14th Hall of Fame

you're much too kind, @Joel -- THANK YOU

Barton Fink

The Coens had no problem letting their influences be known in this film. I saw Kubrick and Lynch for sure, and I am also sure that I missed some others that might have been obvious. For Kubrick the influence, I noticed the way the hallway was shot being a lot like hallways in 2001 and The Shining. It was also mentioned earlier that thee color scheme was influenced by The Shining, and I'd agree with that wholeheartedly. Lynch's sense of humor and use of sound was pretty clear too. The echoing ringing of the bell and buzzing of the mosquito reminded me of the uncomfortable noises in Eraserhead. Plus, I mean, just look at Turturro's hair. Despite taking major and obvious influences from those two guys, this film still feels like an original work that simultaneously feels familiar and unique.

love the perspective you took on your review, JJ. Great stuff.

I'm gonna watch Night on Earth tonight and probably The Hurricane on the weekend, which should put me up to 8/12 by the end of this weeka

I've had a much, much busier week than anticipated. I haven't even had time to watch any of my regular tv shows. Hopefully things will be back on track next week, and I can finally get back to watching films for this. I know I'm not actually behind, but I feel like I haven't participated in ages.

__________________

M has been seen by 11 out of 12 members. Contratiempo and Passengers are next in line with 8!

The Hurricane (1999) : First of all, I'll open up by saying I strongly dislike when films skew historical facts solely for dramatic purposes. I consider this a serious detriment to biopics and from what I have read online and suspected from the get go, "The Hurricane" is largely fictionalized and nonfactual work. I wouldn't have a problem if this was presented as an original story, but marketing the film as a biopic, while dealing with such controversial and sensitive topic is to me an irresponsible filmaking. Despite this issues, "The Hurricane" is an enjoyable film from a dramatic perspective . Denzel is a first class actor and starring in films that deal with racial issues was not a foreign territory to him. Especially noticable was the chemistry he shared with his fellow cast member ,Vicellous Reon Shannon. Other problems I'd like to point out to are subpar writing and ludicrous demonization of the police detective character. Screenwriters really pushed the envelope with Carter's quasi-philoshopical narration and the story even dipped into a cheesy territory later on, which definitely didn't fit with the established theme. Anyhow, this is a watchable but fundamentally flawed flick.

La Grande Illusion (1937) : Jean Renoir's "La Grande Illusion" is oftenly cited as one of the greatest films ever made. While I don't believe that its astronomical reputation is quite justified, I can still easily recognize moments of greatness surrounding this piece. I'm afraid, I don't have much to note, except the fact that I found Renoir's exploration of socio-economic differences very intriguing. Primarily manifested through contrast between Marechal and De Boldieu and different treatment they receive from Captain von Rauffenstein. Despite sharing the same military rank, one is an aristocrat and the other is proleterian, their education level and devotion to social conventions is drastically different, so it comes no suprise that De Boldieu is the one worthy of Rauffenstein's respect. Nonetheless, de Boldieu is depicted as an honourable man prepared to sacrifice his life for his two comrades of a lower class. To me this was a way for Renoir to foreshadow inevitable fall of the aristocracy and plead for collegiality and eqality amongst all. What makes this film special is director's unmistakable love for humanity no matter the nationality. The way he sculptured his characters as highly moral and compassionate men who genuinely detest war and recognize its pointlesness and simultaneously emphasized focus on a regular soldier stuck in a crossfire was a very clever and cynical critique of oppresive political ideologies, radical nationalism and war in general. It is just easily to admire " La Grande Illusion " for its thematical richness and historical significance, even though it doesn't evoke interest at every single scene.

Sidenote : I found the cross-dressing skit scene very amusing. Supposedly this was very standard for English men at the beggining of the 20th century.

Night on Earth (1991)

Night on Earth is Jim Jarmusch's 1991 anthology comedy-drama about taxi drivers and their passengers in five different cities around the world. This was another film I went into blind, but I quite enjoyed it.

Los Angeles: The weakest of the bunch. The plot of the segment was generally quite uninteresting and Winona Ryder seemed to be a strange choice to play a tomboy taxi driver, however Gene Rowlands was quite decent. -

New York: Quite a strong segment. Giancarlo Esposito and Armin Mueller-Stahl were solid as the passenger and driver respectively. The plot was also quite interesting and had some great humour. -

Paris: Pretty nice segment. The cast was quite good and plot was nice. Not much else to say. -

Rome: Favourite of the bunch. Roberto Benigni was absolutely hilarious as the eccentric cabbie who confesses his sins to his priest passenger. The film is probably worth a watch just for this and the New York segments alone. -

Helsinki: Another relatively strong segment about three workers, one of whom has been fired returning home in the early hours of morning. The story told by the driver was quite depressing and moving, but I thought this was definitely the best segment to end the film on -

Overall, quite a solid film and nomination for this Hof.

__________________
Letterboxd

I knew absolutely nothing about this movie going in, not even if it had a conventional narrative. The American poster is extremely misleading making it look like some sort of family friendly fairy tale. This is a dark movie for the most part and I thought it was pretty amazing. For the first 45 minutes or so I thought it was a comedy, and it reminded me somewhat of a Wes Anderson movie with it's quirky ways. I was disappointed when the shift in tone came, but thankfully that disappointment was short lived. No need I don't think to discuss the plot, but I will say that there was a brilliant combination of emotion, intensity, and humor. This was one of the most unique movies I've seen with just the right amount of strange. Part of the oddity I could have done without, most notably the whole special powers thing, but fortunately it didn't hurt my viewing experience. I give the movie a 10 out of 10 for showing me a different way of life in a different world. I was fascinated and glued to the screen. It looked perfect and the performances were terrific. There are some absolutely brilliant scenes. I think this was a great nomination.

@Jeff Costello, haven't seen The Hurricane but I did find a copy but the audio was terrible so I'll be seeing it later and I've heard that about it more based on than actual. Even the opening at least expresses that things are changed for dramatic purposes, so I see how this will be. Did see a number of actors I really enjoy are in it.
VERY happy to see you enjoyed La Grande Illusion, and the social interactions are definitely what this movie seems to be about.

Great review @Yam12. There seems to be a definite agreement about Ryder being an odd pick for a tomboy/mechanic cab driver. I seem to be the exceptional. Thought she fit rather well. But that's me.

@cricket. I'm very intrigued to see Time of Gypsies, I was able to check out the opening 15 odd minutes or so last night and looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

@cricket

I suspected you'd appreciate " Time of the Gypsies" and I'm very glad you did ! Now that my nomination has found a fan, I can already proclaim it as a success. Also I'll take liberty to suggest you " Black Cat, White Cat " an absrudist crime comedy that pairs extremely well with TOFTG. I watched them back to back and it was amazing. The gypsies are main protagonists and Kusturica's chaotic carnival is present once again. I think you'll like it.

I put that on my watchlist although I tend to prefer lowbrow American humor. I was quite surprised the comedy in Time of the Gypsies was so effective for me.

Black Cat, White Cat is definitely more comedy oriented than TOTG. While the bottom film evokes much respect, BCWC is just straight up hilarious and entertaining. In a lot of ways, it's like a slapstick on steroids, highly imaginative and unpredictable.

@Jeff Costello Love BCWC. Got the soundtrack on my ipod.

Awesome ! As far as I can tell every Kusturica's film has a strong soundtrack, but by far my favourite song he used is " Ederlezi " during the river scene in " Time of the Gypsies ". I just love it. Did you see any other films by the director, Cat ?

A few. Arizona Dream, Time of the Gypsies and Underground. I should track down more as I like what I have seen a great deal.

I download lone star

__________________

We are now at 75 reviews and we are over halfway done!!!!

Black Snake Moan for me today.

Black Snake Moan



Christina Ricci

She was great and looked great obviously as well. She really had her role down to a T. It was a good performance given what she had to work with.






The problem is, she didn't have much to work with. The screenplay didn't convey a story I particularly cared about or found interesting. I've never been a big fan of Sam Jackson, and while he wasn't absolutely terrible, it wasn't anything that I cared for either. The problem lies in the story and the directing for me. Obviously not a believable story and it wasn't intended to be, but then it at least needs to be interesting and it wasn't at the least. I couldn't connect to any of the characters (while Ricci was good, it was hard to connect with her) and I will say that while not in the film long, I found Justin Timberlake to be pure garbage. I also didn't think the chemistry between the actors was there at all. While I have enjoyed most of Miss Vicky's Hall of Fame nominations (surprisingly, although she hasn't enjoyed mine ) this was certainly not one of them.

Yep, I knew you'd hate it.

__________________