The 27th General Hall of Fame

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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
My Dog Skip





re-watch

All dog movies are manipulative in one way or another. Their whole point is to get you to fall in love with the dog just so it can die at the end. Or maybe do a fake-out death, then have a happy reunion. When I was a kid, I watched Homeward Bound, Benji, Turner and Hooch, Beethoven, Far From Home, even The Fox and The Hound. All these movies follow a formula that I don't really want to watch anymore. I love animals, but I don't need to see them in peril...I'd rather see something along the lines of Cujo or Man's Best Friend.

So My Dog Skip was one of those movies and on a re-watch I feel roughly the same about it. Which is meh. Frankie Muniz is a bad actor that managed to be in a great sitcom. He does nothing believable here and it really pained me to sit through his performance.

I don't dislike this movie, it's just a pain-by-numbers film.

The movie wants people to remember their first pets. We had a bunch of fish as a kid and eventually we got a dog. A Sherperd/Lab/Terrier mix named Coco. Loved that damn dog. Miss you.
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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



My Dog Skip





re-watch

All dog movies are manipulative in one way or another. Their whole point is to get you to fall in love with the dog just so it can die at the end. Or maybe do a fake-out death, then have a happy reunion. When I was a kid, I watched Homeward Bound, Benji, Turner and Hooch, Beethoven, Far From Home, even The Fox and The Hound. All these movies follow a formula that I don't really want to watch anymore. I love animals, but I don't need to see them in peril...I'd rather see something along the lines of Cujo or Man's Best Friend.

So My Dog Skip was one of those movies and on a re-watch I feel roughly the same about it. Which is meh. Frankie Muniz is a bad actor that managed to be in a great sitcom. He does nothing believable here and it really pained me to sit through his performance.

I don't dislike this movie, it's just a pain-by-numbers film.

The movie wants people to remember their first pets. We had a bunch of fish as a kid and eventually we got a dog. A Sherperd/Lab/Terrier mix named Coco. Loved that damn dog. Miss you.
LOL, that is likely a typo, but I'm going to have to steal that.
That would also be a good heavy metal band name.



Dolores Claiborne (1995) -


This film ranks amongst the better Stephen King adaptations I've seen. Normally, I'm not a big fan of horror/thrillers with a flashback structure as I find this can rob the film of narrative momentum, but I found that the flashbacks were woven into this film quite well as, instead of cutting away from crucial tension-building moments, they added more insight to the mystery of the characters. Speaking of which, the characters were quite compelling. The film makes it clear that Dolores' rough outer exterior comes from the many years of abuse she received from her husband. The line "sometimes, being a bitch is all a woman has to hang onto", in spite of the diminishing returns I felt over it being used more than once, sums up Dolores' emotional damage really well. Your perception of Dolores changes as you watch the film and, though I can't elaborate too much on this without spoiling key parts of the film, I thoroughly enjoyed that dynamic. I also found Selena compelling as her perception of her mother was complicated by her prior troubled history with her and her skepticism over her innocence. In reality though, they both need each other more than ever. Also, Bates, Leigh, and Plummer do a great job in this film and, aside from the occasional bit of weak dialogue here and there, they play their parts well. I also enjoyed some of the technical choices, like the changing color schemes. In the "present day" portions of the film, it looks like all life has been drained from the film, while the more vibrant flashbacks act as a contrast from this bleakness (the color grading in the solar eclipse scene is especially impressive, as others have noted). Overall, I enjoyed this film quite a bit and I'm happy to have another King adaptation under my belt.

Next Up: Jaws
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I forgot the opening line.


One Cut of the Dead (Kamera o Tomeru na!) - 2017

Directed by Shin'ichirō Ueda

Written by Shin'ichirō Ueda
Based on a play by Ryoichi Wada

Starring Takayuki Hamatsu, Yuzuki Akiyama
& Harumi Shuhama

If anyone is reading this who has yet to see One Cut of the Dead and doesn't know much about it, I really suggest you stop reading now unless you want to spoil it. I come into most films I have an interest in seeing as blind as I possibly can, and I'm pretty much the worst person in the world for sensing and spotting what's coming around the corner. Anyone who has seen One Cut of the Dead will already know where I'm heading with this. Needless to say, I was thrown by the first 30 minutes of this film which I had taken completely at face value. I had a treasure trove of puzzling complaints, inconsistencies and general criticism which had to be reset completely when we hit the film's second act. Not only that, but within every little complaint lay an enjoyable surprise just waiting to be hatched in the film's third act. I felt very fortunate not to have this film ruined already by reading too much about it - and is vindication to myself for saving all of my reading for after I see a film.

I won't needlessly say any more about the film's plot, but I will say that One Cut of the Dead's cast of rank amateurs did a job far beyond what I would have expected. Main character Higurashi is played by Takayuki Hamatsu, who I had pegged as the most experienced of this group - but no, this is his very first on-screen performance. For the rest of the cast the story is virtually the same (I loved Higurashi's wife - the "method actress" - the most out of the whole group - and actress Harumi Shuhama deserves to be singled out for praise.) Director Shin'ichirō Ueda is a hard person to know much about at this point in time, other than the fact that he's been experimenting since 2011 - and hopefully the pandemic has been what has prevented him from capitalizing on One Cut of the Dead's growing success. It would be a shame to see him squander the opportunities this might bring. This was his screenplay, although he has been forced to share that credit with Ryoichi Wada when it came to light that his inspiration for this came from the stage play Ghost in the Box. I have no idea how this could have once been a stage play - and I still credit Ueda for adapting it. There's an inventive humour to it that grabbed me in just the right way.

Remakes are on their way. One Cut of the Dead, which had small beginnings, is hitting critical mass and fairly soon the French remake, Final Cut, will lead to a U.S. version - but for those of us who have seen One Cut of the Dead it simply won't be the same - and part of this film's low budget can-do effort is very much part of it's charm, not to mention having that fresh feel of something new springing into life. I feared a retread of Shaun of the Dead going into this, but this film was another beast entirely. Produced on a budget of $25,000, this film's profits had me reaching for my copy of The Top 10 of Film which makes this film's claim to be the most profitable in history both correct and incorrect. The Blair Witch Project earned back just over 7,000 times it's budget of around $35,000, while One Cut of the Dead has earned 1,220 times it's budget in takings - but if you factor in that Blair Witch had an advertising blitz that cost producers roughly a quarter of a million dollars, then One Cut does indeed reign supreme as the most profitable film made. It opened on two screens and nothing at all was spent on advertising.

There are a lot of little touches I really liked, such as the change in shooting style once one handheld camera operator takes over from another (the second having less experience and a very fond penchant for zooms.) It's also a film you absolutely have to watch twice. I don't think anyone who really enjoyed this could resist the temptation to see that first half hour again. I did notice that the older cast members really outshone the younger ones, especially when it came down to comedic performances. There are no grand sets - most of the film's location ended up being an abandoned water filtration plant in Japan - this film relies on it's ideas and performances to make it's mark. The horror is cartoonish - however that's part of the overall appeal. Lastly, and not least, the most applause must go towards that non-stop 37 minute shot, which is indeed one take and something I enjoyed very much. There's not a great deal of analysis that can be performed on such an outing, but for the sheer amount of fun, and for being so completely fooled and having everything turn around in such a humerous and memorable way, I give this film a thumbs up.

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Remember - everything has an ending except hope, and sausages - they have two.
We miss you Takoma

Latest Review : Le Circle Rouge (1970)




Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)
IMDb

Date Watched: 01/27/22
Rewatch: No.


There's definitely a lot to like about this mystery thriller - it's thick with atmosphere and tension, the story takes some unexpected turns, and it certainly doesn't all tie itself up neatly in the end. If I'd been in a more patient frame of mind - instead of being restless after like ten days of being cooped up thanks to Covid - I might actually have really liked it. But I was feeling restless and this real slow burn of a movie put quite a strain on my attention span, so much so that I ended up watching it in bits and pieces over the course of the day.

Even struggling as I was, it's pretty apparent that there's some real good stuff here and maybe one day, when viewing conditions are better, I might give it another go. But if nothing else, it does stand to rank above most of the other films I've watched for this Hall of Fame so far.

+



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997)
IMDb

Date Watched: 01/27/22
Rewatch: No.


There's definitely a lot to like about this mystery thriller - it's thick with atmosphere and tension, the story takes some unexpected turns, and it certainly doesn't all tie itself up neatly in the end. If I'd been in a more patient frame of mind - instead of being restless after like ten days of being cooped up thanks to Covid - I might actually have really liked it. But I was feeling restless and this real slow burn of a movie put quite a strain on my attention span, so much so that I ended up watching it in bits and pieces over the course of the day.

Even struggling as I was, it's pretty apparent that there's some real good stuff here and maybe one day, when viewing conditions are better, I might give it another go. But if nothing else, it does stand to rank above most of the other films I've watched for this Hall of Fame so far.

+
Out of everyone in this HoF, I was most curious about your reaction to this film. Glad it was a positive one and I hope you can enjoy it on any possible repeat viewings.



I thought I'd have to break my Apocalypse Now rewatch up over a couple days, but I managed to find time to watch the entire thing through with no interruptions.

Hopefully I can get something written for it tomorrow, and maybe squeeze in another (shorter) film before the weekend's over. We're doing inventory at work next weekend, and I have both a big assignment due and a term test coming up, so I likely won't have much time until the following week.



Midnight Cowboy



SPOILERS

I've seen this movie many times over the years with the last time being 4 or 5 years ago. It has always been a source of frustration, because even though I thought it was a terrific movie, it never managed to become a personal favorite. I was hoping that this would be the time it finally clicked with me and it was.

I think I saw Joe Buck as someone a little different before. I saw him as just some naive small town hick. I wasn't wrong, but that's not what tells his story because his dominating characteristic is that of a severely damaged human being. I believe someone here mentioned that he was probably raped along with his girlfriend, and I'd say that's a certainty based on what we see not only in flashback, but in the present as well. Ratso is a little harder for me to pin down, and I think it's because his type is so common, and there can be a lot of reasons why a person may turn out that way. None of them are good. These guys really have nothing in common except for the fact that they have problems. When people have problems they are drawn to other people who have problems. The problems can be completely different but they can become extremely close while simply sharing their sorrow. It's a very powerful thing. The ending affected me more this time. It was always sad, but this time it felt like an exclamation point on a life of pain, to go with even more trauma for Buck.

I read Ebert's review and I was surprised to read that he's not a big fan. I'm paraphrasing, but he said he wanted to see the depth of the relationship more instead of set pieces. I completely disagree with this because if these guys met under different circumstances then they would never be friends. The set pieces are what happens in real life when you live this way. Without them the movie would be unrealistic. Every step for these guys is an adventure, and that's the way it is.

The look and feel of this movie is perfect for me and I couldn't think any higher of the two lead actors. Flashbacks and scenes of imagining can hurt a film but they are extremely effective here. Great theme song. I still think I can get more out of this movie but this was a big step.




I could use a good link for Magical Girl if anyone's got one.
I know Speling already sent a link, but if you live in the US and have a library card, you may have access to Kanopy!



I know Speling already sent a link, but if you live in the US and have a library card, you may have access to Kanopy!


I’ve had Kanopy for a few years now and I keep forgetting that it exists. I have the app installed on my iPad and everything.



I know Speling already sent a link, but if you live in the US and have a library card, you may have access to Kanopy!
My library doesn't access Kanopy, but my library will give a reciprocal library card to a nearby Seattle library system and then in that way I access Kanopy. Just thought I'd mention that, as it might help someone.