The Great Movie Tournament Announcement and Discussion

[mae]

Yes, it's that time again, ladies and gentlemen! After a long enough pause we're finally doing another movie tournament. This will be another epic tournament or rather a series of tournaments, like our exhaustive (but hopefully not exhausting) music tournament (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/forumdisplay.php?220-The-Great-Music-Tournament). I'm borrowing the name because this time we won't be focusing on a genre, like we did with Horror or Comedy, we'll be determining the best movies of each decade.

This will be a multiple step process that will eventually see us select a winner for each decade of popular film from the 1920s to the 2010s. We'll begin this year with the 1990s and the 2000s decades, and in early 2020 we'll continue with the 2010s. We'll then move on to other decades: the 1980s, 1970s, 1960s, 1950s, 1940s, 1930s, and finally the 1920s (which also will allow for films from the 1910s, we'll call it The Dawn of Cinema or something flowery like that maybe). To precede any smartypants, a decade for our purposes is a stretch of ten years where one year ends with a zero and the tenth year ends with a nine (1990-1999).

Once the ten winners of each decade have been selected, a round-robin faceoff will determine the ultimate best film of all time, much like the culmination of our music tournament. Yes, this will take a long time, several years by my count, but we're in no hurry. Anyway, that's the plan. We've been going back and forth on what kind of tournament to have and my tournament itch (OCD) is getting itchy :)

Please feel free to use this thread to discuss the setup of the project and maybe begin thinking of what you'd like to nominate for the 1990s as that would be out first decade out of the gate. We'll be using the same template used in our last few tournaments, namely, 200 seconded titles (so basically Top 20 per year, think of it that way), a waiting period of five nominations before you can nominate again, and you can second anything anytime (or we may amend that to include a small waiting period as well). Once enough of the regulars here become aware of the plan, we'll open up the nomination process.

#micdrop

[Still Servant]

Replace "my" with "our".

https://media.giphy.com/media/QkOdR9jXUE3As/giphy.gif

[T-Dogz_AK47]

I'm well up for this! The 1990's was one of the best decades for cinema, so this particular tournament should be quite fun. :thumbsup:

One of the things I particularly liked about the previous Greatest Scene Tournament, was the inclusion of a video with each nomination. With 200 entries for each decade, there's always going to be films nominated that not everyone will have seen; so I suggest that when nominating a film, each person also posts a classic scene and/or the trailer to go with their nomination. That way, not only will people unfamiliar with the film get a broader understanding of it, but posting a video of a classic scene and/or trailer from the movie will also enhance the argument of why it is deemed a great film in the first place.

So if we were doing the 1970's and I was going to make a nomination, I could post something like this:

Nomination #1

Film: Jaws
Director: Steven Spielberg
Year: 1975
Plot spoiler with scene: No

Classic Scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO60RohuARY

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1fu_sA7XhE

Videos would need to placed in spoiler tags like before, otherwise it will affect the internet running speed on the thread.

I also thought it would be a good idea to number our nominations. Not because of any limit imposed, but just to keep a track of how many film each person has nominated and to make the process of knowing when to nominate again easier to identify.

Lastly, I would recommend a waiting period of three nominations before you can nominate again rather than five, as a waiting period of five created a few gridlocks last time and it ended up being lowered to three. I do agree however, that people should be able to second a nominated film at anytime.

[mae]

I agree on the videos, at least with a trailer, and it would make my job a little easier having to locate 200 trailers for the polls. But it's not a requirement. The idea is to have fun, not have it be a chore, but it's a nice thing to have.

[fernandito]

Wow, this is ambitious! I have a few thoughts/reservations on the scope of the tournament which I'll get back to as soon as I'm out of this god forsaken meeting...

brb

[mae]

It is ambitious, but unlike the music tournament, we'll be doing just one decade at a time with breaks in between. Typical tournament time has been around four months, so this year we'd do the 1990s and take a two months break and then do the 2000s and take another break, into early 2020 when we would be finally able to do the 2010s that just would have ended.

[mae]

Wow, this is ambitious! I have a few thoughts/reservations on the scope of the tournament which I'll get back to as soon as I'm out of this god forsaken meeting...

brb

Curious to hear your thoughts, and everyone else's! The time is right for some tournamenting, people!

[Still Servant]

Wow, this is ambitious! I have a few thoughts/reservations on the scope of the tournament which I'll get back to as soon as I'm out of this god forsaken meeting...

brb

Curious to hear your thoughts, and everyone else's! The time is right for some tournamenting, people!

That's the longest fucking meeting in the history of meetings.

Are we still going to be using a Google form for bookkeeping? I could create something again.

[Heather19]

Sounds great! I'm always up for a tournament.

[mae]

We can certainly use Google Forms if you're willing to oversee the nominations, but I can also do it myself in the thread as well like I did for the music tournament. Just basically keeping a tally in the first post of the nominations thread and updating throughout the day, I'm usually on the forum all the time, at work or on my phone or at home (I have a very active social life, obviously).

[Iwritecode]

I would just like to take this time now to apologize for the nominations I will be making. None of them will be critically acclaimed, award-winning movies. They'll mostly be dumb comedies that make me laugh. And probably all the Star Wars prequels.

https://media.giphy.com/media/f6pOe5e8ShRhS/giphy.gif

[mae]

And probably all the Star Wars prequels.

If it's Episode III, then I won't mind too much. If it's I or II, I'll formally request to have you banned :lovely:

[T-Dogz_AK47]

And probably all the Star Wars prequels.

If it's Episode III, then I won't mind too much. If it's I or II, I'll formally request to have you banned :lovely:

And I will second that request. :emot-flame: :lol:

[Iwritecode]

:shoot:

[mae]

So should we open this up for nominations officially tomorrow (1/11, nice number)? I'll post official eligibility rules and all that good stuff before we start.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

So should we open this up for nominations officially tomorrow (1/11, nice number)? I'll post official eligibility rules and all that good stuff before we start.

Sounds good to me. Let me know what time nominations kick off and I will make sure I'm online? :thumbsup:

[mae]

I would imagine morning/afternoon ET? Say, noon...

Also, I've been going over my lists in the 1990s thread (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?17859-Top-Ten-Films-of-1990-1999) and for some reason those lists are extremely conservative. Not sure how I did them back then. I'm redoing them now and I'm getting around 30-40 titles per year. Just getting ready to whittle them down to the ones I'd really like to nominate.

[Ricky]

Oh man, now I have to think about what I'd like to nominate. :lol:

[Still Servant]

We can certainly use Google Forms if you're willing to oversee the nominations, but I can also do it myself in the thread as well like I did for the music tournament. Just basically keeping a tally in the first post of the nominations thread and updating throughout the day, I'm usually on the forum all the time, at work or on my phone or at home (I have a very active social life, obviously).

The great thing about the Google Sheet is that anyone can update it. T-Dogz was great about handling a lot of that. Here is the code to the banner in my signature. This also links to the Google Sheet. Anyone is free to change this. I didn't build it from scratch, I essentially just deleted the other stuff. We can also keep a tally in the forum.

Link to Banner Code: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BquesTJ7reewy9YEp_BUzBJe0rjMLCo0VgFwiRqA9j8/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Google Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iDKx-T5AnDQB9-5Ra59lV0tqdD_b4Mb-kSTWtLKhkvI/edit?usp=sharing

[mae]

Great, thanks for that! I do remember it worked pretty well during the Best Scene tournament and Tim did a really good job updating the table throughout the process. Having a tally in two places can't hurt, whatever is more convenient for folks to see the nominations being made.

[Still Servant]

Holy shit. I knew the 90's were a great decade for film, but I didn't realize how great until I just sat down to compile my list for the tournament.

I also realized a few things. One, being born in 1980, I realized that the 1990s marked my most growth of a fan of movies. I watched a lot of movies as a kid in the 80's, but as I got older, my taste in film also evolved. Plus, I remembered more shit. Second, the argument could be made that the 90s were the last great decade for original films. I'm not saying there aren't great original films now, but I don't think we will ever see the amount of great, and more importantly, mainstream, films like we did in the 90s.

Anyway, my list consists of 140 films. This is going to be a fun tournament.

[mae]

My list is slightly longer at 393:

1990: 46
1991: 31
1992: 38
1993: 43
1994: 48
1995: 42
1996: 34
1997: 35
1998: 39
1999: 37

:unsure:

[Still Servant]

My list is slightly longer at 393:

1990: 46
1991: 31
1992: 38
1993: 43
1994: 48
1995: 42
1996: 34
1997: 35
1998: 39
1999: 37

:unsure:

:lol:

I did some self editing as I was putting together my list. I only included films I've seen. I also didn't include films I didn't think were worthy of being in the tournament. There are also a bunch of films I've seen, but I'm not a huge fan of that I know others will nominate.

[mae]

Oh sure, these are just my complete lists of films per year that I've seen and liked. I'll do my usual Top 30 ranking, since I never did it on an annual basis, except with the current decade, but I won't post the actual lists until after the nominations are locked in.

[mae]

I also realized a few things. One, being born in 1980, I realized that the 1990s marked my most growth of a fan of movies. I watched a lot of movies as a kid in the 80's, but as I got older, my taste in film also evolved. Plus, I remembered more shit. Second, the argument could be made that the 90s were the last great decade for original films. I'm not saying there aren't great original films now, but I don't think we will ever see the amount of great, and more importantly, mainstream, films like we did in the 90s.

Now, this may be a bit too personal and #TMI so I apologize in advance, but speaking about growing up in the '80s and '90s, we're around the same age, and I too realized just how much these '90s movies shaped me as a person now. Looking back at the various titles on these lists I compiled I'm surprised at how long it took me to work out my identity finally only a year or two ago. I remember watching The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love when I was 15 or 16, and it had such an impact on me back then as a teenage boy. But not in a way a regular teenage boy would typically react to two cute girls kissing and making love (awkwardly). I was so happy for them and experiencing all these feelings they were too, and, looking back, it was because I wanted to be one of them and have that experience myself. And now that I've realized that being transgender is possible and apparently I was this way all along, a lot of things from back then make more sense.

Admittedly, that movie is not the greatest, but I'll probably nominate it anyway for sentimental reasons.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Would it be okay to kick things off at 1pm ET and not 12pm ET? I have to pick up my wife from work at 5pm UK time (12pm ET) and won't be able to get online at that time.... I really don't want to miss the start of the nomination process. :smile:

[mae]

Definitely, I haven't even started preparing anything. You've got time. Would you be willing to use the Google Form like last time and I'll update the thread post, for nominations and seconds?

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Definitely, I haven't even started preparing anything. You've got time. Would you be willing to use the Google Form like last time and I'll update the thread post, for nominations and seconds?

Yeah, I'm happy to do that for you pal! :thumbsup: :smile:

[mae]

Sweet. Also, as I'm working out the tournament structure I'm thinking we should go with 256 nominations (as we did for Best Scene) as opposed to 200 we did previously for Best Comedy. The poll structure worked better with that number, I think:

256:

Round 1: 32 groups of 8 titles - top 6 move on
Round 2: 32 groups of 6 titles - top 4 move on
Round 3: 32 groups of 4 titles - top 2 move on
Round 4: 16 groups of 4 titles - top 2 move on
Round 5: 16 groups of 2 titles - top 1 moves on
Octofinals: 8 groups of 2 titles - top 1 moves on
Quarterfinals: 4 groups of 2 titles - top 1 moves on
Semifinals: 2 groups of 2 titles - top 1 moves on
Final: 1 group of 2 titles - top 1 is the winner


200

Round 1: 20 groups of 10 titles - top 6 move on
Round 2: 15 groups of 8 titles - top 4 move on
Round 3: 12 groups of 5 titles - top 2 move on
Octofinals: 8 groups of 3 titles - top 1 moves on
Quarterfinals: 4 groups of 2 titles - top 1 moves on
Semifinals: 2 groups of 2 titles - top 1 moves on
Finals: 1 group of 2 titles - top 1 is the winner

[T-Dogz_AK47]

256 nominations would definitely be more fun. :excited::clap:

The 90's certainly have enough contenders to fill that number very easily; so with only 200 nominations, a lot of good films would be left out.

[mae]

I agree, and once we go back to the older decades (especially the 1920s and '30s) then we can play with 200 or less).

[T-Dogz_AK47]

Wild card entries of one nomination per member at the end, like last time?

No doubt the 256 will be filled and then we'll all remember a favourite we forgot to nominate.... That always happens.

[mae]

Yeah I don't see why not, we'll see if we need it when we come to the end of the nomination process.

[T-Dogz_AK47]

I managed to get back home from picking my wife up from work fairly quickly. I'm good to go when you guys are ready! :excited:

[mae]

I'm good to go when you guys are ready! :excited:

We are live (http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?22141-The-Great-Movie-Tournament-Nominations-Thread-1990s)! Managed to do it on 1/11 at 1:11.

[Merlin1958]

You know this tournament and the others like it are great and lots of fun. You folks should also take a moment to realize that the only reason you can have these wonderful tournaments is because this site is here, running and available to everyone. So maybe, if it is within your means, take a moment to show your appreciation and help out with the substantial costs associated with keeping the site up and running for all to enjoy and make a donation to help out. If everyone contributed the equivilant of .50 cents a week, a mere $25 for the entire year, the site fees would be paid in full. Just a thought for all to consider.


http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21762-Donate-to-Keep-the-Site-Ad-Free-And-Vibrant



Help keep TDT.Org Up and Running and Ad free!!!!!

[fernandito]

You know this tournament and the others like it are great and lots of fun. You folks should also take a moment to realize that the only reason you can have these wonderful tournaments is because this site is here, running and available to everyone. So maybe, if it is within your means, take a moment to show your appreciation and help out with the substantial costs associated with keeping the site up and running for all to enjoy and make a donation to help out. If everyone contributed the equivilant of .50 cents a week, a mere $25 for the entire year, the site fees would be paid in full. Just a thought for all to consider.


http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?21762-Donate-to-Keep-the-Site-Ad-Free-And-Vibrant



Help keep TDT.Org Up and Running and Ad free!!!!!

Bill, can you post this on the tournament's main page? I think that should be enough to get the message across and it saves you the trouble of having to post it on every page.

Thank you.

[Still Servant]

Is there going to be a limit to the number of nominations and seconds a member can have this year?

[mae]

Is there going to be a limit to the number of nominations and seconds a member can have this year?

I don't think so, I don't recall us having a hard limit, but maybe I'm forgetting. As long as we keep to the set restrictions, everyone who wants to participate should get plenty of nominations in, and the process won't be done quickly, I think it will take a few days.

[mae]

You know this tournament and the others like it are great and lots of fun. You folks should also take a moment to realize that the only reason you can have these wonderful tournaments is because this site is here, running and available to everyone.

Another way to think about it is that events like these add value to the site in of themselves. It's a lot of work and time spent putting on a tournament and the membership gets to participate and have a lot of fun.

[Still Servant]

Is there going to be a limit to the number of nominations and seconds a member can have this year?

I don't think so, I don't recall us having a hard limit, but maybe I'm forgetting. As long as we keep to the set restrictions, everyone who wants to participate should get plenty of nominations in, and the process won't be done quickly, I think it will take a few days.

I think we originally wanted to do that and then either relaxed it as we went on. I know when I was looking at the Google Sheet for last year, there was a page where we kept track of members nominations and seconds. I don't think it's necessary.

[Still Servant]

I also realized a few things. One, being born in 1980, I realized that the 1990s marked my most growth of a fan of movies. I watched a lot of movies as a kid in the 80's, but as I got older, my taste in film also evolved. Plus, I remembered more shit. Second, the argument could be made that the 90s were the last great decade for original films. I'm not saying there aren't great original films now, but I don't think we will ever see the amount of great, and more importantly, mainstream, films like we did in the 90s.

Now, this may be a bit too personal and #TMI so I apologize in advance, but speaking about growing up in the '80s and '90s, we're around the same age, and I too realized just how much these '90s movies shaped me as a person now. Looking back at the various titles on these lists I compiled I'm surprised at how long it took me to work out my identity finally only a year or two ago. I remember watching The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love when I was 15 or 16, and it had such an impact on me back then as a teenage boy. But not in a way a regular teenage boy would typically react to two cute girls kissing and making love (awkwardly). I was so happy for them and experiencing all these feelings they were too, and, looking back, it was because I wanted to be one of them and have that experience myself. And now that I've realized that being transgender is possible and apparently I was this way all along, a lot of things from back then make more sense.

Admittedly, that movie is not the greatest, but I'll probably nominate it anyway for sentimental reasons.

Thank you for sharing, Mae! I'm so happy that things are working out for you. Happiness in all of our lives should be our main priority.