I think the idea of a movie would be a good idea. It's generally a two hour affair, and discussions could happen over a weekend. For suggestions... I'm torn, part of me wants to link a trailer for the movies I want to suggest, but isn't it fun to watch a movie without any prior knowledge or expectations? but how will I convince people that it's a movie worth watching? I'm for A Separation, an Iranian movie about a divorce in modern day Iran. The Guard* is a violent, crackerjack comedy with a strong Irish flavor and an eminently likable Brendan Gleeson in the main role. Children of Men* works on every level: as a violent chase thriller, a fantastical cautionary tale, and a sophisticated human drama about societies struggling to live. This taut and thought-provoking tale may not have the showy special effects normally found in movies of this genre, but you won't care one bit after the story kicks in, about a dystopic future where women can no longer conceive. It will have you riveted. Three of my favorite movies, and if you haven't seen them yet, do yourself a favor and don't watch the trailer. Just let the film do the storytelling. Let me know gang. (*) means I stole the summary from rotten tomatoes.
but this time, it'll be different ;) I'm sorry the last movie talk was a bit of a bust. I think the problem with asking the crowd to decide what to watch/read next is that most people will nominate their personal suggestion, a suggestion with 3 votes behind it rises to the top, and another with 2, and then all the rest have just the one vote from the nominators. The OP goes along with what looks like consensus when, really, most of the people who suggested a movie/book are now turned off to the whole thing because their suggestion was asked for but wasn't picked, and only 3 people are happy. Just like how 32 flavors of ice cream is paralyzing, a dozen suggestions that run the gamut of genre and medium is too much choice. But anyone can make a decision between vanilla or chocolate. Now that we have felt the community out a little bit, the OP can put up a binary or three-option vote. /$0.02
I've considered that maybe we should attempt to splinter the book/movie clubs into more specialized niches. Maybe people will be more likely to stick around if something's at least within the genre of what they expect. Like for me, I'm much more open to reading scifi in one of these things. I've thought maybe if I want to actually see some of the books I want to read, I should just start my own scifi club, which I may very well do. I also want to emphasize choosing freely-available content, and perhaps preferably short stories so that people can participate with minimal effort, hopefully leading to greater turnout.
Science fiction short story, I'm so down. Zebra you have a sign up.