***Completed***

My attempt at the Second Birth Year Challenge.

I paired the most popular film of each year on my watchlist with the earliest film that I added to my watchlist from each year. So, for example, the first film from 1999 that I added to my watchlist that is still there is Magnolia while the most popular is Eyes Wide Shut. In a few cases, exceptions were made for films that I'm using for other challenges already such as for 2005, where Hard Candy is the earliest but I'm already using that for the Chain Reaction Challenge.

Progress: 46/46

This challenge took from August 30, 2021 to December 29, 2021. The average score for this challenge that I gave was 3.8. The biggest surprise was Searching. While not among the top 10 I watched for this challenge, it still ranked among one of the best films I've ever seen and while I had heard it was good, I was hesitant since I normally don't like found footage films. The biggest disappointment was The Babadook. While not one of the worst films I watched for this challenge, it still was terrible and I had heard so many good things about it, only for it to be a terrible horror film.

Top Three
1. Mary and Max
2. Before Sunset
3. It's Such a Beautiful Day
Bottom Three
1. Magnolia
2. Synecdoche, New York
3. Lady Macbeth

Other Superlatives
Best Performances: Julie Delpy in Before Sunset/J. K Simmons in Whiplash
Worst Performances: Julianne Moore in Magnolia/Tom Cruise in Magnolia
Most Beautiful: Burning
Most Thought-Provoking: Before Sunset
Made Me Cry: Mary and Max
Most Fun: A Dog's Will