18th Mofo Hall of Fame

Gonna try to get at least two more watched this weekend.

__________________

I think we're good for now, most of these are short easy watches and people seem to be moving quickly.

Don’t. You always pick something I would never see. I love that. You know your old classics and lost treasures. That’s an area I always want to improve upon and explore. But I rarely do.

So from me: THANK YOU for keeping it real and nominating what you want instead of going with the masses and what might win. Thank you for picking those older flicks. And PLEASE don’t you go nowhere man, I just got here.

__________________
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Someone suggested a rule of doing a short list so you can get feedback before making a nomination.


But I'm sorry you're losing interest.

Honestly its quite weird seeing a HoF without cricket.

__________________
Letterboxd

I'm in and will finish! I'm not a quitter. The noms are so far some of the best I've seen.

What I was I saying is I'm losing interest in future HoFs as I realize all of my noms will just get slammed by pahaK, I realized that last night when I looked through his two movie review log threads and noticed he basically hates everything: except horror...and that other thing he really likes

Movie Diary 2019 by pahaK
Movie Diary 2018 by pahaK

I assume you're joking but anyways - I may hate your noms but I truly like you. You're one of my favorite mofo's

__________________

I like you as a person too, and I'm totally cool with people hating my noms, but after looking at your movie logs I realized you will hate every single movie I would ever nominate in an HoF. That's your business of course.

As always I usually do some thoughts on the nominations...


The Little Stranger (2018) - Nominated by Siddon

I'm not sure I've heard of this. I like the actors in it and the premise could be a nice little scare with more to it. I'm looking forward to it.

The Florida Project (2017) nominated by rauldc14

I've seen this and been meaning to rewatch it some day because I didn't like it much. Dafoe was amazing and it was competently put together. But it didn't click with me.

The Square (2017) nominated by MovieMeditation

My own nomination. A movie sure to challenge people on here. It's different, daring and ambitious. It's also stupid and completely ridiculous. A fun ride and interesting satire. Should at least be a different kind of watch for most.

Brimstone(2016) nominated by pahak

Never heard of it. Don't really know what to expect either.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) nominated by Neiba

I was once really interested in this but kind of forgot about it. I'm excited to see where it goes and if I will like it.

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) nominated by MissVicky

HELL YES. Been on my watchlist for a while. I'm looking forward to this one!

Road to Perdition (2002) nominated by edarsenal

Seen it and it's a solid film. Looking forward to a rewatch.

Perfect Blue (1997) nominated by Nathaniel

Also seen this. Really solid anime. Let's see how a rewatch does...

Split (1989) nominated by Joel

Never heard of it. Looks very weird. I will look forward to also hearing what others think of this.

The King of Comedy(1982) nominated by Yam12

Oh yes. Long time no see on my watchlist. Can't wait.

Abandon Ship! aka Seven Waves Away (1957) Nominated by CitizenRules

Never heard of it but I'm very much looking forward to it!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) nominated by Ahwell

A classic. I like this.

The few things I'll say about my nom (I have zero intention of actually winning this) is that it is severely dated and has a real funk around it. I know it won't be for everyone, possibly anyone, but, I just wanted to get it out there for the hopeful few who might get a kick out of it. I think it does have some interesting things to offer, absolutely, but I also know that it will sour the palate for a lot of people, and I guess I didn't consider that early on. That was my mistake. So - I don't know. I already bummed people out once with one of my noms, I'd hate to do it again. My minor plea is to just give it a chance in some way possible. If it's so bad you're crawling, just turn it off. That's totally cool with me.

What one was that?

BTW I think if people can find a good copy of it, they would enjoy it much more.

It was Hunter's Blood - but at least that film was in a B-Movie HoF!

I hate to even suggest this but I believe because of the quality out there now on youtube, and short of buying it's gorgeous new blu ray release from Verboden Video, this is a circumstance that may require a phone viewing, or tablet of smaller size, and a set of headphones or earbuds - turned down comfortably. The mixing is bad because the film maker is quite clearly a novice and thinks too fast. Also, it's a before bed type of thing. Unless you drink strong coffee, stand and run in place while watching movies during high noon with the blinds wide open, violently throwing your arms out with stiff and sudden jabs screaming "Let's get it on!"

I always assume that at least one person is going to hate whatever I nominate.
I usually worry more about what I'm going to hate.

One of the great classic Disney animations...and I had never ever seen it before, until now. I see that the movie is on Roger Ebert's Great Movies list and AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies list. So I know a lot of people appreciate the film.

I too appreciated the beauty and artistry of the hand drawn animation. It's so lovely to look at, so richly detailed that the scenes come to life right before our eyes. The camera work too is surprisingly fluid and cinematic.

I loved the way the film opens with a 'dolly in' shot as the camera moves closer to the evil queen's castle, then it dissolves to the next shot - a close up of the castle...and then we move closer, focusing on a window in the castle's turret - then another dissolve to the third shot and we're on the back of the queen looking into the talking magic mirror. I thought that was all pretty damn impressive, and there's many sequences in the film like that. It's truly made to a high artistic degree.

I love old movies because they're like a time machine back to the past. The past is never really gone, it's just a place that doesn't exist in our current time continuum...and movies are the one way people from that distant past can speak to us. So the odd thing for me was that I knew I was watching a film from 1938 and yet because it was animated it didn't at first seem like a portal to the past. But then I listened to the way Snow White sang along with the Prince and they reminded me of Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy who were the most popular singing/acting duel in the movies at the time. Snow White seemed patterned after Jeanette MacDonald and I swear Dopey was based on Harpo.

@ahwell thanks! for nominating this

Attachments

 

That looks like something I'd like. It didn't do well?

The Florida Project (2017)
Director: Sean Baker

The Florida Project centers around a stripper who is "raising" her little girl while living in a motel. For a good portion of the movie, we follow around the area kids as they run through the streets and break into abandoned buildings to vandalize or just horse around. Many of the scenes are distanced, so, you'll see w ide shot from about 100 ft away, and the dialog will be that far away, too. You may not be able to clearly hear a lot of the dialog. This is not very important. This film works on a mood and atmosphere.

Willem Dafoe plays the motel manager. He comes across as a good guy who may be working on rebuilding a relationship with his estranged son who he hires on as his employee. That's enough backstory to have something to go on for Dafoe's character. Many times he is pounding on stripper-mom's door to instill obvious rules like "no more hooking" or "no smoking in the room", but as much as he comes off stern and strict, he never gives the impression that he is a spiteful or mean-spirited or jaded man. He takes his job seriously and has a degree of pride ("I'm going to fix that washer by the end of the week").

He watches out for the kids, even having to aggressively escort an old pervert off of the property. We see his rage in that brief moment where he calls out a criminal's number.

Dafoe is nothing short of outstanding in this film and I feel his subtlety is among his very best work.

While the mother hustles any way she can to provide for her daughter, it's clear that she has no real parenting skills when it comes to manners or conservative attitude. She swears, smokes and instigates as she would with anyone as manic and wild as she is. Her daughter knows nothing else but this world, hanging around these kinds of people who have no pretensions. It's all just gut and reaction, violence, glee and a dead beat way of life.

This is for sure a cautionary tale, but it also serves as a windmill of chance. The picture takes you wherever it goes. It hasn't set up rules for morality, even though there are certain notes that had me welling up with tears as I felt very heavy for the mother and daughter, who really did enjoy each other's company and loved each other very much. Dafoe's character recognizes this, and you can see it on his face, th pain he shares with them as he covertly tries to help them out without drawing attention to bending motel policies.

Director Baker's camera is a mixed bag of Arri Alexa and Filmic Pro from Iphone. The mix is beautiful. The colors of these motels across the way from one another, as well as the decrepit condos are staggeringly beautiful in a dayglo and pastel overload sort of way. I believe this was a multi format picture where Baker had his DP use an iphone 6s running Filmicpro, as well as an Alexa cinema cam, and then printed the final edit onto Kodak film, which really gives TFP a dense and rich look. This is my own personal answer to the stylings of Spring Breakers, another fulked up film that turned me off, unlike TFP, which made me perk up and enjoy the images and story.

The beauty in these perfectly photographed scenes are the perfect canvas for the children narrative, where they end up in rain storms sitting in a long haired tree, or a fireworks show, or just walking on the side of a main drag as the sun projects a green and purple flare across their silhouette sundown storybook master shot.

I'd see this again, though, it'd have to be a while because this is a bit of a disturbing drama. I don't like to see such a foul place for children, but then again, the kids make it work for themselves. I suppose at the end of the day, regardless of what "normal" people see in these "white trash" lifestyles, love rules supreme, even with the blisters of violence and danger abound. There is still an innocence, and what sinner can be brought to the gallows until they are clued in that what they are and what they do, is even considered a sin by someone else's loftier standards of living. Justice does prevail, but we are not left on a note of closure, we are left on an adrenalized flight of fancy with a very uncertain future.

I liked Hunter's Blood a lot and scored it very highly for what it was.


Split however was horrid

BUBBA HO-TEP (2002)
Director: Don Coscarelli

I find myself being drawn to movies that take the better part or more of a decade to fully blossom into my favorites list. Bubba Ho Tep is one of those films.

The first time I saw this movie I thought it was a misfire, and it very well may be a misfire. Some of the humor doesn't quite translate and comes off a bit dorky and thin to me. A few of the narration lines seem less than poetic and don't have enough meat on their bones to be truly effective. Almost like the writing was too watery or the delivery wasn't convincing enough. Sort of like it tries to be a bit profound but doesn't quite nail it with a full confidence. I also felt that this picture was very slowly paced and not very exciting at all. The climax was hum drum, the moments leading up to it seemed like they needed to be about 10 minutes longer with more sentiment and humor. I felt that icons such as JFK and Elvis deserved more gravity and depth.

After several re-watches of Bubba Ho Tep I began to find things that I did like about it.
I mean, what can I expect? It's the only film of its kind and no one seems to be rushing to make a sequel (which would be terrific!). The slow pace is more my speed these days. It's a perfect before bed movie to nod off to. The acting by Bruce Campbell as Elvis is funny. I'm not sure I could call him the best Elvis because I thought Kurt Russell and David Keith both were strong portrayers of the King, but Campbell's take on him is definitely the most bold and memorable. So, I guess that means Bruce's Elvis is my favorite. I keep changing my mind even as I write this review. And I'm not sure that "portrayers" is even a word but I'll move on.

There is no shortage on atmosphere here. The hallways of the convalescent home are dark, the trim shows signs of half a century old mildew stains, we hear the sound of an organ warming up with its dual fans as an elderly woman prepares to play in the community room, the campus lawn is illuminated with sparse lights and lend a very effectively eerie scape for the mummy to walk on.

I forgot to say that this film is about a mummy terrorizing the souls of old people and a black John F. Kennedy reincarnate by government meddling teams up with an Elvis impersonator (not really, though) to battle the evil beast.



What a concept that is! Bubba Ho Tep is based on a short story that director Don Coscarelli was referred to at a local book store. That would explain the length of the film and the lack of depth (maybe) of the characters. Don't get me wrong, there is backstory, and a zinger of a flashback at that, but it still seems truncated. I would have loved it if Coscarelli had brought in more writing power to really kick this film up a few more notches. The potential was there for this to be one of the very best genre defying films of all time.

Dramatic elements of the story are carried on the shoulders of composer Brian Tyler. His simple and heartfelt score really bring home the bacon for the emotional component that drives this movie as a semi serious drama. Without such a fantastic music score I do not believe this film would have worked on any level outside of it being a freakish premise. It does transcend that goofy story. It does it as well as I can expect. And for me to keep complaining that Bubba Ho Tep isn't good enough because it was a missed opportunity wouldn't help a thing. It's done and it has had success as the cult film it should be.

I watch this movie about once every two years and I appreciate it more every time, though, my initial reservations about it remain the same.

Sometimes it just happens like that. It's not a perfect movie, and maybe it never could be, but while it's here on Earth, protected in canisters, and not the victim of a complete society nuclear blast, it's appreciated. I would send this one out to space pretty soon for safe keeping.

I can understand that opinion about Split. I think under better circumstances, and maybe stumbling upon it yourself with a complimentary life event fabric, you've may've enjoyed it more.

Glad you like it, Joel!

There were plans to make a sequel called Bubba Nosferatu, but Campbell and Coscarelli had a falling out. Don't know if it'll ever get made now.