The Great SDMB Movie Poll - Round of 16

Cafe Society
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1
Match 1
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark
  • Ghostbusters
0 voters
Match 2
  • Casablanca
  • The Terminator
0 voters
Match 3
  • Back to the Future
  • Dr. Strangelove
0 voters
Match 4
  • The Shawshank Redemption
  • The Big Lebowski
0 voters
Match 5
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • Pulp Fiction
0 voters
Match 6
  • The Empire Strikes Back
  • Young Frankenstein
0 voters
Match 7
  • The Godfather
  • Airplane!
0 voters
Match 8
  • The Princess Bride
  • Blazing Saddles
0 voters
2

Half of these were very tough. No surprise.

3

Shockingly, these were all easy choices for me. But several of my picks will never make it to the quarterfinals.

4

#1 Raiders vs Ghostbusters are a pair of my all time favorites.
#2 I picked Casablanca, a perfect movie over Terminator, but not easy.
#3 Back to the Future over Dr. Strangelove was easy for me.
#4 Shawshank over Lebowski was easy for me.
#5 Monty Python and the Holy Grail are a pair of my all time favorites.
#6 Very easy one for me, The perfect Young Frankenstein over Empire Strikes Back.
#7 The Godfather vs Airplane! are a pair of my all time favorites.
#8 Blazing Saddles vs The Princess Bride are a pair of my all time favorites.

5

1 - I loved Ghostbusters when it came out. It didn’t age very well though.
2 - I’ve always thought Casablanca is highly overrated, and a recent rewatch confirmed this for me.
3 - Back to the Future didn’t age well either, but very little can hold a candle to Dr. Strangelove. It’s a frequent rewatch.
4 - Shawshank versus just about anything is an easy choice for me because I despise Tim Robbins and won’t put up with him even in a story I like.
5 - Pulp Fiction is my least favorite Tarantino movie. Travolta might have something to do with that.
6 - I loved Star Wars as a kid. Post-Disney, it bores the shit out of me. Plus Mel Brooks. I’d pick Spaceballs over Empire.
7 - Godfather is a viable rewatch on just about any rainy afternoon. Airplane, I have to be in the mood for. This was probably the closest choice for me.
8 - This is a tougher choice too, but there isn’t much I would pick over Blazing Saddles. Maybe Strangelove.

If Dr. Stangelove faces off against Lebowski I’ll have a really hard time, but I don’t think that’s very likely in this matchup.

6
  • I still love Ghostbusters, but Raiders is probably my favorite adventure movie ever
  • Agree with Thumper668 that Casablanca is overrated. I’d rather vote for Terminator II, but I’ll take the first
  • Dr. Strangelove is very good but I like it a little less each time I see it. I find myself waiting for the classic lines and scenes, and wishing the rest of it would hurry up
  • Shawshank vs Lebowski was the hardest for me. I love them both for different reasons, but finally went with the eminently more quotable Lebowski
  • The Holy Grail is still a favorite, but it has been diminished in my mind somewhat through excessive repetition. I don’t need to watch it because I know it by heart, and I hear the same lines quoted and see the same clips endlessly. I still love Pulp Fiction.
  • Empire Strikes Back is still awesome. I don’t like voting against Young Frankenstein, but I can escape with ESB
  • The Godfather amazes me every time I see it. Airplane! still makes me laugh, but it doesn’t stick with me like Godfather
  • Princess Bride is just so damn wholesome, I can’t vote against it. I love every character in it.

On review, I seem to be voting against comedies, which surprises me.

7

Unless there are objections, I will be closing the polls at Noon EST tomorrow October 18

8

Tastes differ of course, but I was astounded to see the two greatest movies of all time barely surviving this Round of 16.

I’d be interested to see how a person’s age correlates with his fondness for Casablanca. I’m closer chronologically to WWII than Generation Z is to 9/11. Casablanca has #1 rank among all movies along so so many dimensions of which “war” is just one, but the connection to the World’s worst War – a war of good vs evil in contrast to the incompetent, ambiguous and criminal wars we see today – is essential for the overwhelming emotional impact of the Best Movie Ever Filmed.

9

So am I. I find Casablanca tedious and trite and highly overrated.

10

Tough round. Most of these I voted for in the previous round and my preference for one or the other may change day to day (what kind of twisted exercise asks one to choose between Shawshank and Lebowski?). The one that sticks out to me, as much as I love the inanity and gag humor of Airplane, is putting that film up against The Godfather, which is just levels greater. I had hoped the overall pool would come down to The Godfather vs L.A. Confidential, and I’ll still put my money on the Corleone family.

11

I was born mid 60s.
I think Casablanca is eminently quotable and watchable.

12

At the heart of this exercise is the subjectivity of individual tastes. When 70-80 people are voting on movies, for every film you love you’re bound to find someone who hates it. Objectively, every film in the poll is a good movie because someone put it in their top 10. I think it’s entertaining and fun to measure how common tastes are among us. The downside of that is that I think very few people will be happy or satisfied with the results. But then again, that’s part of what is fun about it.

ETA: Lest anyone think that my personal preferences play any role in the matchups or outcomes, I structured this in a tournament format specifically to prevent that. If my preferences were an influence, both Casablanca and The Godfather would have been gone in the first elimination round :slight_smile:

13

Save me a search please and point me to the starting list of ALL Top 10s. I’m curious which of my own Top 10s were missing.

14

great-movie-poll

15

Reminder that the polls will close at Noon EST today

16

Here are final rankings 9 through 16:

|9| Young Frankenstein
|10| Airplane!
|11| Dr. Strangelove
|12| Blazing Saddles
|13| The Big Lebowski
|14| Pulp Fiction
|15| The Terminator
|16| Ghostbusters

17

And the 8 Quarterfinalists:

|1| Raiders of the Lost Ark
|2| Casablanca
|3| Monty Python and the Holy Grail
|4| Back to the Future
|5| The Godfather
|6| The Empire Strikes Back
|7| The Princess Bride
|8| The Shawshank Redemption