It is a brand new year, which means it is time to hold a brand new 24-hour movie marathon! We have selected the movies and set the schedule. Read on to learn all about the movies we picked out. I hope we inspire you with our movie roster.
Movie Marathon 2017 Theme
When my wife and I host a movie marathon, we don’t center it around a single genre or theme as most people expect. Instead, we always follow two rules when selecting movies:
- We have never seen the movie before
- The movie is one we’ve always wanted to see, or have heard we “should” see
We’ve found that this really helps foster variety and novelty in our movie marathons. It is a risky approach. Sometimes the movies don’t work out. But sometimes we stumble on a real gem, and it becomes a favorite movie we re-watch for years to come. We don’t know until the movie marathon what we are going to get. It is all really exciting!
This year is no different. We’ve assembled a variety of films based on recommendations from friends, recent releases in 2016 which we missed, entries from great film lists, and more. Let’s look in detail at the movie roster.
Movie Marathon 2017 Movies
IMDB Summary: On a US nuclear missile sub, a young first officer stages a mutiny to prevent his trigger happy captain from launching his missiles before confirming his orders to do so.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
My take: We’ve opened our movie marathons with James Bond films for the past several years. James Bond films are great for opening movie marathons because they have beautiful and exotic settings, contain plenty of action, and keep us laughing with hokey jokes. The problem is we’ve already seen the best of the Bond films. If we want to see more, we have to reach farther down in the Bond barrel. I frankly just wasn’t getting excited about, say, The Living Daylights. So, instead, we’ll open with Crimson Tide – a drama recommended by a co-worker. I’m guessing there won’t be any corny jokes, but it should be a good action thriller.
IMDB Summary: An exclusive golf course has to deal with a brash new member and a destructive dancing gopher.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 75%
My Take: After a heart-pounding action film, I usually like to show a comedy. My parents, aunts, and uncles are all telling me Caddyshack is one of the best comedies of all time, and is Bill Murray’s best film. That’s some high praise – I’ve seen Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day! I hope it can live up to these lofty expectations.
IMDB Summary: Lady Susan Vernon takes up temporary residence at her in-laws’ estate and, while there, is determined to be a matchmaker for her daughter Frederica — and herself too, naturally.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
My Take: My wife loves Pride and Prejudice. Love and Friendship was just released in 2016 and got an exceptionally high rotten tomatoes score of 98%. I wanted to give this movie a try since it is well-written and funny. I love the witty dialog of Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith movies. With some luck, this Jane Austen adaptation will be the 19th century equivalent of Kill Bill.
IMDB Summary: After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther, Bagheera, and free-spirited bear, Baloo.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Common Sense Media Age: 9+
My Take: I have never seen the original animated Jungle Book or this remake. There was a lot of buzz when it opened in 2016, so it is our opening children’s film in the movie marathon kid-friendly zone. It must have something going for it, since it has kicked off an entire series of live-action remakes of Disney movies.
IMDB Summary: The Clock family are four-inch-tall people who live anonymously in another family’s residence, borrowing simple items to make their home. Life changes for the Clocks when their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95% Common Sense Media Age: 7+
My Take: It’s no secret that I love Hayo Miyazaki’s movies. For those who are not familiar with him, he is sometimes called “Japan’s Walt Disney”. Miyazaki wrote the screenplay for this film a few years before he retired. With any luck, his filmmaking skills just improved with age.
IMDB Summary: A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
My Take: Every movie marathon at our house has to include at least one Western. No one embodies classic American western better than John Wayne. This movie has the distinction of being John Wayne’s last film, and is a goodbye to both him and the Wild West itself, in a way. I’m happy to see Lauren Bacall co-stars. Lauren has appeared in at least two past movie marathons due to my enduring love of Humphrey Bogart films.
IMDB Summary: A girl’s “sweet” sixteenth birthday becomes anything but special as she suffers from every embarrassment possible.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
My Take: Another tradition for our movie marathons: including a movie from the 1980s. I’m excited to see sixteen candles because I catch references to this movie all the time in pop culture. I hope it compares well to The Breakfast Club, which was a big success in a movie marathon a few years ago. John Hughes directed both, so I think we have good odds.
IMDB Summary: In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
My Take: This movie is sometimes called “A Fairy tale for Grown Ups”. I can appreciate that. The best Grimm Fairy Tales have elements of fantasy, horror, and adventure mixed together to thrill and delight. The visual effects in this movie are spectacular, and some of the characters truly horrifying. Also, this Mexican movie is the most successful Spanish language film released in the U.S. So, bonus points for us for including international films in the movie marathon.
IMDB Summary: A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
My Take: What interests me about Her is how close we are to the events in Her happening in real life. We already have “artificially intelligent” virtual assistants in Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana. I think we are not too far away from these services becoming engaging enough for people to “fall in love” with them. Don’t believe me? It is already happening, right now, in Japan with video game characters (another article on the subject if you want to know more). Scott Adams may have predicted this in 1994: “When Virtual Reality gets cheaper than dating, society is doomed.”
IMDB Summary: At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 69%
My Take: What was the last good, modern romantic comedy you saw? Love Actually? Romantic Comedies are dead or at least dramatically changed from their heyday in the 1990s and 2000s. But this one’s got time travel! A co-worker recommended it, so I hope it can live up to expectations as both a sentimental romantic comedy and a sci-fi film.
IMDB Summary: A Hawaiian girl adopts an unusual pet who is actually a notorious extra-terrestrial fugitive from the law.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86% Common Sense Media: 5+
My Take: This is an outlier of a Disney film. I love including outliers in my movie marathons because I’m always seeking out novelty and unique movie experiences. This film is highly rated but generally overlooked, and frankly, a bit goofy. I’m ready to give it a chance, and it will open our morning kid-friendly zone of the movie marathon. I hope the kids like it!
IMDB Summary: A red balloon with a life of its own follows a little boy around the streets of Paris.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95% Common Sense Media: 7+
My Take: This is a short film from France that apparently everyone in the world has seen as a child…except for me. Despite being only 30 minutes long, it won an Oscar for best original screenplay in 1956. It has virtually no dialog, so language is no barrier. My kids will become French film snobs in no time!
IMDB Summary: A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armor worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97% Common Sense Media: 9+
My Take: I loved the movie Coraline. It is beautiful, weird, scary, and surprising. Kubo and the Two Strings is Laika Studios‘ latest film, and the critics agree that the animation, characters, and settings are gorgeous in this film. The plot is controversial, with some thinking it is too confusing and sad. I’m willing to take the risk. I just hope it doesn’t traumatize the kids.
Movie Marathon 2017 Schedule
So how do all the movies fit together into a 24-hour schedule? Check it out below.
* UPDATE: The movie marathon is taking place the night daylight savings time takes effect, so all times after 2:00 AM are offset by one hour.
In this movie, 1950’s scientists travel to planet Nova, discover giant iguanas and call them T-rexes, and (spoiler alert) end up nuking the new life forms they discovered. Why? Because…well… they brought an atom bomb with them. It was a good time to use it!
