The Great Movie Tournament - 1990s: Round 1 - Group 1 of 32

[mae]

During the first round of The Great Movie Tournament, please vote for up to six films you would like to move onto the next round. The top six films will be moving on. Keep in mind that the percentage of the vote a given film receives will determine its standing going forward.

The poll will run for seven days. Discussion is greatly encouraged!

The nominees are (please let me know if any video doesn't play for you):

A Simple Plan (1998)
Directed by Sam Raimi

Watch Trailer

The City of Lost Children (1995)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro

Watch Trailer

Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Directed by James Mangold

Watch Trailer

Gattaca (1997)
Directed by Andrew Niccol

Watch Trailer

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Directed by Jay Roach

Watch Trailer

Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Directed by Phillip Noyce

Watch Trailer

Friday (1995)
Directed by F. Gary Gray

Watch Trailer

Naked Lunch (1991)
Directed by David Cronenberg

Watch Trailer

[fernandito]

Wow. Did not expect Austin Powers to be leading this group!?

[Garrell]

Yea baby

[Ricky]

Me either, but it makes me happy to see people showing love for comedy films!

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Wow. Did not expect Austin Powers to be leading this group!?

It's the obvious choice of what people know. I haven't seen half of the movies in this poll myself, so I'm sure familiarity is playing a part here.

Personally, I'm going to take the time to watch these movies before I vote.

[mae]

I know we can't ask people to watch all the movies they haven't seen before voting, but if people do watch some then that's great! A big part of this type of thing is discovering new things.

So if someone is interested in checking out any of the nominations they haven't seen and the trailer piqued your interested, you can always use something like https://www.justwatch.com/ to see if it's streaming anywhere or something.

[fernandito]

Naked Lunch messed up my little 20 year old mind when I watched it. Fuck I love Cronenberg.

[mae]

Yeah too bad it's only got two votes so far. Wish we had more Cronenberg in this thing. I had Crash and eXistenZ on my list to nominate but didn't get to them.

[Heather19]

Seems as if my 3 favorites in this group are the 3 lowest I'm guessing it's just that they're not mainstream movies, and few people have seen them. But hopefully they'll get more votes by the time the poll closes. City of Lost Children and Naked Lunch definitely deserve to advance.

[Still Servant]

Yeah too bad it's only got two votes so far. Wish we had more Cronenberg in this thing. I had Crash and eXistenZ on my list to nominate but didn't get to them.

Honestly, I thought we did a great job picking the films for this tournament, but now I'm not so sure! I'm still coming up with films we forgot. The Grifters and Strange Days are two more.

Anyway, A Simple Plan is one of my favorite films of all-time. I remember watching it with my family and just being so into it. My mom went to the library the next day and got me the book. Gattaca is a really underrated Sci-fi classic. Girl, Interrupted has gotten a lot of hate since it was released and I'm not really sure where that has come from. Still a really solid film with great performances. Austin Powers is just plain funny. City of Lost Children is just an absolute classic and it's been far too long since I've seen it. I recently purchased it on laserdisc. Is that not a badass cover or what?



As for Cronenberg, I've had some difficulties getting into some of his films, but hopefully this tournament will help change that.

[mae]

Have you seen Naked Lunch? It's pure batshit bananas. I lurve it.

[Still Servant]

Have you seen Naked Lunch? It's pure batshit bananas. I lurve it.

I have not.

Here's my Cronenberg story. I saw A History of Violence and Eastern Promises when the came out and I was like, "Hey, I should go back and watch the other shit this guy directed. Afterall, he did direct The Fly." Watched The Fly and loved it, then decided to watch Videodrome and I was like, "What the fuck?"

I will say, if you want a recent underrated Cronenberg film check out A Dangerous Method.

[mae]

I'm not a huge fan of his later films but everything Cronenberg did in the '70s, '80s, and '90s is awesome. The later movies after Spider have a very subdued feeling to them, don't know what it is. I guess there's none of that "What the fuck?" feeling you (rightfully) had watching Videodrome.

[Still Servant]

I'm not a huge fan of his later films but everything Cronenberg did in the '70s, '80s, and '90s is awesome. The later movies after Spider have a very subdued feeling to them, don't know what it is. I guess there's none of that "What the fuck?" feeling you (rightfully) had watching Videodrome.

Well, his recent stuff is far more mainstream, but A History of Violence and Eastern Promises are both fantastic.

[amd013]

I know we can't ask people to watch all the movies they haven't seen before voting, but if people do watch some then that's great! A big part of this type of thing is discovering new things.

So if someone is interested in checking out any of the nominations they haven't seen and the trailer piqued your interested, you can always use something like https://www.justwatch.com/ to see if it's streaming anywhere or something.

Yeah, I know this isn't going to be a popular sentiment, but I don't plan on watching any movies based on this tournament (well I supposed it possible there might be exceptions). In fact I am not even bothering with the trailers or scenes (unless its to verify its the movie I think it is). Having said that, I will make no votes for movies I have not seen. I just don't want to vote for movie just because I hear it is good.

Of course even if I have seen a movie that doesn't mean I will necessarily vote for it over a movie I haven't seen, I just may have to abstain from a lot of votes when it is head to head.

[fernandito]

I'm not a huge fan of his later films but everything Cronenberg did in the '70s, '80s, and '90s is awesome. The later movies after Spider have a very subdued feeling to them, don't know what it is. I guess there's none of that "What the fuck?" feeling you (rightfully) had watching Videodrome.

Well, his recent stuff is far more mainstream, but A History of Violence and Eastern Promises are both fantastic.

Those are good, but nothing beats early Cronenberg. Videodrome, Scanners, The Brood. That's where he was operating at the peak of his powers. Sadly, films like those just don't get made anymore so he had to temper his own artistic inclinations to make things that could satiate the mainstream.

[Heather19]

We need more votes for Naked Lunch and City of Lost Children please

[MikeDuke]

Me either, but it makes me happy to see people showing love for comedy films!

Hey Ricky. Once we get to the 80's, I will have a lot of comedy films to nominate or second.

[Jean]

We need more votes for Naked Lunch and City of Lost Children please

yes please!!!!!!!!!

[Jean]

... both still are at the very bottom.......

[Heather19]

... both still are at the very bottom.......

I'm just going to assume that people haven't seen them and that's why. It is a shame though.

[Hunchback Jack]

Do we vote for up to six in each group, or up to six across all groups?

HBJ

[mae]

Up to six per group.

[Still Servant]

In light of our conversation this week, I picked up Cronenberg's Dead Ringers on laserdisc. Any good?

[Randall Flagg]

In light of our conversation this week, I picked up Cronenberg's Dead Ringers on laserdisc. Any good?

It's not bad if you have a laser disc player.