17th MoFo Hall of Fame

Tools    





Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I won't get started likely for another week or two, but I welcome and links or if any are on Netflix YouTube or Filmstruck let me know. I know Aviator was on Netflix, hopefully still is.
Amelia is on Netflix as well
__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes
~Mr Minio



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
IIt's probably not even that funny, and it may have had more to do with Judy Davis' delivery than anything else. When Liam Hemsworth is getting fitted for his suit, she mentions that he could get "snatched up by some eligible spinster...or hag", and I just lost it haha.
I think I remember that line, and yes, Davis' delivery had me chuckling a lot the first time I saw this.





Day for Night (La nuit américaine) (François Truffaut, 1973)
Imdb

Date Watched: 09/19/18
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 17th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by @Nathaniel
Rewatch: No.


With its visual beauty and fastidious attention to detail, Day for Night leaves no doubt that its director and star, François Truffaut, is a man who is deeply passionate about his work. He brings the audience into the world of the filmmaker - with all the struggles, personal dramas, setbacks, clashing egos, and re-writes - and laughs at it all.

For that I have nothing but respect, but unfortunately I was not laughing with him. There were some scenes that were mildly amusing, sure, but ultimately I just couldn't bring myself to care about this collection of obnoxious, narcissistic fools and was rather bored by it.

-



Weird is relative.
Lean on Pete (2018)



One of those films that paints a gritty portrait that seems very "real" and believable, similar to American Honey. This isn't the kind of upbringing I had, but I imagine there are many neglected youth in North America who could relate somewhat with Charley, the main character.

He's a very nice kid (portrayed by Charlie Plummer), who never intends to get into trouble, it just happens to him along the way. I admired his courage and bravery in looking out for the horse, Pete, and how he managed to survive without anyone really taking care of him.

People have criticized the setting of the story, saying it would never have taken place in Portland, Oregon. I haven't been there so I can't agree or disagree, but regardless, the scenery is beautiful.
Glad it was nominated, as I might not have seen it otherwise.

The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966)



While Lean on Pete was only partly an "on the road" movie, traveling on foot is the main theme of Hawks and Sparrows. I was reminded of the song by the Talking Heads, "We're on a road to nowhere..." The father and son duo indeed seem to be wandering almost aimlessly, as they encounter a talking crow, and various other characters and random situations, which are often comedic.

I like allegorical, philosophical tales that give you something to think about, and even though the scenarios presented here may not be parallel to what we experience today, it still reflects "the human condition," because human nature doesn't change much, no matter what might be the accepted mores and values of a society.





Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998)
Imdb

Date Watched: 09/19/18
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 17th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by @edarsenal
Rewatch: No.


Well that was quite the bloodbath.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a fast-paced and stylish comedy of errors with a fantastic soundtrack and lots of unexpected twists. With its narration, over the top violence and use of humor the film seemed almost like a less bloated version of something you might expect from the likes of Quentin Tarantino.

But though the film is not as self-indulgent as the offerings from that other director (or at least not any of his more recent work), I also didn't find it anywhere near as entertaining. The humor fell completely flat. Never once did I let out so much as a soft chuckle. The characters didn't interest me and now, mere minutes after finishing it, I can't even recall their names. Still, there was enough going on here that I at least never found myself getting bored.

+



Lean on Pete (2018)

I liked it, but didn't love it. I could have liked it a whole lot more with a few needed and simple tweaks. This felt like a Hallmark movie, and that's not a criticism. This felt like a Hallmark movie in that it was a very personal story of one determined teen boy Charley and his love for the race horse Pete. His journey to save Pete from the slaughter house and his quest to find his own place in the world as he traveled to find a long lost aunt, seemed like a subject matter of a PG rated Hallmark channel movie. I like those, when they're done well.

It could have had 20 minutes cut out as it felt too long for what was happening on the screen. By eliminating the scene of the two war veterans living in the middle of the desert the movie would've had better pacing. That scene added little to the overall movie, other than to hear the blonde girl get verbally hurt by her grandfather (what a jerk he was!). I guess the point was to say her only place to live wasn't all that great. Too much film footage for a 10 second pay off when she confides in Charley. It didn't need to be an R rating, as nothing R rated really ever happens that feels dishonest to me as it's a PG13 movie with a few swear words.

In short, I liked the movie's theme and the actors, and the settings were nice too.
Attachments
Click image for larger version

Name:	Lean On Pete.jpg
Views:	393
Size:	285.2 KB
ID:	48176  



It didn't need to be an R rating, as nothing R rated really ever happens that feels dishonest to me as it's a PG13 movie with a few swear words.
Is it really rated R? Based on what little I've seen from the film (basically just a few still images since I haven't even seen a trailer), I would've guessed G or PG at most haha.

Most films that are rated R in the US are 14A here (including the majority of horror films though the occasional one gets an 18A), and apparently Lean on Pete was 14A here as well. I guess that's closer to your PG-13 suggestion, but it still seems quite high.



Is it really rated R? Based on what little I've seen from the film (basically just a few still images since I haven't even seen a trailer), I would've guessed G or PG at most haha.

Most films that are rated R in the US are 14A here (including the majority of horror films though the occasional one gets an 18A), and apparently Lean on Pete was 14A here as well. I guess that's closer to your PG-13 suggestion, but it still seems quite high.
I haven't seen the movie yet, but according to the IMDb page, it's rated R for "language and brief violence." The MPAA is stupid.



Is it really rated R? Based on what little I've seen from the film (basically just a few still images since I haven't even seen a trailer), I would've guessed G or PG at most haha.

Most films that are rated R in the US are 14A here (including the majority of horror films though the occasional one gets an 18A), and apparently Lean on Pete was 14A here as well. I guess that's closer to your PG-13 suggestion, but it still seems quite high.
I agree it seems like a high rating guide for the movie...IMDB list it as an R. It has a dozen or so F bombs so that's why. To me it felt like a PG family movie, maybe PG13 because of two fight scenes, but those weren't really too graphic IMO.



This is completely irrelevant to the HoF, but I decided to take a look at the films currently playing in the local theatre to see which MPAA R rated films got 14A and which got 18A.

A Simple Favor, Life Itself, Peppermint, The Nun, White Boy Rick, and BlacKkKlansman all received 14As. The Predator is the only film rated 18A. Mandy is no longer playing, but according to my ticket stub from last week it also got an 18A.

So I guess excessive violence might be the trigger to hit the 18A rating here, and we don't care so much about younger audiences hearing swear words haha.



Weird is relative.
That's the same rating system as where I live. I've noticed a lot of films rated PG-13 in the U.S. were PG here, and plenty of R-ratings received 14A. Yeah, it seems to be gratuitous violence or sex/nudity that gains the 18A.



You should watch This Film Is Not Yet Rated, it's all about how ridiculous the MPAA is. For example Boy's Don't Cry got an NC-17 rating and the director figured it would be because of the violent rape-murder scene, but nope that's fine for an R Film it was Chloe Sevigny's orgasm sounds going on for too long during the oral sex scene where you see absolutely nothing that was too much.





Lean On Pete (Andrew Haigh, 2017)
Imdb

Date Watched: 09/20/18
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 17th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by @Luis
Rewatch: No.


The trailer for Lean On Pete would have you believe that this is the story of the bond between a boy and a horse, but as I watched the film I soon found that is not the case. Instead what the movie is really about is a teenaged boy who's been given the s*** end of the stick in life and is forced to grow up too soon. Desperately seeking some stability, he clings on to what little he can as his already fragile world comes crumbling down around him.

I normally don't read other people's write-ups before I watch a film, but I did read Citizen's review from earlier today. In it, he compared Lean on Pete to a Hallmark movie but I have to disagree. There was a sense of melancholy that permeated the whole film but it never felt overly sentimental. I had trouble buying into some of the scenarios - mainly in how easily Charley slipped away from authorities, but also in the lack of damage to a certain vehicle after one particular scene - but the characters and the way the interacted with each other felt very real. And to that end the main actors all turned in solid, but not especially remarkable performances.

I think the same can be said for the film's story and cinematography - solid, but not especially remarkable. It's apparent that considerable skill went into the making of the film but there wasn't really anything that stood out to me as being exceptionally good. Still, I never found myself bored and I cared about the fate of Charley which is a lot more than can be said about a lot of the movies I've watched.

Overall a flawed but very engaging film.

-



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
I hope to get started on this sometime this weekend.
__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews




The Dressmaker (2015)

I'd planned on nominating The Dressmaker for an HoF ever since I first watched it. This was my second watch and if anything I liked it even more than the first time.

I laughed! and I rarely laugh out loud at movies but some of the sarcastic quips by mom - Judy Davis was hilarious. Especially when she tags along to the movie theater and she's heckling Sunset Blvd and Gloria Swanson too, ha!

I just really liked everything about Judy Davis's character as the mother of Tilly. I thought she was a fantastic actress and in a weird way her facial expressions reminded of the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence) from The Road Warrior (1981).

The Dressmaker with it's strange mix of haute couture fashions in a remote Australian outback town in 1951, also reminded me of that ecliptic Australian film, The Road Warrior. Not in the subject mater of course, but just in the way the film constructs a fable-folklore type world, and in the quirkiness of it's inhabitants. It must be an Australian movie thing as it's also a bit like
The Dish (2000).

This time around I noticed at the opening credits when: Tilly gets off the bus and lights a cigarette, tilts her head and the brim of her hat covers her face... and then the camera shows us different 'trouble' spots in the town as a Spanish guitar plays...That scene is an ode to Clint Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns and his 'man with no name' character. I thought that was cool.

And visually, damn! when I looked for a photo for this write up I was floored by all the stylish images I could chose from. I love a film that has shot after shot of stylish coolness and The Dress Maker does. I went with that photo as I liked her golfing outfit the best. I like the way her side sash has little loops sewn into it to hold golfing tees! That's detail!

Loved the town and the old house on the hill surrounded by a rusty heap of a junk pile, very unique look. Of course Kate Winslet was great as the bullied little girl, now grown up into a self made beauty who doesn't take crap from anybody! I loved how the first 90 minutes seemed like a comedy drama, but then in the last 30 minutes things get dark as payback is at hand! I loved the way they ended the film too, and that's not always the case with me. So yeah I really liked it.

.
Attachments
Click image for larger version

Name:	aaa.jpg
Views:	308
Size:	165.8 KB
ID:	48204  






The Dressmaker (2015)


The problem with The Dressmaker is that it's three different films where two are done very well and one is highly subjective. This is a film noir, period piece, comedy so I guess basically a dramedy. It's the story of a woman who comes home to take care of her mother, when she was 10 she murdered a boy but as a 10 year old they don't exactly send them away for life. Like many Australian films it looks incredible every shot feels like it has this incredible level of composition.


The problem for me was the comedy fell flat, I smiled once did not laugh and cringed several times. Not everyone can make a Coen brothers film and The Dressmaker tries admirably to follow the formula but it just didn't work for me. I didn't quite buy the relationship between the mother and daughter something about it just never felt authentic to me. This once again likely was the result of the silliness of the humor juxtaposed with the seriousness of the subject matter.






Rush (2013)

It's a Hemsworth double feature today! The greater Hemsworth stars in the true story of a pair of F-1 rivals, James Hunt the British driver from a slightly upperclass background and Niki Lauda (Nikki Bruhl) the Austrian(though really German) from an upperclass background. Both men are disappointments to their families who wished for them to do something sensible with their lives but that stuff is just background. We just know that they come from similar backgrounds yet have very different approaches to their lives.

Hunt looks at racing as a high and for the family that comes with it, while Lauda is more driven by something more personal. Each man also approaches the job in different ways, Niki is a practical man his drive is to have the best car, the best body, and does everything to reduce risk in his driving. Hunt on the other hand believes winning is through driving and guts, it's the high for him that he's chasing. The film does an excellent job and treating both approaches on an even level, no side is really right or wrong. Neither character feels like a protagonist or antagonist you'll often find your sympathy move from one to the either until at the end they are equals.

My only complaint is I wish a different person directed the film. Howard does okay with the race sequences but they should have been handled better. The character work is exceptional but the action is lacking the same impact so the film has a bit of an imbalance to it.



I like seeing reviews for the same films in close proximity. It makes it feel like we're on the same wavelength haha.

I won't get anything written tonight, but I just finished watching The Aviator. Out of all the ~3 hour long films I've watched for various HoFs, this one felt the shortest for some reason.

I'm not sure what I want to watch next. I might rewatch Lock, Stock since I have the DVD handy, and I haven't bothered tracking down many of the films yet. I'm not really worried about the availability of either of them, but I'll definitely take a closer look over the weekend.