18th Mofo Hall of Fame

Probably Rams because it’s always about The Patriots.

__________________
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Super Bowl is tomorrow, I didn't know that. Think I'll use that opportunity to go plant some trees, not joking either!

Split (Chris Shaw, 1989)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/02/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 18th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by Joel
Rewatch: No.

What the **** did I just watch?

Yes, I realize it's a low budget film. Yes, I realize it's 30 years old. And, yes, I realize that the copy available on YouTube isn't exactly top notch quality. But still, what the **** did I just watch?

This movie felt like it was being bizarre for the sake of being bizarre - and sometimes I can get behind that sort of thing: if the actual concept is intriguing, if the acting is good, if the writing is good. But none of that seemed to be happening here. I'll grant that there were a few scenes with interesting visuals, but that's the extent of the praise I can give it. Its runtime is only a little shy of an hour and half, but it felt so much longer than that and was an absolute chore to get through. I lost track of how often I checked the remaining time and how many times I paused it to take a break. I wanted so badly to shut it off for good and were it not for my obligation to watch it for the Hall of Fame, I wouldn't have finished it.

Perhaps my experience would've been greatly improved if I'd been under the influence of something while watching, but I don't partake so... yeah I hated this.

__________________

It's interesting to hear the reception of Split. I didn't really even consider, going into this HoF, whether or not this would be well or poorly received. It's one of those trash style movies. I could say that this was a self prophetic tale of surveillance that is very relevant today - with all of the cameras everywhere - but that really wouldn't be the reason to say I enjoyed it like I did. I suppose it's something I didn't consider for anyone else - it got to me at just the right time. But having said all of that, that's really more than I should say about this movie. I think next time I'll make it a point to choose something with others in mind. This was a total unintentional "challenge" submission, and god knows I hate those kinds of entries.

Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes, 2002)
Imdb


Date Watched: 02/03/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 18th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by edarsenal
Rewatch: Yes

I've seen this film once before - 17 years ago when it was still in the theater. I didn't care at all for the film back then and when I saw it nominated for this Hall of Fame - and by edarsenal, whose nominations I never seem to like - I was not too enthused.

Watching it tonight, I really have to question why I disliked it all those years ago. I've never found the subject of mobsters all that interesting, but I was really drawn in by the way this film was presented and its focus on the relationship between the father and son. The performances were all quite good, with Tom Hanks - stepping out a bit from his usual good guy roles - and Jude Law, who I normally dislike, the standouts. I also really liked the dark, moody look of the film as well and found this to be overall a very solid and engaging watch. I doubt it'll ever become a personal favorite, but I expect it'll rank high on my HOF ballot.

+

Decent movie, crummy title. I would've called it something like 'Falling Down Boy'...or "Key Lucent Dreams'. I think I like 'Falling Down Boy' the best, it has a nice ring to it.

I'm not surprised Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was nominated for Best Picture Oscar in 2012. It would've seemed to be Oscar bound with it's peripheral tale of the 9/11 events as told through the eyes of a boy with Asperger's Syndrome...along with a side tale of the mysterious man who can't speak...add to that the various people the boy meets as he searches for the lock that fits a key that his father left behind.

With all that going for the film and some choice city scape cinematography, the film would've seemed like a shoe in for the Oscar. And while I appreciate the layered story effect and unique perspective on the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I surprisingly felt no emotion at what I image is suppose to be a heart wrenching film. If anything I was annoyed at the kid who acted more like an ass than an empathetic character. And without me caring about the boy our his mission, the film left me out in the cold.

I wish the director had filmed the movie more from the boys perspective especially when he goes to meet the people named Black. Instead those scenes of interaction which should have been the most rewarding and dynamic, were mere snippets. Even the scene with Viola Davis (the best actor in the film and best scene too) starts in the middle of the boy meeting her. I would've liked to seen their encounter from the very moment the boy rang her door bell. As it was that scene lost any emotional power it had for the sake of brevity.

Where brevity was needed was after the resolution of the mysterious key. Having Sandra Bullock then recount her own story about how she followed the boy around, was unneeded and over padded. I'm guessing that was done so Ms Bullock could have more air time.

It might sound like I'm hard on the movie but it's just when I like a movie I can't help but go into director mode and think of how I would've done things differently.

Just watched Road to Perdition. Will try to get a write-up done soon.

__________________
Letterboxd

Going to watch Split next, either Tuesday or Wednesday

This was pretty good. Thought it was quite a solid mob flick that is pretty well directed and has some beautiful cinematography. The performances were quite solid too, particularly Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law. I also felt that the film did quite a good job at portraying the father-son relationship between the two main characters, and the film as whole kept me interested throughout. Overall quite a solid nom.

Gonna try to knock another one out tonight.

Everything that's left I either own, have borrowed from the library, or can stream free on Amazon - except The Little Stranger. I'm 35th in line to borrow that one from the library so not sure when I'll be able to get to it, but I should have the rest done pretty quickly.

• @edarsenal *Nomination received
• @Neiba *Nomination received
• @Nathaniel *Nomination received
• @MovieMeditation *Nomination received

Remember February 11th is the first deadline to get your first review in, if you PM me I'll grant you a week extension

35th? damn! that's a lot of people, though I suppose it depends on the number of copies in your library system. If you need a link for it just give a shout out.

Uh...watching that film on a Computer Screen is such a waste

Who's watching it on a computer screen? Not me, I use my TV for that.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Stephen Daldry, 2011)
Imdb


Date Watched: 02/04/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 18th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by neiba
Rewatch: No

I have avoided watching this movie for the last eight years. I have a personal aversion to films that are made about tragedies that occurred not only in my lifetime, but recently enough for me to remember them. This is especially true of any Hollywood movies involving the attacks on the World Trade Center. The inclusion of such events just feels like a cheap, lazy, and opportunistic way of garnering the audience's sympathy without putting in the work of telling a compelling story and presenting the viewers with well constructed characters.

So needless to say I was anything but unbiased going into Extremely Loud. I had hoped though that I would be able to overcome that bias, but unfortunately I could not. Not only did that feeling of cheapness never go away, but another huge hurdle to my enjoyment was the film's protagonist, Oskar. I hated that kid. I get that he has Asperger's or is somewhere on the spectrum or whatever. I get that he is angry and confused and struggling to cope with his father's death - but damn that kid was an obnoxious a-hole. I really disliked him from the start and it made it quite a struggle for me to stay engaged or to feel anything when he finally broke down and came to terms with what happened. Despite an impressive ensemble cast, the only character I felt anything for was "the Renter," played by Max Von Sydow who never even spoke.

Ultimately this film that was meant to be touching only left me feeling cold.

Abandon Ship!

This movie was a real struggle for me. In the end, it posed a really fascinating moral question - is Holmes's actions murder or not murder? But other than this question, there's nothing too intriguing or cool about the movie.

Things I really enjoyed:
The themes and values - is it murder or not murder?
The originality - Although it's based off of a true story, I still think the plot idea was highly original.

Things I thought were okay:
Rewatchability - Although fairly short, it was a bit of a drag for me.
Characters - Some of the characters are interesting, but there are just so many that it's hard to develop them.

Things I thought were mediocre/not very good:
Script - There's not much originality with the script.
Structure - Our main character has no real conflict or goals, so the structure falls apart (unless we make the whole boat the protagonist).
Acting - The acting seemed very forced.
Pacing - The main conflict didn't even start until almost an hour in.
Visuals - Nothing too special.

Things I thought were really bad:
Music - I really disliked the music, and there was almost none.