Well, the rest of the world might be canceled, but Reel Nerds soldiers on.
In light of the post-season college basketball tournaments being canceled, I thought, “What better way to keep the crazy competitiveness of March alive than with a movie tournament?”
Introducing: Corinne’s Movie Madness.
Just like the basketball tournaments, we will have a field of competitors facing off in one-on-one competitions. We’ll have stats and in-depth analyses ahead of the actual competition. But, because they’re movies and they can’t exactly shoot hoops, YOU will be the ones deciding which of the two movies in a given match-up will advance to the next round, and which movie will ultimately be the winner.
(Sidenote: A special thank you to Brad for the excellent graphic!)
The competitors
Unlike other competitions, this one is very selective. Only 16 films qualified for a coveted spot on the bracket. No doubt you’re wondering exactly how I picked 16 films out of thousands of good ones.
Easy… I just went over to my shelf and looked.
You see, unlike the other Nerds, I have a very small selection of movies, and thus all 16 competitors are films from my very shelves. This means that movies that I love but don’t physically own — such as Beauty & the Beast (1991), The Lion King (1994), the Star Wars saga, or Avengers: Endgame — won’t be competing. Shocking, I know, but that was seriously the easiest way to do it.
The bracket mechanics
So we have 16 competitors and — and rather than the four regions in the basketball tournaments (East, South Midwest and West) — we have four genres.
They are: Old School, Romance, Animation and Superhero.
And, just like the tournament, each movie has a “seed” or ranking within its genre. I gave the rankings based on a combination of how popular it has been culturally, how much I like it, how early in my life I was introduced to it, and how well-received it is right now.
How you participate
Just like the college basketball tournament had planned, I intend to kick-off Movie Madness on Thursday, March 19.
That day, we will post the first match-up on the Nerds’ social media pages and you go and vote for whichever you think is the better movie! Simple as that.
For instance, on March 19, it’ll be the 1-seed and the 4-seed in the Old School division; whichever movie receives more votes before midnight will advance to the next round. (In the case of a tie, the higher seed will win; so if you like the lower-seeded movie, get your friends to vote for it too.)
Eight days later, we will advance to the second-round match-ups, and the procedure will be the same until a movie is crowned the winner. If I’m counting right, we should have a champion on or around April 2.
Announcing the field
So, without further ado, let’s announce our bracket:
In the Old School genre, our 1-seed is that black-and-white classic Casablanca. The film is an early favorite to win the entire competition, as it’s beloved by millions and has a strong presence in pop culture.
It will be facing off against the 4-seed — a musical where a guy imagines what his life would be like if he were a rich man: Fiddler on the Roof. Another beloved film, but it’ll be hard for anything to beat Casablanca.
Also in the Old School genre is 2-seed Bible epic The 10 Commandments — the one with Charlton Heston. Ryan recently disparaged this movie on the podcast, but a lot of people watch it every Easter season.
Will they rally to defend it against 3-seed spy-thriller/romance Charade, starring two of the best-looking actors to ever grace the silver screen? We’ll have to find out this Friday.
Moving down into the Romance genre — and I have to clarify these are post-1970s romances/romcoms so as not to conflict with Old School — our 1-seed is unsurprisingly The Princess Bride. While it might have elements of comedy and action, let’s not forget that it is a kissing book. Or rather, movie.
In the first round, it will be facing off against little-known film that I can’t shut up about: Juliet, Naked. It’s a film you never saw and probably only heard about it through the podcast; but it’s on Hulu, so give it a watch before Saturday!
Our second match-up in the Romance genre will feature 2-seed You’ve Got Mail. Its plot seems kinda problematic nowadays; but it is Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and they can do no wrong.
It will be facing off against one of my favorite movies — a film that definitely surpasses the 1954 original (suck it, Gerry!) — 3-seed Sabrina (1995). Yes, the one with Harrison Ford. Who wouldn’t want to be a chauffeur’s daughter in his house, if you know what I mean? 😉
Moving over to the Animation genre, our dark horse 1-seed of the tournament is Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece, Princess Mononoke. Yes, maybe it’s not the most popular animated movie of all time, but the people who’ve seen it won’t shut up about it (me included).
In the first round, it will be facing off against underrated 4-seed Space Jam. So Michael Jordan’s acting isn’t the best… so what? When else are you gonna see Bugs Bunny team up with one of the greatest athletes of all time to defeat some aliens in a basketball game?
Also in the Animation genre is a recent Academy Award winner: 2-seed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse. More than a year after seeing it, I’m still learning new things about it that make me like it even more. Thanks, YouTube!
Its first-round opponent will be 3-seed Kung Fu Panda. A funny, emotional and clever film that features an animation style that was arguably ahead of its time. What’s not to love about this movie?
And in our final division, the Superhero genre, our 1-seed is Christopher Nolan’s dark comic book epic The Dark Knight. It also enters the competition as a heavy contender, even though my mom will tell you she liked Mamma Mia! better.
In the first round, it will be up against 4-seed Wonder Woman. My copy of the movie is still in the packaging… Yikes.
And our final match-up of the first round will be Superhero genre‘s 2-seed The Avengers (2012) against 3-seed Iron Man. Those two are neck-and-neck in terms of popularity, it seems, both in my heart and in current pop culture. So, which one will get the W?
Here is your full field:
Which of these 16 films will be crowned the Champion of Corinne’s Movie Madness?
You decide!
Check the website this Thursday for your First Round Stats & Analysis and then visit the Reel Nerds social media pages to cast your vote!