The 27th General Hall of Fame

Secret of Roan Inish (1995)

Well it wouldn't be a MOFO countdown with child nudity, at the very least the camera doesn't focus on the child nudity or sexualization of children this was more of a fairy tale type thing. So it was better....still not great but better. A lot of movies like this came out in the 90's and they all kinda bleed together. The film is shot on location in Ireland and the vista's were gorgeous though I feel like I missed a lot because of the very thick accents. You'd think I would be used to it being Irish myself but I do feel like I missed a bit.

The lead female gives a solid performance it's really about her journey to get her lost brother Jamie, but I was always kinda left cold by the story. It was inoffensive and alright but nothing special.

One Cut of the Dead (2017)

What's better than 1 bad cheap Zombie movie...2 bad cheap Zombie movies what's better than 2 bad cheap Zombie movies....three of them. And I say that with love because small little trashy horror movies are fun and this is fun. We start off with one film crew on a filtration plant.

Unfortunately when you have a gimmick like this all the parts are sort of judged against each other. The filmmakers do a pretty good job with the split of the two films, they do feel differently but still like most films like this the characters kind of all blend together and it feels about twice it's run time for me.

Also as someone who watches a lot of cheap Zombie films they sort of miss the mark for the first one. It feels a bit cheaper than it needs to be...but still it was fine.

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

In the eighties and early ninties Hollywood was littered with femme fatale neo noir. Urban cities, well to do victims suave cops and sexy killers. Dolores Claiborne is very much the antithesis of those films...this isn't basic instinct. Unlike the previous films I've watched I actually have things to say about the film.

Every person in this film is vile but never in a cartoonish way. Bates might ham it up a bit at times but she centers herself enough to still feel like a human being. For me the star of the film is Judy Parfitt a narcissist and bully who is isolated and dying yet we see through flashbacks all the nuances and different shades of her character. One of the more conflicting and well written characters I've seen from Stephen King and this era. Christopher Plummer is also good in this one playing a cop who has a virtual les mis style hunt against Dolores. He knows she's guilty and he wants her to be. In a normal film he would be a hero but his dogmatic and wrong approach makes him the villain of sorts.

What makes this film so good is that the villains are kind of everywhere. Jenifer Jason Leigh is the estranged daughter of Dolores and in some ways she's the worst of them all because she completely abandoned her mother for 15 years. King definitely has something to say about the burden of family and the effects of neglect.

My only criticism with the film is that when you do a novel adaptation you don't want to be able to spot the chapter breaks. This film has one of the worst cases of chapter breaks I've seen. But still this was a very good watch and I think it'll move up my King adaptation list.

No clearly I'm out


I take a break from these halls during certain periods of times (October, February) though this time it was March. I was mostly watching TCM and trying to keep my DVR from filling up. I also like to watch films in groupings so my rankings are fair.

I also need a link for Magical Girl

It's just become his trademark to binge the majority of the HoF in the last week or so. I guess it balances out the ones who finish in the first week or so

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I'm just glad I'm not the only one holding things up this time.

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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

The 27th General Hall of Fame Recap

Well, I mean to do a quick recap during every Hall of Fame so I won't get lazy and scrap that idea just yet. It's been another good one, with quite a few films I never would have come across really impressing me. Shura (or Demons or Pandemonium or whatever you want to call it) sticks out in my mind as something I'll watch again and recommend to others. I can't think of many other films like it, with dark shadow being used to such great effect and a harrowing depiction of what revenge does to a person's soul. Magical Girl, which has had something of a mixed reception here, was also terrific in my estimation. Very Pedro Almodóvar-like, it hits a few nerves and tells a compelling story that's hard to predict when you're watching it. I still think about Thunder Road, even though my rating for it wasn't particularly high - and I'll keep an eye out for Jim Cummings in the future. I noticed him playing a cop in Halloween Kills and that struck me as strange - as if this down-to-earth character had suddenly been planted in a horror film. Cure is a great counterpoint to have after enjoying Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse, seeing the similarities and differences, and getting some kind of grasp on his style.

One Cut of the Dead had a huge surprise in store for me that I really enjoyed - I didn't see it coming, so it worked really well. Im glad to have finally seen Safety Last! My first Harold Lloyd film. It holds up pretty well after 99 years. L'amour braque was a massive challenge I tried to meet, with Andrzej Zulawski's style forcing me to look at a film in a different manner. My anxiety is rising just thinking about it - a film speaking in a cinematic language I haven't yet learned, and as such being sometimes incomprehensible to me. All that shouting and jumping up and down, crazy facial expressions and absurd action. I was introduced to two family films, My Dog Skip and The Secret of Roan Inish - has there been a Hall of Fame featuring kids movies? Notice how I skipped giving my verdicts on those again. Average to slightly above average for those two.

Then there's the heavy-hitters which I'd already seen. True Romance I was reintroduced to after seeing it an age ago. It held up really well - but like nearly everyone else, I have to say the two leads paled into insignificance compared to the supporting cast in that film. That shouldn't happen - but it doesn't stop the film from being a great ride. Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark are classics, and two of the greatest films ever made. I don't think I've mentioned it, but Andrzej Zulawski hated Steven Spielberg and his films with some passion. There's a reason so many of us have seen them many times though, they are truly great. That goes for Midnight Cowboy as well, a film I'd already rated in my mind as 4½ popcorn boxes - but watching it again and doing a bit of research led me to go the full 5 - it's such a great movie, and even though I've seen it a few times I really enjoyed watching it again a lot. With Apocalypse Now I watched the Redux version for something new, and I didn't mind - especially the French Plantation segment of the film being restored - because I thought that part said a lot. Dolores Claiborne was visually clever, and something of a departure for Taylor Hackford and Tony Gilroy - I second what Siddon said about Judy Parfitt in his review - she was really great in that film.

Nearly forgot Baby Face - the uncensored version which is really good, but still needed a better ending than it got. I don't think a botched ending should wreck a person's enjoyment of a film. If I watch something I really enjoy, and it has an ending I hate, sometimes I just go on and ignore the ending to preserve what was good about the film. Barbara Stanwyck really was a stunner in her day - a real old time star.

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Midnight Cowboy (1969)

I liked this a little more on a rewatch than on my first time. It's not the kind of film I usually watch, but it's so well made that this mismatch never becomes an issue. I especially like the use of flashbacks and dreams. Joe is running from nightmares of his past, while Ratso dreams about an escape from his present. These little glimpses into their souls make them, if not likable, then at least relatable.

The setting is a mixed bag, though. The "wrong" side of NYC has the looks with its abandoned buildings and dirty flats with broken furniture and sweaty, unkempt Ratso. But other than the looks, Midnight Cowboy appears to turn a blind eye to the issues already rearing their heads in NYC. Its misfits are the sorry souls, and the worst crime done is stealing fruits for hunger. Yet, in reality, the violent crime was already steeply rising. It gives us a picture to pity for, maybe even take some of the blame, but hides away the unwanted ugliness.

The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

Maybe it tells more about me than The Secret of Roan Inish, but the first thing that comes to my mind is a cute, family-friendly version of Lovecraft's Innsmouth. Such fishy mental images aside, it's a moderately entertaining coming of age with a hefty dose of a fairytale. It's not the most unique and inventive film, but it has a heart, and it does its nostalgia with more honesty and warmth and feeling than My Dog Skip could ever dream of.

The settings are just so beautiful, and the whole imagery of life is like an idyll from an old painting. I guess there's not much behind this facade, but one could waste time more poorly than watching pretty pictures and dreaming of the better days. Not a great movie, but I'm happy to have seen it.

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Just as a heads-up, I won't be able to join the 28th Hall of Fame, but I'll join the 29th Hall of Fame for sure once it goes up.

So you are saying I should save the start of the Fred series till 29


2 is the best

speaking of the 28th hall, it will have to be someone else's duty to nominate some dumb left-field garbage because my pick will be grade-A normie shit.

Darn, I was planning on nominating that one. Guess I have to go with The Garbage Pail Kids instead.

Just finished Dolores Claiborne (my pick!) so now I only have two to go. I have a couple of podcast interviews in the next two weeks, but I'm sure I can squeeze those before the deadline

But why? And how?

And why?