33rd Hall of Fame

I knew I seen that but didn't remember it was your choice. Good western, I need to revisit it.

Watching The Bank Job today.

Also, I'm hoping for no hard feelings but I'm thinking about an invite only HOF soon after this is wrapped up.

The Bank Job



I have to start off by saying that I'm just not really a Jason Statham fan. The only movie that I really cared for of his was The Italian Job. I've just never really been a big fan of his style. But to me, the story here is enough to keep one interested in what's going on and it's got a solid pace to it. It doesn't do anything fascinating at all but it does keep the viewer on its toes for the duration of the film. None of the acting is really anything of note but it also doesn't really have to be. Overall it's an average viewing for a heist movie.

https://images.app.goo.gl/dea7GKpQeTdgZuF77
Shoplifters
I don't think I am going out on a limb here guessing this is rauldc14's contribution. It's a slow paced, slice of life, Asian drama. The first thirty minutes moved kind of slow, but we are getting to know the characters in this character driven film. Once we are familiar with the milieu and the characters, a small family living on subsistence wages and supplementing that with food they have shoplifted; we see how they interact with each other. Their kindness to each other is sweet and sustains the film as we find that these people are not blood relatives but a "chosen" family.

The film changes gears when the young son breaks his leg while he is escaping from store clerks who saw him shoplifting. This brings in the authorities. And that is the end of their idyll. Their makeshift family is destroyed and we see the adults motives for "saving" the children.

The sweetness of the family was a little unrealistic but not mawkish. The script is complex and there is a surprising reveal about each family member almost every step of the way.The filmmakers sympathy is with this family and the difficulty of their subsistence living. The ending leaves the "little sister" back with her abusive and abused mother from whom the family had saved her and the others going their separate ways.
I liked this movie and was surprised that it had been described as bleak and eerie. The ending was certainly sad, especially for the little girl, for now loneliness is going to be a big part of the adults lives. But it was a brightly lit film. The interior at times seemed cozy though cramped and cool in the summertime due to the foliage in the tiny yard that the wide door look out on. I assume the person who chose those words to describe this movie was reacting to the difficult situation the family finds itself in and not the film itself.

I am curious what your reasoning for that is.

Me too.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Rewatch
Oh my god! This is such a good movie. We are given permission to dislike Dobbs and expect him to be a heel from the outset. When he throws his drink in that beggar child's face after a day of begging himself, you know this is not a great guy.

Two desperate characters meet another desperate character who has some know how about prospecting and off they go to the mountain to meet their fate. It is beautifully shot in glorious black and white. Written and directed by John Huston, who, I noticed this time, has the small part of a prosperous gringo in a white suit it has a master of visual and verbal storytelling at the helm. Dobbs unctuous behavior towards the well-to-do is in stark contrast to his treatment of the beggar child.


Curtain, the other desperado, is a handsome man with a melodious voice and seems out of place in this film. He fades into the background as Walter Huston and Humphrey Bogart command the screen. Maybe his ubiquity is the intention, but I have always wanted a more rough looking actor to play Curtain.

My favorite shots include that of Howard lolling in a hammock, fanned by a beautiful senorita and eating a watermelon. It's a beautifully crafted shot, like something from Gauguin. I also love the part where a weary unto death Dobbs is found by the bandits. The bandits on the ground lifting his pants leg in order to get a better look at the boots they plan to steal is fantastic. We know how that scene is going to end. RIP Dobbs.

I wasn't crazy about the music. It was a tad corny and pointed.


I have to logoff soon, but I wanted to address one thing. Somebody thought the outfits of the Mexicans were stereotypical. I think that filmmakers in California would be quite aware of what native Mexicans wore at the time of filming as the movie takes place in what was then a contemporaneous time. California was once a part of Mexico. Spanish language films for the South American market were filmed in Hollywood. Clothing styles around the world were less homogeneous at that time. People still wore their native dress. The world wasn't as small as it is today.

Doesn't seem that complicated to me. My guess is that they want people who have a track record of:
1. Actually watching the movies that are nominated.
2. Finishing them all and not dropping out halfway through.
3. Not causing drama

The Bank Job This was an entertaining movie based on a true story. A group of inexperienced bank robbers are conned into breaking into a bank by a woman, who was being coerced by MI5 to retrieve naked pictures of Princess Margaret in flagrante.
It has a promising start musically. We get T-Rex’s Bang-a gong while a menage a trois is being photographed. So I was hoping for a lot of cool British classic rock throughout the film. But no such luck. It was a kind of pedestrian score and no fun expensive songs added.
The filming was interesting to begin with. There were a lot of quirky shots and quick edits in the beginning. It kind of had the beats of a comedy. One of the actors, Daniel Mayes is a good comic actor and he provided the little levity there was. But the comic tone disappeared quickly and the film became a standard heist drama.
I was excited to see what happened after the heist, I figured that would be when things would get weird. I was not wrong. Things sped up and the wheels fell off the heist. The mob, the cops, MI5 and a black activist/gangster are all out to get them. Now the excitement begins. The final half hour is very tight suspense.
Now I have never seen a Jason Statham movie before and I have one question. Why is this ordinary looking guy, who is not the greatest actor and not that charismatic a movie star? I don’t get it. He does have a good voice. But other than that, I don’t get it.

Yes we know the "drama" or in other words we don't like you so you're not allowed to talk in the thread...also we've spent time complaining to hosts about how we don't like you so that makes you the drama.

I don't know if this post is going to get deleted or edited again. The power dynamic on this forum has truly become twisted. I would say that once you start excluding people you codify it and becomes easier and easier to do it in the future.

After CitizenRules deleted post where he wants to never see me in a Hall of Fame again...or Phoneix's actions in this thread or Yoda's inaction in this discussion. How could I possibly trust any person of authority on this forum. I don't know what Raul has in mind but if Phoenix is telling the truth and their are multiple people who are "it's him or me" will that not extend to another hall.

• Correction, I said you wouldn't be in an HoF that I hosted and that was only after you posted two angry rants directed at me, those post have since been removed from this thread...I never said that I didn't want to see you in a Hall of Fame again. You're misrepresenting what I said. I have the screenshots of yours and my posts for proof.

• FYI, for the record I never called for Phoenix to ban you. I was surprised when I seen that he had banned you. I don't know who the people were who complained to Phoenix about you before you were banned, but I wasn't one of them.

You were so shocked that you didn't say anything for over a month even though it was your film. Did you say anything to Phoenix or is this another one of those "I didn't want you out of every Hall of Fame just my Hall of Fames". If it were my nomination I would have spoken up immediately.



I don't really know what to believe at this point. Other than I went out of my way to find a great film for people to watch, and I watched everyones nom's. And yet here we are at a point where I'm told I'm not allowed to speak, it's my fault people don't want to do these. I thought this was supposed to be an exercise in sharing and discussing art not a place for petty vendettas.



And once again I don't think the irony of this being about Macbeth is lost on me.

The Bank Job

It seemed like this film really wanted to be another Lock, Stock or Snatch, but felt like a pale imitation. The one thing I liked about the film was finding out at the end that it was based on a true story, with some loose interpretation of events, I am sure. Maybe it said at the beginning that it was based on true events and I missed it, but it was cool at the end when they do those "X thing happened to Person Y after the events of this film" type of deal and I googled it to find out Michael X was a real dude. Other than that, it didn't feel all that memorable to me, unfortunately. There was a lot of characters and a lot of moving parts plus it felt like the film was edited to make you feel rushed and it's hard to keep up with some of the players because of this, mainly whose guys are whose when both sides are coming after the robbers. Also a lot of the characters didn't feel very convincing, like the fella who played the porn star with a big hog. But that also just felt like a detail tossed into to remind you of the dildo-type scenes in Lock, Stock. I am getting 5/10 vibes.

Are we there yet?

I still got the five rewatches. I'm halfway through Shoplifters so I'll have a review of that tomorrow.

Phoenix hasn't reviewed anything yet, are they still participating?

Out of here!

Has any host ever abused their privileges and given themselves loads of extra time?

(I'm waiting until the countdowns finish, in case anyone is wondering.)

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Shoplifters



I really just dig the style and the story in this film. For me, I've said this before but it feels like a modern take on Ozu. The film is shot very well and I really enjoy the acting in it too. The film also looks great. Really not much as far as flaws on this one. It's a frontrunner to win in my opinion.