WFC2: Random Roulette (aka zzzorf's Facebook Movie Challenge)

[zzzorf]

Travis Easton scored a free choice this round and gave me The Mark of Zorro (1940) as his movie. My only experience with this character before was the Antonio Banderas version which I watched many years ago so I was looking forward to rebooting my knowledge of the character with a more classic version.

The movie was a little bit of a mixed bag for me. While mostly enjoyable with great sword play like you would expect from a Zorro movie I never really felt the drive to be Zorro from the story. Basically Zorro just suddenly appears and goes about his business. Yes he had a legit reason to be the vigilante but there was no development in the need to become a masked hero.

Anyway as I said I still enjoyed it enough for a 6/10 and it charted as follows:
< The Haunting (1963)
> The Infernal Caldron (1903)
> The Roommate (2011)
> My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)
< The Circle (2017)
> The Smurfs 2 (2013)
< Pluto's Judgement Day (1935)
> From Here to Eternity (1953)
> The Lone Ranger (2013)
> Two Wrongs (2015)
< Astro Boy (2009)
Congratulations!
The Mark of Zorro
is now #2740 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5073) (46%)

A score good enough to see Travis through to the next round.

[zzzorf]

No I haven't forgotten this, there is just so many movies in the world and not enough time in the day. I did watch something a few days ago though, too late for the group watch but I still watched it.

Anyway my mother Sharon Brenton drew The Bechdel Test as her prompt, and while she didn't know what that meant at the time a quick google search put her on the right path. Her movie Hidden Figures (2016) met the test with flying colours, unless a love for maths is the same as a love of boys.

This was a mildly entertaining movie, that's no knock on it, I did like it. It is just what you would expect of a Hollywood movie of its ilk, a light hearted look at history. It taught me about 3 women I knew absolutely nothing about but didn't beat me overhead with details, just added them in with a little of a laugh here and there so I didn't notice what I was learning.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> On demande une brute (1934)
< Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
< The House of Ghosts (1907)
< Le samouraï (1967)
> The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow (2013)
< On Ice (1935)
< Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
> Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
> Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)
< Man on the Tracks (1957)
> My Dinner with Andre (1981)
> My Little Neighbor, Yae (1934)
Congratulations!
Hidden Figures
is now #2380 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5151) (54%)

With that score Mum safely makes it through to the next round.

[zzzorf]

Jandy Hardesty drew a free choice for her pick and gave me the Ernst Lubitsch pre-code classic Design for Living (1933).

It is very interesting some of the ideas Lubitsch had through his movies, you could easily see them being tabeau back in the day. I mean I don't think a situation where a woman lives with 2 men, both whom she loves, in a non-sexual relationship, would have been something that would have gone down well.

Anyway the movie wasn't bad, a good effort from Lubitsch but I'm still of the belief that his silent work was better than his talkies. I really struggled with the lead female character in this, I struggled to find many redeeming qualities in her which took me out of the movie a little.

Anyway I still enjoyed the movie all the same and I gave it a 6/10 which means Lubitsch has now cracked my top 50 directors of all time. It charted as follows:
> Inception (2010)
< Okja (2017)
< The Lion King (2019)
< Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
> Marauders (2016)
> Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
> Day and Night (2010)
< Inside Out (2011)
< Artists and Models (1955)
< Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
< Brokeback Mountain (2005)
> Amityville: The Awakening (2017)
Congratulations!
Design For Living
is now #2395 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5384) (56%)

That score will see Jandy safely through to the next round.

[zzzorf]

After drawing Academy Award Winner as her prompt Rachel Gilbert gave me BlacKkKlansman (2018). While I wanted to see this movie I was a but skeptical as Spike Lee is not a director that sits well with me at times so I'm glad to have got a push to watch it.

For the majority of the beginning of the movie I was getting annoyed, I recognised the main actor yet could not put a finger on it so I had to go find out, that was when it all clicked together for me. I didn't recognise the actor but instead has father who is one of my favourite actors in Denzel Washington. That is why his face and his voice were familiar yet not quite right.

Anyway my revelation aside this movie was pretty good, yeah it had issues but all good movies do. The purpose of the movie was the message which was handled well and delivered with strength.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> About 12 (2014)
> Shanghai Noon (2000)
< The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
< Universal Horror (1998)
< Fiend Without a Face (1958)
< Premium Rush (2012)
< Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
> 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown (2015)
< Le trou (1960)
> Magic in the Water (1995)
< LFO: The Movie (2013)
< Fletch (1985)
Congratulations!
BlacKkKlansman
is now #1341 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5476) (76%)

That score will easily take Rachel through to the next round if I ever do make it there.

[zzzorf]

And once again I find myself lazy on reporting/charting movies being about 3 weeks and about 70 movies behind. As the random draw for the Internet it drew B-Movie and I used an Official iCM List to pull up my movie, Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001).

I was a bit skeptical going into this but I should know by now that I do normally enjoy movies like this. Yeah it wasn't as great as I was led to believe but it was still a pretty fun movie. Hedwig was portrayed very well and the story was interesting.

6/10 and charted as follows:
< Digger (2020)
> Ladies in Retirement (1941)
> Look Who's Talking Now (1993)
< The Flying Train (1902)
> Atom Man vs. Superman (1950)
< Bootmen (2000)
> Carry On Up The Khyber (1968)
< The Smurfs (2011)
> Tangled: Before Ever After (2017)
> In a Valley of Violence (2016)
> Epicenter (2000)
Congratulations!
Hedwig and The Angry Inch
is now #3228 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5543) (42%)

That score will safely see the internet through to the next round if I ever make it there.

[zzzorf]

Drawing the 1980's as his prompt Jeff McCullough gave me Atlantic City (1980) as my movie. Over the last few years I have been growing a great respect for Louis Malle's directorial work and I was looking forward to seeing another one of his movies. It did not disappoint.

Malle's expertise was on show here but he was helped immensely by the great acting of Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon. Yeah the screenplay could have used a bit of touching up and some of the minor characters given more time to develop but they are only minor squabbles about a pretty decent movie.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
< The Enfield Haunting (2015)
> Date Movie (2006)
< The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)
> Maximum Overdrive (1986)
> Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown (2017)
> Will (2011)
> Dino Time (2012)
> Sharknado (2013)
> Encino Man (1992)
< Mother/Android (2021)
< The Orator (2011)
Congratulations!
Atlantic City
is now #1797 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5731) (69%)

This result sees Malle jump over 50 spots into my top 100 directors and sees Jeff safely through to the next round.

[zzzorf]

I just started writing a whole paragraph about how I was going to pull the plug on this challenge as it was now obsolete due to my change in viewing habits over the years but I got to the point where I was saying how much I've enjoyed the movies I have been given and I thought, why is it obsolete? A good movie is a good movie. So soldier on I will, as long as you don't mind me go missing from time to time when something else comes my way elsewhere. This round is nearly over after all (6 movies after this) and future rounds will get smaller and smaller of course and I know plenty of interesting movies will still come my way with some of the great prompts still not chosen. I'm going to finish this challenge if it kills me, I do want to get to my next challenge idea sooner or later, so I may just speed up, but then again this round did start nearly 18 months ago so I can't go much slower.

Anyway this review of Gaslight (1944) comes courtesy of Bethany Megill who drew Oscar Nominated as her prompt, and now I can put in place where the word originated from that is so widely used today.

You knew just what was up from the start as soon as the husband started with the mind games but then again that could be due to our understanding of the word today. Still this was so well done and you could see her crumble under the weight of his abuse. Such a good film.

8/10 and charted as follows:
> Les horizons morts (1951)
> Last Life in the Universe (2004)
> Trouble in Paradise (1932)
< A Royal Affair (2012)
> Angels & Demons (2009)
> The Ultimate Weapon (1998)
< The Addams Family (1991)
< The Love Bug (1968)
< We Bought a Zoo (2011)
< Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
< The Father (2020)
< The Telegram Man (2011)
< Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
459/5876 (92%)

That gives Bethany the 3rd best score this round and a good reason for me to continue this challenge to get movies like this. Only 6 movies to go.

[zzzorf]

Sometimes a see a recommendation that is given to me and I scratch my head thinking, why would someone give me that. That was my reaction when Elisabeth Miller gave me My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) as my movie when she received Wedding as her prompt.

I will admit to having this movie mixed up as being a spin-off/rip-off from the Australian TV show "Acropolis Now" which I remember enjoying as a kid but thought this was a poor version of it. Well I was wrong and it had nothing to do with it whatsoever.

Once I got that out of the way I settled in to the movie. The movie itself wasn't anything special, pretty run of the mill stuff you would expect but honestly I couldn't help but respect its charm. Yeah it will never win any prizes for best ever but I was happily chuckling away.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> Spin (2021)
< The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
< Moneyball (2011)
< Of Freaks And Men (1998)
< Ali Baba Bunny (1957)
< The Breaking of the Drought (1920)
< Superman Returns (2006)
< Inga (1968)
> Crawl (2019)
> This Magnificent Cake! (2018)
< The Demilitarized Zone (1965)
< Day of Wrath (2005)
< Ivan the Terrible, Part Two (1958)
2927/5889 (50%)

That will see Elisabeth safely through to the next round. Only 5 more movies to go this round. That means from the next movie I will be officially saying bye for now to participants as they are officially eliminated.

[zzzorf]

For her prompt of Nerds Hannah Keefer gave me Role Models (2008).I have a bad habit of discounting these comedies as just your run-of-the-mill Hollywood Machine Made comedies that are made multiple times a year, more often than not once I start the movie I get more enjoyment than I expected.

With Seann William Scott as part of the main cast I should have expected to enjoy it as I normally do. Him and Paul Rudd were in fine form and the kids were pretty great too. While the medieval role-play wasn't as good as Knights of Badassdom it was still pretty enjoyable. I did get a little annoyed that the whole film I was trying to work out who Seann was going to end up with at the end, but he never does, but that was only a minor squabble.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> LOL (2012)
< Last Life in the Universe (2004)
> Moneyball (2011)
> Ferdinand the Bull (1938)
> Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
< The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
> BMX Bandits (1983)
< Peeping Tom (1960)
< Carry on Screaming! (1966)
Congratulations!
Role Models
is now #1611 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5893) (73%)

That score will safely see Hannah through to the next round and will officially eliminate one of the two iCMForum members who disappeared before the round started and thus never gave me a movie. 4 more movies to go in this round.

[zzzorf]

From Ben Shoemaker I got Shaolin Soccer (2001) for his prompt of Kung Fu. Yeah this fit the prompt but it was so different than what I expected. Yeah I was expecting some craziness, it wouldn't be a kung-fu movie if it wasn't a little, but this was absolute bat-shit crazy. The majority of the time I love that sort of thing, unfortunately this was one of those times I just did not.

Yeah the movie had some moments of brilliance but on a whole it was a bit of a let down. Sorry Ben, I just didn't enjoy this one in the end.

3/10 and charted as follows:
< Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
< Dragon Hunters (2008)
< Sniper 2 (2002)
> The Awful Truth (1937)
< House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
< Days of Heaven (1978)
> Shame (2011)
> An Elephant's Journey (2017)
> Chopper (2000)
> Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)
> An Indecent Obsession (1985)
< Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Congratulations!
Shaolin Soccer
is now #5454 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5914) (8%)

Unfortunately that puts Ben in one of the hot seats and lets Mike Seaman off by less than 1 full %. That also means my other no show from the forum's is now officially eliminated with three more movies to watch.

[zzzorf]

Having known me from the LOPForums (a dedicated wrestling forum where I used to write wrestling-related columns) before I ventured head first into the world of film it is no wonder when given the prompt of Sports Jacob West Good gave me a wrestling themed movie. The movie in question was the obscure Japanese movie Gachi bôi (2008), known in the English speaking world as Wrestling with a Memory.

The plot is simple, think 50 First Dates but instead of romance you find a uni student join the school Professional Wrestling club. The movie tstarted out pretty poor but it definitely picked up, especially when the main charcters memory loss was revealed. The final act was spectacular and a great fun watch for any wrestling fan.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> LOL (2012)
< City Slickers (1991)
> The Land Before Time IX: Journey To Big Water (2002)
> Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996)
> 16 Blocks (2006)
> Pink: Funhouse Tour: Live in Australia (2009)
> Re-Animator (1985)
< Sherlock: The Blind Banker (2010)
< Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
< Aliko & Ambai (2017)
< The Lunchbox (2013)
< Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
< The Tingler (1959)
Congratulations!
Wrestling with a Memory
is now #1531 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5942) (74%)

That will safely see Jacob through to another round and officially eliminates Chad who had a negative score after his penalty points. 2 movies left to go in this round.

[zzzorf]

For my penultimate watch for this round I watched Dangerous Liaisons (1988) which was Nathan Treadway's pick for his prompt of Erotic Thriller. I can't say this really fit the theme as I envisioned it but I've already said before I am a little bit lenient, as long as the giftee tried.

While not a thriller as such this was a very interesting film that dealt with the sexual intrigue of the Paris aristocracy. The costumes and settings were beautiful and the acting was superb (though I still don't find Glenn Close that attractive) though a few times I got a little confused with who was who and what was going on though but it didn't take long to put things back in order. In looking up details of the movie I have found that Cruel Intentions, a big favourite movie of mine, is based on the same story whichmakes a lot of sense and is probably why I enjoyed this a fair bit.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> Spin (2021)
< The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
> Cats and Dogs (2001)
< Summer of 85 (2020)
< Twilight's Kiss (2019)
< Transformers (2007)
> Chariots of Fire (1981)
< All About Eve (1950)
> Goodnight Mommy (2014)
< The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
> Ali (2001)
> Brave (2012)
> The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Congratulations!
Dangerous Liaisons
is now #2170 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5958) (64%)

Even with the 10% deduction of his score, 54% is enough to see Nathan through to the next round and sees Stephen Roney eliminated for now. Just 1 more review to write and we can move on to Round 3.

[zzzorf]

My final movie for Round 2 comes from Josh Haysom and instead of giving me an early classic for his prompt of Slapstick like I expected, he instead gave me Tommy Boy (1995) as my movie.

This is a movie that I may or may not seen when I was younger but it didn't seem so when I watched it this time. It is a formula that has been done many times before to various success but when you have people like Chris Farley and David Spade running the show then you know you are in for a great treat.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> Spin (2021)
< The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
> Children of Men (2006)
< Summer of 85 (2020)
> Twilight's Kiss (2019)
> The Golden Dream (2013)
> Reincarnation (2005)
> Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)
< À l'aventure (2008)
< Machete Kills (2013)
> License to Wed (2007)
> Tangled (2010)
< A Tale of Three Sisters (2019)
Congratulations!
Tommy Boy
is now #1881 on your Flickchart!
(out of 5961) (68%)

Well that sees Josh safely through but unfortunately eliminates Ben Shoemaker for now (there is always a chance to make it back in later). Stay tuned as Round 3 will start soon.

[zzzorf]

Round 3

Finally we have made it to round 3, sorry it has taken this long but hopefully this new found momentum I have will continue and we will get this round finished sooner rather than later. We are now down to 32 participants and by the end of this round another 4 will be eliminated. Below is the order in which you will pick one of the remaining numbers which are listed below the names. I will then give you your prompt which you can either accept or take a 10% score reduction and pick another number. The order is of course in reverse to your standings last round as the benefit of choosing later is that you could pick up any of the passed prompts. If there is any prompts left after everyone has picked they will be offered up to eliminated players to gain a chance to get back in the competition, therefore also meaning we will have extra eliminations to get us too 28 participants for next round. I will try to keep this post updated as often as possible.

ORDER

Mike Seaman - 197 - Blind Pick - Alucarda (1977)
Lindsey Stinson - 165 - Italian - The Hand of God (2021)
Michael Reap - 47 - Starts with Y - Young Adult (2011)
David Conrad - 275 - Adventure - The Three Musketeers (1973)
Dan Kocher - 126 - Exploitation - Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972)
Bas van Stratum - 291 - Modernisation - Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964)
Ryan Swinimer - 99 - Free Choice - Night of the Comet (1984)
Brogan Tesla - 9 - Comic Books - Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
Internet - 59 - Road Trip - Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Travis Easton - 2 - Crime Solving - The Last of Sheila (1973)
Riley Gaucher - 24 - South-East Asia - The Act of Killing (2012)
Rob Tabor - 240 - Free Choice - Goodbye Solo (2008)
Elisabeth Miller - 52 - Original Screenplay - Brink of Life (1958) (-10% penalty)
Greg Dorr - 242 - Car Chase - Foul Play (1978)
Ty Tag - 101 - 1950's - A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Sharon Brenton - 39 - Female-Directed - Frida (2002)
Nathan Treadway
Jandy Hardesty - 267 - South American - Elite Squad (2007)
Wade McCormick - 193 - French - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Mara Little - 118 - Not Set on Earth -
Josh Haysom - 115 - Free Choice -
Jeff McCullough - 21 - Coming-of-age - Lean on Pete (2017)
Greg Dean Schmitz - 108 - Golden Raspberry Winner - The Postman (1997)
Jacob West Good - 22 - Japanese - Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler (2009)
Hannah Keefer - 181 - Fiesta Rules - Company: A Musical Comedy (2007)
David Anderson - 280 - My Hard Drive - The Lost City (2022) (-10% penalty)
Patrick Gray - 277 - Free Choice -
Rachel Gilbert - 182 - Free Choice -
Ben Lott - 40 - Pirate - The Pirates of Penzance (1983)
Bethany Megill - 32 - 1930's -
Luke Winston - 4 - Dream Sequence -
Maxwelldeux

PROMPT NUMBERS
1 War
2 Crime Solving
3 My Favourite Actors
4 Dream Sequence
5 Sport
6 Free Choice
7 Epic
8 Non US/Japan Animation
9 Comic Books
10 500<400
11 Free Choice
12 Free Choice
13
14 Bottom 100
15 Slapstick
16 Phone Call
17
18
19 Eastern Europe
20
21 Coming-of-age
22 Japanese
23 Mental Illness
24 South-East Asia
25 Starts with J
26
27 LGBTQIA
28 Free Choice
29 Free Choice
30 Starts with H
31
32 1930's
33 Starts with S
34
35
36
37 Dystopian
38
39
40 Pirate
41
42 Medical
43
44
45
46
47 Starts with Y
48
49
50
51
52 Original Screenplay
53
54
55 Slice of Life
56 Rock and Roll
57
58 Oscar Best Picture Nom
59
60
61
62 Stunts
63
64
65
66 German
67
68
69 Free Choice
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77 Mothers
78
79
80
81
82
83 Monologue
84
85
86
87
88
89
90 Royalty
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98 Erotic Thriller
99 Free Choice
100 Family
101 1950's
102
103
104
105
106
107
108 Golden Raspberry Winner
109
110
111 Prison
112
113 1910's
114 Nerds
115 Free Choice
116 Starts with E
117 Buddy Film
118 Not set on Earth
119
120
121
122
123 My Top 10 Directors
124
125
126 Exploitation
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134 Wedding
135 Free Choice
136
137
138
139
140 1980's
141 Free Choice
142 Fantasy
143 Fugitive
144 Free Choice
145 Oscar Nominated
146
147
148
149 Starts with A
150 Title contains a colour
151
152
153
154
155
156
157 Free Choice
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165 Italian
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173 Starts with Z
174 Starts with L
175
176
177
178
179 Cult Movie
180
181 Fiesta Rules
182 Free Choice
183 Free Choice
184
185
186
187 TSZDT
188
189
190
191
192
193 French
194
195
196
197 Blind Pick
198
199
200 Religious
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212 Kung Fu
213
214 Starts with V
215
216 Canadian
217
218
219
220
221 Apocalyptical
222 Cameo
223 Oscar Winner
224
225
226
227
228
229
230 Bechdel Test
231
232
233
234
235
236 B-Movie
237 Fashion
238 Fairy Tale
239
240 Free Choice
241
242 Car Chase
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250 Low Budget Film
251
252
253
254
255 Disaster
256 Free Choice
257
258
259
260
261
262 Anime
263
264
265
266 Free Choice
267 South American
268
269
270 Espionage
271
272
273
274
275 Adventure
276
277 Free Choice
278
279
280 My Hard Drive
281
282
283 Cinematography
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291 Modernisation
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299 Starts with C
300 Free Choice

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... s3nQEpv6s/

[zzzorf]

Maxwell if you are around it is your turn to pick a number.

[maxwelldeux]

Maxwell if you are around it is your turn to pick a number.

95

[zzzorf]

Maxwell if you are around it is your turn to pick a number.

95

Your prompt if New Find (that is a movie you yourself have only watched for the first time over the last few months). Do you accept or pass?

[maxwelldeux]

Maxwell if you are around it is your turn to pick a number.

95

Your prompt if New Find (that is a movie you yourself have only watched for the first time over the last few months). Do you accept or pass?

Accept!

This'll be fun...

[zzzorf]

Round 3 has begun. The first cab off the rank was Josh Haysom's free choice of Revenge (2017). Rape/Revenge films tend to do well for me, and this had the bonus of a woman at the helm so giving it a different perception and the New French Extremism genre touch, so it was one I already had my eye on this and had a copy already ready to watch.

This movie wasn't perfect, but none of this genre is, but seriously, how did this girl survive? I think the action could have been beefed up a little and the male characters could have been better but other than that it was reasonably good. The cinematography was great and the actress was great in her role.

6/10 and charted as follows:
> An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1962)
< Olympus has Fallen (2013)
< Cats and Dogs (2001)
> Inside Out (2011)
> Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1895)
< Manhunter (1986)
< Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
> End of the Line (2007)
< The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993)
> Lisa (1989)
< Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993)
< The Country Doctor (1909)
< Backlash (1956)
2402/5987 (60%)

That should be enough to see Josh through to the next round but it is still early days in the round yet.

[zzzorf]

My second movie for the round is another free choice, this time from Patrick Gray who gave me one of his goto recommendations, Scream of Fear (1961). It was quite obvious one day this was going to come my way and I was quite happy to recieve it from Patrick as I was looking forward to it.

While I know I haven't seen it before things felt so familiar with the movie. While I do know it is a totally different story it made me think a lot about another favourite of Patrick and mine, Chase a Crooked Shadow. In fact other great movies such as So Long at the Fair and Gaslight come to mind as well, all movies where the female lead are led to believe they are insane because everything they see/know to be true is dismissed/disproven by those around them. The problem was this movie just wasn't as good at handling that part of the story as the others, not that this was bad but didn't feel as clean as them. As with all these movies though the real treat is the twist and turns at the end which these were pleniful and make the entire viewing worthwhile.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> LOL (2012)
< The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
> This Much I Know to be True (2022)
> Summer of 85 (2020)
< Escape Plan (2013)
< A Free Ride (1915)
> It: Chapter Two (2019)
< Who Took Johnny (2014)
> Robin Hood (1973)
> Tooth Fairy (2010)
> Prison Break: The Final Break (2009)
< The Wages of Fear (1953)
1808/6003 (70%)

That puts Patrick on top for now and most likely with a score to see him through to the next round, we will just have to wait and see.

[zzzorf]

For my first watch of the round which had a prompt to it I watched the choice of Dan Kocher to fit the prompt of Exploitation, the Japanese film, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972). The fact this was a sequel, I first went out and watched the first just so I was familiar with the story. The movie wasn't a bad watch with an interesting Women in Prison story. I will be the first to admit I do enjoy a little bit of nudity in a movie but this one had nudity for absolutely no reason through most of its runtime and to be honest was just not needed, or at least to the extent it was. I gave Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972) a 6/10 and it sits on my chart at 31% on my chart.

Though the first one wasn't overly great I had more faith in this one because in talking with Dan about if he meant to give me the sequel or the original since they were released in the same year he said that he prefered this movie. I have to agree with that assessment. The story was improved upon in this movie and the nudity was more minimal and therefore had more impact. I did find the main character just stared a lot but whenever she was called into action she delivered.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> Holiday (2018)
< Saturday Night Fever (1977)
< This Much I Know to Be True (2022)
> Mary (1994)
< The Tommyknockers (1993)
> Girl in the Basement (2021)
> Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
> Johnny English Strikes Again (2018)
> Good Time (2017)
< Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
> Planet of the Apes (2001)
> The Wall (2017)
2449/6011 (59%)

That score will hopefully see Dan through but we won't know for a while yet.

[zzzorf]

While the majority of you in this challenge are friends through Flickchart there is a couple of outliers. One of them Jacob West Good I know not because of movies so it is a unique experience I get with the movies he offers me. In fact for the second time in a row I have actually had to request his movie choice be added to Flickchart just so I can chart it and give it it's score. The movie in question is Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler (2009) which he gave me to fit the prompt of Japanese.

Now of course I had no idea what to expect here, except I found out that a redo of it, Animal World (2018) from China, was something I had nearly watched last year as a possible nomination for the iCMForum Festival but never got around to it. Basically though to put it in the simplest terms, this was a similar idea to The Squid Games, in that they had to play basic games to win money/stay alive. In the movie three games were played, Rock/Scissors/Paper, Balance Beam and a game called Emporer/Slave. In the end I did have a bit of fun with this movie, even if it seemed a little longer than it really needed to and I'm looking forward to possibly catching the two sequels and the Chinese version if I ever get round to them.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll (2019)
< Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
< This Much I Know to Be True (2022)
< Anaa 6-18 (1994)
< The Cannonball Run (1981)
> Extrememly Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)
> The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made (2004)
> Barbie of Swan Lake (2003)
> Holiday (1938)
> The Order (2001)
> Jesse James (1939)
< The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
2827/6026 (53%)

Of the four movies I've watched for the round to this point that is the lowest score but there is a good chance that in the long run he will get through. On the flipside though Patrick has moved off the hot seats and secured the first spot into the next round.

[zzzorf]

The luck of the draw can be a blessing or a curse and Hannah Keefer copped it twice this round. That is because her prompt turned out to be Fiesta Rules (for those of you unaware of that particular sub-group, it just means I have to watch the most top film on her chart that I have not seen), which meant she really didn't get to pick her movie, but it went to another draw. The movie she thus gave to me was Company: A Musical Comedy (2007).

Now I'm not a big stage musical fan but I have actually watched a few of these televised events that I have actually found myself to quite enjot (Grease Live!, Into the Woods, Hamilton) more than ones I haven't so I was a little optimistic. Unfortunately Company is just not a musical for me (I guess it just wasnted as fun as those mentioned above). I can see it's merits and why others would like it, just not me sorry Hannah.

3/10 and charted as follows:
< Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll (2019)
< Tlamess (2019)
< Hideous Kinky (1999)
> The Erotic Adventures of Felicia (1975)
> Pest Pupil (1957)
< Cyborg (1989)
> Pepe le Moko (1937)
> The Egyptian (1954)
< That's My Boy (2012)
> Backfire! (1995)
< In Bruges (2008)
5384/6027 (11%)

Well that is our first score in the bottom half for the round and a very dangerous score for Hannah who is going to have to sit in one of the hot seats for most of this round. It does however mean Josh can vacate one of those seats and advance to the next round.

[zzzorf]

While we did have one participant draw the blind pick option this round I still had a few who opted to blind pick with their prompt instead of facing the 10% penalty. One of those was Ty Tag who actually took the gamble last round too, so will his 50's blind pick of A Face in the Crowd (1957) pay off or did he try his luck too many times.

To be honest this wasn't a bad movie, a good satire of the media juggernaut and how easy it is for someone to become an overnight sensation, and then how it can get to their head. I did feel like it went a little overlong and only our main character of Lonesome Rhodes had any real oomph behind them, overall this was another decent blind pick for Ty.

6/10 and charted as follows:
> Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll (2019)
< Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
< Children of Men (2006)
< Closet Monster (2015)
< The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
< Extrememly Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)
< Thale (2012)
> Elephants Over a Spider Web (2011)
< 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
> Hick (2011)
> 127 Hours (2010)
> The Host (2013)
> Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (2007)
2979/6028 (51%)

Another score into the top half of my chart. It should be safe but with only 1 of 6 movies so far falling below 50% it may be an anxious wait. Ty will take a hot seat for now, relieving Dan who moves onto the next round.

[zzzorf]

At the start of this challenge 3 of my kids were participating but only the youngest Mara (10) survives now. For this round she drew Not set on Earth, originally she was going to give me Lightyear but she wasn't overly happy wit that (though we have still watched it together anyway) so after a bit more looking around she settled on Barbie Presents: Thumbelina (2009).

First off unfortunately this didn't actually meet the prompt, but I take the blame for that as the write-up made it sound like it did. Anyway as I've said before I'm loose with the prompt as long as the participant honestly tried I don't deduct anything from their score for the error.

Now I am pretty sure most people are aware I'm a fan of the Barbie films, having 4 daughters has given me a major appreciation for them. The original ones are more my favourite, the animation style/storytelling was just a lot better and this one falls near the tail end of that era. In saying that though it was a bit weaker than most of those earlier ones. Still it was a fun watch with my two youngest girls.

6/10 and charted as follows:
< Tall as the Baobab Tree (2012)
> Taxi Driver (1976)
< The Piano Teacher (2001)
> Tom and Huck (1995)
> The Last Forest (2021)
< Tarzan (2013)
< Triangle (2009)
> A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)
> The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
< Gallipoli (1981)
> Loch Ness Terror (2008)
< City Across the River (1949)
3919/6032 (35%)

Not a great score for Mara but in previous rounds that has been enough to get through, but it will get harder as the rounds progress. She will take one of the hot seats for now, relieving Jacob who is now moving onto the next round.

[zzzorf]

After taking a penalty for passing on her first prompt Elisabeth Miller accepted Original Screen play and gave me Brink of Life (1984) as her movie. Will it be good enough to cover that 10 point loss and keep her in the running for next round?

As I've said before my history with Ingmar Bergman got of too a rocky start but recently I have found a few movies that just really went well for me so I was looking forward to knocking off another of this master's filmography. Brink of Life was an interesting look at 3 young mothers to be and how their life was impacted by their pregnancy, for better or worse. I don't want to say too much for those who haven't seen it but not everyone comes out with the best results.

As far as Bergman this seemed to end up about mid of the road for me. It wasn't as great as some of my more recent watches but it was better than those early ones. I gave it a 6 and it charted as follows:
> Mickey's Circus (1936)
< Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
< The Legend of Drunken Master (1994)
> Closet Monster (2015)
> Enemy of the State (1998)
> The Woman Suffers (1918)
> Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
< Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973)
< Legend of the NeverBeast (2014)
< Stephen King's Bag of Bones (2011)
< Raider's of the Lost Ark (1981)
> The First Purge (2018)
2311/6043 (62%)

Taking the penalty into account that gives Elisabeth a score of 52% and with the scores as they currently stand she scrapes into the next round by 1%, though as plenty of movies are to come she will find that she would have qualified by a lot more than that, and she was thinking about pulling out because she couldn't nail down my taste.

[zzzorf]

The other person to have taken a penalty for passing on their first prompt was David Anderson who eventually settled with giving me a movie from my HardDrive Watchlist, that is the movies I have already sourced to watch for whatever reason (e.g. personal watches, list completion, challenges, etc) and gave me The Lost City (2022).

My wife and I enjoy Channing Tatum so this was a good movie to sit down together too. While not the greatest thing around we did have a bit of a laugh. I don't think Bullock has staying power to continue doing these sorts of roles but it was ok even if I didn't feel much chemistry between them.

6/10 and charted as follows:
< Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto-Memories Doll (2019)
> Tlamess (2019)
> Brightburn (2019)
> The Flying Train (1902)
> Blackfellas (1993)
> Hotel for Dogs (2009)
< David Attenborough: A Life on our Planet (2020)
> The Watch (2008)
< The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
> Quiz Show (1994)
< Aguire: The Wrath of God (1972)
> The Huntsmen: Winter's War (2016)
3085/6046 (49%)

With the penalty that puts David on 39% which will see him take a hot seat for now, relieving Ty who progresses onto the next round. Will David make it through with his score? Only time will tell.

[zzzorf]

While some people gave me a blind pick to save getting a penalty Mike Seaman actually drew it as his prompt and handed me Alucarda, la hija de las tinieblas (1977) as my movie. Upon looking up the movie, a cult Mexican Sex-Horror about young witches, well I was sold then and there.

As expected the movie wasn't great, but then it wouldn't be a cult movie if it was. But I didn't go into it expecting something great, I just wanted to have fun with it and that is exactly what I did. The actress playing Alucarda (the IMDb trivia nicely points out that in reverse spells Adracula) was eerie from the start in a great bit of casting and I don't think it would have been the same without her. Parts of the movie dragged but the over the top ending was great and I loved the blood bath scene that instantly made me think of Carrie.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> Mickey's Circus (1936)
> Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
< A Night to Remember (1958)
< The Tribe (2014)
< Snow-White (1933)
< Paradise (1982)
< Nim's Island (2008)
> A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
< The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
< Fat Pizza vs. Housos (2014)
< Deadpool (2016)
< Rejected (2018)
< Jak se budi princenzy (1978)
1488/6050 (75%)

After barely scraping into this round Mike currently leads the scores this time around and easily secures his place for next time.

[zzzorf]

Riley Gaucher drew South-East Asia as his prompt and instead of taking a penalty decided to go with a blind pick and gave me The Act of Killing (2012) as my movie. A European documentary which sees perpetrators of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966 reenact their atrocities using cinematic styles of their choice. I had this one already set up to watch for another project so I was more than happy to push it up my queue.

Blind picks have been working well for everyone so far but sooner or later that luck was going to run out. While I can see the importance of this documentary I just found it very slow and ultimately boring and just could never fully get into it.

4/10 and charted as follows:
< Spin (2021)
< Prince Ranjitsinhji Practising Batting in the Nets (1897)
< Hideous Kinky (1999)
> The Erotic Adventures of Felicia (1975)
> The Fear of Darkness (2015)
< Cyborg (1989)
< Bangkok Hilton (1989)
< Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
> Where Eagles Dare (1968)
> The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
> Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (2016)
> Looking Glass (2018)
5471/6061 (10%)

Unfortunately for Riley that puts him at the bottom of the leaderboard for the round so far and gives him a steep battle to save himself from elimination. That means that David Anderson makes it through to the next round even though he himself took a penalty. An interesting result which makes you think what is better, take the penalty and get a new prompt or take a blind pick?

[zzzorf]

As their prompt Brogan Tesla recieved Comic Books and gave me the manga-based Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972) as my movie. I had heard of this series before but had never sought it out as something to watch as Samurai films are very hit and miss for me so I tend to watch them few and fair between.

Luckily for Brogan this fell on the hit side of things for me. The concept of the Ronin and his son was intriguing and the fighting scenes incorporating the idea worked really well. Yet it had a lot of things that didn't work as is normally the case with this genre, but overall I enjoyed it and look forward to the sequels.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> Spin (2021)
< City Slickers (1991)
< Paranormal Activity (2007)
> Fatty Finn (1980)
> Going My Way (1944)
> The Woman Suffers (1918)
> Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
< The Twentieth Century (2019)
< Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)
> Safe House (2012)
> American Girl (2021)
< Liborio (2021)
2312/6065 (62%)


That score will safely see Brogan through to the next round.

[zzzorf]

Sorry for the delay with this challenge (again!) but due to my new job i've gone from60-80 movies a month to 20 and I have to be a bit more picky with what I watch. This also means that I have been getting less time to do stuff online as well, still I can't make that an excuse why this review of The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), which was given to me by Bethany Megill to fit the prompt of 1930's, is a whole two months late from when I watched it.

Well that is even if you can call it a review, I can now, a couple of months later, barely even remember this movie. Yeah I can remember the basic outline and that I wasn't a big fan of it but I can barely even remember why I didn't like it. That may teach me to write these reviews more quickly to the fact.

I did give it a 5/10 at the time so things weren't necessarily that bad but it more depends on where it charts:
< Spin (2021)
< Taxi Driver (1976)
< Hideous Kinky (1999)
> The Coca-Cola Kid (1985)
> Manchester by the Sea (2016)
> Cyborg (1989)
> Bridgend (2015)
> River of Darkness (2011)
> The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
< The Sum of All Fears (2002)
> Sniper 2 (2002)
5334/6086
(12%)

Unfortunately for Bethany that does put her in the final hot seat for now relieving my daughter Mara to go through to the next round. There are still quite a few movies to watch so you never know, she may just make the next round yet.

[zzzorf]

When Bas van Stratum got his prompt of Modernisation he had a little confusion of what that meant. All it took was a little explaining, a story that has been reimagined to fit more modern times, and he was able to give me my movie Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964).

Now I watched this back at the beginning of November but it is still relatively fresh in my mind as it was a pretty good film. Yeah it had all that 60's cheesy sci-fi, but there's nothing wrong with that. The movie did a great job of transplanting the story into space and made for an enjoyable watch. Though it was not short on its problems that easily could have been fixed with some more thought and money.

6/10 and charted as follows:
< An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1962)
> Taxi Driver (1976)
> Brightburn (2019)
< Birth Certificate (1961)
> Eli (2019)
< A White, White Day (2019)
< Carry On Up the Khyber (1968)
> Yummy (2019)
< Night and the City (1950)
< Happy, Happy (2010)
< Portal to Hell!!! (2015)
< Meyer From Berlin (1919)
> Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)
3594/6096 (41%)

That score is enough to see Bas through to the next round.

[zzzorf]

No I haven't forgotten about this challenge, even though it has nearly been a year since I actually did anything in it. I'm back at it now so lets get this thing done.

Jeff McCullough drew Coming-of-Age, pretty much a gimme for him as it is one of my best genres, and he gave me Lean on Pete (2017) as my movie, something I never heard of before.

Looking into the overview I thought cool, a boy helps a horse trainer, so I thought, oh yeah I know where this is going, the boy will learn some life lessons on the way to his horse win the big race (or perhaps come 2nd to emphasise the lessons more), this is going to score well unless it is a complete dumpster-fire.

Boy was I wrong on that synopsis!!!

Yeah the movie started as expected and was heading there but then it turned and I thought ok different way to get there but not all movies can be the same story to get to the same end point. Then something majorly unexpected and I knew my preconception of the movie was blown out of the water. What I got instead of a feel good story was a hard hitting drama that had me entirely invested. My wife did enjoy the movie more than I did but I still did enjoy it myself.

7/10 and charted as follows:
> Under the Sun of Satan (1987)
> Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
< The Crossing (2021)
> The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)
< Cliffhanger (1993)
> Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995)
> Joy Ride (2001)
< Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
> The Mummy (1932)
> The Human Race (2012)
> Police Academy 4: Citizen on Patrol (1987)
1027/6414 (84%)

That is the best performing result for this round so far so sees Jeff safely through to the next round if I ever get to it.