The 13TH Hall of Fame

I do. I even know how to pronounce forte correctly - See Pronunciation note.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
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I got that one right at least

Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan, 2016)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/06/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 13th HOF, rauldc14's Nomination
Rewatch: No.

Well, that was really depressing.

I thought this was a really beautiful movie both in terms of aesthetics and content. I've never been much of a fan of Casey Affleck - and having seen virtually no other movies from last year, I don't know how well deserved his Oscar was - but I thought his performance here was very good. I think he conveyed Lee's sort of broken numbness quite well. I thought the other performances were solid as well. I also thought the location and the perpetual cold really added to the mood of the film.

I also have to give respect to the film for how "there" I felt like I was in many of the scenes. The awkwardness of the funeral reception scene and some of the others where Lee is having to interact with well-meaning people - who are kind of just making things worse - was palpable. I was cringing so hard. I also really felt the anguish and the love between Lee and Randi when they met on the street and I broke down in tears.

Having said all that, though, I didn't quite love it. It's a quietly devastating and wonderfully crafted film, but it's also a very difficult watch. It felt like one long series of heartbreaking scenes with little emotional relief. And because of that, I don't know that this is a movie I would want to watch again, and if I do it won't be anytime soon.

And voted. I'm still going to rewatch and write up my nomination, possibly tomorrow but definitely by next weekend.

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So glad you thought it was good Miss Vicky. I can see your hesitancy to watch it again certainly, even I have a bit of hesitancy to watch it. But it is a remarkably made film.

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I was very happy to see this nominated as I was already definitely going to watch it for the 40's countdown. This was my fourth Chaplin film after Modern Times, City Lights, and The Gold Rush. All four are fantastic.

This was a little more comedic than I had expected, and I have no idea why I would have expected something else. Chaplin, and old comedy in general, is not my type of comedy, yet I think he is pretty hilarious. Not every joke hits, but they come at a rapid fire pace, and enough do to keep me laughing consistently. Mix that in with the subject matter here, and the knowledge of what actually happened, and it becomes quite a film. There are moments of power, and there was one that hit me that I found strange. When the storm troopers acted kindly towards the girl they had previously thrown tomatoes at, I just thought to myself, look at how easy it is to be nice to someone, and why would it be any other way. There are other moments as well and of course the end speech is great. It's a movie with a lot going for it and I put it on my list of contenders for the 40's countdown. I feel that I am underrating it at the moment.

That's it for me except for The Quiet Earth, but I'm starting to wonder if that's going to stay in.

Clazor has finished previous HoFs, so I wouldn't be worried about his nomination just yet.

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You can call it the art of fighting without fighting.

The Hunt next. I've seen it and it will be hard to revisit as per the extremely sensitive matter.

You guys are making me feel like I'm slacking off.

I just noticed that out of the films I have left, half are rewatches (Dead Poet's Society, Dances with Wolves, Marriage of Maria Braun, Flesh and Blood). I think I'll rewatch one of those next so I'm not accidentally leaving them all until the end.

I feel behind but I'm actually still way ahead anyways.

So glad you liked this. I agree with your synopsis. It left me reeling too.

Flesh + Blood

Had vaguely heard of this but i wasn't actually aware it was a Verhoeven film until Blix nominated it. Verhoeven is a director i like, he's not really made anything i love but off the top of my head the only film of his i don't really like is Starship Troopers. His films are usually fun at least, like Showgirls which is bad but is loads of fun exactly because it is so bad. Well i don't think this was bad like Showgirls, but i don't think it was particularly high quality either yet again it was alot of fun. For whatever reason i expected this to be more corny and i dunno lightweight, so early on i was pretty taken aback by it being pretty brutal and full of nudity and implied rape, that's a compliment to the film as it's how i'd imagine battles, the sacking of towns, etc would have been during this time. Too many similar films even ones i like feel too clean if that makes sense, this felt appropriately nasty and i appreciate that. I mean within the first 20 or so minutes we've seen a seriously injured, potentially dying naked nun, a kind of glossed over rape played by two extras and a stillborn birth that isn't treated as that devastating to mention just a few. Kind of have to respect a film that goes all out like that when it could have been toned down and probably been more of a success financially as a result. I also found just about every character unlikeable in some way, and the majority downright detestable; you couldn't look in any direction without encountering unpleasantness and it was awesome haha. I do think this both resulted in positives and negatives, negatives as in any type of romance it tried to portray or sympathy it tried to solicit didn't work well, positives in the aforementioned uncompromising portrayal of a brutal time and that it felt unique because we weren't really expected to take either side; or at least not take either entirely as both were full of villains.

Not got much more to say as that's the main feeling i got from this film all else would be about individual scenes. The acting wasn't as bad as i expected it to be; particularly Rugter Hauer but then he is usually good from what i've seen so that shouldn't be a surprise. I also liked the music even though it felt familiar, the costumes, sets, makeup, etc too i liked how dirty alot of it looked, went perfectly with the general tone of the film.

Glad you nominated this Blix, i had a good time watching it. Only a rewatch of Dances With Wolves left for me.

A fine film, ruined by animal sadist Kim Ki-Duk. Unfortunately I seen the original version that included the most horrific animal torture scenes, rocks being crammed into the mouths of a fish, frog and snake. The cool, peaceful location of the floating monastery on the lake, doesn't wipe away the animal torture that was done to make this movie.


Had all the animal abuse scenes been not done, I would rate the first two segments, Spring and Summer . I love movies that are quiet and slow paced, that take me to a special place, like the floating monastery on the lake and show me a world I've never seen before. The lack of action, the lack of dialogue was a plus for me. The introduction of the girl took the story in a different direction, which I liked equally well.


But when we get to the Fall segment and the young man who ran away after the girl, returns, it's a different actor. I hate that when that's done. It was so obvious it's not the same person, that emotionally I rejected the idea that he was indeed the same character, and the film's story then began to fall apart in Fall, ha.

The replacement actor was cheesy bad, he reminded me of one of the characters from The Man from Nowhere. The bit with the two dumb detectives was out right silly. Though I'm guessing the director wanted to introduce some light comedy at this point in the movie.


Winter, that segment was done very differently as it relied on visual imagery. Only after awhile, seeing snake after snake after snake, became repetitive...making me think the director was going for exhibitionism, in lieu of any real substance.

The whole Winter scene is like that, I thought the woman in the purple face scarf was more kitschy than mysterious and by this point the director seemed like he was trying way too hard to be artsy. Kim Ki-Duk is no Andrei Tarkovsky and relies more on gimmick and locations to make this movie seem like it's more than it really is.


Spring again...crap! if I hadn't already seen enough animal torture I had to watch yet another little boy torture more animals! Excuse me, but aren't these people suppose to be Buddhist?


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Manchester by the Sea (2016)

I tried watching this a month ago, but I had shut if off after the hospital and morgue scenes, as I wasn't in the mood for a depressing film, so I didn't finish it....until tonight that is.

Going into this, I expected to dislike it, but...surprise! I actually thought it was really good. Even more surprising is, I didn't find the rest of the movie overly depressing. Powerful yes and somber too, but I like somber movies.

Casey Affleck was phenomial in this. It was powerful how he was so deep within his own inner turmoil and kept his emotions bottled up...and yet we can sense he's been crushed inside and is utterly devastated by his losses.

Anytime an actor can nail a performance, the movie will get high marks in my book.

I like movies that are grounded and Manchester By The Sea is very grounded in reality. I could say more, but let's just say this is one of my favorites so far in this Hof.

I am finally back.

I have ALL of the films watched except for the re-watches of Dances With Wolves and Dead Poets Society, and I have to watch Flesh and Blood. And I don't have any idea when I will watch them just yet. I want to get some other things finished first.

These are my plans:
1. Finish the short films (which I planned on last week and couldn't)
2. Get caught up on all of your reviews here (which I can do now as I have seen all but one of the movies)
3. Post my thoughts on the films
4. Get the last 3 films watched and reviewed

Then I will be done.


It is crazy because not having access to this site makes me feel like I am so behind all of you, but in reality, I, basically, am practically done with this HoF already.

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

What would you rate this?

You know, every Fassbinder movie (in color) look much newer than they actually are, considering 95% of the movies he made were in the 70s. Anyone else notice that?

Dman Citizen, I remember loving SSFWAS, if it contains animal torture I won't be able to enjoy it as much

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I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages