If you guys hated Tron, I know you absolutely loathed another early 80s movie that I loved as a kid (and I rewatched last night): Flash Gordon. I remember when it was new to video the VHS rental was for a week, and I'd watch this movie every day. Must've driven my parents nuts, having them hearing "Flash!!! Ah-ah!" in their sleep

I'm seeing in the trivia for this movie that Fellini was interested in directing at one point. Now that would've been a trippy movie!

BobO'Link wouldn't have liked it at my brother's house over the last Christmas holidays. My 9 year old niece was doing with Barbie what I did to Flash. Every single day. And where my parents knew the end was in sight with Flash when the weekly rental ran out, Barbie isn't going anywhere on Max. She wasn't watching it anymore when I visited earlier this summer, so maybe she Barbied herself out.

Flash Gordon is tons of fun. Not much like the serials (campy comedy fun and not at all serious like they were) but good in its own right. I watch it every couple of years. When it came out I purchased the soundtrack album just to get the theme song and was happy that it made a CD appearance on a Queen Greatest Hits collection so I didn't have to purchase the soundtrack again for one track. Of course that Greatest Hits collection was purchased for that single track as I already owned all their albums on CD so... at least it's far more listenable than the soundtrack album.

Over the years I've been "tortured" by many films that my grandkids loved... Most recent was Frozen by the youngest. The oldest 2 granddaughters love the Barbie animated movies so I purchased a set that they watched continuously when at my house when they were younger. I gave them that set last year so they can torture their mom (my daughter) with it.

While I certainly was alive during the original run of Tron, I didn't actually see it until fairly recently (maybe 10ish years ago, a little less?) but have not watched the sequel. I do have it, but have been a little reluctant to actually watch it. The original was...okay. The graphics were a little too dated and I think because I didn't have that attachment to it by seeing it when it was relevant. I don't think it was an awful movie though!

Flash Gordon, on the other hand, I did see much closer to its release date. That one I pop in every once in a while and enjoy it. It's such campy fun.

Barbie...well, I enjoyed it. I liked the sets, the clothing, the design. I agree it had a very heavy handed message, but I also believe that that message needed to be heard. Is it my favorite ever movie? Nope. But I'm glad to have watched it. It's not really supposed to be a "fun" movie. I'll agree too that the length could have been better and very much agree about Will Ferrell. He's one of my least favorite actors and while I'm sure there's a film of his out there that I enjoyed at least a little, I couldn't tell you what it was!

Just finished The Little Mermaid remake. It wasn't bad. The original is still better, but I did enjoy it and thought Halle Bailey did a pretty good job. Her singing was very good. It could have been a bit shorter overall but I'd watch it again.

Has anyone watched the 2003 Matrix sequels recently? I love the first movie, but the rest of the trilogy just left me feeling flat. I have the whole set on Blu Ray, but have never rewatched the sequels remembering what a bad taste they left in my mouth. Just curious how they've aged for others ... maybe distance from all the expectations of 2003 have improved them? Love how the first movie ends, with Neo soaring into the sky.

The second film is okay and you have to give them credit for that epic car chase scene. The third one is a mess but there are some good moments that make it worth watching.

I watched The Matrix Resurrections (2021) a week or so back. It was OK and added a sort of conclusion but I still prefer to just watch the first film and stop. It gets kind of messy after the first.: They're mostly interesting but nothing I revisit with any kind of regularity.

Just as a head's up, while today is the last day of the Sci-fi/Fantasy Challenge, it's also the first of the Animation Challenge. You can earn double credit until tomorrow at dawn!

I'm a dumbass ... I forget July had 31 days, and I thought I was finishing up with the challenge yesterday with a all-time favorite classic (Forbidden Planet). I can blame being thrown off by losing power for several hours in the early evening.

Well, look at it as more of a happy accident. You now get one more day to watch content!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the end of the challenge! I'm finishing up a double credit watch, Spirited Away. I hope to get one more in before bed, though it might be a shorter one, to end up with 54, which will be the best numbers I've had in quite a while! I finished the checklist and made a good dent in completing it, though I did not get a black out.

I have a bit of an unexpected trip come up for the weekend, starting tomorrow, so I'll get the wrap up done sometime next week. I will definitely be checking in, so if there's any last minute questions or comments, I'll still be able to see and answer them.

I also still am interested in your experiences with the check list and how it went, any suggestions or changes you'd like to see for next year?

Thanks for a fun challenge LJG. Considering that I had a lot going on last month, not even counting a week vacation to Oshkosh, I think I put in a good showing, ending up with a respectable 80 due to a few double credit watches. Plus 80 is a nice round number. My final viewing was an episode of Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur from my DVR. I've never seen the show before and it wasn't quite what I expected. I pictured something more along the lines of a child version of Moon Knight, being a Marvel cartoon. I still enjoyed it though.

After adding S4 of Charmed (my TV "filler" for the month) I actually made it to 87 entries (using traditional counting methods). That's far better than I anticipated - but the numbers were also helped to getting a back injury during the house move which pretty much stopped my moving boxes around in and from the old house to the new.

I got much of the checklist completed, only failing with Directors and Actors lists. Those were primarily due to containing too many "modern" directors/actors and my not wanting to pull more library titles just for completing them. I completed ~90% of the checklist entries by watching from my unopened stack and pulled a half dozen or so library titles to finish a couple of the entries. Had I had more time I'd likely have pulled the additional 15 or so titles to complete the full list.

Overall, I'm pleased with my progress and have only ~10 SF/Fantasy titles left in the unopened pile. Several of those also qualify for the Horror and/or Comedy challenges so can be rolled into those unless I chose not to wait (and may not as I have plenty of stuff already lined up for those two). I didn't do any animation overlap viewings - not sure if I'll do that one this year or not (I *will* read the thread comments either way) - though I *do* have more than enough unopened animation to easily make it through the month.

Shades of Minority Report!!!

Argentina will use AI to ‘predict future crimes’

Thanks for hosting LJG, and thanks to everyone participating in the discussion. I ended up watching more than I thought I would ... 57 (using the "strict" counting with a movie's worth of content counting as "1"), with 41 first time views. Caught up with movies on my "to watch" list, dusted off some media I already had to rewatch some favorites, and started and/or finished a bunch of series (X-Men '97, The Acolyte, House of the Dragon, The Boys, Dead Boy Detectives, Picard, Scavengers Reign, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Grimm Variations).

While I couldn't finish with my planned all-time favorites, Forbidden Planet, I ended with Logan's Run. While not a classic, there's a lot to enjoy ... especially in the first half spent in the hedonistic pretty people city. I must've first watched this as a kid on tv, because I sure didn't remember the nudity. I wish Logan found something more interesting in the outside world besides ruins and a muttering cat lady (old man). This movie has to have one of the dumbest super-computers I've seen.

I'm a bit late with my thouhts on changes for next year (I burned out at 99 movies early this week) but I think you have a good idea in rotating the directors/writers/producers like you are the actors/actresses. It is hard to find ones with enough choices but I noticed quite a few suggested. Three or four seem like it isn't enough choices for me but if you give 15-20 choices and only require 5-7 then you could add some that are that small. For me (and just for me) I try to watch a new movie whenever it's possible so those small selections can be tough but with enough people to choose from it is no problem. I also watch a number of series (one movie per year) so I get lucky on some of the directors anyway. So count me in as someone looking forward to alternating the directors/etc., it will be fun seeing who is chosen each year. I am also in favor of Philip Dick being added to the Creator and maybe some other changes there. It is really impossible to find a new movie for C.S. Lewis for me at this point. I am good with any actors/actresses (with an emphasis on actresses) and I feel like there have been enough options to add Brent Spiner to the list.

I am putting a directory revamp on the agenda for next year. Not sure what it'll look like but at least it'll be a little more streamlined, I think.

You're always welcome to join in later if you change your mind with the animation challenge! I have quite a few unmatched myself that I plan on getting to soon. I think I ended up about the same as you with unopened sci-fi films which I am pleased with. I got quite a few off my list this month.

Thanks for the feedback! I really want to do something with that list so it will be revamped next year. I def. Noticed that C.S. Lewis only had a small handful of eligible films. If this was a book challenge, it would be easier but really, all the movies are his 1st 4 bks of Narnia just by different directors. A new addition would help freshen the watch list in that section up!

The "Thank the Maker" list is really tough as there just aren't a lot of people who were truly influential that have a wide range of filmed material available.

Here's my take on the ones in the list this year:

Roddenberry - Pretty much means "Watch something in the Star Trek universe" - lots of films but little true variety.
C.S. Lewis - Watch one of the 4 Narnia films
J.R.R. Tolkien - Watch a film from "The Lord of the Rings" or "Hobbit" series. (of course there's now that Amazon series - but it's still LotR stuff)
Jules Verne - Wide selection of films to choose from.
H.G. Wells - Another wide selection to choose from.
Stan Lee - Watch a "Marvel Universe" film. Lots of films but all superhero stuff. After a while they all start to run together (at least for me - and, in general, I like superhero films).

When I posted that list of possible directors to add earlier I'd also looked for "creators" and found it's really slim pickings. Philip K. Dick has possibly the most available material. Bram Stoker is good but it really means a Dracula/vampire film of some type (though he *did* write a couple of books about mummy creatures). Robert A. Heinlein is another good one with a bit of choice. There are a few films/series based on Asimov's works though several are hard to find/OOP. Unfortunately, most of the more influential SF authors have had very few, if any, of their works translated to film which generally means "watch a particular film" for their work.

It is a tough section if you don't like the maker's style of film/content. I would like to add the couple mentioned and think about how many to require.

I found myself in the mood to watch a lot this month and after finishing the checklist, was motivated to keep going and see how many I could get fully completed. The Maker's list was a tough section for the reasons you stated. So I do want to think about how to improve it.

I didn’t watch a lot, but I almost finished the seasons of House of the Dragon and 3 Body Problem.

brainee’s favorite, Forbidden Planet, is also one of mine. I wish I’d fit it in.

I'm adding to the people that have Forbidden Planet. And also adding to the list of people who never got it in. I did nearly complete the entire series of the original Ultraman though, making it nearly to the end of the final disc. I just fizzled out before I left for vacation and had too much to catch up on after returning to get a lot of watches in.

The checklist works best for me in the years I don't have many unopened titles. When, like this year, I have 70+ unopened titles those drive my choices and can significantly reduce the prospect of completing the checklist. Had I had the time to get to 100 *or* had fewer unopened titles this year I'd have easily completed it with 100% across all sections (got reasonably close anyway).

I have a feeling people have already finalized their checklists, but if you haven't, please do so by Sunday! Thanks! I like to put out a little recap of the month using them.

I seem to be making it a habit of not being able to complete all of the movies I plan to watch. I'm working on fixing that for the Animation Challenge! I completed the checklist so I am okay with checking out early this time.

I ended up with a handful unwatched I just wasn't in the mood for. Just leaves more for next year!

Alright, guys, this will be the last post for 2024! Recap time.

Including myself, we had 30 participants (and 1 spammer). 2 of the participants had no list/watches, but there was an average of 56.7 watches per contestant.

We had 10 people start a checklist, with half of them finishing it and ONE blackout. Congrats to Tarfrimmer who accomplished that!

Random facts: we had only one person who watch a Star Wars movie. Two who watched a Terminator movie, four who watched a Transformer movie, 14 who watched either a Star Trek movie or show and finally, four people who watched Tron.

Congrats to everyone who participated and here's to a great year! See you in 2025!