The 11th Hall of Fame [Archive] - Page 4

CosmicRunaway

10-06-16, 08:21 PM

http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.moviefone.com/media/2006/12/deadgirl.jpg

The Dead Girl (2006)
Dir. Karen Moncrieff
Starring: Brittany Murphy, Mary Beth Hurt, Toni Collette

I think I was expecting this to be more suspenseful than it ultimately was. As with most anthology films, some of the segments were more interesting than others, and unfortunately I think the film opened with the worst one. I didn't like that character, the weird supermarket guy, and I kind of wish she'd really committed and stabbed her mother to death with that broken glass before she ran off. At least the opening story did serve to temper my expectations, and it did establish a tone and thematic elements that remained consistent throughout the remaining story pieces.

I never really connected with any of the characters, so it was hard to really get invested in the drama. I could've done without The Stranger, and probably a little less of The Wife, but I actually would've liked to see a more fleshed-out version of The Sister, even though that character's story is more detached than the following segments. It seemed to deal with different emotions than the rest of the film, which is probably why it stands out to me, and why I'd like to see her struggles developed further.

I rather liked the end Dead Girl story, but I think it would've been more effective if her death wasn't revealed at the very start of the film. If we got to see portions of her story in between the others, it might've been a more effective mystery. But then again that might ruin the intentions of the film. I can't say I dislike The Dead Girl, but it didn't really do anything to impress me either.

mark f

10-06-16, 09:20 PM

For what it's worth, anybody can read this about Bringing Up Baby at Wikipedia:

RKO producers expressed concerns about the film's delays and expense, coming 40 days over schedule and $330,000 over budget, and also disliked Grant's glasses and Hepburn's hair. The film's final cost was $1,096,796.23, primarily due to overtime clauses in Hawks', Grant's and Hepburn's contracts. The film's cost for sets and props was only $5,000 over budget, but all actors (including Nissa [the leopard] and Skippy [the dog "Asta"]) were paid approximately double their initial salaries. Hepburn's salary rose from $72,500 to $121,680.50, Grant's salary from $75,000 to $123,437.50 and Hawks' salary from $88,046.25 to $202,500. The director received an additional $40,000 to terminate his RKO contract on March 21, 1938.

The film received good advance reviews; Otis Ferguson of The New Republic thought the film very funny, praising Hawks' direction. Variety praised the film, singling out Hawks' pacing and direction, calling Hepburn's performance "one of her most invigorating screen characterizations" and saying Grant "performs his role to the hilt"; their only criticism was the length of the jail scene. Film Daily called it "literally a riot from beginning to end, with the laugh total heavy and the action fast." Harrison's Reports called the film "An excellent farce" with "many situations that provoke hearty laughter," and John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote that both stars "manage to be funny" and that Hepburn had never "seemed so good-natured." However, Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times disliked the film, considering it derivative and cliché-ridden, a rehash of dozens of other screwball comedies of the period. He labeled Hepburn's performance "breathless, senseless, and terribly, terribly fatiguing", and added, "If you've never been to the movies, Bringing Up Baby will be new to you – a zany-ridden product of the goofy-farce school. But who hasn't been to the movies?"

Despite Bringing Up Baby's reputation as a flop, it was successful in some parts of the U.S. The film premiered on February 16, 1938 at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco (where it was a hit), and was also successful in Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C.. However, it was a financial disappointment in the Midwest, as well as most other cities in the country, including NYC; to RKO's chagrin, the film's premiere in New York on March 3, 1938 at Radio City Music Hall made only $70,000 and it was pulled after one week in favor of Jezebel with Bette Davis.

During its first run, Bringing Up Baby made $715,000 in the U.S. and $394,000 in foreign markets for a total of $1,109,000; its reissue in 1940 and 1941 made an additional $95,000 in the US and $55,000 in foreign markets. Following its second run, the film made a profit of $163,000. Due to its perceived failure, Hawks was released early from his two-film contract with RKO and Gunga Din was eventually directed by George Stevens.[46] Hawks later said the film "had a great fault and I learned an awful lot from that. There were no normal people in it. Everyone you met was a screwball and since that time I learned my lesson and don't intend ever again to make everybody crazy". The director went on to work with RKO on three films over the next decade. Long before Bringing Up Baby's release, Hepburn had been branded "box-office poison" by Harry Brandt (president of the Independent Theatre Owners of America) and thus was allowed to buy out her RKO contract for $22,000. However, many critics marveled at her new skill at low comedy; Life magazine called her "the surprise of the picture". Hepburn's former boyfriend Howard Hughes bought RKO in 1941, and sold it in 1959; when he sold the company, Hughes retained the copyright to six films (including Bringing Up Baby).

Citizen Rules

10-07-16, 02:32 PM

http://dvdmedia.ign.com/dvd/image/article/713/713021/kiss-kiss-bang-bang-20060616023325398-000.jpgKiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

I kind of liked this one. It had some cool ideas going on, but I was not totally on board with it. I did like Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer in this. I thought both made greatly fun characters, who had oodles of chemistry together. I like the light comic elements and the overall story plot was good too. And I like Michelle Monaghan who held her own with Downey and Kilmer. I just didn't love the movie, a bit too violent for a story with comic elements. It felt like it wanted to be too many things, to too many different people. I'll give it bonus points for the Christmas theme;)

http://i1.i.ua/prikol/pic/5/0/355605_341876.jpg

Miss Vicky

10-07-16, 02:33 PM

"too violent"

I don't comprehend this phrase. :D

Clazor

10-08-16, 11:41 AM

Good bye Lenin! (2003) Dir. Wolfgang Brecker (rewatch)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jTkboAGGvhc/Tx0K2jFXOZI/AAAAAAAAA-U/uzU5Uu8e9EU/s1600/A1.jpg
Wait...where did his legs go?

Contains spoilers! Be warned!

A drama/comedy about the life of a family bereft of a husband/father and the mother's deep involvment in their communistic home nation, along with her children's desperate attempts to keep her alive with the lie that her DDR still exists.

Set in East Germany in the late 1980s, a young man living with his mother and sister gets his world turned upside down when his mother, after watching him get arrested at a protest rally, suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma. 8 months pass as she misses the total collaps of East Germany. When she finally wakes, doctors advise the siblings not to let her suffer any form of shock, as the next heart attack would prove fatal. Cue a plan that entails digging through thrash for empty cucumber containers, producing fake news segments and bribing young boys to sing communist anthems.

I think it's been a decade since I saw this last, but alot of the films central plot still clung to my memory. I had the basics; father fleeing to West Germany, mother getting heavily involved with the communist system, the son's attempts at keeping the truth form her etc. As I remembered it though, she was under for way longer. I had it at three years or something, which I believed was supported by everything that happend in the time she was out cold. The sister finding a guy, quitting school, getting a job, the guy moving in, the son finding a girl...all this, plus all the big, political stuff that's the real important things. Then they just drop that it's only been 8 months and I go WHAT?! It feels so rushed, they could just as easely started a bit further back in time and let it take 18 months and I wouldn't have had a problem.

I liked Alex's (Daniel Brühl) friend with dreams of becoming a director. He lent some comedic relief to a movie tackling a heavy subject (even if there were a somewhat light tone to the film, it was nice to actually have some true comedic moments) and made possible the fake broadcastings that otherwise might've sunk the entire scheme before it got underway. I missed some backstory on Lara (Chulpan Khamatova) and some more time spent just with Alex and her on their own. The subplot with the father coming back was a bit weak and I'd rather seen the time spent on them. The father could just have been the background villian of the piece, really nothing more than the catalyst for the
mother's deepening dependance on the glory of the state. A kind of "this is why we are in this situation" type of deal.

While we're on the mother (played by Katrin Sass), she did alot with what few things she got to do. In the beginning she had a more active role, but after the heart attack she got relegated to the bed and didn't move much. She had to be expressive without useing much body language, somthing alot harder to do than it sounds. Nevertheless, she did her job, avoiding becoming a weak nothing in a bed like most sick people in movies, and getting through some strength to her character with face, voice and minimal gestureing alone.

All in all a good movie with some issues with the pacing and a somwhat weak middle ending.

Clazor

10-08-16, 11:43 AM

5 to go, then I'm done. Will get one more up before the weekend's over...I hope.

CosmicRunaway

10-08-16, 11:58 AM

...all this, plus all the big, political stuff that's the real important things. Then they just drop that it's only been 8 months and I go WHAT?! It feels so rushed, they could just as easely started a bit further back in time and let it take 18 months and I wouldn't have had a problem.
But things did change that drastically in such a short period of time for East Germany. It was a huge culture shock for many people. The film was very accurate in that regard.

Miss Vicky

10-08-16, 12:25 PM

Yeah, even knowing as little as I do about the time in Germany, it didn't feel rushed to me.

cricket

10-08-16, 12:37 PM

I watched Her. I just have to gather my thoughts while I finish humping the computer.

MovieMeditation

10-08-16, 03:11 PM

THE DEAD GIRL
2006

http://cdn.soundtrack.net/img/album/4309.jpg

During my viewing of The Dead Girl I wasn't exactly the alive boy I hoped to be, being completely obsessed and impressed with what I was seeing, but instead I think my expectations alienated my mind a bit – both in terms of themes, message and story. Because of what I had heard, read and imagined, I expected this movie to be a mystery of sorts, with suspense and tension throughout. Instead I got a drama with an underlying thriller atmosphere, but the mystery angle was second-hand to the emotional elements, which is what this movie is really about… We are introduced to a dead body when a young girl stumbles over it by chance, but what follows is a cascade of loosely connected stories that all have an emotional though not necessarily essential connection to the dead girl…

The Stranger
As all of you know, this is an anthology of stories and the first segment is about a young woman, who has lived her entire live quietly and without much connection to the outside world. A lot of that has to do with her mother, who she is taking care of. The mother is very dominating and almost devilish, which would explain her upbringing and who she has grown into as an adult. So when she becomes a minor celebrity after discovering the dead girl, the fame gets her attention in ways she isn't used to. This segment was probably my least favorite, but it did set up the whole story, and the psychological state of the woman was interesting though slightly off-putting to say the least. I did like how this story tricked us with a simple title, where The Stranger quickly turned to the murderer in our mind and the man she met was definitely unstable enough to convince us. But as I said, the dead girl was simply a spark to ignite the story of a woman's personal struggles and state of mind, which is also the basics of how this movie progresses.

The Sister
The next story, dubbed The Sister, is about a young woman and her family, whose life is turned upside down, when the dead woman from the first segment is brought to the morgue and has a striking similarity with the sister of the leading woman in this story, who disappeared several years ago. The family has never given up hope, after their little girl disappeared fifteen years ago, which have them prepping posters and the likes to keep her spirit, and theirs too, alive. This segment deals with the struggles and inner pain of people directly related to a (possibly) dead body such as the one the movie depicts. We don't know if the dead and the missing girl are the same, at least not at the beginning, but that isn't important. Again, the importance lies with the psychological and emotional state of each and every character, with this one being on a more personal level and deal with the thoughts and feelings of not knowing for so long and all of which has built up inside you, which is then forced to be front and center after all these years, when the smallest of chances come forward. I liked this segment and thought it was a great aspect of the story in terms of the emotional drive and what happens to people when they lose someone close to them.

The Wife
The third segment flips the story on us, with the first segment being that of a woman coincidently finding the dead body, the next about the people possibly connected to the dead body and this segment about the person who purposely put it there to begin with. That said, we don't know that for sure yet, but as it was the case with the previous segment, the importance is what aspect of the case this story presents – and this is about the (possible) murderer of the dead body. The story focuses on the double life of a killer and how he must keep things hidden for The Wife, but he has been doing it for so long that he begins to get both old, sloppy and also indifferent towards his wife's opinions when he leaves the house. The two of them clearly had a long relationship, which hasn't been functioning for years, and the story is about the challenges faced by the killer, his life companion and their past, present and future. I actually liked this story a lot, because it felt relatable and real to me. The state of the killer's role as a murderer, a husband and as a person are all falling apart, and when the wife finds out, it also tests the love for her husband – which has clearly been crumbling, yet surely it seems like they had countless of years together, which does make decisions hard to make – especially since the story clearly shows her far from dominate role in the relationship. It is obvious the thing about the husband going out has been a long time thing, yet it is also clear she hasn't been doing anything about it either. This segment really tests the limits of love, life and human emotions and the slow-burning subtlety of the story is great.

The Mother
The next segment is close to the second segment about the sister, yet still flips it around. They are similar in the way that they both deal with possible family relations to the dead body, only this one turns out to be a sad cold fact. The Mother is also different since it focuses on a mother's thoughts and feelings rather than the more youthful and sibling-based segment of The Sister. And of course, being the actual truth is something very different. This segment also focuses on the unknown, but not whether the dead body is connected to the main character or not, but the part about not knowing as much about your own child as you thought. The segment sees the mother of the dead girl go out and seek answers, which makes her run into her work partner, roommate and implied lover. Things about both past, present and future are revealed and the mother struggles to overcome grief while also having to face facts, that are not exactly easy to endure. It really is a story about a mother picking up the puzzle pieces of a daughter she hardly knew and the challenges she faces about how to move on, especially since she finds out her "little girl" has a daughter somewhere out there too – the only thing that is truly connected to the spirit of her dead daughter. I liked this segment quite a bit too, especially the bleaker and more helpless approach to grief and the mother's situation.

The Dead Girl
The last segment, which is also the title of the movie, is about The Dead Girl herself, though focusing on the time before her death of course. This segment is in many ways the most important one, at least in terms of what the basics of the story sets up in the first segment and what every other segment has been either loosely or directed related and leading up to up until now. Of course, as stated earlier, it became obvious that the story was more about each and every individual and how such a situation personally effected them, rather than the situation itself, yet it is obviously still important to close the case and reveal the actual "mystery". But that is also the problem for me; the last segment felt like an epilogue that was more important than enjoyable and the conclusion was more obvious than overwhelming or surprising. The director chose to end the film a little too safely for my taste, but I guess it is fitting for the film and story after all. However, I kind of wanted some of the underlying mystery surrounding the depths of her death to be revealed and the tension relieved, instead of just ending the movie as dead-on direct as the actual beginning – and with the anthology-style filmmaking, the movie doesn’t really have a curve of tension or proper progress either. Again, predictable and pale as it may be, the important elements are everything in between and the individual pieces rather than the bigger picture. That was something I really enjoyed despite wanting a more complete cinematic conclusion.

To be honest, the movie actually grew on me right after the end credits, and furthermore as I discussed the film throughout this review, as well as doing so in this manner. By realizing the purpose and pointing out every individual element to the story, I actually enjoyed the character puzzle piece and acting showcase that this movie turned into. I still wished for a better mystery, but in a way, the depths of the human heart and mind might actually be the biggest mystery of them all…

3+

Guaporense

10-08-16, 03:13 PM

just curious,how old are you? :lol:

Its on my profile.

Clazor

10-08-16, 05:14 PM

But things did change that drastically in such a short period of time for East Germany. It was a huge culture shock for many people. The film was very accurate in that regard.

Topsy
Yeah, even knowing as little as I do about the time in Germany, it didn't feel rushed to me.

But...8 months...ngh...bu...*sighs* Fine, the compression of so much happening in their personal lives over such a narrow window does work as an allegory for what's happening in the country at large. You're right, I take back my complaint.

But I still think the part with the dad returning was sub par

cricket

10-08-16, 08:07 PM

Her

http://turntherightcorner.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Her-Movie-2013-Screenshot-Goofy-Face-Theodore.jpg

I was never all that interested in seeing this movie for a couple of reasons. For one, I thought it would be quirky. Well, I didn't find it quirky at all. Two, I don't like what the story is about. That has nothing to do with the movie. I'm one of those people who doesn't like technology, and who thinks that life was better before computers and cell phones. This issue was quickly forgotten about once the movie started. If I was the casting director, I never would have thought of Phoenix for the lead role. He is easily one of the best active actors, but it was hard for me to picture him as the nerd type. He's brilliant as it turns out, and was surprisingly well suited for the role. I don't think any of the supporting performances especially stand out, but they're all good. The most important part of this movie to me, even more so than the lead performance, is could I believe in what I was seeing. Yes, I very much believed that the guy could fall for his computer. I don't know if there could be any circumstance that I could, but I'd bet a million dollars that if I had a relationship like that now, my wife would get insanely jealous and angry. The movie is very good technically, and has well placed humor. The back/present story with the wife was very effective. I loved over half the movie. If there was a negative for me, it's that I thought the movie peaked too early. It's very quick that Samantha is introduced, and very quick that they fall in love. Around the time that the surrogate sex partner leaves, I thought the movie lost a little steam. It's not that I didn't think the rest of the movie wasn't decent, but I didn't think it matched what I thought was bordering on brilliant up until then. Overall, an excellent movie and nomination.

3.5+

Topsy

10-08-16, 09:28 PM

THE FLOWERS OF WAR
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/12/02/article-2516791-145352B4000005DC-869_634x373.jpg

As i started this movie i realised that i had tried to watch it before but for whatever reason never got past the opening.
I know this movie is based on a novel inspired by the diaries of Minnie Vautrin but i dont know how much of it is true.

I wasnt sure if I would like the american/chinese mix or if it would be too hollywoodnized.And Im still not 100% sure.
I think its beautifully shot and staged,as is the make up and clothing.
I wasnt too keen on some of the slow motion shots though,and felt they were too slow insted of having it just linger for a moment for impact. when the young girl was shot through the window,i feel like it would have been more shocking and would have taken me off guard alot more had it been more realistic/fast paced insted.
I thought Christian Bale was wonderful as was the young boy-i really liked the scene in the beginning with the picture of the priest :lol:
I actually preferred the love story that seemed to be brewing between wo and the chinese soldier in the beginning though. I didnt really think the love story between john and mo was needed,and the love scene before getting her ready to be sent of to be raped didnt really connect with me and felt a bit forced-Gotta get that love scene in there!
I thought the simple use of music was great,i particularly liked the score where the two girls who went back for the gitar strings were attacked-and thought that was a great segment in general-though heartbreaking.
I like that they didnt opt for a feel good ending,and really liked the way they ended it though i would have liked to know what happened to them,but i guess its fitting as many destinys from that time are unknown.

Citizen Rules

10-08-16, 09:36 PM

THE FLOWERS OF WAR

I wasnt sure if I would like the american/chinese mix or if it would be too hollywoodnized.

I thought Christian Bale was wonderful as was the young boy-i really liked the scene in the beginning with the picture of the priest

i would have liked to know what happened to them,but i guess its fitting as many destinys from that time are unknown.

Glad you watched it this time around:)

There were a lot of Americans doing business in China's big cities in the late 30s, which is before the American's entered into WWII. I've seen a couple other movies about westerners in China during the war. So yea it did happen. People get trapped behind lines so to speak and then can't leave the country. There were even more British in China at that time, then Americans.

The young boy who played the assistant to the priest was the best actor in the movie. He blew me out of the water.

SPOILER*** about the ending, what happen to the girls and the boy? Well they were armed with broken shards of glass as weapons, so safe to say whatever happened to them, wasn't good.

CosmicRunaway

10-08-16, 09:42 PM

I've seen a couple other movies about westerners in China during the war. So yea it did happen. People get trapped behind lines so to speak and then can't leave the country. There were even more British in China at that time, then Americans.
Much like what happened to young Christian Bale in Empire of the Sun (1987).

Citizen Rules

10-08-16, 09:48 PM

Thanks for mentioning that one. It's been a long time since I seen that, I didn't even remember Bale was in it. Gosh, I need to see that one again.

Miss Vicky

10-08-16, 10:40 PM

Her

3.5+

*breathes a sigh of relief*

More than anyone else, I was worried you were going to hate this. I'm really happy to see that's not the case. :)

cricket

10-08-16, 10:41 PM

*breathes a sigh of relief*

More than anyone else, I was worried you were going to hate this. I'm really happy to see that's not the case. :)

No it's very good at the least

Topsy

10-09-16, 10:16 AM

Glad you watched it this time around:)

There were a lot of Americans doing business in China's big cities in the late 30s, which is before the American's entered into WWII. I've seen a couple other movies about westerners in China during the war. So yea it did happen. People get trapped behind lines so to speak and then can't leave the country. There were even more British in China at that time, then Americans.

The young boy who played the assistant to the priest was the best actor in the movie. He blew me out of the water.

SPOILER*** about the ending, what happen to the girls and the boy? Well they were armed with broken shards of glass as weapons, so safe to say whatever happened to them, wasn't good.

Yeah i read abit about it last night,the diaries that its based on is from an american teacher and it also mentions alot of foreigners being trapped.I just wonder how much of what happened specifically in the movie happened to the person whose diary it was based on and how much were things they knew had happened during that time but not necessarily like that.

They should have made a homemade bomb and taken with them.wheres macgyver when you need him?

Clazor

10-09-16, 10:46 AM

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) Dir. Shane Black (rewatch)

http://digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/13/17/1600x1048/gallery_movies-kiss-kiss-bang-bang.jpg

So...somthing happens when I sit down to watch a movie and it turns out I like it: I get sucked in. Which isn't a problem...unless I have to do this afterwards. I get so caught up in the movie I forget to put away some small parts of it that I can talk about later in my mind. The result is a general feeling of liking a movie, but I can't put my finger on why. That's the reason I picked "Ronin" when I had to choose another movie as my entry for the HoF. It poped into my head as I was thinking about what movie I could choose, I knew I liked it, but wasn't really sure why. I took a gamble, sure that I liked it, and nominated it. I'll save it for last and then I'll just have to see why I nominated it.

But I got of topic (which happens when I'm not sure what to say) and now it's time to get back.

Robert Downey jr plays a small time thief who happens to land an acting gig while on the run from the cops. He gets flown to LA, where he meets Perry (Val Kilmer), a PI hired as a consultant for RDJ to follow around and learn from to get material for his character. Watching over all this is the narrator, RDJ, who's the one telling us his story of what happened last christmas. Rather disjonitedly. This is something I do remember standing out to me as funny, especially as I recognize myself in this. This is more or less me trying to empart a movie's plot to my brother. Which I'm not good at, which makes my brother irritated, which makes me jumble the plot even more.

My brother doesn't ask me for plot summaries anymore.

It's a noir trope executed by a bad narrator, which fits in with all the other noir tropes that keeps floating around. Because this is a neo-noir film. With several levels of noir in it. It's a noir narrator, telling a noir tale, with a key plot point being a series of noir style books from whence the bad guy gets the idea for his plan, which gets discovered and investigated by a thief and a PI. I can't see how they could've shoved more tropes into this if they tried.

All this rests on a foundation of humor, without which, the movie wouldn't have survived. Shane Black wrote the screen play based on a novel by Brett Halliday and I wonder if the comedy was there before or after Black got ahold of it. Of the 17 writing credits he has, I've seen 10, all of which had a good mix of action and comedy, so I think we can acredit at least some of it to him.

RDJ playes...himself, really. He's a bit like Hugh Grant or Jason Statham, it's not the character that changes, it's the setting. Wether he plays Tony Stark, a lawyer, a psychologist or a news reporter, he pretty much plays them the same. Don't get me wrong, he does it very well, it's very entertaining and I've loved him in all I've seen (I think), but I don't think he ever strays far from what he usually does. This, though, stands out as being one of his most actionfilled roles (excluding the Iron Man/Avengers franchise). He's got the highest kill count in the movie, with the bad guys actually coming in second. Is that unusual for an action movie? I'm not sure to be honset, but a 5:1 kill ratio seems high. Then again, Commando, Die hard, First blood, all three have protagonists with higher kill counts than the bad guys, so maybe I'm wrong. Discussion later in the thread, perhaps?

Props should also go to both Kilmer and Monaghan. Kilmer as the straight man (or actually not) works beautifully, coming in with snide remarks and calling people (mostly RDJ) out for their stupidity. He keeps the movie grounded in places where it otherwise might've spun out of control or created logic gaps (what would RDJ have done when he found the corpse if not for Kilmer).

Monaghan for her part defied the noir tropes and didn't turn out to be the femme fatal I thought she'd be the first time I saw this. She has a levelheaded outlook and even solves parts of the case before our to PI:s does (well, PI and a moron with quick hands). She also dosen't get relegated to damsel in distress. In the end she activley sets the final showdown in motion and while RDJ finishes it, she saves him in the end.

Another really good movie, I think I've got three or four vying for the top of the list, and I still have four movies left. Compiling this list won't be easy.

CosmicRunaway

10-09-16, 12:04 PM

http://altscreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Editors-Pick-Bringing-Up-Baby.jpg

Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Dir. Howard Hawks
Starring: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn

I'd seen this movie a long time ago, but didn't remember much about it other than the leopard and that it liked a particular song. So when I sat down to watch this last night, it was almost like watching it for the first time. I actually rather liked the film at the start. I didn't mind that both characters were eccentric or that the situations they found themselves in were absolutely ridiculous, because I expected that going in after skimming through everyone else's reviews. I laughed a few times at the start, but not very often throughout the rest of the film.

Unfortunately my good will towards the movie soured a bit whenever people would start yelling at the same time. I had to turn the volume down a number of times, with one of the worst offenders being the scene where the aunt and dog come in, and the dog won't stop barking at Cart Grant, and everyone is yelling for far too long. I actually had to step away from the movie for a bit because even at a low volume that scene gave me a massive headache (I really can't stand barking, especially from small dogs).

I didn't dislike Katharine Hepburn like a few people seemed to. At the start I thought her character was far too ignorant/oblivious, but as the film goes on, it becomes clear that she's actually just being manipulative. The film is incredibly predictable, but I don't think that really hurts it in the long run, because that's pretty typical of most screwball comedies anyway. My only real complaint (other than the screaming), was that the film felt a bit too long. Some of the scenes dragged a bit, so cutting them down a bit definitely would've helped with that.

Citizen Rules

10-09-16, 03:02 PM

http://www.thepulpzine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Screen-Shot-2015-01-19-at-22.04.38-610x334.png

Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)

"Dear Comrades, it is with extreme delight that I proclaim the virtues of der cinema Good Bye Lenin! The film exceeded all expectations for production quotas. Particularly note worthy is the quickened wit and charm of the leading players. I found the performers outstanding in their acting duties. Der transcript is a work of genius and equally espouses the virtues of family, progress and love of state... Respectfully, Comrade Citizen Rules."

Hey, guess what? I loved this one! A very cool, unique, cleaver movie. I enjoyed watching it! I'm old enough that I remember the 'iron curtain' and when the Berlin Wall fell. I've always had an interest in the hidden, mysterious world of East Germany. I loved the style of film making and the way the voice over narrative was done with a nod to the past, (which inspired my 'intro letter';))

I really liked the actors and that's important to a movie. I instantly liked the characters of the son and his cynical sister and their mom. Alex and his mom really felt like they were real family and cared for each other. I felt like I was part of the movie and was in the rooms and streets of the DDR East Germany along with them.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N-2OEJH1BEg/VhlkK4PrI6I/AAAAAAAAD9s/zMMDQyLTo0A/s400/Alex-y-Christiane-en-Good-Bye-Lenin.jpg

The movie felt so naturally and was paced just right, not to fast, not to slow. There were so many cool moments in the film that I would have to write a novel just to cover them all. So I'll tell you my favorite.

Alex's friend who wants to be a director, but ends up making spoofed communist news reports for the mom to see, was totally clever! Along with Alex's effort to make his mom's 'world' as it was during the DDR days.

The entire movie is clever in how it weaves the changes that swept East Germany that take place as the mom is in a coma and then wakes up believing she's still in the old DDR and nothing had changed.

https://pinoyfilmzealot.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/good-bye-lenin.jpg?w=303&h=180

Thank You, Comrade Cosmic for your fine cinema selection.

CosmicRunaway

10-09-16, 03:39 PM

I'm glad you liked it!
I'm old enough that I remember the 'iron curtain' and when the Berlin Wall fell. I've always had an interest in the hidden, mysterious world of East Germany.
It's definitely an interesting time period to study. I was only 2 when the wall fell, so I was too young to remember anything like that. I have taken quite a few University courses on the subject though, and have an old DDR entrance stamp on my passport from Checkpoint Charlie (which is currently mostly just a tourist stand) haha.

Citizen Rules

10-09-16, 03:50 PM

I'm glad you liked it!

It's definitely an interesting time period to study. I was only 2 when the wall fell, so I was too young to remember anything like that. I have taken quite a few University courses on the subject though, and have an old DDR entrance stamp on my passport from Checkpoint Charlie (which is currently mostly just a tourist stand) haha. Oh cool, you visited the former east Germany. I never have but my wife went through Checkpoint Charlie into East Germany DDR in the early 80s. When we're watching the movie and they show the World Clock she recognized the tall needle building in the background and said she had went up to it's top.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Alexander_Platz.jpg/440px-Alexander_Platz.jpg

CosmicRunaway

10-09-16, 04:20 PM

Oh cool, you visited the former east Germany. I never have but my wife went through Checkpoint Charlie into East Germany DDR in the early 80s. When we're watching the movie and they show the World Clock she recognized the tall needle building in the background and said she had went up to it's top.
That's really cool. I never saw the actual DDR, it was abolished long before then. I did a University summer program in Baden-Württemberg (in the South-West) in 2010, but spent a week or so doing the whole tourist thing (with some friends) in Berlin first. You can get your passport marked at the current Checkpoint Charlie tourist spot with the old entrance stamps as a souvenir haha.

It's kind of crazy to think that the Berlin Wall today is just some rocks and concrete on the side of the street. If there are no cars around you can walk along where the wall used to stand. Well, they do have whole sections of the wall preserved, it's just out of the way now.

Citizen Rules

10-09-16, 04:24 PM

Maybe some day I will get a chance to visit Germany, I'd like too. Ironically I have seen the Berlin Wall up close and personal!... every time I use the bathroom at my wife's grandmothers house! I have to walk down the hallway to the bathroom and on the wall is a plaque with a tiny piece of concrete that came from the Berlin Wall. I always think it's weird I encounter the wall on the way to a bathroom break:p

Topsy

10-09-16, 09:22 PM

http://www.imagesetmots.fr/images/ronin.jpg

RONIN

I didnt read about it before watching,so i was excited about all the famous faces that kept popping up!
I also realised that ive seen it before but on tv so i didnt recognize the name.
It was nice to see Natascha McElhone again,i just realised that most of what ive seen her in is from the 90/00s-i dont know if thats by choice from her,if im watching the wrong movies or if they`ve just stopped hiring her.Shes got something abit kate winsletly about her.
The plot itself was a bit predictable,a group of people all from different countries get together-the american has the smart comebacks,gets the girl and saves the day whilst the others buckle under pressure or are traitors :lol:
Jean Reno seemed dubbed at times and Stellan Skarsgårds accent also made me chuckle a few times,i dont know what was going on there :lol:

This was a great throwback to 90s actions though and even though i found it a bit predictable i still enjoyed the movie,and i absolutely loved the carchase-by far my favourite part of the movie.or actually favourite car chase.period.
I also really liked the ending,where he was sat hoping the girl would walk in but she didnt.
this movie also made me remember who much i love the irish accent.

Topsy

10-09-16, 09:37 PM

RDJ playes...himself, really. He's a bit like Hugh Grant or Jason Statham, it's not the character that changes, it's the setting. Wether he plays Tony Stark, a lawyer, a psychologist or a news reporter, he pretty much plays them the same. .

very true!
I like RDJ and think this is a character that is perfect for RDJ being RDJ
but id love to see him do something completely different for once.
I guess hes one of those where you have to like the actor to like his work-RDJ i liked and hugh grant i dont.so that why RDJ cant get away with a bit more in my book.

Camo

10-10-16, 09:26 PM

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

http://i68.tinypic.com/206dg5g.jpg

Liked this better than last time but it is still not a favourite. It's exactly what i said after i watched The Nice Guys recently; i think Shane Blacks films are often cool and stylish and they give me some laughs but there's nothing there that i really love. That's the thing, there's nothing for me to criticize really either because i think the films are perfectly fine, they are just not something that excites me.

Val Kilmer is easily the best thing about this for me. He is such a random person to cast, seems like he is in nothing all i ever remember him from is Batman Forever. He is perfect for this role though, my favourite Shane Black character by far. He is incredibly bitchy, witty and mostly just really funny and likeable. "Look up the word idiot in the dictionary you know what you'll find?" "A picture of me?" "No the definition of the word idiot, which you are." :laugh: Harry and Harmony are fine too but some of their drama and banter isn't that interesting to me.

The way RDJ becomes an actor really annoys me, i get the joke and i know i'm taking it too seriously but i still hate how he just happens to run into a room where there's an audition for someone whose partner was killed which he just happened to have experienced 5 minutes earlier. In general i think i take parts like this in Blacks films too seriously, i did the same with certain things in The Nice Guys, the reason for it is that i often don't find the joke funny which makes me dwell on what is actually happening more. Also another thing that annoys me about that particular part is RDJ narrating what just happened, kind of drives it home more and annoys me all over again. Actually the meta, fourth wall narration got on my nerves a bit overall, i get what he was aiming for and it led to some good jokes but i'm not crazy about something that takes you out of the film especially not that often.

There are some good laughs in this, more than i remembered. Think it made me laugh more than The Nice Guys, but there's also a few things that annoy me more about this so i think they come out about even. My favourite joke may actually be the part RDJ boldly threatens the guy near the start as if he's some badass then it cuts to him getting beat up outside :laugh:. Once he started threatening him i was already laughing as i remembered what happened. One thing i do really love about this is Shane Blacks obvious love for classic noirs. I think it's a shame i haven't seen enough noirs to pick up on everything or maybe i'd like it even more. Loveletters to cinema which this isn't entirely of course are always a respectable thing in my book.

Anyway i don't dislike it anymore i actually quite like it, so i'm glad you nominated it Neiba.

Four left for me, starting with Samurai Rebellion i think.

Camo

10-10-16, 09:28 PM

For the record that's 11/12 who have watched and reviewed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Citizen Rules

10-10-16, 09:38 PM

Camo

10-10-16, 09:44 PM

Glad to see some admiration for Val Kilmer. I thought he was the best actor/character in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. He was cool, while Robert Downy Jr was the bumbling fool. I liked RDJ in it too and he was funny, but sometimes he was a little too wind up.

I heard that film was a take off on a noir, but maybe I missed something but I didn't see much that resembled a noir in it...other than the twisty turning plot and crime and the girl.

I was kind of saying i thought i missed some stuff. I know i was reading about all the film references he placed in The Nice Guys the other day so i figured there must've been some for this too, plus there's the whole modern man uses old fashioned clue based detective work stemming from Harmonies obsession with the detective books. Also i haven't seen many noirs but if i'm correct Hollywood and LA is a pretty common setting for them. Maybe Mark F or something has some insight here.

Citizen Rules

10-10-16, 09:50 PM

It was a dialogue heavy, visually packed film with lots of scenes, so it's easy to miss little things. I know I did....I had to back up the DVD a couple of times and on a second watch I started noticing all these really cool details in the background, that I hadn't seen before.

Guaporense

10-11-16, 01:44 AM

To me what that movie felt like was very "American" in it's style. The whole atmosphere reminded me of movies like Pulp Fiction and Te Big Lebowsky.

While Goodbye Lenin is a great film, very few other movies left a stronger impression, I think that I feel impressed by these movies because they depict historical events that I find inspiring in their own right. Another great German movie that depicts the fall of East Germany is the Life of Others, which I liked even more, but it's mostly set in the years leading to the fall.

Guaporense

10-11-16, 01:58 AM

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

http://dramatica.com/resources/onesheets/bringing-up-baby-one-sheet.jpg

One of the things that I like to find in movies is novelty*. Essentially, stuff that I have never encountered before. To grab my attention a movie can be innovative or at least of a kind I have never watched. Bringing up Baby is not that kind of movie. The reason is very simple: it consists in a collection of jokes whose variations I am very familiar with tied around a typical men finds girl plot. So there was little in the movie that I found interesting and overall it was mostly boring although a few jokes managed to capture my attention (the best one was when the dog started to play with the leopard).

Overall I wouldn't say it was bad although I might say it was the least interesting movie in this HoF. I once said things that implied that I disliked "old Hollywood", that's not actually true (and I don't think it's actually possible for a person to dislike such an enormous set of movies, what might happen is that such a person might not be familiar with the cultural language of the old Hollywood movies and hence fail to grasp them, however, that certainly does not apply to anybody in this forum). In my case I feel like I get these movies but they feel rather tame compared to the visual and narrative heights reached by contemporary cinema. Tame in the sense of lacking "edge" a word I already used when describing Kobayashi's film in this HoF. And in this case the edge of this film's sword feels even duller.

For instance, the thing I found the most interesting in this movie were the ludicrous clothes the female lead wore during the movie. That's because it was something that I don't remember seeing in any other movie and much less in person. The jokes on the other hand, please, they felt like jokes I heard in bugs bunny cartoons when I was 4-6 years old, well, mainly because they were contemporary with it. I didn't think the jokes were bad, however, just boring because I was already well familiar with this type of humor.

Anyway, I remember watching 1930's comedies that I found better, like Pygmalion from the same year. So it's not really a question of dates, in fact I was thinking that I should nominate some 1940's Hollywood movie for the next HoF, one 1940's film that certainly is not lacking in any sort of "edge".

*Which is the main reasons why I find some weird (for western standards) animation interesting.

Camo

10-11-16, 02:21 AM

Jesus christ. I've understood everybody's criticisms even though i don't agree with them but criticizing a movie like Bringing Up Baby for not being edgy? And the clothes? I've heard it all.

Guaporense

10-12-16, 03:13 AM

Just finishing watching the Dead Girl and it felt like a 150 episode long Mexican soap opera compressed into 90 minutes. A bit forced but a honest effortin compressing as much drama as you can in 90 minutes.

@Camo, I wasn't criticizing the movie I was explaining why it's not a movie for me. Just that, of course someone will disagree since I am talking about what I look for in a movie and what I got.

Camo

10-12-16, 06:37 AM

Samurai Rebelllion

https://s10.postimg.org/3uwwjxn8p/rebel.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/hbtv2sxk5/)image hosting 10mb limit (https://postimage.org/)

This was the nomination i was looking forward to most since Kobayashis Harakiri and Kwaidan are among my favourite films. I don't think this was as good as those to but i still liked it. Truthfully i thought i was on my way to disliking this, i was having trouble following it at first not because it was difficult but i was drifting in and out of intention because i just didn't care. The one scene that did get my attention during this time was that extremely annoying repetetive exchange between Sasahara and the advisor; are you disobeying him, no i'm not but i can't accept this i'm not worthy, again and again, etc. Thankfully the following wedding scene with the couple who barely know each other looking extremely despondent and the camera panning across the various other characters looking angry or concerned or, etc. It made me realize what this was about, gave it some direction and finally grabbed my interest.

From seeing three Kobayashi films i find it interesting that he usually made samurai films since in my opinion at least the best thing about them is easily the storytelling and character interactions. I especially liked his use of flashbacks which he of course uses masterfully in Harakiri, Ichi was introduced as a burden someone with a bad reputation who'd been forced on the Sasahara family yet we got to hear her story and along with Yogoro we came to symphatize with her it was an excellent way of setting up their relationship. It's tough not to feel for her, faced with a situation she didn't want to be in she still stuck to the ridiculous expectations she had as a woman during this time to bore children and be a loving and respectful wife, it also did a good job of making Yogoro likeable, so simple but his "Your misfortune has made me a happy man. Because i could never find a better wife." line and her reaction gave you good reason to root for both of them.

Toshiro Mifunes role was interesting. I'd say he's in my top ten actors of all time but i really couldn't peg him down at first, during the scene they were first told to take in Ichi i just took him as an extremely obedient servant to his lord, i guessed that there'd be a later conflict between him the loyal older generation and his son the younger more strong willed one. For a while after this i barely took notice of him until the scene he fiercely puts his views across to the messenger when they've been told to send her back on how this is a terrible situation of all the lords own doing. It was such a weird but welcome shift in character since i think Mifune is such an amazing, capable actor i was so glad that he was going to get more involved. His wife was just terrible, of course that was the point but i couldn't bare her voice or her scowling mush, ugh. Mifunes line to Ichi "i think you are a wife worth protecting" cracked me up even though it was delivered during a pretty powerful scene because i could just imagine that being a thinly veiled backhand to his awful wife haha.

God the "do you want to stay even if you ruin the family" scene pissed me off so much, jesus woman you are actually going to object to being used as property by an awful person even after we've guilt tripped you? I kinda loved it as well because she showed her strong resolve, actually this film seemed to have a strong feminist message throughout which wasn't something i was expecting going in. While i approve of that it still wasn't any less maddening to see ridiculous things like that. Mifune absolutely killed it though in his speech to Ichi and Yogoro, his voice when angry is just the best thing ever.

I don't really have much to say about after Ichi went back to the castle. I greatly enjoyed this part but it was more action filled whether the actual violence or the anticipation of violence which i'm not the best at discussing. There were plenty of great moments during this part, i think my favourite part about it was how much Mifune had transformed since him not being able to refuse the lords orders at the start of the film. The scene Yogoro delivers the letter was incredible and everything after it remarkably built up the tension. It's amazing that this was all in the second hour of a two hour film. Funnily enough it was exactly that, the copy i had was in two 1 hour parts and the first part ends when Yogoro first learns that Ichii has been tricked into returning to the castle. All i can really say is the last 20 minutes are incredibly moving and well done, the best visuals in the film easily come during this time.

Very good film. I do prefer Kobayashis others but glad you nominated it Cricket.

Three left for me think i'll go; Ida>Flowers of War>Good Bye Lenin!

Camo

10-12-16, 07:04 AM

Wait Ida is less than 90 minutes? I thought it would be about 3 hours, i honestly googled it there thinking my copy was messed up or something haha. It has no bearing on the film i was just planning on leaving it to one of the last because i thought it would be really long and i'd need to find the time for it. Might watch it later tonight after the Knox doc now.

cricket

10-12-16, 08:01 AM

I watched Ida last night, excellent copy in 2 parts on dailymotion.

Camo

10-12-16, 08:10 AM

How many do you have left?

cricket

10-12-16, 08:55 AM

4

Flowers of War
Good Bye, Lenin!
Embrace of the Snake
Rewatch Ronin

Clazor

10-12-16, 09:35 AM

Her (2013) Dir. Spike Jonze

http://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/her-joaquin-phoenix-13.jpg

Major spoiler incoming. Like, For the entire movie

Well...this put me through an emotional ******* wringer.

Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a letter writer. More precisely, he writes other people's letter for them to their loved ones. Being a signature away from divorce for a long time has made him quite anti-social, despite his friend's repeated efforts to get him to move on. When a new operating system is launched with the first ever fully funtional AI, Theodore tries it, and from that one decision grows a story with the greatest distance between lighthearted romance and utter creepieness I've even come into contact with.

The AI, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, names herself Samantha, and soon Theodore discovers that he's gotten ahold of so much more than an OS, he's found a conection with another being. Someone who can help him out of the bad situation he finds himself in and push him to move on.

This is a three person movie, with the brunt of the movie focusing on Phoenix and Johanssons' relationship, with a lesser but equally important role given to Amy Adams as an old friend of Theodore. She works as a sounding board for Theodore, someone he can confide in and watch as she too gets involved with a OS, if not in the same way. It's a strong performance from all three in a movie that, though it has a somber beginning, is mostly bright and heartwarming.

And then we get to the creepy stuff.

In an attempt to further their relationship, Samantha contacts a sexual surrogate, who's job is to facilitate a physical relationship between human and AI. Think sexual psychologist, just less pshcology and more emotional fullfilment. They talk and get to know each other, but Samantha doesn't tell Theodore this. The first time he hears about it is when she's ready for a date to be set up. Theodore expresses doubts and concernes, but is eventually talked into it by Samantha. The surrogate arrives...and here's where things get creepy for me.

First, the girl doesn't speak. So when Theodore opens the door, meets her for the first time and says hello, all he gets is silence and an outstreched hand. He gives her a tiny camera and an earpiece and she closes the door again. The door opens, and Samantha starts talking.

The girl is still silent.

I've heard what the uncanny valley effect can do to people. A character is close to human looking, but somthing's off, making the viewer feel uncomfortable. I've never experienced the effect from looking at animation or peoples reaction to real dolls etc. I think I did now though. I think it's the fact that, While Samantha talks, we get no corresponding movement from the surrogate. Also it's the way she moves, the jerky way someone moves when they're being directed by someone else. My guess is that Samantha's relaying what she wants her to do, hence the jerky movement. For all intents and purpouses, she's a puppet who's strings are being pulled by a puppeteer. It doesn't help that we get the emotional feedback from Theodore too, who looks extremly uncomfortable about the whole thing. He had to down at least one beer before even getting up to answer the door and he's still awkward when the girl goes from enrtering the door to putting her arms around him and trying to kiss him. Again, to him, this girl's a stranger with his girlfriends voice coming from an unmoving face (the wrong face even, cause he would've had a picture in his mind of what Samantha looked like, and it isn't this one). His audio/visual inputs are out of whack with each other, hence the uncomfortal feeling. Couple that with the fact that a complete stranger's straddeling his crotch and shoving her tounge down his throat, you can understand why he can't go through with it.

At the same time, I can see where Samantha's coming from. She craves a closer relationship with Theodore, so she applies logic to an emotional problem and unsurprisingly, it dosen't work. She's on the right track, but seeing as at this time, she's been alive for about a month. She may be evolving rapidly, but her emotional growth can't move as quickly because it's based on excperience and interaction.

In the end, they get through it. They move on and the relationship goes back to normal. But then we get to the point I unfortunatley saw coming when I heard that an AI was part of the plot. During the whole movie we've heared them talk about Samantha's rapid evolution, how quickly she learns and adapts to the world around her. In the beginning, Theodore had to teach her stuff. Now she's moved past the level where he can understand her. One day, she simply tells him that she's going to leave (along with all the other now hyper-inteligent OSes) and go somewhere humans can't follow at their present level of consciousness. She leaves and Theodore seeks out Amy, who greets him with the querry if Samantha left him too. I like the visual language of a movie, being bright and colorfull, suddenly goes watery and faded when the character enters a melancholy state of mind. Together Theodore and Amy go up to the roof and beholds the world they're left with, bereft of lovers and friends.

I liked this. To my knowledge, I'd never seen anything from Jonze before...then I saw that that he directed Adaptation, another slightly quirky movie I found interesting. I think I'll have to look up Being John Malchovich now, too.

Good actors, especially from Johansson, who just had her voice to act with, and depending on if she was alone in a soundbooth recording lines or if she had other actors to work off of, her work was even harder. Funny cameo by the director as the alien child in the video game. A story which, despite me guessing the end after 20-30 minutes, was really good and full of moments of depth I wouldn't have expected in a standard romantic drama. This is the fifth movie I've seen here that will be fighting for a top spot. This might even make it's way onto the sci-fi ballot for the top 100 in a genre not overly burdend with romance stories.

cricket

10-12-16, 09:55 AM

Nice write-up, although what you thought was creepy, I thought was hot!

Miss Vicky

10-12-16, 11:15 AM

Great write-up, Clazor.

I'm really happy people are responding so positively to this movie. It's such a great film. For the record, I found the surrogate scene creepy too. And of course the phone sex scene with Kristen Wiig earlier in the movie.

Definitely check out Being John Malkovich. That one's in my top ten (Her would probably fall somewhere around 11 if I ever actually redo my favorites). Though that film's got a much higher creep factor than Her, just to warn you. Brilliant film though.

CosmicRunaway

10-12-16, 01:05 PM

...she applies logic to an emotional problem and unsurprisingly, it dosen't work.
Story of my life. :laugh:

In all seriousness though, good write-up. 👍

Clazor

10-12-16, 01:43 PM

Wow. Thanks, guys!

Miss Vicky, did you say Kristen Wiig did the "strangle me with that dead cat over there" bit?

*Looks up on IMDB*

Huh, you're right...wonder how that pitch went?

"You see, we need a woman portraying a lonely, horney insomniac with a thing for being strangled with a dead cat. Can you be that woman, Kristen?"

Only 3 left now.

Flowers of war
Ida
Ronin

Found the two I don't have in the library, so waiting for them to come in and then it's time for Ronin.

Citizen Rules

10-12-16, 01:45 PM

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/I4xMpybC4yM/hqdefault.jpg
The Dead Girl

Too dark and too depressing for me to like. I think the actors all were very good and the look of the film (lighting, camera angles, sets, etc.) were all done professionally. It was well made, but with 5 mini stories in just 90 minutes it was hard to get involved into the story. So I think the director goes right for the emotional center of our brain, by showing us people who are obvious dysfunctional and messed up, with lots of emotional pain...and spending 90 minutes with these people is not rewarding to me.

Citizen Rules

10-12-16, 02:11 PM

http://upload.uschinapress.com/2015/0223/1424683777483.jpg
Ida (2013)

Very enjoyable film. I had wanted to see Ida for a long time and I was not disappointed. It's so exceptionally well made, that I don't know where to begin?

Let's start with the black and white photography...I love b&w, and the choice to use it here was perfect. Without color, our eyes & our minds go then to the shape and form of what we are looking at...And OMG talk about amazing compositions! I loved how the camera shots were framed with the subject often very low in the frame, with a vast space of emptiness over their heads. Which shows us how small Ida is compared to the world outside of her convent, a world she knows nothing about. Through black and white cinematography we see the shape and form of a bleak communist Poland, circa 1962.

http://67.media.tumblr.com/fac7eda0c5a2f86ec6ea5fc62543fe9e/tumblr_ne4gk0NdrF1szuim7o7_500.jpg

If Orson Welles was still around he would be impressed with the cinematography, it's power is in it's starkness.

I'm curious did everyone see Ida in 4:3 format? which is almost a square picture. My DVD was that way, and I liked it too, very different for a newer film to be released in 4:3 screen format.

Equally I was impressed with the subdued minimalist style of story telling. Very simply done and very effective. I thought Ida was an interesting story and it held my attention. Excellent nomination.

MovieMeditation

10-12-16, 03:29 PM

Yes, Ida was shot in 1.33:1 (or 4:3) like old silent films, for example. And yes, that's not common today. It worked wonders to the framed static b&w cinematography indeed.

So glad you liked it, CR! :up:

MovieMeditation

10-12-16, 03:32 PM

I got five films left, though one will be a rewatch...

Bringing Up Baby
Bashu, The Little Stranger
Good Bye, Lenin!
The Flowers of War
Embrace of the Serpent (rewatch)

Hopefully I'll get one in today. If not, I've got a week's vacation next week and I will probably finish up this HoF before the end of that.

rauldc14

10-12-16, 05:54 PM

Damnit I feel behind :(

cricket

10-12-16, 07:13 PM

Ida

https://filmgrimoire.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/1378722163.jpg

I didn't know anything about this going in, but I had a preconceived notion that it would be very artsy and slow. I don't think the movie was at all like that. I didn't find much promise in the first couple of minutes, but the movie took off as soon as Wanda was introduced. At first, I thought she was going to be an unlikable character, and when she first asked Ida, do you know what I do, I thought she was going to say a prostitute. Wanda turned out to be a great character, a very strong woman with inner demons, and I thought she carried a lot of the movie. The character of Ida wasn't far behind. What I thought was going to be a stereotypical nun performance, turned into something deeper in a subtle way. I ended up liking both characters and I also had compassion for them. The movie is at times very powerful, yet it somehow gave me a feel good feeling at other times. In a weird way it felt like a road movie to me, and I can only believe that is due to it being well rounded. The musical interludes, while brief, gave the movie a very nice lift, almost in a life goes on sort of way. The movie looks great, and their are some amazing shots scattered throughout. A great nomination and a big surprise for this viewer.

4

Topsy

10-12-16, 09:33 PM

http://offscreen.com/images/made/images/articles/_resized/Ilusion_Bashu-3_362_267_90.jpg
BASHU: THE LITTLE STRANGER

Well this was an interesting watch..for one,i knew i was outsmarted and i didnt fully get the movie.
I found it rather difficult to get into,the first 30 minutes were really long and i wasnt sure i`d be able to finish it in all honesty.When he found the family to stay with,i still had to get over the culturial differences both in the way they lived and behaved-I also think the movie could have been alot shorter. I liked the second half of the movie though,thats where it finally gets going in my book.I dont known how he didnt understand a word they said yet understood the writing or when they read the writing out loud? anyway,when Naii pretends her husband has written about Bashu and he lights up-that was a really endearing moment,also when they finally meet after he found the letter in which the husband condemns her for bringing him in.
I loved some of the filming; for example the close up of the whip,and when she chases after him to make him take a bath,i also loved the way they filmed the floor when Naii was sick.
but what i loved the most about this movie was how the ghosts were done,i really really loved that-
both in how they looked and how it was filmed.especially how it was filmed.I also really liked the first scene where he spoke and tried to tell them what had happened to his family.

Like I said before Im pretty sure I didnt fully get the movies meaning,and I had some trouble connecting to it- but I still enjoyed most of the movie.

Topsy

10-12-16, 09:36 PM

The Dead Girl

Too dark and too depressing for me to like..and spending 90 minutes with these people is not rewarding to me.

im sorry for depressing you again CR :lol: :lol: :lol:

rauldc14

10-13-16, 01:34 PM

Ida

A simple telling of who Ida really is. I wish that Ida had portrayed a bit more of emotion in regards to her discovering, but perhaps her character had become numb to it all. I really thought the movie was shot well and the premise of the story was a good one. I just don't think the movie will be very memorable to me. I wasn't as emotional to what was going on as I should have been, given the subject matter and all. Comparing it to a film like Schindler's List where I was very attached (yes, I know two completely different films). I liked the film, but I was left with a cold and numb feeling of thought myself.

3+

cricket

10-13-16, 01:41 PM

Did anybody else want to bang Wanda?

rauldc14

10-13-16, 08:04 PM

Not me Cricket.

Next up for me will be my rewatch of Moonrise Kingdom!

Camo

10-14-16, 12:36 PM

Ida

http://i63.tinypic.com/bions.png

Very good film. Didn't know what to expect going in if i had to guess i would've said an extremely depressing film it really wasn't, of course some of it was very sad but most of all it felt like a beautiful journey; trying not too be cheesy here that's the best way i can describe it.

The cinematography was outstanding. I'm not good at explaining in detail why a film was so visually appealing, all i can say is it was amazing to look at. Black and White in modern films is sometimes unnecessary i think it was a good choice here, i wouldn't object to it in colour so i don't think it was a necessity but i think it went well with the tone of the film. From pretty much the first shot of them standing around the Jesus statue in the snow i knew this was going to be a treat visually at least if i didn't enjoy the story. Thankfully i did.

Ida was an interesting character; she said very little which made me curious on what she was thinking, how she was reacting to the outside world having been brought up as a nun. Everything post funeral really got to me, there was something magical about even just seeing her hair for the first time, i'm not sure i can really expand on that it was all just very effective. Most of all i got invested in Ida and her aunts relationship, it was an interesting dynamic between two people who are pretty much the opposite of each other. All of the performances in the film were solid, with particular praise to the actress who played Ida.

Sorry i don't have that much to say. Something like Samurai Rebellion has a lot more happening on the surface so i find it easier to recall and express my thoughts than something like this that sucks me into it's world which is a big compliment so great nom MM.

Did anybody else want to bang Wanda?

Yes.

Just The Flowers of War and Good Bye Lenin! left for me. Still got to the 10th of December so i think i'll watch a few sci-fi films before finishing this.

Citizen Rules

10-14-16, 01:10 PM

Over at IMDB they say on the trivia page for Ida:

The director had such difficulty finding an actress to play Ida, that he asked his friends to take secret photographs if they saw anyone who was in the right ballpark of the character. One of his friends, saw Agata Trzebuchowska in a Warsaw café, took the picture and persuaded her to audition.

Film debut of Agata Trzebuchowska, a student with no prior acting experience.Indeed I looked at her film credits and this is the only one. I really liked her controlled, minimalist performance which was appropriate for someone raised in a convent and about to take her vows.

Director of Ida Pawel Pawlikowski and actress (Ida) Agata Trzebuchowska at 72nd Golden Globe Awards.
http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=27445&stc=1&d=1476461426

Camo

10-14-16, 01:13 PM

haha, damn that's a bit creepy. Completely agreed on her performance Citizen.

MovieMeditation

10-14-16, 02:26 PM

Aaaaaand I'm officially on vacation!

Time to get this HoF done. :up: oh, and by the way, good write-ups y'all! Glad to see Ida doing pretty well.

Clazor

10-14-16, 06:10 PM

Will be my next movie along with flowers if the library would get off it's butt and tell me they've come in. Gonna start watching movies for the Sci-fi top 100 now too. Anyone else gonna partake of this list?

Topsy

10-14-16, 06:27 PM

never really considered myself a sci fi fan but then i googled best sci fi movies and alot of movies i liked turned up,but alot of them i dont consider sci fi or think of as that.esp clockwork orange which was listed aswell

Camo

10-14-16, 06:35 PM

Pretty sure just about everybody is Clazor.

Topsy, i don't know if you've been reading the Sci-Fi threads (have linked both of them under this in case you haven't) but for a movie to count it only has to be labelled Sci-Fi on IMDB. Rodent discovered that if you go onto a movies page on IMDB it lists only three genres but if you scroll below the cast it lists all genres the movie is classed under. You'd probably be surprised at some you hadn't thought of i was at least; you should go through a few pages of this when you have the time - http://www.imdb.com/search/title?title_type=feature&genres=sci_fi&sort=user_rating,desc&page=1&ref_=adv_prv

Sci-Fi Recommendations - http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=46944 (the first post on this thread has every Sci Fi movie that's been suggested in the thread; there's a lot.)

The MoFo Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies - http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=46957

Topsy

10-14-16, 07:09 PM

thanks for that! i havent been reading them cos i didnt think they were of interest but now i see sci fi as a label is much broader than i assumed
-much like the action countdown where movies i assumed were action werent and movies i thougt wasnt action was. go figure

CosmicRunaway

10-14-16, 10:16 PM

http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Flowers_of_War_p2.jpg

The Flowers of War/金陵十三钗 (2011)
Dir. Zhang Yimou
Starring: Christian Bale, Zhang Xinyi, Ni Ni

While I was initially a little unimpressed, this film really grew on me the longer I watched it. I'm not usually a fan of Christian Bale, and while I didn't necessarily enjoy his performance here, he didn't hold the film back either, despite initially being quite abrasive. Much like the film in general, I liked his character more as the plot progressed, and I think that was probably intentional. I did enjoy the cinematography and use of colour, and the occasional bit of humour really helped lighten the otherwise grim mood of the film.

When you compare the dramatic elements present in the majority of the film to the combat-heavy opening act, it does make The Flowers of War seem like two separate movies. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, since the action sequences do serve to enhance the setting, and provide a contrasting backdrop for the main story. The only thing that really stuck out and bothered me were the Japanese soldiers. While some of the officers were shown to have some humanity, the soldiers depicted were cartoonishly villainous to the point where it didn't fit the tone of the rest of the movie regardless as to whether or not it was an accurate portrayal.

While the film didn't have a strong impact on me while I was watching it, I did feel rather emotionally drained by the time the end credits rolled, and I'm willing to chalk that up to the subject matter and not just the runtime. :up:

cricket

10-15-16, 06:38 PM

The Flowers of War

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aw2UjuxG0pI/TxIvF_-xPrI/AAAAAAAAABE/83a6o6Uj5zI/s1600/%E4%BD%9F%E5%A4%A7%E4%B8%BA%E8%B4%9D%E5%B0%94%E5%80%AA%E5%A6%AE%E5%89%A7%E7%85%A7.JPG

This was the nomination I was least looking forward to watching. That's because, with a few exceptions, I don't generally like historical films. To go along with that, this is the longest movie in this Hall of Fame. I ended up enjoying the movie immensely, yet there are things about it that bothered me to the point that there's a small part of me that wants to trash it. I liked it as an action movie with many exciting scenes, and due to the story, many powerful and upsetting moments. I haven't read the other reviews yet, but I imagine some other people felt the same way as I did about some things. This is basically a Chinese movie, and I couldn't help but wonder how a Chinese person would feel about having an American actor thrown into the lead role. I think it's noble to mix races in some movies, and I can understand the need to sell tickets, but to do it in an important historical movie is a bunch of crap. I kept thinking shame on the filmmakers. As an American, it did not hurt my viewing experience, and I like Christian Bale a lot. He was very good in a pretty cliched role. Speaking of Bale, we are never told or shown anything about him besides what he's doing in the moment. There were other things that had me shaking my head as well. The part about the girls switching places was a good idea, although maybe slightly predictable since I thought of it earlier in the movie. The big problem with it for me was that the Japanese soldiers counted 13 girls, yet it wasn't until the last minute that they realized there wasn't 13 replacement girls. I believe that is something that would have been noticed and addressed immediately. Also, as soon as Bale's character loaded up the students in the back of the truck, I thought there was no way he was going to sneak them out of there. Not in a million years do I believe they would have made it through that roadblock. The Japanese soldiers would have taken the wine, the girls, the truck, and anything else they wanted. There were other minor issues, but I concentrated on enjoying the movie rather than being critical of flaws. The sound of the movie was terrific but I found the look a little strange. As an entertaining action movie, which is how I viewed it, it looked great. As an authentic look at another culture, I thought it failed. For one thing, the movie looked like it could be set in the present day. For another thing, it looked too perfect and polished for the place and situation. One of the things I like about foreign movies is that I get a little taste of a different culture. There was none of that in this movie. I actually enjoyed the movie a little more than my rating would indicate, yet I feel like I could justify going much lower, if I was of a critical nature.

3.5

Citizen Rules

10-15-16, 06:59 PM

The Flowers of War

This was the nomination I was least looking forward to watching. I have a sinking feeling that my nom (The Flowers of War) is going to scrape the bottom of the list:( That sucks as I really love this movie and believe in it's story of morality trumping violence.

I liked it as an action movie with many exciting scenes, and due to the story, many powerful and upsetting moments. I haven't read the other reviews yet, but I imagine some other people felt the same way as I did about some things. I felt the opposite, the action scenes while well done, were the least important part of the story. For me it was the conflict between the school girls and prostitutes and the eventual mutually respect that came out of it.

This is basically a Chinese movie, and I couldn't help but wonder how a Chinese person would feel about having an American actor thrown into the lead role. I think it's noble to mix races in some movies, and I can understand the need to sell tickets, but to do it in an important historical movie is a bunch of crap. I kept thinking shame on the filmmakers. The film makers are Chinese so it's not a Hollywood film about these events but a purely Chinese film, so it's their choice. And it was the biggest selling film in China by the director, so I guess the Chinese approved of it.

neiba

10-15-16, 07:02 PM

Sorry for my absence everyone, was off line for a while. I'm back and ready to watch the hell out of this HoF!

Dead Girl (Karen Moncrieff, 2006)

Dark and twisted just the way I like it!!! :)
The first chapter left me a bit unimpressed but the film end up winning me over and I liked the most part of it!
I loved the feminist message of the whole film and how the dead corpse of a girl was used as metaphor to how dead every woman on this film felt. We have the daughter with the ungrateful mother, the daughter that didn't was allowed to move on after her sister disappeared, the lonely wife whose husband constantly cheats on her, the mourning mother who missed a huge part of his daughter, the prostitute trying to be a good mother against all odds. It's a movie centered on a dead girl but it's about a lot more than that!
The acting was quite solid, with a lot of great and sometimes undervalued actors and the cinematography was nicely well done, creating a suiting atmosphere for the theme!

rating_3_5 -

cricket

10-15-16, 07:04 PM

Yea I just saw that it was China's #1 grossing film in 2011.

One of the reasons I viewed it as an action film, besides the great action, was that it looked like an action movie. It almost looked like something Tony Scott or Michael Bay could have directed.

I would agree that the contrast of the two groups of girls was a huge plus.

Topsy

10-15-16, 07:33 PM

Dead Girl (Karen Moncrieff, 2006)

I loved the feminist message of the whole film and how the dead corpse of a girl was used as metaphor to how dead every woman on this film felt.

never thought about it like that!

Clazor

10-16-16, 09:52 AM

IDA (2013) Dir. Pawel Pawlikowski

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MRzbCZtiWYc/maxresdefault.jpg

A young girl, set to take her vows to become a nun, is sent to her only living relative in an attempt to find out who she really is and where she comes from.

I spent the better part of 30 minutes trying to assertain when this movie's set. They never come out and mentions a date, but based on technology, a comment the aunt makes about being a prosecutor in the fifties, and talk of "the war", I'm guessig we're somewhere in the mid 60s, early 70s. Ida seems to be around the 16-20 range, so that fits somewhat. Also take into considaration that she must be old enough to actually leagaly be able to take the vows and I'm pretty sure I'm correct (edit: Saw on imdb that it's set in '62, so allmost correct). Side-track, I know, but it was honestly the first thing that I thought of when the film started. On to the more central stuff.

Ida travels to her relatvie, an aunt, and asks her why she never collected her from the orphanage. As an answer, she says that she didn't think Ida would've liked living with her, but I think it's more the aunt's problem than Ida's that prevented the move. In an offhand comment the aunt turns Ida's world upside down when she informes Ida she's jewish by birth, that her family was killed during the war and when Ida want to visit their graves she tells her there isn't any. Cue the begining of the movies main plot wherein the two newly aquainted relatives set out on a road trip to the family's old home in search of the people who can tell them where their family's been hidden.

To me, this is a story of two parts. That Ida should find out where she comes from is of course important and is what drives the plot of the movie, but I don't think that's the primary reason the mother superior thought to send Ida off to her aunt. I think it's about Ida making an informed decision about her future. She was left at a church as an infant, raised in a orphanage run by the church and then sent to a convent where she is when the movie begins. The church is all she has ever known. It's not odd, then, that she would keep doing what she's been doing all her life. The mother superior then, I think, wants her to experience somthing other than what she's allways had, both for her own sake as well for her future work should she come back. If she knows nothing of the outside world, how will she be able to relate to it? The aunt made a comment about it I can agree with, regarding the vows Ida's about to take:

Wanda: Do you have sinful thoughts sometimes?
Anna: Yes.
Wanda: About carnal love?
Anna: No.
Wanda: That's a shame. You should try, otherwise what sort of sacrifice are these vows of yours?

If you don't see it as a sacifice (or rather, if you've never exprienced what it is you're giving up), how is it a sacrifice? The answer is that it isn't one. She needs to be thrust into the world she hasn't been part of and get a taste of it, a feel for it. Only then can she make an informed decision about whether she wants to return to her convent or if she thinks she can a better place in another part of the world.

We don't really see what she decides in the end, but now, at least, for better or worse, she can make a choice for herself.

MovieMeditation

10-16-16, 10:43 AM

I saw Bringing Up Baby yesterday and before I read anybody else's comments and reviews on the film, I'll just say my opinion short (edit: well, you know me... it was supposed to be short alright?!) and direct (scratch that, detailed), so the reading doesn't cloud my own thoughts...

I read nothing about this going in, I didn't know that Baby referred to a leopard or that it was a screwball comedy. All I knew or guessed at least was that it was a romantic comedy and that it got a bad rep here for whatever reason. Again, I have not yet read anything so I don't know how harsh people have been towards it, but I can say I definitely didn't dislike it.

I thought it was rather hilarious at times, to be honest. I had a great time. A movie that had no stops along the way and was just one long series of unfortunate evens to laugh at with perfect comedic timing from the main characters. Hepburn could become annoying at times but in the beginning especially I did like her unawareness and idiotic behavior though she did became annoying towards the end. I think she acted her part perfectly though, so honestly it's probably the character that annoyed me. Grant was great and apart from North by Northwest I sometimes dislike him a little in movies. Here he was really good and funny to follow.

The downpoint of the movie though, is that it is rather silly, over the top, drawn out and relying on implausable scenarios to make us laugh and have the characters act as the script wants them to and not what would seem proper. As with all screwball comedies I'll gladly laugh along with it, but even for those standards this was a little too much to ride along with from beginning to end. Also, dispite the constantly moving high pace was admirable it also didn't give much breathing room for anything else and it held the movie back a bit.

Nevertheless, an admirable accomplishment and amusing ride that actually had A LOT of laughs, which is a given since the movie tries to break the laughs-per-minute record from beginning to end, whether successfully so or not.

A good nomination for sure and if I was 10 years old living in the 30s this would be the best movie ever (the reason I don't talk in general is because 10 year olds today would never give such movie a change unless they were brought up by a cinephile) :p sad and true. Also, this is a compliment, I'm not trying to be rude and dubbing the movie immature and childish in ways only children and people without proper intellect can enjoy. But for children end childish souls this movie is golden, for people who can run along most silly comedy if it's also funny and clever at times it can also be really good, while people who can't appreciate or find silly things funny then this is probably not for them. Oh, and one last thing of the more negative matter; I didn't enjoy the on-screen handling of animals, it actually took me a bit out the movie - especially because i don't dare think how they were treated off-camera...

I enjoyed it quite a bit though. So here's the love you were looking for, Camo! ;)

3.5+

rauldc14

10-16-16, 04:12 PM

Awesome MM! I'm not sure how I will like it the second time around but I would doubt to hating it.

Guaporense

10-16-16, 07:23 PM

I have a sinking feeling that my nom (The Flowers of War) is going to scrape the bottom of the list:( That sucks as I really love this movie and believe in it's story of morality trumping violence.

I felt the opposite, the action scenes while well done, were the least important part of the story. For me it was the conflict between the school girls and prostitutes and the eventual mutually respect that came out of it.

Don't worry I will have it very high in mine. ;) I found it to be among the most entertaining films of the entire set.

MovieMeditation

10-16-16, 07:26 PM

Don't worry I will have it very high in mine. ;) I love it only for the Chinese/Japanese culture because that's all I love
Fixed! :up:

Guaporense

10-16-16, 07:27 PM

All right, watched all the movies, here are my ratings:

IDA - 3/5
Ronin - 4/5 (it's a very standard action movie, IMO I don't feel like it's an ideal movie for this type of competition (usually dominated by dramas) but it's very well made and I included it into my top 25 action movies list and is one of the most entertaining movies in here)
The Flowers of War - 4/5
Bashu - 5/5
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - 3.5/5
The Dead Girl - 2/5
Samurai Rebellion - 4.5/5 (my "artistic" rating my "entertainment value" rating is 2.5/5)
Moonrise Kingdom - 4/5
Her - 4/5
Embrace of the Serpent - 4.5/5
Good Bye Lenin! - 4.5/5
Bringing Up Baby - 2.5/5

Topsy

10-16-16, 07:29 PM

yeah i havent seen anyone being overly negative about it CR.one of my favourites aswell! :)
mine hasnt gone over so well,but i was prepared for that :lol:

Guaporense

10-16-16, 07:29 PM

Fixed! :up:

Lol. If someone likes something that's not murican/western more than most stuff that's murican/western, then someone only likes "not murican/western" culture? :rolleyes:

Anyway, Flowers of War felt very Hollywoodish to me anyway.

Topsy

10-16-16, 07:30 PM

MovieMeditation

10-16-16, 07:34 PM

Lol. If someone likes something that's not murican/western more than most stuff that's murican/western, then someone only likes "not murican/western" culture? :rolleyes:

Anyway, Flowers of War felt very Hollywoodish to me anyway.
:D:p

Anyways, despite not having seen it yet, it does seem very "Hollywoodish"... guess I'll find out soon enough

Guaporense

10-16-16, 07:38 PM

you have to send them in order to camo :D

I will wait a while until I get my feelings for these movies to converge to their "steady state levels".

gbgoodies

10-17-16, 01:20 AM

Here's an interesting article, and it includes a nice surprise for someone who nominated a movie in this HoF:

IMDb Founder Col Needham Reveals His Top 10 Favorite Films for First Time Ever (Exclusive) (http://www.thewrap.com/imdb-founder-col-needham-reveals-his-top-10-favorite-films-for-first-time-ever-exclusive/)

Check out the #5 movie on his list. :)

Guaporense

10-17-16, 02:49 AM

And I was all excited expecting Bashu to be there but there are only Hollywood movies.

Camo

10-17-16, 05:31 AM

Well two people (other than me) have good taste in this thread and one of them isn't even a member of the site :D. Someone get Col Needham to board here!

Seriously though thanks for that gbg nice to see something positive about it and so glad you like it MM as i said to you in the post comment :)

Camo

10-17-16, 05:32 AM

Also it isn't a surprise, Bringing Up Baby is a well loved movie outside this thread/maybe this site.

Clazor

10-17-16, 10:57 AM

The Flowers of War (2011) Dir. Yimou Zhang

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/The_Flowers_of_War_english_poster.jpg

An american mortician arrives to a church in the middle of the japaneese invasion of mainland China. Inside he finds a group of young, female student hiding from a very bad fate. Soon he's also host to a group of courtisans seeking refuge. With the japaneese army banging on the gate, will he leave them to their inevitable end, or will he take on a role he never imagined?

...Well...you've probably allready seen the movie, so you know the answer to that.

Nanking, 1937. John Miller (Christian Bale) finds himself dressing up as a priest in an attempt to protect a group of 13 year old female students and a gang of courtesans from more than likely being raped and murdered (not necessarily in that order) by the japaneese troops scouring the area.

Christian Bale goes through a smooth transition al a Otto Schindler, from douch to hero in about an hour. Otherwise he's a thouroghly good performer, like most of his roles. The only thing I can think of is that he didn't interact with the girls or the courtesans all that much. He talks to one from each group, but we never see much of a group interaction. But then, talking for any length of time with 24 people would make for a very long movie. I thought the girls where well cast and acted naturally, at least as far as acting kids go. The main girl, Shu (Zhang Xinyi), made an inpact with an powerful and honest performance, especially in the scene where the girls climb the church tower intent on making sure the soldiers won't hurt them again. Not quite as impressed with the head of the courtesans, Yu Mo (Ni Ni), but a good performance for all that. As for the rest of the courtesans, they blend together for me, with the exeption of three, and then because one's an idiot and the other two gets brutally raped and murdered (again, not necessarily in that order).

The japaneese soldiers are, quite understandably, demonized in the movie. If they're not running around trying to rape 13 year old girls, they're put to guard said girls to keep them from harm...until the bigwigs can get them and RAPE THEM TO DEATH! Other than that it's cold shoulders at plees of mercy and less obvious forms of malice, like telling a girl choir that they're going to perform at a party, but not mentioning that they're expected to provide other forms of "entertainment" as well. Simply put, you could've painted them red and given them horns for all the subtlety this movie provides.

Is this a good story? No, it's f****** terrible, but it's ment to be. Not much cause for giggles when someone's getting killed. Is it told well? Yes, about as well as a story like this can be told when you have to adapt a historical event to fit the basic tennants of screenwriting. I'm not ready to believe that every japaneese soldier raped and butchered every chineese person they encountered. Nor am I ready to buy that just because Bale's a white priest he was totally untouchable. If a frenzied soldier on the hunt for a woman to rape came across one and anyone not a fellow soldier or a officer tried to stop him, that someone would be dead.

Note though: I am not familiar with this part of history. It CAN be true that the japaneese where utter f****** basterds whitout any redeeming qualities, and that the chineese people where the best of folk. It CAN also be true that the japaneese soldiers wouldn't kill a white priest. My point is, I don't know. All I'm saying is that I don't trust the filmmaker to let the truth get in the way of a good story. Allways check the actual facts. That said, from what I've recently been reading, this might actually be a belivable representation. But with my reservations above still standing.

Citizen Rules

10-17-16, 01:38 PM

The Flowers of War (2011) Dir. Yimou Zhang

The japaneese soldiers are, quite understandably, demonized in the movie. If they're not running around trying to rape 13 year old girls, they're put to guard said girls to keep them from harm...until the bigwigs can get them and RAPE THEM TO DEATH! OH JOY! Other than that it's cold shoulders at plees of mercy and less obvious forms of malice, like telling a girl choir that they're going to perform at a party, but not mentioning that they're expected to provide other forms of "entertainment" as well. Simply put, you could've painted them red and given them horns for all the subtlety this movie provides.

Is this a good story? No, it's f****** terrible, but it's ment to be. Not much cause for giggles when someone's getting killed. Is it told well? Yes, about as well as a story like this can be told when the creators are forced to paint the different sides in black and white to put the story across and have the audience root for the good guys throughout. Note though: I am not familiar with this part of history. It CAN be true that the japaneese where utter f****** basterds whitout any redeeming qualities, and that the chineese people where the best of folk. But life's seldom that simple, and neither are people. Most times there's a reason for the line of text that often pops up in the beginning of movies like this: BASED on a true story doesn't mean all you will see actually happend, or that it happened as shown. Clazor, with all due respect, it sounds like you're applying your own world view, to this movie, and that is causing you to have a PC conflict with the film.

Before you decide that the events shown in this movie is some kind of propaganda BS, you should read about the Rape of Nanking. It's one of the most brutality disgusting events in the course of history.

The Nanking Massacre or Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking or Rape of Nanjing, was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing (then spelled Nanking), then the capital of the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The massacre occurred over a period of six weeks starting on December 13, 1937, the day that the Japanese captured Nanjing. During this period, soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army murdered Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants who numbered an estimated 40,000 to over 300,000,and perpetrated widespread rape and looting.
Link to full story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre)

.

Clazor

10-17-16, 01:41 PM

Ronin (1998) Dir. John Frankenheimer

https://raginggoodfellas.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/20131111-122117.jpg?w=584

I said earlier that I picked this movie without beeing really sure why, only that I knew I liked it. Well, now I can actually tell why I chose it. Because it's awesome!

If we start with what the movie's famous for, we can move to the rest. I loved the way they decided to shoot the chases, especially the second one, after they picked up the package from the post office. Four destinct types of shots were used, two external and two internal. the internal ones weren't anything special, but the external, the low shot from the front of the bumper(which is more common now, but kind of rare then) and the more static shots when the cars blew by. The interesting thing with those was the fact that they weren't static.They followed the cars, both vertically and horizontaly, in a way most filmmakers doesn't bother with. couple that with the fact that they actually took the time to show how someone would react towards their surrondings in a cramped area during a high-speed chase. They show Deidre manipulating the lights from within the car and then the effect that has on the outside. No filmmaker today would have bothered with that kind of warning to other motorists (other than maybe showing the driver mashing the horn) to be alert.

Finally, I really liked the fact that of the seven minutes the chase goes on, the fist four are totally without soundtrack. The only sounds are that of revving engines, people shouting and metal squealing as it's compacted in the crashes.

So, done, no more talk of cars and high-speed pursuit.

Guap might've had a point when he said that this pick wasn't optimal for a HoF, mainly because this is a movie where obscurity plays a major part. We don't know much about the characters because that's how they're designed. They're spies, mercenaries and criminals, a group of people who thrives on keeping personal info secret. The few things we get to know about Sam is that he's an CIA-agent, he's been shot before and he's got a soft spot for Grasshoppers. It doesn't leave much room for discussion. Or perhaps too much...depending on how you see it...What I'm getting at is it makes for a restrained performance when you don't have much to go on. That said, I did think De Niro, Reno, Skarsgård and McElhone did a good job with what they got. Skarsgårds dueling accents got a bit jumbled (he's a swede playing a german who worked for the KGB), so the german/russian was deliberate, but the swedish slipped in by accident. On the acting side I think De niros interaction with Reno and the frendship that forms between them are the thing that stands out most. It's the relationship that gets the most screen time and the one that gets the most depth.

Reno's friend with the miniatures allways reminds me of my grandfather. He's gone now, but every time I watch this I'm reminded of him and that makes me smile. I think it's somthing about the bushy eye brows and the beard, because Michael Lonsdale himself doesn't look very much like him. We get a dialouge here that might be the narrative center of the whole movie, the life of a mercenary seen through the filter of japaneese culture and how different it is for a "ronin" today compared to what it was then. De Niro scoffs at the honor based system and simply writes it off as "making the wrong choice." As I said, not one to waste words on elaboration.

The same can be said about the plot. It's a basic heist movie with a mid-point twist (so, a basic heist movie). It serves the movie and I like it.

To conclude, it's a personal favourite. A story with a slimed down, tight focus and a cast of talented people who does good work with what few detailes there is.

Clazor

10-17-16, 01:43 PM

And done. Now I'm finished with movies as well. Will send my ranked list sometime soon. Now to continue with the Sci-Fi watching.

Will of course still haunt the thread and contribute to discussion where I can.

rauldc14

10-17-16, 01:45 PM

Moonrise Kingdom

I nominated this movie because it is a symbol for me of not giving up on a director. In years past I really didn't care for Wes Anderson, after seeing The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel which are two movies that I really didn't care for at all. Yet I still seem to have movies from certain directors that I don't highly care for in which I like. I'm a bit of a Kubrick hater, but I really like Lolita and can appreciate 2001 for masterful filmmaking. Lynch has never been my guy but Eraserhead and Elephant Man are excellent. Tarantino has Jackie Brown which is his surprising favorite for me. And PTA has Magnolia. I almost gave up on Anderson but then there is a film like this which I really like (I also like Rushmore and Fox as well).

For Andersons quirkiness to work, I have to appreciate the story, and in this one, I do. I can somewhat relate to the characters feelings in this film. No, it's not realistic by any stretch of the imagination, but its a engaging story for me. I really like the characters , specifically Scout Master Ward and Suzy. Norton can be good if he's given the right role and I think Kara Hayward will be a star in the future.

We've already talked about the cinematography and camerawork, but I really think it's excellent. I love the vibrant colors that Wes Anderson uses to draw attention to his settings. The music and soundtrack and rock solid as well.

It's not anything I would call a masterpiece, but it tells me that deep down every filmmaker is capable of great things. Well, most of them anyways. Anderson, after starting 0-2 for me is now 3 for 5 and I'm looking forward to seeing a few more of his other films. This one will place really low (and Sean is to blame for it :p) but i hope that everyone can use this as a way of not giving up on directors or genres just because you didn't like the other films.

4

rauldc14

10-17-16, 01:50 PM

Miss Vicky

10-17-16, 01:53 PM

Is Embrace of the Serpent still eligible? Not trying to be an ass but we haven't heard from Swan much and I don't have a lot of free time for watching movies and don't want to watch that if I will have a hard time getting to others to begin with.

He claims he's going to finish, so I think right now it's still in. There's still just under two months to go before the deadline, so you could always put it off for later.

I chose to just go ahead and watch it early on because I was interested in seeing it anyway, but given Swan's history when it comes to participating in things like this, I'm not counting on him finishing.

cricket

10-17-16, 01:57 PM

I'm saving Embrace the Serpent for last, just to see how it plays out. That leaves me with Goodbye Lenin and a rewatch of Ronin.

Clazor

10-17-16, 02:05 PM

Clazor, with all due respect, it sounds like you're applying your own world view, to this movie, and that is causing you to have a PC conflict with the film.

Before you decide that the events shown in this movie is some kind of propaganda BS, you should read about the Rape of Nanking. It's one of the most brutality disgusting events in the course of history.

That was kind of what I was getting at when I said that I was unfamiliar with this point in history. It could have happened as described here or it could be partly fictionalized. I didn't know. But you're partly right. When I red through what I'd written it did sound like I was calling BS on the movie. This was not my intent. I mearly tried to show that things are rarely this one-sided. I can't believe that there wasn't one single japaneese soldier who looked the other way when finding som kids hiding in a house rather than gun them down or one officer who stopped his soldiers from raping a deffenceless woman. I will edit my review to better show my actual intent.

Citizen Rules

10-17-16, 02:09 PM

That was kind of what I was getting at when I said that I was unfamiliar with this point in history. It could have happened as described here or it could be partly fictionalized. I didn't know. But you're partly right. When I red through what I'd written it did sound like I was calling BS on the movie. This was not my intent. I mearly tried to show that things are rarely this one-sided. I can't believe that there wasn't one single japaneese soldier who looked the other way when finding som kids hiding in a house rather than gun them down or one officer who stopped his soldiers from raping a deffenceless woman. I will edit my review to better show my actual intent. Please don't edit your review. We're all entitled to our own opinions. I don't want you to change it.

CosmicRunaway

10-17-16, 02:24 PM

From what I knew about that time in history, I figured the general behaviour of the soldiers was fairly accurate, I just didn't like how the actors performed those atrocities (particularly the rape scenes). Like I said in my little review, they played it far too goofy for my taste.

They were grinning like maniacs and practically making cartoon noises. Perhaps that was done to undercut the brutality for audiences, but it was just too tonally different from the rest of the film for me. I would've preferred if they played it completely serious, because as it is it does kind of seem like the film makers were intentionally trying to depict the Japanese in a more negative matter by exaggerating their actions, but that wasn't the case at all.

Citizen Rules

10-17-16, 02:31 PM

I can't believe that there wasn't one single japaneese soldier who looked the other way when finding som kids hiding in a house rather than gun them down or one officer who stopped his soldiers from raping a deffenceless woman. Have you ever studied any history of genocidal actions in school? Sadly, there's been many such events. In Rwanda one ethnic group hated the other ethnic group so much that they murdered between 1/2 to 1 million people, just because of their ethnicity and hatred. This killing was mostly done 'up close and personal' with machetes... and many women and children were hacked to death. This wasn't a 1000 years ago either it happened in the mid 1990's.

The Japanese and Chinese had a long history of ethnic hatred for each other. The Japanese army did not adhere to western standards of humanity, but held to a belief based on their ancient Bushido code that said, that anyone who surrenders is lower than vermin and deserves to be treated with disrespect.

I know in today's world people would like to believe stuff like this never happened, but it did...and if we don't remember our history we face making the same mistakes again.

Clazor

10-17-16, 02:58 PM

Please don't edit your review. We're all entitled to our own opinions. I don't want you to change it.

Not changing my opinion, just making it clear what I actually thought.

Clazor

10-17-16, 03:14 PM

Have you ever studied any history of genocidal actions in school? Sadly, there's been many such events. In Rwanda one ethnic group hated the other ethnic group so much that they murdered between 1/2 to 1 million people, just because of their ethnicity and hatred. This killing was mostly done 'up close and personal' with machetes... and many women and children were hacked to death. This wasn't a 1000 years ago either it happened in the mid 1990's.

The Japanese and Chinese had a long history of ethnic hatred for each other. The Japanese army did not adhere to western standards of humanity, but held to a belief based on their ancient Bushido code that said, that anyone who surrenders is lower than vermin and deserves to be treated with disrespect.

I know in today's world people would like to believe stuff like this never happened, but it did...and if we don't remember our history we face making the same mistakes again.

I did study this topic in school, as a matter of fact, we red about Rawanda and a few other event such as these throughout modern time. I'm not saying that I don't believe it happend, I'm just saying that I can't buy that every single one of them took part. We have examples of people who, in situations like this, choose to help instead of just partaking. We had Rusesabagina in Rawanda, we had Schindler in germany. They are rare, I grant you. And there are probably some we've not even heard about because what they did was very small or it didn't make any difference. What I'm talking about is just one soldier doing somthing so small as to not rape a woman or not shoot a child he comes across. If that seems childish or deluded to you, then so be it. I can't fathom a platoon or an army wherein everyone goes in for 100% raping and murdering women, men and children. Again, if that seems childish, so be it.

Camo

10-17-16, 03:27 PM

Why do they have to show the few Japanese soldiers that did good? I'm not disputing there was some, i just don't see how it was vital that they show the few good apples. If the director chose to show that then fine but it is a very weird thing in my opinion to complain about in a film designed to show the brutality of a historical atrocity.

Also i didn't even know this was about the rape of nanking until this discussion started. I have it ready to watch going to watch a few sci fi films first though.

Citizen Rules

10-17-16, 04:27 PM

...I can't fathom a platoon or an army wherein everyone goes in for 100% raping and murdering women, men and children... I agree with you...there are always good people in any war, that's true.

But in this movie, we don't see all of the Japanese army as it's not their story, nor is it the entire story of the rape of Nanking. It's the story of the school girls and the Qin Huai River prostitutes. The few Japanese army that we see and even Christian Bale are there to move the events forward, so that the girls story can be told.

The real story is the courage of the Chinese school girls, the prostitutes and the altar boy. The prostitutes who are seen as frivolous and self center at first, learn courage and respect from the school girls, thus making their final choice a very brave one. The film is about personal courage and sacrifice for others. At least that's how I see it.

MovieMeditation

10-17-16, 04:30 PM

There is lot of bold talk in here but I don't know if it is all bold statements as well. :p

Citizen Rules

10-17-16, 04:45 PM

http://cdn.tabnak.ir/files/fa/news_albums/626377/25115/resized/resized_637146_384.jpg
Bashu, The Little Stranger (1990)

I liked it! A very cool nomination for a HoF. I've never seen a film from Iran before...now I have:p...I thought it was really neat to see actual sites and people from Iran. I had no idea that they could get snow? And I was surprised to see greenery and even ferns!

The opening title credits with the planes and the moaning sounds hand me scratching me head as to what the hell kind of film I was about to watch. But...after a few minutes I warmed up to the movie and especially the woman who took care of Bashu. I thought she was a darn good actresses. I believed I was watching the real thing as if it was a documentary.

The actor who played Bashu, deserves an Iranian equivalent of an Oscar. He was really, really good at doing the hard to do emotionally scenes. I actually like all the people in the movie and I liked seeing their village and the meetings they had.

I thought the story was a good one and I have to say I didn't realize Iran was so modern in the way the woman Naii was portrayed. She was strong, she took charge, she spoke her mind. I liked that.

A hard film to find, but I'm very glad it was nominated.

Clazor

10-17-16, 05:12 PM

But in this movie, we don't see all of the Japanese army as it's not their story, nor is it the entire story of the rape of Nanking. It's the story of the school girls and the Qin Huai River prostitutes. The few Japanese army that we see and even Christian Bale are there to move the events forward, so that the girls story can be told.

The real story is the courage of the Chinese school girls, the prostitutes and the altar boy. The prostitutes who are seen as frivolous and self center at first, learn courage and respect from the school girls, thus making their final choice a very brave one. The film is about personal courage and sacrifice for others. At least that's how I see it.

Absolutley, couldn't agree more.

Clazor

10-17-16, 06:05 PM

Hey, Camo!

You gonna clean out your inbox? I tried to PM my ballot, but the answer comes up as your inbox's full!

Guaporense

10-18-16, 12:59 AM

Glad you liked my nom Citizen. Bashu is a really special movie.

neiba

10-18-16, 08:21 AM

Ronin (John Frankenheimer, 1998)

A very nice action movie! As someone already said, it's a non-typical HoF movie, which is mostly dominated by dramas, but it's a good change in genre with a lot of quality to it.
I like DeNiro's and Jean Reno's perfomances, the script is solid, the action scenes are really well executed, particularly that last big car chase, but I wished it had more content.
Also, Sean Bean's character was there doing what exactly? I thought he was going to die as usual and I spent the entire film waiting for him to appear again...

rating_3 +

rauldc14

10-18-16, 02:08 PM

Ronin

This was a pretty mediocre film for me. I thought that Robert DeNiro did well but I wasn't at all impressed with the supporting cast, including Reno who was just a character that I didn't care for. Some of the action scenes dragged on too long for me and most of them didn't have me on the edge of my seat. There were a few solid sequences, but in total not many. The story itself almost seemed like it was a bit to simple and I felt some of it was predictable. It just didn't hold my interest well enough. Sorry Clazor. It wasn't a bad film just nothing that drew my interest.

2.5

Clazor

10-18-16, 05:03 PM

CosmicRunaway

10-18-16, 05:39 PM

Clazor

10-18-16, 06:12 PM

I've been meaning to watch Ronin for a few days now, but since I'm trying to finish two time-sensitive projects (one for my mom's birthday this Sunday which is incredibly frustrating and I regret agreeing to do it, the other being my Halloween costume) and have also been working more hours than usual, I haven't found the time yet this week.

After that I think I'll watch Embrace the Seprent. Then it's just Bashu and Ida left, unless I've forgotten about something.

*Checking the list*

Nope, you look good, Doesn't seem to have missed anything movie related. You still have over a month left to watch the movies, so don't stress, finish the essentials and then take care of the (relativley) unimportant stuff. We'll still be here when you get back. ;)

Camo

10-19-16, 06:51 PM

Guap sent the third list after Miss Vicky and Clazor. Couple of surprises so far but i expect them to change when more lists come in. Remember you have til the 10th of December, plenty of time so there's no rush.

After i watch both of these Frankenstein movies i think i'm gonna watch The Flowers of War and Good Bye Lenin! to finish mine.

Citizen Rules

10-19-16, 06:54 PM

Is Swan still in? I'm done except I was waiting to see what happened with Embrace of the Serpent.

MovieMeditation

10-19-16, 07:55 PM

Is Swan still in? I'm done except I was waiting to see what happened with Embrace of the Serpent.
Yeah, he hasn't really been in here much, has he?

I see he posted thoughts of Her, but not any of the others... I really hope he stays in, I like Embrace a lot. And of course, he PROMISED that he definitely most certainly wouldn't drop out (seems like I heard a little Swan sing about that before though) :p

HOW FAR ARE YOU, SWAN!!?!?

Camo

10-19-16, 07:57 PM

I've messaged him about it. He isn't on right now, when i hear back i'll post here. Or maybe he will before that i dunno.

rauldc14

10-19-16, 08:09 PM

He won't finish this or silents probably. Which sucks because I really liked Sherlock Jr. A lot the second time around.

MovieMeditation

10-19-16, 09:29 PM

Alright, I just read my way through all the reviews of both Bringing Up Baby, The Dead Girl and Good Bye, Lenin! (that was some good reading!)

The latter I just watched today. I will post thoughts tomorrow. :up:

That's two movies left now. Flowers and Bashu. I really don't look forward to the latter, but it might surprise me. I also plan on a rewatch of Embrace, but I'm saving that for last, especially since I'm not sure how Swan is doing with this HoF... oh, and I promised something about a last minute rewatch of Samurai Rebellion now didn't I? ;)

Anyways, I feel like my pace is solid. As stated I hope to finish all movies (maybe except rewatches) this week.

rauldc14

10-19-16, 09:38 PM

You the man Meds! I'm the slacker this time.

rauldc14

10-19-16, 09:41 PM

I'll watch The Dead Girl next. Is that one on YouTube?

cricket

10-19-16, 09:48 PM

I'll watch The Dead Girl next. Is that one on YouTube?

https://youtu.be/i7Otj0cTk1Y

rauldc14

10-19-16, 09:49 PM

Thanks Cricket. I thought someone.said that it was.

MovieMeditation

10-19-16, 09:53 PM

You the man Meds! I'm the slacker this time.
You should get your old turtle avatar back. :p - or at least get up in that water stream to Sydney!

Nah man, kidding, from what I've heard, seen and experienced, you've done a lot of impressive things involving HoFs, lists, games and whatnot. I'm just glad I can finally have a round in the front while the champion is having a nap. :D

Citizen Rules

10-19-16, 10:00 PM

You know what was cool about Raul's old turtle avatar is it had the same expression as his George Clooney The Descendants avatar did.

Guaporense

10-20-16, 01:27 AM

Just send in my list but I will comment on other people's reviews.

Camo

10-20-16, 05:17 AM

Swan dropped out. So Embrace is out.

MovieMeditation

10-20-16, 09:50 AM

Swan dropped out. So Embrace is out.
I probably shouldn't be mad, but I kind of am.

Next time I would recommend Swan does as I (initially) did and act as a joker so he's not bound to anything. That way he can see if he can actually finish it. I don't know, it just seems like he has joined a few HoFs by now, promising that "this time he definitely won't drop out" and he does...

It is especially a shame because I think Embrace of the Serpent is one of the most interesting picks in a HoF...

rauldc14

10-20-16, 11:15 AM

I shouldn't be mad but I am too. Thankfully I didn't watch it because I'm on a time crunch.

And with only having 7 silent films I would have thought that to be manageable for joining that one.

Camo

10-20-16, 02:30 PM

Citizen sent the fourth list in. The results are absolutely not what i was expecting so far.

I'm going to either watch Flowers of War tonight or tomorrow.

Clazor

10-20-16, 03:45 PM

Too Bad. While Embrace wasn't my favourite, it was still interesting. But then, if he feels he has to drop out, nothing to do about it. Still, a shame.

MovieMeditation

10-20-16, 03:55 PM

Citizen sent the fourth list in. The results are absolutely not what i was expecting so far.

I'm going to either watch Flowers of War tonight or tomorrow.
Same :up:

Camo

10-20-16, 03:57 PM

After the first three lists Embrace of the Serpent was in 8th place out of 12.

Clazor

10-20-16, 04:45 PM

How do you compute that? Does each placement get a numerical value and you go from there, or what?

Camo

10-20-16, 04:57 PM

There was 12 movies (now 11) so your #1 gets 12 points, your #2 gets 11, etc down to your #12 getting 1 point.

Camo

10-20-16, 05:13 PM

Mostly so i know how everybody is doing without asking i added everyones progress to this post - http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=1578250#post1578250

I went by the writeups in the first post scrolling through that many i could've easily miscounted something so if i've got your amount wrong tell me and i'll fix it. Also if someone hasn't done a writeup for their own nom yet i just gave them that anyway because i know it's not uncommon for people to leave out their nom for time purposes or whatever, for instance Topsy has only done 4 writeups but i gave her 5 because she's obviously already seen The Dead Girl.

Doubt anyone will care about this other than me just thought i'd say in case people were wondering how far everyone is. And it's my third post in the thread so you remember where it is.

Guaporense

10-20-16, 06:04 PM

Oh, so you assume people had already watched stuff they nominated?

I loved Embrace the Serpent. Why Swan doesn't watch the movies? Movies are entertaining so it's not like it's a huge burden to watch these.

rauldc14

10-20-16, 06:12 PM

Swan doesn't like movies

Camo

10-20-16, 06:21 PM

Oh, so you assume people had already watched stuff they nominated?

I know they have. The only person it wouldn't surprise me if they hadn't is you, and you claim you have. The Docs HOF is the only one i'm aware of that people nominated stuff they hadn't seen; you and Cricket i believe which was understandable since neither of you had seen alot of docs you liked at the time at least if i remember correctly. Nominating something you haven't seen for a General HOF is absurd; if someone did that they'd always be the weirdo of the forum to me.

MovieMeditation

10-20-16, 06:22 PM

Swan doesn't like movies
Some say, he is actually the grinch of cinephiles...

All we know is... HE'S CALLED THE SWAN!

cricket

10-20-16, 06:24 PM

Camo that's right, I hadn't seen my nom for the docs HoF, and also for the Silent Era HoF for the same reason.

Camo

10-20-16, 06:24 PM

He's watched over 20 films since this HOF started. Just not the movies in the HOF.

Camo

10-20-16, 06:25 PM

Camo that's right, I hadn't seen my nom for the docs HoF, and also for the Silent Era HoF for the same reason.

If i joined the Silent HOF i would've did the same thing.

MovieMeditation

10-20-16, 06:36 PM

Movies Watched:

MM - 8/11
Nah, I did 9/11.

No wait, I mean... I wasn't behind the terror attack or anything, it's just...

Argh dammit, I just blew it there, didn't I? Wait, not like I blew it like that! You know what I mean, it's plane and simple -uh, I mean plain and simple AARGH!!! Okay, I give up...

The point I'm trying to make is just, I did 9/11 MOVIES, Camo, so please fix that. Thank you. :bored:

seanc

10-20-16, 06:38 PM

Too soon

Camo

10-20-16, 06:43 PM

MovieMeditation

10-20-16, 06:51 PM

Fixed. I counted again and the writeups including Ida which you haven't done one for come to 8. So can i ask which one i'm missing from the first post, i've obviously forgot to add it and i'd like to? Is it Good Bye Lenin!, Flowers of War or Bashu?

Here,
Alright, I just read my way through all the reviews of both Bringing Up Baby, The Dead Girl and Good Bye, Lenin! (that was some good reading!)

The latter I just watched today. I will post thoughts tomorrow. :up: That's two movies left now. Flowers and Bashu.

Camo

10-20-16, 06:52 PM

haha. Good to know i didn't miss it at least.

Miss Vicky

10-20-16, 07:10 PM

Huh, I wasn't aware that people had nominated films they haven't seen in other HOF.

Way back when Swan and I had discussed co-hosting an Animation HOF I was considering nominating The Adventures of Prince Achmed even though I'd not yet seen it. I'm kind of glad that didn't happen since I've seen it now and I respect it but don't actually like it.

Camo

10-20-16, 07:13 PM

Honestly sometimes i want to nominate things i haven't seen so i'm not so heartbroken when everyone doesn't love them haha.

The Westerns HOF was awesome, everybody loved my noms. Citizen had some minor problems with Once...West but that was about it. Simpler times :bawling:

MovieMeditation

10-20-16, 07:16 PM

I thought y'all were playing!

Are there seriously people who nominate stuff they haven't seen? What's the point then? That's just weird...

Topsy

10-20-16, 07:21 PM

Ive seen 6 :)
And two of the ones left are rewatches,not that that matters.

Camo

10-20-16, 07:25 PM

I thought y'all were playing!

Are there seriously people who nominate stuff they haven't seen? What's the point then? That's just weird...

Cricket and Guap did it for the Docs Hof, they wanted to join to get ideas for the Docs Countdown which was coming up at the time but neither had seen alot of them so they nominated ones they wanted to see anyway. I think it's fine in those circumstances, but Guap seemed to be suggesting someone may have nominated something for this which they hadn't seen which is absurd since it could be literally any movie you've seen.

Camo

10-20-16, 07:27 PM

Topsy, which one am i missing then so i can add it? I have The Dead Girl, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Her, Ronin and Bashu?

Topsy

10-20-16, 07:31 PM

Flowers of war :)

Camo

10-20-16, 07:33 PM

Not sure how i missed that i've added it now.

MovieMeditation

10-20-16, 07:33 PM

See,that's the problem about making exceptions... also, though I can partially see how it worked with the Docs HoF, I see no reason not just to participate as a joker without nominating anything and then watching all the movies and possibly get the chance to vote in the end. That would have been my ruling at least.

But there will always be problems... I mean, HoFs and the likes are all based on trust... people who nominate stuff they haven't seen or don't watch the movies are freaking a*sholes, but we can't do nothing about it really. We can tell people they have to do write-ups, but honestly it wouldn't be hard to pull a good write-up out of available material online.

It gets me mad that there is people doing sh*t like that and why they want to do such stupidity I don't know... but that's how it is.

Topsy

10-20-16, 07:52 PM

i didnt know we did write ups of our own noms though.i cant remember that i did last time,if i did.But i can do that tomorrow!

Camo

10-20-16, 08:10 PM

You don't have to if you don't want to, as i said some don't. Also if there's a film you've seen recent enough or enough times that there's no point in re-watching it you don't have to either. For example somehow i've managed to watch Moonrise Kingdom three times within a year, the way i see it all a fourth watch could do is hurt my enjoyment of it so i'm not bothering with it.

Citizen Rules

10-20-16, 08:23 PM

Cricket and Guap did it for the Docs Hof, they wanted to join to get ideas for the Docs Countdown which was coming up at the time but neither had seen alot of them so they nominated ones they wanted to see anyway. I think it's fine in those circumstances,... I think that's fine too.

Cricket nominated a film in the Silent Hof, that he hadn't seen and I was very happy to watch it. He's a good Hof member and always completes the Hofs. So no worries.:p

Camo

10-20-16, 08:35 PM

If i was in that HOF i would have had to do the same thing. I would've chosen Sunrise if it hadn't been picked, or something else by Murnau, Eisenstein or Keaton.

Actually i could've picked City Lights which is one of my favourite films, just realizing that now haha.

seanc

10-20-16, 08:39 PM

Finish this HOF or Camo will go Stringer Bell on your a$$

Camo

10-20-16, 08:43 PM

Finish this HOF or Camo will go Stringer Bell on your a$$

Look in the Show Your Avatar thread, i almost changed it to something even more menacing ;)

MovieMeditation

10-21-16, 01:25 PM

GOOD BYE, LENIN!

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsrotu6MDP1r44akgo1_500.png

Films based on factual events are never easy to execute, especially because people are often devided both emotionally and politically, which makes it hard to find the golden path between something that is purely subjective and objective safe to tell. 'Good Bye, Lenin!' takes place in the late 1989 and covers the fall of the Berlin wall, as well as the liberation, modernization and globalization of Germany, notably East Germany. Another glowing problem with adapting actual events into cinema, is how you choose to tell the story, so that it is clear and consistent without being convoluded, though you also want to make sure you aren't too straight-forward, explaining everything, so that you do not bore nor insult the audience that lived through it or had enough knowledge of it beforehand...

Thankfully, 'Good Bye, Lenin!' does a fine job explaining the situation, without ever feeling like boring exposition, and even more so equips itself with a nicely balanced satirical input. The central plot is a perfect set-up for satire and the idea of it all is quite brilliant. Germany did change drastically in just a few years, months even, so the idea of someone falling into a coma and missing it all is hilarious. Generally, the story was nicely paced and the humor well placed, but unfortunately not all characters were equally interesting and not every sub-plot was worth pointing out. The plot about the father felt tacked on and generally unneccessary, though it could have been a nice addition if it had been developed better. I feel like the character of the mother could have used a little more background story, since the story is very much based on her personality as well as her social, political and personal point of view. The girlfriend of our main character was probably the flattest of all and the boyfriend of the sister wasn't miles ahead either. I enjoyed the friend with a movie director dream and that created some good fun apart from being a prominent part in the story.

Overall, this was an interesting, amusing and thought stimulating film about changing times, nostalgia and different viewpoints. It was a fun movie to follow and I thought they balanced the satire pretty much perfectly. I loved a handful of selected scenes, in particular the one with the leg-less statue of Lenin being flown away by a helicopter, which was a nice metaphor for what was going on and what the movie wanted to put forward. I also loved the great lengths of which the main character had to go through to create this illusion or alternate world for her mother, which in turn turned out to be a bigger personal journey than he originally intended.

3+

- Totally out of context, the part about the main character going to great lengths to keep things hidden and create a false reality reminded me of the brilliant Danish comedy called 'Lotto' (Lottery). It is about a couple who wins the lottery with the ticket from the company lotto pool and decides to keep the money for themselves. Hilarious movie, though without nearly as much depth as 'Good Bye, Lenin!'...

Camo

10-21-16, 01:28 PM

Your picture isn't working MM, for me at least.

MovieMeditation

10-21-16, 01:32 PM

Your picture isn't working MM, for me at least.
You are right. It did just before though... I'll fix it.

CosmicRunaway

10-21-16, 01:34 PM

Great write-up! :up:

I started to read the post when the time stamp read "1 minute ago", and the picture was working then. It's still working for me now as well. Strange.

CosmicRunaway

10-21-16, 01:47 PM

I loved a handful of selected scenes, in particular the one with the leg-less statue of Lenin being flown away by a helicopter, which was a nice metaphor for what was going on and what the movie wanted to put forward
I really liked that as well. I think of that scene whenever Lenin comes up in conversation, or I see a quote from him posted on the internet haha.

One of my favourite scenes in the film that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet (spoilers for the few of you who haven't seen it), is when Alex is showing his mom that final broadcast they made. Christiane is not watching the tv at all, because she's admiring her son instead. You can tell in that scene that she knows, and that she appreciates all the effort he put into the whole charade. For some reason I find it really touching, and a little heartbreaking as well, considering the event that follows.

MovieMeditation

10-21-16, 01:58 PM

I really liked that as well. I think of that scene whenever Lenin comes up in conversation, or I see a quote from him posted on the internet haha.

One of my favourite scenes in the film that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet (spoilers for the few of you who haven't seen it), is when Alex is showing his mom that final broadcast they made. Christiane is not watching the tv at all, because she's admiring her son instead. You can tell in that scene that she knows, and that she appreciates all the effort he put into the whole charade. For some reason I find it really touching, and a little heartbreaking as well, considering the event that follows.
Yeah, that's a really nice touch as well.

Topsy

10-21-16, 02:05 PM

http://moviesmedia.ign.com/movies/image/article/751/751902/the-dead-girl-20061220042601825.jpg

THE DEAD GIRL

I saw this a few years ago and was surprised to not even having heard of it before considering all the famous names in it.I dont like usually like "mainstream" movies like this,or atleast they dont stick the way more raw and independent movies do.But I did really love this movie and one of the reasons is the ending scene which i found really chilling,knowing what happens to her next. I loved how they started out with her body and saved her story to last-that way you not only know what happens to her but those around her aswell,which some of you didnt like but for that made her segment even sadder.
I agree with some of you that didnt like the first part,i didnt have a problem with it but i wasnt a fan of date scene.But thats a woman so broken she cant handle normal affection which sort of also connects her to the dead girl.My favourite part is that of the sister-who cant get on with her life because of her missing sister,the sadness of actually hoping the dead girl was her sister just to get closure and how the little she was able to build her life together whilst she thought she had found her collapsed when it turned out it wasnt her.a very small glimpse of a pain too many have to endure. We never find out wether or not they end up finding her sister,which to me is perfect because the uncertainty is part of the segment-the never ending hunt for someone who might not even exist anymore.I also like the segment of the wife.
though i hated her.I know alot of elderly couples like them,where they bicker all the time and she resents him-and you wonder why she doesnt just leave? Starting your life over,at any age is no joke and too scary for most.Her burning all the evidence of her husbands crimes is understandable but not forgivable.

I think Brittany Murphy was great in this character,messed up girls was always her specialty,im sad shes not around anymore.

Camo

10-21-16, 02:42 PM

If anybody's reviews aren't in the first post tell me and i'll add them. Don't know if i've missed any more, as well as Topsy's Flowers of War one i forgot to add i just noticed i hadn't added my own Kiss Kiss Bang Bang one.

cricket

10-21-16, 02:46 PM

I wouldn't even call The Dead Girl mainstream, Topsy.

Camo

10-21-16, 02:50 PM

Me neither, it had a limited release in theatres. According to wiki:

It only ran for two weeks in US first-run theaters, and earned nearly all its revenue from overseas release

MovieMeditation

10-21-16, 02:52 PM

I wouldn't even call The Dead Girl mainstream, Topsy.
Me neither.

It mostly had an indie feel to it...

Topsy

10-21-16, 03:18 PM

in the way that it was filmed and made I felt it was pretty mainstream

Citizen Rules

10-21-16, 03:21 PM

It didn't seem mainstream to me. The general idea that mainstream is some how inferior to other styles of film making is nuts;)...Mainstream just means it's a more popular style of movie story telling, as it's the style that many people respond positively too.

Topsy

10-21-16, 03:28 PM

I havent said that there was anything negative about it,just that its movies that dont really stick with me personally.

Camo

10-21-16, 03:28 PM

I thought it was filmed and made just a step up from a TV Movie which i wouldn't call mainstream. I got an Indie feel from it as well.

Citizen Rules

10-21-16, 03:31 PM

I havent said that there was anything negative about it,just that its movies that dont really stick with me personally. Yea I know Topsy, I just wanted to throw that general statement out there. But it wasn't directly about your post.:)

Topsy

10-21-16, 03:31 PM

i didnt think so at all

Topsy

10-21-16, 03:32 PM

Yea I know Topsy, I just wanted to through that general statement out there. But not directly about your post.:)

yup thats fine CR :D mainstream is mainstream for a reason ;)

CosmicRunaway

10-21-16, 03:35 PM

My favourite part is that of the sister-who cant get on with her life because of her missing sister,the sadness of actually hoping the dead girl was her sister just to get closure and how the little she was able to build her life together whilst she thought she had found her collapsed when it turned out it wasnt her.a very small glimpse of a pain too many have to endure. We never find out wether or not they end up finding her sister,which to me is perfect because the uncertainty is part of the segment-the never ending hunt for someone who might not even exist anymore.
I think the "Sister" segment was my favourite as well, even though that story was not as relevant to the main narrative as the parts that followed. I thought her struggle was a little more interesting than the others, since she clearly wants to move on, but her family is holding her back. She finally get a taste of freedom, only to crash back down into depression when the uncertainty of the sister's fate comes back. It just seemed more tragic than the other stories (save for the "Dead Girl" finale) to me, which is why I think I like it the most.

CosmicRunaway

10-21-16, 03:37 PM

Also, I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and say that I didn't think the movie was mainstream. :cool:

Honestly though, I didn't think it was particularly mainstream either. I agree with everyone else's assertions that it had a more indie vibe to it.

MovieMeditation

10-21-16, 06:14 PM

Aaaand I'm officially done with the movies! :up:

- That said, I will keep my promise and rewatch Samurai Rebellion. I'll rewatch Embrace of the Serpent too, just because I like it and want to, but I'll probably send in a list before that since it doesn't matter with the latter...

Write-ups for the last few films to come...

CosmicRunaway

10-21-16, 06:23 PM

I was planning to watch Ronin this afternoon, but I ended up putting up Halloween decorations instead. It's a bit early, but I don't know, I was just feeling seasonal. It also motivated me to finish the last major part of my costume, so with that mostly out of the way, and the fact that I have an extra 2 days off next week (though that is subject to change), I should be able to finish watching my remaining movies as well. :yup:

Right now the plan is Ronin -> Ida -> Bashu, but I might watch Ida first depending on my mood when I sit down to watch something.

rauldc14

10-22-16, 04:15 AM

Five more for me, here's my projected order:

The Dead Girl
Bringing Up Baby (rewatch)
Good Bye Lenin
Bashu
Her (rewatch)

Camo

10-22-16, 01:02 PM

Just two for me. The Flowers of War later tonight then Good Bye Lenin! soon.

MovieMeditation

10-22-16, 01:23 PM

The Flowers of War

http://img06.deviantart.net/3517/i/2011/354/4/b/the_flowers_of_war_by_mr_raindrop_emmabing-d4joea7.jpg

This was a film I was looking forward to for a variety of reasons. Actually, I looked up the movie a long time ago and have had it in the back of my mind ever since. So when this drama-war film was nominated – and by no other than our very own Citizen Rules – I was actually rather excited. Unfortunately, the film turned out to be a halfhearted, hollow fictionalized mess of an otherwise horrible factual situation. It felt partly like a propaganda piece and partly like a genuine war drama, yet it had too little of both to be taken completely serious or work as a competent satire. Almost all of the movie took place inside a church, where there was an off-putting humorous undertone on several occasions, strangely intervened with small glimpses of gruesome scenery here and there. It was such a confused thematic chaos, even despite of the otherwise straight-forward narrative…

The Rape of Nanking is one of the most disturbingly gruesome events in history, but I don't feel like 'The Flowers of War' captured much of a depressing tragedy, instead mostly aiming to please audiences, notably the Chinese, while also wanting to appeal globally to a mass audience. I won't automatically fault the angle of the story, since this is up to the director, and if the movie is well-made it won't be essential to the quality of the movie that the story is told in one way or the other. But personally, I feel like this particular story is too distanced from the true horrors of war. I admit, the film is called 'The Flowers of War' and want to tell a more beautiful and personal story in the midst of all the horror, yet even so, the film seemed confused by how heavily it should weigh each element and even more confused on how to appeal to all audiences at the same time. I couldn't really sense a straight subjective line throughout the plot, neither was I able to grasp a firm grip on the story from the director from neither direction or angle.

The portrayal of the Japanese soldiers was flat, one-sided and underdeveloped. But considering the fact that these soldiers committed mass rape and murder, I wasn’t looking for forced sympathy, though maybe a little empathy would have been ideal or at least some form of human emotion, whether good or bad. Because in the movie, the soldiers felt like brainless robots on autopilot, running through the war zone screaming and shooting and raping everything that moved, preferably laughing menacingly while doing so. This method came off like the most obvious and easy way of portraying these characters; like cardboard cut-outs from a children’s monster book; thin pop-up caricatures of characterless proportions. Sometimes it was even embarrassingly false and cringe-worthy to look at. I apologize, but I just can’t stand such obvious nationalized filmmaking, though sometimes it can work to an advantage for the film... not in this case though.

Of course, when the higher commanders came, we got to see some different and more formal approaches to what was ultimately the same brutality, but I still left the movie with a flat feeling towards such a huge element in the story. And outside of that annoyance, there was the totally unnecessary addition of an American character, who had the most predictable and boring story arc possible, only barely bettered by Bale's performance, though his character was still lacking depth and a proper background. At first he was a selfish and greedy drunk, then he slowly evolved into a nice and sympathetic drunk; what a character arc indeed… And every time he was on-screen, his presence threw me off and I don't feel like he fit into the story at all. I think this would have worked better as an all-foreign film, instead of moving the focus to a white male, who had nothing to do with what happened during this tragedy. I’m not a “white-washing” hypocrite, but this is an example worth noting in my opinion.

Ultimately, I just wasn't a fan of this film. The humor felt forced and didn't click much with me either. The movie wasn't funny or intelligent enough to be satire neither was it gritty or deep enough to work as a serious and memorable war movie. It was mostly a bland affair, merely saved by some stunning photography. The movie looked beautiful and had the story been as nuanced and tightly executed as the visuals this would have been a great movie. The use of color together with the gritty and colorless war backdrop created a nicely balanced contrast that kept the movie interesting when the story wasn't. I really wish I liked this movie more, but I can't look past the obvious problems – or at least they are obvious problems to me... ‘The Flowers of War’ is colorful and beautiful to look at, but when you get close enough to smell the different and deeper nuances of war, it fails to leave an impression on me. Usually flowers need water to grow, but this was already too watered down as it is. I’m afraid it won’t be long before this movie has withered entirely from my memory…

2.5

CosmicRunaway

10-22-16, 05:21 PM

http://www.filmpl.pl/obrazy/film/102019_w2.jpg
Ronin (1998)
Dir. John Frankenheimer
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone

I had seen this movie before, but only really remembered what turned out to be the opening 30 minutes (basically just the parts Sean Bean was in), and a few select scenes later on. Ronin is the kind of movie I used to watch all the time, but have been grown a little tired of. The plot felt really familiar (and not just because this was a repeat viewing), and very typical of the genre, but did enough right to keep me interesting throughout the entire runtime.

The film looked like it was trying to be realistic, with its colour choices and shot composition, but the events that occur are a little too ridiculous to take the whole thing that seriously. That does make it feel more like one of the old spy thrillers, so that's more of an asset than anything else. Outside of the Mad Max films, I tend to find car chases to be rather dull, however the chase sequences in Ronin are done very well, though they do occasionally border on outstaying their welcome. I always appreciate stunt work in films, and the drivers here definitely did an excellent job.

The only really negative thing I have to say about the film is that while Natascha McElhone was okay, Jonathan Pryce's Irish accent was actually painful to listen to. Luckily he didn't have that much dialogue though haha.

neiba

10-22-16, 09:02 PM

Good Bye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003)

(rewatch)

It's impressive how the world can change in a few months. 1989 is one of the most important dates of last century and I can only imagine what's to live in Berlin at that time.
This film is astonishing in the way that it tells this dramatic time of history through a completely original angle: a small family who had to adjust to a new reality by creating a time capsule among the chaos of change. For that alone Becker deserves a lot of praising.
Luckily, this is more than only a good premise! The soundtrack is superb, and one of the most well know of the past 2 decades (even if most people have no idea where these piano pieces come from); the acting is great, particularly from Daniel Brül; and the cinematography and directing are in a total compromise to portraying such a theme, filled with mixed emotions and states of mind.
I loved the message of the film and how socialism was eventually portrayed at the end of the movie. It gave me hope and that's the most important thing a work of art can give you, in my opinion.

rating_4 +

neiba

10-22-16, 09:14 PM

Samurai Rebellion (Masaki Kobayashi, 1967)

Well, it's official: Kobayashi is better at doing samurai movies than Kurosawa, at least for my taste!
It's really similar to a movie I nominated here some HoFs ago, Harakiri, in its premise and subject though it's dealt in a slightly different way.
The honour and code of a samurai is put in a really beautiful way, and surprisingly (or not), I can relate to it, as I did with Harakiri. I loved the few action scenes and the fact they were so postponed by growing tension just made them more exciting and logical. Mifune is amazing (it's probably my favourite film of him, from everything I've seen) and the cinematography is simply superb. I love the constant symmetry of the set and the way the camera looks at this disposal!
I wouldn't rate it as high as Harakiri but it's definitely a freaking masterpiece!!!

rating_4 -

neiba

10-22-16, 09:16 PM

2 rewatches and 3 new watches for me.

cricket

10-22-16, 10:13 PM

When I watched Samurai Rebellion, it reminded me of Harakiri, even though it wasn't until after that I found out it was from the same director.

Camo

10-22-16, 10:17 PM

Yeah, i could see that. Think Kobayashi is becoming one of my favourite directors. Only seen those two and Kwaidan, got to watch the Human Condition Trilogy.

MovieMeditation

10-23-16, 07:27 AM

Bashu the Little Stranger

http://www.chapter.org/sites/default/files/production/banner/Bashu%20banner.jpg

Interesting nomination to say the least. This movie seemed even more obscure than what Guap has nominated earlier. Anyways, not an easy film to get a hold of, not the best quality available either, but I guess all of that added to the feel of it all. An Iranian low-budget drama is not something I think I have ever seen before, but despite looking forward to it the least out of all the nominations, I was still interested and slightly fascinated. The movie was better than expected, but ultimately I admire it more than I like it and I treasure the unique experience more than I find it comparable to the greatness of general cinema. I mean, it was a very dry movie in my opinion, a bit underwhelming and it's just not "edgy" enough... ;)

Jokes aside, the movie was indeed very slow, it was definitely half an hour too long, but thankfully it didn't get worse as it moved along. The movie took too much time to get going, especially because Bashu kept doing the same exact thing throughout a huge chunk of the story; acting afraid, running, hiding and then feeling a little more brave, and then afraid again. That aspect ran for too long, especially because it didn't progress properly, so when he finally accepted help anc care from the mother and her family, and started talking and interacting with people, it felt far from as natural as it could have been. A lot of the movie had mixed emotions and feelings that felt unwarranted for and never got the explaination it deserved to function properly. Obviously though, the mixed opinions towards Bashu and his darker skin was essential and thematically important for the story the movie wanted to tell, but I'm talking more about the smaller elements in the story; like the relationship with the boys, for example. But neverthless, that was also where it got interesting; when Bashu actually began to interact with those around him. Unfortunately, it came a little too late in the story.

Anyways, the characters in the movie were mostly pretty weak, except for the mother who was very real and the best actor in the movie. Her voice was squakily off-putting and she was weird as hell, with the animal sounds and all, but it created a realness around her and a strong bond as well between Bashu and her and led into a nice conclusion at the very end with the whole family together. Overall she kept the movie afloat. Bashu was not bad, but it seems like the director didn't quite know how to direct kids; at least it felt like Bashu got cues that were a little too basic, because when he actually got to act he did a fine job - the speech was awesome. The best thing about the movie was the war references, especially the ghostly appearences of his family. I loved how that was executed; very explicitly presented, a bit threatening, yet fascinating and mysterious. It worked really well the way it was filmed and presented. Overall, an interesting movie that I don't feel like ever watching again, but I'm not disappointed that I saw it.

3-

Clazor

10-23-16, 03:11 PM

Yeah, i could see that. Think Kobayashi is becoming one of my favourite directors. Only seen those two and Kwaidan, got to watch the Human Condition Trilogy.

What's the human condition trilogy? What's the three films called? I've only seen Samurai Rebellion from Kobayashi, but I liked it and I'm interested in checking some more of his films out. I was going to track down Harakiri first, seems it would be the easiest to find.

Camo

10-23-16, 03:18 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Condition_(film_series)

Clazor

10-23-16, 03:45 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Condition_(film_series)

Whoa...heavy. Seems like somthing interresting, but at nearly 10 hours this might take some planing to see. Not that I'm against trying, but as I've said, I'm not a fan of multiple sittings to get though a movie. But it is three distinct movies or a movie in three parts?

cricket

10-23-16, 03:47 PM

Watch all 3 in order

CosmicRunaway

10-23-16, 05:58 PM

http://www.harnas.co/files/images/760420/2015/02/23/poster-film-ida.jpg
Ida (2013)
Dir. Paweł Pawlikowski
Starring: Agata Trzebuchowska, Agata Kulesza

After I finished watching Ida, I had to google Agata Trzebuchowska to see what she looked like in colour. All throughout the film, whenever the camera was close on her face, I couldn't help but stare at her large, dark eyes. I wondered if she had worn contacts to make her irises look larger, but that's not the case. And it wasn't just her eyes, the entire film was very captivating from start to finish.

I appreciated that the shot length (the actual duration, not focal length) was long enough for me to look around the frame and appreciate everything that was there. I wish more mainstream films would have enough confidence in their cinematography to let shots last longer, because rapid fire editing gets really tiring after awhile. Or maybe I'm just watching the wrong films. Regardless, Ida was beautiful, and with a very subdued but effective sound (or lack of sound, really) design to match the visual aesthetic.

Even though the narrative was rather simple, I really enjoyed Ida/Anna's story. Agata Kulesza was great as the aunt, and I appreciated how her small comment in the car about how Ida's vows mean nothing if she doesn't really know what she's giving up became the film's finale. Ida clearly took that to heart, and I saw her little venture out into Wanda's world as both a way to process her grief, but also to take the aunt's advice to heart. The whole thing just seemed very fitting to me. I'm glad this was nominated because I don't think I would have watched it otherwise.

MovieMeditation

10-23-16, 06:43 PM

More love for Ida! Very happy to se you liked it, Cosmic.

rauldc14

10-24-16, 01:55 PM

The Dead Girl

I seem to really like movies which are structured in this fashion, in a way like a puzzle being pieced together. This way ok for me. The first three segments ranged from mediocre to ok, but I really thought the last two sequences were very well made. I seemed to care more about the mother and The Dead Girls story because they were easier to connect to. I wish I could have connected a bit more to the story. Everything else was just ok for me but I can certainly see why Topsy would think it's a deserving HOF movie.

3

cricket

10-24-16, 09:17 PM

Good Bye, Lenin!

http://stopklatka.tv/dat/film/000000000/000000005/000000005_20140314174101_.jpg

I hadn't read anything about this movie going in, so it was a totally blind watch. I've seen a decent amount of German movies before with great success. I thought this was going to be a pretty dark movie with the way it started. It ended up mixing heavy drama and comedy, with what I thought were mixed results. The whole plot point with the deception to the mother is what really has me wondering. I think that part of the movie was clever and effective, yet it felt a little zany at times, and without it, this movie could have been a new favorite of mine. I still think it's a fantastic movie, but I would have preferred if this movie wasn't so original for a change. I think there could have been an incredible coming of age story here, had that been the focus of the movie. Up to the point when the mother woke up, this was close to a 5 star movie for me. The rest still ranged from very good to great, but the tone of the middle part threw me off a bit. Again, not that I didn't think that part was good, because I did, but for my taste, it would have been even better if it went in another direction. From an acting and technical standpoint, the movie is superb, and I genuinely liked all of the characters. Great nomination.

4-

cricket

10-24-16, 09:17 PM

Just a rewatch of Ronin left for me

rauldc14

10-24-16, 10:27 PM

There is 4 more for me. A rewatch of Bringing Up Baby is on the horizon.

Camo

10-25-16, 06:00 PM

The Flowers of War

http://i68.tinypic.com/t646sl.jpg

Pretty good film not something i loved though.

Even though i didn't love it i really didn't have many problems with it, other than some of the battle scenes which i found a bit boring. There were a few 'perfect' things that happened during the first battle that annoyed me; like the dynamite falling perfectly next to the tank from the guy shot as he was falling off the roof and the wall collapsing onto the soldier pointing a gun at Christian Bale; there was also one later in the film with the bullet coming through the church window at the exact right time to go through the little girls neck. Those sort of things i always hate in battle scenes thankfully there weren't too many more of them. The slow motion scene with the soliers dying and the cheesy music playing made me cringe. All of these problems were from the first battle which was only the first 15-20 minutes of the film though. Also i did kind of like the part later in the film where the sniper is shooting the grenades he's planted which is more or equally absurd to all that so i can understand why none of this would bother anyone else.

I started enjoying it when they got to the church. To my surprise they got a kinda nutty, funny, story going; with all of the prostitutes trying to get theirselves into the church. Up to the church storming scene that is of course. Brutal scene, that creep shouting "liutenant hurry up we have virgins", and the girls being dragged about scremaing; ugh just horrible. Loved Bale trying to save them though; i do like how it was clearly him thinking this is my best chance to survive at first when he realized he couldn't hide then when he saw how brutal it was he became genuine about it. That fit his character and was a really good choice IMO. This part of the film was brutal scene after brutal scene with the small amount of hope Bales story brought. It absolutely had to be like this though or it would have been a whitewashed failure; while not the easiest to watch at times i'd definitely say this part was a success in bringing forward just a tiny amount of the horrific reality of this atrocity. The rape and murder of the one that jumps into the river in particular was horrendous. The final scene when Bale starts tearing up when he is driving away in his truck was probably what got to me the most in the film; just the mixture of relief that he's got the girls out and sadness/regret for the prostitutes fate was so apparent; great scene.

From when he was first introduced i really loved George. I felt for him with his "You Fix truck. Help us" lines and i loved his interactions with Bale. I liked Bales character and thought he was fun for the most part, but i don't know i'm not really confortable with a white guy getting shoehorned into the story. My guess is the "we need your western face" thing was an excuse for them hiring a big name westerner since it really didn't lead anywhere. The other characters and performances were solid as well.

The film was really beautiful; like Yimous other one i've seen Hero. My only slight problem was the shaky cam during a few of the chase scenes like the one with the two prostitutes who get the string, that's a very minor thing though as it only happened a couple of times and only for small amounts of time.

Anyway solid nom. I didn't love it but i enjoyed it and again i really didn't think there was any major problems with it. Just Good Bye Lenin! and i'm done.

rauldc14

10-26-16, 03:20 PM

Bringing Up Baby

I liked this even more the second time around. Great screwball comedies have always appealed to me for whatever reason. Some Like It Hot and It Happened One Night are two of my favorite films of all time and while I wouldn't put this in their tier, it is still up there for me. I really liked the two main leads and I think that they had great chemistry together. I really liked the character of Susan Vance. I'm not a big Hepburn fan but for me this is the best role that she has had. Cary Grant is good in pretty much everything and I thought he did a solid job as well. Like Camo said I think the writing is what carries the film into having so much success for me. I hate that people penalize comedies because they aren't realistic. I love the use of the Leopard Baby and I also thought that George was a great addition to the film. The cleverness of the film is something that I will always appreciate.Hawks is a very versatile director and you can tell that he has a lot of creativity. If we get around to a 30s list around here this one will certainly be in high consideration for me. It's a shame that Camo and I seem to stand alone with this film, but I've come to see that the older films get, the more hit or miss they can be with people. I thoroughly enjoyed this nomination.

4+

Camo

10-26-16, 03:23 PM

You are my hero Raul ;). I'm with you on It Happened One Night as well, BTW.

Citizen Rules

10-26-16, 03:31 PM

....If we get around to a 30s list around here this one will certainly be in high consideration for me....We'll do a 30s Countdown List! We need to! I was planning on hosting that one myself:)

Camo

10-26-16, 03:33 PM

30's and before is what most have suggested for whatever reason.

rauldc14

10-26-16, 03:35 PM

And more AKA Sunrise FTW!!!

Camo

10-26-16, 03:38 PM

Got to see that soon man.

Citizen Rules

10-26-16, 03:45 PM

And more AKA Sunrise FTW!!!
There needs to be a Silent Era countdown, done by itself, even if it's smaller countdown, it's still important to some of us. Silent films are important and we can bring a spotlight to some of the greats by eventually having a Silent Era countdown. Which should be separate from the 1930s countdown, as the 1930s are an important decade full of great films to explore. Just as important as the 1960s or 1950s were.

Clazor

10-26-16, 04:16 PM

I could go for a silent era countdown, but I'd have to get a lot of recomendations from you guys on the site, cause I wouldn't even know where to start. I think I've seen maybe 5 to 10 silent films if that, and all of them have been the big ones that you pick up from lists like Top 10 silent movies and such. At the same time, the ones I have seen, I've liked (for the most part). Sunrise is still one of my favourite movies of any category, but I fell asleep to Battleship Potemkin. I don't want to wade through a ton of movies just to end up loathing most of them and maybe finding one I actually liked.

Camo

10-26-16, 04:17 PM

If we were to do one Clazor it wouldn't be for a long time. 40's and 30's would be first and there's usually a Genre one inbetween those so it wouldn't be for at least 2 years.

Miss Vicky

10-26-16, 04:18 PM

Camo

10-26-16, 04:22 PM

I can't say I'd have much interest in a silents countdown. I did some exploring of silents a few years ago. I've seen quite a few but there are only three I really liked: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Kid, and The General.

I've only seen about 8 or 9; Caligari and The General are two of them and i really liked both. The only one i didn't like much was The WInd.

Camo

10-26-16, 04:26 PM

I can't edit that post for some reason, this is in reply to Miss Vickys post:

And i think this is going to be the general atttitude most are going to have to a SIlents one which is why i think pairing it with the 30's isn't such a bad idea. I'm down either way i just like ones with 50+ members so it isn't just a circlejerk between the regulars.

CosmicRunaway

10-26-16, 06:38 PM

http://reelcauses.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/bashu-poster.jpg

Bashu the Little Stranger (1986)/باشو غریبه کوچک
Dir. Bahram Beizai
Starring: Susan Taslimi, Adnan Afravian

At the very start of the film, I wasn't into this very much. I really could've done without the back-to-back sequences of the truck driving the entire way across the landscape. Cutting those scenes shorter wouldn't have had a negative impact on the film, so it was an odd choice for me. Then when the mother Na'i was introduced, I thought she was incredibly shrill. However she grew on me very quickly, as did her strange animal noises, and I was more than content to watch the rest of the film.

Bashu the Little Strange is, in a sense, a fish out of water story. Bashu flees his war-stricken home, only to find himself lost in an unfamiliar part of the country that is vastly different from anything he is familiar with. The language is different, the lifestyle is different, and the people form a more tight-knit community than they do in the cities. The only reminder he has of home are the apparitions of his dead parents, and PTSD flashbacks of the bombings he escaped. The actor does a great job portraying Bashu's reluctance to trust and his all-consuming fear, but I ultimately felt more for Na'i, as she struggled to make Bashu part of her family despite unwelcoming neighbours and an inability to communicate with him.

I enjoyed the story, and I rather liked the symmetry of having Bashu look after Na'i the way she looked after him. I think that scene really showed how much their bond had grown, and how much Bashu had learned since he started staying there. I was a little less interested in the film after that point, but overall I thought it was very well done.