14th Hall of Fame

Me too. I went to watch The Grand Illusion the other night as I had saved the movie, only to find out that there were no subtitles

Exactly what I did

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"I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me" (Frank Costello)

sorry to hear people are having trouble finding my nomination
should really double check and be sure there are options out there when nominating. Yam is having that issue as well and I haven't any luck finding a link for it either.

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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

It's $1.99 Standard def or $4 or so HD on youtube//not too shabby

It's. On. FilmStruck.

No worries Ed. I will find a way to watch your film and besides any movie could be hard for another person to find. I'm surprised my library doesn't have it.

I try to be sure that there are ways to see a film when I normally nominate something, but I think I was more excited about coming across the film than double checking as well.

I'll hopefully be watching another Hof film tonight, I'm not sure which...either Lone Star or Night on Earth. But I've seen and liked Night on Earth so I might just watch that one in 4 different parts on 4 nights.

I misspoke..it's $1.99 to watch on youtube, SD only...$7.99 to buy in SD.

I really liked this nom, and I was thinking all night just what I would write in my review. So this morning, I started looking for a photo for this...and was saddened to learned that Elizabeth Peña, who I really like, had passed in 2014. I never knew that, now I'm quite bummed to learn she's gone

During the movie it was Elizabeth's character that I cared most for. I don't know what it is about her, but she has this genuineness feeling about her, combined with warmth, that makes her stand out...In Lone Star it was her character who's life I was most interested in.

I liked Otis 'Big O' (Ron Canada) too, he seemed interesting and I liked his story line both in the past and present. In fact that's what I liked about this film is that we get a mix of the town's folk stories. I would have skipped the army base, side story and gave that air time to Elizabeth Pena's story.

Oh, I loved the amazing scene transitions from present day to past. Very cool and stylish how the movie flowed from present day to past events...and looked like it was done in one seamless shot. Very impressive cinematography, throughout the film.

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had no idea she had died a few years back, that is sad news. And like you, CR, she always had "something" you connected with in her roles.
Really loved her in this movie.

I had no idea about Pena either. I knew her as the hot housekeeper in Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it and got something out of it! Yeah, when she died I was kind of surprised. Too young. What did you think of Chris Cooper in this movie?

People, yours truly informed you all about this in 2014:

R.I.P. Elizabeth Peña

And I said in that thread that I didn't know who she was until recently, but I saw Down and Out in Beverly Hills multiple times prior to that. I think I just didn't know who the housekeeper was at the time.

I thought he was good, because he was understated in his acting and so seemed like a real person. I like his 'quiet' performance. The only performance I didn't like was his ex wife who had some sort of medical/mental condition. Her style of acting seemed to belong in another type of film, she played her part too 'big'. Luckily she had like only 2 minutes of screen time, so didn't effect my opinion of the movie.

Frances McDormand, wishing she was in Fargo still haha. Yeah, I noticed that now that you mentioned it. She's married to Joel Coen. I agree that the army bas subplot could have afforded to be either cut down or eliminated..I always noticed, even though it was good, tonally it didn't help the almost strictly tex-mex mood of the film. And I really hope I don;t get bashed for being racist by saying that because I'm talking about Joe Morton's stiff acting (on purpose, of course).

I tried to get to Black Snake Moan today but I didn't have time. That one will be next, possibly on Sunday.

I was able to get to Black Snake Moan. . .






Black Snake Moan

As stated at the start of this, I own this movie and have seen it a number of times and really liked the opportunity to watch this again, since it has been a while.

This movie, at it's core is about broken individuals and the pain of love, which is explained in the opening with Son House, talking about "only one kind of Blues,".

For Jackson's character it's his wife leaving him for his brother.
For Ricci's character it is something far more traumatizing and the result of which causes severe, fevered-frenzied episodes.

The two meet at the worst of times and Lazarus, (Jackson) sees this as a cathartic situation and acts, to his mind, accordingly.

What comes of this, with the aid of some very cool blues music is something best seen than attempted to be explained. Simply because, much like the terrible marketing of this film, to describe what occurs; through the pain and through the turmoil of what is broken within, seems to fall short of the journey that both characters go on, in Lazarus' shack.
And, like any emotional journeys, there are hard moments and some tinged with a dark humor; all of which are done quite well. Without glamorizing, soap box preaching or any kind of pretentiousness.
Much like Blues Music there is a sexually charged atmosphere to this movie and, like the Blues, there is a testimony to the pain and to working through it.

Glad to hear this is a movie you enjoy, @Miss Vicky, as do I. And of course, thank you for nominating it.

Legendary review, Ed! Nicely done, sir.