Tag: 2013

Quick Links: Summer Movie Marathon 2013

A little over a year ago, I attended the Hollywood Nights 24 hour movie marathon at Celebration Cinema North in Grand Rapids. Crazy coincidence – this guy had a spontaneous in-theater movie marathon only a week after I did.

I thoroughly approve of his rationale of why he did it (“because it’s there!”). From his article:

It was interesting to see how people responded to the notion of seeing five movies in theatres in a single day. My initial instinct was that it was madness, an opinion shared by many others; others thought it wasn’t a big deal, remembering Oscar marathons or film festivals where they sat in theatres for just as long if not longer. What everyone could agree on, however, is that it’s decidedly abnormal, which is why I jumped on the chance to attempt it once I realized it was temporally possible.

I also enjoyed his observations on the practicalities of the marathon and his general observations on culture through the lens of 2013 movies.Give his article a read when you get a chance.

Image by Miles McNutt

Movie Marathon 2013 Trailer Playlist

Movie marathon 2013 is only a few weeks away. I like creating YouTube playlists of movie trailers to create a “movie marathon trailer”. It’s probably the only movie trailer you’ll ever see that lasts a full half an hour!

So get ready – this is your 24-hour movie marathon experience, boiled down into a 30 minute teaser!

By the way, if you are idly curious, here are movie marathon trailers from years past:

Creating Movie Marathon Kid-Friendly Zones

Being the parent of two young kids, I have not had to think too hard about the content of the movies and shows my kids watch (“Is it Sesame street? Or Barney? Or a classic Disney film? Ok then.”). But trying to create movie marathon kid-friendly zones is different. Each parent is going to have kids of varying ages and those parents will all have varying ideas of what is and is not acceptable for their youngins’. What is a movie marathon host to do?

Enter the non-profit group Common Sense Media.They have thousands of reviews for movies, TV shows, music, video games, apps, web sites and books. Their reviews include a quick rundown on content that may possibly be problematic for your kid, and they also provide a handy “content grid” that rates particular aspects of the title including educational value, violence, messages and role models, and more.

My kids love Wreck-It Ralph (and so do I!). I took a look at their review of Wreck-It Ralph, and it seemed pretty spot-on. Some video-game style violence, some potty humor, but generally a very positive message of discovering who you really are. Sounds like they and I think alike!

With that in mind, I vetted my upcoming 2013 movie marathon kid zones with Common Sense media. One big helpful item – they pointed out that Jiro Dreams of Sushi is subtitled, and will be of very little interest to young kids. Oops! My kid-friendly zone got a little shorter!

And here are the rest:

  • Swiss Family Robinson – Pros: Good adventure and family teamwork. Cons: Some possibly scary fight and animal scenes.
  • The Iron Giant – Pros: Great adventure and messages. Cons: A little bit of violence, some smoking.
  • Brave – Pros: Good messages about parent / child communication. Cons: Scary bear attack, rough fighting among the kid brothers
  • My Neighbor Totoro – Pros: Beautiful movie, imaginative story. Cons: The kids sure have a lot of freedom to wander around on their own.

I think I’ll keep using this site to check out what media my kids are about to consume. I hope you find the site useful too!

Refined 2013 Movie Marathon Schedule

The close-to-final 2013 movie marathon schedule?

Start TimeTitleYearRuntimeBreak time
12:00 PMSkyfall2012143 min.37 min.
03:00 PMThe Magnificent Seven1960128 min.7 min.
05:15 PMRebel without a Cause1955111 min.9 min.
07:15 PMThe Big Sleep1946114 min.21 min.
09:30 PMStreetcar named Desire1951122 min.13 min.
11:45 PMThe Legend of Drunken Master199499 min.6 min.
01:30 AMThe Dark Crystal198293 min.12 min.
03:15 AMThe Big Lebowski1998117 min.3 min.
05:15 AMJiro Dreams of Sushi201181 min.9 min.
06:45 AMShort FilmsVarious30 min.0 min.
07:15 AMMad Max197988 min.2 min.
08:45 AMBrave201293 min.12 min.
10:30 AMMy Neighbor Totoro198886 min.4 min.
12:00 PMFinish0 min. min.

A 24 Hour Movie Marathon in a Theater in Grand Rapids!

I was thinking the other day: “Wouldn’t it be awesome to hold a 24-hour movie marathon in a real movie theater someday? I’ll have to organize one of those some day.” Bam! Already done! No work required! A 24-hour movie marathon right in my own backyard!

The Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan is holding West Michigan’s first annual Hollywood Nights 24-Hour Movie Marathon June 21st through June 22nd (Facebook event here). If you can raise at least $100, you get 24 hours of movies in Celebration Cinema North, lunch, dinner, midnight snack, and continental breakfast, unlimited free popcorn and drinks, and other goodies. They seem to know what they are doing – they successfully ran 24-hour movie marathons in Southeast Michigan for 10 years!

I e-mailed the organizer of the event, and they indicated that during normal business hours, participants get to see anything first-run movies playing in the theater, and after business hours there will be two screens playing older titles. These titles are TBD, but participants are free to suggest ideas ahead of time.

I’m stoked! I’m totally going! Let’s raise some money!