Cardsfan111

I was happy to participate, though I hit a wall the last week or two and didn't watch as many as I'd hoped to... oh well, there's always next year!

jmsmath

Well, I hit my modest goal of 50 and enjoyed every minute of it, but I failed in my goal of watching The Godfather movies. I wanted to watch all three or nothing and I just never did set aside enough time to watch three movies that are that long. Oh well, there's always next year!!!

Thanks for hosting The Monkees.

CardiffGiant

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I saw some films I would normally have ignored and really enjoyed (e.g. - Wings, How Green Was My Valley). But I didn't watch Gone with the Wind and Ben-Hur because I already had those categories and decades.

Since I had limited time, I would choose certain films based solely on satisfying the checklist. I've seen some with 100 films and if I had that kind of time over the course of a month, I'd definitely do the checklist every year for variety.

Unrelated to this, I listened to a few commentaries and I was fairly disappointed with the quality, specifically with A Streetcar Named Desire. I found the commentary downright awful and I think one could get more information from their own thoughts while watching the film. The Wall-e commentary seemed good, but not great.

Trevor

I tend to like the film historian commentaries more than ones from people who worked on the actual film.

Darth Maher

I just hate commentaries where they are just describing what is happening on screen.

Sometimes I wonder if these people think they are recording audio for the Descriptive Video Service for the blind and visually impaired.

The Monkees

I used to hate historian commentaries and was more interested in the commentaries by the people who worked on the film and now it's kind of vice versa. On older films I'd prefer to hear a film historian commentary on a newer film I'd prefer to hear a commentary by the actors (not really the crew)

CardiffGiant

I agree with this. Sometimes those that worked on the film do an excellent job (Do the Right Thing is the first that comes to mind), but I usually favor those done by film historians as well. On A Streetcar Named Desire, they have two film historians and Karl Malden. The film historians focused primarily on Tennessee Williams' life and influence which sounds potentially interesting, but they never make it interesting.

Karl Malden told some interesting stories, but none of them illuminating my experience with the film. I think the other supplements on the disc are much more interesting.

smashthesymbols

Well this challenge was a bust for me this time around. I only made it through seven movies. I started out strong, then the Olympics started, which killed my momentum and I never got going again. I'm a bit disappointed too because I was really excited when the challenge started.

hindolio

even though i finished with a measely 12, i guess its still a whopping 71% higher than your total smash

but seriously, i didnt plan on doing this, but am glad i participated (somewhat). i enjoyed it much more than i thought i would

The Monkees

Me too! I usually don't do well in this one because it's right after the Horror and Holiday challenges which I really love (especially the Holiday one), but I was really excited for this one. I thought the much later start date would be a good thing, but as usual I just wasn't into it this year. I don't know what it is with this one... oh, well...

Travis McClain

[QUOTE=The Monkees;10040532]I usually don't do well in this one because it's right after the Horror and Holiday challenges which I really love (especially the Holiday one), but I was really excited for this one./QUOTE]

The timing is actually better for me. The Horror Challenge is bad for me, because October is when baseball has its postseason. Since that's the only sport I follow, it's very hard for me to make time for movies then. The Holiday Challenge is easier, but then there's the fact that there are all kinds of interruptions into our daily routine then (shopping, cousin, niece & nephew off from school and wanting to see us, family obligations, etc.) that get in the way. The Awards Challenge comes when I have nothing else really competing for my attention or time.

Giles

I really like this challenge since it lets me watch my favourite genre/type of film, animation.

I watched 57 feature length films, 30 of which were new to me, 17 of the films I watched with the commentary track:

The movies that impressed me
- Z
- Bicycle Thieves
- Cool Hand Luke
- Diary of Anne Frank
- The Boys from Brazil
- Ajami
- Amazon (IMAX)
- The Secret of Kells
- The Secret in their Eyes
- A Prophet
- Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
- Holiday

're'discovered movie:
- Almost Famous (I had forgotten how much I really really liked this movie)

notable commentary tracks:
- Speed [Producer + Writer]
- Sense and Sensibility [Emma Thompson + Producer]
- The Lives of Others [Director]
- Gods and Monsters [Director]
- L.A. Confidential


The only film I found disappointing was 'The Milk of Sorrows'

~

Nearly all the short films were 'new' except 'The Red Balloon', 'A Matter of Loaf and Death' and 'Grand Canyon'

standout animated shorts:

- Famous Fred
- Father and Daughter
- The Hill Farm
- Wat's Pig
- How to Play Football

Indy24LA

I got 14 which is 4 more than my goal, so I'm happy. I would have loved to watch more, but it just seemed like something always got in the way.