The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II

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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
I was thinking of nominating Predestination for @neiba, but I nominated it for Cricket last round and didn't want a repeat.

I think Sarah Snook is REALLY good in this movie. The scene where she is trying to perfect her voice while keeping the tears back really grabbed my attention when I first watched it and it does on rewatches.

Isn't the saying you can't escape the past, you can't change the future? For him to exist, he has to make sure that the events leading up to his current life happen.
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Suspect's Reviews



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I'd say Billy Wilder is one of my top 10 directors AND writers. I haven't seen all of his filmography yet but what I've seen I've loved or at least liked pretty well. The Apartment was one of the films I first watched when I got into 'old' films I thought it was great...I'm past due for another watch.
My viewing of Wilder films was extremely lacking before coming to the forum except knowing the few I had saw were very high in my list of favorites. A list that continues to grow as my viewing expands to where he's joined the ranks of where I see his name in something it instantly goes to my Watchlist.
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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I was thinking of nominating Predestination for @neiba, but I nominated it for Cricket last round and didn't want a repeat.

I think Sarah Snook is REALLY good in this movie. The scene where she is trying to perfect her voice while keeping the tears back really grabbed my attention when I first watched it and it does on rewatches.

Isn't the saying you can't escape the past, you can't change the future? For him to exist, he has to make sure that the events leading up to his current life happen.
Snook WAS amazing in this. Quite the captivating performance.



The trick is not minding



The Apartment

C.C. Baxter: The mirror... it's broken.
Fran Kubelik: Yes, I know. I like it that way. Makes me look the way I feel.

First-wise; THANK YOU to whomever caught the hint in the first Personal Recommendation about hoping someone would pick this film for me.
I have been a fan of Jack Lemon since I was a wee pup of around 6 or so when I became enamored with The Great Race. And I'm not sure, but it was scarcely a couple years after that I saw my very first Billy Wilder film, Some Like it Hot BECAUSE Jack Lemon, along with Tony Curtis were in it. Or perhaps it was Stalag 17, both of which were pretty close to when I first saw them.
Regardless, as this pup became the old wolf that I am, I've enjoyed, not only Wilder as a Director but even more so as a Writer. Even more so after joining this forum and having the opportunity to visit some of his truly best that I had wanted to and never seemed to. So I was downright f@ckin tickled to add two more in this HoF. The first being Ace in the Hole and now, this.

CC Baxter is an aspiring numbers cruncher at a very large Insurance firm who works late. Not out of dedication to his work. It's because several executives from the upper floors use his apartment to cheat on their wives.
Now, what could be, with such a premise, a simple madcap comedy, Wilder is a genius at finding comedy within some rather tragic circumstances, and is brilliant at mixing them together, time and time again. While the comedy is in a larger dose here, it's target is something far more in depth. With Baxter falling in love with Shirley McLain's Fran Kubelik. The Elevator Operator with amazing wisdom and horrible luck when it comes choosing men.
Again, what would be a By The Numbers story of New York boy meets a New York girl, Wilder delves deeper into the flaws of his characters while still retaining the clever wit that is the lifeblood of a Billy Wilder film.


This film has been awarded the F@ckin YAY! Seal Of Approval.
That also would be me. Just to echo CR here, Wilder is also one of my favorite Directors as well.
Also, outside of Working Girl for Thursday, I’m doing pretty well here. 😎



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
Charade (1963)

A nice little movie, quite entertaining and with two of the most carismatic leads of the classical era.

This was made in the early 60s when the noir genre was pretty much way too explored already and directors were trying to find ways to recreate it. This tries to go down a risky path in that regard, but with a few missteps.
My main problem with this is that it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a serious mystery thriller with some comic relief or a heavy slapstick comedy. The Bond franchise would solve this lack of balance a few years later, but here everything seems too experimental yet. The amount of twists and turns would be great if half of them weren't received with such lightness by Hepburn's character, ultimately taking the weight of all of them. And then when the climax comes, there's simply no gravitas because not enough tension was created before.

Also a result from this mixed energy is that Hepburn's character comes out as being incredibly stupid or way too naive to be believable. A guy lies to you about his own name 3 times in a row and you still enjoy a romantic dinner with him as if nothing happened and everything was quite natural?

The acting itself was as good as expected, showing a good range of emotions in both Grant and Hepburn, but their characters are hurt by the director's lack of competence.

i'm still glad I watched it, I was needing a light film today.


But the guy was Cary Grant. How could she pass up a romantic dinner with him regardless of how many times he lied about his name?
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I believe this was me!!!

They did a remake with Michael Douglas called A Perfect Murder. Obviously...not as good.

I saw A Perfect Murder when it was originally in the theaters, but at the time, I didn't know that it was a remake of Dial M for Murder. I watched the movie thinking that I had seen it already, but I couldn't figure out how, (because it was a new movie at the time), until about 3/4 through the movie when I finally realized that it was a remake.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
First saw Fright Night at the movies when I was 14 and it became an instant favorite. It's slipped a bit since then but I believe it made the tail end of my ballot for the horror countdown.

Fright Night made my top 25 horror movies list at #19.



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Some quick thoughts on the last movies:

Charade
, it's not noir, not even close. It's a romantic-comedy-caper film, thus its tone is non-serious. Audrey Hepburn is a dear in all of her films.. and was there ever anyone cooler than Cary Grant? I've only seen Charade once and that was 15 years ago. I didn't like it then, but I was expecting a Hitch type film, which it ain't.
[i][b]

Yeah, but the thing is that it gets too serious sometimes for a rom com. That was what I disliked about it. It never seemed to decide if it wanted to be a 007/Hitchcock kind of film or a pure romantic comedy. But maybe I started with the wrong expectations.



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover (1989)

So, this is... something.

I don't really know what to think of it. There are things I really really liked while others not so much.

Starting with the good: the setting and costumes are astonishing. The way the colours of the costumes change everytime the character changes room, and how every room has its own personality and atmosphere is brilliant.
I also loved the theatrical style of this. It's basically a brechtian theatre piece whose limits were destroyed due to the change of medium. The acting, the camera work and the dialogues are blatantly theatrical and make no excuses for that. Speaking of acting, Hellen Mirren and her lover are quite good, but the true force of this film is Gambon. What a despicable character so wonderfully portrayed. I wanted to kill him before the 10 minute mark and it only went worse from there.
Also the soundtrack is very very good, with the exception with the kid singing that song, which I didn't enjoy at all. But that's probably my singer self speaking.
Ahhh, and the final scene is amazing! The procession leaving the kitchen with that music is such a powerful moment!

On the other hand, the story itself didn't grab my interest enough and I think this would do well with 30 minutes less... There are also some choices made by the characters that don't seem very rational, but I can let that go because this film is more about symbolisms and grandiosity than character study.

A very very interesting pick. I haven't the slightest idea who picked it. Maybe cricket? He's twisted enough to do so...

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I had The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover picked for me as well. I tried watching it a week or two ago and couldn't get more than a few minutes in. Obviously I'll try again and force myself to finish before the deadline. Not looking forward to it, though.

I'm off work for the next four days. Tomorrow's Thanksgiving and I probably won't watch anything then, but I'll try to get one or two watched over the weekend.



Like Suspect said, I watched it the last time thanks to him, and I also loved it. Not something I ever would have watched on my own.

The Apartment is so great, and Ed, there was no way you were getting through this HoF without seeing it.

When I was 18, me and a couple friends went to see Cook/Thief/Wife/Lover. We certainly were not expecting what we saw. One of a few movies nominated more than once in this HoF.



The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover is one of my favorite movies of the 80's and I considered nominating it for a couple of people but I just couldn't pull the trigger. I love real good, bad characters and Albert (Michael Gambon) is about as nasty as they come. What a great performance. Helen Mirren was outstanding as well as Georgina and delivers one of my favorite lines of all time.

Fright Night is a fun one. Vampire movies usually bore the hell out of me but this was one I really enjoyed.

The Apartment and Predestination I've seen, went to the movie database and had them both at 8/10 so I liked them but remember very little about them.

Django made my western top 25. I don't think it's a great movie but I sure had a good time watching it.




Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)

'Citizen liked this. Citizen impressed with the film'...OK, I know enough of all that Besides if you haven't seen the film you don't know what the hell Citizen is talking about.

Strange title for a very minimalist film (and I mean that in a good way). I heard of this movie plenty in the past, and thought it was some weird sh**. It's not at all weird or sh**. Though I could have done without the male nudity. Why is it that when there's male nudity, there's no female nudity to speak of? Well I didn't want to see the old lady nude anyway and even the waitress wasn't really hot, so no big loss. Though I did get a kick out of her changing her styles. Like in every scene she had a different hair-do, or is that a hair-don't.

Seriously, I was very impressed with this film and by the style of film making the director took. It felt very up close and personal and in a way it reminded me of Three Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2008).

At first I cringed at the idea that this film was going to be all preachy, but then it did a 180 and ended up not taking any kind of stance at all. Except I guess that to say, 'find love where you can'.

I loved the filming choices in Munich, and was that corner restaurant where Hitler really use to eat? Strange things that you see in a movie. Fassbinder likes to shoot from afar with a wide angle lens through doors, that adds to the intimacy of the film and I liked that.

Right now Ali: Fear Eats the Soul & Black Orpheus are tied for 1st place on my ballot...BUT...I still got three films to go.


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The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)

'Citizen liked this. Citizen impressed with the film'...OK, I know enough of all that Besides if you haven't seen the film you don't know what the hell Citizen is talking about.

Strange title for a very minimalist film (and I mean that in a good way). I heard of this movie plenty in the past, and thought it was some weird sh**. It's not at all weird or sh**. Though I could have done without the male nudity. Why is it that when there's male nudity, there's no female nudity to speak of? Well I didn't want to see the old lady nude anyway and even the waitress wasn't really hot, so no big loss. Though I did get a kick out of her changing her styles. Like in every scene she had a different hair-do, or is that a hair-don't.

Seriously, I was very impressed with this film and by the style of film making the director took. It felt very up close and personal and in a way it reminded me of Three Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2008).

At first I cringed at the idea that this film was going to be all preachy, but then it did a 180 and ended up not taking any kind of stance at all. Except I guess that to say, 'find love where you can'.

I loved the filming choices in Munich, and was that corner restaurant where Hitler really use to eat? Strange things that you see in a movie. Fassbinder likes to shoot from afar with a wide angle lens through doors, that adds to the intimacy of the film and I liked that.

Right now Ali: Fear Eats the Soul & Black Orpheus are tied for 1st place on my ballot...BUT...I still got three films to go.



I seriously considered nominating this for you but went with a classic instead. Glad you liked it



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover (1989)

So, this is... something.

I don't really know what to think of it. There are things I really really liked while others not so much.

Starting with the good: the setting and costumes are astonishing. The way the colours of the costumes change everytime the character changes room, and how every room has its own personality and atmosphere is brilliant.
I also loved the theatrical style of this. It's basically a brechtian theatre piece whose limits were destroyed due to the change of medium. The acting, the camera work and the dialogues are blatantly theatrical and make no excuses for that. Speaking of acting, Hellen Mirren and her lover are quite good, but the true force of this film is Gambon. What a despicable character so wonderfully portrayed. I wanted to kill him before the 10 minute mark and it only went worse from there.
Also the soundtrack is very very good, with the exception with the kid singing that song, which I didn't enjoy at all. But that's probably my singer self speaking.
Ahhh, and the final scene is amazing! The procession leaving the kitchen with that music is such a powerful moment!

On the other hand, the story itself didn't grab my interest enough and I think this would do well with 30 minutes less... There are also some choices made by the characters that don't seem very rational, but I can let that go because this film is more about symbolisms and grandiosity than character study.

A very very interesting pick. I haven't the slightest idea who picked it. Maybe cricket? He's twisted enough to do so...

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This was my pick for you! I know it was a bit of a risky pick, but I saw you had a few films you liked that made me think you wouldn't mind the twistedness of it.

I agree with everything you said about it, the colours and the costumes and the way it's very theatre like but at the same time not at all like a filmed play because it utilises the visual medium so well. And the performances. It is an absolutely bonkers film. I think I just probably rate it slightly higher.



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Random Harvest


Yeah, I'll come back and review this when I've stopped crying maybe?

In all seriousness, I really liked this. I was absolutely gripped by their romance and the whole flight from the asylum, even though when they get their happy ending forty minutes into the film you know it can only go downhill from there. I don't know what to say because of spoilers. I just felt so sorry for everybody with the whole Kitty situation.

I did think some of what happened over the twelve years was a little implausible...surely there were other things she could have tried to bring back his memory? It was a bit frustrating to watch her being a bit too patient and self-sacrificing when it wasn't doing him any good either. Especially considering how things happened in the end.

Ronald Coleman is far too old for the lead character, yet I was absolutely charmed by his performance as Smithy. Greer Garson is great too, despite her terrible Scottish accent in her music hall performance.

I don't know why this film isn't better known, really. Or maybe it is and I just overlooked it. Glad to have seen it now, perfect melodrama for curling up on the sofa with.

I'd guess at CR having nominated this but don't know for sure.



Ali: Fear Eats the Soul and Random Harvest are both good movies that I've wanted to watch again. I liked both but thought there was much more I could get out of them.