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09-10-17
Night on Earth


I forget who nominated everything so I'm sorry to whoever nominated this movie, because it didn't do much for me. I had only seen Dead Man previously from this director, and actually this movie is a huge improvement. After just these two movies, I really don't understand the appeal of the guy. I just don't see a lot of skill as a filmmaker. I loved the concept, but I didn't see much in the way of storytelling or dialogue. Like Dead Man, I hated the musical score. Unlike Dead Man, I really liked how this movie looked. Everything looked like I would think it should if I were there, very plain and average. Does the director deserve alot of credit for that? I don't know but I'll throw him a bone. It helped that there were multiple stories, because even though I wasn't thrilled with any of them, I had change to look forward to. The first one started off a bit promising but I thought Winona Ryder put forth a terrible performance, and I'm not a fan of hers anyway. The second started off poorly but then got pretty good only to be brought down by Rosie Perez. I like her in the right movie but here she seemed more like a sideshow. I think the episode would have been much better without the third character altogether. Getting into foreign lands for the next episodes livened things up for me. I thought episode 3 was consistently solid, but not especially memorable or noteworthy. Number 4 started well but it started to wear on me. Number 5 was my co-favorite with 3, but again, pretty unspectacular. I was amused at times during the movie and I didn't lose interest at least.

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Mantis Toboggan, MD
09-10-17

Lone Star (1996)


Lone Star is John Sayles' 1996 mystery drama which follows a Texas county sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) who discovers the bones of one his predecessors, the corrupt Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson) in the desert. The investigation leads Sam to discover that his late father, the well-liked sheriff Buddy Deeds (Matthew McConaughey) may have been responsible for the murder.

When I first did a quick read of this film before I watched it, both the plot and cast interested me and I was sure that this would become a favourite of mine. However after watching this I found myself quite disappointed. While the Sayles' direction was good and the editing was great, alongside the film having some good performances from the ensemble cast, I was unable to find many of the characters and their subplots uninteresting. If the film stayed as a murder mystery then I probably would've been more interested but instead it takes time away to focus on a number of stories about people in the town that I felt I couldn't identify with.

That's not to say the film had some strong points. Chris Cooper is great in his role as the protagonist while Kris Kristofferson is good as the corrupt sheriff in the past. There were also some good smaller roles from Frances McDormand and Matthew McConaughey, who I was disappointed to find wasn't in the movie as much as I thought he was going to be.

Overall, I found the film as having some good performances and being well directed, but the plot as a whole was quite slow and full of a number of subplots I simply couldn't invest myself into.
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09-11-17


'M' (1931)

'M' was a film that I had never heard of and before becoming a MoFo would probably have dismissed out of hand, but the last HoF and some other threads have given me a new appreciation of the older films.

Like some of the others that I have watched, i feel that the sets used and the style of filming used drew me in straight away.
It get's straight into the story, no character development or laying the groundwork. Straight into the plot, much like a play.

The film is initially about a serial killer, which is a dark place to start, but more dark themes pour out throughout the duration. It brought up in me questions, of blame and morality as well as looking at other such themes as justice and mental health.

'M' was like the film equivalent of a Dementor, it just sucked the joy out of my for the length of it's running time. There wasn't a lot of light in the darkness of this film, and with the lack of any character development, there wasn't anyone that I could find to look to for any sense of hope, save maybe the balloon seller.
This isn't a bad thing, as I believe that was the intention of the film. It is a dark film about a set of dark themes, and dark characters.



I appreciated the quality of the story, and although film making has moved on since this film was made, there are still some things that advances in technology can't help with.
Film is firstly about telling a story and in my opinion 'M' does that well.

I found the ending a little ambiguous and abrupt, but again I believe that this was intentionally so, but I could't help feeling a little frustrated.

I won't be rushing to watch 'M' again, but I am glad that I had the opportunity to watch it.

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Last edited by Sarge; 09-12-17 at 11:49 AM.



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2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
09-11-17
Here is where we are all at:

Rauldc 5/12
Citizen Rules 8/12
Yam12 5/12
Edarsenal 7/12
CosmicRunaway 6/12
Cricket 4/12
Nestorio 8/12
Sarge 2/12
Joel 6/12
Miss Vicky 7/12
Jeff Costello 3/12
Jiraffe 0/12



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09-11-17
Originally Posted by rauldc14
Here is where we are all at:

Rauldc 5/12
Citizen Rules 8/12
Yam12 5/12
Edarsenal 7/12
CosmicRunaway 6/12
Cricket 4/12
Nestorio 8/12
Sarge 2/12
Joel 6/12
Miss Vicky 7/12
Jeff Costello 3/12
Jiraffe 0/12
I should have 5; Mommy, The Invisible Guest, M, Night on Earth, and Black Snake Moan. I have seen Passengers recently enough to not watch it again. I want to talk about it more but I'm waiting until everyone has seen it.



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Mantis Toboggan, MD
09-11-17
Originally Posted by rauldc14
Here is where we are all at:

Rauldc 5/12
Citizen Rules 8/12
Yam12 5/12
Edarsenal 7/12
CosmicRunaway 6/12
Cricket 4/12
Nestorio 8/12
Sarge 2/12
Joel 6/12
Miss Vicky 7/12
Jeff Costello 3/12
Jiraffe 0/12
Seeing as Jiraffe hasn't seen anything yet I might hold off on Empire of Passion for now since either that or M would've been my next watch



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Noir Time
09-11-17
Originally Posted by rauldc14
Yeah, I won't watch Empire till last.
Oh rats, now you tell me I watched his nom last night, I liked it too. So I'll review it shortly and hopefully he stays in the Hof. I think others will like Empire of Passion.



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09-11-17
M



I have only seen two Lang films but I can tell that he is an extremely talented filmmaker. I had seen M before, but for some reason I remember it providing more thrills the last time. That being said, it's still certainly a respectable film. Lorre creepily plays the role of the murderer very well. The best thing about the film is what Lang does to make the story feel rather dark. When they chase Lorre's character and he turns the lights out when he is cornered, that is a brilliant scene. Equally as brilliant when Lorre's character sees the shadow of the girl in the window, then he follows her until her mother is with her. It's creepy, but great filmmkaing. I still like the ending, but I thought I liked it a tad more the first time around. Not an all time favorite but it is a film that seems rather important to film history.




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09-11-17


I liked this, it's beautiful filmed and set in 1895 rural Japan. That screen shot doesn't do the movie justice. It's a great image, but I couldn't find a high quality photo to use. But oh well, it gives you a visual on what the story is about....romance - murder - haunting - gossip - despair.

Empire of Passion is a Japanese tale of forbidden love and murder that focuses on the aftermath of two forlorn lovers after they commit murder so that they can be together. But do they look happy in that photo? Nope...this is a cautionary tale that reminded me of a classic Gothic ghost story. I thought it was well done, well acted. I loved the rural setting in Japan and I like the way the ghost was presented. Both the way he looked and the minimalist movements. The specter is forged out of guilt, and drives that guilt forward until it becomes stronger than love lust.

Empire of Passion...pulled me into it's world and held my attention, I found it intriguing and sorrowful. Good nom.


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Let the night air cool you off
09-11-17
I'm not out. I watched Fink, but haven't reviewed it yet. I've basically been living in the hospital since the middle of August. I'll get to the movies though.



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09-11-17
Originally Posted by jiraffejustin
I'm not out. I watched Fink, but haven't reviewed it yet. I've basically been living in the hospital since the middle of August. I'll get to the movies though.
Sorry to hear about the hospital.

But I'm glad that you're still in the Hof, because I think your nom, Empire of Passion will do pretty well here. I'm betting Cricket for sure likes it.
Last edited by Citizen Rules; 09-11-17 at 03:39 PM.



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09-11-17
Originally Posted by jiraffejustin
I'm not out. I watched Fink, but haven't reviewed it yet. I've basically been living in the hospital since the middle of August. I'll get to the movies though.
Sweet! Hope all is well now



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Mantis Toboggan, MD
09-11-17
Originally Posted by jiraffejustin
I'm not out. I watched Fink, but haven't reviewed it yet. I've basically been living in the hospital since the middle of August. I'll get to the movies though.
Sounds great. Hope you're well now and you start watching



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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
09-11-17
Originally Posted by jiraffejustin
I'm not out. I watched Fink, but haven't reviewed it yet. I've basically been living in the hospital since the middle of August. I'll get to the movies though.
sorry to hear that, hope you're doing better; take care
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09-11-17
I'm going to buy a chromecast device to snap onto my HDTV so I dont have to fudge around with a clunky laptop/VGA set up. My next watches will be a reclined event with Time for Gypsies and Night on Earth, followed by La Grande Illusion.



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Mantis Toboggan, MD
09-11-17


M (1931)


I've had this film on my watchlist for a while now and as a result I was looking forward to watching it. The plot is simple - it is about the manhunt for a child murderer who is being pursued by both the police and other criminals (something I quite liked and thought set this apart from other crime thrillers). This was my first film from Fritz Lang, whose direction of the movie was great. Another aspect of the film I thought was fantastic was the cinematography which looked great for the 1930s. Peter Lorre was absolutely phenomenal as the child murderer, particularly in one of the final scenes, which I won't describe in too much detail. Overall, this was an absolutely fantastic nomination, and I can definitely see the influence this film has had on future crime-thrillers.

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