The 13TH Hall of Fame

2011 is my favorite year of the decade so far

I think The Descendants and Take Shelter are the only ones I really really liked that I've seen from 2011.

Plus 4 of my favorites from the decade; Killer Joe, Kill List, Warrior, and Bellflower.

Moneyball, Midnight In Paris, and Margaret as well.

2014 is top heavy but Grand Budapest, Birdman, Foxcatcher, Winter's Sleep, Nightcrawler, and Boyhood are all pretty great.

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Letterboxd

One of my favorite horror-comedies came out in 2011: You're Next

I was too tired to watch anything last night. This work week felt very long, probably because with the convention last weekend it felt like I didn't had any time off. I'll definitely have a review up sometime this weekend though. Possibly two.

2014 had a number of films I really enjoyed, but they're all action films. John Wick, Edge of Tomorrow, The Winter Soldier, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Guardians of the Galaxy. I can't think of a single drama or comedy from that year that I really loved though.

2010 on the other hand...I'm struggling to think of many films (with the assistance of Google) from that year I even liked, let alone thoroughly enjoyed. People like The Social Network, but I actually haven't seen that.

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I completely forgot what year Man from Nowhere came out, and it didn't come up when I was looking at 2010 films. But yes, that's definitely one movie from that year I thoroughly enjoyed.

I liked Nightcrawler, The Babadook, and It Follows, but I didn't love them. They definitely reinforce the fact that 2014 was much better than 2010 for me though.

I'm glad this was nominated because it was already on my watchlist along with a couple of other Paul Verhoeven films I've yet to see. I even like some of his less popular films like Hollow Man, Showgirls, and Spetters. I would put this on the low end of what I've seen from him, but I still thought it was fun to watch.

I read afterwards that Verhoeven had a tough time with the production of this film for various reasons, and we can only speculate as to how that affected the finished product. I am generally not a fan of historic costume films, so it helps me if they are a little bit unusual in some way. This movie seemed like a hybrid of Caligula and a Monty Python film, except it's not nearly as decadent as the former or comical as the latter. I actually wish this movie was much more sick, as it ended up being more tame than I had expected. I think it does help that it has a consistent tone throughout; it's never too dramatic or too silly.

I don't have a lot of specific praise for the movie. I think the settings, costumes, and details were all well done. However, I thought the cinematography and camerawork were very plain. None of the acting was particularly good, but thank god for Rutger Hauer. While I've never thought of him as a great actor, he is always fun to watch and his performance here was certainly no exception. Without him, this movie would have been very mediocre. I don't know what else to say about it. I don't think it was particularly good in any way, but I was entertained throughout, and for me not to get bored during a movie of this type is very unusual.

I haven't been around because something happened to my computer earlier this week. I haven't heard back from them yet (I thought I would've by now). If they don't call me by this evening, I will call them tomorrow. Either way, I fully expect my computer back by next Tuesday at the latest.

In the meantime, I will use this opportunity to get as much movie-watching done as possible (there is no excuse for me to not do it because now I don't have the internet to distract me ).

I am at the library now. This one has Captain Fantastic, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Nightmare Alley and Wings of Desire (if I can find all of those in their mixed-up way of organizing their DVDs on the shelves!). And I also have Forbidden Games, The Hunt, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring, The Three Musketeers and Buffalo '66 waiting for me on the hold shelf. So I have a lot of work to do this weekend.



By the way, the worst part about not being around is trying to get all caught up with the posts that I have missed - or that I will have to skip today. I will probably spend just a day or two trying to get caught up.

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I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

Wings of Desire is definitely a very different film from either Goodbye, Lenin! or Barbara, and as such I wasn't sure whether you'd like it or not. After raving about my previous nominations, I had a feeling I'd disappoint you. If not now, then in the next HoF, so I'm glad we got this out of the way early. And at least you still enjoyed the visuals.

Yeah, it happened that way with Neiba too. I loved his first couple of Hof noms, I was amazed by them. Then hated his next two Amour and Withnail & I...This time around however he's redeemed himself! with The Hunt.

Somewhere on the thread I seen someone, I think it was Cosmic say it was beneficial going into the movie, knowing what it was about. Or maybe Ed said something like that. Anyway, so I did indeed read her review and I read about the movie at Wiki too before watching it, as I really wanted to like it. And it does help me to appreciate a movie if I know what the director was aiming for.

Nightmare Alley (Edmund Goulding, 1947)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/05/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 13th HOF, Citizen Rules's Nomination
Rewatch: No.

I had a lot of trouble engaging with this film and I'm not entirely sure why. I thought the writing was pretty strong - even if the story was a bit predictable - and the performances were good (and not too theatrical). I also liked the look of the film's sets and costumes. I think overall it did a lot of things right.

But I still just wasn't enjoying it. I think a significant part of the problem was that I wasn't particularly invested in the characters. especially Stan. I disliked pretty much every character in the movie, but not strongly enough to even want something bad to happen to them. I realize the fault here lies with me and not the film, but I determine my ratings (and, ultimately, the rankings on my HOF ballot) based on my experience watching the film.

One thing I did find interesting - and also bizarre - was the concept of a geek. Carnivals/sideshow attractions were never something that particularly interested me and so until tonight I was only familiar with the modern usage of the word. People do some really weird ***** in the name of entertainment.

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I'm here bro.

I'm thinking Great Dictator or Manchester by the Sea will be next for me due to easy accessibility.

This is pretty spot-on. The intention behind my write-up for Wings of Desire was to analyse aspects of the film that others might not have noticed due to the film's tendency to rely on German history and culture to tell part of its story. It was originally much more impartial, but I threw in some personal opinions, particularly towards the end, so it didn't seem so much like an essay haha.

While I wouldn't say I have a deep connection to the film itself, I definitely appreciate it, which is why I wouldn't necessarily argue against Citizen's interpretation of my feelings towards it. Oh, and about my German thread: I had intended to post there much more frequently, but then I joined two HoFs. Both it and my proper review thread will return when I have less time commitments. It's nice to know it hasn't been forgotten about in the meantime though.

Is my write-up for Wings of Desire actually your favourite in this HoF, Camo? If so, I'm flattered.

Regarding MV's thoughts on Nightmare Alley, that use of the word geek was also new to me when I watched it a few months ago, and as much as I liked the film overall, it was what stuck with me the most. Strangely enough, I then watched a movie called Luther the Geek a couple weeks later.

I've heard "geek" used in a carnival context before in another older film, but I can't remember what it was.

I had this on my watchlist already just because of some of the praise I heard, not because I knew anything about it. It destroyed me. Just when you think it can't get any more sad, it just keeps getting worse. As upsetting as it was, it's even worse when you can see the parallels in your own life. Everything about the movie rang true for me, and all of the characters and performances were genuine. One of the most emotionally devastating movies I've seen, it left me a mess.

I'm going to try to watch Manchester By the Sea tonight.

I've been putting it off because the wait list for it from the library was crazy long and I thought I might end up having to rent it, but Amazon just added it to their Prime streaming service.

Where can I find Broken Circle Breakdown?