Hard for me to believe it, but we are now at the one year mark of this blog. To celebrate the occasion, I held tournament #8 this past week over on my Instagram. I made people do the thing I can’t do. Let me explain.

For this 8th tournament, I went with the theme of 1993. Why 1993? If I haven’t made it clear by now, or you can’t tell from the tourney logo, my favorite movie is Jurassic Park. It isn’t even close either. So, if I were ever going to include that film in tournament, it would have to be in one I can’t have any say in. If I did vote on it, the tournament is over before it started. So, I put my fate in all of your hands instead. You could either make me happy or crush me. Let’s take a look at the bracket.

This thing is stacked. I have argued 1993 is among the best years of film, and this top 16 of that year is pretty strong. The only “easy” matchups are in the first round. Everything after that are tough matchups. I tried so hard to make Jurassic Park not face Schindler’s List until the possible end, but every way I set up the bracket, they were always a second round matchup. It was destiny. Let’s see how things shook out (and if life found a way).

---

First Round

(Winners in BOLD)

¹ Jurassic Park vs. ¹⁶ Dave

⁸ The Pelican Brief vs. ⁹ Schindler’s List

⁵ Sleepless in Seattle vs. ¹² Philadelphia

⁴ The Firm vs. ¹³ Groundhog Day

⁶ Indecent Proposal vs ¹¹ Free Willy

³ The Fugitive vs ¹⁴ Grumpy Old Men

⁷ In the Line of Fire vs ¹⁰ Cliffhanger

² Mrs. Doubtfire vs ¹⁵ Cool Runnings

A few of the matchups went the way I thought they would go, but I didn’t think Groundhog Day would in by 18 votes! Outside those first three matchups, the rest of the field was pretty close for the most part until things opened up in the later stages of the round. Closest matchup, since it seems there needs to be a nail-biter every round, was the Tom Hanks showdown. Sleepless moves on to face Phil and the groundhog.

---

Quarterfinals

¹ Jurassic Park vs. ⁹ Schindler’s List

⁵ Sleepless in Seattle vs. ¹³ Groundhog Day

¹¹ Free Willy vs. ³ The Fugitive

¹⁰ Cliffhanger vs. ² Mrs. Doubtfire

4 matchups here and not a one of them was close. From the start, the winners were pretty clear. Big winner this round was The Fugitive, while the closest involved Sleepless again. This time, it couldn’t keep up with Groundhog Day, and Hanks is bounced from the tournament.

---

Semifinals

¹ Jurassic Park vs. ¹³ Groundhog Day

³ The Fugitive vs. ² Mrs. Doubtfire

Almost all chalk here in the Semis, but really, Groundhog Day is a Top 4 movie. It just didn’t make enough when in theaters so it was barely in the field. It’s here though, and in its way to the Finals was JP. Hammond’s failed gamble cruised onto the final by a spread of 25 votes. The other side of the semis was where the fun was. The Fugitive and Mrs Doubtfire went back and forth all round, and the biggest lead as 4 by Doubtfire at the start of the round, but in the end, the difference was only 2 in favor of the Williams classic. With only one match left in the tournament, that 2 vote difference is the closest match of the tourney. That sets up a final between the top 2 seeds.

---

Finals

¹ Jurassic Park vs. ² Mrs Doubtfire

In the first 7 tournaments, the top 2 seeds have never faced each other in the title match. That changes in the 8th tourney as here we have the two titans of the bracket. Jurassic Park comes into this not truly being tested. It has won by an average of 24 votes in it’s three matchups. Mrs Doubtfire has had a tougher path, but in the end it finds itself here. The round even started in it’s favor, opening up with a 5-4 lead after the first two hours of voting. However, overnight voting was almost all for Jurassic Park, and it never relinquished the lead.

---

I held this tournament until the anniversary month because I had a feeling what happened would come to pass. 1993 had so many great films, even when you look at the ones who didn’t make the bracket. This won’t be the last time you see some of these films in tournaments. Schindler’s List won Best Picture, so you can probably guess it will be seeded pretty high in the 9th tournament that is battle of Best Picture winners. Also, I think I have made it pretty clear JP is my favorite movie, so you won’t be surprised to see it in May’s tournament #11, where it will go for it’s second title. As I just said, the next tournament (#9) will be themed to Best Picture winners since 1987, and will begin on January 17th. This next tournament will also be twice the size of these last tournaments, so there are more films this next time battling for the crown.