March is all about brackets, but for us, it was all about quarantine this year. I was looking forward to Atlanta hosting the Final Four this year, but instead, I enjoyed looking at all of the brackets our friends created. I saw brackets for candy, kids tv shows and board games, but what about movies? There are so many to choose from that you have to break them up into categories. I decided to attack the 1980s, one of the greatest eras for film making, not in terms of cinematic quality, but definitely for entertainment’s sake. John Hughes is responsible for almost an entire section of the bracket on his own. Look for future brackets on sports movies and animated movies.
Feel free to use this as a guide to educate your children on the classics from the 1980s. Maybe they will appreciate the humor of John Hughes classics, and overlook some of the cringe-worthy parts of movies, i.e., blatant racism in Sixteen Candles.
Bracketology
It was very hard to pick the 64 to be in the bracket. On the cutting room floor, you’ll find Porky’s, Short Circuit, The Burbs, Steel Magnolias, Platoon, The Lost Boys, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and The Money Pit. Some were obvious choices. Some had to be decided by a coin toss. Some were included because of the impact that they had on the viewers, or me personally. Some, I have never seen, so I couldn’t really include (Platoon, Rambo, Aliens). I did not select movies based on them being cinematic masterpieces, but more so on the ability to please the audience, i.e. Fast Times at Ridgemont and Back to the Future over Gandhi and Chariots of Fire. And some were just movies I loved and couldn’t bear to not list.
Selecting the categories was just as difficult. As I mentioned, John Hughes was responsible for almost one bracket. Whatever wasn’t a Hughes or teen comedy, fit into a separate comedy bracket. The drama/romance category filled up quickly, and I even had to move some to the “Everything Else” category. Everything Else includes action and sci fi, and includes some that could be drama and comedy (The Princess Bride) at the same time, or a teen comedy (Goonies). And yes, I used Excel ~ I am still a nerd, after all.
The Brackets
John Hughes/Teen Comedy
Comedy
Drama/Romance
Everything Else
Winners of Rounds 1 and 2 to be announced this weekend! Your thoughts on movies included or not included? Make your argument.
Sravanthi Meka 