About a potential next tournament

[Iwritecode]

I was thinking about this last night. Is there any way we could vote on what is/isn’t a comedy as the nominations go on?

I like the idea of seconding nominations (possibly thirding as well?) but if 5 or 6 people question a nomination as being a comedy and only a couple of people think it is, should it really be included?

I’m not sure a fair way to do that though.

[Iwritecode]

I also thought about putting a limit on the number of nomination a single poster can make per day. I know with one tourney the nominations were full before many people even knew they started.

[webstar1000]

Did it get posted somewhere the top 25 as voted on here for the last one guys?

[Girlystevedave]

I also thought about putting a limit on the number of nomination a single poster can make per day. I know with one tourney the nominations were full before many people even knew they started.

I agree with this. Things escalated very quickly last time before some people even had a chance to nominate one film.

[Ricky]

I also thought about putting a limit on the number of nomination a single poster can make per day. I know with one tourney the nominations were full before many people even knew they started.

I agree with this. Things escalated very quickly last time before some people even had a chance to nominate one film.

Yes. Or even putting a limit on the number of nominations a person can make total.

[Shannon]

How about everyone sends their top picks to one person and that one person then tallies up the top whatever?

[fernandito]

Looks like you got your work cut out for you Pablo, lol.

[Shannon]

I don't mind being the counter if that's the idea you wanna go with.

[Still Servant]

Honestly, we could do a "Best Movie Credits of All Time" tournament and I'd be down.

As for comedy, it's so subjective that I think we are going to have an even bigger disagreement on the definition of comedy than we did with the other two tournaments combined.

I love comedies. They are some of the first movies I remember watching. My definition of a comedy is a little more traditional in nature. My main prerequisite is that comedy has to be the main component. Those films listed above all have comedic moments and can be considered comedies in a certain sense, but they aren't comedies for me. When I think comedy, I think Airplane, Dumb & Dumber, Blazing Saddles, etc.

The other tricky part is evaluating older films. What was considered a comedy 50 years ago, wouldn't necessarily be considered a true comedy now. Should be interesting. Is it 2015 yet?

[Shannon]

My nominations for "Best Movie End Credits":

22 Jump Street
Slumdog Millionaire (Jai Ho!)
The Hangover

[needfulthings]

AND THE WINNERS ARE!.................TAKE YOUR PICK.

Spoiler:

[Shannon]

[Mattrick]

As for comedy, it's so subjective that I think we are going to have an even bigger disagreement on the definition of comedy than we did with the other two tournaments combined.

Exactly. That's why we can't limit selections to straight up comedies...some people don't find those as funny as others, or find other types of movies funnier. For me it would be laughter consistency. Some movies are dramatic or horror or whatever and have funny parts, then some that are dramatic or horror and are funny all throughout, the later would be films I would nominate.

Actually, I take back what I said about Lost In Translation. Annie Hall should win this whole thing.

[Merlin1958]

To avoid ongoing and endless debate on what is a comedy and what isn't vote /choose a well known reference (IMDB, Wiki, etc) and utilize their classification as a reference to what is and what is not a comedy. You can also define it even further when they utilize dual categories like "Comedy/Drama". You can vote to include only the first defining category or on singular definition/category. For instance, you could say "We vote to only use pure, singular defined comedies" for instance.

Seems to me you would get much of the debate out of the way early on and then have very clear definitions of what represents a comedy in this poll. If you employ some "rules" of this type then you should be able to quantify nominations fairly easily. I'm not saying there wouldn't still be "gray" areas and hard to define entries, but they should be fewer and farther between. You could also vote to exclude secondary definers such as "Black Comedies", for instance, because they have much more underlying theme's. Then again you could vote to include them. Additionally, by choosing a reference, you can probably get a better idea of what you're looking at even identifying possible conflicts. Addionally, it may help with the nominations because folks can't just post off the top of their head. They would be obliged to do a little research before nominating or face having their nomination wasted and overturned despite seconds and/or thirds.

In hindsight, this probably should have been employed in some fashion for the prior polls. Then again, WTF do I know? LOL Merlin out!!!

Spoiler:

P.S. IMHO you need to at least wait until the "Fun with flags" tournament is completed to avoid further clogging of the boards. Just a thought.

[mae]

The other tricky part is evaluating older films. What was considered a comedy 50 years ago, wouldn't necessarily be considered a true comedy now. Should be interesting. Is it 2015 yet?

That's easy. Some of the funniest comedies were made in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers... My personal best comedy of all time and one of the best movies ever made is Bringing Up Baby (1938). It so should win the whole thing.

[Girlystevedave]

I also thought about putting a limit on the number of nomination a single poster can make per day. I know with one tourney the nominations were full before many people even knew they started.

I agree with this. Things escalated very quickly last time before some people even had a chance to nominate one film.

Yes. Or even putting a limit on the number of nominations a person can make total.

Yeah, I don't know if this is too much work on the person managing the polls, but I agree with that idea.

[needfulthings]

"NOW HEAR THIS"

Spoiler:

[Mattrick]

Some Like It Hot is definitely one of the best comedies ever made, with maybe the greatest closing line in any comedy. "Well, nobody's perfect."

[Heather19]

I also thought about putting a limit on the number of nomination a single poster can make per day. I know with one tourney the nominations were full before many people even knew they started.

I agree with this. Things escalated very quickly last time before some people even had a chance to nominate one film.

Yes. Or even putting a limit on the number of nominations a person can make total.

Yeah, I don't know if this is too much work on the person managing the polls, but I agree with that idea.

I was thinking the same thing. I'd like for everyone to be able to place some nominations.

[Odetta]

With regards to what is or isn't in a movie genre, couldn't we refer to IMDB and just use it as the source? I would think every movie would be there...

[divemaster]

If we go with calling any movie that has a few laughs a "comedy," then you could nominate just about anything. Most directors add some sort of comic relief if just to release some tension. I mean, Aliens could be considered a comedy as much as some of the films mentioned so far. ("Game over, man! Game over!" and "Why don't you put her in charge!") I laughed quite a few times during Aliens. But I'd never consider it a "comedy." To Pablo's credit, I didn't see too many I would take issue with in his lists (but I did just skim and there are plenty I haven't seen).

I'd estimate at least 75% of dramas have some element of comedy, b/c most folks don't want to sit and watch 2 hours of drama without some sort of tension-breakers scattered throughout. Same with action and horror. Most films of those genres depend on a few laughs. Hell, Eastwood and Arnie can be funny in actioners and police dramas. Scream was funny. Freddy Kreueger is funny (well, after the first film).

I just have a sneaking suspicion that we'll see all sorts of non-comedies nominated b/c someone got struck funny while watching a movie.

[Odetta]

I agree. Which is why I was thinking of using one resource to determine what genre a movie is.
IMDB is pretty large, I am thinking that it would be easy to check... I mean right after the title, they list the genre for the movie!
What does everyone else think?

[divemaster]

I may be wrong abut this...but aren't IMdB data user-populated?

For example, if you go to the movie American Beauty, it says genre is "Drama" (see more).

You click on "see more" and there are 275 plot keywords, including "dark comedy," "deadpan comedy," "black comedy," and "social satire." And at the bottom, there is a click button for "Contribute to this page." So it seems any schmuck can submit something to describe a film. Or, in the case of American Beauty, 275 schmucks.

I'm not saying using IMdB is a bad idea. It might be workable. Only that it does not appear to be a dispassionate arbiter of genre designation.

[Still Servant]

I'm fine with using IMDB. The genre of film section isn't user based. That comes from the studio or other official sources of information. At least that is my understanding. Even with IMDB, there will be some debate. Sometimes they list more than one genre. Do we take the first, or do we just take everything that's listed. Doesn't matter to me.

The Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers films are all classic comedies. Unfortunately, they haven't been seen by a lot of people and might get beaten out by more current films. I've always been an Abbott and Costello guy. I wouldn't mind seeing Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein go pretty far.

[Iwritecode]

I'm fine with using IMDB. The genre of film section isn't user based. That comes from the studio or other official sources of information. At least that is my understanding. Even with IMDB, there will be some debate. Sometimes they list more than one genre. Do we take the first, or do we just take everything that's listed. Doesn't matter to me.

I would say go with what’s listed first. I think it’s usually pretty obvious if the main intention of the movie is to make you laugh rather than some other genre with a few funny scenes thrown in.