The 2008 Movie Genre of the Month Club

[LivingDeadGirl]

Jul 28, 2008 15:02:17 GMT -5 Heineken Skywalker said:

My mom used to watch DARK SHADOWS, and yeah, it was essentially a gothic soap opera with vampires.

That's what's wrong with me now...my mom let me watch it when I was a kid. ;D I guess it explains my fascination with vampires...or I'v just read too many Anne Rice novels.

I'm so behind in this for this month, but I did watch Alien Nation and really liked it. I used to watch the series when it was on tv but never got around to watching the movie. Starring James Caan and Mandy Patinkin, who I didn't recognize until 20 minutes into the movie. There was more humor in it than I expected and really cheesy music, but hey, what can you expect?

[ZapRowsdower]

The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991, David Zucker)

Holy crap, I forgot how much I loved this movie. See, why can't they make 'em like this anymore? Those douchebags behind Disaster Movie need to take a good hard look at this film (along with the first one and Airplane), because THIS is how it's done. 9/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

Jul 30, 2008 23:15:23 GMT -5 ZapRowsdower said:

Hercules (1997, Ron Clements; John Musker)

Is it just me, or is this movie incredibly underrated? Who's with me on this? 9/10

I said as much when I rewatched this for Animation month. It's a really good and underrated Disney film. The best thing about it though is James Woods, who steals the show as the voice of the villain, Hades.


Watched last night to get in one more for this month:

THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980)

Jake and Elwood Blues (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd), who first appeared on "Saturday Night Live" in the 70's, try to reunite their blues band in order to play a concert and raise the money needed to save the orphanage they were raised in.
The brothers have a knack for pissing off people though and are soon being pursued by the police, Illinois Nazis, a country band and a mysterious girl (Carrie Fisher) who is trying to kill Jake.

A couple of hilarious moments, in a movie filled with hilarious moments, include the band playing a gig at a bar that features both kinds of music: Country and Western, and the brothers trying to embarass a bandmate at a posh restaurant, Jake: "Your women. I want to buy your women. The little girl, your daughters... sell them to me. Sell me your children.". Funny shit.

Oh yeah, and then there's the music. Besides the comedy and the numerous car chases and crashes, there are also several showstopping numbers by R&B legends like James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles among others. On top of everything else, the movie's a great musical too.
Being on a mission from God has never been this funny.

9/10

[ZapRowsdower]

So, it's August now... what's the new Genre?

[Heineken Skywalker]

The final scores for this month.

July: MOVIES BASED ON A TV SERIES and MOVIES THAT INSPIRED A TV SERIES

Heineken Skywalker = 19
ZapRowsdower = 16
Slayrrr666 = 15
Quorthon = 2
LivingDeadGirl = 1

Congrats to ZapRowsdower for the high score this month!

The complete tally for the year so far:

Heineken Skywalker = 112
Slayrrr666 = 64
ZapRowsdower = 62
LivingDeadGirl = 26
Pulpmariachi = 18
Bartwald = 9
Quorthon = 9
Sybillness = 7

(Looks like the rest of you are pretty much letting Zap and Slayrrr run away with this thing.)

[Heineken Skywalker]

The genre/category for August is...

SPORTS MOVIES

Audiences love stories about winners and underdogs. There have been movies centered around sports and athletes almost as long as there have been movies themselves and this month we'll get at least 2 or 3 more that I'm aware of.
Pretty much any sport you can think of has at one time or another had a film made that was based around it, from high school to college to the Olympics to pro sports. Even Sci-Fi has been known to throw it's hat in the sports arena from time to time.

A few rules to follow: (The "NEW RULES" are specific to this month's category, so please be sure to read them. The rest of the rules are basically the same ones as previous months.)

NEW RULE 1. All films this month have to be centered around a sport. The main character(s) have to be either an athlete, a team, a coach, or anyone else directly involved in the sport.

NEW RULE 2. As long as a sport is featured, the genre can be of any type including sci-fi, drama, comedy, horror, animation, etc.

NEW RULE 3. We should see the actual sport played at least a couple of times during the course of the film. Training or practice scenes are good too. If a character only talks about his glory days when he played baseball or whatever, then I'm not going to count it as a real sports movie.

NEW RULE 4. There are very few sports film franchises, but for the sake of argument, the past rule regarding that applies here as well. No more than two films from any series will actually score you points. So, for example, if you choose to watch all of the ROCKY movies, no more than two of them should be posted here. Feel free to watch as many as you want though and post them in the regular "Just Watched" thread.

5. As usual, all movies watched have to have been theatrical releases. Only actual movies that were released in theaters will count. The same rule applies here that has applied for all previous categories. No made for tv or made for cable movies. Movies that first aired on HBO, USA, Showtime, Sci-Fi Channel, etc., are not eligible. No television mini-series or direct to home video features either.

6. 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 most importantly, post in this thread, 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.

7. You have until August 31st and then on September 1st I'll announce the next genre or category. After August 31st, any Sports films you watch are purely for your own enjoyment and no longer count towards your total score.

8. I will periodically update the scores for this genre so that everyone can see where they, and everyone else, is at. At the beginning of the following month, I will add the new scores to the previous month's scores, to get a complete tally and show the total scores for the year so far.

9. 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"!
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!

[LivingDeadGirl]

Varsity Blues 3/4- Nothing is more important in a small southern town than football. At least that's what the adults think if not the kids that actually play the game. And living in a small southern town I've witnessed first-hand the hysteria and obsession of it. Lots of good performances all around, James Van Der Beek, Scott Caan, Ali Larter, etc. Has a lot of heart, some humor and a good lesson about what's really important in life. Been one of my favorite movies since the first time I watched it.

[slayrrr666]

Ok, since I watched one this is, before I get to it, a quick question about what isn't a sport:

Which of these would count and which ones wouldn't-
Wrestling
Auto Racing
Dancing
Cheerleading
Water acitivites (water polo, swimming, diving, fishing, etc)
Monster Trucking

Most of these are carried on sports channels, so I'm only asking about avaliablilty to count here.

Rookie of the Year-1993
The comedy version of the film with the same title, a forgotten gem from my childhood. Forgot how funny this one could be, which is mostly centered around Daniel Stern (the man is gold in here with just about everything here being outright hilarious) to the constant mispronouncing of the last name, cheap laughs but laughs still. Even still, it does play fast-and-loose with the rules in order to generate laughs, so I gotta mark it for that and the parenting issues at the end are a little heavy for most kids, but it's still a kids movie so the center-piece is around them and it's enjoyable when it is.
8/10

[Pulpmariachi]

So my Dad's DirecTV guide says that the "Kill Bill" movies are 'sport.' Does that count? (Kung fu I guess?)

[Heineken Skywalker]

Aug 3, 2008 11:02:03 GMT -5 slayrrr666 said:

Which of these would count and which ones wouldn't-

Wrestling - Yes, IF it's the high school, college or Olympics version. No, if it's the Hulk Hogan/The Rock version. Even the WWE calls it "entertainment" now and not a "sport".

Auto Racing - Yes

Dancing - No. Dance is an artform, not a sport.

Cheerleading - I'm going to say, no. Does anyone really want to watch BRING IT ON?

Water activites (water polo, swimming, diving, fishing, etc) - Yes

Monster Trucking - No. Are there any movies about monster trucking? Just curious.

[Heineken Skywalker]

Aug 3, 2008 11:19:50 GMT -5 Pulpmariachi said:

So my Dad's DirecTV guide says that the "Kill Bill" movies are 'sport.' Does that count? (Kung fu I guess?)

Now that's funny. Do I really need to answer that, Pulp?
Saying KILL BILL is a sports movie because they use martial arts, is like saying the FRIDAY THE 13TH movies are sports movies because Jason wears a hockey mask.

For the record, before anyone asks, chess and checkers are not sports either.

[ZapRowsdower]

Damn, I guess that rules out Searching for Bobby Fischer. And probably Rounders, too.

Serious question though. Do documentaries count? Like When We Were Kings or The League of Ordinary Gentlemen (if Bowling counts as a sport...)?

[Heineken Skywalker]

Aug 3, 2008 19:59:34 GMT -5 ZapRowsdower said:

Damn, I guess that rules out Searching for Bobby Fischer. And probably Rounders, too.

Good guess. Poker? Not a sport. Neither are darts or pool/billiards. If you can play it in a bar/pub, it ain't a sport. What's next, FOOSBALL: THE MOVIE?

Aug 3, 2008 19:59:34 GMT -5 ZapRowsdower said:

Serious question though. Do documentaries count? Like When We Were Kings or The League of Ordinary Gentlemen (if Bowling counts as a sport...)?

Yes, if they were theatrically released, documentaries definitely count. I highly recommend HOOP DREAMS, the documentary about a couple of high school students who dream of making it as NBA stars.

And yeah, we can count bowling as a sport.

My first two for this genre:

THE NATURAL (1984)

Robert Redford shines as a baseball phenom who seemingly comes out of nowhere, with his homemade bat, "Wonderboy", in hand, to lead a losing team to victory. Somehow I missed having seen this one before, which is one of the reasons I started this whole Genre of the Month Club, to kind of force me to watch some movies that I never had before, but always meant to.
Plays like a drama, but definitely has a fantasy element to it. Co-stars Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, Wilford Brimley, Kim Basinger and Darren McGavin.

8/10

ROLLERBALL (1975)

James Caan is Johnathan E., the star player of Rollerball, a sport that has replaced crime and war in a corporate-run future society. The ultra-violent sport is a combination of roller derby and motorcross with a touch of football and hockey and can sometimes lead to major injuries or even death right in the arena, to the delight of the bloodthirsty fans. The action-packed scenes where they actually play Rollerball are definitely the highlight of the film for me. The rest of it is kind of dull and a little too reminiscent of 1984 or other futuristic opressed society films.

6/10

[ZapRowsdower]

In that case...

American Teen (2008, Nanette Burstein)

A raw and gritty look at High School life in rural, conservative Indiana. Actually, it's pretty clear that just like anyone who knows they're on camera, they were all guilty of playing it up. Which brings the Catch-22... how do you capture a REAL high school experience? Funny enough, if my memory serves me right (having graduated 5 years ago), this is pretty much it. In fact, one of the characters was so much like me it was frightening... literally like looking into the past and watching myself in high school. But it's interesting how all their lives play out and kind of have some kind of story to them. One kid wants to earn a Basketball scholarship but needs to learn a little bit more about teamwork (very interesting real-life character arc here). One kid just wants a girlfriend, but is incredibly weird, goofy, has terrible acne, and doesn't know the first thing about relationships. Another is a "rebel" who for some reason takes high school relationships way too seriously. And then there's one who is just... a bitch. But there's a reason for it. Altogether, it becomes almost a real-life Breakfast Club, and we really catch a glimpse (even if it's just a little over-dramatized for the camera) of what high school is like. I think it's pretty accurate. And entertaining. 9/10

[Heineken Skywalker]

Zap,
This sounds like it's a documentary about high school, but not necessarily about high school sports. One of the kids being interested in a sport doesn't make it a sports film, if there are several other kids focused on, who have nothing to do with sports.
Don't lose sight of what the genre of the month is. Whatever the movie is, it should center around a sport.
I haven't seen it so correct me if I'm wrong and if the movie is focused on a sport or sports.
There's a whole sequence in GREASE where Danny (John Travolta) tries out for various sports in order to impress Sandy (Olivia Newton-John). Wrestling, basketball, baseball, track, he tries them all. Still not a sports film though, because that's not the main focus of the film. Know what I mean?