25th Hall of Fame

American Movie (1999)


Life isn't about the destination sometimes it's about the journey. American Movie tells the story of an independent filmmaker, newspaper boy, funeral janitor named Mark the the 30 minute film that took him 3 years to make. But naturally it's really about making the movie but more about the people in this quiet little Wisconsin town.



One of the things that I love about this film is it's constant juxtaposition between the horror film about Satan, Witches, Zombies...but then you've got this family hanging around in the background. You have this great scene where a group of I guess druids drags away a victim and Mark is filming and following Mark is this little 8 year old girl. These are the scenes that really sell the film and build on a different sense of Americana.


You also have a sad themes that run through the film, divorces, poverty, an elderly uncle is clearly getting close to the end. But this is America and life in a flyover state. And while Mark has this energy about him, his friend in the movie is Mike who is just a good dude. Maybe it's his love of RUSH or the drugs but Mike is just great. And while Mark tries to become this great filmmaker and has learned all the jargon it's Mike who demonstrates his talent with music.


This was a nice little break from all the heavy I've been watching lately. Good nom.

Now watch Coven!

Great review, Cricket! Well said and it sums up how I feel too.

Next for me will be About Elly, then that will probably be it until I turn in my foreign language ballot.

Chimes at Midnight (1965)

If you add Orson Welles to the greatest writer of all time the result can never be less than brilliant.

Chimes at Midnight is a delightful film around one of the most famous Shakesperian characters, Falstaff. The style of acting and direction is very close to a play, which for someone who loves theatre, like me, is a huge bonus!
The acting is very good from almost everyone involved, with the exception of Welles. And I say that he's an exception because he's not just very good, he is absolutely dazzling. This might be my favourite performance out of everything I've seen by him.
The first half of the film has extremely frantic pacing and is immensely funny. It's also easily the best part of the film. The dialogues are really well delivered as the Shakesperian metric is the main propulsor of the timing of each action.
Then there's the centerpiece, the long battle sequence which is an incredible technical feat, and finally, the film slows down and gains gravitas, as every character starts to realize their actions have consequences. It's here we see the big beautiful Shakespearian monologues, charged with drama and intention. The ending comes a bit abruptly and it's perhaps what I disliked the most (besides the annoying voice of Justice Shallow). I feel I needed a long monologue from Falstaff but Shakespeare doesn't exactly prepare his deaths too often.
Great nom and a seriously underrated Welles' gem!

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Glad you liked it. Could you hear the dialogue OK? Did you use subs?

You really had me in the first half there. I legit gasped with my hand on my chest, like this was some period drama and I had just witnessed something scandalous. Then I read the rest and all was right in the world haha.

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Glad you enjoyed it! I'm pretty much in agreement with you about the best things in it like that battle scene.* As for the ending,

Yes, I ended up using Stremio, which is a cool platform and the sound was ok. As for the subs, I always use subtitles if it's Shakespeare. The text is so rich that even if English is your native language (which is not my case) many things would be missed.

American Movie (1999)

So... This will be a pretty unpopular write-up, I guess.

I watched American Movie for the first time for the Doc HoF some years ago. I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. I was expecting this time to have a similar reaction to it, but the fact is, I liked it a lot less.
The whole idea of the movie, I guess, is to show a guy who has an infinite passion for film but none of the tools to succeed in the film industry and to provoke some kind of empathy in the viewer. And I totally missed that.
Mark just looks like a total loser, who's not willing to commit to the boring part of becoming good. He quits high school because "he's not learning" and just goes out on his own, just armed with his passion for film (which, I admit, is pretty impressive). And then he has this monologue where he says that he doesn't know why some people have success and others don't... Like, no sh*t genius, if you knew it you wouldn't be doing what you're doing. It may seem cold, but I have no sympathy whatsoever for this type of character. Passion is important but it's not even 5% to become an artist (or anything else for that matter).
And then you have the old uncle who always feels like he's being somewhat manipulated, Silent Bob's slower cousin Mike, the girlfriend who has a really weird vibe, and the mother who feels a bit lost... Almost none of the persons here seem to know what they're doing and the few who do, just look at the guy in a similar way I do, which sucks because I know I'm supposed to be empathetic.
Of course, you could explain Mark's lack of success to his upbringing. The home environment isn't obviously the best and he took many wrong decisions in the past, probably due to bad orientation, which eventually led him to the point he's in when this film was shot, but it gets to a point where I can't excuse him anymore.
And, coming from this perspective, is pretty hard for me to find value in what the movie is showing. The few funny scenes feel like I'm laughing at the characters and not with them which just doesn't feel right, and for the rest of it, I was either feeling bored or just annoyed.

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The Truth

A nice little courtroom drama gem here. It doesn't necessarily do anything brilliantly but I think it looks the viewer from beginning to end. I really like Bardot here. Think she did a real good job. I was a bit irritated by the back and forth transition between the courtroom and the flashbacks but after awhile it didn't bother me as much. Maybe perhaps it would have been better if there was a little more build up, but I can't really complain about that too much as it was still directed pretty well. A decent nomination here.

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Vertigo (1958)

Damn, this film is just marvelous.
It's one of those films that gets better with each viewing because the amount of detail that goes into it is only noticeable after you know of the twist and don't need to be as focused on the story.
The soundtrack is simply brilliant, one of the best ever I would even say, creating an atmosphere that mixes mystery, tension, and the supernatural. Then there's the brilliant use of color. It's like red, green, blue, and yellow became characters of their own. For someone who started using color relatively late in his career, Hitchcock surely applied it better than most directors, even of today.
One thing I noticed more this time was how much this film is about obsession and how well it's constructed to create that feeling! I also liked how he chose to reveal the crime. A lesser director would wait for the end, but by that time it would have been pretty obvious for the viewer. Hitchcock decided to reveal earlier and still be in command of the narrative, which I just thought about while watching this now.
I cared less about the dream sequence this time though, and the finale didn't hit me as much although the final crescendo is incredibly well done.
Hitchock's ultimate masterpiece, in my opinion, and one of the greatest of all time!

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I think I'll finish this today. Only "About Elly" left!

I think I prefer slacking Neiba to speedy Neiba that makes ME look like a slacker

Ahahah! It's safer to watch everything while I feel like watching movies and have time for it than to have to watch them with the pressure of the deadline, as it happened in the last few HoFs.
I don't know if I'd be able to tackle these many movies a week later, cause I don't really trust my mental health too much atm.

Damn dude nice work. I'm taking over your old position for this one it seems.

I got to finish off the PRIII and then I can jump full speed into this. There are so many cool noms that I'm looking forward checking them out.

You'll be missed, neiba. Please check on us from time to time.