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Home » Culture and Criticism

Cinemarch Madness: Conference Play

Submitted by on March 7, 2013 – 8:44 AM12 Comments

grunge film background

(I…right? The UNC game I watched last night with Dirk quadrupled what I know about college basketball, so pretend I made a hilarious joke about posting up and let’s move on.)

Thanks so much to everyone who nominated and seconded films! That first-pass list grew to nearly four hundred films, which is awesome, and then I started trying to hack it down to a manageable 64, which less so, and hacking off movies that felt like sure things, facing my own Sophie’s Choice (forgive me) between Shoah and A Film Unfinished, I decided to throw out the bracket structure and go to a more Idol format. “Cinema Non-Idyll”? I don’t know.

In any case! Here’s how it’s going to work:

1. The list is standing at 394 films. No good. My next task is to thin the herd down to a more manageable number. Please don’t be offended if your nominee gets culled at this time; the devastation bar is set at Breaking the Waves, so some films won’t be able to compete at that level.

2. Next, I post the entire list to a randomizer and break it down into sections for polls. I’ll probably make those available to look at (but not vote in) beforehand, in case you want to write up your own cases for the various films on your Tumblr or in the comments. (Or for me. Email me if you’re interested.)

3. For each poll, I’ll review the entire slate — at least the ones I’ve seen — and explain my voting. Top vote-getters will move on to a semi-final round, et cetera and so on.

Stay tuned.

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12 Comments »

  • Kizz says:

    This is insane on a variety of levels but it’s really getting fun to see other people reveling in the bleak, too. That’s a lot of sad freaking films!

  • attica says:

    I’m entirely sure that this competition will be a mafrillion times more fun than any of the noms. Whee!

  • Erin W says:

    I am very excited for this. When it comes to movies, I am a trauma junkie.

  • Sandman says:

    So, for you it’s kind of like the Oscar Death Race, but … math-ier, and with extra desolation. Uh, fun?

  • Rachel says:

    I clicked back to see other people’s nominations and fell out of my chair at the sheer number of comments. Could be a TN record?

    Thanks for putting this in the spring and not early winter, say, when things are bleak enough.

  • Anlyn says:

    Ooh, I can’t wait.

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    @Sandman: Yes. “Bees: A Love Story With Raisins.”

  • PollyQ says:

    Fabulous logo!

  • cayenne says:

    Bring Prozac, not popcorn…

  • Whitney says:

    I’m really enjoying the idea of someone setting up an NIT for those movies that were sad but not quite brutally sad enough to make this tournament.

  • Jenn says:

    Next can we do Fluffy Bunny Madness? Between this and the new Jodi Picoult book about the Holocaust, I’m on bummer overload.

  • Sarah D. Bunting says:

    I may have to have an NIT for brutally sad enough ones I forgot. Sorry, “White Ribbon”! (not really oh god that was stern stuff)

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