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swo17 wrote:

zedz wrote:

swo17 wrote:The following are examples of multi-part films that may be voted for as a single film, or each segment as a separate film, if you insist (with all votes competing against each other): Heimat, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Dekalog, Shoah, Fanny and Alexander

This is such an incredibly foolish ruling that I can't believe it's actually a rule. Surely it hasn't come into play before, because there haven't been any miniseries with that kind of profile before the 80s list. To me, it's the equivalent of being able to vote for "the bit before the first intermission in Napoleon," or "the second mezzo of Otto e mezzo" - and since all of these films have screened theatrically, it's an exact equivalent.

Let's end this madness now!

We already discussed this issue before the '70s list, and you agreed with the revised rule language back then.

I don't think these examples of single films shot and screened as single works (whether they were serialized over a number of weeks on television or not) is at all comparable to separately released two-part theatrical films like Ivan the Terrible or Kill Bill and I certainly wouldn't have supported the rule change if I thought it would break up something like Fanny and Alexander into little chunks. It's no more a "multi-part film" than Satantango.

I think we basically agree, and if it will ruffle less feathers, I can save the "you can vote for individual parts if you insist" line for those cases where I think people might legitimately want to vote that way.

I can just see this ending in the 2000s with people wanting to vote for their favourite episodes of their favourite series of Deadwood!

(Don't know why it was that particular series that sprang to mind!)

Now that the 70s project is wrapped up, I wanted to run off the genre list subject. The two i know will be on there are War and Religion- for other suggestions (I know Romance was one) I'll put them on if they get at least three people suggesting they'd like to have it as an option. I figure I'll give it Thursday evening before we move to the next step, unless someone objects.

Why not just throw any reasonable suggestion up on the ballot, and then have it run like film club where people can change their vote at any time? No harm in having plenty of options.

Fair enough- I wanted to prevent too much vote splitting, but unless there are a huge number, I suppose that won't be an issue.

Yeah, with the film club style vote, vote splitting is no longer an issue, as once two or three frontrunners eventually emerge, everyone who wants to can switch their vote to pick from among the "finalists."

Man, actually, I disagree. Hasn't the film club actually shown us what happens when vote splitting occurs over three or four viable options? One choice barely wins and those who voted on it don't even bother to weight in. Any more than three options for this is ridiculous, in my opinion, and just guarantees something silly makes it

I'd even be happy with matrix simply declaring what the next genre will be, based on previous discussions. We've had plenty of votes in the past to show us where the forum's interests lie.

Just so long as he prays about it first.

zedz wrote:I'd even be happy with matrix simply declaring what the next genre will be, based on previous discussions. We've had plenty of votes in the past to show us where the forum's interests lie.

*cough* It was supposed to be War several lists ago already anyways *cough*

domino harvey wrote:

zedz wrote:I'd even be happy with matrix simply declaring what the next genre will be, based on previous discussions. We've had plenty of votes in the past to show us where the forum's interests lie.

*cough* It was supposed to be War several lists ago already anyways *cough*

Let's fight over it!

Well, hell, I'd be happy to do either War or Religion and I have zero interest in Romance, so from my end I'd be fine with a runoff just between those two.

matrixschmatrix wrote:Well, hell, I'd be happy to do either War or Religion and I have zero interest in Romance, so from my end I'd be fine with a runoff just between those two.

Once we decide which is next, then we'll move on to grapple with definitions.
Of course, Religion could encompass movies about 'religious wars'

War encompasses so many great and interesting movies, thousands to choose from covering a wide range of options -- the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, propaganda flicks, Vietnam, Iraq (X2), homefront pieces, &c and &c. Religion might start some interesting discussions initially, but the ability to find thousands-- hell, to find hundreds of worthwhile films to draw from in order to pick a representative fifty for an individual list is highly dubious

domino harvey wrote:War encompasses so many great and interesting movies, thousands to choose from covering a wide range of options -- the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, propaganda flicks, Vietnam, Iraq (X2), homefront pieces, &c and &c. Religion might start some interesting discussions initially, but the ability to find thousands-- hell, to find hundreds of films to draw from in order to pick a representative fifty for an individual list is highly dubious

As moviegoing kids - and teenagers - War films for me were films set in WWI and WWII ; although, later, films set in the Korean War sneaked in; once we became aware of it.
(the original definition was also formed by the 58/64 page pocket comic-books we also devoured at the time)

Vietnam War films, of course, came later.

I'm not sure could I produce a 50 of great - or very good - films that fit those strict criteria; but I'd like to

Of course, extending the definition to encompass the two Gulf Wars; the war in Afghanistan, and assorted other 20th/21st Century 'conflicts' would help

I think the wars people limit themselves to in and of itself will be interesting-- does a member restrict themselves to WWII? Or do they go in the opposite direction and stretch the definition to Taking Off for the culture war? It'd be fun to hear everyone's self-justification within the world of the Vote For it policy

domino harvey wrote:I think the wars people limit themselves to in and of itself will be interesting-- does a member restrict themselves to WWII? Or do they go in the opposite direction and stretch the definition to Taking Off for the culture war? It'd be fun to hear everyone's self-justification within the world of the Vote For it policy

I'll definitely try to restrict myself to 20th-21st Century; I mean, 'El Cid' - for example - belongs more in the category of 'Historical' or 'Epic'.

Taking Off would be really stretching it, though.
Although since everything seemed to evolve from the Vietnam War in the Oliver Stone-scripted 'Year of the Dragon', that might provide me with the necessary excuse to include it!

I don't know that I agree that finding a decent array of films with religion or religious themes as their subject, inspiration, or context would be especially difficult- though I think there might be an issue insofar as, outside of movies specifically about priests or gods or epiphanies or what have you, one wouldn't necessarily know something was a religious movie until one watched it. It's certainly one where recommendations and discussion would be extremely valuable, though.

As far as war movies go, for my part it would seem somewhat silly to broaden it to include anything that had a war as in the synonym for conflict- thinking of it in terms of culture wars, the war on drugs, the battle between the sexes and so forth seem as though it would make the idea of war as a genre meaningless, since it would then encompass an actual majority of movies. However, anything that was about an armed conflict between two governments or political organizations or nations or whatever seems like it would be pretty indisputably a War Movie- restricting it to a specific list of wars seems to me to be intentionally blinding oneself to some of the most interesting pockets in the category.

My major concern here is ensuring that, whatever we do next, it's something that a good number of people will be on board with, and which will sustain a list- so I'm not really that averse to just declaring it War by fiat, though Religion I think would interest me more. I just want to get people's buy in before doing so.

matrixschmatrix wrote: so I'm not really that averse to just declaring it War by fiat, though Religion I think would interest me more. I just want to get people's buy in before doing so.

For me, the War movie genre has produced some of the most poetic in all of cinema - I'm thinking of such as the Renoirs, 'The Burmese Harp', 'The Cranes Are Flying', Larisa Shepitko's 'Wings' - so I'm eagerly looking forward to members recommendations/lists in the hope/expectation that there's more gems that I've yet to discover.

And plus, I really believe that the outcome could prove to be the most admirable of all the lists produced here.

So Religion it is.
Okay, let's get started ....

I'm still for religion though I hope we go beyond a literal interpretation of it.

Lemmy Caution wrote:So Religion it is.
Okay, let's get started ....

OK, well, if that's what you've decided

....we'll fight over it!

knives wrote:I'm still for religion though I hope we go beyond a literal interpretation of it.

Knives! I thought that you were on board for my idea of sex/sexuality for your own research purposes. If there is a vote, can we still include it? If we want a general genre banner, we can always just say "erotica" though it's not a perfect fit for what I have in mind.

I've actually been doing some prep on the religion because I thought we already decided, but I'm cool with erotics too.