Movies, Oscar Best-Picture Marathon
Well, Rocky’s trip to Greeley this weekend fell through, so I wasn’t able to do the entire movie marathon (the ten Best-Picture nominees shown straight through, starting Saturday morning and going until Sunday morning). But I did get to see four of the films: Toy Story 3, 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, and True Grit.
It was really fun. For the $50 buy-in we got lanyards, $20 gift cards to the concession stand, and a “concierge” outside the theater. The folks inside the theater were all serious movie folks, so you got that real “filmie” vibe that you get at film festivals. I brought in my bag with energy drinks (didn’t need them), slippers, and a book for in-between movies. There was enough of a gap between movies to stretch, hit the concession stand, and relax, without its being too long. The staff were all incredibly helpful and friendly. The gift card got a large popcorn and large drink (with free refills on both, so you’re set for those two things for the whole marathon), a good hot dog, and a small candy—plus, there were restaurants around and I had some self-heating meals in the car, if I’d needed.
I don’t know if I could have really lasted through all ten films, but after four I was feeling great. I’ve seen as many as five or six films in a single day at film festivals, and thought that was my limit, but…well, film festival films can be really hit or miss. 50% of the time, they’re downright disappointing; maybe 10% of the time they’re really good, and 3% of the time, they’re fantastic. So after five festival films, I’d usually be asleep (also, those marathon watching sessions are during a festival, when I’d be working, or watching movies for ten days in a row, or both. So I start already wiped out.).
But these are, by definition, the best films of the year. They were fun and emotional and touching and exciting, in ways that festival films usually aren’t (one can only watch so many two-and-a-half-hour coming-of-age stories about a transsexual Pakistani goatherder or whatever). I was nowhere near tired after four films. It was the fun of a film festival, but compressed to 24 hours, and with uniformly great movies.
Anyway, next year I’d like to see if I can make all ten, and bring Rocky and friends to share it with. It was a blast.
1 year ago • 2 notes
