The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame IV

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Women will be your undoing, Pépé



Shane (1953)

[first lines]
Joey: Somebody's comin', Pa!
Joe Starrett: Well, let him come.

One of my From young pup to old fart, favorite genres; Westerns, this MustSee! Classic by Director George Stevens; also the off-camera cheering during the bar fight: "Knock Him Into That Pigpen, Chris!" does a d@mn fine job of running the full gambit of the mysterious gunslinger with integrity, (Alan Ladd) arriving at a Homestead of Honest, Wholesome, Hard-Working folks that love and cherish each other. Ideally portrayed by Van Heflin, who would do a similarly simple, honest man willing to fight for what's right in 3:10 To Yuma. As his devoted wife and loving mother, Jean Arthur, whom I've loved in a few comedic turns. Her sharp wit being an adored favorite of mine. Finally, their infatuated son, whom, during the Western Countdown, I remember hearing of a lot of annoyance for the kid. I get that, but honestly, even though a little less would have been more, he did encapsulate the focus of Family that plays a strong role in this film.

Like a scarred animal coming upon a haven, Shane is welcomed. He returns their graciousness with good, honest labor.
Like most mysterious men, Shane wants his past life to remain in the past. But - this is The West, dang gummit! Where men are men and the sheep walk funny.
Soon, Shane joins forces to fight back against a wannabe cattle baron intent on taking EVERYONE'S land.

Moreso with the hired gun, Monsieur F@cking Cold, Psychopath (Jack Palance).

And I gotta tell ya; I LOVE how his arrival causes the dog to slink away from him, along with the second time when sh#t's about to go down in the Bar.

As initially stated, this hits every checklist for a d@mn fine Western. More importantly, it does it right from the Academy-winning Cinematography to the most minute nuance in the other Homesteaders, to the bullies that herd cattle. And every moral compassed action by those involved. Well, not, Palace's Wilson, obviously, but, you know, everyone ELSE. Which included several childhood favorites from a few TV Shows. From Uncle Joe from Petticoat Junction as the bearded Homesteader with a massive family to Grandma Walton playing Elisha Cook Jr' wife, to a minimal role for the actress who would play Jane Hathaway, the secretary at the bank in The Beverly Hillbillies.

A VERY needed movie to have checked off my Western list and with it, the usual, but very sincere THANK YOU to whoever nominated it for me.
VERY much obliged!!
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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I have two more films that I need to write up; Le Jour Se Leve and Born Yesterday - both I enjoyed immensely, but it's too late to write them up as well. So, that'll be another time.
It's also too late for me to comment on the recent films reviewed, so that'll be later too.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé



Le Jour Se Leve aka Daybreak (1939)

M. Valentin: You're the type women fall in love with . . . I'm the type that interests them.

A tight thriller that centers around Francois' (Jean Gabin) recollections of how things led up to the murder that occurs in the opening scene. Barricading himself from the police in his apartment, the street below overflowing with neighbors watching and waiting for the outcome.

This is quite the engaging fatalist film with a French flair for tragedy. The love triangle and cheating spread out to a square to include four people. The additional two individuals adding their own complexities to an already complex love affair that could have been a simple love story if not for what occurs between them all.



The inevitability of it is as stark as the shots fired behind a closed door and the dying man stumbling out and collapsing down the staircase.
Encased in a kind of poetic bravado as a tourniquet for personal loss and heartbreak, Director Marcel Carné sets the stage. He keeps everything moving along at a crisp speed while still retaining so much nuance in both the prime players as well as those witnessing the ordeal through the night. Much of this results from the fluidity between that night and the flashbacks to how it came to be. The cinematography adding to the poetic tragedy quite beautifully.

Another great film to add to my favorites of Jean Gabin.
Merci beaucoup!



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Withnail and I: This and Sunshine are two I was hoping would be nominated for me, so I was very pleased to see both. Withnail has been on my radar too long despite me really knowing nothing about it. Maybe that’s why I never pulled the trigger. I was pretty disappointed unfortunately.

Drug comedies just don’t work for me very often. That’s pretty ironic here because Danny was the only character I really found funny, and he’s the biggest stoner of them all. Also the most over the top so probably why he’s the funniest to me.

Withnail is really a nothing character. He’s not funny and he’s not endearing. I really never had any response to him at all. That made the ending feel really unearned. Bummer of a watch.
I was not a fan of that^^^either.
Egads! I hated Withnail and I. It was nominated for the 12th HoF and that's where I watched it.
Philistines!!!

Jk Sad you didn't like Withnail & I, Sean... It was my nom for you, and one of my favourite movies that I've been trying to show more people here, apparently unsuccessfully



The trick is not minding
Philistines!!!

Jk Sad you didn't like Withnail & I, Sean... It was my nom for you, and one of my favourite movies that I've been trying to show more people here, apparently unsuccessfully

I imagine Tak felt the same way over how a few of us responded to Santa Sangre.



Le Jour se lève is a recent favorite of mine. Loved it.
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Million Dollar Baby, 2004

Boxing trainer Frankie (Clint Eastwood) has become overly cautious and conservative as a coach, unwilling to endanger his fighters. This loses him his prize fighter (Mike Colter). Then into Frankie's gym walks Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), a woman in her early 30s and from a rough background, determined to get Frankie to train her. Although he is hesitant, at the urging of his friend Eddie (Morgan Freeman) Frankie takes Maggie on as a fighter and she rises quickly through the ranks.

I was at the gym today, and I was doing a bench press series and I thought about the part in this movie where Maggie says that boxing is the only thing she feels happy doing and she refuses to give it up.

I think that in its best moments, this film captures what it is like to push yourself in a way that is both physical and mental, and the particular joy of doing so with someone to support you and drive you. Maggie is, according to Frankie and conventional wisdom, already over the hill in terms of becoming a great boxer, but she has found something that brings her happiness and she pursues it relentlessly. Watching Frankie get caught up in the magic and the hope of that is really fun.

I also enjoyed Morgan Freeman's Eddie, a character who understands the benefits of boxing beyond the wins and the losses. While I could take or leave the subplot about a mentally handicapped man (Jay Baruchel) who trains at the gym but is afraid to throw a punch at an opponent, I did enjoy the chance to see that side of Eddie's character.

I thought that Swank was very strong in the lead role, conveying Maggie's toughness and vulnerability and the way that they ebb and flow as she interacts with others. Her family has given her plenty of examples of bad behavior, and she is as much running away from that future as she is running toward anything.

Where I struggled a bit with the film was in all the places it leaned toward more Hollywood, popular fare. I don't love a voice over, but as it's Morgan Freeman I'll allow it. Where the film really fell flat for me, though, was in the portrayal of Maggie's family.

Quick, name every "white trash" stereotype you can think of! Cheating on welfare? Check! Babies out of wedlock? Check! Doing jail time? Check! Bad tattoos? Check! Obese? Check! Living in a trailer? Check! Greedy? Check! And I know that people like this do exist (I, um, I teach some of their children), but when taken as a group they feel like a caricature, especially in contrast with Swank's much more measured Maggie.

And if the presence of these characters wasn't bad enough, the film decides to use them as the catalyst for a minor climax and "stand up and cheer" moment when
WARNING: spoilers below
Maggie stands up to them and refuses to sign her assets over to them
. The major problem with this (aside from disrupting the rather interesting drama and character stuff that comes before and after it, is that later in the film (MAJOR SPOILERS)
WARNING: spoilers below
Maggie does not (that I remember) designate her assets to anyone, so when she dies, her next of kin is her horrible family and they end up with all her money and her house anyway!


I also wasn't sure about how I felt about Frankie's character arc. He is estranged from his daughter--and asks her forgiveness in letters she returns without reading--but the film never tells us why. The whole thing of Maggie becoming kind of like a surrogate daughter to him (and she is missing her father as well) is fine, but in the last act of the film I wasn't sure things landed quite right. The logic about Frankie's decisions and how and why he chooses to make them just weren't convincing to me. Maggie is the point of view character, but the character arc belongs to Frankie and I found it a bit underwhelming in the end. In the last act Eastwood's performance also begins to oscillate more between more naturalistic acting and this exaggerated "growly old man" and I found it kind of jarring.

Not a film I would have probably ever gotten around to (especially as I'd already had a significant element of the plot spoiled for me), but it's always interesting to watch something you'd never normally pick for yourself.

I saw this last year, I think, and I liked it more than I was expecting. I think I gave it the same rating.




The Player (1992)

Reaction:

Someone chose well! The Player is right up my alley! It's my type of film, the type of film I'd chose for myself...I really enjoyed watching it! As a plus I was glad to explore more of Altman's filmography as I haven't seen many of his movies. The Player reminded me of another favorite by the Coen Brothers, Barton Fink.

What I really liked was the insider story of a Hollywood movie executive who listens to movie pitches and green lights only a handful of films...I want that job!!! I loved the inside look at the movie business, very cool.

I also loved the detail of the sets at the studio, and I loved spotting all the stars who made cameos. Tim Robbins is a favorite actor of mine and I liked him here.

I liked that the story was part comedy and never intense. I dislike intense, realistic crime thrillers, though I do like old 40s-50s film noir...I despise newer crime thrillers. Luckily this film had a lighter feel to it, which suited me. I though the ending twist was pretty clever too and it gave the movie a film within a film feel.

The Player is going to score high on my list.
Haven't seen this in a long, long time, but I remember enjoying the hell out of it. Should give it a rewatch one of these days.



King Kong: I was glad this was nominated because it’s the type of movie I have a hard time starting because I just know I’m more than likely going to respond poorly. Well, I did, but at least I can cross it to fog my list.

My problem with the movie is there just wasn’t any real thought put into the characters or the screenplay. It’s all about getting to Kong and seeing the spectacle. It’s just not enough to carry two hours for me.

I did get some surprises. Cool thanks see the first stop animation. Looks like claymation to me, maybe someone can verify. I didn’t realize that there would be other monsters. I thought that was something added to the lore later on. So that was fun.

Glad I watched it. Maybe I will check out the original Godzilla soon as well.
Seen this a couple of times and I like it a lot. I agree that the characters are very one-dimensional, but I think the charm/heart of Kong and Ann, and the whole visual spectacle carries it well enough.

And since you mentioned it, I wasn't that crazy about the original Godzilla, but that's one I should probably give another shot.



I imagine Tak felt the same way over how a few of us responded to Santa Sangre.
I think it's a really powerful, lovely, and horrifying film. But I also knew it was a bit of a gamble, since it is very much its own little world.



The Player would pair well with Matinee (1993)
Another one I haven't seen, and that I've seen gained more "prestige", so to speak, as time goes by.



Stranger than Paradise



I wouldn't call this a grand slam but it's at least a home run given how I felt about the 3 other Jim Jarmusch films I've seen. This reminded me of a John Cassavetes film and that's a good thing. It's raw and dreary, and normally I would have expected it to turn into a crime film, but I know Jarmusch is a bit quirky. The cast was great, and I would guess there was a lot of improvisation. It's basically broken up into 3 sections: New York, Cleveland, and Florida. I preferred the first two a little bit, and it's funny how I think the look of Dead Man is so unappealing when so much of it is shots of nature's beauty. With this movie, especially in NY and Cleveland, everything he films is ugly as sin yet it looks so beautiful. It's a very amusing and watchable film. The ending for any other film would be infuriating, but for this film it was just perfect.





The Full Monty (1997)

Reaction: Pleasantly surprised

I was a bit dubious going into this movie, as male strippers aren't my forte. The first 10 minutes was overly zany and had me dreaded that this might turn out to be another Withnail and I.

Then the down and out guys decide to earn some needed quids (money?) by putting on a strip show...and low & behold the film got a lot better It got better because it got heart. The characters were people who had life challenges that was easy to relate to. Yes this was a feel good movie, but what's wrong with that?

I did end up liking it, mostly, at least there was nothing I hated about it. Not a remarkable movie but a fun diversion.

This will probably hit my ranked list about in the middle.



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I really liked it as well, although the third act was a little off to me. Bullying is an issue I hold close, and was satisfied with how Tsang handled it. He handled the more intense scenes well (not really showing the bodies as shock value, the bullying scene with Chen Nien where he could have exploited it but avoided doing so).

I also enjoyed the commentary on how much pressure is put on these kids on their placement tests and how they’re constantly reminded their future depends on it.

Even one of the bullies laments how she had to repeat a grade and her father hasn’t spoken to her since.

Really well done, even if I’m not completely aware of how their culture is.
I was talking about Santa Sangre--haven't gotten around to Better Days yet.