The 12th Hall of Fame

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Not really sure HOW to proceed with this review.
Most of which is kinda common knowledge: Had never been a fan of Anderson. I had struggled through many of his movies from the very first: Bottle Rocket, until I had simply given up on him, somewhere around Darjing. His humor seemed a little too off kilter and awkward for my tastes and things always seemed to drag to near standstill for me. Finally accepting the fact that, apparently, Anderson was not for me.

Then, on an impulse, having read a couple of favorable reviews here, I took a chance on Budapest and for me, EVERY thing worked this time around. I laughed, I got caught up in the characters, the pacing was ideal and the imagery was fantastic to behold.
With every rewatch I fell more and more in love with this movie. At one point posting "It's official, this is a 5 out of 5 popcorn for me."

Which is why, for my first HOF I chose a movie that truly surprised me and caused me a complete 180 instead of an old time favorite or some hidden gem.

**** Of course, I wish to, once again, apologize to Miss Vicky for putting her through YET ANOTHER ANDERSON and bless her for subjecting herself to watching it. You truly have my respect for all the films that are out of your comfort zone that you have watched in the past. (It was one of the things that truly stuck with me reading your review thread) It is not an easy thing and I rarely do such myself, having reached a point in my life (over 50 yrs old) where, if I don't enjoy a film I won't sit through it.
So, while I know it means little to you, I still want to applaud you for it, all the same. *****

Well, enough of the @ss kissing -- and in closing, I thank myself for nominating this and, as with every viewing, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thank you, and good night

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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

I loved this movie. I found it utterly charming. Nice change from my usual shoot em up violence packed movies.

Well at least you picked the least sucky one I've seen. So I guess there's that.

__________________

there is that

The cooking scene was awesome. If I was to watch one of the Hof movies over, it would be yours, The City of Lost Children.

I intend to, myself

Just a suggestion Ed, try the English dub and see what you think...It worked on the spaghetti westerns.

Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek, 2010)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/09/17
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 12th Hall of Fame, Citizen Rules's nomination
Rewatch: No

I struggled a little with this one. There were some parts of it that I really liked and some parts that bugged me. I thought the basic idea of it and its attempt to examine what it means to live, to love, and to be human were very good. The performances were also solid and I did find myself shedding a tear or two by the end.

However, the sort of incongruity between the setting of the film and level of advancement in medical technology bugged. There were also times when I felt like the story was a little too heavy on the drama. I get that the characters find themselves in a pretty shtty situation but I also found it odd that a film that focuses so much on the soul is so devoid of humor. It also bothered me that they so willingly accepted their fates. I know that they were conditioned to do so by their upbringing and their isolation but they just seemed to have no fight in them, even Tommy's pitiful rage at the end - when he can no longer continue to foster any hope for his situation - just seemed weak. Impotent.

And in some ways that's kind of how I felt about the film overall. It had promise, but didn't quite meet the potential that I think is there. Still, I can't deny that I did enjoy it for the most part.

-

at our house we always use subs so I'm pretty good at catching both words and what's going on. Also enjoy hearing different languages spoken with a few exceptions when dubbed works better - I may just try your suggestion just to see.. . thanks


@ Vicky: I know what you mean about just how very submissive they were. I had a little trouble with that as well and I like your point about there being no laughter.
I kinda wondered if the gentleman who wrote the initial story was going for something a little more grander, in regards to mortality. I did post a very short interview with him in this thread, back on page 34, here it is:

You liked it more than I thought you would Miss Vicky, nice to see it.

@Vicky & Ed...I might have said this before but, I believe their submissiveness is indicative of Japaneses culture and was the author's way of exploring his own feelings on that subject. He's Japanese.

I disagree, any light humor or laughter would take the somber tone down a notch. I think the lack of any lightness is meant to put an emotional burden on the viewer, so that you feel as bleak as the characters do.

I definitely see the reasoning behind setting an emotional burden on the viewer and I'd be the equivalent of a backseat driver to suggest how a moment's lightness could even more establish and secure that we, the viewers, empathize that bleakness. So that would simply be a circular discussion

And i do remember you talking about the author, which is why i dug up the short snippet from previously, thanks for re-mentioning it.

To me, a little bit of light humor would've made them feel more real to me - more human. I think I would've felt more for their plight had they been more rounded and realized characters. Like I said, I get that they're in a crap situation, but they're just so damned mopey that it makes me want them to live a little less.

Sorry if there's an answer to this already but did anybody find the original versions of Man from Nowhere and The City of Lost Children? I refuse to watch dubbed movies.

Man From Nowhere is on Netflix's DVD section if that's helpful

If someone hasn't already i'll send you links later Neiba. Unless you don't want to watch them online let me know.

U-Turn

I got pretty frustrated with this film. For every great thing about it, there was something grating to counteract it. It's very offbeat, and that's usually a good quality for me, but at times it goes too far with it. With a film like this there is a fine line between effective quirkiness and annoying. J-Lo was annoying, Mr. Pheonix was great. I could see others having the reverse opinion. Somebody in the thread was asking if this was supposed to be a comedy, and I think it definitely is supposed to be a black comedy. It seems to be trying to follow in the Tarantino and Coen footsteps of weird/quirky/black-comedy crime films. It never hits those highs, sadly. It's just too uneven. I wanted to like it at several points, but it never sustains itself.

You're killing it jj!

It's at my house right now

Shame you didn't like U Turn more, JJ. But at least you liked the most important part of it.