Mondo Kane

Regarding my icheckmovies stats, Foreign Nominees is the one I need to work on most.

But I swear, if I see another foreign movie where a kid kills a small animal out of "Coming-of-Age" issues, it's going to be strictly Hollywood movies for me.

darkhawk

Everythings fine. That last rule - You can watch current nominees starting on Thursday, January 15 and have them count. Is newly added compared to the past challenges. It might only be me, but bad rule addition.

popcorn

It helped me, darkhawk. Usually once the challenge starts I usually go back to the movies I want to watch every year (The King's Speech for example) and I never really head out to the movies or catch up on the nominees on DVD unless provoked (usually by my wife). This gives us a week to do that.

darkhawk

It's fine. New OP. His rules. But not everyone can go, has time to go or afford to go to the theater during that time. So then it's not really fair to people who can't get out to the theater.

lisadoris

That's certainly true for me. I just called upon some free options: I rented Maleficent from my local library this afternoon (X-Men & Dawn of the Planet of the Apes were already checked out) and streamed Crisis Hotline and Feast yesterday for free (links are further up in the thread). I already owned Captain America so I used this as an opportunity to finally listen to the commentary track. There are some free and creative ways to watch some of this year's nominees. Anyone who has a numbered list will be eligible for the prize whether you hit 100 titles or not so starting early doesn't hold an advantage in that regard.

shadokitty

While I have some free options, I haven't started. To me part of the fun of the challenge is revisiting old favorites.

Travis McClain

It was proposed by me, when I intended to host, based on a request by another participant. It was discussed and debated and met with minimal dissent, passing by democratic consent. As far as fairness goes, I don't see a legitimate complaint. The point of the pre-challenge is to allow those Oscar enthusiasts - ostensibly, all participants of an Oscar challenge - who are eager to delve into current nominees to do so without having to wait for the arbitrary 30-day window of the challenge to begin.

Without checking, I don't think there are many key current nominees that will be released on disc/streaming during the challenge that aren't already available, meaning that access to this year's nominees is about as widespread now as it will be. Ergo, the only advantage is to accommodate those who will be making an effort to see nominees at a theater - which, as you noted, is not necessarily easy for everyone. Giving them more time to try to do that hardly seems "unfair".

In any event, I move that any further debate about this pre-challenge extension be tabled until the conclusion of the challenge. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have little interest in a discussion thread dominated by that chatter instead of one about Oscar-nominated films and shorts.

mrcellophane

I'm been pretty busy over the extended weekend. I always have to scramble after nominations are announced, and the realization dawns that I've seen no films! A few days ago, I was able to see Interstellar the way it was meant to be seen - in a discount theater with thin walls, a small screen, and a small contingency of people looking to kill a few hours. While I'm not a big fan of Nolan's films, I enjoyed this one; I'm a sucker for overblown science fiction, and it strikes me that Nolan works really well when spins tales of speculation.

Next, I watched Finding Vivian Maier. Thoughts: Maier's work is amazing; Maier is terrifying; filmmaker and Maier's self-ordained messiah is a bit douchey.

Today, I went over to a friend's house, and we watched Ida and Gone Girl. Both are wonderful (in very different ways), and I'm still reflecting on them, trying to organize my thoughts.

Gobear

I watched Mr. Turner early this morning. Its nominations are well deserved, particularly Dick Pope's cinematography. The film is visually stunning. As much as people whined about Selma's lack of nominations, Mike Leigh should have been nominated for Best Director and Timothy Spall for Best Actor, and Mr. Turner should be up for Best Picture. Spall plays J.M.W. Turner, as one critic put it, "like a shaved ape with a paintbrush," a brutish, hulking man with an eye for light and movement like no other who created proto-Impressionist masterpieces.

shadokitty

I rented Guardians of the Galaxy off the Playstation Store, but haven't watched it yet. I also plan to watch Virunga and may give Crisis one more try. I really can't wait for February though, when all movies on TCM are eligible.

davidh777

I'm a little disappointed that I watched this movie a week and a half before it counted. I really enjoyed it as well, and have been listening to the songs pretty steadily. I do like Once (both on film and on stage) so I knew I wanted to see this, but wasn't sure what to expect since the original film WAS those characters. These characters were fictional, but really enjoyable, and I think it was a little easier to take since it wasn't so raw and passionate. Not that those are bad things, of course.

I think I might try to slip in another watch before the end of the challenge.


Thanks, Mao!

Spoilered so Travis doesn't have to read this :

shadokitty

After turning it off a few days ago due to hitting too close to home for me, I finally finished Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1. It still hit me like a ton of bricks, but I am glad I watched it. It was a very powerful and heartbreaking documentary.

shadokitty

I started watching Birdman on WoWTV, but I turned it off. I just didn't feel right watching a movie that had the studio copy warning displayed on the screen at the beginning of the movie. It makes me wonder if the movies on there are pirated.

Mondo Kane

^It sounds like a screener. Not illegal to watch---If you pretend that you're an Academy member!

davidh777

But certainly not legal to sells subscriptions for. I'm not sure why this is a surprise when the first mention of the service included the term "quasi-legality."

MysterioMan007

Thanks for the welcome, darkhawk. Sorry I'm just now seeing this, but yeah, I think you overlooked the "current nominees" rule. No worries.

shadokitty

Even though it is eligible during the pre-challenge week, I'm actually saving Maleficent for the official challenge. The reason being, I'd like to see Sleeping Beauty before I see it.

shadokitty

I don't know if it was ever clarified, but does the official challenge start on Thursday, Jan 22, or Saturday Jan 24? I'm just wondering, as the dates say Thursday Jan 24.

lisadoris

I thought I corrected the day: it's Saturday, January 24. I'll make sure to change the day.

shadokitty

I see you did change it. I must have missed it, as last I knew it said Thursday.

Gobear

I like to think we are all honorary Academy members.

I've been working my way through this year's nominees. I just need to watch Boyhood and The Theory of Everything to complete all of the nominated films in every category.

I can't wait to add many of them to my Blu-Ray library, especially Mr. Turner.

shadokitty

I like your reasoning. It makes me feel better about re adding WoWTV.

lisadoris

I watched Maleficent the other day and really enjoyed it. I might have to purchase it on blu after the challenge is over.

ntnon

Huh! Helps that there's a lot of "big" films there, but I already have six, one coming and high hopes of getting another soon... biggest year for me!

Nuts. Read that top one as "PRIME" rather than 'just' Amazon... nothing 'free' then, bar the bootleg Feast and probably-hazy Crisis Hotline... oh well. I may call Disney Movies Anywhere and suggest they put Feast up themselves. Can't hurt to ask...

ntnon

I've been going back and forth over which to watch first... I may go the opposite way just because of the bonus week, but if that falls through, I agree: Sleeping first.