Nightingale was recommended to me from the MoFo Film Roulette last week, this week's recommendation was a very nice fit for Oceana: Breaker Morant.



The trick is not minding
Thanks Siddon! I will seriously be using a very large chunk of this.
I was originally going to put The Nightingale in Oceana (my dumb old @ss add to look that up, not realizing it was Australia and nearby islands to the north lol) and when I saw it was directed by a woman, it just felt ideal for that one. The serendipity of it, since Nightingale was recommended to me from the MoFo Film Roulette last week, this week's recommendation was a very nice fit for Oceana: Breaker Morant.
You’d be surprised what films came out of Australia. I Chose it as my country for nightmare mode, there’s a decent amount of ozploitation and Australian New Wave films available on Amazon.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
You’d be surprised what films came out of Australia. I Chose it as my country for nightmare mode, there’s a decent amount of ozploitation and Australian New Wave films available on Amazon.
I've seen a small amount of Australian films and would, at some point love to delve deeper.
I almost went that route as well if not for all the older French films I've been dying to watch and took the opportunity to do just that.



The trick is not minding
I've seen a small amount of Australian films and would, at some point love to delve deeper.
I almost went that route as well if not for all the older French films I've been dying to watch and took the opportunity to do just that.
I feel ya. I need to do a deeper dive into France, Italy, Japan, Germany, China, Taiwan, Russia........



The trick is not minding
Update!
Main Challenge  


Nightmare Mode  



I have completed section D. (Not really stretching my boundaries here, but it's a start)

D. Lets break this down, shall we?
[Pick one of the following genres and watch one film from each of its subgenres list below]
1. [Horror: Slasher] - The Initiation (1984)
2. [Horror: Monster] - The Golem (1920)
3. [Horror: Paranormal] - Muse (2018)
4. [Horror: Gore] - Yummy (2019)
__________________
Captain's Log
My Collection



Here’s looking at you, kid.
A. Get lost in the movement:
[Watch one film belonging to each of the following cinematic movements]
1. French Impressionism The Fall of the House of Usher
2. Polish Film School Ashes and Diamonds
3. Dogme 95 Kamera
4. New Hollywood (1968-1980) Network
5. Mumblecore Daddy Longlegs

B. Times are a-changing
[Watch one film from each of these iconic decade-genre combinations]
1. 1930s Musical Top Hat
2. 1940s War film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
3. 1970s Apocalyptic film Stalker
4. 1980s Coming-of-age film Cinema Paradiso
5. 1990s Courtroom Drama JFK

C. I coulda been a contender:
[Watch a film that has won the following awards in any category]
1. Cannes Film Festival The Wind that Shakes the Barley
2. Academy Award The Apartment
3. BAFTA Bicycle Thieves
4. Independent Spirit Awards Y Tu Mama Tambien
5. Sundance Film Festival Blood Simple
6. Venice International Film Festival Roma
7. Locarno Film Festival Right Now, Wrong Then

D. Lets break this down, shall we?
[Pick one of the following genres and watch one film from each of its subgenres list below]
1. [Science Fiction: Cyberpunk]**Tetsuo: The Iron Man
2. [Science Fiction: Alien Invasion] Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978)
3. [Science Fiction: Dystopian] Brazil
4. [Science Fiction: Time Travel] About Time

E. It's a big world out there:
[Watch a film from the following regions]
1. North America Sunset Boulevard
2. South America The Secret in their Eyes
3. Europe Come and See
4. Asia Seven Samurai
5. Africa The Battle of Algiers
6. Oceania What We Do In the Shadows

F. I see dead people:
[Watch one film from each group of deceased directors, actors & cinematographers]
1. Anthony Mann/Dennis Hopper/Elia Kazan/Stanley Kubrick 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. Robert Bresson/Akira Kurosawa/Fritz Lang/Pier Paolo Pasolini Ran
3. Yul Brynner/Sean Connery/Bruce Lee/Ricardo Montalban The Ten Commandments
4. Hannelore Elsner/Janet Leigh/Katina Paxinou/Romy Schneider Touch of Evil
5. Néstor Almendros/Jack Cardiff/Sven Nykvist/Gordon Willis Persona

G. I have always depended on the lists of strangers:
[Watch one film featured in each of the following prominent lists]
1. Roger Ebert's Great Films The Color Purple
2. Sight & Sound's top 100 (any category) 8 1/2
3. AFI's top 100 (any category) The Graduate
4. IMDb's top 250 (2020 finalized edition) It Happened One Night
5. Steven Jay Schneider's 1001 movies Stagecoach
6. Criterion Collection The Big Country

H. We've met before, haven't we?
[Watch a film that migrated to cinematic form from another medium]
1. a franchise with 5 or more sequels/remakes/reboots The Tale of Zatoichi
2. a novel adaptation The Maltese Falcon
3. a film adapted to or from a TV series Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Here Rabbit
4. a theatrical play adaptation Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

I. War, what is it good for?
[Watch one film centered around each of the war themes below]
1. World War I Paths of Glory
2. World War II Patton
3. Cold War North by Northwest
4. Vietnam War Platoon

J. Are we there yet?
[Watch one film for each of the miscellaneous challenges listed below]
1. a film more than 160 minutes long Gone With The Wind
2. a film with a budget lower than 1 million Aguirre, The Wrath of God
3. a silent film Metropolis
4. a film directed by a woman Monster
5. a 2021 release Judas and the Black Messiah
6. a film suggested by another participant of this challenge



Also answers to Jabba
With January ending, I am going to do a small recap of the first month of the challenge.

Having watched 25 films related to the challenge and 32 overall, I have averaged more than a film a day and I am 12 films ahead of schedule.

Settling down on individual preferences:
- I have decided to go with India as my country of choice in order to finally watch most of those Bollywood films that creep up on IMDb's top 250 from time to time, since I eventually want to complete all of those yearly lists.
- For genre I am going with Western in order to expand my very limited knowledge on the once popular genre.
- Decade of choice will be the 1940s, since in the previous years I covered the 30s, 50s and 60s.
- I still haven't settled down on a director, with Woody Allen being a viable choice (I watched 4 of his films already this month), but I used him 5 years ago in my first ever challenge so for now I am holding off for something better. My partner and I started casually watching his filmography from scratch years ago and we are finally down to single digits so this year is my last chance to use him. There is still time to decide though and I am hoping I will do someone like Bergman, Trouffaut or Goddard instead.

As far as individual films are concerned, In Old Chicago was surprisingly decent for 1930s oscar bait and Ripley's Game was quality. On the other end, The Lighthouse was a film I had had high hopes for, but erred too much on the art house side for my taste, at least after a first viewing.



Also answers to Jabba
Idk if I can just do this, but I did that. If at all possible can I get a rec from someone
Welcome aboard!

There are quite a few recommendations by other members in the previous pages. If none of them will do, I would suggest Costa-Gavras' Z, which is a French film about the rise of the Greek junta in the late 60s. A well made film that is very dear to me and with a story that is very accurate.



Idk if I can just do this, but I did that. If at all possible can I get a rec from someone
There are quite a few recs on pages 3 and 4 from users in this challenge.

Congratulations on getting through the first part so quickly! Hopefully you saw some stuff you really liked. This time around I'm being more thoughtful in my selections and really trying to pick films that genuinely interest me.

EDIT: Here is a copy paste of my recommendations and where they are streaming.

Netflix
Klaus
Hunt for the Wilder People
About Time
Prospect
Good Time
Cloud Atlas

Hulu
Hunt for the Wilder People
Peanut Butter Falcon
Tangerine
Black Dynamite
Mud

Amazon Prime
Short Term 12
Lake Mungo
The 39 Steps
Orlando
Frailty

Criterion Channel
Watership Down
Phoenix
Kuroneko
The 39 Steps
Shock Corridor

Other
Predestination (Roku Channel)
Blood Simple (HBO)
Brain Damage (Shudder)
Shock Corridor (HBO, IndieFlix)



Quick question that I didn't see an answer to previously in the thread (so apologies if I missed it somewhere): Is there a place where one can find the "2020 finalized edition" of the IMDB Top 250?