Round 3 Part 1 - Half of the Elite Eight is here

These round 3 contests are ridiculous! They're all tough. The first half of round 3 is below. Tomorrow you should have the rest of the round.

Drama

(1) The Shawshank Redemption

(5) Good Will Hunting

Winner: The Shawshank Redemption

This was probably the closest contest of the tournament so far, and I'd be lying if I said it was an easy win for Shawshank. At the end of the tournament I'm planning to recap the 64 movies and rank them all so that you can see that just because Good Will Hunting got knocked off in the third round doesn't mean it's ranked in the bottom half of the top 16.

Family

(9) Rudy

(4) Beauty and the Beast

Winner: Rudy

This is the first contest Beauty and the Beast has had that's not against a sort of fantastical fairy-tale kind of movie. It was a close matchup for sure, but Rudy took it over late in the 4th quarter when Notre Dame had it in the bag and he got to play for a couple of plays.

Comedy

(1) Forrest Gump

(4) The Princess Bride

Winner: The Princess Bride

This, like the Shawshank/Good Will Hunting showdown, is evidence that a third-round loss doesn't mean you're merely a third-round movie. In fact, Forrest Gump will likely rank above both of the above films in the Family region above when it comes to the final rankings.

Action

(9) Man on Fire

(12) The Patriot

Winner: Man on Fire

Maybe I'm just too violent in nature, but the revenge that Denzel Washington's character takes out on four or five people in Man on Fire is just cooler than than that which Mel Gibson's character takes out on one guy in The Patriot. It should also be noted that if Tombstone had eked out a first-round win over Man on Fire it would still be winning too. That's how close that one was.

Check back tomorrow for the second half of the Elite Eight movies. We're getting down to it now!