Devious, Powerful Men: The Political-Film Voting Thread (Deadline: July 17 - 19)

Tonight will be my third attempt to get through Blind Ambition--I keep nodding off and backing up 20 minutes for another try. It's not terrible, but it's kind of a slog. Rip Torn as Nixon has thus far had about six or seven minutes of screen time in the first hour-and-a-half (Theresa Russell as Maureen Dean has had substantially more). I did rewatch The Contender from 15-20 years ago, and I thought that held up fine. It's Hollywood gimmicky, with lots of liberal pieties, but as a more-or-less remake of Advise and Consent for the Clinton moment, I think it holds up really well. Jeff Bridges, Sam Elliott, and Gary Oldham chew much scenery expertly.

(This is not meant to be one of those awkward, needy, embarrassing-for-everyone please-please-vote-in-my-poll posts. It is a heads-up, though, that that post will be coming in two or three days.)

plan on voting, and realizing that films specifically about politics are not my thing, I much prefer films that may have a political element but which are about something else

I've got a list of 27 so far, and I think it's about half-and-half (which is quite a move off my original idea of films-with-politicians only).

I have a list of 18 core films and another 17 or 18 that I want to include. not sure I understand your points scheme, but I assume 30 is the limit for films we can vote for?

No--if you want to vote for 35, take 350 points (and, let's say, a maximum of 55 for one film).

By the way, of the two ballots I have received, here's what I thought was a good point distribution for a 20-film ballot. If numbers aren't your thing, feel free to use (or adjust as necessary):

#1: 25 points
#2: 20 points
#3: 16 points
#4: 14 points
#5-7: 12 points
#8-11: 10 points
#12: 8 points
#13-15: 7 points
#16-20: 4 points

Adds up to 200 points.

That dreaded post...We're on life-support here.

Nominations: http://docs.google.com/document/d/12Ts0EtUkx1eDgstQGLQePHbwFtBGL5rbyDtIyRtziek/edit

Address: sayhey at rocketmail dot com

Just throw together a list of 10. I'll bump this periodically the next few days so it doesn't vanish. Still need many ballots to hit 20.

http://original.antiwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Empty-Polling-Place-1.jpg

oh forgot about this, will get a ballot in

ok, sent my list in!

Got it, thanks.

I noticed Dan's e-mail was filtered into my spam folder. I'll keep checking that for the next few days--if, by any chance, anyone sent me a ballot earlier and I didn't respond, that may have happened. You'll need to resend--sorry.

Dan: you didn't assign points or rankings, so I assume you're just giving each film 10 points?

the first 15 are in a loosely ranked order, and are the ones I care about the most. I wasn't sure how to assign points, but if there is a way to emphasize those in your points tally that would be great. the rest I'd be fine with the same points for each.

you can do it however it's easiest for you, though

No problem--sent you something that should work.

it works, thanks!

is the "watergate" on the list the 2018 film or the 1994 series?

The 2018 film, which I saw last month--quite good.

If you want to list 35 films, here are points I worked out for Dan S.:

#1: 25 points
#2: 22 points
#3: 21 points
#4-15: 19, 18, 17...8 points
#16-34: 6 points each

Adds up to 350 points.

(#16-35, that should read.)

Just submitted my ballot (and probably skewed the poll with all my 1930s obscurities).

Got it, j. lu. That's good--I like different points of view.

Voted. 10 movies, with an emphasis on comedy. Politics is something I can usually only confront with laughter, especially these days.

Got all the ballots, thanks. Halfway there to my arbitrary floor of 20 voters. Inside the Deadline Zone for the next three days.

A couple of films have already turned up on five ballots--one fairly obvious, the other somewhat of a surprise (a good surprise).

Y'all are voting for Ballot Box Bunny, right?

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ofedr

Off to a slow start...I haven't been adding write-ins to the nomination list, but a couple I should call attention to: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and The Corporation.

I imagine at least one of my top choices showed up on multiple ballots, curious what the surprise might be

I've been doing some door-to-door canvassing...Getting there; 12 ballots, need 8 more. You have to go down to #24 right now for the first film with only one vote--but both #24 and #25 have only one vote. 20 ballots tend to smooth those quirks out.

It's not that the film I called a surprise (sitting fifth, one of three films on half the ballots) isn't great, I just thought it was more of a cult thing--that probably changed three or four years ago.

Something I should have clarified earlier, when it was nominated...Black Girl has gotten a couple of votes; I assume they're for the 1966 Ousmane Sembène film, not for the one Ossie Davis directed in 1972. (No need to answer unless I'm mistaken.)

Sent!

Five more ballots to make quorum.

Meanwhile, I have an official popularity ranking based on the four polls I've run or co-run:

1. Neil Young
2. Yo La Tengo
3. road films
4. political films

If you nominated, send a ballot today--I checked the nominating thread and there'd be room to spare.

Sent!

Not nominated, and I didn't think of it 'til just now:
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

Ah shit just saw this now..

I'll see what I can do in a few hours

Got the last two ballots, thanks (and sent a couple of questions via e-mail).

Three more--if you need longer, xyzzzz, no problem. I'll be doing images over the weekend.

Cool I was away for a week..

18 ballots, one pending. The leaders are very close in points to the highest finishers in the road-film poll, though (20 ballots), so I'll post results on Monday/Tuesday regardless. Right now, I'd say a Top 35, which would avoid any single-vote placements. It'd be nice to get two more ballots at least, though, which would likely back that up to a Top 40.

Nominations: http://docs.google.com/document/d/12Ts0EtUkx1eDgstQGLQePHbwFtBGL5rbyDtIyRtziek/edit (missing a few write-ins)

e-mail: sayhey at rocketmail dot com

Ballot sent!

That's 20, great. I'm going to start adding text to the images, so that's kind of it. But if anything else showed up today, I'd count it and adjust.

Damn, just sent one in. Hope it can slip in under the wire.

just got mine in if it's not too late pal.

Both have been counted, thanks.

Vote Counts?

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_PfeoPMUjPrM/TM5FooJXM-I/AAAAAAAACZE/kxeW7UJNDP8/s1600/GreatMcGinty_MeetMayor.png

Just sent one in too