Back in May of 2009, I spent 24 hours straight watching movies in celebration of my first “big” purchase as an independent adult: my 42″ HDTV. The goal was to destroy my previous record of 6 movies in one day, and a final tally of 14 movies saw my goal accomplished.

Now a year and a half later, it’s time to test that record again with a little help from my awesome girlfriend Laura, who, to my own surprise, was incredibly enthusiastic when I brought up the idea (because she’s awesome). Last time there were a handful of random rules including what could and couldn’t be eaten, but this year we’re simplifying it a bit more with the only rule being that all movies must be watched within a 24 hour period (give or take about 15 minutes). With all the delicious snack foods lying around that Laura made for the holidays, there’s no way I’m limiting us to popcorn and Skittles again. Let the movie watching begin.

Ready? Go.

Round 1: Turner and Hooch

1989 | Rated PG | Buddy Cop Comedy
[Started at 6:45PM, Ended at 8:25PM]

Extra thoughts: I hadn’t seen this since I was a little kid, but I remembered really liking it at the time. My parents gave this to us for Christmas and I was pretty excited to give another go. (spoilers ahead) The was hilarious just as remembered, but then the ending rolled around and we got slapped in the face by one of the saddest tone reversals I’ve ever witnessed. I guess I blocked it out since I was little or maybe I was young enough that I just didn’t fully understand, but this movie gets a little bit heart-breaking in the last ten minutes. It was like Marley and Me all over again. Still a great movie; I’ll just need to be more prepared next time.

Round 2: Clerks.

1994 | Rated R | Sex Comedy
[Started at 8:25PM, Ended at 10:00PM]

Extra Thoughts: Our mutual love of Kevin Smith movies made this a must-watch given the occasion. It makes me laugh every time and has made “THIRTY-SEVEN!?” a running joke for the ages.

Round 3: Elling

2001 | Rated R | Foreign
[Started at 10:10PM, Ended at 11:45PM]

Extra Thoughts: The first time I saw this was while in film school for a lesson regarding the value of simplistic story-telling. I hadn’t seen it since then but bought it as soon as I saw it in a flea market we visited about 8 months ago. Took a while to get around to, but it was well worth it. It’s a beautiful Norwegian comedy/drama that I highly recommend to anyone with half a heart.

Round 4: Rope

1948 | Rated PG | Drama
[Started at 12:00AM, Ended at 1:20AM]

Extra thoughts: This is another I saw for the first time in film school during a class about set design oddly enough. It’s been my favorite Hitchcock film ever since. I’m a sucker for dialogue.

Round 5: The Cat Returns

2001 | Rated G | Anime
[Started at 1:25AM, Ended at 2:40AM]

Extra thoughts: I love Miyazaki, and while he didn’t personally write or direct this, he was a producer and the originator of a lot of key concepts behind it. It’s super-short at a mere 75 minutes and a nice quick dose of animation magic.

Round 6: South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut

1999 | Rated R | Musical
[Started at 2:40AM, Ended at 4:00AM]

Extra thoughts: This is one of Laura’s most-watched movies of all time. Yet another reason Laura is awesome.

Round 7: Friday the 13th Part 2

1981 | Rated R | Slasher
[Started at 4:00AM, Ended at 5:25AM]

Extra Thoughts: Laura and I became fans of the Friday the 13th series together in October of 2009 when I randomly decided I needed to buy and watch all of them for the first time. We developed a point-based game around predicting who we thought would die first and the rest is history. Friday the 13th Part 2 is Laura’s favorite entry, and the rest are bound to find their way into the DVD player every now and then (except Jason X and Jason Goes to Hell).

Round 8: Cloverfield

2008 | Rated PG-13 | Monster Movie
[Started at 5:25AM, Ended at 6:40AM]

Extra thoughts: Laura’s not quite as seasoned at this staying up crazy, insanely, stupidly late so she’s fading in and out. She liked Cloverfield the first time I made her watch it, though not quite as much as I do, so this is me trying to give her an excuse to catch a little sleep without worrying about missing much so that she can be my stay-awake support system when I’m on the verge of complete shut-down once afternoons comes around. [edit:] So Laura actually stayed up for that entire movie no problem.

Round 9: (500) Days of Summer

2009 | Rated PG-13 | Comedy
[Started at 6:40AM, Ended at 8:20AM]

Extra thoughts: If there’s one movie that makes me hate the Academy Awards every time I watch it, (500) Days of Summer would be it. The fact that it didn’t get nominated for anything at all is a nearly unforgivable travesty. The fact that it didn’t get nominated at all and f*cking The Hurt Locker won best original screenplay makes me want to burn down the Kodak Theater. This movie could’ve won best Actor, Actress, Director, Picture and Screenplay and I would’ve been completely without complaint, but it didn’t get nominated for any of those categories whatsoever. If you haven’t seen it, then go rent it immediately.

Round 10: This Is Spinal Tap

1984 | Rated PG-13 | Mockumentary
[Started at 8:50, Ended at 10:15]

Extra Thoughts: Improv at its best. I have Laura to thank for bringing this gem to the collection as I was not cool enough to own it before she came along.

Round 11: Say Anything

1989 | Rated PG-13 | Romantic Comedy
[Started at 10:20AM, Ended at 11:55AM]

Extra Thoughts: Between this, Almost Famous, and Jerry Maguire, Cameron Crowe is one of my favorite directors. This is the only one that’s under two and a half hours. Plus “In Your Eyes” is especially awesome.

Round 12:Airplane!

1980 | Rated PG | Spoof
[Started at 12:15PM, Ended at 1:40PM]

Extra Thoughts: In honor of Mr. Nielsen.

Round 13:What About Bob?

1991 | Rated PG | Comedy
[Started at 1:40PM, Ended at 3:15PM]

Extra Thoughts: Partially because the hostess in Airplane! is the mom in the movie. Partially because both titles end with punctuation marks. Mostly because What About Bob? is awesome.

Round 14: WALL-E

2008| Rated G | Pixar
[Started at 3:30PM, Ended at 5:00PM]

Extra Thoughts: When I was talking about movies that put me in the mood to burn down the Kodak Theater earlier, I completely forgot WALL-E. I’m fine that Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture, but WALL-E should’ve at LEAST been nominated, won original screenplay, and won every sound award ever. This is an amazing film and possibly Pixar’s greatest work of art to date.

Round 15!

Beauty and the Beast

1991| Rated G | Disney
[Started at 5:05PM, Ended at 6:30]

Extra Thoughts: I love Disney, and the early 90′s films are the best. Beauty and the Beast turned animation into a respected art form as the first feature length animated film to get nominated for Best Picture of its own accord. The music is brilliant, the animation is gorgeous and the characters are some of Disney’s most colorful. Plus, considering I’ve been waiting about 8 years to own it, it seemed like a great movie to close off the 24 Hour Movie Challenge.