17th MoFo Hall of Fame

Amelie-I watched this a couple years ago because of all the acclaim it gets, but I did not like it at all. I'm going to really psyche myself up to watch it again and hope for the best. There's been many movies I've watched for the second time in these HoFs where my opinion changed dramatically.

The Assassination of Jesse James-Haven't seen this but I've wanted to.

The Aviator-Scorsese is my favorite director and I love the cast. I watched it with my wife and neither one of us liked it. Hoping for another turnaround.

Day for Night-I watched it back for the 70's countdown when I was just starting to watch films like this. I thought it was quite good and it's a great movie for people who love movies.

The Dressmaker-Not familiar with it.

Ghostwatch-Not familiar with it.

Hawks and the Sparrows-I've seen a couple other movies from the director but I've never heard of this.

Incendies-Already on my watchlist.

The Innocents-A rare film that my wife enjoyed more than I did, and I thought it was terrific.

Lean on Pete-Never heard of it.

Let the Right One In-Liked it and was planning on seeing it again.

The Libertine-Heard of it but know nothing about it.

Lock Stock-Been a few years, but like Snatch, a favorite.

Rush-Thought it was good but it didn't leave a lasting impression.

Welcome to my world Usually I've not seen any of the noms, this time is an exception.

That's good advice, I think psyching one's self up can make a difference too.

Taking another look, I think I'd call The Innocents the favorite to win.

I've updated the second post to include collapsible lists where I will link people's write-ups. I've linked Cricket's write-up for Pixote. I've also updated that post to show who each film was nominated by.

I just finished watching my first film for this. I'll try to get a write up posted and linked later tonight. I'll be away from any internet connection for most of tomorrow, but will try to get any additional write-ups linked when I get back.

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Amelie - I saw this years ago so perhaps the older more mature version of me will enjoy it more.

The Assassination of Jesse James - Can't say I'm too crazy about a three hour meditation on Robert Ford and Jesse James.

The Aviator - <sigh> Raul picked my least favorite Scorsese film, still it'll do well.

Day for Night - I never actually made it to the end of this one, not my type of French New Wave

Incendies - Can't wait to rewatch this one.

The Innocents - Perhaps my fourth horror film in a row will be a winner. None of my Hall of Fame noms have faired well let's see if this breaks the curse. It's also one of the few nominations that is under two hours which I think it going to help.


Let the Right One In - @Pahak has finally nominated a film I'm going to give a good review to really looking forward to this one, I might save it for October 31st.


Lock Stock - I need to give this a second shot, I saw it the year it came out and I didn't care for it maybe on second viewing it will improve.

Rush - While some films are chores to get through for a second viewing this will not be. Best Ron Howard movie since Backdraft.



And here are the films I haven't seen yet



The Dressmaker - saw it on the women's countdown and it looked interesting.

Ghostwatch - Always wanted to see it, never had a copy, went ahead and bought a copy to play on my region free DVD player.

Hawks and the Sparrows - I like Passolini just picked up his box set during the Criterion sale this one has me intrigued.

Lean on Pete - This might be the dark horse of the competition

The Libertine - Looks pretty good

I never heard of Ghostwatch so no I did not nominate it, hahaha.

Seen 6, will revisit all of course. None that I hated.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

The Dressmaker (Jocelyn Moorhouse, 2015)
Imdb

Date Watched: 09/15/18
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 17th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by @CitizenRules
Rewatch: No.

I must say that when I saw that this film had been nominated, I was not at all excited about it. Just the title was a bit of a turnoff for me and the trailer made it seem as though it would provide little more than some light entertainment.

And for the first part of the film, I thought those initial impressions were going to be proved true. I didn't care much at all for Hugo Weaving's character (and still didn't really by the end of the film) - who felt perhaps a little more caricature than character to me and that was true of many of the other supporting characters. Also I thought Liam Hemsworth's Teddy did little more than to serve as a bit of eye candy (and he isn't even the best looking Hemsworth brother, that one's in a different 17th HOF nom) with little about him to make him feel real.

Thankfully, the lead role is in the far more capable hands of Kate Winslet who infuses her performance with a strong sense of glamour, strength, and vulnerability. I really felt for her struggles to understand her past, cried tears over her losses, and smirked along with her as she exacted her revenge. And it's really this performance that made the film for me. Sure, I laughed at some of the antics of the other characters and liked the bright colors and overall look of the film (though I don't give a flying crap about fashion and haven't worn a dress since my brother's wedding several years ago), but there wasn't a whole lot else here. Still, I had a good time with it and it was a good way to break my two month streak of not being able to finish a movie.

@Siddon I almost picked Mean Streets. I was going to ask Miss Vicky to change it but decided not to. Not sure how you like that one.

The ones I've seen.

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amélie): watched it years ago when it was on TV. Looks pretty but didn't particularly like.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: Seen some years ago. Don't remember much but I think it felt pretty long but not exactly bad.

Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In): I love this one. I think my rewatch before this HoF was my 5th viewing. I'll need to finish my review.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: I think I saw this in movies when it was new. All these early Ritchie films kinda meld together in my mind now but at least back then I did like them a bit.

Oh, and I wish that Rush had been 1991 film of the same name. I'm really not a fan of racing or Ron Howard.

I'll start with my own nomination I rewatched just before I sent @Miss Vicky my nom. Like I said this was probably my 5th time seeing this. I've also seen the remake twice and read the book once so I'm kinda into this story

Let the Right One In (2008)

One of my favorite films and quite likely the holder of #1 spot on my lists at the moment.

12-year-old Oskar is a lonely kid who's bullied at school. When a girl his age moves to his neighbor with her caretaker he finds himself a friend. But there's something wrong with Eli, something dangerous and dark and violent. Do two lonely souls find comfort in each other or does the cruel world tear them apart.


Let the Right One In is very minimalist film that doesn't offer brilliant bright colors and wild tracking shots but grey ugliness of the real world and steady well placed shots. It's also very economic in its storytelling and doesn't waste practically a single second of its duration (some elements from the book are missing but other than that it's also very faithful filming).

Acting is great from the whole cast. Oskar feels like a school shooter or a psychopath in the making and as a whole is quite perfect mix of being hurt and wanting to hurt. Eli feels even more lonely than Oskar but she's also strong and fully aware of how effective tool violence can be, and her eyes are so expressive. Håkan, the local bar patrol and the bullies are also good in their roles.

I love how the film defies genre definitions. It's usually described as horror and while it certainly has horror elements I don't think it's primarily that. For me it's mostly a dark romantic drama with supernatural elements and horror imagery. It's style and themes are just so close to what I've had in mind if my writing ambition ever goes past aspirations (I think one of the reasons it hit me so hard is because it feels so familiar to me).


There's only two things worth critique in the film. First is the horrible CGI cat scene. It looks quite ridiculous and should have been toned down a lot to prevent that. Second issue is that approximately one second shot that I always pretend doesn't exist (the only thing the US remake does better is to skip that topic completely). Other than those two it's practically a perfect movie.



EDIT: There's "in" missing from the Swedish name on OP.

Extremely excited to get started with the movie watching! I've been in one HoF before and it was about the funnest thing in the world. My nomination is Lean on Pete, it's my favorite film of the year so far, and It's so frustrating it's going over so may people's radars, and it's an A24 production, a company people seem to be loving right now. I figured the HoF was a perfect opportunity to share the film with more people.

There's a lot of stuff I've heard of but never got around to watching, and there's others that I have no clue what they are. Perfect combo, so pumped!

@Miss Vicky glad you liked The Dressmaker, I think a lot of people skipped watching the movie originally because of the title. I'm looking forward to a rewatch, I've only seen it once, so it'll be interesting if my opinion changes.

FYI everyone, Ms. M's avatar is from The Dressmaker.

Btw, I just bought Lean on Pete on Blu-Ray, I never really use the digital, so if anybody is interested in the code to have the movie PM me, I'll give it to whoever does it first.

@Miss Vicky

I noticed this was on local Netflix so decided to start with...

The Aviator (2004)

Scorsese's biography of Howard Hughes covers both his movie and aviation careers starting from shooting Hell's Angels in late 1920s and ending in late 1940s after the successful test flight of Hercules. Along with his businesses it focuses on his romances, OCD and senate hearing about the government money spent during the WWII.


With wide coverage of a long period of time the film is fast paced even at its nearly three hour length. The passage of time isn't always very clear and without Googling the release date of Hell's Angels I wouldn't have guessed that from the start of the film to Howard's accident was almost 19 years. I would have wanted some clearer indications of time.

Most of the film is good. Beginning about the movie business and Hepburn romance is pretty light depicting most of the main characters as eccentric weirdos. After the accident the tone gets darker and the film starts to drag quite a bit. I usually like DiCaprio but here he felt little off, especially during the deepest depression of Howard. The dull part of the film ends with the senate hearing and rest is again quite entertaining.

The Aviator is somewhat typical modern biography focusing mainly on entertaining (which is not a bad thing). It caricatures it's characters and tries to make its world weird enough to capture the viewer's interest. There were also some short scenes / shots that seemed too theatrical for my tastes. I don't know enough about Hughes to comment historical accuracy.

Mostly entertaining biography that drags in the middle. I really should have watched this earlier.



I have no idea why I hadn't watched this before. It's moderately interesting subject, good director, good cast and I've known about it since its release. So nice nomination, I guess

Off to a great start with some solid reviews by all. Three of which will be rewatches for me along with cricket's Pixote. Which, having ventured through some of the tough, but intriguing watches, and, also, hearing about how they didn't use actors but real life delinquents, I may have been properly "primed" to explore this film for all its worth.

I am very tempted to follow suit and post a review of my film in the next day or so while I finish up watching Amelia. Loving the quirkiness of this film.


Also, not sure why, but it is a VERY pleasant surprise to see that Amelia is @TheUsualSuspect's nom. Don't know why, but I would never have guessed it.

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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 was also surprised to find out Amelie was Suspect's nom.

I was also happy to see Amelie, I don't know if I'm going to score it highly but it's a good film to rewatch.

I'm really happy we have three horror films because I can do one every ten days in October.


6 - September (Rush, Incendies, Dressmaker, Amelie, Libertine, Pixote)
3 - October (LTROI, Innocents, Ghostwatch)
3 - November (Hawk and Sparrows, Lean on Pete, LSTSB)
3 - December (Aviator, AOJJbtCRF, Day for Night)

The Libertine (2004)



Johnny Depp was always a marvelous actor in the past (I haven't really kept up with him since he kind of went off the deep end in recent years). Here he is no exception, and he certainly makes this movie. Without him, it wouldn't have been nearly as entertaining.
As it stands, the story was a little erratic. I grasped that the main character seemed depressed and weary of his life and that seemed to be why he engaged so much in mindless hedonism, and then meeting the actress perked him up and gave him a new "joie de vivre." Despite that, he was still the same person, and so he brought his usual cavalier attitude with him in a different direction, which was ultimately only another form of self-sabotage. People who claim to "live for pleasure" often tend to be masochistic. They troll themselves and others for sport, and then theatrically indulge in their self-inflicted suffering later.
Maybe what happened to this man as shown in the movie was true to life, but better editing would have made the plot easier to understand, and perhaps it would have further clarified the character's motives and mindset.


Day for Night (1973)



A film like this makes me appreciate just how much effort goes into making a movie. When you're dealing with unpredictable human beings and their emotions, you never know what might happen. In small communities, drama isn't hard to conjure.
It felt like a reality-show documentary. Did reality TV exist in France in the '70s?
Now I want to re-watch 8½. I did love that one when I saw it years ago. It was much more "fantastical" and "art house" than this, of course.

Interesting, I'm not sure if people think I have bad taste, are only into genre flicks or never talk about foreign films.

You missed one

Maybe after this HoF I will know more about your film taste and that's what I like about Hofs.