Movie March 2026: An Ill-Fated Cinematic Experiment

In my day-to-day life, I don’t watch very many movies. Playing games and watching YouTube are my main off-time activities, but I wanted to change that, so I had an idea of how to do that and write an article in the process. What if I watched a bunch of movies I’ve never seen before? Better yet; what if I didn’t even choose the movies I would watch? And so, (foolishly) thinking I’d have enough free time, I laid out the goal: in March, I would create a survey for movie suggestions, watching one of them each day, write a brief review for each, and then compile them into an article for release in April. Sounds pretty good, right?

First, the survey. I set two ground rules: 1. I must never have seen the movie before, and 2. The movie must be in my personal DVD/Blu-Ray collection, or readily available on Netflix/HBO Max (the streaming services I had) (AKA I don’t spend any money to watch the movie). People were allowed up to three suggestions, weighted based on preference, and they were given the opportunity to provide a name/pseudonym under which to credit the suggestion. I distributed the survey to family, friends, and a few Discord servers I was a member of.

It all fell apart pretty quickly. I expected around 50 or more submissions, given the population the survey was given too, but I only got nineteen, and there were no movies suggested by more than one person, essentially removing the purpose of the ranking system. I tried my best to watch in order of ranking, preference, but at least half of the films did not follow the rules, and so after the first week I just went with what I wanted to. Furthermore, I failed to keep up the daily streak, and even trying to catch up over spring break by watching extra movies was unsuccessful, ending with a total of 21 films watched for 31 days. I’ve sorted them below by week, and at the end I will include an “awards” category.

Finally, before we begin, it’s important to say that all of these reviews were written right after I finished the film and have only been edited for spelling and clarity. You may note how my energy declines throughout the process by seeing the collapse of structure and professionalism in the reviews.

Week 1 (March 1-7): 6 movies

For a Few Dollars More: 9/10. Suggested by: (no name provided). Watched on: 3/1.

Twists upon twists! A little slow here and there, but it's deliberate. The score and camera work do very well to communicate the emotions of the scenes, especially given the spaghetti western dubbing for the characters. It's incredible how effortlessly cool Lee van Cleef is in this. This may be part of the "man with no name" trilogy, but it's his movie.

Moulin Rouge!: 7/10. Suggested by: Katie. Watched on: 3/2.

Spellbinding in it's first half with its flair and movement. Once it gets "serious", and lets the pace drop, it suffers. With no background or precious experience, I was surprised but very much receptive of its nature as a semi-jukebox musical. Fun, but not very deep, which would have worked better if it kept up the first half's tone throughout.

Weapons: 7/10. Suggested by: Lucky. Watched on: 3/3.

Decent pacing, it kept you guessing while feeding you enough clues to stay interesting. Hints of compelling themes that I can't quite put my finger on yet, but told interestingly, especially seeing it all from Alex's perspective and explaining it through him. The last sequence was awesome payoff; I was grinning and audibly commending the movie while it happened.

A Fistful of Dollars: 8/10. Suggested by: J.P. Watched on: 3/4.

Not quite as good as More or G/B/U, but still a great film. The score wasn’t very “Ennio Morricone”, so much that I thought it wasn’t his, but it still works hand-in-hand very well to communicate the emotions of the scenes. The process of Clint working the two families against each other is very entertaining, and having to fight against the consequences was a path I wasn't expecting. I suppose the "trilogy" has a movie for each of the leads in G/B/U: This is Clint's, More is Van Cleef's, and G/B/U's is Tuco's.

Heat: 7/10. Suggested by: Ben. Watched on: 3/5.

Good, compelling, and while I understand the intent behind the pacing, it was just too slow. Half an hour leaves the movie with no consequence. I expected more action given the poster and summary, but good performances. The theme, where DeNiro's attachment gets him killed despite all his talk, and Kilmer gets saved because of his attachment, is very good writing. Solid performances.

Blazing Saddles: 8/10. Suggested by: Katie. Watched on: 3/6.

Very funny, very irreverent. Shoots the straight-laced western to bits with relentless mockery of both the film genre and the time period it's based on.

Summary:

Felt good about this first week. Missed a day, but I knew I could make it up pretty easily. (This is a lie, this week was a freak occurrence where he had essentially no work to do).

Week 2 (March 8-14): 2 movies

Birdman: or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance): 8/10. Suggested by: Me. Watched on: 3/8. Movie Debt: 1.

Weird. Soundtrack is fitting, and I like the insistence on long takes, grounds the movie. I do also like the ambiguity of Birdman's powers and reality. I enjoy the contrast between Keaton and Norton as actors and as people, and the reversal at the end.

The Young Girls of Rochefort: 5/10. Suggested by: Leah. Watched on: 3/14. Movie debt: 6

Idk, it just didn't click for me. Maybe because I wasn’t in the right headspace to give it my full attention, and not being in English probably hurt it too, but it was just flat to me. It feels like the kind of movie-within-a-movie that would be made to mock or as synecdoche for the generic 50s-60s movie musical. The random murder subplot bit did give me the most entertainment I had from the movie; imagining a musical where people are getting picked off in the background, but the movie never breaks the peppy, cheery kayfabe.

Summary:

Got slapped with work this week, and one of the only two movies I watched was a bust. Shame, but I still thought I could catch up if I tried hard.

Week 3 (March 15-21): 7 movies

Full Metal Jacket: 7/10. Suggested by: Tami. Watched on: 3/15. Movie Debt: 6

Good. Compelling, the parallels between the two halves, and a compelling throughline of framing and lighting the characters like they're horror movie monsters, is very fitting.

Dr Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb: 8/10. Suggested by: Me. Watched on: 3/17. Movie Debt: 7.

Really good. From my prior perception of the movie, I thought it would be just the war room, featuring a lot more of Strangelove, and that it would be more akin to a proto-“Airplane!” comedy of errors movie. But it's compelling, and the dryness with which it is presented elevates the humor to a meta sort of level.

Pokemon: The Arceus Chronicles: 2/10. Suggested by: Sosig. Watched on: 3/18. Movie Debt: 7.

Let me say this first, before you all come for my head: I've never watched an episode of Pokémon, and I've only played Black, and while I liked it fine, it never really pulled me in. Additionally, I'm nearly positive this is a special for the TV series, so I understand its quality limitations.

With all that said, it was about as impactful and weighty as a Styrofoam peanut. Didn't hold my attention, and it was incredibly lacking, in animation, story, and acting. It definitely didn't help that ~30% of the dialog was comprised of Pokémon noises. I don't despise it, but I want that hour of my life back.

Interstellar: 9/10. Suggested by: Maddie. Watched on: 3/19. Movie Debt: 7.

Incredible. Touching, compelling, haunting.

“The Chosen” S5 Ep 7-8, “The Last Supper”: 7/10. Suggested by: Ria. Watched on: 3/20. Movie Debt: 7.

Surprisingly, really good. Beautiful cinematography, good acting, and a good script. The story of Jesus is a compelling narrative, even for someone not particularly familiar with the Bible.

The Grand Budapest Hotel: 8/10. Suggested by: Me. Watched on: 3/21. Movie Debt: 7.

Enthralling and whimsical, thoroughly entertaining throughout. I can understand why people would dislike Wes Anderson's style of filmmaking, but unfortunately I am almost precisely the kind of person this movie is made for.

Slumdog Millionaire: 7/10. Suggested by: Giancarlos. Watched on: 3/21. Movie Debt: 6.

Pretty good. An interesting framing device to elevate what is otherwise a rather pedestrian story.

Summary:

I actually managed to keep pace this time, because I was heading in to spring break. I figured I should be able to squeeze out two movies a day pretty easy, even if I’ve burned through most of the movies I could actually watch from the suggestions.

Week 4: (March 22-28): 6 Movies

Batman (1989): 7/10. Suggested by: Me. Watched on: 3/23. Movie Debt: 7.

Interesting and refreshing to see a fun Batman film, having grown up in the era of Nolan and Snyder's takes on the character. The score, set/prop/costuming department, and Nicholson's acting were the standouts. It's also interesting to watch a Batman who's kind of incompetent, and thus humanized, or at least in comparison to Bale's.

Young Frankenstein: 7/10. Suggested by: Katie. Watched on: 3/25. Movie Debt: 8

Very solid! Hits the right combination of charming, silly, and even sincere sweetness. Not a laugh-a-minute riot, but a complete package that works very well as a combined homage to its inspiration and as its own movie.

Batman Returns: 6/10. Suggested by: Me. Watched on: 3/25. Movie Debt: 7.

The good things from 1989 are still present; score, goofiness, and Burton's Gotham, but are stale for not having improved. The bad things remain, and are only more irksome: Keaton's Batman, loose plot, and bad action. I appreciate the humor brought in with one liners and other jokes, and DeVito does a good job, but he can't match Nicholson. Points, also, for being unabashedly horny as it is.

Batman Forever: 6/10. Suggested by: Me. Watched on: 3/26. Movie Debt: 7.

There's enough lingering Burton-ism to remain interesting, and Schumacher's camp adds enough je-ne-sais-quoi to fill in. Kilmer makes a better Batman than Keaton does, with a suave and smoldering take on the bat. Villains again are a highlight, but maybe just because I like Jim Carrey.

The "holy rusted metal" bit made me sit up and say "booooo" at the screen out loud.

Batman and Robin: 7/10. Suggested by: Me. Watched on: 3/26. Movie Debt: 6.

All the haters can get bent, this was awesome, and probably even better than the first entry in the "tetralogy". Arnold ate it up, and the stupid jokes got me nearly every time. It could use some tightening up, and it feels like Barbara was only introduced so she could fight Ivy. The action was the weakest part, and the third act dragged. But if Arnie's on screen, having fun, then so am I.

Godzilla (1954): 6/10. Suggested by: The Harlequins. Watched on: 3/28. Movie Debt: 7.

Well-made, but couldn't keep my attention. The costume and sets look better than the wider internet has led me to believe.

Summary:

That was a lie I told myself. I couldn’t even keep pace because of all the work I was doing. I even tried doing work while watching the movies, which was against the spirit of the challenge, but I guess you know what they say about the best-laid plans.

Week 5 (March 29-31): 0 movies

Summary:

I just folded at this point, accepted my fate. Alas.

Awards Ceremony

Best Recommendation: Interstellar

Unfortunately, since the movie had come out semi-recently, it has since been absorbed by the collective meme-o-sphere, and so I knew the ending before even starting it. But the cinematography and struggle to survive captivated me; it deserves to be as hyped as it is.

Worst Recommendation: Pokemon: The Arceus Chronicles

Please don’t take (too much) offense if you suggested this, but this is among the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Even giving it the passes it deserves as a TV movie for a show I don’t watch, this is the opposite of appealing for me. If we want to talk about “slop” in terms of media, this is slop to fill a quota, with no distinct edges or characteristics.

Best Self-Pick: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Going into it I knew next to nothing; many of the films that end up on my watchlist (and then my DVD collection) are just ones from the top 250 on Letterboxd and having seen this mentioned favorably by some YouTube critics, I picked it up. I was pleasantly surprised by it; I love Knives Out and this felt like a spiritual predecessor, what with the quirky characters, star-studded cast, and meticulous precision for seemingly random details. I’m excited to look into more of Wes Anderson’s work.

Worst Self-Pick: Batman Returns

Really only worst in that it’s the least good among what I chose. Like I said, Keaton may as well have been replaced by a sack of flour with a smiley face for all the emotion he conveyed, and Batman’s consistent incompetence was no longer endearing like it was in the first Butron Batman. Devito was still good. Honestly what upsets me most about the movie is Catwoman’s atrocious hood, it sucks so bad to look at.

Most Disappointing: The Young Girls of Rochefort

I was excited to watch this when I saw it in my list; I don’t watch enough musicals as it is. Even when I saw it was in French, I thought no lesser of it; I’m cultured, I can handle subtitles. But then as got past the thirty minute mark I found myself drawn to my phone; not engaged by the story or the characters or the songs (which may have actually been the fault of the language). It’s like cotton candy if it was made without sugar: light and fluffy and entirely see-through and weightless.

Most Surprising: Batman and Robin

When The New York Times has an article out about how bad a movie is thirty years later, you know it’s a real stinker in the eyes of the public. But I was having a grand time; this is the silliest Batman’s ever been and I loved it. Batgirl and Ivy felt very superfluous, unfortunately; I think they were just underwritten and could have been better if they were given more love. I hope to someday have as much fun as Arnold does when delivering groaner after groaner in this movie, top-notch.

Summary: Summary

Well, I think I may have to do this again, perhaps even next March, since I should be out of school by then and on a regular schedule that allows two consecutive hours off every day. It was a good attempt, despite having to resort to filling with my own suggestions for half of the films. Next time, I’ll circulate the survey wider, and I’ll make the restrictions clearer. In the meantime, I think I’ll try to watch at least one movie a month going forward, it’s nice to do that (when the movies are good).

Thanks for reading, and rock on, you crazy diamonds.

-Jack LeJeune