Tag: movie marathon

Pixar Movie Marathon

My kids attended parts of the 24-hour movie marathon I held last year. That got me to thinking about what a kid-friendly, high-quality movie marathon would look like.

My thoughts immediately went to a Pixar movie marathon. Pixar makes some truly stunning films – both in terms of visual beauty and engaging storytelling. I grew up too soon to see a Pixar film as a child, but watching them as an adult has been a real pleasure.

It turns out that the Pixar catalog of original movies almost fits perfectly into a 24-hour movie marathon format. You have to be willing to skip the derivative sequels Cars 2, Cars 3, and Monsters University. And you’ll have to skip the “Just Ok” The Good Dinosaur. But if you can do that, you get to watch 13 gorgeous feature films in one 24-hour period. I have a sample schedule for you below, arranged in chronological order of release of the film.

And this marathon comes with a bonus! By watching each film in one session, you can see for yourself if you believe The Pixar Theory.

The Pixar Movie Marathon Movies

Toy Story

Toy StoryMy take: Toys come alive when no one is looking. Why they bother to pretend to be not alive when looked at is never explained. This is frequently cited as the major weakness of the film.

A Bug’s Life

A Bug's LifeMy take: Remember the parable about the foolish grasshoppers vs. the frugal ants? What if the grasshoppers just did shakedowns of the ants to get their food? Who’s foolish now?

Toy Story 2

Toy Story 2My take: Woody the toy is abducted by the Collector and put in plastic with Xena Warrior Princess, Dr. Who, and…oh wait – that was a Simpsons Halloween episode.

Monsters, Inc.

Monsters Inc.My take: Monsters scare children to generate electrical power. This movie is very similar to The Matrix, in that  implausible power generation sources are used in both films.

Finding Nemo

Finding NemoMy take: If fish can all talk to each other, wouldn’t sharks eating other fish be kind of like cannibalism?

The Incredibles

The IncrediblesMy take: A superhero family lives a typical suburban lifestyle. The teenage years are going to be rough on the neighborhood.

Cars

CarsMy take: A race car learns that life isn’t all about racing. Wait, what?

Ratatouille

RatatouilleMy take: A rat fulfills his lifelong dream of being a gourmet chef. Now that would have been an interesting episode of Gordon Ramsey’s “Kitchen Nightmares”.

Wall-E

WallEMy take: The life and times of a mobile trash compactor in the dystopian future where humans have trashed earth and spent the last 700 years in a space mall. Deep stuff for the elementary school crowd.

Up

UpMy take: So…it seems like the villain in this movie could have made some serious bank with his talking dog collar invention. I might have just retired after that one. Just sayin.

Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3My take: More unending sadness about loss and abandonment and the ways it twists the minds of those who experience it. But told in colorful toy form!

 

Brave

BraveMy take: The classic story of a mother-daughter fight which leads to the mother turning into a bear. Who hasn’t heard THAT story already?

Inside Out

Inside OutMy take: A psychology textbook brought to life in colorful Pixar form. An insanely good drama of a young girl dealing with moving away from her home to an unfamiliar environment, woven together with a strangely accurate depiction of her cartoon subconscious emotions. A stunning achievement of entertainment and education.

The Pixar Movie Marathon Schedule

Start TimeTitle
12:00 PMToy Story
01:45 PMA Bug’s Life
03:30 PMToy Story 2
05:15 PMMonsters, Inc.
07:00 PMFinding Nemo
09:00 PMThe Incredibles
11:00 PMCars
01:00 AMRatatouille
03:00 AMWall-E
04:45 AMUp
06:30 AMToy Story 3
08:15 AMBrave
10:00 AMInside Out
12:00 PMFinish

 

How to Stay Awake At a Movie Marathon

I am a veteran of fifteen 24-hour movie marathons, and I have earned the distinction of never having fallen asleep during any of them. I am proud of my track record, and I thought I’d share some words of wisdom on how to stay awake at a movie marathon.

It isn’t easy, but with hard work, dedication, and a lot of caffeine, you too can have a successful career of staying awake all night watching movies. I hope you find these tips useful. Good luck!

Know Your Enemy

“You always win the war you don’t fight” – (Impressive-sounding quote)

If you want to survive a 24-hour movie marathon, you need to know the movies you are facing. The biggest consciousness-killer isn’t a caffeine crash or the ambient room temperature – it is boring, uninteresting movies. The best strategy to stay awake at a movie marathon is to do whatever you can to make the movie schedule awesome before you start.

The worst case scenario comes when a tedious, overly long movie pops up in the 2:00 AM – 6:00 AM time frame.  Your circadian rhythm is pretty sure you should be sleeping by this time, and does its best to make it happen. If you don’t have an interesting movie to watch, and you are in a dark, cozy environment – the best I can say is: “Good night, and good luck!”.

But no matter what the movie schedule is, there is hope. If you can make it past 6:00 AM, the same circadian rhythm dragging you down earlier should give you a boost. Your body is used to being up and about in the mid-to-late morning (right?).

Prepare Yourself

Navy SEAL Desert Operations
Are you ready for this movie marathon?
  1. Pay off your sleep debt. Get a good night’s sleep before you even show up at the marathon. You need to catch up on whatever sleep you missed throughout the week. You wouldn’t run a 5K right the day before running a marathon, right? Even if you can’t sleep a full night through, even a 90 minute nap can help improve your odds for staying awake during the marathon.
  2. Skip the caffeine. Stop drinking caffeinated beverages for as long as your can prior to the movie marathon. This helps you build your caffeine tolerance. This allows your caffeinated beverages to work when you need them the most.

Weapons of Sleep Destruction

Caffeine is great!
Caffeine is great!
  1. Caffeine is your friend – Drink a steady amount of caffeine during the marathon to avoid peaks and valleys in your alertness. This ride shouldn’t be a rollercoaster. If you shotgun a couple Red Bulls in the first fifteen minutes, you’ll be a twitching, sleeping husk in an hour, right after your friends peel you off the ceiling.
  2. Skip the alcohol – If you want to survive a movie marathon, you need stimulants, not depressants. Your bodily functions will be moving slow enough, don’t press the brakes even more!

Hand-to-Hand Sleep Combat

“An ounce of prevention is worth a 67.6 fluid ounces of cola”

  1. Don’t get comfortable. Sit on that metal folding chair. Take off your sweatshirt and cool down. Sit up straight. It is hard to fall asleep when you are not totally comfortable, as the Princess and the Pea documents.
  2. Get up and move. Get up and do something. Talk to people, use the bathroom, refresh your cola, look at the movie from a different angle – it doesn’t matter! Getting those feet on the ground gets your blood pumping and those neurons firing.
  3. Keep busy. Even when you are sitting and watching the movie(s), keep part of you moving. This can be as simple as chewing some gum or as complex as working on a hobby like knitting.
  4. Have fun. Nothing keeps you awake better than not wanting to miss a minute of fun. Great movies, awesome friends, and good food will keep you awake better than any chemical solution can!

This has gotten me through fifteen marathons and counting. I hope you find it helpful!

12/19/2016 Update: Updated with the latest tips from Movie Marathon Like a Navy SEAL article.

Photo by Kelrsten Marle

Marvel Movie Marathon

I mentioned a while back that having a Marvel movie marathon sounds like a good idea and that I’d put together a sample schedule for such a marathon.

Well here it is, in all its sample glory. This would be one sweet movie marathon, if I do say so myself. If only we had latent superpowers unlocked by sleep deprivation, instead of anger.

The rule of thumb I used for selecting the movies was that I chose the first movie in a series to favor a variety of “origin story” movies, rather than following the sequels of any particular series. Your mileage may vary. Spider-man 2, for example, is widely regarded as one of the best superhero movies of all time. The Punisher is, well, “meh” at best. Just be thankful I didn’t include Howard the Duck.

Also, I put the films in chronological order of their release for no particularly good reason. Perhaps it will help you appreciate the special effects as they go from worst to best. Enjoy!

Marvel Movie Marathon Movies

Blade

BladeMy take: Wesley Snipes plays a vampire hunter who really hates vampires and their midnight rave blood-shower parties. What a buzzkill.

X-Men

X-MenMy take: Patrick Stewart plays himself as a totally awesome psychic leader of superhero mutants battling other villainous mutants. Things go boom. Punches are exchanged.

Spider Man

Spider-ManMy take: Tobey Maguire plays a half-human, half-spider. Surprisingly, very few fluids are sucked out of ensnared victims. Mostly, stuff blows up and people smooch and whatnot.

Daredevil

DaredevilMy take: Ben Affleck plays a leather-clad superhero lawyer. His powers of filing briefs and clocking billable hours are unparalleled.

The Punisher

The PunisherMy take: The Punisher fights crime using….no superpowers and pretty conventional weaponry. He’s like Batman without infinite resources, a utility belt, or any kind of working ethical system.

Fantastic Four

The Fantastic FourMy take: Astronauts become superheros who battle an evil CEO while in skin-tight, sexy uniforms. The American dream in a nutshell.

Iron Man

Iron ManMy take: A cocky millionaire invents cold fusion and a flying mechanical battle suit with the help of various robots and artificial intelligences of his own design. This is Showgirls for engineers.

The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible HulkMy take: A man who turns into a gigantic, super-powered green fighting machine? Credible. His pants stay intact post-transformation? Incredible.

Thor

ThorMy take: The god of thunder comes to earth to participate in a deadly martial arts tournament….oh wait. That’s Mortal Kombat. In this one, the god of thunder goes to New Mexico and flirts with an attractive astrophysicist. Which film do you think is more plausible?

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain AmericaMy take: Captain America – the superhero who is…really strong due to chemical enhancements…and he has a shield. So – he’s pretty much Barry Bonds with a shield instead of a bat.

The Avengers

AvengersMy take: Calling Team Awesome! Assemble in the flying aircraft carrier and fight an evil God and his invincible alien army from another dimension! Clearly the best movie ever made.

Marvel Movie Marathon Schedule

 

Start TimeTitle
12:00 PMBlade
02:30 PMX-Men
04:30 PMSpider Man
06:45 PMDaredevil
08:45 PMThe Punisher
11:00 PMFantastic Four
01:00 AMIron Man
03:15 AMThe Incredible Hulk
05:15 AMThor
07:15 AMCaptain America: The First Avenger
09:30 AMThe Avengers
12:00 PMFinish

Hosting an Outdoor Movie Marathon

Private outdoor movie theater setup I recently learned that outdoor movie screens are an increasingly popular option for home movie viewing. You can start with a do-it-yourself project of a blackout cloth and some PVC pipe for about $100 (projector, speakers, other stuff not included). You can buy complete working system with 8-foot screen for $1,700 on Amazon, or you can rent a 40-foot screen for one night for $2,000, or you could do a whole lot in between.

Ok, my maleness finds it hard to deny the pull of a forty-foot movie screen in my backyard. Ha ha ha ha! Awesome! However, I’m not sure how well this would work for a 24-hour movie marathon. Here’s what I’m thinking:

  1. It sounds as if movies during the daylight are a no-go. So, for a 24-hour movie marathon, you would have to change locations / venues at least twice during the marathon (sundown / sunup)
  2. You are at the mercy of the weather. The day of your big event may be rainy, or windy, or otherwise uncomfortable. And for people in cold-weather climates (such as myself) we have a pretty narrow window non-snowy, non-cold and wet days to start with.
  3. You are at the mercy of the neighbors. I’m not sure every neighbor who could possibly hear even a whisper of The Big Lewbowski at 4:00 AM would be happy with this setup.
  4. The price, of course. Depending on what equipment you have, and what you rent or buy, this could send the price of your movie marathon anywhere from 2x-10x what you would normally spend.
  5. The rental company prices typically seem to apply to something like two to five hours a rental. Doubling the price for just half the marathon doesn’t sound too great.

Still, this would undoubtedly be the coolest thing ever if you could pull it off. I wish you good luck, and let me know how it goes!

For additional advice on setting up your own backyard theater:

  1. General set-up advice
  2. Backyard Theater Forums – for enthusiasts

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: