The 2008 Movie Genre of the Month Club

[Heineken Skywalker]

[shadow=red,left,300][/shadow]Hey gang, I thought I'd try something a little different and wanted to see how many of you would be interested in participating.
My idea was that at the beginning of each month, I'll announce what that month's "Movie Genre" or category is, and everyone who agreed to participate, promises to watch at least four movies that month (averages to about one movie per week) in whatever that month's chosen genre/category is.

So, for example, if I announce that particular month's category is "80's Action Movies", then everyone who agreed to be part of the club would watch at least four 80's action movies before the month is over. Note, you should try to watch at least four, but you can watch as many as you want.

The idea is to try to get people to maybe try movies in genres that they might not neccesarily automatically gravitate towards. Don't worry, I promise not to make the genres too obscure or tough for people to find movies in at their local video store or in their own collections. (No German expressionism from the silent era, for example.) The genres or categories will be chosen by me, but there will be plenty of films in each category to pick from.

As an added incentive to participate, at the end of the year, I will tally up the scores of everyone who is part of the group, based on how many movies they watched in total that were chosen genres/categories, and the person with the highest score, ie: most movies watched, will get a nice little movie-related prize in the mail from me. (Note: Obviously, I will participate in the movie-watching part, but I can't win the prize so it will definitely be awarded to someone other than me. If I myself happen to have the highest score at the end of the year, I will award the prize to the person with the second highest number of movies.) If you happen to fall short of four movies for any particular month, you should try to make up the difference in later month's chosen genres/categories. But try to keep up each month to make it easier on yourself.

Anyone can join up at any point during the year, but obviously the later you join, the tougher it'll be for you to actually win the prize as you'll have some catching up to do.

If this sounds like it might be fun for you and you're interested in participating, please post your reply here and we'll see how many people have "signed up" by Friday morning. I'll decide then if this worth pursuing or if there's not enough interest.

[slayrrr666]

You know what. Sign me up. One of my resolutions was to try new things this year, and this seems like something that could do that. I'll be a part of this.

[LivingDeadGirl]

Count me in too!

[Heineken Skywalker]

Thanks for jumping right in, Slayrrr and LDG!

And in case I wasn't clear in the original post, I won't be picking the actual movies that the club members will be watching. I will choose the genre or category, but it will be up to individual club members to pick the films they'd like to watch.

[slayrrr666]

I understood what we were supposed to do, so there was no confusion on my end.

[Pulpmariachi]

I'll do it.

[Bartwald]

Count me in, too! I may not score very high in January since I've got an important project that needs to be finished, but afterwards - I will FIGHT!

[ZapRowsdower]

I'm in.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Alright gang, glad to see so many of you pulled the trigger without knowing exactly what you were in for. ;D
I meant to post this this morning but then, you know, life....

Anyway, I'll start things out kind of easy.
The genre/category for January is...

1980's SCIENCE FICTION MOVIES

Aliens, cyborgs, spaceships, post-apocalyptic worlds, time travel. The Eighties were a great decade for Sci-Fi movies. Special effects had really come into their own in the late Seventies with STAR WARS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, SUPERMAN and ALIEN all released between '77 and '79, so Sci-Fi was King and things really took off in the next decade.

A couple of rules because we don't want this devolving into total anarchy.

1. The obvious rule, the film's year of release has to be between 1980 and 1989.

2. The films can be serious, they can be funny, they can be scary, etc., but they have to have at least one element of Sci-Fi to qualify. You have to diversify in your choices. All of your picks can't be in the same sub-genre of sci-fi, meaning they can't all be sci-fi comedies or all sci-fi horror. The point is to see a variety of things.

3. Whenever you watch one, feel free to post it in "Just Watched Movies" like you normally would, or even write a review for "Review Hell" if so inclined, but post here also, so that I can keep track of what everybody's watching and can more easily calculate the final scores. Feel free to tell us what you thought of the film and score it using the 1 to 10 system, ie: 1 being just awful, 5 is average and 10 being perfect. Half points, ie: 8.5/10 are also allowed.

4. You have until January 31st, and then on February 1st I'll announce the next genre or category. After January 31st, any 80's Sci-Fi movies you watch are purely for your own enjoyment and no longer count towards your total score.

5. Like I mentioned in the original post, try to watch at least four, one per week, but the more you watch, the better your chances at being awarded the "2008 Movie Genre Of The Month Club Grand Prize"! I'll probaby be deciding on what exactly that's going to be as the year ends. (Though I already have some ideas.)
But even better, hopefully at the end of it all, you'll feel like you saw a bunch of movies you might not have watched otherwise and actually enjoyed some of them.

If there's something I forgot to cover or there are any additional concerns or questions, feel free to post them here so that I can answer for everyone to see.
Also, if any other members of The Board decide to join us, no problem. Just post here that you're in or whatever. You might be a bit behind at first, but the more the merrier.

Cheers and good luck everybody!
Ready, set, GO!!!!

EDIT: One last thing. In case it wasn't clear, all movies watched have to have been theatrical releases. No made for tv or made for cable movies, ie: HBO, Sci-Fi Channel, etc., are not eligible. No television mini-series either.

[Heineken Skywalker]

My first pick:

BLADE RUNNER (1982) (Original Theatrical Release)

Harrison Ford plays Rick Deckard, a cop in 2019 Los Angeles, who specializes in terminating Replicants, artificially created humans with a pre-determined lifespan.
Deckard comes out of retirement to hunt down a group of "skin jobs" who have escaped from an off-world colony and made their way back to Earth.
Stunning production values and set design and a cool pre-THE MATRIX cyberpunk look to the wardrobe, make this one really standout.
Rutger Hauer is also really good as Roy Batty, the lead replicant.
A box office bomb when it was first released, but now considered a cult classic. It has been rereleased several times in different versions, including the Director's Cut which I saw back in the Nineties.
I bought the 4-disc collector's version and plan on watching "The Final Cut" next month. The "Theatrical Release" is the version I first saw and have seen the most times. I've never seen the "International Version" either, but my understanding is just that it's slightly more violent.

8.5/10

[Sybillness]

Ok, since I will watch everything that Heineken watches, I suppose I'm in too. And yes, I too just watched BLADERUNNER. Ditto on everything that Heineken said and I was especially pleased to see the block walls in Deckard's apartment based on Frank Lloyd Wright's work for a house he designed for a client in Los Angeles. I love me some Frank Lloyd Wright architecture!

[Heineken Skywalker]

ROBOCOP (1987) (Unrated Director's Cut)

A police officer (Peter Weller) in the future is violently murdered by a gang and is reconstructed as the ultimate in law enforcement, RoboCop.
That's the simple premise of one of the best sci-fi/action films ever made.

But this is no brainless action movie. Director Paul Verhoeven, manages to make the film action-packed while still retaining the lead character's humanity within his bulky metal armor, and even manages to sneak in some great commentary on consumerism and our disensitation to violence.

Amid all the blood and violence there are some great laughs to be found here, albeit, of the dark humor kind.
There are some great old school special effects in this too, especially the stop-motion animation used to bring life to the first law enforcement robot in the film, ED-209.

8.5/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

BRAZIL (1985)

Terry Gilliam's vision of a George Orwellian futuristic bureaucratic society that is completely inefficient. After a literal bug gets in the system, a daydreaming civil servant is assigned to fix the problem, but things just keep getting worse and worse for him as he's mistaken for a terrorist and his life is put in danger.
Jonathan Pryce plays the put-upon "everyman" bureaucrat with too much imagination for such a restrictive society. The production design is really great and combines futuristic with retro to give the film a look of being set in the future, but trapped in the past at the same time.
The look of the film is really my favorite thing about it. I've seen it twice now and just can't get into it from a comedy perspective as I find it only mildly amusing, while others find it hilarious.
I think for myself it's one of those movies that I'll enjoy more each time I see it. Maybe in time I'll learn to appreciate it in the way that millions of others do, but not quite yet.

6.5/10

[ZapRowsdower]

I see you're getting all your movies out of the way early. ;D

[Phoenix]

Count me is as well. I've never seen Brazil, so I've added that to my netflix list.