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I'm so glad you enjoyed it! And happy I remembered about it when I was filling out the gaps in my team
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Sep 9, 2023 06:14
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Sorry I’m a little late. I actually had it written up but I’m feeling lousy and I slept in.   Our Final Four is set and you let me slip through again! What the hell?! Well of course It had no chance. Hitchcock gets the unanimous shutout to raise his record to 7th Bracketology win and head to the Final Four. All Hail Stephen King finally gets put down after drawing all the big guns that got added this season. Good luck next year. On the flip side Bracketology Redux somehow rides this Cinderella run to the Final Four although His House put up way more of a fight against Nosferatu. Still Herzog doubles up Weekes and sends Tarnop’s Brutal Brits out. Which somehow means two of my teams made the Final Four. How the gently caress did that happen? Lets play it out.  5. John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 vs. 6. (Goat’s Ladies Night) Charlotte Colbert’s She Will Its a huge moment for Carpenter. Not only is he in his final run and on the brink of the championship but a win this week will give him 8 all time in Bracketology timing him with Ken Russell and giving him the opportunity to take the top spot on his own next week. And he draws one of his more famous films left in the pool but also maybe not the most horror entry he has? By our standards its not that out of place as the violence in this is certainly horrific but whether or not this cult classic siege film will hold up nearly 50 years later or under the horror banner remains to be seen. The competition is my Ladies Night team trying to do the impossible and get one of my teams to the finals. And drawing a rookie with a fairly obscure film that I added to the team less to win but because I thought it was very cool and fit the team theme. A trippy, witchy, folky, dreamy, thing. Kind of not the sort of film you’d expect from me but I think the sort of film you should expect from Ladies Night. A distinctly female voice with a distinct style and touch. A pretty far cry form Carpenter’s arguably male fantasy of violence. I gotta assume Carpenter has the edge here and I honestly am pulling for him over my team. But can She Will steal a victory here by being more of a spook-a-doodle especially as we rapidly approach Halloween season? Can it somehow send me to the end of this? The tough excites and angers me as I don’t want to end the run of my favorite. But we’ll have to see how it goes. Assault on Precinct 13 is available for streaming on Crackle, Freevee, fubo, Kanopy, Plex, Shout, Roku, and Tubi. She Will is available for streaming on AMC+, DirectTV, Hulu, and Shudder.  5. Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious vs. 7. (Goat’s Bracketology Redux) Gus Van Sant’s Psycho The RNG did it again. And in spectacular fashion as its Hitchcock vs… well.. sorta Hitchcock. Gus Van Sant’s infamous near shot for shot remake of Hitchcock’s iconic first gen psychological slasher. Hitchcock win with Psycho last year because of course he did. Its Psycho. But does Gus have a chance against the dude who he’s copying-slash-homaging? The Psycho remake was largely derided and hated upon release and hasn’t really been reevaluated but Bracketology Redux made it all the way to the Final Four on remakes of classic films. So can we judge Van Sant’s film for what it is instead of against Hitchcock’s original? And even if we can does it beat out another of Hitchcock’s star studded industry forming not quite horror thrillers? It worked for him last week and this time he brings a love triangle of Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, and Claude Rains. This could be another easy victory for Hitch after the dominant one last week, or maybe Redux can pull off one more surprise by taking on Hitch’s own full on horror with its own talented director, crew, and cast and make it to the finals? Strange things happen. Notorious is available for streaming on Freevee, Indie Flix, Tubi, and Flix Fling. Psycho is available for streaming on Peacock. For shits and giggles lets look at how this would have looked if it had gone the other way… and if I had AI do the write-ups out of laziness in doing extra ones. 7. (Goat’s All Hail Stephen King) Rob Reiner’s Misery vs. 8. (Tarnop’s The Brutal Brits) Rose Glass’ Saint Maud It's time for the final four of the bracketology challenge, where we pit the best horror movies against each other and see who comes out on top. Today, we have a thrilling matchup between Rose Glass's Saint Maude and Rob Reiner's Misery. Both films feature a fanatical woman who becomes obsessed with a person she believes is her salvation, and both films explore the themes of faith, madness, and violence. But which one is scarier? Let's find out. Saint Maude tells the story of Maude, a devout nurse who becomes convinced that she has a special connection with God and that she must save the soul of Amanda, a dying dancer who lives in sin. Maude's mission takes a dark turn when she starts to inflict pain on herself and others, believing that it is a sign of God's love. The film is a psychological horror that builds up tension and suspense until the shocking finale, where Maude's delusions reach a horrifying climax. Misery follows the ordeal of Paul Sheldon, a famous novelist who crashes his car in a snowstorm and is rescued by Annie Wilkes, his self-proclaimed number one fan. Annie turns out to be a deranged and violent woman who holds Paul captive in her isolated farmhouse, forcing him to write a new novel that brings back her favorite character, Misery Chastain. The film is a classic thriller that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as Paul tries to escape from Annie's clutches, while enduring her brutal torture. Both films are masterpieces of horror that showcase the talents of their directors and actors. But which one is more terrifying? That's up to you to decide. Vote for your favorite in the comments below and stay tuned for the next round of the bracketology challenge. I don’t know how to feel about AI writing better than me. Its another loss. And that’s our Final Four! Can you believe it? We’re almost finished our long 2023 journey together. I certainly am glad you’ve all joined me this long and hope you’ve enjoyed yourselves. And we have another nice lineup of films in this our second to last week, even if its maybe a little more thriller than horror. But hey, good movies and strange matchups. That’s Bracketology for you. As always the goal is to just have fun and watch what you want. We try and make sure every film is reasonably available, some are a little harder to find than others and not everyone has the right streaming services so if you need help finding any of the films ask and help might be right around the corner. It will. I have the movies. Just ask. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST Sept 17th (or when I get to it) Next Week! The Championship! Spreadsheet Letterboxd List STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 19:50 on Sep 10, 2023 |
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Sep 10, 2023 18:57
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Wild, Wild, WILD matchup of Hitchcock vs. basically his own movie! AI writeups are horrible tho, do not let the machine speak anymore.
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Sep 11, 2023 02:51
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STAC Goat posted:5. Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious vs. 7. (Goat’s Bracketology Redux) Gus Van Sant’s Psycho 
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Sep 11, 2023 03:00
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I like Assault on Precinct 13 just fine but that's not a guaranteed vote for Carpenter, I could definitely go the other way depending on how it goes with She Will. Hard to imagine voting for a mostly unnecessary remake given that the opponent is the legend who actually created the original. That said, I haven't actually seen Notorious so who knows, maybe I won't like it at all.
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Sep 12, 2023 15:19
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She Will is totally unremarkable and at best evokes much better witch movies. It also has this absolutely horrid black fly cgi prefab that seems to be popping up in horror movies a lot nowadays. I distinctly remember it from Saloum because it's the only movie that uses it that's not also totally forgettable. Easy vote for Carpenter, not even close.
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Sep 13, 2023 03:19
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Ok, so in the past the Championship week has been 3 matchups. 1) A fresh RNG draw, 2) the highest vote winners of each finalist, 3) the lowest vote winners of each finalist. That was done in part because reusing films was just kind of necessity given teams that were out of movies. This year we actually have 4 finalists who all have 3 or more movies left. So I was debating changing it to 3 fresh draws. Now the god's honest truth is this is partially motivated by not wanting to see John Carpenter go down for good with Halloween riding the bench. And maybe that's not fair. But it feels ok to be because (a) past finalists are in the past, this doesn't affect them, (b) Hitchcock has Rear Window, and (c) the other two are my teams and I'm ok with it. So I'm thinking of doing 1) RNG draw, 2) The most popular movie remaining, 3) the least popular movie remaining. That feels fair to me since it (a) guarantees the best movies of each finalist gets played as well as the least and (b) making the first match a RNG means there's still the luck of the draw inherent in the entire tournament so there's no guarantee of Halloween vs Rear Window or whatever. Any objections? I'll do it the old way if people want but I think fresh movies is more exciting and putting everyone's best (and worst) forward makes it more competitive and fun. But if you accused me of doing this because of by fanboyism of Carpenter not wanting to see him go down without a fight I couldn't object. I could only point out this also guarantees he plays The Ward and Village of the Damned so he's not coming out of this unscathed. Assuming he even makes the finals.
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Sep 13, 2023 16:16
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I think it's fine to look at the state of the teams that get to the final and come up with the most fun format for the final based on that. It's going to be different every time and, since this is primarily supposed to be a structured way to get a bunch of people to watch the same movies at the same time, fun matters more than year on year consistency. What you're suggesting sounds fun to me, a person with a preference for novelty. My two pence
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Sep 13, 2023 18:45
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Tarnop posted:What you're suggesting sounds fun to me 
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Sep 13, 2023 19:08
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Same
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Sep 13, 2023 19:12
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They've got the movie fuel, so I say go for it!
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Sep 13, 2023 19:26
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I wanna see Halloween vs Rear Window.
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Sep 13, 2023 20:27
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Digging how much Hitchock this year's tourney as led me to watch. Notorious wasn't incredible but the leads are dope and that ending was cool.
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Sep 13, 2023 20:38
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Oh, and psycho remake was alright, but without Perkins, it just isn't anywhere as good, so what's the point,
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Sep 13, 2023 20:40
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Even if the performances were just as good I don't see the value in shot for shot remakes. Put your own spin on it or do anything new at all! My phone kept correcting "shot" to "poo poo", even Google keyboard thinks Gus van Sant is a hack
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Sep 13, 2023 20:55
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Tarnop posted:Even if the performances were just as good I don't see the value in shot for shot remakes. Put your own spin on it or do anything new at all! I can kinda see the value in the effort, using the same camera tricks, editing, script, etc but with modern tools could be interesting. In the end it just wasn't
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Sep 13, 2023 21:12
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If you or anyone else can think of a good example of it being done I'd love to have my mind changed on this
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Sep 13, 2023 21:24
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Funny Games is the only one that comes to mind. Maybe Quarantine and REC
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Sep 13, 2023 21:29
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I love it when I can have my mind changed by just remembering things I've already watched instead of having to expend any effort lol Those are both good examples. I prefer REC massively over Quarantine but I didn't spend all of quarantine thinking "this is worthless poo poo" like I did with Psycho remake
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Sep 13, 2023 22:00
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Tarnop posted:I love it when I can have my mind changed by just remembering things I've already watched instead of having to expend any effort lol Lol I really liked Anne Heche and William H Macy. Hell even Viggo is a fun recast. Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn just did not work at all for me. I do wonder if it would've worked better had GVS done it in BnW. Being in color messes up some of the effects of shots, making them look worse (or maybe GVS just sucked at recreating those shots) compared to the original. I dont disagree that it's a worthless remake, tbf. Choosing Psycho as your project for a shot for shot remake is boldly foolish.
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Sep 13, 2023 22:13
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MacheteZombie posted:I dont disagree that it's a worthless remake, tbf. Choosing Psycho as your project for a shot for shot remake is boldly foolish. It absolutely runs headfirst into the same criticism as mediocre films that have their characters watching Halloween or something. If your film is just ok, don't remind me that I could be watching something significantly better
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Sep 13, 2023 22:17
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I didn’t see it until years later but I remember the trailers and tv spots touting it as a gritty violent film when it’s the same poo poo they did in the 60’s and that’s pretty funny to me
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Sep 13, 2023 22:41
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No opinion on the final format, go with what feels right! I like the amazing matchups that come from the total randomness personally. Also there's a split screen version of the two Psychos on Soderbergh's blog, that's probably the one I'll end up watching: https://extension765.com/blogs/soderblog/psychos edit: Oh its not split, its intercut and all black and white.
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Sep 14, 2023 13:39
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I'm okay with however you want to run the final round. I'm also probably the only one voting for Ladies Night over John Carpenter, so my opinion may be suspect.
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Sep 14, 2023 21:36
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I think Assault is fine for what it is and I like it more than a lot of films of it’s sort. But it’s not really the kind of film I go for and it just doesn’t click with me. I gotta rewatch She Will. I saw it last October. But I’m leaning that way.
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Sep 15, 2023 00:26
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It’s Friday and I’m sick as hell. Got just about 45 hours or so to do the championship writeups and watch whatever I have left. Same to you. I mean you don’t gotta do writeups and I hope you’re not sick but that’s how long you have to watch this weeks movies and vote to see who goes to finals. As if we didn’t know.
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Sep 15, 2023 19:39
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I didn't dislike She Will, but I did think it threw in so much imagery and allusions that it got a little unfocused. It felt like a hour's worth of a solid horror/morality tale stretched out to movie length. Maybe if you like all the strange visions it would be pretty appealing. I felt like it was going for something oneiric but to me it watered down the narrative. I have yet to finish Assault on Precinct 13 so I'm not yet sure which way I'll vote on this one. As for Hitchcock vs. the Hitchcock homage experiment, if I take them purely as they are and imagine I knew zero context, it would be a close match-up. I really like Vince Vaughan's performance (the acting is strong in van Sant's version) and it is a chilling story. Notorious is a Cold-War thriller more than a horror film, but despite that, there's so much tension and unease in it that it evokes much the same feeling as a horror film would. I didn't really like the somewhat pat resolution of the story, but it remains a showcase of just how masterful Hitchcock was of the technique of suspense. And in context, that's also something the Psycho remake is doing... so how could I not vote for Hitchcock?
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Sep 16, 2023 06:08
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She Will was a straight parody of "elevated horror". Every time the director got close to making a movie they spooked themselves and projected a transparent baby head on a tree.
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Sep 17, 2023 12:33
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Results are gonna be late today I’m sorry to say. Been very sick and I’ve basically been in a sleep coma do the last day or two. But I’m gonna do my best to get them up today. I’m very sorry for the delay.
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Sep 17, 2023 17:31
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Again, sorry for the lateness. Was sick all week and kept hoping I’d find the energy. Then ended up going to bed early and hoping I’d wake up early to do them only to just sleep for like 15 hours. But I’m alive and managed to get this stuff done eventually. It might be a little rough around the edges but at least I didn’t have AI write it up for me.  Well no real surprises there but its still a big one. John Carpenter and Alfred Hitchcock both advance into the finals guaranteeing we have our first Solo Director champion since Ken Russell. In doing so Carpenter picks up is 9th Bracketology win standing alone on top of all others. Hitchcock picks up his 8th which means who ever comes out of the finals the champion should also come away as the all time win leader. And for my teams its the end of their inconceivable run this year. If I could have rigged it to sacrifice my teams to get here I might have but either way the Goat teams go home and regroup from next year while we head onto our finals. As I mentioned a few days ago in the past we’ve done 1 RNG draw and two repeat matchups but since both finalists have 3+ it felt more fun to go all new here. So 3 RNG draws after all.  5. Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window vs. 5. John Carpenter’s Halloween Yep. It could gave been “the top movies from each guy” but this was an actual RNG draw. I guess the computer wanted to see it as much as we did. But its Carpenter’s seminal classic of the spooky season that for many defines Halloween and launched a dozen sequels and remakes and countless other copies. The film that made Jamie Lee Curtis a legend and Micheal Myers the boogeyman in the shadows. On the flip side we have Hitchcock’s brilliant story of voyeuristic paranoia and suspense that we’ve seen probably half a dozen knockoffs of in just this tournament alone. With James Stewart’s legendary performance and Grace Kelly lighting up the screen as only she could its an all timer of any season really. Its a hell of a matchup and there might not be many films that either would lose to except each other. Both legendary films, both inspiring countless others, both part of our cultural memories. Which one comes out in the head to head matchup? Rear Window is available for streaming on The Internet Archive. Halloween is available for streaming on AMC+, Crackle, Cultpix, DirectTV, Fubo, IndieFlix, Plex, Redbox, and Shudder.  5. John Carpenter’s The Ward vs. 5. Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest Choosing to do all new draws guaranteed Carpenter plays Halloween but also guaranteed that he plays his far lesser late films such as the Ward. I’d love to tell you how I feel about the Ward and defend it as the Carpenter fanboy I am but the truth is i’ve watched the film 3 times and don’t remember a thing about it. Still Hitchcock has a long filmography so a random choice could land anywhere and give Carpenter a chance… but not this time. RNG draws another Hitch classic with Cary Grant’s impromptu spy adventure that very much feels like the blueprint for many modern spy adventure films. Always an outside chance it wouldn’t be horror enough but that hasn’t really hurt Hitchcock so far this tournament and we’re still talking about The Ward. I’m gonna watch it a 4th time and hope I retain enough to make the case for voting for it. But we’ll see if that works out or not. The Ward is available for streaming on Youtube. North by Northwest is available for streaming on The Internet Archive.  5. Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound vs. 5. John Carpenter’s Village of the Damned In our last RNG draw we finally get a deep cut from Hitchcock. Although with Hitch even a deep cut means Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck and six Oscar nominations including for Best Picture. So maybe he had the edge all along. Carpenter brings the last of his films we haven’t seen, a remake to the 60s cult classic that is largely dismissed as a poorly conceived and pointless one that misses the point of the original, but for which there’s also an audible counter opinion that it has the typical Carpenter mood and vibe with a female orientated take on the story about women having their bodies and choices violated by some evil force. Its honestly enough to get me curious to rewatch it but it sure seems like its an uphill battle for Carpenter. But we’ll find out. Spellbound is available for streaming on The Internet Archive. Village of the Damned is available for streaming on Peacock. That’s our finals. Hitchcock brings James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Gregory Peck to the game. Carpenter brings Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Reeves, and… Amber Heard? Well we’re not voting based on casts. But this one feels like its Hitchcock’s to lose and Carpenter might just be hoping on the Halloween win to avoid the shutout. But you never know. And either of these legendary horror names winning feels right. We’ll just have to see which one does. As always the goal is to just have fun and watch what you want. We try and make sure every film is reasonably available, some are a little harder to find than others and not everyone has the right streaming services so if you need help finding any of the films ask and help might be right around the corner. It will. I have the movies. Just ask. You can vote in this round until 12 noon EST Sept 24th (or when I get to it) Next Week! The HalloweeNIT! Spreadsheet Letterboxd List
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Sep 17, 2023 20:35
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That's about as good a final as we could get. it does seem to favor Hitchcock, but arguably Carpenter's films have more variation in quality.
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Sep 17, 2023 21:59
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Carpenters village of the damned absolutely sinks him lol what a poor pull
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Sep 18, 2023 00:20
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At the end of the day I'll vote for the better movie, but if they're close Carpenter will get my vote for being a good person, unlike Hitchcock. It's a totally arbitrary tiebreaker, but I can live with that.
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Sep 18, 2023 02:03
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John Carpenter has my dream life, and also my vote
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Sep 18, 2023 02:06
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I think, in the end, Hitchcock is gonna win based on the second two matchups, which are so lopsided against Carpenter that it's not even funny anymore. It's almost pitiable, the idea of throwing The Ward up against North By Northwest. I owe Rear Window a rewatch, but I would probably vote for that over Halloween as well, despite my affection for the latter film. That will probably be the closest vote of the match, and may be the one win that Carpenter manages to eke out here, but I'm half expecting a total Hitchcock sweep here.
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Sep 18, 2023 14:58
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Samfucius posted:At the end of the day I'll vote for the better movie, but if they're close Carpenter will get my vote for being a good person, unlike Hitchcock. It's a totally arbitrary tiebreaker, but I can live with that. There's no rule here that says you can't make arbitrary decisions and I feel like we should be doing that more. Objectivity isn't as fun. The decider for me here is going to be Spellbound. I've never seen it and I don't really dislike Village of the Damned, so I could end up going either way on that. And there aren't too many films that I'd vote for over Rear Window, but Halloween is drat sure one of them.
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Sep 18, 2023 15:46
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Two titans worthy of the finals. The real issue here is you have a matchup of two masterpieces that could conceivably go either way, then a very lopsided match of The Ward vs. North by Northwest that ought to give the upperhand to Hitchcock (unless people dock NbNW for not being a horror movie). Spellbound vs. Village of the Damned is a real wildcard. Because Spellbound is not really that strong of a Hitchcock entry aside from the Dali-designed dream sequence. If people break for Halloween over Rear Window, this could be the real decider. I think advantage is Hitchcock, but Carpenter has a shot despite drawing two of his weaker entries while Hitchcock got two of his bonafide masterpieces and one middling film.
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Sep 18, 2023 16:00
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Basebf555 posted:The decider for me here is going to be Spellbound. I've never seen it and I don't really dislike Village of the Damned, so I could end up going either way on that. And there aren't too many films that I'd vote for over Rear Window, but Halloween is drat sure one of them. This is where I am, pretty much
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Sep 18, 2023 22:20
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Yeah. Rear Window is great but I’m voting for Halloween. I don’t think I have to justify that. It’s at worst Rear Window’s equal and an absolute favorite of mine. And much more horror. The definition of horror in many ways. So that’s an easy guilt free vote for me. I’ll rewatch them but North by Northwest almost certainly beats The Ward. Maybe 4th time will be the charm and Ward will finally click but even with the horror handicap it probably can’t be a better film than NxNW. So yeah. Spellbound vs Village of the Damned is the rubber match. Don’t know what to expect from Spellbound but don’t have strong feelings for Village one way or another. So watch them and see what happens. Carpenter vibe could carry a close enough match even if Spellbound is the better objective film. But like if it’s a killer then probably can’t justify a Carpenter vote. I’ll see.
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Sep 19, 2023 03:08
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I will be voting Village over Spellbound and thus Carpenter 2-1. I feel comfortable with this. Spellbound isn't bad or anything. Its well made in all the Hitchcock ways and Bergman and Peck are both good. Its a perfectly fine little romantic mystery thingie although I think I didn't click as much since I've never been a fan of the whole "I can fix him" romances. The whole movie is basically Bergman getting red flags and being mansplained to nonstop. I dunno, I don't have any real complaints. it was a fine enough movie. Just didn't do a lot for me. I enjoyed Village of the Damned more than i remembered. Maybe that was my biased and desire to vote for it influencing me or me just being in a good mood because I'm feeling better. Or that I've seen the original since the last time I saw this. Also that quasi remake we drew earlier in the tournament. And I enjoyed Carpenter's more horror take with the grisly deaths and stuff and the more human perspective of the impact this is all happening on the mothers and the town. Its a pretty horrific human story when it comes down to it but it feels the original take is on the bigger geopolitical/space/whatever implications. And I find that stuff pretty dull a lot of the time. Human stories hit more. And Carpenter doesn't quite nail it here. Maybe he lacks the perspective and could use Debra Hill on the team. Or maybe he's just almost done with the industry and half checked out. Its not great. But I enjoyed it and got more out of it from Spellbound. So yeah. I thought 'd just be kind of rationalizing a vote for Carpenter but I'm honestly not convinced Spellbound is the better film. It feels close to me and I'm giving it to Village.
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Sep 19, 2023 06:40
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