4th Movie Hall of Fame Nominations

As far as i remember its the 1. of October!

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Hmm, based on your description and tastes I think I have a good guess for what it is, and the movie I'm thinking of is great!

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Mubi

As TokeZa said it starts Oct. 1st. Both of you can feel free to watch and discuss along with us on this one. Discussion is open to everyone, but you have to have nominated to be able to vote. You two can even just pick and choose what you want to watch out of the group. We have to watch everything.

Sorry Raul, I couldn't watch either of those you suggested (I've seen Autumn Sonata though) I was watching the movie with someone and the deal was that I get to watch a movie from the HoF and they get to pick which one. They chose Yojimbo.

Jiraffe, I'm really glad you nominated this. I'll admit to not necessarily being over joyed about it at first. I've seen it before, but I don't think at that time Yojimbo was a movie that would appeal to me much.

Since my first viewing I've come to appreciate the way a movie is filmed much more. I like to play around with drawing graphic novels which is really just story boarding, so the dynamics of certain shots really wowed me this time around.

The story telling is great and the lead is exceptional. Jiraffe is right when he wrote that is a cool movie. It's the epitome of machismo and really really cool.

I'm not in the right frame of mind to write a really long review, but I hope we all talk about this one a bit. My opinion of it has changed to a much more positive one. I wouldn't say I love it now, but I do really like and respect it. Considering how influential it has been and what it was influenced by makes it interesting enough just for that alone. I completely consider it HoF worthy.

The next movie:

I watched two great 1950s Hollywood movies this weekend, the first of which being Some Came Running, and the second being Frightened Inmate #2's nomination, Bigger Than Life. While watching the latter was not as enjoyable as I expected since I was under the influence of Minnelli's flawlessly executed melodrama, I still found it to be quite the film. The setup of the movie is overtly contrived and it moves at too rushed a pace at the beginning for me to be fully convinced of the concept, once it found its footing, it never lost it. One might find comparisons to David Lynch in Bigger Than Life, particularly with Blue Velvet, but Ray's film is more focused and socially knowledgeable than Lynch's films about seedy underbellies. The film locates the inherent dilemmas of the American patriarchal family unit in a character that's losing his mind, but this isn't to say that the film only criticizes extreme cases, because it isn't until later in the film does the character's actions become socially unacceptable. A great nomination from FI#2, I can't wait to watch more Ray!

The audio lagged for me, here's another link:

http://www.soul-anime.net/watching/a...ence-of-utena/

Sure ill join the discussion with what i have seen so far, which is:

Singin' in the Rain
Yojimbo
8½
Autumn Sonata
Ed Wood
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring

To start of with Singin' in the Rain, which i saw a year ago. I must say in general i have a hard time with musicals and big hollywood productions, but i can see why this is one of the Hollywood greats. The setup is extraordinary and the execution seems flawless. The humour was a bit lost on me, but i can see how it would work for other people. While this is obviously great, im personally more into the musicals of Jacques Demy.

Yojimbo is a movie i havent seen in ages, but its a movie i grew up with. As a teenager i was a pretty big fan of Kurosawa. What i do remember about it, is that its coolness factor is way up high.

8 ½ is my favorite Fellini so far. It was one of my first ventures into the territory of Arthouse. Even though Fellini seems to be quite dividing with his style (which i also have a hard time with at times), this is an absolute must see for any cinephile. Its mediation on the creation of art gets nearly surrealistic. Its my personal favorite of the 6 i have seen so far.

Autumn Sonata is a movie i consider quite great, while at the same time i dont think it rank alongside the finest of Bergmans movies (Persona, Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander, The Silence). Though i have to say that the nearly carthartic experience of the painfull meeting between the neglected daughter and the upper class pianist is quite well executed. No one like Bergman can look into the dark side of human beings and dysfunctional relationships.

Ed Wood is also a movie i grew up with. I was actually quite into Tim Burton when i grew up. While it is many years ago i saw it, I still remember it as a fun movie and as a love letter to (b) films.

I saw Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring last christmas together with my family. I usually dont get angry when i watch movies but Kim Ki-Duk manages to push my buttons. Im not sure how to say it politely but we felt that the extremely over symbolic way of telling the life cyclus to be rather pushing in lack of better words. Normally pictures of nature is quite compelling to me, but the camerawork in this case, simply didnt work out. I know that this is supposedly his Magnus Opus, but it is in no way something i would see again.

The next movie im pondering to see is Sansho The Bailiff. I loved Ugetso, so im hoping i would enjoy this as well

Kelly in Rochefort is more magical than in Singin' in the Rain, but I love both films, maybe that's just my Hollywood upbringing though.

I think Sansho is far better than Ugetsu, you're in for a treat if you loved that one.

glad you liked it! i actually just watched my sixth ray film earlier today, On Dangerous Ground. it was my least favorite so far, but i still thought it was really good.

of the six i've seen i would rank them:
bigger than life
johnny guitar
rebel without a cause
in a lonely place
the lusty men
on dangerous ground

still have a lot to see from him, but he's already basically my favorite american director.

Another member I'd like to see join one of these is MovieGal, she always seems to be watching some kind of weird-ass, Scandinavian horror film.

Singin' in the Rain did what almost no other musical has done: It made me want to see more musicals. I am expecting it to finish well, because it's hard to see anybody disliking this enough to place it near the bottom of their list. It's feel good and Hollywood as hell, but it's Hollywood in a good way. If that makes sense.

As a lover of musicals I would like to see one make the HoF some day. I had high hopes for Cabaret but it didn't do well at all. Singin' in the Rain might fair better. I'm a big fan of it, but then I really like the song and dance numbers. I don't know how much that appeals to everyone else.

Oh, and I have every intention of bugging MovieGal until she joins. I've not seen nearly as much Scandinavian cinema that she has, but I still have a lot of movies that I love from those parts.

Gene Kelly is pleased, as am i !

I watched Synecdoche, New York last night, and while i did not get all the references and motifs i found it interesting, but with some problems. In terms of aesthetics its nothing too spectacular, but it had some interesting things narrative wise with the use of jumping in time in almost a single clip. As well as the use of more surrealist things, like the diary. The acting was quite great.

Thematically speaking it was a bit difficult, to wrap your head around, but as far as i get it (and this may be a bit simplified), its about the dichotomy of alienation (both physically and spiritually) and self-realisation. The self-realisation becomes a bit over the top, in terms of it, being a nearly megalomaniac egocentric vision that blurres the lines between fiction and reality,

A discussion of self-realisation might be more important in an american discourse, but for me it feels kind of flat. So for me personally the biggest problem of the movie lies with the subject matter.

Im not sure i can explain it in english, but i also thought that the script was very "fortænkt" (google translate says laboured, maybe you can say too thought out).

Anyway this was my first impression of the movie, and i might be wrong in my interpretation. Overall it was a decent movie, with good acting, but with some problems.

In regards to Sansho the Bailiff, its just one of those rare occasions, where you are completely flabbergasted by a near perfect / perfect movie. Intoxicating cinematography and a gutwrenching narrative which leaves you with an emotional impact. I can't really say anything bad about it and i hope it will fare well in this Hall of Fame!

Punch-Drunk Love by Paul Thomas Anderson is quite a charming movie. I was really into it for the first 40-50 minutes, where it showed the inner struggles of a man, but for me it gets way over the top when Barry Egan goes to Hawaii, both in terms of romance and later violence. I can't really fault anyone for liking it, but it never gets more than decent for me. Imo its not on par with for instance There Will Be Blood and Magnolia. Still its probably the best movie Adam Sandler ever starred in

Reign Over Me is the best Sandler.

The over the top-ness in Punch-Drunk Love doesn't bother me at all. It's my favorite Anderson. It does bother me in There Will Be Blood though. In the former I found it fit the tone of the movie and was funny and charming. In the latter, it was jarring and grating.

I want to respond in depth to your Synecdoche post but that must be done at a later time when I'm not exhausted. I will say that I don't think you misinterpreted it but for me there was a lot more to it. I think the smaller bits of the movie mattered to me a lot more that what the whole of the movie was trying to say. For example, the "house on fire" part is just brilliant, I think. Maybe the metaphor is obvious, but it still says a lot regardless.

Have you watched Punch Drunk yet?

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Yup

Bummer. I thought Reign Over Me was fine but nothing that has carried with me. I take it you didn't think much of Punch Drunk?

I watched Sansho the Bailiff, but I am having a hard time putting into words how emotionally powerful it is. Bluedeed, you are good with words and you love this movie too... what should I say?