23rd MoFo Hall of Fame

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CaptainT nominated Gangs of New York for me in the Personal Rec HoF. I was looking forward to it but of course he couldn't hang with the rest of us.

I don't generally like Terry Gilliam movies but The Fisher King is the one I've always been interested in.

I'm planning on watching something during the day tomorrow.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
You're thinking of Pixote and you are comparing them for a good reason. It's similar as far as having a cast of unknowns and the authenticity. This movie is more emotionally powerful and better.
That was the vibe I was getting and my gut was imagining that it would be "more emotionally powerful". And to see that it's also "better" this may be where I dive the f@ck in. Very nice.
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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
The Fisher King - I love Gilliam's Munchausen and Time Bandits, but I'm not that fond of Robin Williams. I don't know what to expect with this one.
This is a very different type of film from Time Bandits and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. If I had to compare it to one of his other films, it's closest to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The Fisher King is fairly serious with only minor fantasy elements, and none of the other Pythons appear in it.
Also, if it helps, Williams' more well known manic "voices" are gone and it is only his voice, and for this, it is a broken one. He is acting, not portraying a caricature, I'd compare it to his work in World According to Garp. NO IDEA if you've seen that.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé


Al-mummia (The Mummy, a.k.a. The Night of Counting the Years) (Chadi Abdel Salam, 1969)
Imdb

Date Watched: 08/08/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 23rd MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by jiraffejustin
Rewatch: No


I don't think I've ever seen an actual Egyptian film before. Every film I've seen on the subject has been some Hollywood version, either glamorized like Cleopatra or else turned into action-adventure tripe like The Mummy series, so this was pretty refreshing.

It was also beautifully shot with a very brooding, moody atmosphere and speaks of the need for understanding one's past and of the value of knowing about our ancestors without plundering the artifacts they've left behind. It's very impressive in that way and I have nothing but respect for it.

However, respect can only take me so far and it was perhaps a bit too brooding and too slow-paced for my liking and after awhile I struggled a bit to stay with it. Still, I think its positives outweigh any issues and - though I doubt I'll watch it again - I'm glad to have seen it.

-
Similar experience regarding past films/series. So, yeah, me too. I'm pretty geeked to view -- well, the home team's view of things, ya know? Quite excited to see the Egyptian beauty that Hollywood "glamour" didn't feel like mentioning.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Originally Posted by cricket:
I think there was some controversy around it about it being offensive, and I think cosmic even mentioned it. When I watched it I didn't feel that at all. I would have liked to have felt it though.
I don't personally think that it's even remotely offensive, but there are people out there who adamantly believe that some things should never be made light of. The fact that Jojo Rabbit intentionally doesn't take Hitler and the Nazis seriously did upset some people.

I would've been fine with the film pushing the limits much farther like pahaK mentioned, but that would probably clash too much with Jojo's coming of age story.
I love what Sarge had to say about Jojo. Think I'll be sharing this with my room mate. She'll love it.

Originally Posted by Citizen Rules:
Jojo Rabbit
Cool! I've wanted to watch this for awhile, so yeah! for the nomination. I've only seen one Taika Waititi film before and loved it, so I have high hopes here.


Which one? I finally got around to watching Hunt for the Wilderpeople not too long ago. I get the feeling that's one you'd like more than say, What We Do in the Shadows.
Would love to check out both HftW & WWDithS.
Only seen Thor: Ragnarok so far. But by technique, composition, pacing, humour. . . I would love to see more of his work.



Would love to check out both HftW & WWDithS.
Only seen Thor: Ragnarok so far. But by technique, composition, pacing, humour. . . I would love to see more of his work.
Please try not to miss out on his Boy as well.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Gangs of New York (2002)

Ok... I watched this for the first time when I was 14 and remember loving it. Daniel Day Lewis' character, in particular, left an impression to this day. I didn't watch it since then, so when I chose it as my nom it was with the intention of rewatching what I was expecting to be a great film. I mean, it's a Scorcese and it features the two greatest actors alive, so I couldn't see where it could go wrong.

Well, now I do.
The ratio of hollywoodesque cliches per minute is way too big, the script is subpar to say the least and the acting doesn't make justice to the cast. I mean, Daniel Day Lewis is excellent because he doesn't know how not to be and he's the one who carries the film for the most part, but the rest is just not good enough. Leo seems to be doing a parody of himself, and Diaz is all looks and no talent. There's a few of secondary characters that seem cool but they don't get enough screen time.
The ending is just beyond ridiculous, the movie loses track of itself and it gets totally anticlimatic.

This is without a doubt my least favourite own nom in the history of these HoFs. I'll stand behind my choice but this won't do well here.

+

EDIT: The write up is a bit more negative than the rating but that's because I know this had the potential to be glorious and it's not, which is so annoying!
It does suck when it comes to brushing off a dusty one from the storage shed that you feel you shoulda kept the dust be.
I do mourn.

And that last scene with New York changing as the burial ground gets diluted... What the f* is that?
Ok, HEY, do NOT make me get out the Mr. Rogers gif. That was f@ckin awesome. We watch something Historical; grant it, the acting isn't the best of these best and YES, "Daniel Day Lewis is excellent because he doesn't know how not to be and he's the one who carries the film for the most part,".
Regardless.
RE-GARD-LESS.
Cool f@ckin ending.
Screw you, pal.


Now, there are surely some great moments (almost all of them around the character of Bill the Butcher) and for an almost 3 hour film the pacing is quite well done because it rarely drags. Particularly when no voice-over is involved (it almost never worked in a Scorcese film yet the man insists), the dialogues loosen up and the film flows. I also liked the social critique behind all this and how uptodate its message is, especially in the States, but I feel a lot more could have been done in that regard. The setting is also extremely well built and the soundtrack goes from impressive to "what is this song doing here?".
Ok, we're friends again.
Sorta


What I get a kick out of MM's comments:
I was very surprised when I saw that you nominated the film, neiba.

After reading your write-up I forgive you.
is the look on his avatar



Only seen Thor: Ragnarok so far. But by technique, composition, pacing, humour. . . I would love to see more of his work.
I thought we had previously spoken about What We Do in the Shadows. If that wasn't you, then who was it?

Besides the fact that it's quite funny and perfectly cast, Taika Waititi is very adorable in it and that alone makes it worth watching.





The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
I thought we had previously spoken about What We Do in the Shadows. If that wasn't you, then who was it?

Besides the fact that it's quite funny and perfectly cast, Taika Waititi is very adorable in it and that alone makes it worth watching.


Watched it last week. There's something about that kind of comedy that does absolutely nothing for me! My gf was almost screaming with laughter and I wasn't even smiling at the jokes



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible


Ok, HEY, do NOT make me get out the Mr. Rogers gif. That was f@ckin awesome. We watch something Historical; grant it, the acting isn't the best of these best and YES, "Daniel Day Lewis is excellent because he doesn't know how not to be and he's the one who carries the film for the most part,".
Regardless.
RE-GARD-LESS.
Cool f@ckin ending.
Screw you, pal.

I mean, it feels like he's pushing the idea that time goes on and everything is forgotten down our throats when it was pretty clear already on the script. I found it soooo corny!

But again, I actually liked many aspects of the film, it's just annoying cause my expectations were very high and I still believe this should have been better because it had everything to be a freaking masterpiece.



Watched it last week. There's something about that kind of comedy that does absolutely nothing for me! My gf was almost screaming with laughter and I wasn't even smiling at the jokes
That's one of the reasons why I've never seriously considered nominating it for any HoF. It relies pretty heavily on its style and sense of humour, which isn't going to be to everyone's taste. When you remove those elements, there isn't really anything substantial left to the film.



I watched The Reflecting Skin this afternoon, and can definitely see the similarities to Tideland. It's the type of film that needs a little time to digest, so I'll think about it some more tomorrow before trying to write anything about it.




Stand By Me (Rob Reiner 1986)

When you're young there seems to be plenty of time...time for hanging out with friends, time enough to talk and laugh, time to do the little things like going to see a dead body along the river. Thankfully, I never seen a dead body when I was a kid...but if you're Stephen King and you're thinking about your childhood as you write a story, then you probably remember poking a rotten corpse of some poor dead kid with a stick that you just broke off a tree growing beside the river.

When you're older there never seems to be any free time to do the things you dreamed of when you were a kid. All those carefree moments have vanished, like ripples in a pond. You work, you write on an antiquated computer that spits out green font as you pound the key board...and you think of your youth and of lost friends....and you ponder the value of time.



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Watched it last week. There's something about that kind of comedy that does absolutely nothing for me! My gf was almost screaming with laughter and I wasn't even smiling at the jokes
I hated it. Turned it off after 20 minutes. Consider it one of the worst I have ever seen.





Stand By Me (Rob Reiner, 1986)
Imdb

Date Watched: 08/09/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 23rd MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by Sarge
Rewatch: Yes


Coming of age stories often feel a bit cliched. A bunch of friends get together for some sort of fun adventure/childish activity and along the way learn life lessons and confront the realities of the world. In that respect, Stand By Me doesn't really feel any different.

Though I acknowledge the fact that it came before some of the other such films I've seen, the premise of Stand By Me feels a bit tired and that dragged my enjoyment down somewhat. I also found myself rolling my eyes at some of the more childish scenes, especially Gordie's story about "Lardass." That said, I really enjoyed the more emotionally charged scenes and the film's greatest strength lies in some pretty superb performances, particularly by River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton. (I'll also admit to being pleasantly surprised by the appearance of a young John Cusack, who I'd forgotten was in this movie as Gordie's older brother.)

Overall it's kind of a mixed bag of really good and not-so-great, but still made for an enjoyable experience.




2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Remember that Hall of Fame when I kept up with everybody and was one of the first to finish? Yeah, not happening this go around lol.





Le Samourai (1967)


Le Samourai is an exercise in several story telling tropes. A man living a minimalist existence is actually a trained killer when the murder of a nightclub owner goes wrong this man that doesn't really exist and doesn't really feel anything goes on the run against his employers and police detectives.

This is one of those films where the plot is overtly simplistic, you aren't bogged down in minutia, Melville clearly wanted to make a short clean...cool film and that's what Le Samourai is. But Melville doesn't make things simple...he decides to attack the trickiest of all the noir sub genres...the man on the run. The great dichotomy of the film is Jef Costello is a stone face fatalistic man, the moments of violence are spread thin it's more about the Hitchcockian build of the scenes.

I think this is the sort of film that greatly inspired the likes of Tarantino and Wes Anderson....looking at the composition of some of these shots you can tell the filmmaker is working on an entirely different level. This is also one of those films that rewards you for rewatching it...you have to pay close attention to several scenes to understand what is going on..it's not a piece of work for the lazy.

I had a number of options but I felt like this is very much an international Hall so I decided to go with a french film




I think my first film with be Pahak's it does sound interesting. I just need to find where its streaming.