Posted Wed Apr 25, 2012 at 05:00 PM PDT by Aaron Peck
The wild journey continues...
Last weekend, like any rational movie critic, Aaron Peck said to himself, "Hey, how cool would it be to do a 24-hour movie marathon?" This wasn't one of his better life decisions...
In case you missed the first part of Aaron's All-Night Movie Marathon you can read it right here.
It's now past midnight and Aaron is getting tired and fears hallucinations of a giant pink octopus. Oh, wait, that thing was real?
#8 'Inglourious Basterds ': 153 min.
Time 12:40 am
Starting a movie after midnight is a surreal moment. Midnight is usually when I call it quits and head to bed. Starting a movie closer to 1:00 am is lunacy as far as I'm concerned.
I'm starting to feel tired now and don't know if I can take in another 2-hour plus movie, but I've started this madness, there's no way I'm going to quit now.
I tear off the shrink-wrap wondering why I haven't watched this Blu-ray until now. No matter, because as soon as the movie starts I'm sucked in. I forget that I'm slowly entering the early morning and instead I'm mesmerized by Christoph Waltz drinking milk in the most malicious way possible. I can't think of another opening scene in a movie that made me feel more unease than that of 'Inglourious Basterds.'
By this time my notes have gotten sparse. Earlier on I was jotting down everything that happened to me, but now my brain is starting to give up just a bit. It sure isn't with me when it comes to completing my task. It wants to go to bed desperately, but I told it to shut up by chugging another Redbull slushie.
The Numbers
15 hours and 23 minutes watched
#9 'Thor': 114 min.
Time 3:15 am
My head is swimming by this time. I realize that my previous statement about starting a movie after midnight seems silly, since starting a movie after 3:00 am is when it really gets weird.
I'm seeing 'The Avengers' next week for a press screening so I thought 'Thor' would be a good refresher. I would've probably watched 'Iron Man' too, but it's buried somewhere in our mountain of moving boxes.
My notes have become pretty incoherent by now. I'm checking them now and I can barely make out something that says, "Imagining Kat Denning having something to do with science is just as hard as imagining that Blake Lively could be a fighter pilot." I also wrote, "Loki looks like a deranged beetle with that helmet." The funny thing is, I don't remember writing these things at all.
I did, however, make it all the way through 'Thor' without dozing off. Although, it's apparent that my brain wasn't really cooperating.
The Numbers
17 hours and 17 minutes watched
#10 'No Strings Attached': 107 min.
Time: 5:07 am
I finished up with my shrink-wrapped pile with 'Thor.' It felt good to finally watch those movies that had been sitting on my shelves for months.
The sun was just peeking over the mountains outside, and that weirded me out a bit. I sat and stared out the window wondering where the darkness had gone. I can't remember the last time I was awake when the sun started rising.
With little left in the brain tank, only a will to keep on going, I dug my hand around in the box of movies and pulled out the Blu-ray of 'No Strings Attached.' The third movie starring Natalie Portman that I watched during my 24-hour movie marathon. I was too tired to think it was strangely coincidental.
The birds are starting to chirp outside my window now. Every movie after midnight is starting to blend together. Ashton Kutcher getting shot in a bank robbery. Al Pacino playing Hitler. Natalie Portman burning down a theater full of Nazis. It's all just a big bowl of movie soup in my head and it's about to spill out, all over the place.
Still, it was nice to take my mind off gunshots and explosions and take in a breezy comedy. It isn't a perfect movie but 'No Strings Attached' does have its moments and I laughed along with it. At least I thought I laughed. I also could've been having an out-of body experience. Even my big bowl of Malt-O-Meal Blueberry Mini-Spooners isn't enough to wrestle me from my tired funk.
The Numbers
19 hours and 4 minutes watched
#11 'Serenity': 119 min.
Time: 6:57 am
Honestly, who watches movies before 7:00 am? That just doesn't make any sense.
My personal screening of 'Serenity' was brought to you by a delusion-fueled grab into the mighty moving box of movies. At least Nathan Fillion was able to keep me semi-lucid during the movie, although I did doze off a couple times. However, it was because of Ponyo that I was able to achieve my goal of getting through a full 24-hour cycle. Ponyo, sitting at my feet, licked my toes whenever I fell asleep, which jolted me back awake.
Another lesson I learned while watching 'Serenity' on 20 some odd hours of no sleep, don't watch science fiction when you're dead tired. You won't understand a thing. It's a good thing I've seen 'Serenity' or I wouldn't have known what was happening. Also, the giant pink octopus cartoon isn't conducive to a person who thinks he's hallucinating anyway.
The Numbers
21 hours and 3 minutes watched
Eight o'clock was rolling around. At least I think that's what time it was, until my body literally couldn’t take any more. My butt had been numbed out of existence from sitting on my couch for that long. I tried to muster the strength to watch at least one more movie, but I couldn't. The marathon was over.
To quote Al Pacino from 'Heat,' "Because she's got a GREAT ASS!!!" wait, no. "I'm going to sleep for a month!"
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