18th Mofo Hall of Fame

Road To Perdition

Peter: "Why are you always smiling?"
Conner: "Because it's all so f@cking hilarious."


One of the very top things that always brings me back to this film, (which I own and enjoy going back to, again and again) has been the cinematography. There is such a wonderful staging of nearly every shot; it is no wonder it had won, not only the Academy Award for Cinematography, but also from BAFTA, and others for it.
Bringing you in and poetically immersing you into this world and the lives that inhabit it. With this film there is a kind of graphic novel influence and then goes above and beyond it - for me, anyways.
I can go on and on about it and remark on the use of windows in a number of scenes, not just the final scene. My favorite being the one at night when Micheal, unable to move, is standing outside the front door and Conner is within, looking at his reflection and Micheal is terrified that he was seen. That whole setup is so effective, like so many others in this film.

And that is simply the visual aspect.

Add to that the pacing of the story through the view of the young Micheal Sullivan in regards to his father and his father's boss, played by Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Both of which add the usual excellent nuances and inner elements that enfolds and embraces me as I watch them.
Add to this, Daniel Craig and Jude Law in protagonist roles and a small, but substantial cameo by Stanley Tucci as well as the other secondary roles, and I've found a very solid and developed story and film. And I shouldn't forget the actor who plays our "narrator" or more accurately, our POV of it all. Which I like that he spoke like a kid and didn't have "adult dialogue" or a delusional innocence to him. He's not amazing, but he does hold his own in my opinion.

And yes, there are flaws, like most films do have, but they are minimal to me and scarcely affect my appreciation and continued enjoyment of each and every re-watch of this film.

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~Mr Minio

Watching: Split.


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

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

This is one of those films I used to watch every week as a kid. I've watched it again 2 months ago during Christmas time and I am afraid it didn't hold up as much as I would have liked it to.
While the animation still deserves a lot of credit I just didn't feel conected to what I was watching, as I do with other Disney films like Lion King for example.
Still, the dwarves song still brings a lot of nostalgy and every scene they are in is a joy to watch!

I'll watch King of Comedy tonight!

I've been sick for the last week or so, but I'm going to try to finish this HOF this weekend. I'm still like 29th on the waiting list for The Little Stranger at the library, so I'll probably just rent it instead.

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Good chance of checking out The Square tonight

Shame to hear you have been sick. Hope you get better soon.

But on another note... why are so many people in line to rent freaking Little Stranger??? That's super weird

No idea. I don't think I'd even heard of it prior to this HOF. But the waiting list is for all of Solano county, not just my town, and they may only have one or two copies of it. Plus the loan period is 21 days, so once someone checks it out they have awhile before they have to return it.

Yeah, unfortunately in my county things aren't looking much better... I'm on 18th waiting list. But Perfect Blue and King of Comedy should be arriving soon so I can get those done.

I have Perfect Blue, Extremely Loud, and Abandon Ship left. I may go for Abandon Ship next

The Square (Ruben Östlund, 2017)
Imdb

Date Watched: 2/23/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 18th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by MovieMeditation
Rewatch: No.

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. I realize that it is satire and that it is attempting to skewer the pretentiousness and hypocrisy of modern art and of people in general. The trouble is that I don't care.

I have no interest in modern art or in the culture that surrounds it. I cared nothing for Christian and was not at all interested in his journey. I also am not one who appreciates awkwardness as comedy - something The Square employs frequently - and I found the film's pace and runtime rather tedious. I was never fully engaged with the film and My rather deficient attention span was stretched well beyond its limits. Were it not for my obligation to watch it for this HOF, I would've turned it off long before the credits rolled.

That said, the film is full of strong ideas and is peppered with scenes that I found impressive at least from a visual standpoint. I can understand why someone else might love The Square, but it simply wasn't for me.

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The projection scenes early on in The Square - of that caveman exhibit guy - ...I was convinced it was Jim Carrey.

The Square (2017)


The Square is an inside joke of a film constantly asking you the viewer do you get it..do you get what we are doing. This is art but it's also art. A collection of scenes vignettes the film is at points feels like an improve act from a series of pretentious first year law students. The film lacks a cohesive narrative and is completely bereft of tempo. The jokes work in some sense but then you go back to slipping out of consciousness through the drivel.


Really at the end of the day the messages it's trying to send are both insipid and insulting. Yes we shouldn't be hypocrites, no homeless people don't have a heart of gold, yes men do just want to sleep with women really when it's all said and done did we have a point or was the entire thing just two and half hours of tedious virtue signaling about virtue signalling.


It's got great ideas but it's not right for a film. Perhaps it should have been like a mini Dekalog. But at the end of the day it just didn't work for me. I think this film just got me over postmodernism in film.

I watched The Little Stranger yesterday. I'll try to get the write-up posted today. I may also rewatch Bubba Ho-Tep tonight.

Got about three quarters through The Square this weekend, should be knocking it out tonight or tomorrow

The Little Stranger (Lenny Abrahamson, 2018)
Imdb

Date Watched: 2/24/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 18th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by Siddon
Rewatch: No.

The Little Stranger surprised me. Where I was expecting something of a supernatural horror, what I got instead was a mystery drama about envy and the lengths at which someone might go to obtain what they desire.

It is a bit of a slow burn, but I still felt there were some pacing issues with it and would have liked to see things move along a bit faster. Overall though I quite enjoyed it and it did at least keep its story within a reasonable runtime. The cast here all turn in excellent performances and I really liked the dark, foreboding atmosphere of the film.

The Little Stranger is a very engaging movie, though not one that I expect will really stay with me or that I'll want to revisit.

I’m only missing a rewatch of Perfect Blue and then I’m done. Haven’t posted a Split review either, should get that done soon. I’m away right now so that’s why I haven’t been too active.

Sorry to see The Square not really appealing to many. But it’s not exactly unexpected. I hope at least some outside of me and Neiba will find some greater enjoyment in it. Thanks for the write-ups

I watched The Little Stranger tonight. I'll post a review tomorrow. I'm at the halfway point now. Not bad for being one of the cabooses for this HOF.

Bubba Ho-Tep (Don Coscarelli, 2002)
Imdb

Date Watched: 2/25/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 18th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by me
Rewatch: Yes, many times over

Bubba Ho-Tep is about an aging Elvis impersonator - who insists he's the real deal - and an old black man - who claims to be John F. Kennedy ("They dyed me this color!") - who team up to fight an undead mummy in cowboy duds that has been picking off the other residents of an East Texas rest home by sucking their souls out of their asses.

But it's also about the sad and lonely existence lived by many elderly people - abandoned, forgotten, shoved aside, and regarded with apathy and condescension as they wait for death. It's about friendship, self-sacrifice, and valor. And it is this potent combination of absurdity and heart that made me instantly fall in love with this movie when I first watched it over 15 years ago.

Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis are an absolute delight as our decrepit duo and infuse their ridiculous roles with generous helpings of humanity and more ham than a butcher shop. Ella Joyce is a riot too as one of the nurses, whose job it is to attend to a peculiar problem suffered by "Mr. Presley." The film is also liberally peppered with site gags and ridiculous one liners that kept a big dumb grin on my face throughout.

Bubba Ho-Tep is by no means an intellectual piece of high art, but it is for me a masterpiece of pure entertainment.

Ballot sent.