14th Hall of Fame

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Looks as if Miss Vicky hasn't liked a single nomination but hers in this Hall of Fame
Yeah, I gotta say this hasn't been my favorite HOF. I don't have high hopes for the three remaining films, but maybe one of them will surprise me.





The Grand Illusion (1937)

That photo is from my favorite scene, and there's a lot of great scenes. I enjoyed this...I like war film, I don't like war, but I do like war films, or in this case prisoner of war films, because it fills that need to know. I like to know things, and even though this is a drama, it is a window back to 1937, a time right before WWII. I was very intrigued how this French film, showed the German officer as chivalrous. I liked those scenes too. It's almost like the director and script writer deeply regretted past hostiles with Germany and sought to make a film that showed that men on both sides of the conflict were indeed brothers under their different uniforms.

I was equally impressed with the breathtaking on location cinematography. Which is so much more inspiring, than cheap studio sets. Loved the Bavarian farm house that the widow lived in. What a view she had of the sweeping country side.

The actors too were effective at making distinct personalities, which made their characters memorable. I can see why this is a classic.

Good nom, Ed.
Glad you liked it. I love the part with the widow too and it's normally the sort of scene i hate as well.



Yeah, I gotta say this hasn't been my favorite HOF. I don't have high hopes for the three remaining films, but maybe one of them will surprise me.
Which three do you have left?

Glad you liked it. I love the part with the widow too and it's normally the sort of scene i hate as well.
I almost watched it without subtitles a couple of weeks ago, so glad I did have English subs! I believe The Grand Illusion is a movie on the MoFo lists. I'll have to go and cross it out.




I almost watched it without subtitles a couple of weeks ago, so glad I did have English subs! I believe The Grand Illusion is a movie on the MoFo lists. I'll have to go and cross it out.
It is. I actually noticed when i watched it that it was on two different lists, one under its English and one under its French title. Told Yoda though and he combined them.

If you need Subtitles again PM me and i'll send them with a link and you'll just have to do the same thing, if that's what you ended up doing.



It is. I actually noticed when i watched it that it was on two different lists, one under its English and one under its French title. Told Yoda though and he combined them.

If you need Subtitles again PM me and i'll send them with a link and you'll just have to do the same thing, if that's what you ended up doing.
Thanks, you're real good at finding those links. I'm not sure how you do it, but I'm glad you're there to help us out when we need it.



I almost watched it without subtitles a couple of weeks ago, so glad I did have English subs!
You did watch Murderers are among us without subs. If you done so again for this HoF, it might've been the start of a new trend haha.



You did watch Murderers are among us without subs. If you done so again for this HoF, it might've been the start of a new trend haha.
It was tough too, though I still got a lot out of the film....I love watching actors faces for emotions, which luckily works in any language.



Yeah, I gotta say this hasn't been my favorite HOF. I don't have high hopes for the three remaining films, but maybe one of them will surprise me.
Which three do you have left?
Contratiempo, Time of the Gypsies, and La Grande Illusion.



You won't like Grand Illusion. At most you'll respect it, but i doubt that even since you hate war films. Well it's anti-war (or at least anti-class depending on how you look at it) at least.



Contratiempo, Time of the Gypsies, and La Grande Illusion.
Just a guess but, I wouldn't be surprised if you liked at least 2 of those. I could even see you liking all three....or maybe not? Contratiempo has been pretty popular, I think you might like that one.



I was thinking about watching The Grand Illusion next. I want to get my write-up done for Lone Star first though.

I only have one, short, poorly written paragraph. I think it's been so long since I wrote a review that I've forgotten how to write.



I was thinking about watching The Grand Illusion next. I want to get my write-up done for Lone Star first though.

I only have one, short, poorly written paragraph. I think it's been so long since I wrote a review that I've forgotten how to write.
Ahh, I know what you mean...writer's block, ergh!

I just try and think of the first thing that pops into my mind when I think of the movie...then I go with that. For some reason the more I hate a film, the easier it is to write about it!



Barton Fink

It is a story about Barton Fink, a New York playwright who is drafted to LA to write screenplays. He just starts to be famous and achieves his personal revelation bringing an ordinary life to the stage. He comes to LA and rents a room in a ghoulish dump called Hotel Earle. He takes an assignment to write a picture about wrestlers. And ironically, he’s got a writer‘s block and cannot write a single iota. He befriends this weird character Charlie Meadows and Chet was very helpful also. He approached this washed up writer W.P. Mayhew but he is not much of a help for him. Then it all gets kind of weird and we are cooking this Kafkaesque goulash together with those two strange detectives and fire, dead girl in bed, and Mad-Man-Mundt-Heil-Hitler guy. Then, in all that mad crescendo, an idea comes to Barton and thoughts just pouring out of his mind and a masterpiece is born. Subsequently his opera is flushed down the toilet by Jack Lipnick, producer. So many paradoxes in one's life.

I wouldn’t call this movie a masterpiece but it was surely fun to watch. I’ve seen much better movies from Coen brothers but this one has its place in cinema history. I’m not sure if i want to revisit this movie but I don’t consider it for waste of time either. I think this it was a decent nom.
__________________
You can call it the art of fighting without fighting.





Lone Star (1996)
Dir. John Sayles
Starring: Chris Cooper, Kris Kristofferson, Elizabeth Peña

Visually, Lone Star reminds me of a tv series from the days before HBO original content, and with such a large cast of characters we're expected to care about, it kind of felt like the second season of a show I never saw the start of. While I was intrigued at the beginning of the film, that interest slowly waned as more characters and subplots were introduced. The whole story felt bloated, and I would've been much happier had it been trimmed down substantially. The acting was perfectly fine throughout the film, but I just didn't find any of it engaging.

The flashback transitions were very well done. However, I found the first one over the tortilla bowl so delightfully amusing that the rest failed to live up to the expectations it set. The same was true of the dialogue. It was occasionally very witty, but while I laughed a bit during the first third of the film, the chuckles died out the longer the film went on for. It wasn't an unpleasant experience, but it's unfortunately the type of film I'll completely forget about before long.

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...The flashback transitions were very well done. However, I found the first one over the tortilla bowl so delightfully amusing that the rest failed to live up to the expectations it set...
I must have watched the tortilla one, like three times. I thought it was pretty neat.



For some reason the more I hate a film, the easier it is to write about it!
I find it the hardest to write about a film that I don't feel strongly about either way. If I react to something (either positively or negatively), there's something to work with there. When I think something is just fine, it's hard to form that into something substantial.

I must have watched the tortilla one, like three times. I thought it was pretty neat.
I thought that was really great. I think my second favourite moment was this exchange:

"I'm as liberal as the next guy-"
"If the next guy's a redneck."




All these middling reviews on Lone Star has me wondering if I'll still like it as much as I used to. It's been years since I've seen it last.

I still have La Grande Illusion and Empire of Passion left, then I'm done..so, with Lone Star, that's 3 left. Getting there!



I find it the hardest to write about a film that I don't feel strongly about either way. If I react to something (either positively or negatively), there's something to work with there. When I think something is just fine, it's hard to form that into something substantial.
I hear ya!


I thought that was really great. I think my second favourite moment was this exchange:

"I'm as liberal as the next guy-"
"If the next guy's a redneck."

Ha! I remember that line, good one You know what else I liked about Lone Star but didn't mention in my review was:

I liked the way that we see Charlie and Buddy in the past, through the eyes of the townsfolk. It's like we're not seeing the real Charlie and Buddy, but we're shown them as legends as others see them... so we never get to know them and they don't become three dimensional, but remain as memories of a myth. Does that make sense? Because I hadn't the hardest time writing that.