As a lot of you pointed out yesterday, there were some absolutely heartbreaking matchups. My toughest call, personally, was Bram Stoker’s Dracula vs. The Thing, a pairing that ended in an upset, with the lower seeded Dracula edging out The Thing by only 50 or so votes. I’m pretty upset to see one of my favorite movies get knocked out in round one, but if it had to lose, I’m at least glad that it was to Coppola’s horny Drac’.
Though it might be short-lived, since Dracula’s up against Jurassic Park today—for the record, I’m calling dibs on the movie idea “vampires versus dinosaurs.”
There are a couple of other movies that went far in my personal bracket that didn’t survive the first round of voting: Stalker, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Master and Commander. Pour one out for the type of film guy who is “all in on physical media these days.”
But Ran, another dark horse favorite and Kurosawa’s least straightforward Shakespeare adaptation, beat Carol, which surprises me. Based on how other things shook out in the Drama corner, I would think yearning and thwarted romance would be the sure bet, but it wasn’t true in this case. Though I suppose Ran has its share of romantic heartbreak too.
Overall, there weren’t a lot of blow outs yesterday, and more than a few very close races: Muppet Christmas Carol barely beat High Fidelity (a victory of Millennial nostalgia over Gen X nostalgia, perhaps?) and Age of Innocence squeaked by The Virgin Suicides. Scorsese’s two for two so far in our bracket.
Now we’re on to round two, and there are a lot of fun pairings I’m watching today: The Boyfriend Canon showdown of Die Hard vs. No Country For Old Men; the Girlfriend Canon showdown of 10 Things I Hate About You vs. Clueless; and who will “Win The G” in Goodfellas vs. Gone Girl?
Over in Drama, Brokeback Mountain vs. Apocalypse Now is a strange pairing, and one that might reveal something about our readership. But the wackiest quadrant by far is Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror, which has immediately gotten very chaotic—nearly every matchup here is impossible for me to predict.
Overall, it was a big first day! Excited to see what happens in the round of 32.
–James Folta
