SDMB Film Club?

Cafe Society
1

There are a lot of people here who are film viewers and we’ve had a bunch of threads on different films. So I was thinking maybe we should get organized.

What I was thinking was that we’d have a regular schedule of threads. Probably schedule one every two weeks to keep them from overlapping too much. We’d have a separate thread with the upcoming films so that people would have time to watch them before the start of the discussion thread. That way everyone would know, for example, that there’s going to be a discussion on The Seven Samurai on August 1st so you should rent it sometime in July if you want to join in.

The discussion threads would obviously be open to all. It would be assumed that anyone in the thread has seen the film in question so spoilers for that film are allowed. Discussions could be on any issue related to the film. The threads would run as long as they run.

For practical purposes, I would suggest limiting this to films that are in English (spoken or subtitled) and are available for rental. I’d also suggest they be films that could sustain some discussion but that’s obviously a relative term. But there’s no point in discussing a film if nobody has anything more to say than “I loved it” or “I hated it”. So people should try to pick interesting films.

One issue would be which films would be discussed. We can’t just let everyone throw in whatever films they want - we’d get overwhelmed by too many too quickly. One possibility is that we let people nominate films and then other people can vote yes on them. The movies that get the most votes go on the list. A problem with that is that this will favor popular films over obscure ones. And we could end up with most of the discussion on the film happening early as people try to get it voted on the list. Another possibility is that everyone gets to name one film in rotation. This will allow personal favorites to get on the list but the disadvantage is that some films are going to be too personal and have no broader support. In addition, people will get tired of waiting for it to be their turn to pick a film.

But these details can be worked out if there is a general interest in this idea. Is there?

2

I’d be down. Surprised this thread isn’t getting more traction.

3

I would be game for it. Sounds like a fun idea.

4

I like to think it’s due to the fact I get home from work around ten at night and start posting when most people are going to bed.

5

I like the idea. It would also be great if people would announce upcoming TCM, HBO or whatever terrific films that are coming up. I never peruse TV listings so I miss a lot of great stuff.

6

I like the idea. There are many independant films that could use the exposure. I’m not a snob, though, there are big budget films as well that are worthwhile.

7

Sounds like a good idea to me, and a good way to get film recommendations and incentive to watch films I probably wouldn’t watch otherwise, so I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this.

8

I love this idea. Maybe at the beginning each person could throw a favorite into the pot, to be drawn at random every week or so? This way nobody knows when theirs may come up and (hopefully) won’t get tired of waiting. We would need specific guidelines and requirements of these films to weed out those too esoteric or personal to allow for good discussion. The disadvantage to this is that it would eliminate new releases. I suppose all will depend on the size of the group as well. In any case, I’m in.

9

Sounds like a great idea.

If I may offer my expertise as the agitator behind the musicals group that we’ve done off and on over the years (we just finished up a third group of films and seem to have run out of steam, for now): Don’t get too hung up on the logistics, with voting, etc. The first time we did the musicals group, we just had people sign up in a master thread, then each person got to pick a film, in the order of sign up, with the person picking it writing the OP. The second time we did it, we used a couple of groups of films organized by theme (Archive Guy, Lamia – both extremely knowledgeable folks, film buffs who work in the field – and I put together the lists) – this also worked okay, though we pretty much ignored the stated themes of the groups when the time came to discuss the films. With the preset groups (10-12 films each), we took volunteers for writing the OPs. I don’t think either of these approaches had significant advantages over the other, though I tend toward recommending the “sign up to say you’re interested, that makes you a member of The SDMB Film Society and you get to pick a film” approach. It’s not like we only have X amount of time and have to get through Y number of films in that time.

My suggestions:

Keep it casual, keep it fun.

I wouldn’t worry about “too obscure,” but suggest that you make it a requirement that all films be available from Netflix (which most people belong to, for one thing, but which also indicates a pretty general level of availability for those who don’t).

Run a separate logistics thread* in which you announce the schedule of films, and bump with a reminder of “up next” a week or so before the discussion starts so people have time to get it and watch it. (You can also link to each OP as it’s written from this thread, which makes it easier to find stuff later.) Not everyone is going to want to – or be able to – watch, or discuss, every single film, so people will be drifting in and out of participation as the group continues. A loose organization makes it easier to adapt to that.

*You really do need one person to “run” things, which would seem to be you. Have fun! :smiley:

And, yeah, if this is the sign-up thread, sign me up.

10

Well, to get thing started, how does this sound?

July 18: Casablanca

August 1: The Seven Samurai

August 15: 12 Monkeys

August 29:

September 12:

September 26:

11

Are you accepting nominations? I’d like to throw in Sunset Blvd., if we’re doing classics.

12

Beautiful - I’m interested!

13

July 18: Casablanca

August 1: The Seven Samurai

August 15: 12 Monkeys

August 29: Sunset Blvd.

We’re at a pretty casual stage right now. Everyone feel free to add movies.

14

OK.

September 12th: Chinatown

15

I’ve never actually seen Casablanca–this would actually give me the impetus to see some movies that I really should have.

16

Everyone cool with subtitles? I’d like to throw City of God into the fray. Say, Sept. 26th?

17

July 18: Casablanca

August 1: Seven Samurai

August 15: 12 Monkeys

August 29: Sunset Blvd.

September 12: Chinatown

September 26: City of God

18

I’ve got all the movies listed so far on DVD so I’ll probably join in but as a suggestion how about checking out the TCM schedule and picking a film that will be aired there? It makes for easy availability for everyone and I’d be shocked if you can’t find something worthy of discussion airing in the early evening on the channel in a given two week period.

And you need a silent film on the schedule at some point. Perhaps The General though you might not want to go with a comedy…

19

Sounds interesting. I have exactly half of the proposed films, but I can probably manage to get the rest (most of them are on my “should watch some day” list anyway).

Can I nominate “El Mariachi” - Rodriguez’s debut film?

20

OK, count me in. And for my suggestion, let me throw Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo into the pool.