The 12th Hall of Fame [Archive] - Page 3?login=1

cricket

01-15-17, 02:12 PM

Joe

http://iv1.lisimg.com/image/6178523/720full-joe-screenshot.jpg

I first watched this movie the very night I sent in my list for the 70's countdown. About halfway through, I took a smoke break and sent the list. If I had waited until the movie was over, it definitely would have made my list. I was a little bit pissed at myself. This is the third movie I have nominated for a Hall of Fame that I first found thanks to Mark, after The Big Country and The Crowd.

The movie probably would be more popular with a little tighter direction. This is one of the director's first movies, and he would go on to make huge hits like Rocky, The Karate Kid, and Lean on Me. This movie, at times, has a B movie feel to it, but that's something that suits my taste well.

Joe is an interesting character. He's an average guy that average guys can relate to in a lot of ways. He goes to work, comes home, has dinner and a coupons beers, has a family, and just tries to make the best out of life. He's very much a traditionalist, but he's also a bigot and a sexist, and that's what makes him stand out in all the wrong ways. This movie is very much about the differences between people, be it race, gender, age, or income. I think, especially with the controversy surrounding our new president, that this movie is quite relevant today.

My wife watched this with me and it turned out that she enjoyed it as well. The ending is easily one of my all time favorites, and it shook me up even though I knew what was coming. Great theme song too.

4.5

Topsy

01-15-17, 02:42 PM

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ft34DIyrMw0/TyutxgGiJmI/AAAAAAAAAgw/CqPrAsJQvCE/s1600/ManFromNowhere.jpg
MAN FROM NOWHERE
I didnt know anything about this going in,but i could see it was going to be an action movie by the poster. At first I got some Leon feels from it with the little girl,and I got a bit worried it would be a rip off,mostly because I didnt really like Leon all that much.Luckily apart from that the movies didnt have all that much in common.
I loved the main character,how at first he was so dark -also he reminded me of masanobu ando.The transformation he had during the movie was amazing because he looked soooooo far from what i was expecting.Like,really mind blowing :lol: :lol: Though the movie is centered around the relationship between him and the girl,i loved the sidestory of him and his wife-they didnt overdo it or overkill it,just enough pieces here and there for us to put together.
The villians were easy to hate,from their nasty attitudes,and weird behaviour..and dress sense :lol: I would have liked crazy eyes to be the main villiain though insted of the "american" one,i found him a bit cheesy.
Still,solid performances all around,especially from the main actor,great plot-its been done before obviously but as long as its done right it still feels fresh- and great action scenes.Im suprised I havent seen this before

cricket

01-15-17, 02:48 PM

I'm not a big fan of Leon either so thank god.

Topsy

01-15-17, 02:48 PM

. About halfway through, I took a smoke break and sent the list. If I had waited until the movie was over, it definitely would have made my list. I was a little bit pissed at myself.

smoking ruins lifes!

:lol:

RoyaleWitCheese

01-15-17, 02:51 PM

@topsy
glad you liked it!!!

CosmicRunaway

01-15-17, 02:56 PM

At first I got some Leon feels from it with the little girl,and I got a bit worried it would be a rip off,mostly because I didnt really like Leon all that much.
I'm not a big fan of Leon either so thank god.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. A lot of people seem to really like that film.

I remember getting a snide comment for not really liking Léon that much when I watched it for the Chain Challenge (I thought I hadn't seen it, but it turns out I had and just didn't remember the name).

Camo

01-15-17, 03:01 PM

Really loved Leon as a kid because it was Cool ORSUM!! Agreed though it's not very good when i watch it now.

The best actor in Leon:

http://i65.tinypic.com/2i7ld29.jpg

CosmicRunaway

01-15-17, 03:03 PM

The plant was my favourite character. :up:

I was more concerned about whether or not the plant would survive that drop than the kid haha.

cricket

01-15-17, 03:08 PM

It's a very pretty plant, and I like the way the sun shines down on it.

RoyaleWitCheese

01-15-17, 03:13 PM

The plant was definitely my favorite actor as well and Won Bin (the main character in the man from nowhere) was my favorite in my noms film. Maybe I like them because they both have the same amount of lines in their films. They both knew when to shut up...

edarsenal

01-15-17, 04:31 PM

Some great reviews for man from nowhere.

Cosmic, by all means look into other Korean movies, I've seen quite a number of great ones from period pieces to action to drama - great stuff.

Enjoyed your Joe review, Cricket. Started watching it the other day.

Finished City of Lost Children last night will write a review tomorrow -- good movie!

Clazor

01-15-17, 05:18 PM

I'm glad I'm not the only one. A lot of people seem to really like that film.

I remember getting a snide comment for not really liking Léon that much when I watched it for the Chain Challenge (I thought I hadn't seen it, but it turns out I had and just didn't remember the name).

I believe I gave you Leon to watch for the chain challenge, but I don't remember giving any snide remarks. Even so, If I did, I don't think I ment it to be a put down. A possible I'm sorry if it in fact was me and if it was taken as such.:(

neiba

01-15-17, 05:20 PM

U Turn (Oliver Stone, 1997)

A very interesting neo noir with Stone's twisted and unique touch!
I liked the perfomances of everyone involved and how the story kept twisting and turning, especially with Lopez' character. She was, in fact, the best character of the film in my opinion and the element that made all the story advance! I liked Jon Voight's blind man, acting like the colective consciousness or a greek tragedy's choir. I just wished I had seen more of him!
There are some pacing issues and unnecessary characters, I couldn't see any utility for Joaquin Phoenix, for example, other than just to show how much bad luck the main character was suffering! After a while you just foresee a bad thing coming and that's the point I think Stone went too far! I know that this was meant to work like a dark comedy too but it wouldn't have hurted the movie if it had 30 minutes less!

rating_3 +

CosmicRunaway

01-15-17, 05:25 PM

I believe I gave you Leon to watch for the chain challenge, but I don't remember giving any snide remarks. Even so, If I did, I don't think I ment it to be a put down. A possible I'm sorry if it in fact was me and if it was taken as such.:(
No, I remember who it was, and it wasn't you. So no worries. :up:

Clazor

01-15-17, 05:29 PM

Oh, good! :)

Camo

01-15-17, 05:37 PM

No, I remember who it was, and it wasn't you. So no worries. :up:

I'm nosey so i checked :D. If it's the user i'm think of then yeah he or she is awful :coleman:

Miss Vicky

01-15-17, 05:46 PM

I couldn't see any utility for Joaquin Phoenix, for example, other than just to show how much bad luck the main character was suffering!

Does every character in a movie need to serve a specific "utility"?

Besides adding some humor to the film and making Bobby's situation more stressful, Toby did serve the purpose of preventing Bobby from escaping to Mexico on the bus by eating his ticket (which Bobby had paid for using literally his last cent).

CosmicRunaway

01-15-17, 06:15 PM

So, I decided to watch Grand Budapest Hotel again (write-up coming tonight or tomorrow after work), and my room mate kept walking by and quoting lines from the SNL Wes Anderson skit Edward Norton was in (which we both thought was pretty funny). In case I end up mentioning it in my review (or in case anyone was curious), here it is:

https://vimeo.com/129804479

CosmicRunaway

01-15-17, 07:43 PM

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=28489&stc=1&d=1484523622
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Dir. Wes Anderson
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Edward Norton

One thing I do like about Wes Anderson's films is that they're always really pretty looking. The Grand Budapest Hotel is no exception to that; there are plenty of great landscape shots, beautiful colours, and interesting framing (I particularly liked any shots showing the depth of a long and narrow corridor or roadway). The man clearly has talent behind the camera. Unfortunately I just cannot get into his particular brand of quirky writing, and as a result I always find myself completely uninterested in his characters and their stories. Once again, this film is no exception to that.

The characters in this were more believable and life-like to me than the ones in Moonrise Kingdom, but the film still never managed to make me care about any of them. The only one I actually liked was Willem Dafoe, partly because of his naturally menacing looking face and how perfect it was for this role, but also because I was secretly hoping he'd systematically and unsympathetically murder everyone else. I did like trying to piece together where the various locations were shot, as a few of them (particularly the outside view of the monastery) look incredibly familiar to me and I wonder if I visited there when I was in Germany.

I think I said this at some point during the 11th HoF, but I'd love to see Anderson direct a film that someone completely different had written. If one of his films had characters I actually found engaging, I could stop thinking that The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders the best thing Wes Anderson's name has been attached to.

cricket

01-15-17, 07:49 PM

That's an interesting thought about Anderson possibly directing a film he didn't write.

Camo

01-15-17, 07:49 PM

Man i love Wes Anderson so much :cool:

Miss Vicky

01-15-17, 07:49 PM

The characters in this were more believable and life-like to me than the ones in Moonrise Kingdom, but the film still never managed to make me care about any of them.

My thoughts exactly.

The only one I actually liked was Willem Dafoe, partly because of his naturally menacing looking face and how perfect it was for this role, but also because I was secretly hoping he'd systematically and unsympathetically murder everyone else.

:laugh:

CosmicRunaway

01-15-17, 07:51 PM

That's an interesting thought about Anderson possibly directing a film he didn't write.
I doubt it will ever happen, but I will keep hoping.

Camo

01-15-17, 07:57 PM

It won't happen because he's smart and cool just like his writing :cool:

Going to have to make a We :love: Wes Club with Sean and you and MV won't be allowed actually you will but we'll be mean to you.

Citizen Rules

01-15-17, 07:58 PM

That's funny, I had the same reaction to Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom(Wes Anderson, 2012)

...Visually Wes Anderson is a genius. And the man has amazing ideas for stories his very creative and unique. But IMO he needs to stop writing his own films....

CosmicRunaway

01-15-17, 07:59 PM

Going to have to make a We :love: Wes Club with Sean and you and MV won't be allowed actually you will but we'll be mean to you.
Is this what your clubhouse would look like?

https://s3.amazonaws.com/burnsfilm-prod/images/000/002/880/large/20150603155018-moonrise-kingdom-treehouse.jpg

Camo

01-15-17, 07:59 PM

Citizen isn't invited either :coleman:

Citizen Rules

01-15-17, 08:00 PM

Ha!...actually I'm happy Wes is getting into the Hofs as I need to see more of his film. I've only seen three.

seanc

01-15-17, 08:01 PM

This thread has gone to hell. Camo is the only one allowed to vote. As punishment Wes Anderson will be writing ALL the movies.

jiraffejustin

01-15-17, 08:02 PM

I like Wes Anderson... Can I join the club?

Camo

01-15-17, 08:02 PM

I've seen them all. Him ranked IMO:

01.Fantastic Mr.Fox
02.Rushmore
03.Moonrise Kingdom
04.Bottle Rocket
05.The Royal Tenenbaums
06.The Grand Budapest Hotel
07.The Darjeeling Limited
08.The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Camo

01-15-17, 08:04 PM

This thread has gone to hell. Camo is the only one allowed to vote. As punishment Wes Anderson will be writing ALL the movies.

Joe written by Wes Anderson :rotfl: Man, i'd love to see that.

seanc

01-15-17, 08:05 PM

I like Wes Anderson... Can I join the club?

Your in but no trying to convince him to write some goth horror. ;)

jiraffejustin

01-15-17, 08:09 PM

Your in but no trying to convince him to write some goth horror. ;)

Okay.. but what about a spaghetti western?

seanc

01-15-17, 08:10 PM

Okay.. but what about a spaghetti western?

Now you're talking. In fact, I insist.

Miss Vicky

01-15-17, 08:11 PM

Joe written by Wes Anderson :rotfl: Man, i'd love to see that.

I think Romper Stomper written by Wes Anderson would be an absolute nightmare.

Miss Vicky

01-15-17, 08:21 PM

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walteregan/MovieLog/barbara.gif

Barbara (Christian Petzold, 2012)
Imdb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2178941/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)

Date Watched: 1/15/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th HOF, cosmicrunaway's nomination
Rewatch: No

I had some really mixed feelings on this one. It's beautifully shot, the acting was solid, and the basic story was interesting, but I struggled to get through it. Barbara's coldness - while understandable given the circumstances - was really off-putting to me and it took me a good long while to get to like her. And, while I also understand the quietness of the film, the pacing had me squirming and struggling to concentrate.

That said, I really liked Dr. Reiner. Even when he wasn't speaking, there was a definite warmth to him that I found very appealing and really liked the way he contrasted Barbara's manner. I also really liked the scenes between Barbara and Stella and loved the way the film ended, but it was a bit of a battle for me to get to that point.

3+

neiba

01-15-17, 08:37 PM

Y tu mamá también (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001)

This was on my watchlist for a long time and I knew pretty much what was it about but I wasn't expecting thiskind of depth!
I love the narrator parts, and how much sentiment brings to the movie, particularly with its future predictions. The perfomances were good, and the writing incredibly realistic, aswell as the style of shooting, deivering the whole message in a real powerful way!
I liked the movie but the last 5 minutes are simply stunning! We learn about Luisa's motivations just in the last few lines of the film and the fact that the two guys never saw each other again created a bigger impact in me than I would ever thought!
Something I'll rewatch someday!

rating_3_5

neiba

01-15-17, 08:39 PM

Does every character in a movie need to serve a specific "utility"?

Besides adding some humor to the film and making Bobby's situation more stressful, Toby did serve the purpose of preventing Bobby from escaping to Mexico on the bus by eating his ticket (which Bobby had paid for using literally his last cent).

No, if they are interesting enough and TNT wasn't in my opinion. I loved the blind guy and he didn't have any praticall utility!
Bobby's situation was stressful enough and it wouldn't be less if TNT wasn't in the movie, that's what I said about Oliver Stone going too far.

Camo

01-15-17, 08:41 PM

Glad you liked it.

I agree with you soooo much about the end scene when Julio and Tenoch bump into each other. The fact that the events of the film had ended such a close friendship and what is revealed about Luisa deeply unsettled me. I couldn't stop thinking about it for days, ii know it probably won't affect anyone else as much but i'm really glad that people are enjoying it.

Camo

01-15-17, 08:43 PM

No, if they are interesting enough and TNT wasn't in my opinion. I loved the blind guy and he didn't have any praticall utility!
Bobby's situation was stressful enough and it wouldn't be less if TNT wasn't in the movie, that's what I said about Oliver Stone going too far.

I think this reasoning is solid but i personally found the TNT parts really funny so i was happy they were included.

cricket

01-15-17, 08:48 PM

Camo

01-15-17, 08:52 PM

I thought it was pretty damn powerful.

The second time i watched it the ending completely changed how i saw that emotionally charged threesome scene, it's actually extremely dark when you think about it. I think it already was a bit dark before i knew the ending but that made it much more so. Man i love that film :cool:

Miss Vicky

01-15-17, 09:04 PM

I think this reasoning is solid but i personally found the TNT parts really funny so i was happy they were included.

This. I think he's hilarious. Claire Danes is pretty hysterical too.

I also think it would kind of weird if the only people Bobby really interacted with were Darryl, Grace, Jake, the blind man and the Sheriff. It's a tiny town where everybody knows everybody, so it stands to reason that some others would take an interest in an outsider.

Nope1172

01-16-17, 03:48 AM

Just finished watching Y Tú Mama Tambien, and really enjoyed it. I will do a write up tomorrow on my review thread, and can't wait to get into spoiler talk here.

jiraffejustin

01-16-17, 03:57 AM

I just finished Hiroshima Mon Amour. I am struggling to put my feelings into words. I want to gush on and on about this beautiful, devastating, poetic masterpiece of a film. It managed to tell multiple stories at the same time, and somehow they were all the same story. The way montages were used as flashbacks, both in the form of the documentary sequence of the effects of Hiroshima and the back story of the female character, is just tremendous. The documentary sequence was frequently hard to stomach and reminiscent of Resnais' other masterpiece: Night and Fog. The imagery used was striking and hard to stomach, the eyeball scene was mentioned by both of the other reviewers, so it clearly stands out. Now all three of us have mentioned it. While that sequence was unbelievably good, I was wondering how the film would transition into something else. I would have been happy with 90 minutes of documentary footage with voice-over conversation of the two unnamed characters in the background, but I knew something else was coming; I just didn't know what. The narration was sensational the whole film. The montage flashbacks were sublimely filmed and mesmerizing; coupled with the narration, those sequences were frequently hypnotic. I still can't get over how well the story was told in the form of those flashbacks. I can handle linear stories, but I think a story told in a nonlinear way that is not just used as a gimmick is akin to the way the greatest authors would tell their stories. I feel like I have so much more to say, but I don't know how to put in order. I don't know how to organize my rambling thoughts. I know I have just seen one of the most profound and beautiful films I will probably ever see, so I think I will just conclude with that.

Thank you, PG.

Clazor

01-16-17, 09:13 AM

Y tu mamá también

http://vidiotsfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Y-Tu-Mama-Tambien-Big.jpg

I thought there was something naggingly familiar about this all through the movie, and then as the last scene was taking place I realized that I'd watched this before. It must've been in school, something along the lines of a movie put on during the last spanish class for the term. Which would tell you something about the guy who taught me spanish, I guess, showing this movie to a group of 17 yos on school time. Anyway...

Don't really know what to say about this. The two guys are @ssholes, yet I found them sympathetic at the same time. Maybe sympathetic is the wrong word...they're human. Flawed. Luisa was the one who stood out to me. Maribel Verdú was very good in her part, acting as friend, mother, therapist and temoprary lover to the two boys. Her outburst at them over being emotionally stunted and seemingly genetically coded to mark their turf was the best bit of acting in the movie. And while her story is dark, something that is set up in the beginning and then just left to stew until it boils over in the very last scene, isn't something that seems to stand in her way, rather it seems to be what gets her on her way.

Although they argue about their girlfriends, I feel that the only thing that really matered to Julio and Tenoch were their friendship. They seemed to patch up things fairly quickly, but there still was something stiff about them after the fact. It took a heavy dose of alcohol to get them to a place where they could talk like they used to, and then they were sober. Adding Luisa into that mix didn't make things better, but I do believe she was good for them both in the end. If nothing else, they got some perspective on how life can turn unexpectantly.

The narration style threw me at first. The way he waits a few seconds after the sound dies to speak led me to believe my speakers had craped out on me the first time. Also, the wierd facts he spouted seemed to be grabbed from nowhere at times. The line about the bloody chicken and the accident coming right after a somewhat jovial conversation and just hurling the mood into a minor key felt like the creators just wanted to mess with the viewer. It had no relevance to what was on the screen and just resulted in a emotional left turn that took me out of the movie.

Great acting, a wierd, sometimes dark story set as a road movie. I liked it fine, but I can't help but to feel that the narration could've done with some editing. This became kina short, but I'll read the other reviews and then I'll probably have something more to ask about/discuss. For now, I'm done.

Camo

01-16-17, 09:28 AM

Glad you liked it somewhat.

Clazor

01-16-17, 09:40 AM

Camo

01-16-17, 10:06 AM

It was more than somewhat, even if the narration was a bit wierd at times. Also:

I wouldn't say that the threesome was dark, really. Or maybe not just dark. For the boys, knowing that they were her last lovers could of course be seen as a bit melancholy, but also something to be cherriched. For her, I red it as a chance to live out a fantasy before it was too late. At the start of their journey, they discussed how she came to be together with Jano, and she admitted that she hadn't had much experience with sex before marrying him. I saw the threesome as an opportunity for her to bolster her experience. I think it was good for the guys too, as they'd been spouting gay slurrs throughout the movie and now they have first hand experience too (yes, I imagine they went way past just kissing, from the looks they gave each other when they woke up the morning after).

I meant dark as in this was the last of their relationship. After all of the revelations in the film their relationship hits boiling point and it explodes in an extremely intense threesome scene when both of them let out all of their emotions. Her life is coming to an end and so is their friendship which was extremely important to them, everything is ending in that scene. When i watched it the second time thinking about that final weird conversation when both of them are obviously not very comfortable around each other anymore, everything died on that trip it unsettled me. Fair enough if you don't think so but i find that pretty damn dark.

Clazor

01-16-17, 10:24 AM

I meant dark as in this was the last of their relationship. After all of the revelations in the film their relationship hits boiling point and it explodes in an extremely intense threesome scene when both of them let out all of their emotions. Her life is coming to an end and so is their friendship which was extremely important to them, everything is ending in that scene. When i watched it the second time thinking about that final weird conversation when both of them are obviously not very comfortable around each other anymore, everything died on that trip it unsettled me. Fair enough if you don't think so but i find that pretty damn dark.

Oh...Ok, yeah. Point. Absolutely point.

Camo

01-16-17, 11:47 AM

Romper Stomper

http://i63.tinypic.com/k2l98j.jpg

Saw this when i was younger, all i remembered was that i didn't like it much. I liked it more than i remembered last time but i'm still not crazy about it.

Character likability is absolutely not a neccessity for me, plenty of my favourite films and tv shows are full of completely deplorable people. And i love some very unpleasant films, but this is just one that really annoys me, right from the opening scene where they beat the Asians in the tunnel i'm put in a very bad mood and it's weird because the punching and kicking look very fake. It was a combination of the agression, terror that the skinheads tried to impart, the fact that the asians were having fun before they turned a corner into the path of these animals and how Hondo treated the male asian. Thing is this makes the film a success; it made me completely despise these people right away which was obviously the intent but that doesn't mean i enjoy that. It's annoying because i do think this is well made there's some great scenes and acting but it just puts me in such a bad mood that i really don't end up enjoying it much. It was somewhat satisfying seeing the Asians terrorizing them and the skinheads cornered like the rats they are, but then again it was mostly the kid and the girls who were terrified in the situation and i don't hate them nearly as much and Hando or Davey or any of the other adults. Plus i know this wasn't the intention at all this is more my problem than the films but the way i felt during that scene was that the Asians were portrayed as just as barbaric as the skinheads; as if there was some weird justification for their actions. Again i know that wasn't the intention it was just my personal feeling, it's obviously supposed to be that the asians aren't going to take it anymore, you have to fight fire with fire, yadda yadda. I thought the best part of the film was the best 20 minutes when everything started crumbling for Hando. One thing that definitely deserves praise is Russell Crowes performance. I hate his character but i can't deny that he is excellent, i think it may be the best i've seen from him. I also thought the love triangle was interesting. I'm not usually that into them as i said earlier with Never Let Me Go but this felt a bit unique mostly because of how agressive yet close Hando and Davey were and how Gabrielle was essentialy a stranger who wandered into this life by accident upsetting the dynamic they had. One last thing i didn't find the film funny and i know it wasn't supposed to be but one scene unintentionally cracked me up; the part where they take over the old guys house when he asks who they are one of the skinheads says "we came to wreck everything and ruin your life. God sent us" the deliver of that god sent us was hilarious haha.

So yeah, glad you nominated it MV because i now know i don't hate it but i also don't love it either. One thing i will say is that i think this is ten times better than the similarly themed American History X. This is what a skinhead film should be; showing them for the sub human trash that they are rather than using AHX's ridiculous approach of attempting to make Derek come across as a :cool: badass in the first three quarters of the film before telling us in the last 15 minutes that "no guys, racism is bad actually not cool!". Just The City of Lost Children left for me, sometime in the next three days or so.

CosmicRunaway

01-16-17, 11:52 AM

One last thing i didn't find the film funny and i know it wasn't supposed to be but one scene unintentionally cracked me up; the part where they take over the old guys house when he asks who they are one of the skinheads says "we came to wreck everything and ruin your life. God sent us" the deliver of that god sent us was hilarious haha.
I laughed at that too actually. :up:

Miss Vicky

01-16-17, 12:59 PM

Character likability is absolutely not a neccessity for me, plenty of my favourite films and tv shows are full of completely deplorable people. And i love some very unpleasant films, but this is just one that really annoys me, right from the opening scene

Obviously you're not supposed to actually like these people, well maybe Davey, but in a weird way I do like Hando. A lot, actually. I mean, if I met someone like him in person I wouldn't want anything to do with them, but I find him incredibly charismatic and utterly fascinating.

One thing that definitely deserves praise is Russell Crowes performance. I hate his character but i can't deny that he is excellent, i think it may be the best i've seen from him.

I agree, definitely one of his greatest performances.

One last thing i didn't find the film funny and i know it wasn't supposed to be but one scene unintentionally cracked me up; the part where they take over the old guys house when he asks who they are one of the skinheads says "we came to wreck everything and ruin your life. God sent us" the deliver of that god sent us was hilarious haha.

Was it unintentional? Despite its barbarity I don't think the film is completely humorless. But maybe I'm misreading the filmmaker's intentions.

One thing i will say is that i think this is ten times better than the similarly themed American History X.

I can't really comment on that. I've seen AHX and have it on DVD, but I can't recall the last time I actually watched it.

Camo

01-16-17, 01:02 PM

i can understand that with Hando i've definitely got attached to horrible characters in the past. And yeah maybe it was intentional i wasn't really sure.

Topsy

01-16-17, 01:25 PM

https://assets.mubi.com/images/film/17045/image-w448.jpg?1445903655

MIDNIGHT RUN

Never seen or heard of this before,but just by the cover i had a fair idea of what to expect.
I dont think Ive seen too many of De Niros movies from when he was that young,either that or its been awhile (it has) so it caught me a big of guard to see how young he was!
I also noticed how much more I appreciate the facial expression,and things he does that makes him De niro now.
The movie was cute and entertaining from start to finish,the relationship he had with his wife and daughter was really sad but obviously the relationship that steals the attention is the one he forms with his "catch".As annoying as he is,they soon bond even though he really doesnt want to.
The ending is predictable,but that doesnt really bother me aslong as the journey there is entertaining-Which this obviously was to me!

Camo

01-16-17, 01:30 PM

Glad you liked it :). It's really underseen and i can understand why, it doesn't really do much to set itself apart from the other comedies of the time. I don't care though i love it.

Citizen Rules

01-16-17, 02:06 PM

Hiroshima Mon Amour

The first 15 minutes were powerful with the archival film footage of Hiroshima's aftermath. I mean how could it not be powerful? The director shows you a kid with his lips burnt off and a close up of a woman with her eye melted away! That was gross. I found the scenes of the destroyed city interesting, in a somber way.

But what followed in the next hour, I found to be ineffective. Any feelings about the war and the atomic bomb that I had, were washed away by watching the inane French actress do nothing but bemoan her wartime experience in Nevers. It's hard to believe that a movie about Hiroshima that was actually filmed there could have next to zero impact on me. I've been much more moved by History Channel documentaries about Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I get what the director is trying to do...much of what the French woman and the Japanese man are saying is metaphorical, and her insanity is the insanity of war...and his relative calm is society forgetting about the horrors of war. Metaphors work in small doses. I could have cared less about the plight of the French actress, so I ended up not caring about the film.

This movie did nothing for me, sorry not my cup of Sake.

Camo

01-16-17, 02:08 PM

Man, you aren't enjoying this Citizen haha. Too bad you didn't connect with it, i did and i loved it.

rauldc14

01-16-17, 02:11 PM

I'm not in this HOF, but I am really surprised that it correlated with skipping a HOF that I had little interest in so many of the films nominated. Of course, who knows if I actually would not like them, but I just thought it was ironic.

Citizen Rules

01-16-17, 02:13 PM

Camo

01-16-17, 02:15 PM

So far I'm batting zero:p but I'll keep watching away, I'm bound to find a few films I like.

I had seen your post about Hiroshima Mon Amour, but I haven't read it yet. I wanted to watch the movie and write my review first. So I'll go read the other post on the movie, shortly.

I'm thinking about writing a second post about it because i stopped after writing about the first 20 minutes because it was already ridiculously long haha.

Citizen Rules

01-16-17, 02:18 PM

You should...I'd like to read it.

It's a good thing that you care enough about a film to write a lot about them.

CosmicRunaway

01-16-17, 04:03 PM

I'm not working tomorrow so that means I can get another movie in tonight. :cool:

I think I'll go with U-Turn or Midnight Run.

edarsenal

01-16-17, 04:15 PM

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/67/c7/f8/67c7f8a9d261f56e0a540ca63022c315.jpg

City of Lost Children

**Some minor spoilers**

This has the intriguing feel of a steampunk rendition of a Grimm's Fairytale in a very good way.
I was very taken by the sets, bizarre characters and all the little nuances. In particular, the Octopus (siamese twins). Not only did they finish one another's sentence but the interaction was fantastic to watch. When they are cooking and both sets of hands are moving in concert; one scratches the other's arm and when one eats, the other chews. . . Damn near ballet.
Scenes like that and of the multiple clones in any singular shot were particular highlights.
One oddity I noticed was that the children seemed far more mature, or played as adults then most of the adults themselves; which played out very well. Meitte, in particular held a more mature stature which could be due to the hard life she leads. Also, I got a big kick out of Denree's appetite. That made me chuckle throughout.
This is a dark, fantastical film with some amusing situations that kept me caught up from the get go. I think the reason it was so easy to find a comfort zone in this, so quickly, was that I enjoy movies like this: 12 Monkeys (the future scenes set underground) and the director's later movie Alien Resurrection along with Dark City. All of which have similar stage sets and from that I was already invested.

If you enjoy movies by Tim Burton or Terry Gillman, you very well may enjoy this.
Thanks for nominating this, Clazor.

Nope1172

01-16-17, 06:36 PM

Y Tu Mama Tambien Review:
Y Tu Mama Tambien(2001, Alfonso Cuarón)
http://cdn1us.denofgeek.com/sites/denofgeekus/files/2016/06/y_tu_mama_tambien.jpg
When I first started watching this movie, I mistook it for another road trip movie about "finding yourself and relationships, but I soon realized that it was much more than that. Y Tu Mama Tambien is one of the deepest most thought provoking films I've ever seen, and I really had to stop for a while after I saw it just to think about what I watched.

The film follows two high school boys who go on a road trip to a made up beach with an older woman. At first glance this film may seem stereotypical and clichéd, but it isn't at all. The film deals with many complex themes and subject matters, and not in a way that you feel like it is being shoved in your face. Throughout the film, the characters are constantly unaware of their surroundings, and focused on their own selfish needs. This is something that I found incredibly powerful, and I think this film features one of the best uses of narration.

I don't want to get into spoilers, but the end of the film really stuck with me. It put the entire movie into a whole new perspective with only a single line of dialogue. The ending of this film was definitely a highlight for me, and I was thinking of how much different the movie could have been had they just cut out the very last scene. The acting in this movie was really fantastic, and I did not realize that Diego Luna was in the film until his name appeared in the credits. This film was great, and I think everyone should take the time to see it.

Overall Rating
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDhjMzc3ZTgtY2Y4MC00Y2U3LWFiMDctZGM3MmM4N2YzNDQ5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182 ,268_AL_.jpg
Deep, emotional, and thought provoking
4

Pussy Galore

01-16-17, 06:48 PM

http://movieposters2.com/images/1077160-b.jpg

I rewatched this one about a month ago and loved it. The first time I watched it was like 3,4 years ago, when I started really getting into film and the image it left me was an ok movie, I wasn't particularly impressed nor did it left me a bad impression. I'm happy to see the difference between the way I experience films when I was 16 then I do now when I'm 20.

The story isn't what makes this film great, it's a pretty straight forward story, nothing particularly new or thought provoking about it. The greatness of this film relies on the acting, the music and the way it's put together. The relationship between Elsa and Rick is great because of the way it is filmed, that it is presented, gradually, where we don't learn everything at the start, not because of the content of the relationship itself. What Casablanca does, I think, is take an average story and making it a timeless piece of cinema. The image of Rick at the end walking away in the mist with Paul Rains is so beautiful it signifies much more then what it would if it was filmed otherwise.

Also, Bergman and Bogart are electric together, I don't know if I've ever seen an on screen chemistry so good, so perfect where every look they give each other seems to have such passion and restreint at the same time. Paris, that we actually see for about 2,3 minutes of the film if my memory is correct is there every time Bogart and Bergman are on screen together, it's insinuated, it's in their look, their habits, the way they are. It's almost as if in 2 minutes of screen time, Curtiz gives the characters the resonance or the depth and complexity that would have characters in a 12 hours mini series.

I really loved this film and it's now among my personal favorites, it's an example of perfect filmmaking and of perfect acting, and it's certainly a film I will revisit on a regular basis for all my life.

neiba

01-16-17, 08:19 PM

CosmicRunaway

01-16-17, 09:04 PM

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=28497&stc=1&d=1484615010
Midnight Run (1988)
Dir. Martin Brest
Starring: Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, John Ashton

Simply put: Midnight Run is just a lot of fun. Charles Grodin is very irritating, but for once it's done in a comedic manner that actually works for me. I think I laughed at him the most, but both he and De Niro were highly entertaining throughout the entire film. I loved listening to their quips, and it's their relationship that really sells the film. It's probably an odd thing to point out, but I really liked all the insults and threats in the script, particularly De Niro and Dennis Farina's dialogue. It just struck a chord with me, and I think a lot of the lines are rather quotable.

While the music is a bit dated, its cheesiness just adds another layer of comedy to the film, and seems to fit the overall tone just fine. The plot is just ridiculous enough to be funny, but not so over-the-top that it makes you stop and question its believability. It does have its serious moments as well, and luckily the film does those just as well as it does the comedic elements. It's all very well balanced and incredibly engaging.

I had actually caught part of this film on tv many years ago, but never knew the name or remembered to look it up. I'm glad that it was nominated so I got the chance to see the whole thing.

Nope1172

01-16-17, 09:09 PM

CosmicRunaway

01-16-17, 09:13 PM

cricket

01-16-17, 09:16 PM

I watched the 80 minute version

Nope1172

01-16-17, 09:18 PM

I have 5 films left now, including Casablanca (which I'm not sure I need to watch again). I'll probably have time to watch one tomorrow, but that'll likely be it until the weekend again.

Those of you who have seen Sugata Sanshiro, did you watch the 80 or 97 minute version? Is one highly recommended over the other (if anyone is familiar with both)?
I have only seen the 80 minute version because it is the one I own on DVD. There is a disclaimer at the beginning that says some of the footage was lost and could not be found. I think you should watch the 80 minute one first, because I think the 90 minute version won't make much sense because of scenes that have no conclusion due to missing footage.

CosmicRunaway

01-16-17, 09:22 PM

Okay, I was checking the runtimes on the remaining films I had left to watch and thought the runtime seemed a bit low for that one. When I googled it, it stated the runtime as being 97 minutes instead, so I was worried I had an incorrect copy. Google had two listed versions, one at 79 minutes and one at 97 minutes, though I didn't want to look at what the description of the differences between the two were, in case it mentioned spoilers. :up:

Camo

01-17-17, 03:30 AM

The more I think about the ending, the more I get from it. I realize that it wasn't so much the fact that the two guys had sex that made them go apart. I mean they are huge friends, always together, but they find out that each one of them is constantly having sex with the other's gf,and in case of Julio,with Tenoch's mom. So why are they so close with all these things hapenning. You'd think that they'd behave differently. Maybe they know they're gay the whole time and they just had a crush on eachother, and that what is holding them together, not the friendship. That's why they just chose to be far away from each other, because being gay is not an option.

or...

They found out their friendship is so wrecked with all those things happening that is impossible to continue. But I prefer the first option.

So glad you liked it Nope, you're the man :up:

One thing i find so powerful about the ending is that i personally think they did a great job of creating a meaningful relationship between Julio and Tenoch. Some might not agree which is fine, i mean they are little a-holes i completely agree with everyone who said that but they also come across like how alot of teenage boys act together and they clearly meant alot to each other. I mean they've basically shaped each others personalities completely off each other, they do everything together, they have the same, humour, interests, attitudes, etc, they are practically the same person. Think something that important quickly coming to an end probably hurt me more than Luisa's death.

Personally i don't think they were gay, if the director or whatever came out and said so then fine. Don't know maybe they were, maybe they were bi but personally i think the scene is more powerful if they weren't. In my scenario i think they were only interested in the threesome at first because they'd get to have sex with Luisa and that during an intense drunken moment with Luisa's subtle encouragement they just went for it in the moment, i mean it was really heated and their anger and resentment to each other at this time are powerful emotions which can be turned to something else during a powerful, passionate moment. I think shame probably did play a part in them not seeing each other again, but whether they were gay or not i really do think the film was saying that their relationship was already over anyway.

Anyway just my thoughts.

Camo

01-17-17, 03:32 AM

What I interpreted from it was that the two of them always had feelings for each other, but obviously never acted on them until the end of the film. Based on the two's constant use of the word f***** they were homophobic. This is also somewhat referenced when they mention their friend who came out of the closet, both of them seem very uncomfortable talking about it. After the threesome, they acted on their feelings for each other, and because of this, it became very awkward and uncomfortable for them to be around each other, believing that their feelings for each other was wrong, so they ended their friendship.

I think this is honestly the most likely answer but personally i hope it was what i said because i think it makes it more powerful.

Camo

01-17-17, 05:41 AM

The City of Lost Children

http://i63.tinypic.com/vs0rcx.jpg

This is another one where i really didn't know what to expect, i caught the end of Ed's review yesterday when he mentioned Tim Burton so that intrigued me. For the record i watched the Subbed version, no way was i watching a live action film dubbed; animated films are bad enough that way. I Don't have that much to say about this, it was so weird and there was so much going on that i don't think i could do it justice. Some of this i absolutely adored; the visuals, the general weirdness. I really loved the scene at the start with the Santa's and the weird, i dunno how to put it rubbery movement of everything in the shot, great opening. I loved how dark it was both the story and visually yet it felt like a kids film somehow, well to me anyway. Can definitely see the comparisons to Burton there as well as the gothic look of the film. It reminded me of Dark City more than Tim Burton though. It was funny at times too, and while for the most part they were the most hit and miss part for me i do think the villains were interesting. The only thing that stopped me from loving this is that i found it a bit overwhelming at times, the closeups and weird angles, the crazy and often loud characters; these things did get on my nerves a bit sometimes. It wasn't often enough that it made me dislike the film but it did affect my overall enjoyment. I thought some of the characters were a bit too cartoonish for me at times which i get was the intention since it was supposed to be a surreal fantasy world, it took me out of a few scenes though. Was stunned when i saw Ron Perlman was in this, i thought at first i was imagining things and it was just a French actor who looked like him haha. I really like Ron alot and he was perfect as a sympathetic strongman, think he's always great at playing a likable yet intimidating guy. He was a big loveable idiot. The kids were awesome too, loved Miette think she was my favourite character. All in all it had a great selection of weird and interesting characters, some didn't work for me then some did alot.

So yeah, i do think this is a very good film and i enjoyed it, some of it wasn't entirely for me though. Good nom Clazor :up:. That's me finished then, getting my list to Cricket in a minute.

Camo

01-17-17, 05:46 AM

Sent my list. Like always i decided to send it right away so i don't overthink it. I'll still stick around to read the reviews, and i'm still planning on writing up Y Tu Mama and Joe or at least joining in in any discussions about them.

CosmicRunaway

01-17-17, 08:04 AM

I think this is honestly the most likely answer but personally i hope it was what i said because i think it makes it more powerful.
I agree with your interpretation Camo.

You could see throughout the film that there was a rift forming between the two boys, which had more to do with them just becoming more honest with each other (partly at Luisa's prompting, but also partly in anger, especially towards the end). Early in the road trip, the narrator mentions that even though they are good friends, there are still some things things they don't dare say to each other. Clearly that notion is completely gone by the end of the film.

Like you said, they are very similar people and clearly have been friends a long time, but their lives are not heading in the same direction any more. Their families are on completely different pages and social classes, and as they got older I think those differences were slowly becoming more pronounced. I think the end of their friendship was more so a culmination of all those changes and their new found honesty, and less to do with sexuality (though the threesome definitely did contribute).

I think that even if the threesome didn't happen, the two would've grown apart anyway.

Camo

01-17-17, 08:07 AM

Yeah, you put it much better than me. I knew i was right :D

CosmicRunaway

01-17-17, 08:12 AM

I actually wanted to post that last night when I saw the film being discussed again, but for some reason I couldn't get it to come out right. I guess getting a good night sleep got my brain working again because I was able to word it properly this time haha.

Nope1172

01-17-17, 08:22 AM

I think this is honestly the most likely answer but personally i hope it was what i said because i think it makes it more powerful.

I don't think there is an "answer", I think the director purposefully left it ambiguous so people would have conversations like this one.

Camo

01-17-17, 08:27 AM

I know that, i meant yours is the most straightforward and logical.

neiba

01-17-17, 09:13 AM

doesn't matter, it's a damn good movie!

:p

Clazor

01-17-17, 11:57 AM

Never Let Me Go

http://centreformedicalhumanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/never-let-me-go-4-6e05f1.jpg

The story of three friends and their journey, together and apart, heading towards a fate none of them had a choice in making.

The acting was...mixed. I thought Knightly did a good job as Ruth; the insecure girl covering with a prickly exterior works for her. The same could be said when she broke down and was honest with her friends. Overall a good performance.

Garfield came across as wierd to me. He seemed to jump between being sweet and clueless one moment, to emotionally deep the next, only to posses the mental faculties of a nine year old when the scene with the boat rolled around. He leaves his clearly struggeling ex-girlfriend along with his best friend to do a mad-dash run toward a boat, and then with a bewildered/amused expression climb about in it. Seeing as she needed them both for support, why run off? Wierd, as I said.

Mulligan was a bit bland. Allways softspoken, allways demure, it never got past that with her. I'll admit that she was effective when it came to talking with her patients and in the meeting with Ruth. Overall, she was ok.

The story as a whole, breeding humans as little more than walking organ bags to be pilfered from at need, brought to mind the story from The Island. A more emotional, less action oriented version to be sure, but the basics are there. There's even scenes they have in common. When Ruth goes in for her last donation they take her liver and just let her bleed out. In The Island, Michael Clark Duncan suffers the same fate, if again in a more action packed situation. These similarities made me ask why they didn't try to run or oppose their roles in life. I know it's not the point of the movie, but nothing after their appeal for more time? No trying to head for the hills? Just automatic surrender to their lots in life?

After watching the film I red up on the book it was based on and found out that the author's japaneese (they actually made a tv-series out of the book last year in Japan).Maybe this is the answer? As it was originally set in Japan, it's narrative is more in line with that of traditional japaneese customs; more respect of athourity and obeying your elders, towing the company line etc?...or I'm just spouting stereotypes now? Don't really know. Anyway, it might've made more sense in it's original setting.

Overall, the movie wasn't one of my favourites, but not bad by any means. It was good, glad to have seen it. Nice nom, Citizen! :up:

Topsy

01-17-17, 12:28 PM

I don't think there is an "answer", I think the director purposefully left it ambiguous so people would have conversations like this one.

I agree..I didnt get any hidden sexual attraction between the boys before that.Personally i think it was a spur of the moment kind of thing,whether that unlocked something i dont know. But yeah,agree with what Nope said

Citizen Rules

01-17-17, 12:30 PM

Never Let Me Go

After watching the film I red up on the book it was based on and found out that the author's Japanese...Maybe this is the answer?

As it was originally set in Japan, it's narrative is more in line with that of traditional Japanese customs; more respect of authority and obeying your elders, towing the company line etc?...

Yes, I would say that's probably right, it reflects traditional Japanese cultural values.

A lot of reviewers on the internet have said "why didn't they escape or fight back"...but it's not a movie to be taken literally, it's self-reflective. That's why we don't see cloning science or sci fi tech stuff and that's why it's set in an alternative time and place.

It's a meditative essay on accepting one's fate in life and meeting that fate with dignity. The clones don't have a choice to run or fight back, they've been conditioned to follow their lot in life. That's why when as kids and the ball rolls outside of the fence they are frightened to cross that line.

Through their shortened life journey, we learn of our own selves...that time is fleeting and life is shorter than we might think and there's never enough time for all the hopes and love that we aspire for. At least that's how I seen it.

CosmicRunaway

01-17-17, 12:33 PM

Well said, CR. :up:

That's the same thing I got from the film as well.

Camo

01-17-17, 12:42 PM

I agree..I didnt get any hidden sexual attraction between the boys before that.Personally i think it was a spur of the moment kind of thing,whether that unlocked something i dont know. But yeah,agree with what Nope said

It was me and Cosmic who said that, Nope said he thought they had feelings for each other.

Topsy

01-17-17, 12:43 PM

carey mulligan is a bit overrated though i loved her in shame and think that she has great potentional

Topsy

01-17-17, 12:46 PM

It was me and Cosmic who said that, Nope said he thought they had feelings for each other.

No,the post i quoted from him is what I agree with,about the director being ambiguous on purpose :)

Camo

01-17-17, 12:48 PM

We all agree with that, your interpretation seems to agree more with mine and Cosmics though. But yeah i did misunderstand what you meant there.

Topsy

01-17-17, 12:59 PM

Yes I assumed most agreed with it,I just quoted that cos i wanted to add the other part lol

Citizen Rules

01-17-17, 01:03 PM

Sanshiro Sugata

This was a nice film. I enjoyed it's simple, yet emotional story. I don't care for martial arts films and this is only the second Akira Kurosawa movie I've seen. The other was Rashomon which I didn't like.

What I liked in this move was that the lead Sugata seemed to have a warm, open personality which I didn't expect. He's a nice guy who's the greatest Judo wrestler, and I liked that aspect of it. My favorite part was the romance scenes between him and his opponents daughter and with her father.

CosmicRunaway

01-17-17, 01:13 PM

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=28501&stc=1&d=1484673037
Sanshiro Sugata/姿三四郎 (1943)
Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Susumu Fujita, Ryūnosuke Tsukigata, Yukiko Todoroki

Sanshiro Sugata is definitely a lot rougher than Kurosawa's later works, though some of that may be attributed to the film's unfortunate censorship. I wasn't expecting to see much of Kurasawa's signature camera work in the first film he directed, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that is not the case. It's nice to see that, even at the start of his career, Kurosawa had a keen eye for movement and setting a scene with the camera.

While I like the idea of this film, the hints of Japanese Feudalism contained therein, and the visual symbolism (such as the flowers and sky), unfortunately I didn't find it to be particularly engaging. I know nothing about Jujitsu or Judo, what the differences are, or whether or not they were portrayed properly in the film. Perhaps things would be different if I did, but as it stands I did not find the wrestling scenes interesting in the slightest. Since much of a plot centres around the sport, it did drag the film down a little for me. I did however like the rest of what I saw and I'm glad I had the chance to see this.

SilentVamp

01-18-17, 01:04 PM

This is just a very quick stop by the library today. Got the first four films watched that I said I would watch (I am still waiting on any that I had to request). But I will review them next week. I plan to take full advantage of my 2 hours on the library computer next week to write something out about each one that I've seen now. Also, I want to catch up on the reviews of those movies, too, that you guys have written. I just don't have the time to do so today.

But I am curious about one thing. Where did these children come from in "Never Let Me Go"? How were they created? If there is a very obvious answer, then I will have to admit to my stupidity. :yup: But I was taking down my Christmas tree at the same time when the film started, and I don't know if I missed something (because I didn't think I did) while I was doing that.

So I am just curious. :)

Citizen Rules

01-18-17, 01:14 PM

Hey Vamp, I haven't read the book but the movie is an 'alternative time line' or fantasy or hypothetical essay, type movie...There's probably some cinematic term for it that I don't know. But you are right, it doesn't explain the technical aspects of the cloning or the origins of the kids.

...I am unable to obtain 3 of them:
U-Turn
Sanshiro Sugata
Joe

Did anyone ever PM you links to those noms? Do you still need them?

Camo

01-18-17, 01:21 PM

Might be remembering the conversation wrong but is it not implied that they are cloned from homeless people, criminals, etc. When Keira breaks down after seeing how beautiful the woman the others suspected she had been cloned from and she said we are cloned from the trash of society or whatever. I might be seriously not remembering that right though.

Camo

01-18-17, 01:22 PM

I sent Vamp the links.

Topsy

01-18-17, 06:03 PM

You`re right,she did say that

CosmicRunaway

01-18-17, 07:33 PM

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=28519&stc=1&d=1484782292
U-Turn (1997)
Dir. Oliver Stone
Starring: Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be taking this film seriously or not, but it was really hard not to laugh at the ridiculous events on screen. Some of the comedy I found in the film didn't seem intentional, but I like to think that Oliver Stone knew what he was doing and that U-Turn was supposed to have a comedic (although dark) nature to it. I found Sean Penn to be really entertaining, however Jennifer Lopez was absolutely horrible, but unfortunately not in a “so bad it's funny” kind of way.

Halfway through the film, when some more noir elements of the plot started to come into play, I started to loose interest. It was trying to be tense, but I just wasn't really buying it (probably because I was laughing too much at the start of the film and the tone difference seemed abrupt). I found myself constantly checking how much longer was left, which is never a good thing. However, the lacklustre final act really redeems itself for me with an ending that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The film started with a smile, and ended with one. I appreciated the almost cyclical nature of the plot, and for most of it, I was entertained. The supporting cast was really good, and really help make up for the few grievances I have with the film as a whole.

CosmicRunaway

01-18-17, 07:38 PM

I unexpectedly had just enough time this evening to watch U-Turn and finish my write-up. :cool:

I'll have to double check, but I think I just have Hiroshima mon Amour and Joe left to watch now, plus a review for Casablanca. I might be able to finish those this weekend, however I am going to go see Split on Friday, and we might be getting a snow storm this weekend, so unfortunately I might have to spent my time shovelling instead of watching movies haha.

Camo

01-18-17, 08:13 PM

Wow. Think we disagreed on U Turn quite a bit while probably coming out liking about the same there, Cosmic.

I'm not sure which parts were supposed to be intentionally funny or not but i didn't really care i laughed alot. Some of it was definitely supposed to be absurd like everything with the mechanic and TNT which both started early in the film.

Camo

01-18-17, 08:15 PM

Oh my god, if you ever needed proof of how repetitive i am on my last comment "supposed to be" is directly above/under each other :facepalm:

Topsy

01-18-17, 08:35 PM

i think jennifer is brilliant in this movie👍 this is prob the only time you will see me defend jlo :lol:

Camo

01-18-17, 08:39 PM

I thought she was solid; she was supposed to be seductive and untrustworthy, i think she pulled both off well. And i'm no fan of hers; i remember i read how she was good in Out of Sight then i watched it and she was terrible.

Nope1172

01-18-17, 10:31 PM

Cricket, I think there's a problem with the first post. CosmicRunaway's Sanshiro Sugata write-up links to a picture.

cricket

01-18-17, 10:41 PM

Cricket, I think there's a problem with the first post. CosmicRunaway's Sanshiro Sugata write-up links to a picture.

Fixed!

edarsenal

01-18-17, 10:44 PM

Haven't seen U-Turn since it first came out and I remember enjoying JLo's character. Will have to see when I rewatch it if I still do.

Miss Vicky

01-19-17, 01:04 PM

Hopefully going to go to the library today to pick up some of these and start to get caught up with you speed demons. I've never felt so far behind on one of these. :laugh:

neiba

01-19-17, 05:02 PM

Citizen Rules

01-19-17, 05:13 PM

FYI for everyone, I don't think this has been mentioned...but this time around there's more movies and less overall time to watch them, with a total length of 69 days. So at 10 weeks from when it started, with 14 movies to watch, that averages 1.4 movie a week. So get watching:p

RoyaleWitCheese

01-19-17, 06:14 PM

Jesus!!! Why people finish these things so quickly now? Not long ago, we we used to need extra weeks and half of the people were out before the thing finished! Not that I am complaining but something really changed!
Guess as long as people finish in time it doesn't matter. I also noticed a few ppl are doing multiple tournaments at once, so some probably finished quickly to get this out of the way....

Miss Vicky

01-19-17, 07:46 PM

I picked up Casablanca, Withnail & I, and City of Lost Children from the library. I also still have The Man from Nowhere from my last library trip. Hopefully I'll get at least a couple of these watched this weekend.

jiraffejustin

01-20-17, 01:58 AM

Y Tu Mamá También

I was very curious about what all the spoilers were about before hand, because this didn't seem like a "twisty" movie. I stopped thinking about the spoilers as I became further and further engrossed. Then the two boys started kissing, and I realized at the moment what the spoilers were all about. I definitely wasn't expecting it, but perhaps I should have with how often the boys kept saying "queer" (that's what my subtitles said, but I've seen others say they were saying "******" or "homo"). Not that I think all young guys who use those words are closeted homosexuals. Those lines weren't in there just to make them seem realistic, they served a purpose. I have a friend who is Mexican, and she tells me that Mexico is a place where homosexuality very frowned upon. She says she knows this from conversations with relatives who live there still. I can only take her word for it, but it would make sense at that moment that these young men who have grown up thinking this way would not be able to stomach being around each other after that moment. Whether or not they were actually gay is beside the point. They were in a high tension and angry position with each other, and perhaps this was just how those feelings wound up manifesting themselves. Or with Luisa as a conduit it is possible that they both allowed themselves to release their true feelings for one another.

The Luisa spoiler, which has received less mention, is equally important. It was a little more obvious because people aren't shown going to the doctor unless they are going to die soon or they can no longer have children. When the woman was talking to Luisa about her being the right age to have children, I began to think that was the case. But when the conversation with the two boys about living forever took place, I knew I was wrong.

It might not seem totally realistic that a very attractive older woman would want to go on a road trip with a couple of punk boys who she knows only really want to sleep with her, but then again maybe it is if she can see in those boys what they can not see in themselves. The camera work is never flashy, and it feels quite real. Mexico is the perfect setting for this movie, as the terrain is very gritty, and it's not a polished place. As far as movie settings go, it makes it feel real. The sexually explicit nature of this film also strongly lends itself to the realism. The sex isn't glamorized. It's real. This film is real. And this film is really good. Good nomination, Camo.

Citizen Rules

01-20-17, 03:37 AM

Joe (Avildsen, 1970)

Not a fan of this one, though Peter Boyle was real good and his character interesting. This seemed like one of those cheesy 1970s black exploitation films, only it's more like hippie exploitation. I thought the first 30 minutes with the silly caricature dope dealer was meant to be comical. He was kind of funny, reminded me of Huggy Bear from the old Starsky and Hutch TV show.

The production was low budget, but far worse was some of the actors were horrible. You can literally hear them reading their lines, they're that flat.

I had to laugh when the two nice blonde girls are buying heroin from the jive talking drug dealer....and they're so upbeat about it! I liked their negotiation skills! Actually that might have been the best part of the movie.

CosmicRunaway

01-20-17, 07:48 AM

RoyaleWitCheese

01-20-17, 07:49 AM

Jesus!!! Why people finish these things so quickly now? Not long ago, we we used to need extra weeks and half of the people were out before the thing finished! Not that I am complaining but something really changed!
Some of us have no lives and nothing better to do. :cool:
I concur..... With regret

Camo

01-20-17, 08:58 AM

Really glad you liked it JJ, good review :up:

Citizen Rules

01-20-17, 01:20 PM

Romper Stomper

Great title!...I just wish that in between their romping to abandoned cavernous buildings and stomping immigrants, Russell and the boys would have done some musing on their basic tenants of Skinheadism.

I liked parts of the film and it was surprisingly cinematic, but I wanted more on their back story...To me the most interesting aspect isn't endless fight scenes, it's the peek inside a world most of us won't ever know. I thought the movie was going to open up and give us some insight when he brought out his copy of Mein Kampf, but nothing much was said.

I didn't find Russell Crowe's character all that interesting.
The girl with the pervy-rich dad and the skinhead who lived with his grandmother, were the best characters. Both had some depth to them that made me want to know more about them and actually care what happened to them.

My favorite scene was where the older skinhead sells them them a Nazi knife and Russell Crowe immediately knows it's a Hitler Youth dagger made at the end of the war in 1945 when quality metal was scarce...that scene told me more about his character than the rest of the film.

Camo

01-20-17, 01:30 PM

You've not liked any of the ones you've watched so far, right? Damn, that's unlucky. Hope you like my nom but i'm pretty doubtful even though it has had a pretty good reception so far.

Miss Vicky

01-20-17, 01:35 PM

Camo

01-20-17, 01:38 PM

Topsy

01-20-17, 01:44 PM

I agree with Vicky,i liked the fact thats theres not too much focus on that.It also could have turned out way too sappy
The characters where interesting enough (for me) as they were in the moment. I hope you`ll like the ones you have left better than the ones you`ve seen so far though!

Citizen Rules

01-20-17, 01:46 PM

You've not liked any of the ones you've watched so far, right? Damn, that's unlucky. Hope you like my nom but i'm pretty doubtful even though it has had a pretty good reception so far. So far I haven't found any favorites...But I have my fingers crossed.

Sad you didn't get more out of it than that, Citizen.

Personally, I think spending much time on their backstories would've killed the film's momentum and wouldn't have had any effect, positive or negative, on my feelings towards the characters and understanding of their motivations. It's a story that is very much in the moment and it works well for me. I did like some of it, the overall premise is very interesting. I'm not a fan of marital arts films and that seems to be the direction they went with the movie, I would have liked more essay, less action.

Some other scenes and aspects I liked such as:

The opening fight scene in a hi-way tunnel reminded me of the beating scene of a homeless man in a tunnel in A Clockwork Orange. I'm pretty sure the director was paying homage to that scene.

Gabe having an ecliptic fit on the floor and no one knowing what to do...with one skinhead stupidly mocking her....was both shocking and effective! That was a powerful scene. I felt bad for her...then when Davey comforted her it made a dynamic between him, her and Hondo...that all was interesting.

Spoiler*** I thought how the scene was shot with Russell Crowe stabbed in the neck and dying was very well done, it seemed real and I don't recall seeing the same type of shot before.

Citizen Rules

01-20-17, 01:52 PM

I think it would've made me like it less, i have no interest in finding out their motivations in becoming terrible people. Hated those parts in AHX trying to get us to sympathize with the horrible racists.American History X, I hadn't had any interest in it, but after Romper Stomper I might give it a look.

jiraffejustin

01-20-17, 01:54 PM

Sad you didn't get more out of it than that, Citizen.

Personally, I think spending much time on their backstories would've killed the film's momentum and wouldn't have had any effect, positive or negative, on my feelings towards the characters and understanding of their motivations. It's a story that is very much in the moment and it works well for me.

I agree with this. I don't think we need to know their motivation, because no matter what their motivation was it wouldn't be sound in any way. They are impressionable individuals who fell into the hands of the wrong people that molded them the wrong way. It seems as though Hando and Davey were first, and I am guessing they were friends before the whole skinhead thing. I assume Hando got hold of Mein Kampf, and shared this with Davey. Knowing that they have a German background and were a rebellious lot, they held onto what they were reading because it was against everything that decent human beings would be for. While I do think AHX is a good film, I think the approach of never rehabilitating these characters is more realistic. I don't know how a person would ever come back from that type of thing. Especially when considering the performance that Crowe gives; I believe he is this person the whole time. He's deep in it. I think the director had a delicate handle on this too, because he never punished his characters for their actions or beliefs, regardless of how messed up they are. Everything that happened was cause and effect, and most of it was ugly. But that's what you get when you have these types of people. I also don't think of the Koreans as being shown as barbarians like these skinheads, because they are only retaliating. I understand the feeling of really wanting to take matters into your own hands, because you know that the process of getting this fixed the "right way" would take too long and might not fix anything at all. Whether that's right or wrong can be debated by other people.

Anyway, I watched this last night after I watched Y Tu Mama Tambien . Two very different movies.

cricket

01-21-17, 07:48 PM

71 write-ups out of a possible 196 after exactly 2 weeks. Including those of us who might not be doing write-ups for every single movie, we're probably about halfway done as a group.

edarsenal

01-21-17, 10:20 PM

that's a HELLUVA an achievement!!

NICE JOB to those responsible!!

RoyaleWitCheese

01-21-17, 10:43 PM

Not bad,not bad

Miss Vicky

01-22-17, 03:14 AM

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walteregan/MovieLog/withnail.gif

Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)
Imdb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094336/?ref_=nv_sr_1)

Date Watched: 01/21/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th Hall of Fame, Neiba's nomination.
Rewatch: No

When this was announced as a nomination, I was actually quite glad. Though I knew nothing of its content, I'd heard great things about it. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for the film was killed within the first few minutes and, truth be told, it took me several attempts to complete it.

I think a big problem is that this is supposed to be a comedy and it's a rare thing for a live action comedy to work for me. But moreso my issue was with the characters. Rather than finding this pair of neurotic losers amusing, I found them incredibly irritating. Making the experience worse still was that I didn't like any of the other characters, what few there were, either. And I liked Uncle Monty least of all. Heaven forbid a gay character in a movie from this era actually behave anything like a normal human being. No - let's make the gay uncle a rapey creep, because reasons. :rolleyes:

So yeah, not amused by this. Not amused at all.

1.5

jiraffejustin

01-22-17, 03:34 AM

I didn't see him as a rapey creep. I thought he thought he was picking up vibes from the dude and he was mislead by his nephew, but he was just misreading the situation. I thought the way he bowed out showed that he wasn't there to do anything to anybody without their consent.

Miss Vicky

01-22-17, 04:08 AM

Monty goes into the room, physically blocks the door, says "I mean to have you even if it means burglary" then traps the guy in a corner. Rapey vibes to me.

jiraffejustin

01-22-17, 04:10 AM

I forgot about that... whooops. I do think it was because he mainly misread the whole thing though, and not just because he initially wanted to rape someone.

cricket

01-22-17, 12:05 PM

The Grand Budapest Hotel

http://images.fandango.com/r102.8/ImageRenderer/1040/650/redesign/areas/movie/moviesubpages/img/noimage_900x900.jpg/168547/images/masterrepository/fandango/168547/thegrandbudapesthotel-mv-6.jpg

Wes Anderson is a director that I never thought I would like. I watched my first movie from him (Moonrise Kingdom) about a year and a half ago and hated it. I then watched Fantastic Mr. Fox for the animation countdown and loved it. I thought his style suited an animated movie perfectly with his not quite realistic dialogue and characters. I then decided to try The Grand Budapest Hotel because of all the acclaim it had gotten. I enjoyed it, and I credited the movie with getting me over the hump so to speak, in that I thought I had finally acquired a taste for his style in a live action film. I then watched Rushmore when it was nominated for a previous Hall of Fame, and my appreciation grew further. That became my favorite live action film of the three. I then rewatched Moonrise Kingdom for another Hall of Fame, and that turned from a movie I couldn't stand, to another Anderson film I very much enjoyed. I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel for a second time this morning.

I think Ed is really getting screwed in this Hall of Fame. It just so happens that he nominated it for the wrong group of members. Had this been a different group, this movie could have been a threat for the top spot. Even for myself, who has grown to enjoy and appreciate the films of Wes Anderson, they are still not perfectly suited for my taste. I actually think this movie is not far off from a masterpiece, at least for the right viewer. I find it a little more fantastical than Moonrise Kingdom and Rushmore, and that is not a positive for me, but it has edges over those other films to balance them out. The cast is very deep and talented for one, and it's fun to recognize all of the different actors as they first appear in the movie. I also think it is the most visually grand film of the ones I have seen. It is stunning to watch at times. The humorous quirky dialogue has been a constant with all of these films, and I look forward to my next from this talented and unique director.

3.5

Citizen Rules

01-22-17, 12:55 PM

Monty goes into the room, physically blocks the door, says "I mean to have you even if it means burglary" then traps the guy in a corner. Rapey vibes to me.
That's how I seen it too.

I had liked the character of Monty best of all, until he blocks the door in the bedroom and becomes a masher. I had thought he was the most accessible and less annoying of the characters. Though throwing his cat was a no-no.

MV, that was a honest and straight forward write up, I like that you don't sugar coat your reviews.

Citizen Rules

01-22-17, 01:07 PM

...I watched my first movie from him (Moonrise Kingdom) about a year and a half ago and hated it.

I then rewatched Moonrise Kingdom for another Hall of Fame, and that turned from a movie I couldn't stand, to another Anderson film I very much enjoyed. I'm very curious about your 180 degree change on Moonrise Kingdom. Why do you think you initially hated it, and then later really enjoyed it? What changed in your mind about it?

The Grand Budapest Hotel I think Ed is really getting screwed in this Hall of Fame. It just so happens that he nominated it for the wrong group of members. Had this been a different group, this movie could have been a threat for the top spot.Yea, I think Sean and Raul would have rated it higher on their list. Though I can see it be higher on my list too as I have not liked most of the noms I've seen so far.

edarsenal

01-22-17, 01:19 PM

Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)
No - let's make the gay uncle a rapey creep, because reasons. :rolleyes:

yeah, but isn't that MOST men, regardless of sexual preference??? :D:p;)

sorry, I HAD to say that -- we get a hard on and all our attempts at nobility go RIGHT OUT THE WINDOW lol

And thanks Cricket, I nominated Budapest BECAUSE I don't really care for Anderson, (tried and tried and had given up) and I utterly love this movie and WHERE it rates isn't important for me - so, no worries. But, still, THANKS
Very happy to see you enjoyed and renewed you're own pleasure in Anderson

cricket

01-22-17, 01:33 PM

I'm very curious about your 180 degree change on Moonrise Kingdom. Why do you think you initially hated it, and then later really enjoyed it? What changed in your mind about it?

I'm not sure. Sometimes I think movies can be situational, kind of like songs, in that it can depend on your mood how much you enjoy them. I also think expectations or preconceived notions can factor in. He is so unique that it may have just been a matter of getting used to his style.

Citizen Rules

01-22-17, 01:42 PM

I'm not sure. Sometimes I think movies can be situational, kind of like songs, in that it can depend on your mood how much you enjoy them. I also think expectations or preconceived notions can factor in. He is so unique that it may have just been a matter of getting used to his style. That all makes sense to me...

I think for me expectations or preconceived notions can be the make or break of a film, especially the more offbeat ones. I do really want to see more Wes Anderson films, just for that reason.

I might have already posted this, but I looked up the Wes Anderson films that were in previous Hofs, and they did surprisingly well, usually finishing in the middle of the pack or better.

CosmicRunaway

01-22-17, 07:06 PM

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=28550&stc=1&d=1485126254
Casablanca (1942)
Dir. Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains

Casablanca is a film that has become so ingrained in pop culture that even people who haven't seen the film can be found quoting some of its iconic lines. It's attempts to resonate with a wartime audience have turned it into something of a timeless classic that's studied in countless film classes and is definitely going to be a frontrunner for the upcoming 40s Countdown. I likely can't say anything about the film that hasn't already been said, so I'm going to try and keep this short and simple.

The film has a number of great performances, with great chemistry between the characters - and not just between Bogart and Bergman either. As is the case with practically any film that utilizes noir and expressionistic lighting and framing techniques, I really enjoyed the cinematography. The first half of the film is a bit lighter on those elements, but towards the end it becomes much richer, and is just pleasant to watch. I like that Rick is a cynical man just trying to survive, and doesn't start off as a typical heroic figure.

One thing I'd like to mention specifically though, is that during the unforgettable “Die Wacht am Rhein” vs “La Marseillaise” scene, apparently “Die Wacht am Rhein” was only used because the Nazi anthem “Das Horst-Wessel-Lied” was still protected under international copyright laws. However, given that the lyrics of “Die Wacht am Rhein” involve defending the Rhineland against the French, I think it's inclusion was very appropriate, and believe it's actually a much better choice. It's one instance where I'm glad the filmmakers weren't able to use the song they originally wanted.

Miss Vicky

01-22-17, 07:58 PM

I might have already posted this, but I looked up the Wes Anderson films that were in previous Hofs, and they did surprisingly well, usually finishing in the middle of the pack or better.

Yes, but then raul and sean are both pretty big on Wes Anderson and neither is in this HOF. I doubt Budapest will do very well, but I guess that depends on what everyone thinks of the other nominations.

Topsy

01-22-17, 08:26 PM

Ive not been feeling well lately so ive been slacking,but im ready to catch up tomorrow,I think I will have time for 2 which means I`ll only have 2 left.The nominations have been great this round!

rauldc14

01-24-17, 10:10 AM

Yes, but then raul and sean are both pretty big on Wes Anderson and neither is in this HOF. I doubt Budapest will do very well, but I guess that depends on what everyone thinks of the other nominations.

I do NOT like Budapest, so naturally this is the HOF that I skipped :laugh:

Citizen Rules

01-24-17, 01:13 PM

Midnight Run

This was fun in some parts. So no complaints, but I wasn't passionate about it either.

Robert De Niro was likeable and funny. I haven't seen any of his big films (Taxi Driver, Godfather, Raging Bull, etc). I mostly know him from Meet The Fockers, so it was interesting to see him so young.

Charles Grodin, I've never liked him. I remember watching him on Late Night TV shows being interviewed and he's just as annoying off screen as he is on.

My favorite characters/actors were the big FBI guy who was pissed at De Niro, and the two Mafia hitmen who couldn't do anything right.

What stayed with me the most was some of the little nuances:

I thought it pretty interesting that when De Niro visits his ex wife's house, both him and Grodin wipe their feet before entering. I don't know why that was impressive, but I haven't seen that much in movies...or real life come to think of it.

The other interesting thing was the $1000 dollar bills. Has anybody seen one of those in person? They use to make them, but haven't in the longest time.

Oh and I liked seeing Sedona in Arizona as I've been there. I know no one cares:p but somehow it's fun to spot places in movies you've actually been.

Camo

01-24-17, 01:18 PM

Glad you liked it somewhat. Have to say though, only knowing DeNiro from Meet The Fockers is one of the most depressing things i've ever heard :p. Not even Meet The Parent, Meet The Fockers haha.

jiraffejustin

01-24-17, 01:34 PM

Glad you liked it somewhat. Have to say though, only knowing DeNiro from Meet The Fockers is one of the most depressing things i've ever heard :p. Not even Meet The Parent, Meet The Fockers haha.

That's like only knowing Michael Jordan the Wizard.

Swan

01-24-17, 01:36 PM

Glad you liked it somewhat. Have to say though, only knowing DeNiro from Meet The Fockers is one of the most depressing things i've ever heard :p. Not even Meet The Parent, Meet The Fockers haha.

And this is Citizen Rules we're talking about! You'd think he's know one of DeNiro's older, more famous roles.

Citizen Rules

01-24-17, 01:56 PM

Ha! I lied...I checked out his filmography at IMDB and I've seen him in more films, but none of his big, well known films from earlier in his career.

I've seen these:
Brazil
Goodfellas
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Casino
Backdraft
Ronin
Meet the Parents
Meet The Fockers
The Intern
Joy
The Bridge of San Luis Rey

I didn't even remember he was in most of those!

Swan

01-24-17, 01:58 PM

Citizen If you would go watch Taxi Driver. Even if you don't like it, it's an essential film and I'd be curious to read your thoughts.

jiraffejustin

01-24-17, 02:00 PM

Yeah... you need to see Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.

Swan

01-24-17, 02:00 PM

And wait, you haven't seen The Godfather movies, Citizen? C'mon man! :p

Citizen Rules

01-24-17, 02:04 PM

Citizen If you would go watch Taxi Driver. Even if you don't like it, it's an essential film and I'd be curious to read your thoughts.

Yeah... you need to see Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.

I'd love to watch both of those, one problem...time...I never seem to catch up on my movie watching. I want to see all 3 Godfathers too.

Oh...I did see the first Godfather actually, at the drive-in movie theater when I was a little kid, but I don't remember anything about it, except the horses head:eek:

Camo

01-24-17, 02:25 PM

The whole horses head part, everything with Tom going to see Jack Woltz is my least favourite part of The Godfather.

CosmicRunaway

01-24-17, 05:41 PM

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=28601&stc=1&d=1485293756
Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
Dir. Alain Resnais
Starring: Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada

I could not get into this film at all. From the very start, I was put off by the manner in which Riva read out the opening lines. It sounded like an Arts student half-heartedly sharing a poem with their class to me. I didn't mind the rhyming, but the repetition seemed unnecessary and kept drawing my attention away instead of letting me focus on the visuals. I think she did much better in the second half of the film, but for the first half, whenever she spoke to Okada, she just reminded me of a language teacher trying to get the students to repeat what she said.

Whenever she and Okada laughed, it sounded so forced and unnatural it made me cringe. I didn't think the two had good chemistry at all. Many (if not all) of Okada's lines were clearly dubbed over in post. His French did sound really good throughout the film, but the dub was incredibly distracting to me. There is one scene about an hour in, where there is a close-up of Okada and the lip synchronization is not even close. With how poorly the ADR matched-up, it seemed like a strange decision to keep that shot in the final film.

I wish I could understand the praise for this Hiroshima mon amour, but it just did not engage me on any level. I was wholly disinterested from start to finish. It probably didn't help that the main characters were adulterers, so I had no sympathy for their love story at all. For me, they were poor avatars through which to tell the story of Hiroshima.

cricket

01-24-17, 05:43 PM

Too bad you didn't enjoy it but great job nonetheless!

I'll be watching something tonight.

CosmicRunaway

01-24-17, 06:01 PM

Going back and reading the other posts about Hiroshima mon amour, it seems like everyone mentioned the footage near the start. I had read about that before seeing the film, and didn't find it too startling because I was expecting much worse. I think my grade school did a good job traumatizing us on the horrors of war, and the visuals in this film were actually pretty tame in comparison.

As small children (around grade 2 or 3), sometime around Remembrance Day, our school started working on this big presentation. They got photos and information from home about family members who died in World War II, local war veterans, and truly horrifying documentary footage (such as a man shovelling a mountain of lost limbs into a furnace which has been forever etched into my mind), and made an unforgettable presentation in the school gym. Looking back on it, I'm surprised the school board didn't receive complaints over it.

Fun fact: said traumatic incident was set to Rod Stewart's "Forever Young", and I can't help but think about that presentation whenever I hear that song.

edarsenal

01-24-17, 07:54 PM

what an odd song to go with the presentation. . . :confusedwhite:

edarsenal

01-24-17, 08:15 PM

https://pennalee.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/garagehug.jpg

The Man From Nowhere

This is a rewatch for me, and, like a large number of other Korean films, it's always good to see again.
It has become a common remark for me that there is an intriguing poetry to Korean films in both the cinematic and the storytelling and while in this movie it is not as dominate as others I've watched, there is still symmetry to it on a more subtle layer.
While there has been comparisons to Leon and others, I've never really considered that and paid attention this time around and preferred to leave it as a stand alone cinematic experience than a comparative one - for the simple reason of that always takes away from the movie when looking for comparisons. I can see them but find myself delving into the relationship itself instead. Which is a good, solid scenario and I did find myself thinking of Cha as the solitary cowboy figure of old time westerns at times (without it detracting ;) ).
It is very easy to make comparisons to countless other movies of its genre and a few outside of it, but, it is NOT the same old, same old. It holds it own and does so very, very well.
This is a good story with good pacing with a tension that continually builds and eventually unleashes in a bloody third act.
I thought the little girl was extremely good, especially with the intense situations and scenarios she was dealing with and the ending did get me, quite nicely.

Thanks for nominating this, Royal, nice job!

CosmicRunaway

01-24-17, 08:24 PM

what an odd song to go with the presentation. . . :confusedwhite:
Haha, yeah. I don't think the people who chose it thought about the intentions of the song that much. I get that they were trying to say that the fallen soldiers will always be young (since it was mostly young men who died and they were robbed of their adulthood, etc.), but that's not what the song is about.

It just occurred to me that that was more than 20 years ago now. That's kind of insane. That school doesn't even exist any more; someone's since built a house on the land. Am I officially old now? :lol:

edarsenal

01-24-17, 08:39 PM

yes, yes you are.

Here's your walker and,

http://www.scooterplusdirect.com/images/6241.gif

repeat this line and use it, whenever and continually:

"You damn kids GET OFF MY LAWN!"

CosmicRunaway

01-24-17, 08:48 PM

http://display.ubercomments.com/1/503445293670714ee8.jpg

edarsenal

01-24-17, 09:07 PM

you're a NATURAL!!

see you at the Early Bird Special!!

Miss Vicky

01-25-17, 01:14 AM

http://www.angelfire.com/music6/walteregan/MovieLog/themanfromnowhere.gif

The Man From Nowhere (Ajeossi) (Jeong-beom Lee, 2010)
Imdb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527788/?ref_=nv_sr_1)

Date Watched: 01/24/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th Hall of Fame, RoyalWitCheese's nomination
Rewatch: No

I went into this movie completely blind. I did zero research and read none of the write-ups from the other HOF participants. And honestly I had kind of put it off because I just wasn't in the mood for reading subtitles.

But holy crap. This is the kind of movie watching experience that I hope for when I sign up for a hall of fame. And yet, it's not what I typically expect to see. This is no arthouse picture and there's no real deep meaning to it. What the film does offer though is an onslaught of action coupled with a really interesting story and some great characters.

I LOVED Cha Tae-sik. His combination of sex appeal, badassery, and sweetness was fantastic and an absolute joy to watch. But the bad guys were pretty cool, too. Though cooler still was the way they got their comeuppance - especially Jong-seok, the pretty boy brother of the main villain.

All in all, a great piece of entertainment and something I'll probably watch again.

4+

CosmicRunaway

01-25-17, 03:21 PM

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=28615&stc=1&d=1485371975
Joe (1970)
Dir. John G. Avildsen
Starring: Dennis Patrick, Peter Boyle

Unfortunately similar to Hiroshima mon amour, I did not find Joe to be particularly engaging. The performances from the main cast were good and I rather liked Dennis Patrick, but I wasn't invested in any of the characters or what they were trying to accomplish. I found Joe to be wholly despicable, and was disgusted any time he opened his mouth. I spent the entire film expecting some sort of escalation to occur, and was ultimately underwhelmed by what happened and how long it took the film to reach that point.

The themes of the film are still depressingly relevant today. It would only take some changes in clothing and slang to make the story believably modern, which just goes to show how little things have actually changed in the decades that have passed since Joe was released. I thought the commentary was done well, and it's very accessible and easy for any audience to grasp. Despite the fact that this was a film I didn't really enjoy, I'm glad I watched it and can see why it made an impact on a lot of people, particularly when it was new. It just wasn't for me though.

CosmicRunaway

01-25-17, 03:53 PM

While I like watching the films as well as writing and reading reviews, I'm not very good at ranking them at the end. It'll probably be a day or two before I actually submit my list.

At least this is a manageable amount though, because narrowing down my Sci-Fi "short"list (it's not even remotely short) for the Countdown feels like an impossible task. :lol:

Chypmunk

01-25-17, 04:07 PM

Just posting to get you off the devil's number ...

Clazor

01-25-17, 05:04 PM

Barbara

http://cdn.emptykingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/5_e_christian-petzold-_barbara.jpg

I've had a comeplete stop in watching noms for this for about a week now, and it's because of this movie. It's the last one I found in the library and I wanted to go through all of them before moving on (being a lazy f*** I didn't want to make two trips :p). For some reason I just didn't feel like watching it, but now I have..and the result?

It's ok.

To clarify, I didn't have a reason not to watch it. I hadn't heard of it before, I didn't read the back and the front was covered in positive blurbs and high ratings. I just wasn't in the mood, I guess.

The actors did a good job; Nina Hoss plays her character very well, mixing a impatience for leaving with an unwillingness to let the patients under her care suffer because she's unhappy with her current situation. She comes across as both uncaring and protective, cycling between the two extremes as her situation is in a constant state of flux. She seems to save all her care for her patients and largely ignores the staff of the hospital, including (at first) the resident head physician, who tries to welcome her to the hospital but get little more than a cold shoulder for his trouble. Said doctor is also well played here by Roland Zehrfeld. Starting of a bit flat, Zehrfeld gets more depth into his character as we progress, and in the end I think he did a very good job. The scene where he explaines why he ended up in the rural hospital is powerful, and despite managing to halt some tragedy, what he couldn't fix still haunts him. He has made a home for himself though, and seem relatively content to be where he is.

It's too bad that the story couldn't rise to the level of the actors. As soon as we got the setup, I could guess how the movie would end, down to the runaway girl with meningitis. The story as it was wasn't bad; well written and directed, but there was nothing original about it. A movie can survive that (I know I've watched some utter shlock and still felt entertained), but then it must take hold of you in such a way as to be memorable despite that, and this wasn't that for me.

Sorry Cosmic, but not much of a fan.

(Of this, at least. Of you, Allways :p)

Citizen Rules

01-25-17, 05:17 PM

Y Tu Mama Tambien....SPOILERS***

Where do I start?....there's a lot I loved about this film and a lot I didn't. I'll start with the bad news first, as it's always good to end on a positive note:p

The two guys Julio and Tenoch were annoying dumb asses. I felt like I was watching 14 years old. Which made the first part of the film seem like a Mexican version of Jackass the movie...And yes, I know they're portrayed that way deliberately, so that the director can set up the last shot which shows the coming of age scene in the cafe, where they're much more mature and serious. Still, they were hyperbolic and grated on my nerves.

But when Luisa enters the picture the movie went up a notch for me. She made the film poignant and I felt for her character. Especially when she first gets the phone call from her husband and he tells her that he's cheated, she's so torn up, that you can see the pain on her face. Which later in the film is kind of odd, as she says she knew he had been cheating on her and multiple times. I guess hearing it was harder than knowing it for her, or maybe it's because she knew something that we won't know until the end. Luisa on the phone was a powerful scene and she's a fine actresses for sure.

I loved the you-are-there cinematography, as it was like we were along for the ride in the Mexican countryside. Some road trip movies short change the viewer as we don't really get to see much of the road trip, but here we get to see a lot of amazing scenes in Mexico. Which I enjoyed as it reminded me of vacations I took there.

And yea, it looked like that too, well except for all the swimming pools. Speaking of that I could have done without the dueling self-pleasure on the diving board scene, complete with post nasal drip:rolleyes: good grief.

The narration that told the back and side stories, mostly took me out of the movie and made me aware I was indeed watching a film, like I didn't know that because it was on my TV...but you know what I mean.

Sometimes the narration added interesting stuff like the story behind the road side cross marking an accident which involved dead chickens and fatalities. I think that was important as it showed that while the guys were goofing around, life was a serious business with death right outside of their car window. That's a theme that will come back at the end of the film too.

There's lots of little bits of life in this film that we usually don't see, like the wedding party with a horse vaquero show and the dead pedestrian that marks the start of their journey. And the pigs on the beach! I don't know why but seeing them and hearing their story was cool:p All those little bits tie into the theme of life and death, so the director is very skilled and created an artistic film here.

If we did the The Special Award for the movie that added the most to the HoF experience...like I did in the 10th, Y Tu Mama Tambien would get my vote.

CosmicRunaway

01-25-17, 05:51 PM

(Of this, at least. Of you, Allways :p)
:cool:

Speaking of that I could have done without the dueling self-pleasure on the diving board scene, complete with post nasal drip:rolleyes: good grief.
Yeah, that was definitely a stand out scene (and not in a good way). I thought it was really odd, but it's inclusion actually made me wonder for a moment if that was a semi-normal thing some guys did. :lol:

Citizen Rules

01-25-17, 06:08 PM

I wouldn't know, being a true blue guy:) But yea, I think the husbands confessing to her might be a semi normal response.

What I like about the director and story, was that there was a cause and effect for why things happened. Events happened that seem to make no sense, but, in the end those actions move the characters along the story path. and I like movies made like that.

Camo

01-25-17, 07:26 PM

Glad you loved some of it :up:, i thought it might be something you'd enjoy but didn't want to jynx it. I don't agree with most of your problems but i can see where you're coming from. That was nice of you to say about the Special Award, i think for better or worse it has been the most discussed so far. Good review :)

cricket

01-26-17, 06:01 PM

Barbara

http://movies.ert.gr/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Barbara-3-1.jpg

I hadn't read any reviews or a plot summary beforehand, so this was a completely blind watch. That may have been a mistake in this case, as I was never quite sure what kind of movie this was supposed to be.

As soon as the movie started I thought the visuals were striking, and that feeling lasted the entire movie despite me not being able to pinpoint exactly how. At first, I thought this was simply going to be a movie about a woman trying to make a new life for herself. After meeting her friend in the woods, I thought it was going to be a thriller. Other times I thought it was going to be a love story. I don't think it excelled in any of these areas, but I thought it worked at least to some extent in each area. I just had a clueless feeling about the direction it was going in. It probably would have helped if I was more knowledgable about the political situation, which is a little sad since I'm part German. I liked the character of Stella and her substory, but I had little interest in the patient who attempted suicide. I especially liked the ending, and for the vast majority of the movie I was engrossed. I would have liked the movie much more if I connected with Barbara. I didn't dislike her, but I didn't especially like her either, and I was only slightly intrigued by her. Despite that, I felt like I was watching an excellent performance. I liked the male doctor's character quite a bit. I think it was a well done movie, but I just didn't love it.

3.5-

CosmicRunaway

01-26-17, 06:18 PM

Glad you liked most of it. :up:

It probably would have helped if I was more knowledgable about the political situation, which is a little sad since I'm part German.
I think that not knowing about the political climate in East Germany in 1980 is more detrimental to this film than it would be say, to The Lives of Others. Barbara doesn't outright explain what is happening, and if you didn't pick up on the fact that the man talking to André as Barbara arrives is a Stasi officer, then I imagine that the reason for Barbara's coldness and the tense atmosphere probably doesn't make much sense haha. I was hoping it would still work for some people anyway, because I really liked it.

Also, I didn't know you were part German! Do you speak any German at all?

cricket

01-26-17, 06:51 PM

I don't speak any German and I've never been there, unfortunately.

I liked Barbara about the same as The Lives of Others.

edarsenal

01-26-17, 09:51 PM

http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/photo/pr18/large/carey_mulligan3.jpg

Never Let Me Go

Ah, CR and your torch songs. . .

This was a very subtle, low-key movie. The passion and more raw emotions kept beneath the surface, much like the song that Kathy listens to "Never Let Me Go" by a pseudo-named singer, Judy Bridgewater that speaks of unfulfilled longing.
For the three main actors it is the "secondary" life that they lead. To know their life is not theirs. They will never have actual lives and their eventual deaths are far more imminent and therefore, palatable. Which makes it understandable that there is a solemn, submissiveness to everything that they do.
And that is not easy to pull off. To forget the passion beneath the surface is to lose the beauty of a measured life. And that is the difficult task that this movie attempts to project.
The question remains: does Let Me Go achieves that?
I think so. To a point.
And sadly, i cannot say the reason for this. Perhaps that lies beneath the surface as well, but I did enjoy this movie and did care for the characters and the shortened journey that was their lives and the reluctant acceptance of their eventual deaths.

A very good nom, CR. Thank you.

Citizen Rules

01-26-17, 09:59 PM

Thanks Ed, I like what you wrote, it's more fitting than my own review of it. I have a hard time talking about that film. I know what I want to say but I can never really find the rights words to express myself. It's like what you said, you know there's another quality there but it's hard to define.

Yes, I do love torch songs.

edarsenal

01-26-17, 11:25 PM

I'll have to go looking for your review.

Meanwhile, found this short snippet (about a minute and a half long) from the author about the meaning behind his book

https://youtu.be/-SmuYqKeTTs

jiraffejustin

01-26-17, 11:49 PM

Have any of you read the novel? I am interested in reading it, and I wanted to know if reading it before watching the movie would be the right choice.

Citizen Rules

01-27-17, 02:55 AM

I haven't read the novel. I'm pretty sure if you read the novel first, you won't like the movie.

On the other hand if you watch the movie first then you already know how the story ends so that might ruin the book for you...That's assuming you don't already know what happens in the story. If you do know what happens watch the movie first. If not read the book first.

Clazor

01-27-17, 05:57 AM

Just finished The Grand Budapest Hotel, review's gonna be up sometime today or tomorrow. Went through the other reviews but had to go looking for Cosmics cause the link in the second post just gives you a link to the picture she used in the review. Until it's fixed you can find it at the bottom of page 26.

CosmicRunaway

01-27-17, 07:52 AM

Accidentally linking to the picture is oddly appropriate though, considering the visuals were the one thing I liked about the film haha.

While I haven't posted there in awhile, I've actually been keeping direct links to all my HoF write-ups in my review thread (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=45784). So if you wanted to read one I had written but can't find it, you can get a quick link there.

cricket

01-27-17, 08:18 AM

Just fixed the Grand Budapest review link from Cosmic. After all these years, I only learned how to link to a post about a week into this tournament thanks to CR. It's a small link to hit with my thumb on the iPhone, so I must've had at least half of it on the pic.

edarsenal

01-27-17, 03:06 PM

Have any of you read the novel? I am interested in reading it, and I wanted to know if reading it before watching the movie would be the right choice.

I have very rarely enjoyed a movie as much as I could when I had read the book first; you can probably do a little research on the book vs movie (regarding the author's feelings about the movie being true to his novel) and then make a decision from there.

Citizen Rules

01-27-17, 03:31 PM

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_O6xLvXpZlOU/TTH-DatqOJI/AAAAAAAAKfo/nUMHk1nN6oI/s1600/never-let-me-go-4-6e05f.jpg
Never Let Me Go

Visually this is one of the most beautifully filmed movies I've seen.

The art direction, the lighting and the scenes are a thing of beauty. The cinematography is carefully controlled, sublime. The color pallet of the film is soft pastels, filmed in a soft diffusion, which gives the film an almost ethereal feeling.

The movie reminds me of paintings by the 19th century French Impressionist, it's cinema fused with art.

The director Mark Romanek delivers a subtle, somber story, done with ambiance and self reflection. From the cinematography to the haunting music score, every element of the film is in harmony with the soulful storyline.

Never Let Me Go, is not about people fighting back and escaping their fate. The film is a metaphor for what we strive for, a meaning to our own existence.

Topsy

01-27-17, 03:42 PM

Yay,did you finally get to watch a movie you liked? :lol:

Camo

01-27-17, 06:49 PM

He was at least lukewarm on Y Tu Mama :cool:

Pussy Galore

01-28-17, 12:03 AM

Sanshiro Sugata (1943) Akira Kurosawa
https://www.cinematerial.com/media/posters/sm/kc/kcp0rgan.jpg?v=1456312776
I have now seen 15 Akira Kurosawa films, he's obviously one of my favorite directors and, I think, one of the masters of cinema. I had never heard of this particular film, which is the first Kurosawa ever made and I'm glad I watched it since, even though it's not among Kurosawa's masterpiece, it's a very solid effort that has some glimpse of genious, but is lacking in some place. However, this can be explained by the fact that the movie was released in 1943 and that in Japan at that period, the film had to be a certian length so the movie was chopped up and the version we have today miss certain parts of the film.

In this part there will be some spoilers so if you didn't watch the film yet stop reading: I thought the ending was rushed and didn't make much sense, the girl follows him in the train (she was asked by her father), she has something in her eye then he goes to try to help her, stops and tells her he will comeback later, then we see a shot of the train and it's over???? I didn't see any point in finishing the film that way, it was weird. As for the particularly good parts, I loved when you see the main characters going in the stairs and seing the girl day after day I thought it was very well filmed and when I was speaking of glimpse of genious it was what I was referring to. I particularly enjoyed then he told her he was the on fighting her dad, then the girl stops in the middle of the stairs and Kurosawa moves back gradually with the camera with her in shock, it was beautiful. Also, this whole sequence was edited in a very ''shoppy'' manner which worked very well for me it was perfectly adequate to give it a certain style that I enjoyed very much.

Overall, pretty solid movie with an incomplete story, some not so good fight scenes, but some beautiful parts an a good entertainment value.

Pussy Galore

01-28-17, 12:09 AM

The next 2 movies for the HOF are actually rewatch, I rented Withnail and I and The Man from Nowhere

Camo

01-28-17, 12:16 AM

Post about your nom too mate. It kind of got to me if you read my review and i've thought about writing a second post about the second half of it. Would like to see some of your thoughts first though since you've ignored this.

Pussy Galore

01-28-17, 12:59 AM

Are you talking to me? haha

If I understand correctly, you'd like to me review Hiroshima mon Amour?

Camo

01-28-17, 01:07 AM

Are you talking to me? haha

If I understand correctly, you'd like to me review Hiroshima mon Amour?

Would like you to join us in talking about whatever films. Your own would be a good start, but it doesn't matter as long as you actually join us.

Camo

01-28-17, 01:12 AM

Just saying that there's a few members here that will always respond to whatever and it would be nice if you were one, especially since your nom has popped up in discussions at least twice including yesterday here - http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=1632510#post1632510

Edit: Love how insane i look with deleted comments, embracing that.

Pussy Galore

01-28-17, 01:39 AM

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 07:55 AM

Sanshiro Sugata (1943) Akira Kurosawa [. . .]
In this part there will be some spoilers so if you didn't watch the film yet stop reading: I thought the ending was rushed and didn't make much sense, the girl follows him in the train (she was asked by her father), she has something in her eye then he goes to try to help her, stops and tells her he will comeback later, then we see a shot of the train and it's over???? I didn't see any point in finishing the film that way, it was weird.
My assumption is that there was a much more prominent love story between the two that was part of the cut footage throughout the film, and that said censorship had an impact on the ending as well.

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 07:59 AM

As for the lip synchronization, on the DVD I have at home I never noticed such a thing, I'll pay attention whe I rewatch it in the next couple of week!
I have a tendency to notice whenever synchronization is even slightly off, and it really bothers me for some reason. I find it wholly distracting, but it's probably not an issue to most audiences. Usually when I bring it up to friends, they'll say that they only noticed it after I pointed it out haha.

Citizen Rules

01-28-17, 02:03 PM

Yay,did you finally get to watch a movie you liked? :lol: Ha, that's true:p...I do hope to find at least one nomination here that I truly love. I have my fingers crossed.

I have a tendency to notice whenever synchronization is even slightly off, and it really bothers me for some reason. I find it wholly distracting, but it's probably not an issue to most audiences. Usually when I bring it up to friends, they'll say that they only noticed it after I pointed it out haha.I try not to notice the out of sink, but yeah if I do notice it, it becomes a distraction.

edarsenal

01-28-17, 02:06 PM

I'm that way too. It can ruin a movie for me and I'll have to go find a better copy. Drive me nuts lol

jiraffejustin

01-28-17, 02:28 PM

http://filmblog.damaris.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/grand-budapest-hotel.png

It doesn't seem as though the members of this hall of fame are very fond of Wes Anderson, and as is the case with his movies, you almost have to be a fan of his style to enjoy them. They are very unique to him, and you won't find any convincing imitations. He has a deep attention to detail for his mise en scene that, for some, might seem like clutter, but everything is meticulously placed at the exact markers he wants them to create a whimsically delightful painting in every frame. This applies more so to The Grand Budapest Hotel than to any of his other films, or at least this is the film he cranked that idea all the way up. He also has a unique voice in film writing than doesn't offer any imitators either. His sense of humor is one that I greatly appreciate, but those who are turned off by him are virulently turned off by his attempts at humor. They are often dismissive of his "quirk" and label him a one-trick pony. His color palette is also to be admired, from the yellow and blues of The Life Aquatic and the oranges of Fantastic Mr. Fox to the pinks, purples, and even the usage of black and grey in The Grand Budapest. The colors in his films fit into the mise en scene I was talking about earlier. They must be meticulously chosen, because they stand out so much. You know a Wes Anderson film when you see it, and that's not a good thing to everyone. The Grand Budapest Hotel is deeply steeped in all of the things that make up a Wes Anderson film. If you don't like Wes Anderson, then you won't like this film. It was never going to win over any detractors, but if you like Wes Anderson, this film was made for you and me.

cricket

01-28-17, 03:03 PM

Great job jj, but what is this mise en scene crap? You making me google bro!

Citizen Rules

01-28-17, 03:06 PM

Ha, I thought that was a typo in his review:p Google here I come:)

Mise-en-scène (French pronunciation: [mizɑ̃sɛn] "placing on stage")...The way that Wes Anderson makes his movies.

Oh, now I get it!

Swan

01-28-17, 03:07 PM

And you guys call yourselves cinephiles!

cricket

01-28-17, 03:08 PM

I tried to ignore it the first time, but then he flaunted it a second.

Swan

01-28-17, 03:09 PM

It's basic film terminology 101. Get with it you guys. :p

seanc

01-28-17, 03:18 PM

It's basic film terminology 101. Get with it you guys. :p

JJ likes Wes Anderson so you know he is ahead of the curve with these knuckleheads. ;)

jiraffejustin

01-28-17, 03:45 PM

:randy:

Swan

01-28-17, 03:46 PM

JJ is the fact that 9/10 of your top 10 start with C?

jiraffejustin

01-28-17, 03:48 PM

The Rebel is also known as Call Me Genius

Swan

01-28-17, 03:50 PM

The Rebel is also known as Call Me Genius

That doesn't answer my question, genius!

edarsenal

01-28-17, 04:18 PM

great review, JJ!

For me, I am a detractor and Budapest is the grand exception. Always had trouble with previous Anderson films and some how, everything truly clicked for me with Budapest. The painting of the scenes, the comedic dialogue, everything.

jiraffejustin

01-28-17, 04:27 PM

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 06:58 PM

I completely forgot to send that list after. I should probably do it now before I forget again.

Citizen Rules

01-28-17, 07:04 PM

Cosmic, are done watching the noms?

cricket

01-28-17, 07:09 PM

Amazing job by Cosmic, who just sent in the second set of votes.

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 07:17 PM

Cosmic, are done watching the noms?
Yeah, a few days ago actually. I didn't rewatch Casablanca before I did my write-up on it, but that's a film I know really well anyway, and I had watched it again just a few months ago.

I actually meant to send my list the day after I finished watching the last film, but I couldn't make up my mind (particularly on the order for my #s 2-5). Then I forgot all about it.

Luckily the recent posts in the thread reminded me. :up:

Citizen Rules

01-28-17, 07:21 PM

Damn that's pretty fast movie watching, there Cosmic:p I have 5 more to go including yours which I just picked up at the library. I need to post something about Grand Budapest Hotel....

Ed are you ready?:eek:;)

Citizen Rules

01-28-17, 07:35 PM

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/wilson_tim/VFX_The-Grand-Budapest-Hotel/assets/GrandBudapestStill__121.jpg
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

I think this movie is a very worthy HoF nomination. And while I don't love it, I do consider an artistic achievement.

Big kudos! to Ralph Fiennes portrayal of the well groomed, M.Gustave. A man with impeccable taste and civility who demands the best from those around him. This was a great character idea!

Likewise the new lobby boy, actor Tony Revolori had a quiet sincerity that worked well in this film. I read that this was his first movie. He was excellent.

The sets are beautiful! I wish I could visit The Grand Budapest Hotel. The rooms look so rich in their old world charm and class, elegantly decorated. And the colors of this film!...the pastel pinks, the lavenders, the powder blues, amazing feast for the eyes!

However for me, none of this was enough to hold my interest. After the first half hour, I became disinterested. I wasn't caught up in the story, nor did I care what happened to the characters. Perhaps it was the zaniest of both the story and the camera work that took me out of the movie. Ultimately I didn't care, and the film lost me.

What I really wanted from the movie was to be magically transported to the Grand Budapest hotel, and stay there for the length of the movie.

But as soon as they left the hotel, it just wasn't the same movie. And this is the complaint I had about Moonrise Kingdom. Wes Anderson makes an amazing alternative world...but then in the latter parts of the film goes off on such wild tangents, that what I bought into the film is gone.

Wes...less is more.

cricket

01-28-17, 07:45 PM

This is a copy of my post from a couple months ago-

The City of Lost Children

http://xahlee.org/Periodic_dosage_dir/skina/verba_tcadu/city_of_lost_children_057.jpg

In theory, the premise of this movie sounds really cool: a mad scientist type can't dream, so he abducts children and steals their dreams. The problem for me is simply that I don't like fantasy movies. I'll watch a trailer for a movie like this and want to give it a try, but when I watch one, it makes my insides groan. I used to love the Sinbad movies as a kid, but then I started hating movies I really wanted to see like Time Bandits and Brazil. In fact, City of Lost Children was very much like a foreign language Terry Gilliam film. I thought a lot of the visuals were really awesome, and I was surprised that my wife enjoyed it. She's a reader while I am not, and I guess she's more used to using her imagination. I thought this was a very good movie that I'd highly recommend for fans of fantasy. Sadly, that's not me.

2.5

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 07:47 PM

This is sort of relevant to Wes Anderson but not really: I just got back from the theatre with my room mates, and in the washroom I stopped into on the way out, there was a young girl standing perfectly still in the middle of the bizarrely empty floor looking blank-eyed into one of the mirrors. The way she stood, and her clothes (and the pale colour of them) just screamed Wes Anderson to me for some reason. It was very surreal, and I honestly expected some quirky music to start playing over the speakers.

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 07:55 PM

In fact, City of Lost Children was very much like a foreign language Terry Gilliam film.
That's a great way to describe it, because it definitely has that sort of vibe to it. :up:

The problem for me is simply that I don't like fantasy movies.
I am the exact opposite. I love fantasy, even the terrible, poorly done films. Light fantasy elements, High Fantasy, and everything in between. It makes me happy just thinking about it.

cricket

01-28-17, 07:59 PM

I loved Sinbad and the Star Wars trilogy when I was little, and even Willow as a teen. I don't know what happened because I love the ideas. I've never seen a Harry Potter movie and only the first Lord of the Rings, which was a struggle to get through. Avatar bored the crap out of me.

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 08:06 PM

I'm not huge on Star Wars. They're fine, but I always liked the Indiana Jones films more, and prefer Trek to Wars anyway. I actually haven't seen Willow. Whenever I say that, people who know me tend to be really surprised at that. The same thing used to happen with The Princess Bride (I always thought the title was dumb and didn't want to watch it), but I've since seen and loved that (and will be going to see it in theatres next week at a fan film festival haha), so maybe I should watch Willow too.

Love Lord of the Rings. One of the first costumes I made was of Aragorn from the end of Fellowship/early Two Towers. I got a real sword for it and everything (#loser haha). I was also bored by Avatar though. I kind of wanted the scientists to win.

cricket

01-28-17, 08:09 PM

I never really thought of Indiana Jones as fantasy, but I can see aspects. I think of them as more action movies.

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 08:11 PM

Oh me too. I just meant that I always preferred to watch Indiana Jones over Star Wars, period.

Indiana Jones is definitely my favourite Lucas franchise that Harrison Ford is in, by far haha.

Citizen Rules

01-28-17, 08:13 PM

I use to love Star Wars and I still do the original trilogy, but I could care less about the others in the series.

Never seen Willow, never seen Harry Potter.

I liked the first Lord of the Rings but the second bored the hell out of me and never watched anymore.

In Avatar, I loved the part about the planets ecology and it's sentient begins. But hated the second part with the space marine jar heads which has been done like a zillion times in the movies. And didn't really care for any of the humans in the story.

I'm not huge on Star Wars. They're fine, but I always liked the Indiana Jones films more, and prefer Trek to Wars anyway... I'm a huge Trek fan, but not of the JJ Abrams stuff:sick:

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 08:20 PM

I didn't mind Star Trek 2009. But Into Darkness was an abomination, and I never liked Zachary Quinto or Zoe Saldana as Spock and Uhura, or what Abrams did to their characters. I did rather like Star Trek Beyond for what it was (and it was much more similar to the original series than the other two films were), but Abrams didn't actually have much to do with that one, so that might be the reason.

Citizen Rules

01-28-17, 08:24 PM

I've only seen Star Trek 2009. I liked it as a generic action sci fi film, but not as part of the star trek universe. I wish they could have left well enough alone and made the new star trek movies about another crew other than Kirk, Spock and buddies.

cricket

01-28-17, 08:25 PM

I've seen a couple of the Star Trek movies and didn't care for them. I've never seen the TV show.

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 08:27 PM

Do you normally like sci-fi Cricket, or is it similar to fantasy for you?

cricket

01-28-17, 08:38 PM

Most of the Sci-Fi I like combines horror or action, and is usually set on earth.

CosmicRunaway

01-28-17, 09:00 PM

I noticed while trying to narrow down my shortlist for the Sci-Fi Countdown that a lot of my favourites are indeed sci-fi/horror films. My top sci-fi and top horror films lists would definitely have a lot of overlap haha.

Clazor

01-29-17, 08:49 AM

The Grand Budapest Hotel

http://artofvfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/TGBH_LOOK_VFX_02.jpg

Great aestethic, beautifully shot, great vistas etc etc. What all of you have said allready, I agree. No point in harping on about things that's been said four times allready.

The acting in this is wierd. But I think it's a good wierd. Andersson creates a world of the absurd, wherein he puts characters of an equal mindset. That they react and act in a manner that to us seems strange is beside the point (or,perhaps, the very point). His way of writing his characters is what makes him stand out, as the stories themselves might not allways be as memmorable standing alone.

As to this specific story, it's kind of dark if you think about it. It has the basics of a "who dunnit?" mystery, enveloped into the lifestory of a hotel concierge, colored by the Andersson quirk and humour. Remove said Andersson filter, shift the focus a bit, add some crimescenes and you suddenly have a quite horrific thriller about a hotel employee and his part in a hired serial killers murder spree to protect a sinister plot from seeing the light of day. I mean, they pull a severed head from a picknick basket for f*** sake.

As for the humour in this, it's a bit hit and miss where most things do hit. I did like the gag with the pastries sent to the prison. It clearly contains escape tools, but the guard can't quite make himself destroy them while looking for contraband, so he just sends them through.

Much of the credit must go to Ralph Fiennes portrayal of M. Gustave. Put anyone less talented in that role and the movie would lose everything. And while she didn't get much to do, Saoirse Ronan is allways worth a watch (if you haven't seen HANNA (2011), go do that now) along with Willem Dafoe, here playing the mostly (if not totally) mute, bond style underling of the main antagonist.

I'm not allways a fan of Andersson, but so far I've at least liked most of his movies, even if none of them has blown me away completely. This one I do like and I believe it to be my favourite of his thus far.

Good nom, Ed! :up:

cricket

01-29-17, 08:55 AM

Goof point about the film's dark side, Clazor, I didn't even think of that. It's a good thing because I probably wouldn't like it if it were kid friendly.

seanc

01-29-17, 09:18 AM

One of the things I love about Anderson. Thematically his films are always dark but he puts those themes in a fairytale world with very dry humor. Yeah, he's perfect.

Swan

01-29-17, 10:52 AM

I totally remember being a senior in High School and getting a mustard suit coat because I wanted to be a director and Wes always wore one. So badass, directing a movie in a mustard suit. :D

http://i.imgur.com/raFReQg.jpg?1

cricket

01-29-17, 11:11 AM

That's him? No wonder he likes odd characters. It takes one to know one. I usually like characters who are azzholes:D

edarsenal

01-29-17, 03:04 PM

That puts my write up on its ear. :D

LOL
Yeah, I finally get a completely positive review and what do I do? I mess with it :rolleyes::D

And great reviews CAR and Clazor!!

cricket

01-29-17, 08:08 PM

Never Let Me Go

https://jdanspsawyksui.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/vlcsnap-2011-01-24-19h52m48s17.png

I actually watched this several months ago after reading somebody's opinion about it on this site. For all I can remember, it could have been a review from CR. On the surface, it may not seem like my kind of movie, but in the last couple of years, I've become a sucker for both tragic love stories, and Carey Mulligan. I watched it again because there's a lot of movies I really like in this Hall of Fame, and it's going to be tight when it comes to ranking them.

I absolutely love the story, although strangely enough, the story is what produces the only negative for me. Normally, these tragic love stories end with or revolve around some type of tragedy that delivers a powerful emotional blow. In the case of this movie, that doesn't happen because the fates of the characters are predetermined. However, while I do not receive the sudden unexpected heartbreaking moment from a movie that could become an all time favorite, I do get a consistent melancholy feeling that makes the movie engrossing from start to finish. I'm a person who normally watches and judges a movie at face value, but I believe this movie has some strong depth to it. Any one of us can look at life as too short, and that's what makes regret about missed opportunities something real for everyone.

Carey Mulligan is a rare actress that can say so much while saying so little, and she's perfect in her role. I don't know what else I've seen Andrew Garfield in. I do know that he doesn't seem to get a lot of respect, but I thought he was absolutely fantastic. It's only recently that I've become a Keira Knightley fan, and I thought she was wonderful as well. The child actors did a very fine job. The movie couldn't look any better and the musical score is beautiful. I think it's a lovely film.

4

Swan

01-29-17, 08:09 PM

Did cricket just say "lovely"? What is going on with this world?

cricket

01-29-17, 08:20 PM

Did cricket just say "lovely"? What is going on with this world?

That's a lovely avatar you have there.

Clazor

01-30-17, 10:18 AM

That's a lovely avatar you have there.

Not if you've seen the movie.

edarsenal

01-30-17, 11:50 AM

it's a lovely movie :D

SilentVamp

01-30-17, 01:51 PM

Yeah, I know. I didn't stop by and write my reviews like I said I would. Shame on me. :tsk:

I just didn't have the time to do it.

I plan on taking my computer to get fixed (finally!!!) next week. Therefore, I will just wait until I get my computer working again to write my reviews. And, for me, that is a good thing because I don't care too much for the pressure of knowing I have to get everything done on here with only a limited amount of time to do it.

Anyway, I have only the following films to watch:
Midnight Run (which I own)
Casablanca (which just happens to be on TV this coming Sunday night)
U-Turn
Sanshiro Sugata
Joe (and those last 3 I have to wait to see online anyway).

Then I will be done. And then I can bombard this thread with the babbling reviews that I write. :D

Citizen Rules

01-30-17, 01:58 PM

....I plan on taking my computer to get fixed (finally!!!) next week....Yeah, glad to here it! You've been missed Vamp, the place just isn't the same without you around:p

Miss Vicky

01-30-17, 03:02 PM

Having some trouble locating Sanshiro Sugata, Hiroshima Mon Amour and Joe. Suggestions?

edarsenal

01-31-17, 12:30 AM

http://dorkshelf.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads//2014/08/Y-Tu-Mama-Tambien.jpg

Y Tu Mama Tambien

What is on the surface is rarely what is beneath. . .

And so exactly is this movie.
From the onset, knowing nothing of this movie and avoiding all the spoiler alerts, I had really begun to wonder: Wha da f@ck kinda soft core porn did Camo nominate?? Knowing full well the in depth movies that he writes about normally in the RTLMYS thread, I spent the first 2/3 of the movie thinking only that.
And then, the third act's reveal of what it really was about left me, jaw gaping, all the way to the final CUT SCENE: "Check please,"

Wow.

Much like Romper Stomper's realistic, unforgiving violence or Withnail and I's unrepentant search for the next drunk, so is this film's use of sex. It is real, not glamorized or with romantic aplomb and you are made aware from the very opening scene and much like the other films, there is something far more going on beneath it's consistently sexual situations. And while I was already familiar with Romper and had a pretty good idea about Withnail, I was VERY pleasantly surprised to discover a similar depth to Y Tu Mama Tambien and with it, understanding of why Camo nominated this.
It all came together.
The almost Tour Guide style of Narration that kept me scowling for a large part of the movie and eventually succumbing to the trivia until I became engrossed by it.
Luisita's true reasons for being so upset and the more deeper reason for going on a road trip and that final scene of her diving into the ocean with complete abandon along with cherishing her time with the children.
All of this culminating in the final and somber coffee scene.

BRAVO, Camo. Shame on me for doubting you ;)

Camo

01-31-17, 12:44 AM

So glad you like it, great review :up:

Citizen Rules

01-31-17, 02:59 AM

https://vinnieh.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/sean-penn-as-bobby-cooper.jpg
U-Turn

I thought I might really like this, and after the first few scenes I started getting into it...I do think Oliver Stone owes Quentin Tarantino a royalty check, this movie was like Pulp Fiction Part II in the way it was edited and filled with quirky characters speaking deeply irrelevant lines. Still I was liking it.

Sean Penn is excellent. IMO he's the best actor working today. He might not be my favorite to watch, but I can't think of anybody who has the acting range he does. Jennifer Lopez, sure she was decent too, better than I would have expected. I can't really complain about any of the actors, they were all quite colorful.

I liked the Mustang too, very cool. I use to own a 1969 Red Mustang convertible, so that was fun to see. Though it pissed me off to see Billy Bob Thornton scratch the hood with a cry bar.

My favorite character was John Voight as the blind Indian. Favorite scene was when Sean Penn beat the crap out of Joaquin Phoenix AND smacked annoying Claire Danes (her character is annoying, not her.)

But the movie started to get repetitive after about an hour, and it drained me...I just wanted it to be over. Towards the end I didn't care who killed who.