The 11th Hall of Fame

Tools    





It's a 80 year old movie, hence millenials will not like it. Not everybody is an experienced hollywood movie nerd that has developed a taste for old hollywood movies, I personally find myself often liking them but sometimes I find these movies hard to watch given my distinct cultural background.
Its poor reception in this thread has nothing to do with "millennials" or the age of the film and everything to do with the main characters being annoying AF.

The film flopped when it was initially released and didn't gain a following until a later re-release and subsequent television showings. It certainly wasn't 80 years old back then and there were no millennials. It's simply a film that doesn't resonate well with everybody.



Ugh, how do you know why it flopped? It can also be argued that it was more zany than audiences were used to at the time which can be evidenced by various reviews of all time.

But by all means continue bashing my nom for no reason it's just making me not want to post in or read my own thread.



Ugh, how do you know why it flopped? It can also be argued that it was more zany than audiences were used to at the time which can be evidenced by various reviews of all time.

But by all means continue bashing my nom for no reason it's just making me not want to post in or read my own thread.
I never said nor meant to imply that I know why it initially flopped. I was simply pointing that out as a counter to Guap's argument that the age of the film has something to do with people's reactions here.

I'm sorry if my comments offend you.



I never said nor meant to imply that I know why it initially flopped. I was simply pointing that out as a counter to Guap's argument that the age of the film has something to do with people's reactions here.

I'm sorry if my comments offend you.
As i just said to Raul i nominated it so it's fair game but bashing it all over the site at any chance you get is getting extremely tiring. I didn't like The Dead GIrl but i'm not saying it's awful at every chance and the only other person i remember this happening to in one of these is Guap with his Anime and i always felt bad for him. Not trying to gag anyone but it would be nice if it wasn't so relentless making this a very uncomfortable thread for me to open.



"All over the site?"

I've talked about it here and in my Movie Log where I also posted a review, just as I've done with all of the other nominations for this. I also mentioned it when you asked for a Worst Movies list.

Have I missed something?

ETA: I just did a search and, aside from a few years-old posts where I said that I've seen it but remember little about it, the only other place I mentioned it was in the Movie Tab, where I listed it along with everything else I'd watched last month.

In the future, if you have a problem with something I've said please tell me right away. I can't read your thoughts.





The Dead Girl (2006)
Dir. Karen Moncrieff
Starring: Brittany Murphy, Mary Beth Hurt, Toni Collette

I think I was expecting this to be more suspenseful than it ultimately was. As with most anthology films, some of the segments were more interesting than others, and unfortunately I think the film opened with the worst one. I didn't like that character, the weird supermarket guy, and I kind of wish she'd really committed and stabbed her mother to death with that broken glass before she ran off. At least the opening story did serve to temper my expectations, and it did establish a tone and thematic elements that remained consistent throughout the remaining story pieces.

I never really connected with any of the characters, so it was hard to really get invested in the drama. I could've done without The Stranger, and probably a little less of The Wife, but I actually would've liked to see a more fleshed-out version of The Sister, even though that character's story is more detached than the following segments. It seemed to deal with different emotions than the rest of the film, which is probably why it stands out to me, and why I'd like to see her struggles developed further.

I rather liked the end Dead Girl story, but I think it would've been more effective if her death wasn't revealed at the very start of the film. If we got to see portions of her story in between the others, it might've been a more effective mystery. But then again that might ruin the intentions of the film. I can't say I dislike The Dead Girl, but it didn't really do anything to impress me either.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
For what it's worth, anybody can read this about Bringing Up Baby at Wikipedia:

RKO producers expressed concerns about the film's delays and expense, coming 40 days over schedule and $330,000 over budget, and also disliked Grant's glasses and Hepburn's hair. The film's final cost was $1,096,796.23, primarily due to overtime clauses in Hawks', Grant's and Hepburn's contracts. The film's cost for sets and props was only $5,000 over budget, but all actors (including Nissa [the leopard] and Skippy [the dog "Asta"]) were paid approximately double their initial salaries. Hepburn's salary rose from $72,500 to $121,680.50, Grant's salary from $75,000 to $123,437.50 and Hawks' salary from $88,046.25 to $202,500. The director received an additional $40,000 to terminate his RKO contract on March 21, 1938.

The film received good advance reviews; Otis Ferguson of The New Republic thought the film very funny, praising Hawks' direction. Variety praised the film, singling out Hawks' pacing and direction, calling Hepburn's performance "one of her most invigorating screen characterizations" and saying Grant "performs his role to the hilt"; their only criticism was the length of the jail scene. Film Daily called it "literally a riot from beginning to end, with the laugh total heavy and the action fast." Harrison's Reports called the film "An excellent farce" with "many situations that provoke hearty laughter," and John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote that both stars "manage to be funny" and that Hepburn had never "seemed so good-natured." However, Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times disliked the film, considering it derivative and cliché-ridden, a rehash of dozens of other screwball comedies of the period. He labeled Hepburn's performance "breathless, senseless, and terribly, terribly fatiguing", and added, "If you've never been to the movies, Bringing Up Baby will be new to you – a zany-ridden product of the goofy-farce school. But who hasn't been to the movies?"

Despite Bringing Up Baby's reputation as a flop, it was successful in some parts of the U.S. The film premiered on February 16, 1938 at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco (where it was a hit), and was also successful in Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C.. However, it was a financial disappointment in the Midwest, as well as most other cities in the country, including NYC; to RKO's chagrin, the film's premiere in New York on March 3, 1938 at Radio City Music Hall made only $70,000 and it was pulled after one week in favor of Jezebel with Bette Davis.

During its first run, Bringing Up Baby made $715,000 in the U.S. and $394,000 in foreign markets for a total of $1,109,000; its reissue in 1940 and 1941 made an additional $95,000 in the US and $55,000 in foreign markets. Following its second run, the film made a profit of $163,000. Due to its perceived failure, Hawks was released early from his two-film contract with RKO and Gunga Din was eventually directed by George Stevens.[46] Hawks later said the film "had a great fault and I learned an awful lot from that. There were no normal people in it. Everyone you met was a screwball and since that time I learned my lesson and don't intend ever again to make everybody crazy". The director went on to work with RKO on three films over the next decade. Long before Bringing Up Baby's release, Hepburn had been branded "box-office poison" by Harry Brandt (president of the Independent Theatre Owners of America) and thus was allowed to buy out her RKO contract for $22,000. However, many critics marveled at her new skill at low comedy; Life magazine called her "the surprise of the picture". Hepburn's former boyfriend Howard Hughes bought RKO in 1941, and sold it in 1959; when he sold the company, Hughes retained the copyright to six films (including Bringing Up Baby).
__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page



Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

I kind of liked this one. It had some cool ideas going on, but I was not totally on board with it. I did like Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer in this. I thought both made greatly fun characters, who had oodles of chemistry together. I like the light comic elements and the overall story plot was good too. And I like Michelle Monaghan who held her own with Downey and Kilmer. I just didn't love the movie, a bit too violent for a story with comic elements. It felt like it wanted to be too many things, to too many different people. I'll give it bonus points for the Christmas theme





Nothing good comes from staying with normal people
Good bye Lenin! (2003) Dir. Wolfgang Brecker (rewatch)


Wait...where did his legs go?

Contains spoilers! Be warned!

A drama/comedy about the life of a family bereft of a husband/father and the mother's deep involvment in their communistic home nation, along with her children's desperate attempts to keep her alive with the lie that her DDR still exists.

Set in East Germany in the late 1980s, a young man living with his mother and sister gets his world turned upside down when his mother, after watching him get arrested at a protest rally, suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma. 8 months pass as she misses the total collaps of East Germany. When she finally wakes, doctors advise the siblings not to let her suffer any form of shock, as the next heart attack would prove fatal. Cue a plan that entails digging through thrash for empty cucumber containers, producing fake news segments and bribing young boys to sing communist anthems.

I think it's been a decade since I saw this last, but alot of the films central plot still clung to my memory. I had the basics; father fleeing to West Germany, mother getting heavily involved with the communist system, the son's attempts at keeping the truth form her etc. As I remembered it though, she was under for way longer. I had it at three years or something, which I believed was supported by everything that happend in the time she was out cold. The sister finding a guy, quitting school, getting a job, the guy moving in, the son finding a girl...all this, plus all the big, political stuff that's the real important things. Then they just drop that it's only been 8 months and I go WHAT?! It feels so rushed, they could just as easely started a bit further back in time and let it take 18 months and I wouldn't have had a problem.

I liked Alex's (Daniel Brühl) friend with dreams of becoming a director. He lent some comedic relief to a movie tackling a heavy subject (even if there were a somewhat light tone to the film, it was nice to actually have some true comedic moments) and made possible the fake broadcastings that otherwise might've sunk the entire scheme before it got underway. I missed some backstory on Lara (Chulpan Khamatova) and some more time spent just with Alex and her on their own. The subplot with the father coming back was a bit weak and I'd rather seen the time spent on them. The father could just have been the background villian of the piece, really nothing more than the catalyst for the
mother's deepening dependance on the glory of the state. A kind of "this is why we are in this situation" type of deal.

While we're on the mother (played by Katrin Sass), she did alot with what few things she got to do. In the beginning she had a more active role, but after the heart attack she got relegated to the bed and didn't move much. She had to be expressive without useing much body language, somthing alot harder to do than it sounds. Nevertheless, she did her job, avoiding becoming a weak nothing in a bed like most sick people in movies, and getting through some strength to her character with face, voice and minimal gestureing alone.

All in all a good movie with some issues with the pacing and a somwhat weak middle ending.
__________________
Why not just kill them? I'll do it! I'll run up to Paris - bam, bam, bam, bam. I'm back before week's end. We spend the treasure. How is this a bad plan?



...all this, plus all the big, political stuff that's the real important things. Then they just drop that it's only been 8 months and I go WHAT?! It feels so rushed, they could just as easely started a bit further back in time and let it take 18 months and I wouldn't have had a problem.
But things did change that drastically in such a short period of time for East Germany. It was a huge culture shock for many people. The film was very accurate in that regard.



THE DEAD GIRL
2006



During my viewing of The Dead Girl I wasn't exactly the alive boy I hoped to be, being completely obsessed and impressed with what I was seeing, but instead I think my expectations alienated my mind a bit – both in terms of themes, message and story. Because of what I had heard, read and imagined, I expected this movie to be a mystery of sorts, with suspense and tension throughout. Instead I got a drama with an underlying thriller atmosphere, but the mystery angle was second-hand to the emotional elements, which is what this movie is really about… We are introduced to a dead body when a young girl stumbles over it by chance, but what follows is a cascade of loosely connected stories that all have an emotional though not necessarily essential connection to the dead girl…

The Stranger
As all of you know, this is an anthology of stories and the first segment is about a young woman, who has lived her entire live quietly and without much connection to the outside world. A lot of that has to do with her mother, who she is taking care of. The mother is very dominating and almost devilish, which would explain her upbringing and who she has grown into as an adult. So when she becomes a minor celebrity after discovering the dead girl, the fame gets her attention in ways she isn't used to. This segment was probably my least favorite, but it did set up the whole story, and the psychological state of the woman was interesting though slightly off-putting to say the least. I did like how this story tricked us with a simple title, where The Stranger quickly turned to the murderer in our mind and the man she met was definitely unstable enough to convince us. But as I said, the dead girl was simply a spark to ignite the story of a woman's personal struggles and state of mind, which is also the basics of how this movie progresses.

The Sister
The next story, dubbed The Sister, is about a young woman and her family, whose life is turned upside down, when the dead woman from the first segment is brought to the morgue and has a striking similarity with the sister of the leading woman in this story, who disappeared several years ago. The family has never given up hope, after their little girl disappeared fifteen years ago, which have them prepping posters and the likes to keep her spirit, and theirs too, alive. This segment deals with the struggles and inner pain of people directly related to a (possibly) dead body such as the one the movie depicts. We don't know if the dead and the missing girl are the same, at least not at the beginning, but that isn't important. Again, the importance lies with the psychological and emotional state of each and every character, with this one being on a more personal level and deal with the thoughts and feelings of not knowing for so long and all of which has built up inside you, which is then forced to be front and center after all these years, when the smallest of chances come forward. I liked this segment and thought it was a great aspect of the story in terms of the emotional drive and what happens to people when they lose someone close to them.

The Wife
The third segment flips the story on us, with the first segment being that of a woman coincidently finding the dead body, the next about the people possibly connected to the dead body and this segment about the person who purposely put it there to begin with. That said, we don't know that for sure yet, but as it was the case with the previous segment, the importance is what aspect of the case this story presents – and this is about the (possible) murderer of the dead body. The story focuses on the double life of a killer and how he must keep things hidden for The Wife, but he has been doing it for so long that he begins to get both old, sloppy and also indifferent towards his wife's opinions when he leaves the house. The two of them clearly had a long relationship, which hasn't been functioning for years, and the story is about the challenges faced by the killer, his life companion and their past, present and future. I actually liked this story a lot, because it felt relatable and real to me. The state of the killer's role as a murderer, a husband and as a person are all falling apart, and when the wife finds out, it also tests the love for her husband – which has clearly been crumbling, yet surely it seems like they had countless of years together, which does make decisions hard to make – especially since the story clearly shows her far from dominate role in the relationship. It is obvious the thing about the husband going out has been a long time thing, yet it is also clear she hasn't been doing anything about it either. This segment really tests the limits of love, life and human emotions and the slow-burning subtlety of the story is great.

The Mother
The next segment is close to the second segment about the sister, yet still flips it around. They are similar in the way that they both deal with possible family relations to the dead body, only this one turns out to be a sad cold fact. The Mother is also different since it focuses on a mother's thoughts and feelings rather than the more youthful and sibling-based segment of The Sister. And of course, being the actual truth is something very different. This segment also focuses on the unknown, but not whether the dead body is connected to the main character or not, but the part about not knowing as much about your own child as you thought. The segment sees the mother of the dead girl go out and seek answers, which makes her run into her work partner, roommate and implied lover. Things about both past, present and future are revealed and the mother struggles to overcome grief while also having to face facts, that are not exactly easy to endure. It really is a story about a mother picking up the puzzle pieces of a daughter she hardly knew and the challenges she faces about how to move on, especially since she finds out her "little girl" has a daughter somewhere out there too – the only thing that is truly connected to the spirit of her dead daughter. I liked this segment quite a bit too, especially the bleaker and more helpless approach to grief and the mother's situation.

The Dead Girl
The last segment, which is also the title of the movie, is about The Dead Girl herself, though focusing on the time before her death of course. This segment is in many ways the most important one, at least in terms of what the basics of the story sets up in the first segment and what every other segment has been either loosely or directed related and leading up to up until now. Of course, as stated earlier, it became obvious that the story was more about each and every individual and how such a situation personally effected them, rather than the situation itself, yet it is obviously still important to close the case and reveal the actual "mystery". But that is also the problem for me; the last segment felt like an epilogue that was more important than enjoyable and the conclusion was more obvious than overwhelming or surprising. The director chose to end the film a little too safely for my taste, but I guess it is fitting for the film and story after all. However, I kind of wanted some of the underlying mystery surrounding the depths of her death to be revealed and the tension relieved, instead of just ending the movie as dead-on direct as the actual beginning – and with the anthology-style filmmaking, the movie doesn’t really have a curve of tension or proper progress either. Again, predictable and pale as it may be, the important elements are everything in between and the individual pieces rather than the bigger picture. That was something I really enjoyed despite wanting a more complete cinematic conclusion.

To be honest, the movie actually grew on me right after the end credits, and furthermore as I discussed the film throughout this review, as well as doing so in this manner. By realizing the purpose and pointing out every individual element to the story, I actually enjoyed the character puzzle piece and acting showcase that this movie turned into. I still wished for a better mystery, but in a way, the depths of the human heart and mind might actually be the biggest mystery of them all…



+



Nothing good comes from staying with normal people
But things did change that drastically in such a short period of time for East Germany. It was a huge culture shock for many people. The film was very accurate in that regard.
Topsy
Yeah, even knowing as little as I do about the time in Germany, it didn't feel rushed to me.
But...8 months...ngh...bu...*sighs* Fine, the compression of so much happening in their personal lives over such a narrow window does work as an allegory for what's happening in the country at large. You're right, I take back my complaint.


But I still think the part with the dad returning was sub par



Her


I was never all that interested in seeing this movie for a couple of reasons. For one, I thought it would be quirky. Well, I didn't find it quirky at all. Two, I don't like what the story is about. That has nothing to do with the movie. I'm one of those people who doesn't like technology, and who thinks that life was better before computers and cell phones. This issue was quickly forgotten about once the movie started. If I was the casting director, I never would have thought of Phoenix for the lead role. He is easily one of the best active actors, but it was hard for me to picture him as the nerd type. He's brilliant as it turns out, and was surprisingly well suited for the role. I don't think any of the supporting performances especially stand out, but they're all good. The most important part of this movie to me, even more so than the lead performance, is could I believe in what I was seeing. Yes, I very much believed that the guy could fall for his computer. I don't know if there could be any circumstance that I could, but I'd bet a million dollars that if I had a relationship like that now, my wife would get insanely jealous and angry. The movie is very good technically, and has well placed humor. The back/present story with the wife was very effective. I loved over half the movie. If there was a negative for me, it's that I thought the movie peaked too early. It's very quick that Samantha is introduced, and very quick that they fall in love. Around the time that the surrogate sex partner leaves, I thought the movie lost a little steam. It's not that I didn't think the rest of the movie wasn't decent, but I didn't think it matched what I thought was bordering on brilliant up until then. Overall, an excellent movie and nomination.

+



THE FLOWERS OF WAR


As i started this movie i realised that i had tried to watch it before but for whatever reason never got past the opening.
I know this movie is based on a novel inspired by the diaries of Minnie Vautrin but i dont know how much of it is true.

I wasnt sure if I would like the american/chinese mix or if it would be too hollywoodnized.And Im still not 100% sure.
I think its beautifully shot and staged,as is the make up and clothing.
I wasnt too keen on some of the slow motion shots though,and felt they were too slow insted of having it just linger for a moment for impact. when the young girl was shot through the window,i feel like it would have been more shocking and would have taken me off guard alot more had it been more realistic/fast paced insted.
I thought Christian Bale was wonderful as was the young boy-i really liked the scene in the beginning with the picture of the priest
I actually preferred the love story that seemed to be brewing between wo and the chinese soldier in the beginning though. I didnt really think the love story between john and mo was needed,and the love scene before getting her ready to be sent of to be raped didnt really connect with me and felt a bit forced-Gotta get that love scene in there!
I thought the simple use of music was great,i particularly liked the score where the two girls who went back for the gitar strings were attacked-and thought that was a great segment in general-though heartbreaking.
I like that they didnt opt for a feel good ending,and really liked the way they ended it though i would have liked to know what happened to them,but i guess its fitting as many destinys from that time are unknown.


__________________
Britney is my favorite



THE FLOWERS OF WAR

I wasnt sure if I would like the american/chinese mix or if it would be too hollywoodnized.


I thought Christian Bale was wonderful as was the young boy-i really liked the scene in the beginning with the picture of the priest

i would have liked to know what happened to them,but i guess its fitting as many destinys from that time are unknown.

Glad you watched it this time around

There were a lot of Americans doing business in China's big cities in the late 30s, which is before the American's entered into WWII. I've seen a couple other movies about westerners in China during the war. So yea it did happen. People get trapped behind lines so to speak and then can't leave the country. There were even more British in China at that time, then Americans.

The young boy who played the assistant to the priest was the best actor in the movie. He blew me out of the water.

SPOILER*** about the ending, what happen to the girls and the boy? Well they were armed with broken shards of glass as weapons, so safe to say whatever happened to them, wasn't good.