Dawn of the Dead Vs. Raging Bull
Dawn of the Dead: I should specify this is the newer Dawn of the Dead movie from 2004, not the original. The original is on my list of movies to see, it is quite an extensive list though. I always enjoy finding Dawn of the Dead playing on tv, it is a movie that you can just jump in at any point and enjoy it until the end. The movie does a great job of presenting characters, some of which you will like, some of which you won't like, all united against a zombie outbreak.
Raging bull: Jake Lamotta has his way with women, and that way is to nag them til they can't take it anymore. he takes his anger from the ring and takes them out on his wives, as in he goes through more than one during the course of the movie. I think this is a great film, but would I want to watch it again tomorrow? No, there are some very downer moments in it. I am looking for movies that I could watch again and again. This movie has some action in it, but the verbal and physical abuse of spouses, the fighting outside of the ring, many other things contribute to the downer of a movie. I am glad I watched this movie another time, but I don't need to see this again for another few years. There are also a ton of uses of the word fuck in this movie. Robert Deniro's performance was great, but I just can't have it going on, I am depressed just from watching it.
Verdict: Dawn of the Dead. Raging Bull is a great movie, but I don't want to watch it again for quite some time. Once will suffice for a few more years. Raging Bull definitely has lots of entertaining parts in it, but I just don't feel like dealing with the spousal abuse that occurs throughout the movie. The entertainment value and the general enjoyability of Dawn of the Dead wins out.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Vs. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
This is the only matchup of the round that i am going to actually take a pass on watching either of the movies for. I have to give hands down to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.
The 7th Harry Potter movie is just, in my opinion, superior in just about every way. I think the movie is more grown up which allowed for better performances. The actors were able to really act in this movie. I think I actually liked Part 1 better than Part 2, but I will leave that debate up for a different time, but I am giving Deathly Hallows a walk here, because this way I don't have to watch all 8 movies this week, and I already know my opinion on this matchup.
Little Miss Sunshine Vs. Gladiator
Little Miss Sunshine: I love this movie, I probably didn't need to watch it again, but I really wanted to see it in its non-television version to see how much I would love it another time around. I love the family dynamic in this movie, and every single family member puts in a good performance. Even though the movie is a comedy, this might be my favorite Steve Carell performance, and he is not a comedic character in this movie. Alan Arkin's performance deserved the Oscar that it received. Paul Dano, who is one of my favorite character actors, does a great job without many spoken words. I think this movie proved to me that it belongs in this tournament, and it even made me forget about my laundry.
Gladiator: I was actually disappointed by watching this movie again. It is so hard to mentally transition from epic battle scenes to emotional and dramatic scenes. There is very little humor to be found in this movie. There are many entertaining scenes in this movie, but it stretches on for such a long time. It come in at about 2.5 hours, but it feels like 3.5. Not a great thing to be saying about a movie, but I have been bored for quite a bit of this movie. The creepiness with which Joaquin Phoenix plays his character is definitely a highlight.
The decision goes to Little Miss Sunshine, I still love this movie every time I watch it!
Zombieland Vs. The Incredibles
Zombieland: This movie rates very high on all of the scales. I think the fact that it really does a great job of incorporating humor, with action, with suspense, with a little bit of horror jumpiness. The characters in this movie are all well done, even if there are only 4 of them, 5 including the cameo. The little rules that pop up on the screen still make me laugh. Even though it isn't the only zombedy, it is unique, it really is not at all like Shaun of the Dead. This movie actually seems to just fly by too, it is only 88 minutes long, but it really does not have any dull moments in it. This really helps its entertainment value a lot. This movie has what may be the best surprise cameo I have ever seen as well.
The Incredibles:
The Incredibles is another great movie. It has such heart to it, while also being a superhero movie. For a Pixar movie it really has a dark side to it. It was quite entertaining to watch even though I had seen it many times before. There were some duller moments during this movie though, which takes it down just a little bit in the entertainment category. I also don't think it would be that much fun to watch over and over.
The verdict for this match-up is in favor of Zombieland, but this was close, and actually a hard decision to make. I think if we are talking strictly in terms of a movie critic The Incredibles would win, but I need more than just that for my every day life.
Up next:
I will announce all of the matchups that I won't need to watch the movies in, watching all 100+ movies would be really hard, and i know some of them by heart.
The updated bracket can be found here: http://challonge.com/weckpd
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