33rd Hall of Fame

[PHOENIX74]

I use to be neutral on PTA but now I'm not a fan.


But I'm still gonna make you watch every last one of his movies.

[PHOENIX74]

P.T. Anderson has a pretty polished record for me personally, without any really bad film amongst his oeuvre - ranking them I'd say :

1. There Will Be Blood - One of the greatest films ever made.

2. Phantom Thread - Turns out Daniel Day-Lewis and Anderson make quite the director/actor team-up, because this film is phenomenal.

3. The Master - Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman are amazing in this, and I love all the sly digs at L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology.

4. Boogie Nights - The porn industry was very ripe for this kind of satire. Brilliant film.

5. Punch-Drunk Love - It's crazy that one of the most romantic films I've ever seen has Adam Sandler in the leading role. I have to emphasise the word crazy in that statement.

6. Magnolia - Aimee Mann is this movie - a mosaic of a search for happiness in a "random" universe

7. Licorice Pizza - Licorice Pizza is growing on me - I think it's really good.

8. Inherent Vice - I remember liking this, despite it befuddling me a little

9. Hard Eight - I've only ever seen this once, and despite liking it I can't say Anderson's debut is better than any of his subsequent films.

[rauldc14]

Phantom Thread is my favorite and it was in my top 100. But I usually don't care for a lot of PTA.

[Citizen Rules]

I tend not to like modern auteur directors. I can't think of any that I do like, unless Woody Allen is considered one. Maybe auteur isn't the right word to describe directors like PTA, Wes Anderson, Terrence Mallick and a few more that I can't think of right now.

[Citizen Rules]

...Hey Fredrick, don't know what you were going through, but I'm happy that it's headed in the right direction I just read what Hey Fredrick edited into his post up above....I'll echo Cricket and say, I wish you and your girlfriend a good outcome.

[jiraffejustin]

Aftersun

some spoilers ahead - alert

I hate to admit it, but I wasn't looking forward to this viewing. Reflecting on this after viewing the film, I couldn't figure out why I don't get excited for films like this that nestle themselves perfectly in the pocket of films that do well with me. It's not all that different than Shoplifters, which is my nomination. Recency bias and the strong emotional reaction I had to Aftersun may affect my vote order, but I will try to avoid that. I am a sucker for films that deal parent/child relationships, specifically the loss of a parent. I think the depiction of Calum is great. It's clear to the audience, but not Sophie, that Calum is depressed. He's putting on a show of strength, he is doing Tai Chi, which is a very performative form of exercise, which is Calum putting on a show of strength for his daughter, shielding her from his brokenness, with physical brokenness representing the harder-to-see depression Calum has. He has a cast but he removes when he is with Sophie, for example. He's not always great at hiding it, but Sophie still can't quite see it, because she's a child. The night Calum doesn't sing Karaoke with Sophie, he runs into the dark ocean in a very harrowing scene. That may not have been a suicide attempt, but I think it clearly is supposed to get our mind on the idea. The actress that played Sophie is great, I think she did wonderful in this film in a very believable role. There were a couple times where she said some things that felt like an adult wrote that for a kid to say. Which is what happens in almost every case of a kid saying lines on a screen, but hopefully you get what I am saying. Specifically the line where she mentions having a great day and afterwards being down. It's a little too profound for an 11 year old to understand, but I think that's nitpicky and the line works in the context of this film. The final scenes tore me up, I had mist in my eyes when Sophie was popping out from behind the walls from the airport because the impending finality of it was hard to take. Great film.

[rauldc14]

Aftersun

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR_nqmuHC_YGIg-GzaMtLUlDov-6xi6G1f0HbiYRZmzQQ&s

Honestly it's almost a near perfect film for me. The chemistry between Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio is just so genuine. I know they put a lot of hard work into their performances. Over 800 people auditioned for the role of Sophie but I got to say Corio was an excellent pick. The story is told really well too by Charlotte Wells. On the surface it's a simple film but it makes you think about life and how fragile it can be. Overall I love how the film is perceived as a flashback of Sophie. I think we all have times where we look back on important things in our lives. An excellent film.

4.5

[Citizen Rules]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BMTA1MTc1MTk2MzNeQTJeQWpwZ15BbWU4MDE3MDYyNzAy._V1_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=16e41ca0b39875756853e2dfee8ccbe7a740f538544a3d5dd928ba3f8b0bfcdd&ipo=images
A Man For All Seasons (1966)


I wasn't bored. And that says alot as I do get bored during some movies. Even movies that I really like, but have seen a number of times can still cause me to be checking the clock way too often. But not with A Man For All Seasons. This was my third viewing and it kept me engaged for the full 2 hours. I even found myself wishing there was a part 2 so that I could see more of what happened to Thomas Cromwell. Well I have seen movies about Cromwell and I just might revisit them as I'm that interested in history especially when it involves palace intrigue and internal politics of England's past.

I liked that this film was a more focused personal story, versus what another director might have turned into a big splasy spectacle. We have big events alright but the story itself is well grounded and told mainly from Thomas More's perspective (Paul Scofield). Scofield was excellent as the man who's religious convictions and utter belief in the word of the law stood his ground...and in doing so lost his head. Robert Shaw (Jaws) makes one helluva colorful Henry the VIII. I like his gold gilt vest in that screenshot, which makes him look like he might be a man of hefty proportions while the actor himself is not sporting visible padding. The King himself was a large man probably from eating too many turkey legs:D *That's a famous image of him btw.

In top contention for the peak of my ballot.

[ScarletLion]

Just a note for those who liked 'Aftersun'

This is from director Wells' interview notes in an A24 Blog:


"A photograph of my dad and of me—the starting point for this project—each a single shot because photos of us both are in short supply in that pre-selfie era. I am 10 or 11, Sophie’s age in the film. My Dad is 31 or 32, a little younger than I am now. We happen to be in Turkey":


https://s9.gifyu.com/images/SasDt.png

I can barely read or think about this film without welling up. One of the greatest debut films this century.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/ZKsGR8kT/mona-lisa.jpg

Mona Lisa - 1986

Directed by Neil Jordan

Written by Neil Jordan & David Leland

Starring Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Robbie Coltrane & Michael Caine

The Best Actor category during the 1987 Academy Awards ceremony made for an interesting mix of sentiment and ability. William Hurt was nominated for his role in Children of a Lesser God - he'd won his first Oscar the previous year, appearing in Kiss of the Spider Woman, and was going for back-to-back Academy Awards. Dexter Gordon would normally be expected to show in one of the music/song categories, but a rare acting gig saw him an unlikeliest possible 'Best Actor' recipient. James Woods was being nominated for the first time ever, and was a strong contender for his work in Salvador. Bob Hoskins had risen from obscurity, gaining fame via the extraordinary Dennis Potter serial Pennies From Heaven, and showing his undeniable worth in the classic British crime drama The Long Good Friday in 1980. His rise now saw him on acting's biggest stage, and his performance in Mona Lisa would probably be a shoe-in for a first-up win. There was only one problem - the sentimental tug of the long-denied Paul Newman. Paul Newman, never having won, had lost a staggering 7 nominations in a row - so many that he decided to not even show this time. In a more open field however, there was no stopping him. Hoskins would have to make do with a Golden Globe and a BAFTA - usually sure signs an Oscar is coming. He would never end up winning one.

Hoskins is a great actor - I love him, and apparently he was a very likeable fellow. Always kind to fellow actors, especially if they were just starting out. He's remarkable in Mona Lisa, playing a low-level crook (George) working for underworld kingpins, who has to ferry around high-class hooker Simone (Cathy Tyson). As he spends more time with this woman, day after day, their intemperate, argumentative relationship develops into a firm friendship - and George finds himself falling in love with her. In the meantime he learns much more about what it means to be a prostitute in 1980s London, where violent pimps abuse their charges, drug abuse is common, girls disappear and are generally mistreated. Many of them are virtual slaves, and Simone wants George to help her find someone she was once close with - a fellow working girl. In the meantime, George has run ins with the big boss, Mortwell (Michael Caine) and a pimp called Anderson (Clarke Peters). His only outlet is an eccentric mechanic/entrepreneur/author friend of his, Thomas (Robbie Coltrane). I once knew a Scottish lady who went to acting classes with Robbie Coltrane - I always think of her when I see him.

It was interesting listening to Neil Jordan talk about his initial inspiration regarding the making of Mona Lisa - the seedy prostitution side, and the idea that men often don't have a very deep understanding of what a woman is thinking and feeling. Despite there being a strong friendship between George and Simone, there's a fundamental disconnect when it comes to their meeting of minds, and George isn't cognizant of his vibrant and forceful passenger's reasoning before or after they start getting along. He simply falls in love with her - and falls into the kind of belief many men do when they're with call girls. That they're really making them laugh because they're funny, and making them scream because they really are that good in bed. He ignores her anger and frustration with him because at the end of the day she's still there, in his car - and conversation with her is becoming easier and more free. George has come from a seven year stint in prison, and even aside from that has probably never spent as much time with a woman if you disregard his wife - who now hates him and tries to keep his teenage daughter from seeing him. For George love is easy - but for a long-term prostitute love isn't that simple, or easily recognizable to men.

Apparently (and I've heard this about some sections of New York as well) the red light districts we see in London during Mona Lisa have been cleaned up, and now the likes of the UK's offices of Google are more representative of what you'd see there. Some old cinemas that would show old classic and cult films have all been closed down because the rents are now too exorbitant. It's fun to see the real seedy side of society in this film, although that fun is tempered with a feeling of sadness for the girls we see. Jordan apparently hired a whole host of real-life call girls to appear as extras in the film, or to play very small roles. He says with a hint of sadness that most of them were drug addicts, and that really brings home a lot of what we see in the film. There are echoes of Taxi Driver when George tries to help underage hooker May (Sammi Davis), at first mistaking her for the girl Simone charges him with finding, Cathy (Kate Hardie). These parallels also merge with another inspiration for the film - a newspaper article about a man charged with grievous bodily harm who claimed that he was urged to do what he did to protect girls from their violent pimps. It all blends together really well, and like Taxi Driver, Mona Lisa has a certain timeless feel to it. The issues wrapped up here have been with us as long as civilization has.

I really enjoyed watching this film - as I've been waiting to see it for a while, and have been avoiding any spoilers so I can some in nearly blind, I kind of built up an expectation apropos of the very scant information I'd taken in. It was wider in scope than I thought it would be, and I think Michael Caine's presence was really powerful, despite his limited screen time. I completely believe he's a ruthless gangster - this mid-80s period for him was one in which he was probably in his best form as an actor. Cathy Tyson had a brilliant debut - you couldn't ask much more from her (she was only 20-years-old.) Robbie Coltrane doesn't get much to do, but his side-business selling fake plastic imitation food is really interesting in conjunction with this film's themes of things that aren't real going up for sale - and I loved the tacky green statues of the Virgin Mary. One of my brother's girlfriends once had a statue of Jesus that would turn different colours if you warmed him up in the oven - I kid you not. My whole family were so bemused by this, and it's stuck in my memory - but the time period for this would have been the early 80s, so perhaps that was some kind of fad at the time.

Unfortunately I don't jive with Nat 'King' Cole's singing and songs - but I can't hold this against the movie. I just kind of endured it - I was expecting to hear the song 'Mona Lisa', and it always went through my head when I thought of what this film might be like. Sure enough, we hear it over the opening and closing credits, with the tune coming up several times during the film itself - Hoskins even hums it at one stage if I remember correctly. I had no idea whatsoever that Genesis song 'In Too Deep' was written and performed especially for the Mona Lisa soundtrack - my pop culture trivia knowledge just gained another fact to help me during quiz nights and the like there - I'm no Phil Collins fan either, but he kind of reminds me of Bob Hoskins. Despite the music and score not doing much for me, I can't say that it impaired my enjoyment of the film much at all. It still works inasmuch as it gives the whole atmosphere a sad sheen that lingers over proceedings. Those Nat 'King' Cole songs have that edge of melancholy wistfulness about them, so I can't say that they didn't fit. I simply don't really like the song 'Mona Lisa', apart from the lyrics which read like poetry.

So, overall this was a movie that has really deep emotional layers to it, and I thought it was very good. It's one that (by it's contents, style, meaning and such) I would have loved to have asked my brother, David, if he'd seen. He died way back in '95, so it's likely I'll never know. I like seeing characters who are rough, roguish and even criminal if they display so much emotional vulnerability, as George did in this film. It kind of sets up a duality that can be seen as emblematic of all human beings. I also admired a movie that could explore the way so many men don't understand what women are telling them with their emotions, body language and even words - how there's often a disconnect there, with guys only believing what they want to believe. Living in the world of make-believe that makes their use of prostitution all the more acceptable, because "they enjoyed it too". Swirling around all of this are the hidden parts of ourselves, the games we play, the tricks - like magic acts, which is another theme that repeatedly crops up. This was a very intelligent, thoughtful film that didn't have to sacrifice any of it's narrative power to be that way. It satisfies on many levels.

4

[PHOENIX74]

I guess I just didn't buy into why Denny (Michael Caine) wanted to know what his call girl Simone was doing. I mean wasn't she doing what she was suppose to be doing for money? So I don't get why George (Bob Hoskinks) was ordered to find out what Simone is doing behind close doors? (other than it makes for movie tension and sets up the final bloody ending so that it can happen...But from an in-story view, it didn't seem to make sense.)...So somebody clue me in when you read this, cause the only clue I have is that: George finds a porno movie tape of Simone in an adult book store...so was that what made Denny so mad, that she was making adult movies on the sly and he wasn't getting his cut?


That exact same thought went through my head, and Neil Jordan is way too smart to have something that silly in the film so I'm guessing Denny didn't mean "What kind of sex stuff are they up to?" You see Denny with the exact customer he's talking about, Raschid (Hossein Karimbeik) doing high-roller type business in the cleverly named "Cameo Room" at the fancy hotel before he starts asking. Obviously he's learned something, and it'd have something to do with what you said - he's worried that there's some business going on there that he's being cut out of, or else she's spilling secrets. Because we never learn anything more specific (we probably should have, to set that straight) that's all we can surmise - but it's definitely nothing to do with the sexual services she's meant to be doing. They make a big joke how it's "having tea" well, in slang, "tea" is a term used to refer to gossip or inside information. She might be letting secrets out that are hurting Denny. It can also be one for drugs. So there was something that Denny was furious about, because she's working for him - not herself, and if she's telling Raschid stuff he's not meant to know about Denny, that would infuriate him as well.

When we see Raschid and Denny at the hotel, Raschid is happy and playful, while Denny is furious and upset - something might have just been shared. Another option I thought of is that Raschid might be helping Simone get the necessary papers for her and Cathy to flee the country when she finds her, or else providing some other means of escape when the time comes - Denny might be suspicious of that, and eager to stop her from getting away. That's only a possibility though.

[rauldc14]

A Man for All Seasons

https://www.alternateending.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/manforallseasonsbkgd.jpg

This was my second go around with this. At the forefront is the great script and the really good dialogue here. Fred Zinnemann is a very talented filmmaker and has quite a variety of tools when it comes to his directing. Paul Schofield really brings his A game here and delivers a really great performance as Sir Thomas More. There are lulls in the film and I'm not that excited once we get to the courtroom scene but overall is a really well done film. It won't be a favorite but rather one that is seen as quite respectable.

3.5

[Citizen Rules]

That exact same thought went through my head, and Neil Jordan is way too smart to have something that silly in the film so I'm guessing Denny didn't mean "What kind of sex stuff are they up to?" You see Denny with the exact customer he's talking about, Raschid (Hossein Karimbeik) doing high-roller type business in the cleverly named "Cameo Room" at the fancy hotel before he starts asking. Obviously he's learned something, and it'd have something to do with what you said - he's worried that there's some business going on there that he's being cut out of, or else she's spilling secrets. Because we never learn anything more specific (we probably should have, to set that straight) that's all we can surmise - but it's definitely nothing to do with the sexual services she's meant to be doing. They make a big joke how it's "having tea" well, in slang, "tea" is a term used to refer to gossip or inside information. She might be letting secrets out that are hurting Denny. It can also be one for drugs. So there was something that Denny was furious about, because she's working for him - not herself, and if she's telling Raschid stuff he's not meant to know about Denny, that would infuriate him as well.

When we see Raschid and Denny at the hotel, Raschid is happy and playful, while Denny is furious and upset - something might have just been shared. Another option I thought of is that Raschid might be helping Simone get the necessary papers for her and Cathy to flee the country when she finds her, or else providing some other means of escape when the time comes - Denny might be suspicious of that, and eager to stop her from getting away. That's only a possibility though.Those ideas all make sense for the scene. I bet from a production viewpoint they had shot another scene or two, but for runtime reasons or other reasons cut those scenes but couldn't cut the scenes were they reference what was going on...hence the mystery.

[rauldc14]

2 left for me. I'll probably watch Treasure of the Sierra Madre on Monday.

[Citizen Rules]

2 left for me. I'll probably watch Treasure of the Sierra Madre on Monday.I'm basically done. I decided not to re-watch Shoplifters, I seen it recently enough and thought highly of it.

I was going to wait to the very end of the HoF to finish, to see if everyone else finished. But I hate having to rush things and do them in the last moments. So I'll get my voting ballot in soon.

[rauldc14]

I'm basically done. I decided not to re-watch Shoplifters, I seen it recently enough and thought highly of it.

I was going to wait to the very end of the HoF to finish, to see if everyone else finished. But I hate having to rush things and do them in the last moments. So I'll get my voting ballot in soon.

It helps that I wanted to rewatch all of the ones I've already seen anyways so it wasn't a big deal to me.

I will say I liked how this Hall was really spread out as far as the decades each film was in.

I thought up and idea where each participant gets a blind draw of what genre to nominate so that we would have films from each genre up for grabs. Not necessarily for the next hall of Fame, but it could be an interesting trial run in the future.

[Citizen Rules]

...I thought up and idea where each participant gets a blind draw of what genre to nominate so that we would have films from each genre up for grabs. Not necessarily for the next hall of Fame, but it could be an interesting trial run in the future.Cool idea for a genre HoF. You've had a lot of good HoF ideas in the past. You should give that idea a try.

[beelzebubble]

Aftersun (2024)
I liked the juxtaposition of “found footage” with “reality”. The score was really good. I liked the isolation of the Bowie’s and Freddie Mercury’s voices in the last of the rave scenes. It made that scene slightly more intense. The outro music was beautiful.
My only problem with the film was I knew too much about the filmmaker’s back story. I wondered how I would have experienced the movie, if I hadn’t known that her father was dead. That the idea for the film came from going through old footage taken of her by her dad.
We know that the father is sad/depressed. You can see it on his face. His refusal to answer his daughter’s question of how he saw his life turning out when he was her age, underscores his shame about his place in life. The sad look he gives the group of tourists as they sing for his birthday.
When we see him run into the surf and later Sophie is locked out of her room, the viewer assumes he is committing suicide. It was a relief to see him lying on the bed sleeping when the attendant let her into the room. I suppose the scene at the surf and the final scene where he travels down an empty hall to the doors that open onto the rave are enough to indicated what happened to the character of the father. Still I wish I had known less about the movie to get an unbiased feel for it.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/0Ny4V0wt/treasure.jpg

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - 1948

Directed by John Huston

Written by John Huston
Based on the novel by B. Traven

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt & Bruce Bennett

A lot of life, I've found, is a matter of balance. Go around and trust everyone, and everything you hear people say, then you'll end up being conned, stolen from and misinformed - just as Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) are, getting fooled into doing work for Pat McCormick (Barton MacLane) during the first section of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. They go without getting paid - trusting in his manner that he was a principled man. Conversely, trust nobody and believe nothing people say and you'll end up with paranoia, conflict and be a nervous wreck your whole life - just as Fred C. Dobbs does when gold fever starts to eat it's way into his mind, and he starts to suspect that his workmates, Bob and Howard (Walter Huston), are going to cheat him in some way after the three have gathered enough placer gold to be worth a small fortune to them. Neither extreme is good, and Sierra Madre explores that variable in human nature that can affect our ability to trust, cooperate and deal with each other as respectable human beings. It's a harsh dog eat dog world, but there has to be a limit to that somewhere along the line, lest we live as ravenous, violent animals.

I had a dream once that I was at the beach, wading out into the shallows, and kept on finding big gold bars just beneath the waves. I still remember it because of how excited I'd got in the dream, and how that excitement was with me the moment I woke up - before I realised I'd been dreaming, and had to come crashing down to earth. There's nothing that represents wealth more than gold does - finding the valuable metal is synonymous with the lotteries we see at the start of this film. For people, it leads to a kind of delirium. When gold was found in Coloma, California in 1848, the papers reported that it “set the public mind almost on the highway to insanity.” In Sierra Madre we see the hard work and resilience needed to go where it is, and deal with the landscape along with other people - of being prepared, having someone experienced with you, and having the right equipment. We see the dangers, the toil, and the rewards of doing what our three main characters do - and we also see that 'highway to insanity' in the case of one of them.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is one of the first Hollywood films to have gone off on location in another country for the sake of authenticity - in this case Durango and Tampico, Mexico. It aids the film, and for some reason I kept thinking of Wages of Fear, which has a similar look to this, and follows many of the same themes - over and over again I'd think back to that French/Italian classic that came along 5 years after this. I was also really surprised by how battered, beaten and ugly Humphrey Bogart allowed himself to look in this movie. At some stages, with beard and furrowed brow, he reminded me of a rat - his toothy grimace and filthy face expressing the poisonous paranoia he was experiencing. It was Walter Huston who won a Best Actor Oscar though, for his performance as the much wiser Howard - swooping in like an angel to save a native kid, and becoming rather philosophical about the whole adventure and where it takes him. Although the film itself would miss out on a Best Picture win despite being nominated, it won for Best Director (John Huston) and Best Screenplay (John Huston) - which are wins people usually say indicate that it should have won Best Picture (that went to Laurence Olivier's Hamlet.)

Anyway, I'm happy to have finally (finally) seen this classic - it was one of the last true classics I hadn't seen yet (I'm probably exaggerating, there must be plenty more) and removes the great big void which would stare at me whenever the film came up in discussions or in what I was reading. I thought it would be more of an adventure - but it turned out to be something of a Western. Instead of action, I was really happy to see that this wanted to say something about being human, and examine certain personality traits. It explored how relationships can change as circumstances change, and how people can turn against each other when stakes are raised. It looked at what trusting too much and what not trusting at all leads to. We get plenty of action with Mexican bandits, including the famous line "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!" - which (despite never having seen the film) I'd often use, always making the mistake of saying "We don't need no stinkin' badges!" - which is not what's said in the film if you want to be exact.

I'd also like to add, in the film's favour, the fact that it surprised me so often - especially in how everything ended up, which I won't go into in detail. Bogart dominates most of it, really willing to be, if not the bad guy (they were the bandit Mexicans - and I'm glad they were offset by the Federales), the guy who stoops to begging, violence and general disrespect. You see people like him still today - paranoid, needy, easily triggered into violent reactions, loud, cunning and just generally full of their "Oh, I know what's going on here!" pronouncements of mistaken finger-pointing. Fred Dobbs must have had that hidden deep within him right from the beginning, with the gold fever bringing it out - and it was adventurous for Bogart to play such a role. It's that character my mind goes to whenever I think about the film now. He was mentally ill by the end, and I have to admit that this kind of madness fascinates me. Is it something the wealthy suffer from in general? A 'get away from my fortune' kind of instinct? Such are the questions posed when looking at this side of humanity, and that's what I enjoyed most about this film. How it examined us.

4

[beelzebubble]

A Man for All Seasons—Rewatch
This is a great screenplay. The question is: is this a great movie?
I don’t know, how to answer that. It won Best Picture at the Oscars. That’s one metric.
But is not a visually adventurous movie. It is very formal, almost staid. Is that a choice or a failing? It may be that Fred Zinneman was trying to evoke, what was happening to Sir Thomas More’s world. Becoming ever more restrictive as his fate becomes inevitable. This is the director, who gave us one of the most famous scenes of passion in movies; Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster embracing on the sand as the waves crash over them. So, it was not through a lack on the filmmaker’s part. It was a definite choice.
The score…is there a score? I really don’t remember it. If there was one it was so seamless that I did not even notice it. Which is I like in some movies. I really liked the movie Educating Rita. But the score was that annoying, overblown, classical style from the Eighties. I find movies that use that style unbearable. I have never seen Educating Rita twice because of that score. So, better one that is inobtrusive.
The acting is wonderful. Paul Scofield was reprising the role he had already been playing in the West End. A time or two this was evident. A time or two it was a little too stagy. But overall masterful. The supporting actors are marvelous. Leo McKern really holds the audience as Cromwell. John Hurt is never too obvious a villain as Richard Rich. He lets the dialogue and his costume tell his story and reveal his character. But the characters are foils for Sir Thomas and are all part of an obvious structure. Is the structure too obvious?
We find Sir Thomas, a man of impeccable character. Everyone else is scrambling to save themselves in the dangerous court of Henry the VIII. This includes Sir Thomas. He chooses retirement and silence as his life raft, which is soon overwhelmed by the demands of the state in the person of King Henry and his righthand Cromwell. The structure reveals the methods each person takes to secure their berth on the ship of state. But as the afterward informs us, only the most venal characters win. Richard Rich is the only one who dies after a prosperous life in his bed.
It is a movie that speaks to me. But you may be surprised at what it says to me. My initial thought when thinking back on previous viewings is that Sir Thomas More may be autistic. Who else would be so married to their idea of God and the afterlife that they would allow themselves to be martyred. Being autistic means you come clashing against the fuzzy thinking and very mutable feelings of others while your own course feels quite set. The other idea, I had was that we are living through a similar time. Institution that were once bastions of liberal humanism have become overwhelmed by left wing notions that are often ludicrous, yet are put forward as a gospel that you must accept.
Whether it is great or not it is certainly timely.

[Citizen Rules]

@beelzebubble (http://www.movieforums.com/community/member.php?u=109178) Good review and not because I liked the movie but because it was an interesting read:)

The score…is there a score? I really don’t remember it. If there was one it was so seamless that I did not even notice it. Which is I like in some movies. I really liked the movie Educating Rita. But the score was that annoying, overblown, classical style from the Eighties. I find movies that use that style unbearable. I have never seen Educating Rita twice because of that score. So, better one that is inobtrusive. I don't remember the score either which like you said is a plus as it moved the film and it's emotions without being obtrusive.

But you may be surprised at what it says to me. My initial thought when thinking back on previous viewings is that Sir Thomas More may be autistic. Who else would be so married to their idea of God and the afterlife that they would allow themselves to be martyred. Being autistic means you come clashing against the fuzzy thinking and very mutable feelings of others while your own course feels quite set.Very interesting thought. I wouldn't have considered that but yes he seems like he might be autistic, a lot of really intelligent people tend towards that. If you don't mind me asking do you know someone who is autistic, is that why you feel Sir Thomas More was?


***The last part of your review....We're suppose to keep political stuff off of MoFo. I know Yoda doesn't like it as it can cause problems and it has no place in an HoF anyway.

[beelzebubble]

@beelzebubble (http://www.movieforums.com/community/member.php?u=109178)

Very interesting thought. I wouldn't have considered that but yes he seems like he might be autistic, a lot of really intelligent people tend towards that. If you don't mind me asking do you know someone who is autistic, is that why you feel Sir Thomas More was?
.
I was recently diagnosed with Autism 1 which used to be called Asperger’s Syndrome. I decided to get a diagnosis after my friend did. I have a feeling most of my friends are autistic. I really relate to the stubbornness and fixed ideas. I also see it a lot in other autistic people whether very intelligent or not.

[Citizen Rules]

I was recently diagnosed with Autism 1 which used to be called Asperger’s Syndrome. I decided to get a diagnosis after my friend did. I have a feeling most of my friends are autistic. I really relate to the stubbornness and fixed ideas. I also see it a lot in other autistic people whether very intelligent or not.Thanks. I don't know much about it...but I believe I read once that people think Einstein might have been autistic of some type or another. If so you are in good company:)

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/LsRhmdBk/the-bank-job.jpg

The Bank Job - 2008

Directed by Roger Donaldson

Written by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais

Starring Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows & Richard Lintern

Whenever I'm informed that I'm about to watch a film "based on a true story" I kind of go into a defensive "well then, I'm not going to believe one single thing I see" mode. It's not that I think I'm about to watch unadulterated lies - it's just that you never know at what point artistic license is about to kick in. Even the most faithful of films have to use it. Well, The Bank Job is what I'd call medium level as far as all that is concerned. If you know the true story of the 1971 burglary of Lloyds Bank safety deposit boxes in Baker Street, you'll still be in for plenty of surprises as far as the film is concerned. It adopts all of the rumours concerning the involvement of MI5, compromising photos of Princess Margaret, and evidence of ministerial misconduct as fact, and adds a dose of crime kingpin/crooked police drama for good measure. The tunnel and the bit with the walkie-talkies being overheard are the incontrovertible facts - and the film faithfully recreates the look of the street-corner bank, Chicken Inn store and Le Sac premises from which the tunneling was done.

Apart from Jason Statham, kind of typecast as the kind of person who is a mechanic as well as pulling off heists, there weren't many recognizable faces in this. Saffron Burrows might best be known as the lead in Deep Blue Sea - a film I'm not sure I've seen from start to finish. Richard Lintern could possibly be the most British-looking person alive (and he likewise appears in very British productions.) I knew I'd seen Stephen Campbell Moore somewhere before - and it's probably from History Boys. Daniel Mays I've seen plenty of times (for example, Rogue One : A Star Wars Story), but isn't a huge star. They really just depended on Statham as far as star power is concerned - and fair enough, that did the job. Did everyone who watched this spot Mick Jagger? Yeah, he's in this too - a cameo spot as one of the bank employees in charge of the vault. Very cheeky, and very hard to spot unless you're really on the ball. I was hoping John Lennon (Alan Swoffer) would get a line, but he's just a background historical figure (whoever plays Yoko doesn't even appear as uncredited anywhere.)

So, the various parts were straightforward, and the movie depended chiefly on it's screenplay - written in part by Dick Clement, an old hand as far as British drama goes, and very expert in every way possible. The other writer was his long-time partner Ian La Frenais - they were both in their 70s when writing this, but everything they lay out is sharp and well organized. They were both still working up until 2017, updating Porridge - a series they'd worked on in the 1970s. Perhaps it's good to have people who clearly remember the 1970s make a film which takes place in that decade. Director Roger Donaldson was likewise quite old for this kind of caper - Donaldson is an Australian filmmaker who made a few films in New Zealand before making The Bounty in England and graduating to the U.S. with Marie in 1985. He was the director of Cocktail, which I feel obliged to apologize for (I actually saw that at the movies way back in '88.) He's well known for the likes of Species (1995), Dante's Peak (1997) and Thirteen Days (2000) - the latter of which is his best film as far as I'm concerned. He directs The Bank Job in very competent fashion, and makes great use of what he was given.

So, the only other comments I have to exemplify it's best features is that 1970s period it successfully captures with it's art direction and production design. It's not perfect, but few are - and this one at least gave me the feeling of being back in the '70s. Other than that, it's sympathetic portrayal of the burglars had me on their side and cheering for them - not that I gave them much hope, although I have to add that I didn't know what had really happened while watching the film. Apparently a couple of them were never identified, but most were caught and got prison sentences ranging from eight to twelve years in length. Don't take that as a spoiler - this movie gets very creative as far as what really happened after the theft is concerned. If you want to find out all of the absolute facts - well, that file is closed until the year 2071. I'll have to improve my health if I hope to find out. The movie is simply a very well organized heist thriller and period piece, with secret agent/MI5 business and political intrigue weaved into it's tapestry. I never knew there was a Michael X (Peter de Jersey) - but now I do.

Just a note about the whole Michael X part of the story - he was an interesting figure. A revolutionary and civil rights activist in 1960s London. We see the famous instance of him putting a slave collar on businessman Marvin Brown (or, more precisely, two of his followers did as Michael X allegedly threatened him and tried to extort money.) I have a feeling there's more to that story. The North London headquarters for his movement mysteriously burned down, and Michael X fled to his native Trinidad and Tobago in February 1971. He was often aided by John Lennon (he'd bail him out when Michael was arrested), but the commune he started overseas also burned down - and when the fire was investigated two dead bodies were found. Michael X was tried for murdering one of them, ultimately convicted and executed. In The Bank Job we see him murder Gale Benson (Hattie Morahan) with a machete - she's revealed as a spy. The whole saga is another interesting historical chapter that The Bank Job introduces to a wider audience that may never otherwise have heard of these people. In the film, it's MI5 who burn Michael X's commune down - and I'm pretty sure it's the authorities who gutted his headquarters in London.

I wasn't expecting much from The Bank Job, but it turned out to be a better film than I expected to see - which, because Statham was leading a threadbare cast, I assumed would be more geared to action than intrigue and real historical events. Obviously there has been enormous liberties taken as far as speculation and artistic license is concerned, but the movie benefits by bringing MI5 and assorted other historical figures into the picture. We'd like to believe it's all true - and who knows, some of it might be, considering that there are undisclosed facts pertaining to what happened being locked away for so long. Probably not though. Anyway, heists are always fun, and Roger Donaldson gets a lot of value from what he was given to work with - mostly thanks to a no-nonsense screenplay. It knows just when to add the odd plague crypt or pair of dirty knickers into the narrative for fun - but not too much fun. A very nice addition to the heist genre, and an enjoyable trip back to '70s London. The only thing it lacks is a great cast and the need for really strong performances.

3.5

[PHOENIX74]

As a side note, I'm not sure there's something like that supper cutting torch which to me looked like it had a bunch of sparklers packed in a tube, but what do I know about cutting torches?

Thermic lances are awesome - and quite real. The business end reaches temperatures of a staggering 4,400 degrees C (8,000 degrees F) - hot enough to melt concrete. You could use one to open a safe, but it would burn and melt everything inside the safe as well as the safe itself. The real-life robbers tried using one, but unlike in the film it still didn't succeed - so they blasted the floor of the vault with explosives.

https://i.postimg.cc/ZYxG4dH2/thermic.webphttps://i.postimg.cc/cCn3QnhS/therm3.jpg


Now I have never seen a Jason Statham movie before and I have one question. Why is this ordinary looking guy, who is not the greatest actor and not that charismatic a movie star? I don’t get it. He does have a good voice. But other than that, I don’t get it.

A good question. I agree about the voice, and I think he has the right balance of looking like a tough guy, but a loveable tough guy - while also having the physical ability his Chinese martial arts, kickboxing, karate, football and diving gave him. Other than that, it seems luck simply threw him into Guy Ritchie's path and the rest was history. But he just might be a robot sent by extraterrestrials to study our movie-making industry - I've never seen him emote very much. He's just a really lucky average Joe.

[PHOENIX74]

I'm wondering - did anybody notice Mick Jagger's unobtrusive cameo in The Bank Job?

[cricket]

I'm wondering - did anybody notice Mick Jagger's unobtrusive cameo in The Bank Job?

I'll be watching for that

[Citizen Rules]

Thermic lances are awesome - and quite real. The business end reaches temperatures of a staggering 4,400 degrees C (8,000 degrees F) - hot enough to melt concrete....That's wild! I had no idea that was a real thing.

[cricket]

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

https://i0.wp.com/media4.giphy.com/media/xT0GqyTm0vCtxjIeZi/giphy.gif

Not sure how many times I've seen this before, at least twice but not many. It's the type of film that when I see it nominated I'm not excited, but when I put it on the joy of watching it comes back to me. It was definitely time to see it again.

I forgot what a lowlife Dobbs is and you can see it right off the bat. I get that he eventually goes mad but it was always within his character. I loved the other 2 main characters with Walter Huston being especially great. This was the first time I watched knowing that John Huston played the rich man in the beginning and Robert Blake the kid selling lottery tickets. Very cool! My favorite parts were actually the first 20 minutes and the latter scenes in the villages, rather than the scenes of the men on the mountain, but it's all good. I remembered it as more of an adventure film than it is, and I think the typical film would've gone that route. Not quite a huge favorite but it's a great watch that deserves it's classic status.

4

[Citizen Rules]

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
I forgot what a lowlife Dobbs is and you can see it right off the bat. I get that he eventually goes mad but it was always within his character.

That's exactly what I saw this time around. I had previously thought that Dobbs was just a regular joe and gold lust drove him crazy, but like you said the seeds were already there...I think that shows a well thought out and written script, and a great director too, both same man, John Huston. One of my favorite directors.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/hGvMZt7t/god-s-acre.jpg

God's Little Acre - 1958

Directed by Anthony Mann

Written by Philip Yordan (Ben Maddow)

Starring Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, Buddy Hackett, Jack Lord, Fay Spain
Vic Morrow, & Tina Louise

I approached God's Little Acre a little warily after hearing mixed things about it - but I was pleased to have found it in a second-hand store's DVD rack for a buck, and seeing as I needed to see it counted that as providence. Was that providence, or was I being cursed? That's hard to say, for even though this film veers off the track here and there, I did notice aspects that I liked and thought it did really well for a steamy pulp drama from the 1950s. It's based on a controversial 1933 novel by Erskine Caldwell, which caused a scandal - it ended up being banned in Saint Paul, Minnesota and Boston, and I'd be disingenuous if I were to say "because sex is evil", because I think adultery was more the issue for zealots. Even so, hysteria over sex is extremely silly and unhealthy for poor people who grow up thinking it's dirty and wrong. Caldwell was tried in a New York court, and ended up winning his case before counter-suing for false arrest and malicious prosecution. The movie seems to have been promoted as a provocative, erotic Streetcar Named Desire-type drama with shirtless men and nightgown-clad women having secret trysts in the night. Of course, there's a rather peculiar side to the movie - but it delivers the heat, even if it's light on the action.

God's Little Acre starts in wacky fashion with an old guy in Georgia, Ty Ty Walden (Robert Ryan) digging deep holes all over his weather-beaten property, assisted by two of his sons - Buck (Jack Lord) and Shaw (Vic Morrow). He's been digging for years, looking for a supposed haul of gold that his grandfather hid somewhere (his search has gone on 15 years apparently - with the missing gold being secreted away a century ago.) Ty Ty is a happy-go-lucky kind of fellow. Buck though, is an angry young man who is furious with his wife for the passionate yearning she has for another man - her brother-in-law Will Thompson (Aldo Ray). In the meantime, prospective but bumbling sheriff Pluto (Buddy Hackett) visits the gang and informs Ty Ty that albinos have a sixth sense that can locate gold, leading to the elder Walden kidnapping young Dave Dawson (Michael Landon) and forcing the poor guy to run around his place with a divining rod - which he pretends works just to end the constant threats of harm to himself. That's before Darlin' Jill (Fay Spain) finds him and gets to work on him. That's the set-up, and the rest of the story also involves a closed cotton mill Will is desperate to see open again, Ty Ty's rich outcast of a son Jim (Lance Fuller) and the general sense that the women living here are being deprived of the sex they desperately want and need by guys who are generally acting like idiots.

Lets be frank here. Would the inclusion of a silly character played by Buddy Hackett have improved A Streetcar Named Desire or made it worse? Okay - I know I'm not being fair when I say that. God's Little Acre is going for something different, and lending this sweaty, lusty movie a comedic atmosphere can either improve it or make it worse depending on what you're hoping it might be. I didn't gel with the funny stuff, but found that Anthony Mann was much better at bringing the erotic, sensual power from his actors during the scenes that were more serious. That scene, with the sweaty shirtless Aldo Ray meeting up with a scantily clad Tina Louise had a genuine, blood-pumping sexual intensity to it. The scrapping and fighting in the movie also has that intensity to it, and when it's on it feels like I'm watching a completely different movie. Buddy Hackett, and albino-Michael Landon are well and truly cast aside during those moments. I also liked the way it depicted alcoholism as a life-destroying evil, while also eyeing up the pitfalls and dark side to capitalism. This film was doing a lot I really liked, but I found the side I was meant to find funny just crazy and silly intead of comedic.

"God's Little Acre" refers to the small plot of land that Ty Ty marks out, from which whatever comes forth will go to His work. It doesn't really reflect well on him that he keeps moving the goalposts by changing that Acre whenever he thinks he might have made a mistake by giving God the gold he's looking for - but it's very evident that this is his cheeky charm, ie - he's a rascal. He's happy though, even if he's misguided at the start of the film - more than you can say about every other character in the film, who is either sexually frustrated or having way too much sex. The heat in Georgia isn't helping either, with various characters in states of undress - sweaty in the sultry afternoons, getting worked up and hot-tempered. People under 18 years of age couldn't go see it when it came out - showing how remarkably times have changed. Screenwriter Ben Maddow's name was swapped with that of Philip Yordan, a controversial figure today because nobody really knows how many screenplays he actually wrote, or how many he claimed while acting as a front for McCarthy-era blacklisted writers in Hollywood.

All up, God's Little Acre was a pretty strange creation, but I can't say that I hated it. I think it was a faithful adaptation of a book that had a balance of sex and silliness in it, and I think maybe if the silly stuff had of been scrapped I might have been a huge exponent of the movie. I guess controversy is never a bad thing when it comes time to grab those headlines - but that said I'd never heard of God's Little Acre until now (not that I'm much of a guage for anything pre-1960s.) This is the very definition of a mixed bag - but I'm always interested in exploring the unusual and different, and this was definitely that. During the 1950s movie-makers had to be clever in how they alluded to sex and erotica - and sometimes I think getting creative in that area actually helped more than what we see in modern films, with a couple just grabbing each other and humping away before the audience. The urge is more erotic for an audience sometimes - and scenes where characters lust after each other but try to deny it, skirt the issue or flirt makes for friction that was undeniably present in a lot of older films, but missing today. I found watching God's Little Acre enlightening, sometimes frustrating but ultimately silly and sexy.

3

[Citizen Rules]

Phoenix, I enjoyed reading your review of God's Little Acre. As always you're informative with the background information and your personal reaction to the film.

It's funny that you should say, "I approached God's Little Acre a little warily after hearing mixed things about it - but I was pleased to have found it in a second-hand store's DVD rack for a buck, and seeing as I needed to see it counted that as providence. Was that providence, or was I being cursed?" Image that, I chose a cursed film!:p


You know I could agree, in part, with what you said here, " I didn't gel with the funny stuff, but found that Anthony Mann was much better at bringing the erotic, sensual power from his actors during the scenes that were more serious. That scene, with the sweaty shirtless Aldo Ray meeting up with a scantily clad Tina Louise had a genuine, blood-pumping sexual intensity to it. The scrapping and fighting in the movie also has that intensity to it, and when it's on it feels like I'm watching a completely different movie"...
To me it totally felt like two different movies with vastly different styles. I don't know if that was by design? Or just the way it turned out. But yeah the nighttime encounter between Aldo Ray and Tina Louise was about as steamy of sexuality as you could get in a movie at that time. That scene alone shows what director Anthony Mann could do. He's one of my favorite directors.

I do get that the comic parts don't work for many but I loved those wacky outlandish characters, which reminded me of a cross between Gilligan's Island and Fantasy Island. I think the beauty of the film is hidden from plain sight and that is the director misdirects us emotionally, priming us to see a screwball comedy but in the third act hits us over the head with some truly sad and depressing stuff as we watch Aldo Ray beat his head against the proverbial wall until he lays dead in a futile attempt to break free from the doldrums of a life that drove him to death...
Then the director takes the redemption of Ty Ty (Robert Ryan) who has swore off wasting his life looking for buried gold and promised to get back to work growing cotton, the very cotton that could keep the mill running...and has him find an old buried shovel and in the end he's going back to digging a hole. From comedy to utter tragedy as these people, like so many people, destroy they lives in vein attempts. I think the comedy is the wool that is pulled over our eyes by our own self disillusion of a dream...The ending of the film is a warning not to follow one's dream too far.

[cricket]

The fact that he found that movie for sale in person is probably the most amazing thing I've ever read on this forum.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/fy7bfYdW/There-Will-Be-Blood-Daniel-Day-Lewis-Original-Release-Movie-Poster.webp

There Will Be Blood - 2007

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Based on the novel "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O'Connor, Ciarán Hinds & Dillon Freasier

There's nothing greater to contemplate than how the driving force behind all of mankind shifted through the end of the 19th Century, and led to a tumultuous, extraordinary power shift away from religion and towards an industrial-based 20th Century of which oil was a major currency. Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood stages this battle between religion and capitalism as a fight between two very different malignant personalities - Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Plainview is a sociopath - as he confesses to the man who, at the time, claims to be his brother. The only time in the film he lets his guard down. Well representative of what he represents. Sunday is a con-man and a fraud, and his sermons spectacular shows that win him adherents from his audience. Yes, a very cynical way to be viewing religion - but There Will Be Blood is a very hard-edged, brutal look at humanity from a power-based perspective. I love it for it's clear and concise metaphorical artistry, and for the two incredible twin performances from it's leads.

The film starts at the very end of the 1800s, and introduces us to Plainview by illustrating to us his brute determination to climb up both literally and figuratively when he appears to break many bones in his body prospecting in New Mexico - dragging himself out of a pit, through the harsh landscape, and into an assay office to stake his claim. Eventually he finds oil, and adopts a son that belonged to a worker of his that dies in an accident - H.W., transforming his public image into that of a 'family man'. Daniel is approached by a young man by the name of Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), Eli's twin brother, who sells him information about an oil deposit in Little Boston - leading to Plainview and H.W.'s voyage there, and them buying up most of the properties. Turns out there's an ocean of oil there, and while turning it into a fortune Plainview goes head to head with Eli Sunday in a series of dramatic confrontations and power plays. In the meantime, H.W. is deafened in an accident, and sent away by Plainview, giving some quarters the power to shame him. He's also approached by a man claiming to be his brother - leading to his first murder. The film ends with two mighty confrontations - between Plainview and both H.W. and Eli Sunday.

"I am the third revelation!" Plainview thunders at a terrified, diminished Eli Sunday at the end of There Will Be Blood. The first revelation was God's commandments handed down to Moses, and the second revelation was the teachings of Jesus to man. The third is meant to be a person imbued with the power and teachings of God, through whom God speaks. It's a denunciation of everything Plainview has seen Eli do, and a pronouncement of how he has subsumed his standing as a whole. Mankind now worships a new God. Earlier in the film it was Eli who was claiming that he was the third revelation, pretending to heal illness and cast out disease through the power God was giving him - but in the end this turns out to be empty rhetoric, and Plainview exercises real, incontrovertible power that man is depending on. To gain this power, Plainview has been absolutely ruthless, determined, deadly - filled with hate, and ready to strike anyone that might threaten his quest. Even H.W., who he ultimately rejects.

So, when I watch There Will Be Blood it's always with this bigger picture in mind. The way the world changed during the time period the film is set in. As Daniel Plainview, Daniel Day Lewis is so frighteningly real - he disappears into his character so completely I never see the actor himself. In regards to that, I think it must be one of the greatest performances I've ever seen in a film. It's an aura the performer carries around, slightly under the surface as he wants to represent himself as an upstanding family man. "I hate most people," he says to his supposed brother, Henry (Kevin J. O'Connor) - "I look at people and I see nothing worth liking. I want to earn enough money I can get away from everyone." He sees the worst in people, and despises them. As Paul and Eli Sunday, Paul Dano is something else entirely. He's more boy-like, pale, ineffectual and sniveling. He's a great performer, but he doesn't have the focus, strength or intelligence of Plainview. Daniel Day Lewis won an Academy Award for his performance, and while I thought Dano should have got a nomination, there was no way he could have beat Javier Bardem in 2008.

Visually, Robert Elswit's Oscar-winning cinematography make the film as much fun to sit and appreciate as it is to contemplate and think about. Considering the sweeping, grand topic it concerns, it stands to reason that the visual representation should be just as imposing and impressive. As much as coincidence is granting me recently, Elswit and P.T. Anderson used the cinematography of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (a film I reviewed very recently) as a basis for how There Will Be Blood should look. Straightforward, simple, yet impressively grand. Marfa, Texas was the place used for filming, with the rest of the production wrapped up in Los Angeles - and you walk away from the film with a succinct memory of that harsh, unrelenting sun that Plainview crawls under during the film's famous, long dialogue-free opening. Tough land to live on - dry and rocky with only sparse vegetation - this epic battle marked by greed is taking place in a hot, pitiless and severe place. I love those wide, all-encompassing shots when it comes to the work these people are doing.

The film was nominated for various other Academy Awards - P.T. Anderson himself lost out when it came to Best Picture, Director and Screenwriting (adapted) - they were all won by the Coen Bros, with their masterpiece No Country For Old Men coming along at a time when both that and this film should have swept all before them. There can be only one. Art Direction went to Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - fair enough. Film editing went to The Bourne Ultimatum (surprisingly not The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) as did Sound editing. I remember when both There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men both came out - they seemed somehow conjoined in some way. Even their titles seemed interchangeable - if not for their original sources, nobody would have questioned if the Coens' film had of been called There Will Be Blood and P.T. Anderson's No Country For Old Men. If asked for my personal preference, I go with There Will Be Blood, but I love the other as well. They both have their own distinctive driving force.

Of course, taken at face value There Will Be Blood still has a lot of narrative power. Plainview's rise to wealth through pure grit and determination - and through oil - is something to behold, in all it's dark, moody anti-glory. All the moments where he might have been redeemed all pass him by. He fails H.W., and he murders Henry. He enriches himself, but gains no friends - and he never has any kind of relationship, romantic or otherwise, with anyone (excluding business necessity.) He ends up an alcoholic, shooting up his own massive mansion and passing out in it's grand rooms. He ends up angry, unshaven and dirty - even though his quest for great power has been a success. His greatest joy is the vengeance he wreaks on his nemesis, Eli Sunday, after Sunday's own vengeance earlier on in the story. That's one of my favourite scenes of all time (in any movie) - the way Eli gets the upper hand when Plainview needs the use of the land that belongs to one in his congregation. Plainview agrees to be baptised, and Eli humiliates and degrades Plainview in a sermon - and forces him to admit that he abandoned H.W. Plainview whispers something to Eli at the end of that scene, and although we never hear what he says, the look on Eli's face says it all.

The last scene in the film is the crescendo. It is There Will Be Blood's exclamation point. It's a twin to the scene where Eli gets the upper hand over Plainview. It's a scene famous for it's "I drink your milkshake" memes, which must have been puzzling to those who haven't seen the film. Frankly, Eli isn't a very sympathetic character, so it's enjoyable to see him destroyed by Plainview - but at the same time this destruction is horrifying because of what it represents. The transition is complete, and the third revelation is the stupendously wealthy and powerful oilman. He's drained all of the power away from the old institutions, and now mankind is completely dependent on him. To have made mankind as a whole dependent on what you produce has to be the greatest feat of power-transferral that has ever occurred in history, and to this day these few have influenced world history, as the fruits of our labour has flowed to them. When There Will Be Blood was made, the Iraq War was still fresh in everyone's minds. Anyway, all of this is why I think it's a great, and very important, film. One of the greatest of all time, in fact.

5

[jiraffejustin]

Mona Lisa

some spoilers

Pretty simple flick, but looks great and is compelling story-wise. The acting was pretty great with some recognizable actors. Hoskins was great as an out-of-touch, somehow naive, short-tempered, low-level thug that you'd thump countless versions of in a 16-bit beat 'em up. I was a big fan of his fit when Simone got him threads but he still wore his floral button up under the jacket. If this movie came out today or was more well known there would be reddit posts about George actually being a bad person. The differences between Simone and George would make their romance improbable at best, so I found myself rooting for them not to get together at the end but for the film to do something more interesting while still being honest about how George would actually fall for Simone. It didn't play exactly how I predicted, but it was honest about George not getting that particular girl. It's rough to watch George embarrass himself when it fully clicks in him that he's fallen for Simone and there's no way he's getting that back from her. It didn't feel like George was being judged by the film or filmmaker though, which is a nice touch.

[John W Constantine]

3 more weeks.

[John W Constantine]

Extra credit if you all finish by Monday.

[Citizen Rules]

Extra credit if you all finish by Monday....when ice cubes melt and freeze over:D

[John W Constantine]

...when ice cubes melt and freeze over:D
Don't make me start handing out candy for posting reviews.

[rauldc14]

I won't be done by Monday but I got 1.5 left

[Citizen Rules]

Technically I'm done now. I'm just waiting on posting my last review.

[beelzebubble]

I have two left. I think.:shifty:
But I am cleaning my house (major under-taking), having relatives in form out-of-town and then going on vacation for a long weekend. so I will be finishing up two weeks from now. Sorry! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯;D

[Citizen Rules]

I have two left. I think.:shifty:
But I am cleaning my house (major under-taking), having relatives in form out-of-town and then going on vacation for a long weekend. so I will be finishing up two weeks from now. Sorry! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯;DAre you going someplace on vacation really fun? Or just nice and relaxing. I could use a vacation myself:)

[John W Constantine]

I have two left. I think.:shifty:
But I am cleaning my house (major under-taking), having relatives in form out-of-town and then going on vacation for a long weekend. so I will be finishing up two weeks from now. Sorry! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯;D
I think you're done, God's Little Acre is posted twice in your list on the first page. I was wondering how you had 10 films because two have been Dq'd.

[Citizen Rules]

I think you're done, God's Little Acre is posted twice in your list on the first page. I was wondering how you had 10 films because two have been Dq'd.I think she means that she hasn't watched and reviewed Mona Lisa yet.

[beelzebubble]

Are you going someplace on vacation really fun? Or just nice and relaxing. I could use a vacation myself:)
I’m going “down the shore.” We got a condo on the beach with a swimming pool as well for the weekend.

[beelzebubble]

I think you're done, God's Little Acre is posted twice in your list on the first page. I was wondering how you had 10 films because two have been Dq'd.
I need to rewatch There Will Be Blood and Mona Lisa.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/SxtSpcgY/a-man-for-all-seasons.jpg

A Man For All Seasons - 1966

Directed by Fred Zinnemann

Written by Robert Bolt
Based on his 1960 Play

Starring Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Orson Welles, Robert Shaw
Susannah York & John Hurt

A Man For All Seasons is one of those films I knew nothing about until actually watching it upon a friend's recommendation. Going by it's title, I expected weddings, dances, celebration and fun, for to me calling someone a man for all seasons meant he was a joy to be around no matter the occasion - a more accurate title might have been My Head, But Not My Honor or Till My Death I Be True. I'd honestly gone through a period of my life thinking A Man For All Seasons might be a musical. Well, it immediately hooked me - there's such an immediacy to a cardinal sending a sealed summons to be hastily carried along the Thames, while strains of Georges Delerue's magnificent old-time, rousing and vibrant score gets a rare chance to shine. This is one of those films where the opening credits really put you in the mood for what's to come - and after seeing it the first time I soon watched it again, and again. Ted Moore's beautiful photography on the river also adds to the mystique.

So, what we eventually find wrapped in the 16th Century tapestry of this Fred Zinnemann film is a profile in courage - a man, Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield), who steadfastly refuses to condone the way King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) goes about trying to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and then will not brook Henry having himself declared "Supreme Head of the Church of England" - all in an effort to marry a woman who can provide him with a male heir. Even when it becomes clear that his refusal to acknowledge King Henry as Head of the Church will cost him his life, More continues, because to him it's a sacred matter that he could never square with himself. It's the kind of principled bravery that's admirable, even if to many of us the matter itself is ultimately meaningless. We need more people who stand by their beliefs, and not sell out over money or fear.

There's a treasure trove of fine performances and notable names in the film's roster - Paul Schofield himself won the Best Actor Academy Award for 1967 - carrying on where he left off by playing More in the stage version. Robert Shaw, as the effervescent, volatile Henry VIII, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar - amazingly, it was the only time he was ever nominated. Orson Welles makes an early splash as Cardinal Wolsey, who holds the lofty post of Lord Chancellor when the film begins - it doesn't appear to me that Welles is completely sober, or else his performance has an extra layer to it. Leo McKern features as the Machiavellian Thomas Cromwell - someone he was born to play - and John Hurt makes an early screen appearance for him as the slimy, unfaithful Richard Rich. Susannah York plays More's daughter Margaret, Nigel Davenport the Duke of Norfolk and Vanessa Redgrave is Anne Boleyn. Wendy Hiller was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar - playing More's wife Alice. It's truly a stacked cast, and everyone is a joy to watch.

The costume design in this film won an Oscar - there's no surprise there. I can't attest to what the 1500s were really like, but A Man For All Seasons makes every effort to take us back to this Tudor period. Today, CGI would be used to create a film with a much grander visual scale to it - but that would be an utter disservice to A Man For All Seasons, because it's a film that relies on a certain intimacy to proceedings. Instead of the vast machinery of state, it's about a family man forced to make excruciating personal sacrifices for his own soul. It's a human story, and thus relatable to anyone who might drop in to watch it. We're all constantly faced with situations along the lines of : do I lie to keep the peace, or tell the truth despite the fact there will be bad consequences? How far are we willing to go? So while the various costumes are breathtaking the setting takes a cue from the play and keeps us confined to small spaces. Absolutely the right choice.

Visually, there's an interesting motif that keeps on springing up - a double-sided one that consists of various gargoyles contrasted with nature. The former are man-made constructs, lifeless and forever-frozen in mid-grimace representing the fallible works of man, and the latter alive, colourful and forever in an ecstatic dance representing the works of God. It's to the latter that Sir Thomas More turns to in A Man For All Seasons. Director of Photography Ted Moore also won an Oscar for Best Cinematography at a time when there were still two awards being handed out - for colour and black & white. His work is entrancing from the get-go and incorporates the Thames (here the River Beaulieu) into much of it's flow. Moore was behind the camera shooting many of the early James Bond films, right from Dr. No on through to The Man With the Golden Gun - this would be his only Oscar win.

Watching A Man For All Seasons again was emotional for me - the More family is one that's easy to become attached to, and the scenes where Thomas is confronted by his family during one last short visit are extremely sad, because family is timeless and it's easy to imagine what such a situation would be like. I can understand why he can't back down - how he'd be destroying his sense of self-worth if he were to concede finally and go against everything he was fighting for within himself and with the king's minions. It would have been easier to do so earlier - but the longer a person holds out, the more important the issue seems to become. The final scenes show More's skill when it comes to the law, and how worthless that will be - because the result has already been decided. In the end, when we find out what happened to all of the characters - the various executions etc. - we find a deep sense of irony when we learn that Richard Rich eventually became Chancellor of England and died an old man, in his bed. That's politics for you.

Well over 50 years after it's release, I still hear about this film gaining new fans which continue to keep it's shine brightly glowing so many years after it was made. As far as I know the only person in the cast who's still alive is Vanessa Redgrave. There are other versions out there - a 1988 Made-For-TV version starring Charlton Heston, John Gielgud and funnily enough Vanessa Redgrave again is out there. A 1964 Australian tele-play also exists. It's probably overdue another adaptation - especially considering the world we live in today - but I doubt it would have the power of the original, which would be hard to outdo. It's a fine work in all departments - technically well made, with Robert Bolt proving adept at adapting his own play for the big screen. Bolt won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, and director Zinnemann would see his fine film win Best Picture, while also delivering him a Best Director Academy Award. All richly deserved. Words can hardly do this film justice.

4.5

[PHOENIX74]

I even found myself wishing there was a part 2 so that I could see more of what happened to Thomas Cromwell. Well I have seen movies about Cromwell and I just might revisit them as I'm that interested in history especially when it involves palace intrigue and internal politics of England's past.


Wolf Hall, featuring Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell and Damian Lewis as Henry VIII is really good. Funny thing is, seeing as this one has Cromwell as it's protagonist it's way more sympathetic to him than A Man For All Seasons was. Jonathan Pryce plays Cardinal Wolsey, and Claire Foy a scheming Anne Boleyn.

[Citizen Rules]

Wolf Hall, featuring Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell and Damian Lewis as Henry VIII is really good. Funny thing is, seeing as this one has Cromwell as it's protagonist it's way more sympathetic to him than A Man For All Seasons was. Jonathan Pryce plays Cardinal Wolsey, and Claire Foy a scheming Anne Boleyn.Ohh! That sounds good, thanks for mentioning it. I've looked for and hopefully I can find it to watch.

[cricket]

The Bank Job

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/949cc6bdadb8c952079326dd77225c3c93656dc0/0_49_2100_1261/master/2100.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none

I'm a big fan of British crime films, films set during the 70's or 80's, and films "based on a true story".

Ok so the time period is captured fairly well, not the best like a Tarantino, Scorsese, or PTA would do, but well enough. Like someone else said, we are teased with a great soundtrack in the beginning but it seems like it's just to suck the viewer in. Consider me sucked. Some cool ass cars btw. Overall I give the replication of the era a B.

Based on a true story? Well I don't exactly know the true story but I read a little about it after seeing John Lennon and Yoko Ono at a dinner party with Michael X. That part is true, as is quite a bit more including the brutal murder of Gale Benson. I'm certain that there are quite a few liberties taken, and I wouldn't mind seeing a documentary because it's a fantastic story.

As a British crime film it is solid entertainment but for me a little uneven. It tries to give us both good fun and gritty realism, and I think I would've liked it more had it picked a side.

I like Jason Statham plenty but he seemed out of place here. He's a very likable action star. There's nothing wrong with that but I kept having to remind myself that the action I'm used to when I see that face is never going to come. Cool to see Craig Fairbass who stars in the Rise of the Footsoldier film series which I absolutely love. I noticed Mick Jagger in the beginning likely only because Phoenix gave the heads up, but I probably would've noticed him later on my own. Funny that his first appearance was soon after the John Lennon scene.

Roger Donaldson has made a few good films. Correction; Roger Donaldson has made a couple of good films and a few I like. The Bank Job fits right in.

3.5-

[cricket]

2 left for me and I might hit one tomorrow

[Hey Fredrick]

Shoplifters

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-3oy73GiVmnE%2FXCefEg0vexI%2FAAAAAAAARDc%2FiBs93cARKswFCDntWMAJoky70DEq_Z1TACLcBGAs%2Fs1600%2FShoplif ters.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=38da2c1e311c0a3a55fb0179f67611080e9ef4850622a4194aef60808c8d00fb&ipo=images



Second time seeing this film about a dysfunctional "family" and it's still as good as the first time. I consider this more of a character driven than plot driven movie which works fine if the characters are interesting and fortunately for us the characters in Shoplifters are all interesting. The unusual thing with Shoplifters is usually in a movie like this, where you have multiple characters with different stories, one of the characters will stand out as a favorite. I didn't have a favorite. I thought they all held their own and each character could have had their own movie that I would be willing to spend some time with.

The movie follows a basic approach - showing the highs then the inevitable crash. There's a moment in the film where you feel the end is near (Grandma). I like how the ending answers most of the questions I had about how this "family" came to be. When it's all over the only character I felt really bad for was the little girl who we know for certain had it much better with her adopted family.

[cricket]

Anyone have links for Aftersun and There Will Be Blood?

[John W Constantine]

Spelingerror normally has links

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/bw9CMFPk/shop.jpg

Shoplifters - 2018

Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Written by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Starring Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka, Kairi Jō
Miyu Sasaki & Kirin Kiki

What is going on with the central family in Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters? We only seem to scratch the surface, and that's because our attention is constantly diverted to the emotional bonds that make up one of cinema's most ad-hoc jumble of a familial unit. They're poverty-stricken because patriarch Osamu (Lily Franky) is injured and can't work - but they're not completely relying on welfare to survive either. "Grandma" Hatsue (Kirin Kiki) gets a pension (that's meant to be for her deceased husband), and that's supplemented by generous payouts from Aki's (Mayu Matsuoka) parents - while Aki herself works at a fetish club. Osamu's wife, Nobuyo (Sakura Ando), works for an industrial laundry service. In the meantime all of these income streams are bolstered by the items they need not buy because Osamu and young Shota (Kairi Jō) regularly shoplift. Is everyone basically looking after themselves here, or does the Shibata family pool their resources? That might be as complex as figuring out how these people really relate to each other - which is further complicated when Yuri (Miyu Sasaki) becomes an addition to the clan.

Yuri is a character who gives Shoplifters a Gone Baby Gone twist to it - Osamu and Shota see her one day abandoned without a babysitter or guardian, and bring her home so the starving kid can at least have something to eat. Then they notice the bruises, which prompts the Shibatas to basically adopt her. There's a naturalness to that which feels right in the circumstances, but it's tough to sit and think about this situation. Later on we learn that Shota became part of the family in similar circumstances - he'd been left in a car to swelter, and Osamu had rescued him. Wouldn't you want the Shibata's to be your family, rather than some bunch of abusive and neglectful miscreants? We see all the members of this family bond, and there's genuine love for each other here. There's also a streak of criminality that goes deeper than mere shoplifting though, and when Shota sees Osamu steal a purse - going against his "stealing from a business is okay" principles, the hazy lack of morality to what they're doing becomes clearer. Haven't Yuri and himself been stolen themselves?

Having seen a few of Hirokazu Kore-eda's films by now, it does seem that Shoplifters is the crowning achievement he was always building up to. He'd focused entirely on child abandonment in 2004 film Nobody Knows and familial separation in 2011 film I Wish. I haven't seen Like Father, Like Son (2013), but it sounds like it asks similar questions to this film. He very often makes films that deal with matters concerning family and emotional ties, and here he's asking the basic question of "what makes a family"? By the time Shoplifters finishes you've learnt just how disparate all of the strands of the Shibata family are - and that Osamu had previously killed Nobuyo's original husband in what's described as a "crime of passion". From the outside it sounds like a dysfunctional mess, but when gathered together they seem the envy of many a truly maladjusted brood. This is brought home in a late scene when they go to the beach, and Hatsue wistfully reflects on how glad she is that she didn't spend her final years alone, without care and attention.

Shoplifters purrs along for the most part, and Kore-eda has a cast that all seem very intent on giving their very best. It's an interesting note to make that for brief periods of time the cast and crew making a film become something of a family themselves because of the close proximity and intense bonding that occurs during such an out of the ordinary endeavour. Family has more to do with bonding than it does with blood (again, I haven't seen Like Father, Like Son, but that's something it explores) and that's really exemplified in Shoplifters. Families also tend to hand down certain behaviours - it's commonly known that abusers were often abused themselves, and it's the way Yuki starts to try and steal herself that sets Shota on a path of guilt and doubt when he learns that Osamu isn't as noble as he was making himself out to be. This is all done with a deft hand as Kore-eda sprinkles his opus with a variety of comical and fun moments - but never at the expense of the central drama.

It might be a delicate balance that ultimately holds them together, but the Shibatas are a sweet clan when you look at them on an emotional wavelength. If the world really were a perfect place, all families would be as caring. Hirokazu Kore-eda expresses here what he thinks the basic elements are to what makes a family - the bonding, learning/teaching, care, attention, work, love and thought invested in other people who actively share your life with you. That's all above and beyond being biologically chained to another person through blood - although that's normally enough to give people the impetus to connect, and join together. I knew someone once who, as a child, lived in a country destroyed by war and would steal food in order to help the family survive. It became a part of who they were, and they could never kick the compulsion to steal - because it was a core part of how they'd show love. Shoplifters reminds me a lot of that bittersweet contemplation, and it's an exemplary film of it's kind made by a filmmaker who continues to grow in stature. It shows up some state-sponsored mandates as being suspect and heartless, despite their necessity. A very heartfelt, meaningful movie.

4

[rauldc14]

Treasure of the Sierra Madre

https://tbrnewsmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/The-Treasures-of-the-Sierra-Madre-1-700x357.jpg

Every time I see this film I seem to waffle back and forth as to how much I like it. At the forefront is some real decent performances. Walter Huston definitely steals the show with his character. But this time around I quite find the story a bit too bland for my tastes. A lot seems to happen and yet nothing happens all at the same time. It's a real well shot film by Huston too though. It's more of one of those films that I can appreciate quite a bit while yet not really caring for it all at the same time.

3.5-

[Citizen Rules]

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=72471
Shoplifters (2018)

I thought Shoplifters would be right up my alley when I first heard about it sometime back. Right from the get go I was hooked and very interested to learn more about these people and their very different type of lifestyle and the 'family unit' that they had formed.

I loved the unique world that the movie shows us it's up close and personally and focused. I liked the actors, thought they all were real good and I liked the characters they portrayed too. The 'shoplifters' were intriguing and seemed like real people and not just mere props in some movie. I don't even know what city they were in, but it doesn't matter as it was like a candid view of a world that one would never see and to me that's cool.

Shoplifters was a unique story that was told well...and was #17 on my Foreign Language countdown ballot.

[jiraffejustin]

A Man for All Seasons

Pretty far from a bad film, but also one that I didn't absolutely love after this initial viewing. Good, but probably not something I'll return to voluntarily, or at least for some time. It's got a good moral, the acting is all good, it doesn't look bad, but it felt like it was missing some kind of spark to me. Something that took it from being above average into that next stratosphere. I feel bad because I don't know what that thing would be or even how you go about improving this film. I think it did quite well and I've never made anything in my life, so let it be known that I do see the irony in me saying about a classic film. A good solid film and maybe one I'd possibly love if I had that same type of conviction.

[PHOENIX74]

jiraffejustin edarsenal beelzebubble cricket rauldc14 Hey Fredrick

Two weeks to go until the deadline by my watch. Pretty good because most of us have either finished or nearly finished. ed - I'm looking at you with a worried expression on my face.

[rauldc14]

I got one left so I'll be good

[Hey Fredrick]

Looks like There Will Be Blood was removed from Paramount so I will be needing a link if anybody has one. Thanks

[John W Constantine]

https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?&t=64603

[cricket]

There Will Be Blood

https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/daniel-day-lewis-there-will-be-blood-social.jpg

2nd time watching after first watching this about 7 or 8 years ago, and my feelings remain the same.

It's extraordinary, and I'd probably view it as one of the 10 greatest films ever made. Practically flawless as far as I can tell.

Daniel's hate is impressive, especially against Eli considering that they have things in common. They're both greedy conmen, Daniel is just on another level. Notice how he never answers anyone's questions, he just ignores them, unless answering benefits him, a true sociopath. What a great idea for Paul Dano to play both Eli and Paul. It's like for no reason other than to make people wonder and it works.

A longer film that's never boring, and spellbinding despite not being a thriller. It's a masterpiece.

5

[John W Constantine]

Are we there yet?

[rauldc14]

I'm a There Will Be Blood rewatch away

[cricket]

Just Aftersun for me, looking forward to it

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/XJpCwg3c/after.jpg

Aftersun - 2022

Directed by Charlotte Wells

Written by Charlotte Wells

Starring Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio & Celia Rowlson-Hall

Well - giving Aftersun a second watch was a rather emotional experience. In the interim I'd learned that this debut from Charlotte Wells is an autobiographical tale - something that you can kind of pick up on while watching the movie without even knowing it. Although we don't know exactly what happened to Calum (Paul Mescal) and his 11-year old daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) outside of the time-span of the movie in any detailed or specific way, it's easy enough to learn outside of it that Charlotte Wells herself didn't live with her father growing up, and that he died when she was 16-years old. That would make any look back upon times they shared together particularly poignant and as she gets older those memories will be revered. Wells calls the film "emotionally autobiographical", which makes it unclear just how much the events in the movie correspond with real life, but what that must mean is that the feelings you get from watching the film are an accurate reflection of her real-life relationship with her father, and the actual events don't matter as much. In any case, the events in the film by themselves don't amount to much - it's the tapping of those emotions that makes it great.

In the film we watch Calum and Sophie go to a seaside Turkish resort for a holiday - just the two of them together. Some of this we see through video footage, which an adult Sophie is watching - now living with her partner and child. You can see that it means a great deal to her. Throughout the movie we see fantasy sequences where an adult Sophie is at a rave with the version of Calum that she knew as a young child - and that the two are completely separated from each other. They find it hard to really know each other deep down, or communicate in an emotionally open manner. 11-year old Sophie doesn't know that her father is depressed. The normal, average, everyday events that the two go through - dinners at restaurants, playing pool, swimming etc., are all charged with the manner in which Calum tries to hide from Sophie his anxiety, stress, sadness and anger - it's very important for him to not infringe on their time together by revealing this. In the meantime, perhaps because of the way Calum is holding back, the two find it hard to connect - although it also has to be noted that the love the two have for each other is full and requited.

There are two large moments of disconnect that live on in Sophie's memory. The first is when there's a karaoke night, and although Calum and Sophie often do a version of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" together the latter is surprised to be knocked back even though Sophie has entered them into the line-up. Calum is far too mentally anguished to go up in front of a large crowd of people, so all he can do is look on as poor Sophie braves it herself, hoping to force Calum up onto the stage with her by purposely battling under the glare alone - but not even this can move him. It has to have been embarrassing for Sophie, and her anger shows when she refuses to go in for an early night with her father - leading to a night alone for Calum with his demons and Sophie her young adventurous and observational spirit. The second moment of disconnect is when Calum dances to Queen/David Bowie's "Under Pressure" alone, and Sophie watches - the lyric "this is our last dance" playing in her mind over and over, possibly because it was the last time she'd ever see her father dance.

Paul Mescal would be nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Calum, and I really saw it in all it's glory the second time I watched the film. It's not easy for an actor to both show something and hide it at the same time, while getting an audience to really believe in what he or she is doing. At the same time his relationship with young Sophie/Frankie was extraordinarily sweet and loving, which is another duality that's hard to pull off - the fact that the two love each other so much while at the same time not being able to connect and share their true inner selves. It must be harder when the mother/father and child are estranged, and I can't pretend to know what that must be like. Calum also hides his smoking from Sophie, although I'd reckon on her knowing her Dad smokes - because it's something that I would have picked up on as a kid. Frankie Corio is also very good as Sophie - Wells picked her out from 800 other applicants for the part - a carefully chosen piece of casting that worked out perfectly well.

I don't think it's a particular spoiler to talk about how the film ends, but be warned I'm about to. One of the final images in Aftersun we get is that of Calum having said goodbye to Sophie in a spectral version of the airport the two actually said goodbye to each other at. He walks down a passageway, and disappears back into the rave we often get a minds-eye look into. That empty passage, and disappearance, along with the sounds and context this is placed into was an overwhelmingly emotional moment that connected me with the people I've lost during my life. They disappear just like that - into an unreachable void after drifting away. Behind a forever-closed door. It was such a good choice from writer/director Charlotte Wells, and managed to tell us a lot with just a simple mental image. It was such a powerful moment in the film, put forward with simplicity but much thought and meaning. It got way past my defenses, and even though (or maybe because) I've seen the film before it surprised me. I felt it, which means it was great filmmaking.

Overall, the rest of the film is subtle and really from Sophie's point of view - she's at that difficult age where she's far too young for adult type stuff, but way too old for childish games and being treated differently. She's mature enough to tend towards gravitating towards the teenagers at the resort she's staying at. This all ought to mean that Sophie and Calum can open up a bit - but it is more difficult to do that with a parent, and here we've got an estranged one at that. Without any siblings or friends around, it feels like Sophie is lonely - and Calum looks lonely as well. The two miss an opportunity to talk about their loneliness, or anything really serious during the trip - they want to have fun, seeing as this is a holiday, but they also won't have many chances to really talk and get to know each other. It's an agonizing lost chance, and with hindsight a really important one that Sophie nevertheless always remembers with fondness and regret. I'm surprised Aftersun didn't manage a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. Avatar : The Way of Water could have easily made way for it. It's devastating, and an emotionally contemplative and superb movie.

4.5

[rauldc14]

There Will Be Blood

https://thecinemaarchives.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/twbb-2-mlkshake.jpg

My third watch and it had been quite awhile. It's a cool story and Day-Lewis' character is a total badass. I'm not sure I'm all that keen on Paul Dani here though, I just found his performance a bit grating at times. The film looks real marvelous too. It's a good film and the pacing is very well done for an almost 3 hour film. Never lose interest and that scene at the end is something else.

4

[beelzebubble]

Mona Lisa (1986)
This is an entertaining Neil Jordan film that takes place in the London underworld. The always watchable Bob Hoskins, a driver, who has just been released from prison proceeds to his ex-wife’s house where he causes a riot in front of her house as he can’t take no for an answer.
Now that he has paid respects to his family he is off to get a job; looking up the criminal kingpin who led to his arrest, Sir Michael Caine. He gives him the chore of escorting a call girl and wants him to spy on her as well. She on the other hand is quite a bit much more savvy than our hero. She wants him to track down a young woman of whom she is fond.
Now things get messy. The driver begins to fall for the call girl. He finds the young woman, a drug addicted prostitute who has a very nasty pimp that runs like Usain Bolt. It ends with the criminal king pin and the pimp being gunned down by the call girl. She turns the gun on our man who is the one who armed her. He has a rude awakening. The call girl doesn’t care for him. He escapes
We then finding him sharing this story with his buddy who he has been telling the tale to all along. It made me wonder if the tale were just a way to pass the time between the two buddies.
I don’t know why I only retold the story. I found it quite funny in bits. Mainly the visuals. The kooky plastic platters of spaghetti with the levitating, Hoskins in the work attire he bought for himself and the pimp vaulting chasing the driver and the call girl through the seaside boardwalk. I was a bit puzzled that the driver was so naïve. It just didn’t seem possible for a man in this milieu to be so innocent. But maybe he was just a patsy.
Was it entertaining? Of course. Was it better than many of the other films we have seen in this hall of fame? Nope.

[beelzebubble]

There Will Be Blood

https://thecinemaarchives.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/twbb-2-mlkshake.jpg

My third watch and it had been quite awhile. It's a cool story and Day-Lewis' character is a total badass. I'm not sure I'm all that keen on Paul Dani here though, I just found his performance a bit grating at times. The film looks real marvelous too. It's a good film and the pacing is very well done for an almost 3 hour film. Never lose interest and that scene at the end is something else.

rating_4
I agree about Paul Dano's character Eli. I am part way through, an hour in, I only have the length of a normal movie to go. The score is very good. The beginning reminds me of 2001 when we are introduced to the obelisk. I will be finishing up on Tuesday. For me right now its between Shoplifters and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. In Shoplifters, there is something about the veracity of the dialogue and the interplay between the characters of the family that really stays with me.

[cricket]

Told my wife I had to rent a movie on prime (Aftersun). She looked it up and now she wants to watch it with me. The deadline still the 31st?

[Citizen Rules]

Told my wife I had to rent a movie on prime (Aftersun). She looked it up and now she wants to watch it with me. The deadline still the 31st?The last I heard it was.

[cricket]

The last I heard it was.

Great, because it's hard to get us on the same schedule but I have an extra day off this weekend.

[rauldc14]

An idea I had for a Hall (a general Hall technically). We see who's in, then we straw pick what genre each person nominates. So say we have 10 people, 10 genres end up being represented. Anybody like that idea or no? Or we could do decade as well.

[Citizen Rules]

Great, because it's hard to get us on the same schedule but I have an extra day off this weekend.Lucky you...I bet you and your wife will both like Aftersun, almost everyone has loved it. Have you seen it before?

[Citizen Rules]

An idea I had for a Hall (a general Hall technically). We see who's in, then we straw pick what genre each person nominates. So say we have 10 people, 10 genres end up being represented. Anybody like that idea or no? Or we could do decade as well. I like that idea. So how would the straw picking a genre work? Say I joined what would I do?

[cricket]

Lucky you...I bet you and your wife will both like Aftersun, almost everyone has loved it. Have you seen it before?

Never seen it but it was already on my watchlist, even though I still know nothing about it lol

[Citizen Rules]

Never seen it but it was already on my watchlist, even though I still know nothing about it lolI'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on Aftersun...and I hope you'll let us know what your wife thought of it too.

[cricket]

I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on Aftersun...and I hope you'll let us know what your wife thought of it too.

Yep I will

[rauldc14]

I like that idea. So how would the straw picking a genre work? Say I joined what would I do?

Just basically random as to who gets what. I'm not sure it's just an idea to spice things up a bit

[Citizen Rules]

Just basically random as to who gets what. I'm not sure it's just an idea to spice things up a bitI'm digging it...and yeah we need to have some spicing up for sure. I'm a bit bored in general these days.

It could work like this, everyone who joins selects one film type/genre and PMs their choice to the host. The host could number the choices randomly, say 10 members, 10 genre choices, so each numbered 1-10. The members then randomly chose a number and whatever genre is matched to that number is their genre to chose a movie from....or something along those lines. How does that sound?

[rauldc14]

I'm digging it...and yeah we need to have some spicing up for sure. I'm a bit bored in general these days.

It could work like this, everyone who joins selects one film type/genre and PMs their choice to the host. The host could number the choices randomly, say 10 members, 10 genre choices, so each numbered 1-10. The members then randomly chose a number and whatever genre is matched to that number is their genre to chose a movie from....or something along those lines. How does that sound?

That's not too bad an idea!

[Hey Fredrick]

There Will Be Blood

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashfilm.com%2Fimg%2Fgallery%2Felaines-movie-review-there-will-be-blood%2Fintro-import.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=f8cd500871408d899ccdb517a37ebe8e2210133a74577e8273707294d3f25f10&ipo=images


I couldn't get this to stream on my tv from the links provided (they worked on my pc, tablet and phone but not the tv) so I went to the jungle to see how much it would be to rent it and come to find out it was on sale for $4.99. Pfft. Sold! and I HATE buying digital copies of stuff.

So yeah, I really like this movie and it was the clear favorite once the nominations were revealed. I love watching great actors work. For my money DDL is the best around, has been for awhile and this is one of his best performances. He kind of walks that delicate line, especially in the final scene, of being so close to over the top that it's campy but he never quite crosses it. Watching him become Daniel Plainview is enough of a reason for me to recommend this movie.

Now Paul Dano crosse that line a bit for me at times and is the weakest part of the film. The most glaring is when he's performing his "exorcisms." But that's like saying I don't like the way Michelangelo did David's fingernails. So I prefer his character when he's TRYING to be calm and outsmart Plainview which, of course, never happens.

But there's so much more. The music and cinematography are perfect. I wish Nolan would take some cues from PTA on how to use music in film. The music is there when it's needed and not when it's not. Seems simple but somehow good directors screw it up a lot. The music enhances the scene, it doesn't take over.

This is my fourth watch and I don't know if it's going to get any better for me. I really wasn't a fan after the first watch but I bought in the second time. I won't say it's easily the best film of this HoF but it is the best film of this HoF...after The Bank Job of course.

[PHOENIX74]

edarsenal and jiraffejustin - about a week to go give or take. Are you two still intending to finish? You can always send a ballot in before doing your reviews.

[jiraffejustin]

Yeah, I watched God's Little Acre today and have Beau Travail lined up. I will try to see There Will Be Blood again before the deadline but I saved it for last because I've seen it enough times by now to know what I think of it.

[John W Constantine]

Too early to reveal who nominated which movie?

[Citizen Rules]

Too early to reveal who nominated which movie?I think everyone knows what I nominated.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2F2RaYTFtw9eyDC%2Fgiphy.gif&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=62be4e42b355176b714aa8a70717adc9d2c8010ec652d94a1a431fa32bf3c595&ipo=images

[edarsenal]

I'll finish. The usual tardiness, unfortunately. Sorry for that.

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/13b669_855ed3546d1d4ce3b0a1bbb2f3af5c75~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_640,h_404,al_c,lg_1,q_80,enc_auto/13b669_855ed3546d1d4ce3b0a1bbb2f3af5c75~mv2.jpg
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https://jordanandeddie.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/post2.jpg

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

I had been anticipating seeing this one since I was a wee tot the last time I saw it.
Firstly, I thoroughly enjoyed Bogie's rarity as a weasely paranoid, delusional character. He brings an unabashed, manic energy that hits home. In excellent counterbalance, and for me, my favorite role by Walter Huston as the grounded, clear-headed survivor. It is a very worthy win for Best Supporting Actor. I quite enjoyed his final destination in this tale of greed and its maddening grip. And kudos to Tim Holt for bringing depth to what often is a two-dimensional portrayal of the naive, kind-hearted husband and father down on his luck and willing to work hard and play fair. Director/Writer John Huston sets a gripping and engaging stage ripe with pathos, and character arcs abound.
My only critique of this timeless classic is of myself for the ungodly length of time it took me to watch it again.

[edarsenal]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/1f0dc90ffc65b1b8c9df16d2fb49b314/tumblr_plq41y1YXL1x6cal2o2_r1_540.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/28a100797881ec3be4aa57b56dc8db67/tumblr_plq41y1YXL1x6cal2o3_r1_540.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/41001e7f5a8e802198a8a301164bc256/tumblr_plq41y1YXL1x6cal2o4_r1_540.gifv


Shoplifters (2018)

I ADORE this film!! So, to whoever nominated it, a truly heartfelt thank you for giving me a reason to return to it. THANK YOU!

I will repeat some of my original review since it strikes me as accurate on this recent revisit of this positive haven in a destitute situation. We learn that a family of "collectors" includes the members of this current family. Each truly cares about their fellow beneficiaries in this safe, loving, positive hovel. The entire clan also excels at the art of shoplifting as a lucrative plan to acquire necessities.
Writer/director Hirokazu Koreeda's beautifully shot, emotionally stirring, wonderfully sentimental slice of life understandably earned him numerous Awards, including Cannes' Palme D'or. Nice!
This is the kind of film I love discovering, or more appropriately, being introduced to, experiencing endeared engagement for intriguing characters on society's outer fringe. I was equally enthralled with this acquired family with genuine warmth and compassion as they skirted the law, the inevitable crashing down of justice, and my heartbreak at their court-appointed separation. And, very much like my initial viewing in the Foreign Edition of Personal Recommendation HoF, my deluge of tears upon the final scene was of equal measure, if not more. Yay.

[rauldc14]

3 days!

[John W Constantine]

Are we there yet?

[rauldc14]

Are we there yet?

I am. You are. And 2 others.

[beelzebubble]

How old are you guys? You act like it's Christmas morning you are waiting for.


There Will Be Blood, 2008 (Re-watch)
Undeniably, it’s a great movie. Paul Thomas Anderson tells his story with very little dialogue. The visuals do the talking for him. The score is equally evocative. Lastly, we have the inestimable Daniel Day Lewis, who commands almost every second of this film.
I felt from the very beginning when we are introduced do those barren hills and the chittering sound of the orchestra that this film stands in the company of the great epics of the sixties like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Lawrence of Arabia. It is about drilling down into something vast and possibly empty. It is about boundless drive and hubris.
Unfortunately, it is not a movie I wanted to re-watch. Daniel Plainview’s drive to win is ugly and cruel. His lack of connection to his fellows is horrifying. He is a dangerous and empty man who can’t be filled. I’m not sure if that is the reason I didn’t want to re-watch it. But it will have to do for now. Though I recognize this movie’s worth, I don’t enjoy it. So this will not be my #1 though it may be many others choice.


And now to write up my ballot!

[cricket]

Watching Aftersun tomorrow evening

[PHOENIX74]

Great going everyone! We're nearly there as the deadline approaches!

jiraffejustin - I'm a little worried by your lack of activity or reply

[jiraffejustin]

Yeah, I watched God's Little Acre today and have Beau Travail lined up. I will try to see There Will Be Blood again before the deadline but I saved it for last because I've seen it enough times by now to know what I think of it.

PHOENIX74

[PHOENIX74]

PHOENIX74

Got it, I either forgot or didn't see it the first time around.

(edit - it looks like all 9 will be finishing - huzzah!)

[PHOENIX74]

In the voting, there are 5 strong contenders, and 4 films trailing those ones in a pack of their own.

[Citizen Rules]

In the voting, there are 5 strong contenders, and 4 films trailing those ones in a pack of their own.Don't tell me my nom is one of the a top contenders!

[beelzebubble]

Watching Aftersun tomorrow evening
Is that today, now? I am a little confused. :dizzy:

[Citizen Rules]

Is that today, now? I am a little confused. :dizzy:
Today is tomorrow...There's probably a movie named that too.

[cricket]

Is that today, now? I am a little confused. :dizzy:

Yes this evening

[edarsenal]

https://images.kinorium.com/movie/shot/171800/h280_51925277.jpg?21694056642
https://i.makeagif.com/media/4-24-2016/5Y8YU8.gif
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/41/17/8c/41178cd67de20cedb6fb916f46d6b7f8.png

Beau Travail (1999)

Befitting an individual's memories, told in fragmented recollection, played out with an air of pageantry. Dream-like, a swirl of imagery overlaps the portents of the Master Sergeant's ponderings.
To whoever nominated this, I offer compliments and appreciation for its introduction. This was a great watch and I would not have had the opportunity otherwise, so thank you. Bravo.

[edarsenal]

I watched There Will Be Blood the other day and have Aftersun And Mona Lisa left.

[beelzebubble]

https://i.makeagif.com/media/4-24-2016/5Y8YU8.gif




Beau Travail (1999)

To whoever nominated this, I offer compliments and appreciation for its introduction. This was a great watch and I would not have had the opportunity otherwise, so thank you. Bravo.
Yes, I agree this was a good movie that I would have never seen if it had not been nominated.

But that last scene...oh my word! That break-dancing was quite funny. I really got a tickle out of it.

[cricket]

Aftersun

https://www.slashfilm.com/img/gallery/aftersun-is-the-best-movie-of-2022-that-no-one-knows-how-to-talk-about/intro-1672443540.jpg

I'm trying to understand why this movie was on my watchlist. Why did I think I'd like it even though I knew nothing about it? Sometimes there's no obvious answer, just like the questions that Sophie has about her father. It was cool watching this after There Will Be Blood, cinematic perfection opposed to something so natural and personal. It's a great style to enthrall the viewer, and yet it took a while to hit me. Once it did there was no turning back. There's probably a little lack of personal relation for me that kept this from being a 5 star film, but I totally get it. Wifey liked it a lot, enough to read about it afterward, a rarity.

4+

[PHOENIX74]

Those 5 films are all still in with a good shot at winning with 3 ballots to go - a very tight finish.

Don't tell me my nom is one of the a top contenders!

Keep up that positive thinking! 👍

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/zvpcGBDH/beau-travail.webp

Beau Travail - 1999

Directed by Claire Denis

Written by Claire Denis & Jean-Pol Fargeau
Based on Herman Melville's Billy Budd

Starring Denis Lavant, Michel Subor & Grégoire Colin

There's a lot going on in Beau Travail, although I felt a little disoriented when I first started to watch it, because it's very different to the films I've been watching lately. Claire Denis is letting us see things both external and internal, specifically to do with masculinity and men, and she uses motion mixed with narration to do it. Adjudant-Chef Galoup (Denis Lavant) is a leader in the French Foreign Legion in Djibouti, serving under Commandant Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor) - a man he envies due to the ease with which Forestier can relate to the men under his command. One day a new recruit, Gilles Sentain (Grégoire Colin) is added to the section they're serving in, and Galoup is immediately struck by this young man. He becomes overwhelmingly jealous when Forestier strikes up a close relationship with Sentain, and his repressed desires lead him to become intensely hostile to this new Légionnaire. Unable to control his more base impulses, Galoup comes up with a plan that will forever alter his and Sentain's lives.

There are many scenes in this film of both men training, and men and women dancing. It strikes me that when the men are on duty they train for combat by performing rigorous movement, often of a set design (and in fact, most of this was tightly choreographed when the film was being made), and that when the men are off duty they're once again performing rigorous displays of movement when they're trying to attract women, and light up romances. This is why when Galoup and Forestier circle each other before a mandated wrestling match the lines become so blurred as to whether this is combat or passionate, emotional outpourings of physical desire. We don't see much of this in cinema, because most of cinema is in the hands of men. To be fair though, we did have the likes of Joel Schumacher, who wasn't shy when it came to the male form - I'm just talking on balance. There is a lot of homoeroticism when it comes to the military, because it's an area of employment that consists mostly of men, and physical contact is part of any training regime - and you can be assured that the climate of Djibouti requires a certain state of undress.

There's a great contrast here between the coursing life embodied by these young men (at one stage we see one of Denis Lavant's veins throbbing) and the dead landscape - where most everything is either deceased or in the process of dying. Through it all moves cinematographer Agnès Godard's camera, just as fluid in it's motion as the men are - searching and probing. We're searching also, because the meaning weaved into Beau Travail isn't pushed into the foreground like the physicality of these men is. Through the non-linear narrative it's a case of everything adding up as we make connections when recalling previous scenes, and thus make important discoveries. This is what I meant by feeling disoriented, because it's a fairly uncommon approach and it caught me a little off-guard. I was back into poetic territory here - a form where emotion is as important as story.

I've never ever paid much attention to the beauty of the male form. I'm often reminded of the funny things Michael Caine would say about the matter - which were a lot and quite varied. "I wouldn't appear nude standing still by myself, let alone wrestling with another naked man," he said once. Not the quote I was looking for, but deserving of a mention to make my point. Some guys are way more comfortable about it, and I envy them their freedom. There's something of that envy in Galoup, and I'm guessing his strange infatuation came from nowhere, and in the final analysis Claire Denis ends her film not through narration but through physicality and dance. I found that really interesting. So much of the film is expressed this way, with only the barest of outlines making it to our ears via Denis Lavant's voice-over. We are physical creatures, and language has only come to us recently, while our physicality is written into our DNA and has been passed down through countless generations.

So, I was really intrigued by this film about repressed desires and male physicality - along with jealousy and envy, the emotionally reactive component. It was really original and different - though I don't have any other Claire Denis films to compare it to, because it's the first of hers I've watched. (So interesting to read that she was an assistant director on Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas.) Much male passion is expended in energy, either through dance or through some kind of violence - both of which we see here. Denis really zeroes in on this and gives us a very close view while managing to poeticize it to a high degree, and adds an element of isolation by having her characters exist as part of the French Foreign Legion. That just seems to intensify everything the characters go through, and Galoup's relationship with his Djiboutian girlfriend feels distant with the two of them hardly ever interacting in the same shot. It's a focus on where movies rarely go, and an enjoyable change of pace. I left the film feeling like I'd learned something about masculinity, and both it's positives and negatives.

4

[PHOENIX74]

That's me finished, which means :

2 to go!!!

[John W Constantine]

Can we reveal who voted for which film? I'm confident there isn't any funny business about the ballots at this point. Just curious.

[Hey Fredrick]

I'll be posting my ballot once the results are revealed. I think I've only put my recommendation first one time.

[John W Constantine]

I didn't mean your ballots, your nomination

[edarsenal]

Yes, I agree this was a good movie that I would have never seen if it had not been nominated.

But that last scene...oh my word! That break-dancing was quite funny. I really got a tickle out of it.
That caught me by surprise as well. And strangely, it fits.

[edarsenal]

I just sent in my ballot. There is no bad film experience in the lot nor a complimentary diversity Hall of Fame. Great job everyone!! BRAVO

I'll be posting my final reviews throughout the weekend. This last one was a creeper that hit quite beautifully, and I need a little time before writing and posting.

[PHOENIX74]

Can we reveal who voted for which film? I'm confident there isn't any funny business about the ballots at this point. Just curious.

All the ballots are in, so I'm fine with people revealing which film they nominated. Otherwise, all will be revealed during the big reveal.

When will the reveal be? I think Sunday night is a good time, say 7:30pm American East Coast time, which will be 4:30pm on the West Coast if there isn't some kind of daylight savings stuff mucking up my calculations. But that means the middle of the night for any Brits. It's so hard picking a good time from here - that's about the best I can do.

To everyone who participated - I hope I got through everything smoothly enough. Along with the issues that cropped up in the Hall of Fame itself, I became ill, and my sister nearly died during the time we were doing this - there were so many times I was asking myself if I'd get through this. But I got better, and my sister is okay - so thankfully I made it to the very end.

[Citizen Rules]

...To everyone who participated - I hope I got through everything smoothly enough. Along with the issues that cropped up in the Hall of Fame itself, I became ill, and my sister nearly died during the time we were doing this - there were so many times I was asking myself if I'd get through this. But I got better, and my sister is okay - so thankfully I made it to the very end.Glad to hear your sister and you are OK now.

You're one helluva a trooper! I'm giving you the Silent Vamp Award...you don't know what that means. It's someone who goes way beyond the call of duty and hangs in there. Well done my friend!

[edarsenal]

That is a very rough patch to work through; honor and respect to you, sir. I am glad to hear both you and your sister are doing better.

[jiraffejustin]

God's Little Acre

I Loved this film. Full stop. I have no problem with comedic elements and dramatic elements intertwining. It helps that Anthony Mann was a fantastic director and we got a career performance out of Robert Ryan (I say that having seen 10% of his work). The film feels pulpy but with a professional touch, and that might just be because of the source material being directed by Anthony Mann. There is plenty of sex and violence, and dirty, sweaty, obsessed men. It's kind of interesting that three of the nominated films involved sweaty obsessed men trying to find something in the ground that would forever change their lives, none of which really work out for them in the end, but for very different reasons. For as goofy as some of the characters and their motivations might be, there is something to chew on for folks who like to do thinkin'. I found Ty Ty's handling of "God's Little Acre" to be particularly interesting with the way he would move it any time he thought he'd have to pay out any gold from it, while still not having to give up any of the crops that could grow there because he wasn't planting them anyway. I may have liked this film more than anybody else did here, but I think Anthony Mann's a great director and the film looked great, had an interesting story with fascinating characters, great performances and that classic x-factor that just can't be replicated.

[edarsenal]

That is a wonderful surprise, JJ. I did not expect so much love for God's Little Acre and appreciation for the full swing of the pendulum for the pacing from comedic to steamy drama.
Very cool.

[edarsenal]

https://derekhill.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/there-will-be-blood.jpg
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There Will Be Blood (2007)

It astounds me that even after watching and rewatching several films, I am still dumbfounded by Daniel Day-Lewis's commanding and powerful intensity. Having immersed himself in and released such earnest emotion, it is no wonder he retired after Phantom Thread. Such massive output has got to wear heavily on an individual. TWBB is an extraordinary example of what he brings to a role and, thereby, a film.
This is around my third or fourth viewing, with the original viewings overwhelmed by the storyline. With this viewing I had reached that familiar zenith of truly soaking in every aspect and turn of events, including a renewed surprise at some of the forgotten parts.
I must also include Paul Dano's unabashed portrayal of creepy, unhinged behavior scarcely concealed by religious ardor. It has become a successful niche for him, and while repelling and sometimes annoying, I must give the devil his due. The man is no slacker.

[jiraffejustin]

Beau Travail

Outside of the gayness of this film, which is pretty damn gay: Just bunch of hunky dudes in the sun with their shirts off smashing into each other and yelling and in uniforms and weird shorts and tank tops and the camera lingers a little too long on their asses and abs and biceps and faces in a way that just lets you know that the two dudes at the top just want to f*ck the hot new stud. But we don't acknowledge that about ourselves so we do mean things like try to kill him in the desert by just leaving him there, stuff like that. It's a beautiful film, the landscapes all look great. The film also lingers on the desert, the ocean, or rocks or whatever, so super straight dudes like me who don't show emotions or weak shit like that have something appreciate other than those hot, hunky dudes in booty shorts and weird, scarred up faces. It is pretty cool seeing Denis Lavant in this, because for me he is just the Holy Motors guy. I don't really appreciate a woman directing a movie about men though.... (I'm joking...)

[John W Constantine]

Beau Travail (1999)

To whoever nominated this, I offer compliments and appreciation for its introduction. This was a great watch and I would not have had the opportunity otherwise, so thank you. Bravo.
You're welcome.

[cricket]

God's Little Acre

I Loved this film. Full stop. I have no problem with comedic elements and dramatic elements intertwining. It helps that Anthony Mann was a fantastic director and we got a career performance out of Robert Ryan (I say that having seen 10% of his work). The film feels pulpy but with a professional touch, and that might just be because of the source material being directed by Anthony Mann. There is plenty of sex and violence, and dirty, sweaty, obsessed men. It's kind of interesting that three of the nominated films involved sweaty obsessed men trying to find something in the ground that would forever change their lives, none of which really work out for them in the end, but for very different reasons. For as goofy as some of the characters and their motivations might be, there is something to chew on for folks who like to do thinkin'. I found Ty Ty's handling of "God's Little Acre" to be particularly interesting with the way he would move it any time he thought he'd have to pay out any gold from it, while still not having to give up any of the crops that could grow there because he wasn't planting them anyway. I may have liked this film more than anybody else did here, but I think Anthony Mann's a great director and the film looked great, had an interesting story with fascinating characters, great performances and that classic x-factor that just can't be replicated.

Before CR admitted it, I thought this might be your nom.

[jiraffejustin]

Before CR admitted it, I thought this might be your nom.

Nope. Shoplifters is my nom, but if this little ditty pops up again in five years, it might be me.

[edarsenal]

https://reelreviews.com/images/stories/2021/mona-lisa-lg2.jpg
https://horrorcultfilms.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/tumblr_n4v3w9Q0Vh1tpk7ebo6_500.png
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Mona Lisa (1986)

A great unknown gem that I would've easily gotten into back in the day. There was a minor glitch in the wrap-up, but more of a "hmm" than any fundamental critique as the credits rolled.
Most of the Bob Hoskins films I'm familiar with are done here in the States, so my initial treat was seeing him before that in England, additionally, with the street ruthlessness of Michael Caine's gangster looking to keep shit tidy in his house. I'm a huge fan of Robbie Coltrane, so enjoying him as the friend who hears his friend's ongoing story was also a delight. Cathy Tyson was commendable in her regal, trying to keep it together, escourt trying to find a girl in more dire situations than her own.
It is a good blend of crime, human drama, and moments of unintentional moments of humor in difficult situations. The showcased destitute of SoHo's sex shops and streets are well-represented with actual locations.
A great addition to this HoF. Very cool.

[edarsenal]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/5a235c6a1843ad9194a36d2588517d0a/552bfd4bef8ef373-f6/s540x810/833f5cc5900c85e425e4bd0da6699e49c475a41c.gif
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https://64.media.tumblr.com/929d520c1510899f50f4b0b6d8be1175/6a3063ecbfd6a919-7d/s540x810/bce41c60040014fa92719f2abd1764bf742d82bd.gif

Aftersun (2022)

This one hit home, so with the building tension and realization of the dad's depression and trying to brave it for the love of his unknowing daughter, so was my dread of how it would play out. In the end, tear-filled and emotional, I was very pleased and thankful for sharing one director's emotional autobiography, the last holiday she spent with her dad before he committed suicide, and her process of reliving it through old videos.
It's very heartbreaking, a slow gripper that catches you unaware. It's kind of hard to get further into a review without getting emotional again, so I will end with my appreciation for this final film on a list of very fine films.
BRAVO

[Citizen Rules]

I've some free time today and the reveal is still 4 hours away, so a few of my thoughts on the noms. In alphabetical order:

Aftersun (2022)...I feel bad about not liking this film, I know everyone else loved it and seemed deeply moved by it. I must be a hard nosed ass:D or really dense, because I didn't get the movie. I do think if I had read what the movie was about before watching, I would've appreciated it much more but it was a blind watch. Like I wrote in my review I never knew the adult woman was the grown girl and her dad had died and if you don't understand the movie it's hard to be moved by it. This is why I liked the old HoF tradition of a brief intro write up of the nom by the person who chose it.

A Man For All Seasons (1966)...This is my type of movie and that's why it worked for me.

Beau Travail (1999)...Like Aftersun I didn't understand what the movie was trying to do. So I didn't realize the story wasn't all important, but what was important was the visual representation of emotions and moments. Even though I didn't give this a good review, after reading other's interpretations of the film I decided it was better than I had thought and so I bumped it up to the middle of my ballot.

God's Little Acre (1958)...I must have weird movie taste because only JJ really liked this one and I know he likes weird ass movies:D...he said so once. I really enjoyed spending time in the world of Ty Ty and his clan.

Mona Lisa (1986)...This seemed middle of the road for me. Entertaining but didn't do too much for me.

Shoplifters (2018)...I'd be happy if this one won. It's a perfect example of a hidden gem, of course by now we've all seen it. But not a film I'd had heard of except when JJ picked it in that Movie Roulette thing we did...which was fun.

The Bank Job (2008)...This was also middle of the road for me, which is OK as we all like different stuff.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)...If you guys didn't guess I would love this, then I guess you haven't been reading my post:p

There Will Be Blood (2007)...I liked it and then again I didn't. I think another director could've made this to my liking but why should they!

Thanks everyone🙂

[John W Constantine]

Getting closer.

[PHOENIX74]

It starteth soon...

[Citizen Rules]

I was rushing around the house to make it here in time!

[PHOENIX74]

I was rushing around the house to make it here in time!

You've got another 10 minutes or so...

[PHOENIX74]

.
Equal 8th
THE BANK JOB


22 points (4th, 7th, 7th, 7th, 8th, 8th, 9th, 9th, 9th)


https://i.postimg.cc/5NjndmbZ/the-bank-job.jpg



John W Constantine - "This wasn't bad for an average Statham vehicle with some things thrown in.."
rauldc14 - "It doesn't do anything fascinating at all but it does keep the viewer on its toes for the duration of the film."
Hey Fredrick - "I really liked this one. There isn't anything deep going on here. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch. It's simply entertainment, done well."


Equal 8th
GOD'S LITTLE ACRE


22 points (4th , 5th, 7th, 8th, 8th, 9th, 9th, 9th, 9th)


https://i.postimg.cc/Y9gMs7ZS/god-s.webp


Citizen Rules - "I like this film because it creates a place in time and characters that I like to spend time with as I watch the film."
PHOENIX74 - "I found watching God's Little Acre enlightening, sometimes frustrating but ultimately silly and sexy."
beelzebubble - "Robert Ryan, Tina Louise and Aldo Ray are all excellent as the lead characters. It was definitely novel seeing Robert Ryan as someone who seems full of joy."


.

[PHOENIX74]

I love the fact that the two lowest place films tied, meaning that none of the films people nominated finished 9th. The Bank Job and God's Little Acre started off in the voting respectively enough, but in the end vied for 9th - at the very last moment ending up tied.

[Citizen Rules]

Guess what ballot position I had God's Little Acre at?

[Citizen Rules]

I love the fact that the two lowest place films tied, meaning that none of the films people nominated finished 9th. The Bank Job and God's Little Acre started off in the voting respectively enough, but in the end vied for 9th - at the very last moment ending up tied.Oh speak for yourself:p I was shooting for last place, damn!;)

[PHOENIX74]

For those interested, Hey Fredrick nominated The Bank Job, and those who don't know that Citizen Rules nominated God's Little Acre really haven't been paying attention.

[cricket]

I liked both those movies but knew they'd finish at the bottom. Mine coming soon

[Citizen Rules]

I predict Aftersun wins.

[cricket]

I predict Aftersun wins.

I predict the Celtics win

[Citizen Rules]

I predict the Celtics winIs that basketball?

[PHOENIX74]

.
7th
MONA LISA


34 points (4th, 4th, 6th, 6th, 7th, 7th, 7th, 7th, 8th)


https://i.postimg.cc/gJ0x7F0C/mona.jpg


edarsenal - "It is a good blend of crime, human drama, and moments of unintentional moments of humor in difficult situations."
jiraffejustin - "Pretty simple flick, but looks great and is compelling story-wise."
rauldc14 - "For never hearing about it prior to this hall, it definitely exceeded my expectations. A nice atmosphere and a nice setting definitely."


.

[cricket]

Is that basketball?

Baseball

[PHOENIX74]

When a Hall of Fame is packed with great films, it sometimes seems unfair that a gem like this doesn't end up higher in the placings - but regardless of which film does, that feeling is inevitable.

[cricket]

I nominated Mona Lisa, in part because we had the noir countdown rolling. I like it a lot, but didn't quite love it the way I did the first time.

[Citizen Rules]

BaseballI got that wrong...I thought Mona Lisa was probably Rauls, was that your nom?

[Citizen Rules]

Reading the post above mine, yes it was Crickets.

[Citizen Rules]

When a Hall of Fame is packed with great films, it sometimes seems unfair that a gem like this doesn't end up higher in the placings - but regardless of which film does, that feeling is inevitable.
We had some good films but personally I think a few other HoFs were really packed solid with choice noms.

[PHOENIX74]

We had some good films but personally I think a few other HoFs were really packed solid with choice noms.

I think the top 5 of this one were all very worthy of winning a Hall of Fame - truly top drawer.

[Citizen Rules]

I think the top 5 of this one were all very worthy of winning a Hall of Fame - truly top drawer.I mostly agree, I'd say 4 myself are top tier, but who's counting:)

[PHOENIX74]

.
6th
BEAU TRAVAIL


35 points (3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 6th, 6th, 8th, 8th, 9th)


https://i.postimg.cc/pLyTHbMx/beau-t.jpg


beelzebubble - "Beau Travail is a beautifully render retelling of the Billy Budd story by Herman Melville."
PHOENIX74 - "I was really intrigued by this film about repressed desires and male physicality - along with jealousy and envy, the emotionally reactive component. It was really original and different."
John W Constantine - "Over time I developed a comfort and sort of fascination with this type of storytelling. It seems almost like something out of a Terrence Malick film with it's quiet narrative, limited dialogue, and pictures to tell a story."


.

[Hey Fredrick]

Hello. So far, no surprises.

[Citizen Rules]

I had Beau Travail at #5 right under God's Little Acre at #4.

[PHOENIX74]

Beau Travail was the most arthouse, film festival-type movie in this Hall of Fame - it was one I had on my watchlist. I'd never seen anything quite like it.

[cricket]

I feel guilty having Beau Travail low on my ballot. It's a good film and the kind of nom I like, it just didn't do much for me the 1st time.

[PHOENIX74]

John W Constantine is the one who nominated Beau Travail.

[John W Constantine]

Took a nap, but now I'm here.

[rauldc14]

I really liked Mona Lisa. Good nom Cricket.

God's Little Acre was last for me, and Beau Travail second to last.

[rauldc14]

I didn't see The Bank Job as anything special, but it was an enjoyable watch.

[PHOENIX74]

.
5th
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS


55 points (1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th)


https://i.postimg.cc/6pCNFn9r/man-for.webp


cricket - "Everything is of high quality, and it's the performances/characters which really worked for me the most. I expected that, but I'm unfamiliar with Paul Scofield and he was terrific."
Citizen Rules - "I liked that this film was a more focused personal story, versus what another director might have turned into a big splashy spectacle. We have big events alright but the story itself is well grounded and told mainly from Thomas More's perspective."
John W Constantine - "Paul Scofield's performance is one my favorites and this film and his character are one I could revisit very often."


.

[PHOENIX74]

There's a huge jump-up in scores from Beau Travail to the top 5 - and A Man For All Seasons is the first film to receive either 1st or 2nd place on anyone's ballot.

[John W Constantine]

Bank Job did make me open to nominating a similar type movie in the future, not just classic era things from the past.

[rauldc14]

Here's mine so far:

4. Mona Lisa
5. A Man for All Seasons
7. The Bank Job
8. Beau Travail
9. God's Little Acre

[Citizen Rules]

5th? I had A Man For All Seasons as my #2. I bet my ballot is farthest away from the actual results of any of the members:eek:

[PHOENIX74]

The MoFo who nominated A Man For All Seasons : beelzebubble

[John W Constantine]

That 1st place was my vote I think. Really enjoyed revisiting this a few months ago.

[Citizen Rules]

That 1st place was my vote I think. Really enjoyed revisiting this a few months ago.That long ago? Oh yeah these HoFs take a 1/4 of a year. I wish we could shorten that time by some.

[rauldc14]

John W Constantine for HOF 34 host

[John W Constantine]

That long ago? Oh yeah these HoFs take a 1/4 of a year. I wish we could shorten that time by some.
I hadn't watched any movies in a few months when we started. So to run through these picks didn't take long at all.

[Citizen Rules]

John W Constantine for HOF 34 host:up:

[John W Constantine]

Oh my lord.

[Citizen Rules]

Oh my lord.You owe us one!:D

[Hey Fredrick]

I had A Man For All Seasons at number 3. For my tastes the top 3 were head and shoulders above the rest. Had The Bank Job at 4, God's Little Acre at 8 and Mona Lisa at 6.

[cricket]

I didn't realize that was the 4th time I watched Man for All Seasons-1st time I liked it.

[rauldc14]

It's not really a surprise this is the top 4. A good top 4.

[PHOENIX74]

.
Equal 3rd
THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE


56 points (1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 6th, 7th)


https://i.postimg.cc/bY01gNSs/sierra.jpg

Citizen Rules - "This is one of my favorite Bogart films but it's Walter Huston, the director's father who steals the show. Forgot to say kudos for filming in Mexico and using many Mexican citizens and actors. Loved Gold Hat and the badges line, best part of the movie."
edarsenal - "I thoroughly enjoyed Bogie's rarity as a weasely paranoid, delusional character. He brings an unabashed, manic energy that hits home. In excellent counterbalance, and for me, my favorite role by Walter Huston as the grounded, clear-headed survivor."
jiraffejustin - "The performances are fantastic. It's a great, simple story with a moral that doesn't really feel preachy, but universal and true. Gold can be literal or it can be a metaphor for a number of things whether it be wealth-related or power-related. The ending is poetic and gives the film a nearly mystical feeling, which is also pretty cool."


Equal 3rd
AFTERSUN


56 points (1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 5th, 9th)


https://i.postimg.cc/7hVpx8sw/after.webp


beelzebubble - "I liked the juxtaposition of “found footage” with “reality”. The score was really good. I liked the isolation of the Bowie’s and Freddie Mercury’s voices in the last of the rave scenes. It made that scene slightly more intense. The outro music was beautiful."
cricket - "It was cool watching this after There Will Be Blood, cinematic perfection opposed to something so natural and personal. It's a great style to enthrall the viewer, and yet it took a while to hit me. Once it did there was no turning back."
Hey Fredrick - "This was a real shocker. Never in a million years would I watch something like this on my own but I thought it was fantastic! and I got sucked into it. It's been a long time since I watched a movie that hit me like this one did."


.

[PHOENIX74]

The voting from 2nd to 5th was really, really tight. Only three points separated those 4 places, and as the votes were coming in, the entire top 5 was really a toss up. In the end though, there was one clear winner.....

[rauldc14]

Bummer. Aftersun was my 1. Congrats There Will Be Blood

[Citizen Rules]

Who in the hell had Aftersun at 9th? Probably would've won if I wasn't in this HoF....Sorry!

[rauldc14]

Who in the hell had Aftersun at 9th? Probably would've won if I wasn't in this HoF....Sorry!

Nah, There Will be blood will have won by more than 8

[Citizen Rules]

Nah, There Will be blood will have won by more than 8Ah you added that fast.

[PHOENIX74]

It was "Women will be your undoing, Pépé" edarsenal who nominated The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and, as he's pointed out, 2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ rauldc14 who nominated Aftersun.

[PHOENIX74]

So, in a few minutes time the winner will be revealed.......

[rauldc14]

So, in a few minutes time the winner will be revealed.......

Wait 3 days like I do when I host.

[PHOENIX74]

The winner will be revealed in 3 days time!

[PHOENIX74]

Nahh - just kidding. Here it comes.........

[PHOENIX74]

.
2nd
SHOPLIFTERS


58 points (1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 5th, 5th, 8th)


https://i.postimg.cc/QC5mkRK1/shop.webp


jiraffejustin - "This movie is in my personal canon. I think it's essential viewing for film fans interested in modern cinema. It belongs in the pantheon of the greats."
PHOENIX74 - "Shoplifters purrs along for the most part, and Kore-eda has a cast that all seem very intent on giving their very best."
rauldc14 - "I really just dig the style and the story in this film. For me, I've said this before but it feels like a modern take on Ozu. The film is shot very well and I really enjoy the acting in it too. The film also looks great."



1st
THERE WILL BE BLOOD


67 points (1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 5th, 6th)


https://i.postimg.cc/Gt7MpkDS/blood.jpg


cricket - "It's extraordinary, and I'd probably view it as one of the 10 greatest films ever made. Practically flawless as far as I can tell."
edarsenal - "It astounds me that even after watching and rewatching several films, I am still dumbfounded by Daniel Day-Lewis's commanding and powerful intensity."
Hey Fredrick - "I won't say it's easily the best film of this HoF but it is the best film of this HoF...after The Bank Job of course."

THE WINNER :

https://i.postimg.cc/fy7bfYdW/There-Will-Be-Blood-Daniel-Day-Lewis-Original-Release-Movie-Poster.webp

.

[PHOENIX74]

There Will Be Blood started off with work to do, but romped home in the end after receiving one first place vote after another - in the end getting 9 points clear. A Man For All Seasons was the early frontrunner big time, but it was eventually reeled in, and fell down the rankings.

[Citizen Rules]

Congrats Phoenix for There Will Be Blood which soon will be inducted into the prestigious MoFo Hall of Fame Archives!

Awesome job hosting, you toughed it out and I'd tip my hat to you if I wore one:D

[edarsenal]

YAY made the final Top Two!
Has I've mentioned previously this was a great HoF with full enjoyment of the films across the board.
THANKS Phoenix for Hosting!!!

Here's my list:

1) Shoplifters CAME IN: 2nd
2) There Will Be Blood CAME IN: 1st
3) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre CAME IN: Tied 3rd
4) A Man For All Seasons CAME IN: 5th
5) Aftersun CAME IN: Tied 3rd
6) Beau Travail CAME IN: 6th
7) The Bank Job CAME IN: Tied 8th
8) Mona Lisa CAME IN: 7th
9) God's Little Acre CAME IN: Tied 8th

[PHOENIX74]

jiraffejustin nominated Shoplifters, a very worthy film. I nominated There Will Be Blood - one of my "going for the win" efforts. I do feel guilty though, that the film I nominated while hosting won. (But happy too.)

[Hey Fredrick]

Had TWBB as the frontrunner as soon as the nominations were announced. Started as my fav and nothing knocked it off the throne although Aftersun, my number 2 and the biggest surprise of this HoF, really gave it a run. Had Shoplifters at 5.

[PHOENIX74]

Congrats Phoenix for There Will Be Blood which soon will be inducted into the prestigious MoFo Hall of Fame Archives!

Awesome job hosting, you toughed it out and I'd tip my hat to you if I wore one:D

Thanks. There was many a time I thought I wouldn't make it - but I stuck it out, and I'm glad I did.

My votes :

1 - There Will Be Blood
2 - A Man For All Seasons
3 - Aftersun
4 - Beau Travail
5 - Shoplifters
6 - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
7 - Mona Lisa
8 - The Bank Job
9 - God's Little Acre - sorry CR! I enjoyed watching it though.

[Citizen Rules]

This HoF might have started out rocky but that was one of the most funnest reveals in a long time...I'm thinking Sunday early evening was a good time to do this.

[Citizen Rules]

My ballot. 22 points off from the actual results if I added that correctly.

1 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - 3rd place
2 A Man For All Seasons - 5h place
3 Shoplifters - 2nd place
4 God's Little Acre - 8th place
5 Beau Travail - 6th place
6 There Will Be Blood - 1st place
7 Mona Lisa - 7th place
8 The Bank Job - 8th place
9 Aftersun - 3rd place

[edarsenal]

jiraffejustin nominated Shoplifters, a very worthy film. I nominated There Will Be Blood - one of my "going for the win" efforts. I do feel guilty though, that the film I nominated while hosting won. (But happy too.)
I had that happen in, I think, the 17th with Road To Perdition.

[jiraffejustin]

Shoplifters would have been a cool winner, but There Will Be Blood needed to be in the hall of fame, so I'm glad it's there. I voted honestly, so I had it as my #1. Of the nine films that made it to the end, this was pretty stacked. The only film I really disliked was The Bank Job, but even that was more like 5/10 instead of something much worse.

My ballot:

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Shoplifters
3. Aftersun
4. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
5. God's Little Acre
6. Beau Travail
7. Mona Lisa
8. A Man For All Seasons
9. The Bank Job

[John W Constantine]

TWBB is classic, remember seeing it in theater with my buddy who was a huge PTA fan. I lost him back in 2013 to addiction but he loved him some PTA and this movie. Was thinking Shoplifters was going for the upset there but oh well.


I'll try to find my ballot and post.

[John W Constantine]

ballot:

01 a man for all seasons
02 the treasure of the sierra madre
03 beau travail
04 aftersun
05 there will be blood
06 mona lisa
07 god's little acre
08 shoplifters
09 the bank job

[Thief]

Me: Hey, let me check this HoF thread I hadn't read in months...

https://i.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExZnlpa2Vjd2pocXFrM295eHU2em01cDgzODg4YWlvbzdzaml1ZDZ6cSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfY nlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/zPOErRpLtHWbm/giphy.gif

[rauldc14]

Let's do this again!

[John W Constantine]

I remember you guys passing around some ideas to possibly shake things up a bit.

[Citizen Rules]

I remember you guys passing around some ideas to possibly shake things up a bit.Yeah Raul and I made some post along those lines a few pages back. Cool if you want to try something different, I'm all for it. But if it's really different let's not call it the 34th HoF, but instead call it whatever you want. The reason is the main HoF has always been traditionally done one way and so if it's totally differentm then go with some other name for it, like Cricket did with the Personal Recommendation HoF.

[rauldc14]

I'm good with another old fashioned one, it was just an idea for the future.

[rauldc14]

Also, PTA has become another multi winning director, joining Spielberg, Tarantino, Wilder and Hitchcock. Hitchcock has 3 wins.

[cricket]

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Aftersun
3. Treasure of the Sierra Madre
4. Mona Lisa
5. Shoplifters
6. A Man for All Seasons
7. The Bank Job
8. Beau Travail
9. God's Little Acre

Thank you for hosting Phoenix and congrats on the win! Whoever was runner up, who cares, the rest of us are losers and lowlifes!

I'm up for starting a personal rec HoF in the next couple weeks if nobody objects.

[John W Constantine]

Have been doing some stats collecting for these hof. This is the 4th win for the 2000's.

[Hey Fredrick]

My final tally:


1. There Will Be Blood
2. Aftersun
3. A Man For All Seasons
4. The Bank Job
5. Shoplifters
6. Mona Lisa
7. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
8. God's Little Acre
9. Beau Travail

[Citizen Rules]

https://i.imgur.com/XchJEbL.png

[John W Constantine]

The 2010's have 7 wins already.

The 1980's on the flip side have 46 nominations but only a single win for The Empire Strikes Back, which also shared it's win with another nominee.

[rauldc14]

Looks like 8 for the 1950s

[beelzebubble]

That was a really fun HOF. Thanks for the excellent reccommendations. And thanks to Phoenix for persevering though some trying times. I hope everything is well for you and your family.
Here is my ballot:
1. Shoplifters
2. Treasure of the Sierra Madre
3. There Will Be Blood
4. A Man for All Seasons
5. Aftersun
6. Beau Travail
7. Mona Lisa
8. God's Little Acre
9. The Bank Job
My feelings for some of these films is similar to Citizen's. Probably because we are from the same generation. I am glad so many appreciated m choice, A Man for All Seasons.

[Citizen Rules]

... I am glad so many appreciated m choice, A Man for All Seasons. That was my third watch and each time I really appreciated it. I tend to like historical films.

[jiraffejustin]

Did we ever discuss again if we think we should all agree to allow winners of the themed hall of fames to be allowed in the numbered, main hall of fames? I know a long while back I was against it, but I think winning a mainline hof is a different beast and it would be cool to see some of the easy theme winners be canonized in the big boy hall of fame.

[Citizen Rules]

Did we ever discuss again if we think we should all agree to allow winners of the themed hall of fames to be allowed in the numbered, main hall of fames? I know a long while back I was against it, but I think winning a mainline hof is a different beast and it would be cool to see some of the easy theme winners be canonized in the big boy hall of fame.Ultimately that's up to the host. I'm not a fan of that idea per say...but I think it was Raul who suggested a Champion of Champions HoF with all the noms being past winners or something similarly named, now that sounded fun.

[John W Constantine]

Looks like 8 for the 1950s

1920 - 29: 0 wins / 4 noms
1930 - 39: 2 wins / 19 noms
1940 - 49: 2 wins / 18 noms
1950 - 59: 8 wins / 28 noms
1960 - 69: 5 wins / 51 noms
1970 - 79: 3 wins / 39 noms
1980 - 89: 1 win / 46 noms
1990 - 99: 4 wins / 58 noms
2000 - 09: 4 wins / 64 noms
2010 - 19: 7 wins / 61 noms
2020 - 24: 0 wins / 3 noms

[John W Constantine]

- multiple nominations - (* denotes win on second nomination)

02/04 on the waterfront
04/13 spring, summer, fall, winter...and spring
02/21 dark city
05/21 quills
07/22 inglourious basterds (*22)
06/23 late spring
04/26 sweet smell of success
05/26 the wizard of oz (*26*)
07/26 festen (a celebration)
11/30 ida
02/31 gone baby gone
08/33 a man for all seasons

[John W Constantine]

The only years since 1935 not to receive a single nomination: 1941,1943,1951,2023.

1946 has one nomination and one win for The Best Years of Our Lives.

1950 only has two nominations but two wins for Young Man with a Horn as well as Sunset BLVD.

[John W Constantine]

Most nominations with 0 wins: 1999(12), 1998(11), 2008(10), 2001(8), 2004(8)

[rauldc14]

Those are some cool stats John!

[Citizen Rules]

Love those stats JWC.
I'm wondering about stats on the various HoF members like percentage of wins to total noms, percentage of last place finishes to total noms. But that would be hard to figure. I do know I have a lot of last place finishes:p

[John W Constantine]

Love those stats JWC.
I'm wondering about stats on the various HoF members like percentage of wins to total noms, percentage of last place finishes to total noms. But that would be hard to figure. I do know I have a lot of last place finishes:p
I've got all these saved on a word doc with other stuff like past voting results. Plus other random stuff.

[Citizen Rules]

I've got all these saved on a word doc with other stuff like past voting results. Plus other random stuff.Joking? Unless you read through every single HoF you couldn't have that info. That would be a crazy amount of HoF reading to do.

[John W Constantine]

Joking? Unless you read through every single HoF you couldn't have that info. That would be a crazy amount of HoF reading to do.
Not quite that much, but nomination and voting specs. I used to be very interested in stats (sports) and when I started these hof I was bored one day and gathered data for letterboxd and word doc. I just did the stats for these HoF, not for the specials.

[Citizen Rules]

Not quite that much, but nomination and voting specs. I used to be very interested in stats (sports) and when I started these hof I was bored one day and gathered data for letterboxd and word doc.That's really cool, what kind of stats can you generate for voting specs? I'd like to see those for the various members.

Some years ago when I had the flu for five days I just sat at the computer, that was all I could do. So I read through every single HoF and took notes on procedures and kept a log of basic stats. This is a screen shot of one huge document I have. It spans from HoF 1 to HoF 33rd and all the Specialty/Genre HoFs too, this is just shot of two of the entries. The asterisks * denotes a foreign language film.
99040

[John W Constantine]

That's really cool, what kind of stats can you generate for voting specs? I'd like to see those for the various members.

Some years ago when I had the flu for five days I just sat at the computer, that was all I could do. So I read through every single HoF and took notes on procedures and kept a log of basic stats. This is a screen shot of one huge document I have. It spans from HoF 1 to HoF 33rd and all the Specialty/Genre HoFs too, this is just shot of two of the entries. The asterisks * denotes a foreign language film.
99040
Oh nice, this is a little more in depth than what I have.

[Citizen Rules]

Oh nice, this is a little more in depth than what I have.I wish I had the voting spread for the noms, but it's not always posted by the host...I don't think I've ever posted it, but I'm glad when other's do.


example:
THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
56 points (1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 6th, 7th)

[John W Constantine]

Yes, those are good stats to have. Mine is a work in progress, I keep tinkering with it.

[John W Constantine]

Largest point differential for past winners:

+26 Casablanca > The Grand Budapest Hotel 102 - 76 (12th)
+23 Jaws > Apocalypse Now 216 - 193 (27th)
+18 The Shawshank Redemption > Harakiri 162 - 144 (7th)
+18 Contratiempo > Barton Fink 96 - 78 (14th)

Smallest point differential for past winners (not including ties):

+1 Dances with Wolves > Manchester by the Sea 148 - 147 (13th)
+1 Pulp Fiction > The Godfather 78 - 77 (19th)
+1 Jagten (The Hunt) > The Breakfast Club 73 - 72 (21st)
+1 Vertigo > Bicycle Thieves 120 - 119 (25th)