The 11th Hall of Fame

I'll look for an Embrace of the Serpent link latter on. I need it too, as the movie is at my library but has 12 request which could take way to long for me to get it.

I'll probably get the Embrace DVD from Netflix

OK, I found a good link to Bashu, The Little Stranger, I just watched part of it and it does have English subtitles. Looks like a cool movie too. PM if you want the link

I also have a link to Embrace of the Serpent with English subtitles.

The Bashu one doesn't work for me as i said but The Embrace one does so i'll watch that tomorrow. Thanks again

Embrace the Serpent is on Amazon Prime if any of you have it.
And yeah, the Bashu link isn't working for me either. Thanks anyway.

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Cosmic - So glad to see you enjoyed Her.

I know I'm not exactly unbiased, but Phoenix's performance in that is my favorite performance of any actor, ever. I'm still miffed he didn't get an Oscar nom for it. I very nearly didn't nominate it because I was afraid that too many people had already seen it, but it appears that several haven't. Fingers crossed that the others react to it like you did. I think it's an incredibly beautiful story.

I have to admit I'm a little nervous about people's responses to my nom. I don't know why.

I tried watching Embrace of the Serpent but fell asleep (not the fault of the movie). I'll start it over and try again, but probably not tonight.

I may still watch something else tonight.

I'm always nervous about people's reactions to my noms in these things. It's always great when others love what you love, but there's always that risk that they'll hate it.

The Dead Girl

Wasn't a big fan of this Topsy, sorry. I think the way this is structured can work but i don't think it did here, we saw too little of all the stories and characters. Also i didn't like most of the acting or dialogue which is odd since it had a pretty great cast.

Sorry but i thought Toni Colette wasn't good at all. Her character got on my nerves mostly because i don't think she was good at bringing any of the emotions or reactions she was supposed to get across. OMG, her delivery on the "it doesn't really hurt, not when you're kissing me" line was one of the worst things i've ever seen. Felt like i had seen most of this before. Timid woman with an abusive, slightly mad parent is seriously imbalanced and possibly dangerous herself. I don't know i found nothing original or interesting in her story personally. Ribisi was alright in this part but even then all he was was a guy who was into serial killers. I was so glad when i realized she wasn't the main focus of the film, if she was i would've probably found this terrible.

I'm a fan of Rose Byrne but she wasn't very good either tbh. She had like no character to speak of, everything about her and her story felt so pointless. James Franco is always likeable but some of his dialogue was atrocious "i feel like if i let go of you you'll run away" "Then don't let go". "You have excellent posture" followed by an extremely awkward, unnatural laugh from Rose Byrne. Ugh.

The wife story was a bit more interesting. I've read quite a few true crime books, watched a lot of docs, etc, and i've always found it intersting how so many of these serial killers led perfectly normal lives with wives and children. She did a good job as the lonely, depressed wife and how far she went to protect him was interesting but i don't think they got the full potential out of this part. The discovery of his tropies was so underwhelming especially.

The mothers story wasn't bad i just didn't find much of interest there. Same as the first story i felt i'd seen it all before. Also i can't accept for a second that the hooker didn't think oh wait this must be her mother after she was showing so much interest in her. That was so laughable. I did like that she got the kid out of that hellhole at least.

The Dead Girl was easily my favourite part. Brittany was really good, would've loved her part to have been longer. Her story was pretty typical, girl gets abused by her step father runs away becomes a prostitute ends up dead. I like how she wasn't portrayed as an angel that had just made a few bad choices which is done too often, she was actually seriously messed up but still cared about her kid. The ending was pretty sad but a bit heartwarming since it at least showed for all her problems she still loved her daughter who now has a chance of having a better life than her, from the moment i found out her part was about getting a ride i knew how it would end.

Honestly i feel this was supposed to be powerful and depressing but i never found it that way because unlike Lilya for example i didn't care about most of the characters and i was aware i was watching a movie at all times because i found most of the acting and dialogue so bad. Brittany Murphy and to a lesser extent Mary Beth Hurt are the exceptions to this.

Really sorry Topsy for being so negative as you can tell i'm not a fan, i'm sure some others here will be though.

Embrace of the Serpent tomorrow since i have that link now.

Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu (Samurai Rebellion) (Masaki Kobayashi, 1967)
Imdb

Date Watched: 9/17/16
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 11th MoFo Hall of Fame
Rewatch: No

This is a really beautiful film about love, honor, duty, and the abuse of power. While I've certainly enjoyed other classic samurai films, this one really struck a chord with me in a way that the others have not. It feels much more human and intimate to me than the similar films I've seen before.

Toshirô Mifune, as always, turns in a solid performance but I was much more impressed by Yôko Tsukasa. Her role was a much quieter one, being the lord's former mistress and a near powerless woman in a man's world, yet she really conveyed the inner strength that someone in her position must have. Even with the limited amount of development she was given, she made Ichi's love and dedication to Yogoro believable.

The cinematography and costume design were impressive, too. And despite what the title suggests, there is relatively little swordplay and bloodshed, but the fights that are shown are well choreographed and really contribute to the story being told.

All in all, this sort of film isn't something that's likely going to hold a place in my list of favorites, and it's questionable whether I'll watch it again, but it's a powerful piece of art just the same. It's a shame I didn't see this before the 60s Countdown.

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I've decided i'm going to watch that third after Embrace then i'm going to rewatch my nom and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Not sure if i'm going to rewatch Her and Moonrise yet, i really don't have to but i love them so i may do so anyway.

I'm pretty much just choosing what to watch according to availability. This was on Hulu so it was really easy to access. I'll probably watch either Embrace of the Serpent, Ronin, or Flowers of War next, and Moonrise Kingdom when I get around to picking it up from the library.

Obviously I hadn't seen Her at the time, but considering everything I had heard about it from critics and friends, I was actually really surprised that he didn't get nominated as well. Considering how much of the film relied on his character and his performance, the snub seems even stranger now that I've seen it.

I'm glad you did nominate it, because I don't know how long it would've taken me to get around to seeing this otherwise.

I am so tired of visually boring, colourless movies and tv shows (obviously this excludes B&W films). Her uses colour in a more subtle, clever way that's very beautiful to look at. Because of its setting the designs are more simple, sleek, and modern, so those accent colours don't need to be intense to be effective. I think it works really well.

I hope you like the colour red though. It's practically inescapable in this movie haha.

Have you seen Moonrise Miss Vicky? Very worried that you'll hate if not.

She has exceptional taste, (see her write up on Samurai Rebellion), so you can at least be assured you'll get an expert opinion

Wow, we agreed on every point of the film, I felt exactly the same way as you did about it. Good nom Cricket.

That's piqued my interest even more in Her.