Some of you might remember me and my pal having done the
same during last Christmas holiday. Back then we "only" managed to see 13½ films in a row or, if you prefer, 25½ hours of film. Here is the topic of that marathon.
As last time, we have prepared this pretty well and we
will buy many bottles of Coke, Red Bull, Dextrose energy packs, chocolate bars etc etc. As for food, we will eat Tacos.
We're going with the same rules as last time, that is,
maximum 5 minutes of break between every film. And all films have been double checked by us so that no one is malfunctioning. This time
we'll be in my basement which, imo, is the perfect place to watch movies (being quite chilly in these hot summer days and all)
Yeah, so here's the schedule:
6th July
10:00 - The Last King of Scotland - 2006
- 118 min - Color - 7.8/10 on imdb
(Originally, we should have watched this one on the previous marathon, but we where just too
tired to pull it off.) Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s. Forest
Whitaker won an Oscar for best leading actor.
11:58 - Break
12:03 - His Girl Friday - 1940 - 92 min - Black & White - 8.1/10 on imdb - #215 on the top 250
A Classic screwball comedy in which a newspaper editor (Cary Grant) uses every trick in the book
to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. Directed by the cult-favourite Howard Hawks. (New film for my buddy, I have seen it once before)
13:35 - Break
13:40 - Quiz Show - 1994 - 128 min -
Color - 7.5/10 on imdb
An idealistic young lawyer (Rob Morrow) working for a Congressional subcommittee in the late
1950s discovers that TV quiz shows are being fixed. His investigation focusses on two contestants on the show "Twenty-One": Herbert Stempel (John
Turturro), a brash working-class Jew from Queens, and Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), the patrician scion of one of America's leading literary families.
Based on a true story. Directed by actor/director Robert Redford.
15:48 - Break
15:53 - The Score - 2001 - 120 min -
Color - 6.8/10 on imdb
A dream-like trio with Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Marlon Brando; sadly, this was to be
Brando's last actor performance. An aging thief hopes to retire and live off his ill-gotten wealth when a young kid convinces him into doing one last
heist.
17:53 - Break
17:58 - Romance & Cigarettes - 2005 -
102 min - Color - 6.3/10 on imdb
A down-and-dirty musical set in the world of working-class New York, tells a story of a
husband's journey into infidelity and redemption when he must choose between his seductive mistress and his beleaguered wife. Directed by John Turturro and
starring James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi and Christopher Walken.
19:40 - Break
19:45 - Umbert D - 1952 - 86 min - Black
& White - 8.3/10 on imdb - #187 on the top 250
Umberto Domenico Ferrari, an elderly and retired civil servant, is desperately trying to
maintain a decent standard of living on a rapidly dwindling state pension. But he's up against his tyrannical landlady, who keeps demanding rent that he
can't pay (while renting his room out to prostitutes during the day), and his only friends are the pregnant housemaid and his little dog Flike.
One of the most famous of the Italian neo-realisms, directed by Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves). (New
film for my buddy, I have seen it once before)
21:11 - Break
21:16 - Gladiator (extended version) -
2000 - 164 min - Color - 8.3/10 on imdb - #115 on the top 250
This film really doesn't need any background as I figured most of you have seen it already.
However, we are about to watch the extended version which is approx. 20 minutes longer than the theatrical version.
7th July
00:00 - Break
00:05 - An American Werewolf in London - 1981 - 94 min - Color - 7.5/10 on imdb
A Horror-Comedy about Two American tourists in England who are attacked by a werewolf that none
of the locals will admit exists. Directed by John Landis (The Blues Brothers)
01:39 - Break
01:44 - Un chien andalou (An Andalusian
Dog) - 1928 - 16 min - Black & White - 8.1/10 on imdb
A film made by the master of surrealism, Luis Buñuel (his first film actually), this short-film
features one of the most unforgettable and most disturbing shots in the history of cinema: A woman's eye is slit open--juxtaposed with a similarly shaped
cloud obscuring the moon moving in the same direction as the knife through the eye. "An Andalusian Dog" consists of sixteen minutes of bizarre and
surreal images that may or may not mean anything. (New film for my buddy, I have seen it once before)
02:00 - Break
02:05 - Frost/Nixon - 2008 - 117 min -
Color - 8.0/10 on imdb
A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host
David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.
04:02 - Break
04:07 - Revolutionary Road - 2008 - 115 min - Color - 7.7/10 on imdb
A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms
with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children.
06:02 - Break
06:07 - Gran Torino - 2008 - 118 min - Color - 8.4/10 on imdb - #76 on the top 250
This may be the most highly anticipated film of the entire marathon. Starring and directed by
the one and only, Clint Eastwood.
08:05 - Break
08:10 - Sukiyaki Western Django - 2007 - 95 min - Color - 6.5/10 on imdb
A revolver-wielding stranger crosses paths with two warring clans who are both on the hunt for a
hidden treasure in a remote western town. Knowing his services are valuable to either side, he offers himself to the clan who will offer up the largest share
of the wealth. This Japanese production features writer/director Quentin Tarantino in a small role (and that being the only reason why we're about to see
this film.)
09:45 - Break
09:50 - The Last Tycoon - 1976 - 119 min - Color - 6.3/10 in imdb
F.Scott Fitzgerald's novel is brought to life in this story of a movie producer (Robert De
Niro) slowly working himself to death. Featuring an all star cast with Tony Curtis, Ray Milland, Robert Mitchum, Jack Nicholson, Donald Pleasence etc. This was
going to be Elia Kazan's (On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire) last feature film.
11:49 - Break
11:54 - Livet i 8-bitar (Bit by Bit) - 2002 - 82 min - Color - 4.5/10 on imdb
Despite the poor rating on imdb, this is one of the films on this marathon that me and my pal
look most forward to see. The reason? It is a film about video games and we both LOVE video games :P
"J", the main character's goal is to become the world master of NES. He struggles
with his traditional Jewish family and non-Jewish girlfriend who demand that he grow up and get a job. Real problems arise when "J" awakes to
discover that his right hand is missing. This Swedish release should indeed be very interesting to watch.
13:16 - Break
13:21 - The Simpsons Movie - 2007 - 84 min - Color - 7.6/10 on imdb
This film really does not need any information. I guess all of you are familiar with The
Simpsons and originally this was planned to be our last film of our previous marathon, but we just couldn't make it all the way. (New film for me; I
haven't watched it before but my buddy has)
14:45 - Break
14:50 - Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith - 2005 - 135 min - Color - 7.9/10 on imdb
We have both watched this one before, although it was back when it first was released,
approximately 4 years ago, so this one should be exciting to watch again (if we can make it all the way till here).
17:05 - END of Marathon
Now, following this, we have two movies in
"reserve" that is if we feel we will be able to watch even more films:
Reserve Film #1:
17:10 - Stranger Than Fiction - 2006
18:59 - Break
Reserve Film #2:
19:04 -Vals im Bashir - 2008
(we haven't seen any of these reserve films)
20:31 - THE END
Bear in mind that it is VERY unlikely that we will be able
to watch more films after Star Wars 3, which is our main goal, but if we feel that we can sit through another film, then why not?
If we do manage to watch all movies from the first to Star
Wars 3, we will have watched approx 30 hours of film! That will break our former record with 4½ hours!!
Lastly, I would like to mention that yesterday, we had a
sort of "warm-up" (a mini-marathon), that is we watched "only" 8 films in a row to see how decent our shape was. And here are the films of
yesterday:
Catch-22 (1970)
The Man from Earth (2007)
The Killer (1989)
Ben X (2007)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Seven Pounds (2007)
My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
Mun mot mun (2005)
We managed to sit through these 8 films without any
problem. The Killer was probably the best of these, although none were bad except "The Hills Have Eyes" which neither of us liked. Now we both are
deeply looking forward to this marathon and I think we are even more motivated now than we were last time.
Discuss! Make preds or whatever
"To be continued..."
