The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II

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Spartacus was good but it wasn't as good as I had hoped for. I think my expectations were way too high. Anytime you go into a movie expecting a top ten all time movie your expectations may be a bit too high.

Ordinary People was my rec for Miss Vicky. No idea why I picked that one because I haven't seen it in years but I remember it being a pretty good family drama with solid performances. One of the scenes that always sticks out to me was Animal Mother/ My Bodyguard (Adam Baldwin) getting his ass kicked by a scrawny Timothy Hutton. No reason why I remember that more than anything else but I do. Thought both Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland were excellent.



Ordinary People was my rec for Miss Vicky. No idea why I picked that one because I haven't seen it in years but I remember it being a pretty good family drama with solid performances. One of the scenes that always sticks out to me was Animal Mother/ My Bodyguard (Adam Baldwin) getting his ass kicked by a scrawny Timothy Hutton. No reason why I remember that more than anything else but I do. Thought both Mary Tyler Moore and Donald Sutherland were excellent.
It's not a bad choice, by any means. I think it's a victim of unrelated circumstances and of how much I hated Moore's character (though her performance was very good). In any case, at this point I don't need to like movies for them to rank high, I just need to dislike them less than the others.



Spartacus

Directed by Stanley Kubrick (who, after the completion of this film, made sure he always kept full control over all aspects of his movies) and the screenplay written by Dalton Trumbo (who was still blacklisted at the time, Kirk Douglas spoke up so that Trumbo got actual credit for his writing), and with a run time of just over 3 hours, Spartacus is quite the epic film...
Glad you liked it!

Spartacus was good but it wasn't as good as I had hoped for. I think my expectations were way too high. Anytime you go into a movie expecting a top ten all time movie your expectations may be a bit too high...
That was my reaction to Spartacus too. I seen it only once and way back when I was first starting to venture into watching older films. I'd heard it was really great and that then set the bar too high for me...especially as I thought old films were like old food, stale.

Now I know old films are like old wine, vingery! of course I love old films these days, so I really need to go back and revisit Spartacus.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Spartacus was good but it wasn't as good as I had hoped for. I think my expectations were way too high. Anytime you go into a movie expecting a top ten all time movie your expectations may be a bit too high.
That was my reaction to Spartacus too. I seen it only once and way back when I was first starting to venture into watching older films. I'd heard it was really great and that then set the bar too high for me...especially as I thought old films were like old food, stale.

Now I know old films are like old wine, vingery! of course I love old films these days, so I really need to go back and revisit Spartacus.
I try REALLY hard NOT to get TOO excited about any particular film for that reason.

I know specifically, with Spartacus I kept my expectations to mid range because I sort of run hot and cold with Kirk Douglas. Not sure why, but I just do. Like with Ace in the Hole he was ideal for it and I really enjoyed him in it. In Spartacus, that Douglas cocky/arrogance/tough guy seemed off when it came to someone who had known naught else but slavery. Which was my only critique and not one I bothered with since I so very much enjoyed everyone else and the film itself.
I even kept my expectations in check with The Apartment which wasn't easy. Thankful the payoff was very early in the film as Jack Lemon's character began his monologue and the expectation ran loose, knowing full well it was going to be something I was going to fully enjoy.
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Underworld



I think this was the first silent film I've seen since preparing for the pre-30's countdown so I was glad it was chosen for me. Another thing that made me excited to see it was that it was directed by Josef Von Sternberg whose films I have very much enjoyed. Given that it's a crime film, I'm surprised I didn't catch it before.

It's an easy watch at just over 80 minutes and there's a perfect copy on YouTube. Given how old it is, I was surprised at how much of what I'd call a regular crime film it was. It must have had some influence on films to come. Yet, you could almost say that the crime part is just the background for the story of a potential love triangle. We end up getting a fairly balanced film for the short runtime and it all works. Good performances and I liked the three main characters-Bull Weed, Feathers, and Rolls Royce. It looks and sounds right. While not a new favorite, it's damn good and I wouldn't have wanted anything else nominated in its place.




Women will be your undoing, Pépé
SWEET!
As I've said before I was waiting to see what you thought of it because when it caught my eye I was very intrigued to check it out -- now I definitely will.



SWEET!
As I've said before I was waiting to see what you thought of it because when it caught my eye I was very intrigued to check it out -- now I definitely will.
Maybe it's not a new favorite like the last one you picked for me, but there was no way I wasn't going to like it.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I. Am SUCH a putz

Not only have I already seen Underworld, but I also placed it at #22 in the Pre-30s Countdown - - Good f@ckin gravy!!

In the opening bar scene, things were getting awful familiar and I kept telling myself; I'm just recognizing similar setups like this, but once they got to the old hideout and they opened up the steel-enforced secret door, that cinched it. I finally went and checked, and yep, it was.

I'm 23 min in, so. . . screw it, it's a great gangster/love triangle film, so I'll finish 'er up as a nice rewatch.

Certainly explains WHY I had such a good gut feeling you'd like this @cricket lol







The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989)
Imdb

Date Watched: 12/13/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II
Rewatch: No.


I think I would have loved the ending to this movie if I hadn't hated absolutely everything else about it. The film was ugly in every way - the cinematography, the sets, the costumes, the people. It all just looked gross, which I get was the director's intent, but it was too damn much. The film also dragged terribly. So much yelling and arguing. It was also unsexy despite an abundance of nudity (none of which I wanted to see). It was unfunny and it didn't bring out any kind of emotion in me. And perhaps worst of all was that f***ing kid's singing, which caused me actual physical pain. Seriously, I just downed like four Ibuprofen to combat the headache this caused.

Not my least favorite movie I've ever seen, but not too far off.

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Breaking news:
Next week Ed will be recommending Laugh, Clown, Laugh and The Beloved Rogue to fellow MoFos in order to gauge their reactions before deciding whether or not to rewatch them himself



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I picked The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover for Neiba, but would not have picked it for you, @MissVicky ! Not sure who did.

I would have thought you would have got a kick out of the ending ("Try the cock, Albert.") if nothing else.

I can't agree that it looks ugly though, I thought the colour changing was very visually striking.



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible


The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989)
Imdb

Date Watched: 12/13/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II
Rewatch: No.


I think I would have loved the ending to this movie if I hadn't hated absolutely everything else about it. The film was ugly in every way - the cinematography, the sets, the costumes, the people. It all just looked gross, which I get was the director's intent, but it was too damn much. The film also dragged terribly. So much yelling and arguing. It was also unsexy despite an abundance of nudity (none of which I wanted to see). It was unfunny and it didn't bring out any kind of emotion in me. And perhaps worst of all was that f***ing kid's singing, which caused me actual physical pain. Seriously, I just downed like four Ibuprofen to combat the headache this caused.

Not my least favorite movie I've ever seen, but not too far off.

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I was expecting worse tbh! There was so much of this I knew you would hate. I even sent a message to cricket cause I was unsure of what you would think of the animal cruelty.





The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989)
Imdb

Date Watched: 12/13/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II
Rewatch: No.


I think I would have loved the ending to this movie if I hadn't hated absolutely everything else about it. The film was ugly in every way - the cinematography, the sets, the costumes, the people. It all just looked gross, which I get was the director's intent, but it was too damn much. The film also dragged terribly. So much yelling and arguing. It was also unsexy despite an abundance of nudity (none of which I wanted to see). It was unfunny and it didn't bring out any kind of emotion in me. And perhaps worst of all was that f***ing kid's singing, which caused me actual physical pain. Seriously, I just downed like four Ibuprofen to combat the headache this caused.

Not my least favorite movie I've ever seen, but not too far off.

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I was very close to nominating this for you but that kid singing was the main reason I passed. I knew that would push all the wrong buttons so I went with the other family drama. The one without singing. First time I saw this was with a girl I had just started dating, who was not a movie fan at all. Drove across town to the one video store that had a copy on VHS and we watched it. There was some very awkward silence when it was over, then I got the "Do you like this kind of stuff?" Me:

She still brings it up to this day (along with a lot of other stuff).



I would have thought you would have got a kick out of the ending ("Try the cock, Albert.") if nothing else.
Like I said, I would've loved the ending if I hadn't hated everything else. That scene alone is responsible for the extra half a popcorn box.

I was expecting worse tbh! There was so much of this I knew you would hate. I even sent a message to cricket cause I was unsure of what you would think of the animal cruelty.
I didn't notice any actual animal cruelty. There were lots of dead animals and a scene where a dog gets run over by a car, but the dog's injuries didn't look real to me.

I still hated the movie and it stands a good chance at taking last place, just not for that reason.

I was very close to nominating this for you but that kid singing was the main reason I passed.
Wise decision.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Breaking news:
Next week Ed will be recommending Laugh, Clown, Laugh and The Beloved Rogue to fellow MoFos in order to gauge their reactions before deciding whether or not to rewatch them himself