The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame

I think I'll watch The Muppet Christmas Carol just because I like movies based on the Dicken's story.

No sir, none of my nominations have been seen yet. What are you all waiting for? Not knowing is not an excuse

was it you? Thank you sir!

This is one of the movies I started a while back and gave up on. I must have been in a bad mood because there was no reason to have given up so quick on this one.

Philip Marlowe (Elliot Gould) is a PI whose friend was accused of killing his wife then committing suicide. Open and shut case for the police but Marlowe isn't buying it and the investigation begins. This is not an old school, Bogart noir. It's much more playful and character driven. What's nice about the plot is that it's twisty but not so much that you have to wrack your brain trying to follow along. It all makes sense and leads to an ending that is apparently a tad controversial. Not for me though, I loved it.

The acting is mostly good to great. Marlowe is a smartass and Gould has that down. I get the impression he may be a fun smartass off camera. Throughout the movie he gets in a couple good zingers, a few about his quirky neighbors and one, my favorite, being a Mummy comment to a hospital roommate. That was funny. Sterling Hayden, as the alcoholic writer dealing with writer's block, is outstanding. Don't know if he was nominated for any kind of awards but he should have been. If he wasn't maybe it's because he wasn't acting drunk, he was drunk (and stoned...allegedly). Nina Van Pallandt plays Hayden's wife and does a fine job. All she wants is what's best for her husband. This is noir-ish after all and that's usually the role of the leading lady. Finally, Ahnold is in peak form as a buff bodyguard in a small subplot about some gangsters and some missing money.

Being an Altman film your not going to get a lot of flashy camera maneuvering. He tends to keep the technical stuff pretty simple in his films but that doesn't mean he can't make a scene look pretty. In particular there's a scene where one of the characters decides to go for a night time dip in the ocean. The way he used lighting for that scene was pretty nifty and was probably my favorite scene in the movie.

The film starts and finishes with "Hooray For Hollywood." Choosing that song makes sense as I got the feeling this was Altman's way of paying a bit of tribute to those older noir films while still putting his own stamp on the genre. Glad it was nominated because it's really good and I never would have given it a second chance.

well, you just may have to whisper in a few of our ears then so a few of us can make the right choice for our next watch

__________________
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

The Long Goodbye was my first choice for Mr. Fredrick but somebody ripped it out of my grasp!

Double Indemnity


Planning the perfect murder is difficult. There’s a lot that could go wrong. You have to plan for witnesses, evidence, investigators, and sometimes a little man inside a insurance claims manager that ties him up in knots.
Walter Neff (Played by Fred McMurray) is a straight arrow insurance salesmen. Until he meets Phyllis. Phyllis is the classic femme fatale, played brilliantly by Barbara Stanwyck.
Stanwyck oozes sexuality throughout this film, the way she crosses her legs, converting her intentions. The icy stare that she gives. I find myself drawn to her face, one that looks so innocent yet hides her darker impulses.
To me though, Edward G Robinson is the best in this film. Can you believe he never so much as garnered a oscar nomination in his entire career? It’s sacrilege!
The director, Billy Wider, does a great jobs of closeups on everyone’s faces at the right time, and his use of shadows. His attention to detail is also spot on. Watch at the beginning when Neff has been shot. It starts off as a small stain, at the entry wound. As time goes by, the stain grows larger. At the end, it’s dripping down his hand
Wilder has always been one of my favorite directors. I count several of his films among my favorites, including Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, Some Like it Hot, and The Apartment. I can add Double Indemnity to the list now.
Thank you....Citizen Rules I’m thinking?
A film I’ve always wanted to see and finally have.

Double Indemnity was my first choice for Wyldesyde, but I wasn't the only one who had to pick again in this case.

It’s soooooo good. I’ve seen quite a bit of Widler’s films, and it’s ranked right up there among his best.
Seriously, I’ve wanted to see this for awhile, along with 5 Graves from Cairo and Ace in the Hole. 2 out of 3 down.
Am I right in thinking it was Citizen Rules?

Double Indemnity is THE movie I think of when ever noir gets mentioned.

That and The Maltese Falcon.

I'm glad that you enjoyed The Muppet Movie. I knew that you would love all the cameos, especially Orson Welles.

.

__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

I almost nominated The Muppet Movie in the last Comedy HoF, but Siddon recommended against it because there were already so many Steve Martin movies in that HoF, so I changed my nom.

Billy Wilder has made some great movies. In addition to the few that you mentioned, I would also add some of my favorites:

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)
Irma la Douce (1963)
Avanti! (1972)
Sabrina (1954). (But I should add that I think the remake of Sabrina is better, mostly because of the casting.)

I’ve seen The Lost Weekend, Irma La Douce and Sabrina.
Didn’t like Irma and Sabrina. I was surprised by how much I didn’t like Sabrina in fact.
I Liked The Lost Weekend but didn’t love it.

I think The Lost Weekend was the first movie that I saw starring Ray Milland, and it made me a fan of his. I thought it was a very powerful film, and he gave an amazing performance.

I like light comedies, and I think Irma La Douce is one of Jack Lemmon's best movies.

I thought Bogart was miscast in Sabrina, but I still like the movie. If you liked the story at all, you might want to give the remake, (starring Harrison Ford in Bogart's role), a try. I think the cast in the remake makes it a better movie.

Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/21/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, No idea who nominated this.
Rewatch: No.

I hope I don't offend whoever chose this film for me, but I found it incredibly dull and a chore to watch.

For being a horror film, it sure lacked tension and suspense. It lacked atmosphere and believability. And I don't mean believability in terms of its basic premise. I mean that I don't believe its characters. They didn't feel much like real people, especially the central character of Mark. I felt absolutely nothing for him. Not disgust. Not empathy. Nothing. And I was just as apathetic to his victims. Nothing about the performances, the characters, the story, or the cinematography stood out to me as being anything special.

About the only thing I liked about the film was the scene between Mark and Helen's mother. That had tension. That kept me interested. But my engagement with the film started and ended with that one scene and it is the only reason why I don't rate it lower.

__________________

Almost right. I did choose it for you, but someone had beat me to it and I selected another film. Glad to hear there's another fan of Double Indemnity! All this noir is getting me psyched up for a Noir HoF

Billy Wilder rules! I love all those films you mentioned.

And I love those films too, but I prefer the original Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn over the remake.

So I will also add to the above Wilder films, these that I've really liked:

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
One, Two, Three
The Spirit of St. Louis
The Major and the Minor

I also was thinking about choosing Double Indemnity for @Wyldesyde19 ahaha