22nd Hall of Fame

I've seen RIPD a couple of times, enjoyed it too

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Boo. This saddens me.

Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier, 2013)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/15/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 22nd MoFo Hall of Fame
Rewatch: No

This is a pretty straight-forward film about a man forced to confront his past in order to exact revenge on the man who he believes murdered his parents. With such a premise it could have been something really great. It could have had a protagonist I could've really gotten behind and those acts of vengeance could've felt a whole lot more satisfying. Unfortunately, however, the protagonist we get is a traumatized shell of a man who is just too empty to garner more than a vague sense of sympathy from me.

I did appreciate though the casting choice. Star Macon Blair lends a sense of authenticity to the lead role as the somewhat dumpy-looking every man, Dwight - a man turned killer without any combat training or past experience. But, again, that emptiness of the character prevented me from ever being truly invested in him.

Overall, Blue Ruin is a solid film and it held my interest for its 90 minute run, but this is not something I'm likely to ever revisit and I've probably been a bit generous with my rating.

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Yeah that was the bummer for me. The premise seemed intriguing to me and I thought I would really like it.

Will you be following my watching pattern Miss Vicky and is Last Picture Show next?

I was a bit disappointed in Blue Ruin when I first saw it too, but the more I thought about it after, the more I appreciated it.

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I love when that happens actually. It hasn't happened to me on a lot of movies, but it has for a few.

2001 is one I can somewhat think of, as I think I rated it a 6 on first watch but I'd consider it about a 7.5+ now

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I seriously thought you were going to say that the best thing about The Matrix is all the eyewear.

That too!

@Citizen Rules

I was really surprised when I looked back at your review thread and saw that you'd seen and, for the most part, enjoyed Joker. I was not expecting that at all so it was a very pleasant surprise.

It's interesting that you point out the similarities between Joker and Laugh Clown Laugh because Todd Philips has actually said that he took some inspiration from another 1928 silent film, The Man Who Laughs, about a disfigured man who is unable to stop smiling even though he experiences deep sorrow.

Also, I still haven't got a clue what movie you thought I was going to nominate and it's bugging me!

ETA: Your post comment. That movie never crossed my mind and it isn’t one that I’m likely to ever nominate. I love it, but not in a way that I would consider Hall of Fame worthy.

State of Siege (1972)

I’d never heard of this film at all before this hall of fame and probably wouldn’t have watched it if left to my own devices. I’d heard of Costa-Gavras and his film Z, but I’ve never seen that either. They don't seem to be very easy to get hold of. I don’t know what I was expecting, having only the title to go on, but it somehow wasn't quite what I expected.

I feel like the context of the political situation needs some kind of explanation when attempting to describe it, but as I had only the faintest idea of any of the context before watching it, I’ll refrain from any attempts at explanation. Perhaps there is more to be got out of this film if you are more knowledgeable about the situation, but I found that I could follow what was happening from how it unfolded on screen.

There was something about this that felt like a dramatization of a real event, and yet when I read about it, it seems that it wasn’t exactly a true story, but based on similar events in order to illuminate the wider story of what was happening with the Uruguayan government, the guerrillas and the American involvement.

There was something about this film that reminded me of Army of Shadows – not just the subject matter of kidnap and resistance cells, also the pace and the cool blue-grey colour palette. I liked the way it was shot. I thought the way they conveyed the flashes of torture was well done, it wasn’t exploitative or lingering on it but got across the reality of the way it had been used by the police.

I think the flaw for me in this was that it was so focused on the political situation that there was very little attempt to make any of the characters into characters, to understand their motivations, quirks, relationships or personalities. Except perhaps for the journalist. Perhaps it just wasn’t that sort of film, but it did come across as a little cool and impersonal.

I think it was a very interesting film and I’m glad it was nominated. Thanks also to Citizen for helping me find it.

I also watched State of Siege earlier today. I probably won't get anything written tonight though, since I only just realized that tomorrow is a holiday, so now I need to go to the shops before they close.

I've been getting groceries every two weeks instead of every week during the pandemic, but I'm still not used to buying for those extra days in between trips so I've been stretching things pretty thin. Poor students on primarily prepacked ramen diets probably have more in their cupboard than I do right now haha. I would just go Tuesday morning, but I actually have to go to work for the first time in 2 months since we're getting ready to reopen, assuming restrictions lower in June as planned that is.

We always get groceries early in the morning, so going at night is going to be really strange. If you're wondering why I keep going on about this instead of just leaving, it's because I'm waiting for my brother to finish eating, and he's the driver. At this rate I could write something about State of Siege after all.

Blue Ruin has been rewatched. That’s 5 watched so far (8 if you count those I have already watched, but will most likely rewatch).

That’s 3 new watches and 3 rewatches left for me.

Watching Dronningen tonight so I'll be at 4/11.

The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich, 1971)
Imdb

Date Watched: 05/17/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 22nd MoFo Hall of Fame
Rewatch: No

While it was kind of neat to see so many familiar faces when they were young, the novelty of that wore off pretty quickly and the film didn't have a whole lot more to offer for me.

I disliked or was apathetic to nearly all of the characters, with Mrs. Popper being the one possible exception. But even then I didn't feel much and I had trouble sticking with the film.

Which is not to say that the film isn't well made or that it doesn't achieve what it aimed to achieve. It does well to set a mood of despair and longing and of the slow death of the characters' childhood. The black and white images and the constant nasal droning of old time country music also do well to evoke the time and place in which it is set.

The problem is I don't like that nasal droning. I find it irritating. And a whole lot of nothing really happens in the movie - which isn't necessarily a bad thing. That sort of thing can work quite well when I'm invested in the characters. But I wasn't invested in them. I spent the entire film feeling nothing but detachment, which was maybe the point, I don't know, but it's not a film for me.

3 out of 5 out of respect for the things it does well. If I were giving it a rating based purely on my enjoyment, it'd get maybe a 2.

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Thought maybe you'd like the sexual scenes. Oh well

None of the men were hot.