The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II

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...Jodie Foster was great, she’s never not great and I always think I should watch more films with her in it. Recommendations welcome ...
I really like Jodie Foster too, I think she's a top notch actress and really can deliver heart felt and real performances. I haven't seen much from her but I did really like these three movies.
Nell (1994)

The Beaver (2011)

but my favorite performance by Jodie would be in:
Anna and the King (1999)




Women will be your undoing, Pépé



The Wages of Fear aka Le salaire de la peur

Dick: When I was a kid, I used to see men go off on this kind of jobs... and not come back. When they did, they were wrecks. Their hair had turned white and their hands were shaking like palsy! You don't know what fear is. But you'll see. It's catching, it's catching like small pox! And once you get it, it's for life! So long, boys, and good luck.

I had originally seen the remake Sorcerer back in the 70s Hall of Fame and even though the original does not have that intense bridge crossing, there is still some taut, suspense filled moments of two nitro laden trucks being driven some three hundred miles through the haphazard mountains of South America.

Director Henri-Georges Clouzot knows when to use extreme angles, when to set up close ups and when to give a more grand scale to what is occurring to this collection of desperate individuals where no one is the good guy. Nor is anyone truly bad either. Just a very, highly dangerous job needs to be done and Clouzot gives us four flawed men with pasts looking for enough cash to get the hell out of the crummy town they've been stuck in.

Just over two hours this film actually clips along rather nicely, even with the extended introductions of the four men who jump at the suicide mission of driving such a dangerous payload of nitroglycerin and every conceivable obstacle that blocks their progress. Including one another.

Another Hidden Gem.
To whomever nominated this -- THANK YOU
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I watched Wages of Fear for the Fifth HOF. I remember pretty much nothing about it so I had to look up my thoughts on it. I rated it a 3+ and said I respected it, but didn't like it.





The Untouchables (Brian Depalma,1987)
Imdb.com

Date Watched: 12/28/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II
Rewatch: No.


I don’t have a whole lot to say about this. I mostly enjoyed it. I think the acting was all pretty strong, the film looked good (and so did Kevin Costner ), and the story was engaging. However, I couldn’t seem to shake a certain sadness at all the senseless violence and it reminded me of a war movie in that way. The knowledge of how foolish prohibition was never left the back of my mind and it kept me from fully enjoying the film. I also disliked the score and found it a little too intrusive.

Still, I’m glad to have finally seen it.




The trick is not minding
I love The Untouchables, but yeah, It has its faults. I happen to love Morricones’s score. Especially the end theme! I play it often when at the gym, it’s so inspiring!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, and a decent rating is the best I could hope for.



Thought Contact was really good although I am a bit with South Park as far as the ending (SPOILER - Waited 2 hours just to find out the alien was her GD father) As far as Jodie Foster goes, I've always liked her and think The Accused, which I watched again recently, is her best performance but it sure isn't the easiest film to take in.

Untouchables is one of my favorites and I LOVE the music.



I've not seen Wages of Fear but I've sure heard of it. I need to brush-up on my classic foreign films watching.

I've not yet watched The Untouchables but plan on it as it sounds like something I'd dig. I did see Costner in The Highwaymen (2019)which was about the man who tracked down and killed the infamous Bonnie and Clyde. I thought the movie was pretty damn good and far better than its low IMDB rating of 6.9. I guess it wasn't bloody enough for some. I highly recommend it if you like Costner, history based films and good acting.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
@Thursday Next


I wanna believe I nominated this for you. Glad you dug it. There is one shot in the film that I'm still in awe at and that is when the girl is running up the stairs and reaches for the door, then we find out we're in a mirror of that door. A really inventive way of shooting that scene.
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@Thursday Next


I wanna believe I nominated this for you. Glad you dug it. There is one shot in the film that I'm still in awe at and that is when the girl is running up the stairs and reaches for the door, then we find out we're in a mirror of that door. A really inventive way of shooting that scene.
Yes, I really liked that shot too.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
"You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way!"
Very pleasantly surprised you like the Untouchables, Vicky -- VERY nice!
Can't count how many times I watched that when it came out.

And CR, I think you and I spoke about The Highwaymen and just how good it was.
I agree, the 6.9 rating is too low for how good it was.



Congratulations Miss Vicky, you are the 2nd member to finish!

Count me as another fan of The Untouchables, and I consider Brian De Palma to be one of my favorite directors.

I do prefer the remake but The Wages of Fear is really good.



The trick is not minding
Raising Arizona

The Coens have always populated their films with quirky, larger than life characters. This was no exception.
Nic Cage stars as H. I. McDunnough. Hi to his friends. When we first meet him, he’s constantly getting arrested for robbery. He meets Edwina (Holly Hunter), falls in love, and get married. He goes straight. Then they find out she can’t have kids. But that’s ok, a local rich couple jus had five! So they steal one. As you do....
This is one quirky comedy, with some funny scenes between Hunter and Cage.

But mostly there’s a undercurrent of contempt for the Reagan era. There’s references to the “have and have nots” and how the rich couple have “too much” with regards to their kids. The kidnapped infant could have easily been a metaphor for greed. Everyone wants the kid for themselves. And not even for reasons one might expect. Indeed, Hi even makes a reference to his disdain towards Reagan.
And take note of a strange scene involving John Goodman and his cell mate escaping prison. Their emergence from the muddy ground is much like birth, complete with Goodman pulling his buddy out by the legs.
Along the way a bounty hunter dressed like a Mad Max wannabe shows up also chasing after the child.
This all gets weird, with some genuinely funny moments, but some of the scenes go on for too long.
And unfortunately it’s those scenes that ultimately what keeps this film from completely working. The weirdness outweighs the funny to the point it becomes distracting.

Coen films have been hit or miss for me, with Blood Simple being an amazing film earlier this year, when it was recommended for me. This joins Barton Fink as too weird to be completely enjoyable.



I've not seen Wages of Fear but I've sure heard of it. I need to brush-up on my classic foreign films watching.

It's my favorite Clouzot film...which is saying something but then again you didn't care for The Raven so I don't know if you'd want to watch something three times as long.