The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II

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The trick is not minding
The Shape of Water


This is in strange and overlong romance. Though it is packed with some good performances.
Sally Hawkins is adorable, and great, as Eliza. Mute due to a past injury, she lived a lonely life of routine. Her only friends are a equally lonely artist who is gay, and her coworker who isn’t fleshed out enough to benefit a decent actress in Octavia Spencer.
The romance is a little creepy, and takes up too much time to develope, and and the Russian spy subplot is a unnecessary distraction.
But once we get past that we are reminded how touching it can be with little moments between her and the fish man. Those scenes, however come before his breakout Halfway through the movie, which would have been better served if had come closer to the end.
I know this sounds like I didn’t enjoy it, but honestly I did. I liked it, actually. There’s some good performances here, with a decent story and a fish man that Del Toro breathes life into. You feel for him when he’s tortured mercilessly, and you can see the kindness in his eyes.
It’s the little things, that one comes to expect from Del Toro.
Good pick, just falls short of being great

My guess is Thursday Next? I recall her being a fan of it.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Working Girl




Sorry to whoever picked this for me, but it just wasn’t my sort of film.

For a start it was all very dated. The farcical nature of the ‘pretending to be someone else’ and ‘sneaking into places you weren’t invited’ plot elements just made me cringe (and the gender politics made me cringe even more). Melanie Griffiths as the lead character was just so incredibly annoying it made it hard to root for her. I guess romantic movies are quite subjective, and if it that element works for you, it works, and everything else is moot. Unfortunately, it didn’t really work for me in this film.

Sigourney Weaver was good though, and Harrison Ford is always watchable, even though his character in this was not always all that likable. The scene where he changes his shirt in his office without realising everyone was watching him was funny. There’s also a cameo from Kevin Spacey as a sleazebag.

I also thought it was quite an ugly film to look at, some scenes from the ferry moving into the New York skyline aside.

It's been a while since I saw Working Girl, but I remember it being a pretty good movie. I don't remember either Melanie Griffith or Harrison Ford being unlikable in it at any point, but maybe that's just due to my poor memory. I should probably rewatch it to see if it still holds up after all these years.
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Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
The Shape of Water

My guess is Thursday Next? I recall her being a fan of it.

You are correct.

Glad you liked it more than I liked yours



Working Girl




Sorry to whoever picked this for me, but it just wasn’t my sort of film.

For a start it was all very dated. The farcical nature of the ‘pretending to be someone else’ and ‘sneaking into places you weren’t invited’ plot elements just made me cringe (and the gender politics made me cringe even more). Melanie Griffiths as the lead character was just so incredibly annoying it made it hard to root for her. I guess romantic movies are quite subjective, and if it that element works for you, it works, and everything else is moot. Unfortunately, it didn’t really work for me in this film.

Sigourney Weaver was good though, and Harrison Ford is always watchable, even though his character in this was not always all that likable. The scene where he changes his shirt in his office without realising everyone was watching him was funny. There’s also a cameo from Kevin Spacey as a sleazebag.

I also thought it was quite an ugly film to look at, some scenes from the ferry moving into the New York skyline aside.
Haven't seen it in a while but I used to be a fan. I thought it was a good pick for you at the time.

The Shape of Water


This is in strange and overlong romance. Though it is packed with some good performances.
Sally Hawkins is adorable, and great, as Eliza. Mute due to a past injury, she lived a lonely life of routine. Her only friends are a equally lonely artist who is gay, and her coworker who isn’t fleshed out enough to benefit a decent actress in Octavia Spencer.
The romance is a little creepy, and takes up too much time to develope, and and the Russian spy subplot is a unnecessary distraction.
But once we get past that we are reminded how touching it can be with little moments between her and the fish man. Those scenes, however come before his breakout Halfway through the movie, which would have been better served if had come closer to the end.
I know this sounds like I didn’t enjoy it, but honestly I did. I liked it, actually. There’s some good performances here, with a decent story and a fish man that Del Toro breathes life into. You feel for him when he’s tortured mercilessly, and you can see the kindness in his eyes.
It’s the little things, that one comes to expect from Del Toro.
Good pick, just falls short of being great

My guess is Thursday Next? I recall her being a fan of it.

I thought this was incredible, easily one of my favorites from the last 10 years.



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible

I thought this was incredible, easily one of my favorites from the last 10 years.
I, on the other hand, think it's the most unfair of the Oscar winners since ever xD



The Shape of Water
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


I didn't see: Get Out, Lady Bird...

I did see: Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, I thought they were all mediocre.

I shut off: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as I thought it was over the top stupid.

The movie that should've won and the only really good one was: Phantom Thread



The trick is not minding
The Shape of Water
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


I didn't see: Get Out, Lady Bird...

I did see: Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, I thought they were all mediocre.

I shut off: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as I thought it was over the top stupid.

The movie that should've won and the only really good one was: Phantom Thread
I’ve only seen Lady Bird and The Shape of Water so far. Loved Lady Bird, but I have a soft spot Saoirse Ronan



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
The Shape of Water
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


I didn't see: Get Out, Lady Bird...

I did see: Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, I thought they were all mediocre.

I shut off: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as I thought it was over the top stupid.

The movie that should've won and the only really good one was: Phantom Thread
This is the last year I've made the effort to see them all. Shape of Water was, in my opinion, the worst of the bunch. It annoyed me so much that I basically gave up on the Oscars. And yeah, Phantom Thread is the superior film, by a long margin.



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Phantom Thread is an excellent film, and I would not have complained had it won the Oscar. I was quite surprised at Shape of Water winning, even though I love it, as I can see that in some ways it could come across as quite niche and I can see exactly why some people would not love it.



I've only seen Three Billboards, Call Me By Your Name, and Phantom Thread. I'm sure you guys can guess which of those I liked the least, but I quite like the other two. I doubt I'll ever watch Shape of Water unless it's nominated in a general HOF and if it does I doubt I'll like it.



The trick is not minding
It seems a lot of people hated The Shape of Water. I was surprised I loved it with it being fantasy.
I liked but found that it had too much going on. The Russian Spy side plot really didn’t do much for the film, for me. I felt it lost some steam once they freed fish man, and that happened an hour into it.
I liked the nod to ET as well.



I've only seen Three Billboards, Call Me By Your Name, and Phantom Thread. I'm sure you guys can guess which of those I liked the least, but I quite like the other two. I doubt I'll ever watch Shape of Water unless it's nominated in a general HOF and if it does I doubt I'll like it.
I think you might like Shape of Water to some degree. It would seem to have some elements you tend to like. Though I don't think you'd ever love it. I just re-read my review of it and I really ripped on it!

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...09#post1889109




Ghost (1990)

Lots of topless beefcake going on here, but not my thing! And who knew they had Covid back in 1990 So put on those damn shirts AND mask!

I've never liked Demi Moore, don't know why I just don't. I read she was the highest paid actress in the world at the time this was made....why? She can't really act, though she can cry. In fact I also read she could cry on cue out of either eye....weird! I didn't particular care for Patrick Swayze either. I would've liked to seen Winona Ryder cast with Christian Slater.

I did however like Whoopi Goldberg scenes those were funny. But otherwise, not much chance of this finishing high on my list. On the other hand I haven't really liked anything so far, so who knows this still might do well.




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It Happened One Night

Peter Warne: Why didn't you take off all your clothes? You could have stopped forty cars.
Ellie Andrews: Well, ooo, I'll remember that when we need forty cars.

Did I ever mention how much I love romantic comedies? No? Well that's because I don't. There are exceptions to the rule, there almost always is, and It Happened One Night is one of them.

I really, really liked this story about a socialite who escapes from her overprotective father and hooks up with a reporter on a bus trip from Florida(?) to New York. So it's a road trip, romantic comedy.

Usually, with older movies, the comedy doesn't work for me unless it's Buster Keaton or the Marx Bros but this...this hit all the right notes. I know Claudette Colbert won the Academy Award for this and she was very good but Clark Gable (who also won the AA) really shined. From his introduction to the finale he was superb. He's just so natural and kind of reminded me a little of George Clooney. That kind of likeable. Now that's not to say Claudette wasn't good because she was very good but in my opinion this was a Clark Gable film.

So, Claudette... the one thing that bothered me were them eyebrows. Yeah, it's silly but holy cow! They almost turned into sideburns. I got over that, eventually, and really liked her more as the film went on. It's a little unfortunate and no fault of hers that the weakest scene in the film was built around her and it was the "I love you" scene which felt a little rushed and out of place. I would've liked it a little later but I'm no writer, as you can tell, and I really don't know where else you would have put that. Not a deal breaker by any means but...eh, I was really starting to like her character and then she got all weepy.

This is one of them movies that has a scene that is iconic. That even if you haven't seen the movie you know what's coming as it starts to unfold and that is the hitchhiking scene and I can imagine that scene (along with a couple others) raised a few eyebrows back in the day (OMG!?! IS THAT... A LEG!?!). It's iconic but I don't think it's the best scene in the movie. That honor belongs to the "marriage fight" scene. Or maybe the "Piggyback"scene. Ah, it's hard to say as there were quite a few very good scenes and I laughed a lot more than I expected to.

This has been on my watchlist since the AFI released their first Top 100. So it's been sitting there for awhile. Probably would have stayed that way which is why I join these things. Sometimes I need a little push. I think I have this narrowed down to three people so I'm just gonna guess...a Wyldesyde nom?





They did make a good couple.
Heathers Is a great movie and I loved them in it, but I just don’t see them working in Ghost. Also, if they were in Ghost I think I would just keep picturing them as Veronica and J.D.