March Madness of Movies — The Champions
These matchups were vote on by the MovieMinis Staff.
After a month of intense, nail-biting competition, we finally have the winners in our four brackets for the March Madness of Movies.
Best Big Budget Directing of the 21st Century
Peter Jackson won the Best Director Oscar for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. That film has cemented itself in cinematic history as one of the best epics, one of the best fantasy films.
But, more recently, we got another cinematic landmark, this time in the action genre (while also in the fantasy realm). Mad Max: Fury Road is essentially a two hour action scene. That it works, that it feels like a full movie with thematic heft — let alone the fact that the action is masterful — is a testament to how truly astonishing George Miller’s directing job was.
Winner: George Miller — Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Superhero Villains of the 21st Century
Black Panther‘s Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) will be long remembered. What he means as a character, as a villain, within a film that, itself, means so much, transcends cinema.
But there’s just something different, however, about The Dark Knight‘s The Joker (Heath Ledger). The master of mad dogs, The Joker is a villain of chaos, a terrorist who causes you to cower and to flee before you really have reason to. His visage is iconocraphic, a remnant of a harrowing time of fear in our a real world.
Winner: The Joker — The Dark Knight
Best A24 Films
This was the closest matchup in the entire competition. We needed a tiebreaking vote between Moonlight and Lady Bird, and the vote took up an entire day with it coming down to the final one.
At the end of the day, Moonlight came out on top. As the Best Picture winner that defied everyone, it sits as our champion in this bracket triumphantly.
Winner: Moonlight
Best Cinematography Since 2010
Sorry Roger Deakins. You got your Oscar for Blade Runner 2049, but we couldn’t give you the win here.
Hoyte van Hoytema won quite easily for Her, a sci-fi love story that is far more tender, vulnerable and powerful precisely because of how van Hoytema’s photography evokes a lonely, beautiful world.
Winner: Hoyte van Hoytema — Her
Featured image via Warner Bros.