It’s Father’s Day, which means it’s time for my annual tradition of a movie marathon with my dad. I love movie marathons, and back in 2020, with Covid keeping us all inside, I convinced my dad to join me for a movie marathon on Father’s Day (or rather, the Saturday before Father’s Day). We’ve been doing it ever since. The rest of our family is welcome to join, and various members often do. If they do, it’s icing on the cake. If they don’t, that’s okay; there’s no pressure to join.
What we’ve done in the previous years
I wasn’t smart and didn’t keep a record of what specific marathons we did in what year. I have a record now (a table I whipped together in Notion) that would allow me to keep track. However, that doesn’t mean that the original two years are accurate. I’ve talked to my dad, and we can’t remember if the Extended Lord of the Rings marathon was first, or if the Indiana Jones marathon was first.
What is correct is that those are the two first Father’s Day marathons we did. And 2022’s marathon was easy to remember because it was a Jurassic Parks marathon to get ready to watch Jurassic World Dominion on the big screen. It also is a little tricky, because we have done marathons at other times of the year (a Die Hard marathon of the first four movies, edited on TV, and a Jaws marathon of all 4 Jaws movies) that get my brain a little jumbled. I’m also keeping a record of those now, because yes.
How we decide on the theme for the marathon
There are a few different factors that play into what we end up choosing to watch. Franchises can be easy, but there are only so many, and some of them (I’m looking at you, Marvel) are huge. Yes, so far, we’ve only done movie franchises. But during discussions, actors and directors are also fair game. That played into our theme for this year. What else we look into is how accessible the movies will be. All of our previous marathons (Father’s Day or otherwise) have involved movies we either owned, DVR’d, or had access to on a streaming service. So we try to keep that in mind, to keep any potential costs down.
What we are doing this year
That’s why this year, we’re focusing on Tom Hanks. But actually, it’s okay. When we sat down to figure out what movies we would do, what we came up with was a fair balance. Here are the five films that made it onto this year’s list and why:
- Philadelphia (1993): While my dad had seen this, I hadn’t, which bumped this to the “yes” list.
- Big (1988): a classic Tom Hanks movie. We both have seen it, but it’s Big, it’s a classic, and who doesn’t like watching the piano scene? (especially since that store location is no longer around).
- Captain Phillips (2013): This is another Tom Hanks movie I haven’t seen, and it was down to this and Sully. I let my dad make the call (as he has seen both though I haven’t), and this was the movie to make the cut.
- You’ve Got Mail (1998): a classic rom-com, and either Sleepless in Seattle or You’ve Got Mail had to be a part of the marathon. But since both Philadelphia and Big were from a similar time frame to Sleepless in Seattle, we chose You’ve Got Mail (no regrets)
- Toy Story 2 (2002): One of the best sequels ever, it made for a great addition to the lineup.
The order that I’ve listed the movies in is the order that we watched them. We went back and forth on the order, on whether to start with a heavier movie or not. I persuaded my dad to start with Philadelphia and have Captain Phillips be the third movie so that a more serious movie would be followed by a lighter film, rather than vice versa.
How the day/days proceeds
While we try to keep the marathon to a single day (for the thrill of an all-day event), that doesn’t always happen. LOTR was all day (just under 12 hours), but Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park were both multi-day marathons. Indiana Jones started the night before with the first movie and the remaining three on Saturday.
The Jurassic Park marathon also began the night before with the first movie. The next four movies were on Saturday, and the final movie was seen on the following Tuesday at the movie theater. This year, we possibly could have done all five on the same day, but because we were going to be going to a rodeo in the evening, we decided to do the first three on Saturday, and the final two on Sunday.
What are some future theme options we can choose
One option for this year was a Ron Howard marathon, focusing on a few different movies that he directed. I shut that down, solely for the fact that I can’t watch Splash yet because it conflicts with my Disney Film Project. Once I’m past Splash in my DFP, I will be fully ready for a Ron Howard marathon. Ironically, that is also a Tom Hanks film, so it was doubly shot down this year.
In reading back on this post, it might seem that I make all the decisions on the marathons. I do not. My dad comes up with options, and unless there’s a specific reason as to why a movie or theme can’t be used, then It’s such a fun tradition, and I absolutely love getting ready for it. It’s also been great to spend time with my dad.
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