The 27th General Hall of Fame

underwhelming. i'll have to find something that'll get a more vitriolic response

The above text appears as the lead in the very final scene, but it is an accurate description of not only what will happen in the last 15 minutes, but what has preceded it too. Set in the Edo period, Demons follows Gengobe (Katsuo Nakamura), a disgraced samurai that's determined to take revenge against the geisha that betrayed him (Yasuko Sanjo) and her husband (Juro Kara).

This is a film I knew nothing about, so I was very much surprised by how much horror it was; the aforementioned "sea of blood". The thing is that Gengobe is haunted by visions or hallucinations, "demons" perhaps, that show him things that will be and things that can be. Most of this images are horrific and fuel his paranoia, while at the same time driving him to take the same horrific actions he's hallucinating of.

I very much appreciated the direction and cinematography on this. Not only was the camera movement very neat and effective, but the blocking of the scenes, the use of light and shadows, and "dead spaces" in the framing of certain shots was impressive. Even though Matsumoto keeps his camera at a distance many times, he's not afraid to zoom into the violence to show us that "sea of blood".

Most of the performances are solid, but I particularly enjoyed the performances of Nakamura and Sanjo. The first one plays Gengobe with mixtures of desperation, unhinged anger, as well as frustration, while Sanjo perfectly plays the deceiving nature and greed of Koman, followed by her fear of being caught up with. Because she knows that if Gengobe finds them, it will be a sea of blood.

Grade:

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True Romance (1993)

When people ask me my favorite Tarantino film..this is my pick. While it was directed by Tony Scott, the themes, plotting, and just fun come from Quentin. This is the story of a young couple who get caught up in a drug deal gone wrong and they decide they have to sell the cocaine and get out of the country.

This film is littered with small performance pieces from some of Hollywood's greats. Everyone from James Gandolfini who plays a thug who is menacing and melancholia...the early signs of Tony Soprano pop in here. Gary Oldman manages to play a thug with a level of swagger it's hard to believe this is the same guy you see in countless other films. Brad Pitt plays a bum on the couch who is just the best and the worst. But for me the star of the film is Patricia Arquette as Alabama Whitman who has a bimbo quality to her that masks a ton of inner strength.

The climax of the film is one of my favorites where you have dozens of characters holding guns on each other. You know every person in the room, you know what they are going to do and the shootout is fun, violent and memorable. Technically this film has so many great aspects to it, Hans Zimmer gives it a solid score, Tony Scott shows a tremendous amount of restraint in his direction and the set pieces are all great.

True Romance

So, I somehow had never seen this film before despite it being the Tarantino that Tarantino didn't direct. Which is exactly what it is too. There are a whole bunch of Tarantinoisms, but it also does miss some of that excitement a Tarantino. Which might sound wild, because there is plenty of excitement in this film, but there is a different vibe, a different thing. I don't think I'm a point in my life where this type of movie will ever catapult itself into my top, top tier, but there is a solid floor for it. Some good performances. Very enjoyable film.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

I've seen this before and I probably didn't really need to see it again. Still lots of fun, but still not a film that would have become anywhere close to this famous if my taste was the universal taste. The opening set looked surprisingly cheap to me this time around, but that was only a minor and temporary distraction. Not as enjoyable as True Romance, but a fun film. Still there are plenty of fun films that I'd induct before this one.

One Cut of the Dead

I probably could have bumped this film up a spot or two in my votes and been happy about it. This film, to me, was a much better family film that My Dog Skip. I was happy to see the daughter grow to respect her father more. I feel like that is probably more commonly fantasy than reality, but it works for me. Life experience has made me more sensitive to those type of relationships. This is also a great way to pay homage to all those things about the cheaper side of filmmaking that are usually appreciated more after you've already done them. When it all comes together, it's worth it. Really good stuff here, done in a fun way.

The Secret of Roan Inish

You'd be surprising me if you told me that I wasn't the high voter on this one. I loved this film. From the landscapes to the folklore to the ocean to the mystery to the music to the performances, every little bit really came together for me in this one. I don't think the story would work in many other contexts, but like I said, it all came together in this film. A selkie seems like a silly cryptid, but I was so bought in to this film that I was even in to that weirdness with the coat and everything. So make that two quality family films in a row that I wasn't too hurt by because they don't suck.

Cure

This was a rewatch and I'm glad I did it. It's still got this really cold atmosphere and air of mystery to it. Like a lot of other damaged people, I'm into serial killer stuff, and this is high end serial killer stuff. Criminal Minds, if they haven't already, should ape this movie. This has a Criminal Minds friendly plot, and some would see that as a negative, but the craftmanship behind this film blows everything Criminal Minds has done out of the water, and I don't hate that show. Cure also has a major advantage in that it goes two hours and takes its time building dread, it has an almost unbearable atmospheric tension at certain points. Also that hallucination Takabe has is maybe the greatest hallucination in the history of film. It was very effective. A lot of detective films have the whole "trouble at home" slant to them, but this film provides a bit of a deviation from that with the spouse being mentally ill. Which only adds to the that tension, because you forget about her when he's doing detective shit, but when you see him coming home or whatever, you remember that there might be some wild stuff going on here too.

It's not on the front page but early in the thread I had mentioned that I seen Demons recently enough to not need to see it again and C/Ped a post I made about it another thread.

My own nomination also didn't need a rewatch. Apocalypse Now is an all time great film, I don't know if it beats out the Human Condition trilogy as the best war film of all time, but I think (rewatch of Full Metal Jacket pending) it is safe as the best Vietnam War movie of all time. The opening Martin Sheen being a psychotic drunk dude nakedly attacking his mirror scene is awesome and the film never lets up from then on. I know it's based on Heart of Darkness, which I pretended to read in high school, but I can't imagine HoD being as interesting as AN. Surely there was no surfing or Napalm in that book. I also was reminded of Herzog at times, specifically I think about Aguirre and Nosferatu at times, but that is probably just because of the floating down the river aspect of the films. All three films are 5-star bangers tho.

Yes they were. Some excellent favorite rewatches and some d@mn fine hidden gems throughout. THANKS, Thief!!
And that's thanks to all of you. Thanks so much for being part of this!

"See above comments"
So Happy you participated. Thank You!!

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Hopefully Jaws or Raiders. Jaws would be cool.

I think Jaws will win.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it will be one of those. Citizen and Phoenix pulled out the big guns.

For the next Hall, I'm going with a classic like Citizen Kane, Paul Blart Mall Cop, or Manos the Hands of Fate.

One Cut Of The Dead aka Kamera o Tomeru na! (2017)

ACTION!!

This was my finale, and I am SOOO GLAD I picked it as such! I honestly got an absolute kick out of this. It's the right mix of comedy and cheap production (Literally: it cost $25,000 to make. And check this out, it won 27 Awards and grossed $250,000, which is pretty freakin kewl). A fun Behind The Scenes Second and Third Acts of the chaotic shooting enhances the nicely done "One Cut" Zombie Film First Act.

Director Shin'ichirô Ueda embraces the B-Grade Independent Zombie Flick and imbibes it with, and I'm stealing this from the featured review on IMBd by a frba-77865 because it's dead-on; one of the best homages ever made to the art of cinema and a hilarious celebration of human creativity.

It's not easy to spin the "Here's the Twist" Card and execute it successfully, and OCFTD does a great job of adding to the Original Recipe and making a helluva Delicious Dinner out of it.
THANK YOU, @CosmicRunaway, for Nominating this!!

I prefer Jaws to win over my own nom, Raiders. I didn't even vote Raiders real high so I don't think it will win.

I would be fine with Jaws winning, as it's a great film and I love it.

But I will also say that I always kind of hope that a film I hadn't seen before or that's lesser known might take the top spot. Because part of me is like, yeah, of course Jaws is great.

I liked or loved pretty much everything I watched for this HoF, so I'm cool with whatever's on top. And I knew that my own film would be divisive, so I'm not anxious about where it will place (which I imagine will be lower middle?).

Jaws>Raiders

Here's my prediction, I'm pretty sure Jaws is a favorite for #1 and My Dog Skip is a lock for last place (though I liked it fine).

1 Jaws
2 Midnight Cowboy
3 Raiders of the Lost Ark
4 Apocalypse Now
5 Magical Girl
6 Cure
7 The Secret of Roan Inish
8 Demons (Shura)
9 True Romance
10 One Cut of the Dead
11 Dolores Claiborne
12 Thunder Road
13 Baby Face
14 Safety Last!
15 Mad Love
16 My Dog Skip

Thunder Road (2018)

Officer Jim Arnaud: Just because somebody leaves... just because somebody chooses to leave, that doesn't mean they didn't want to be here with you. It means they had a hard time with things. It's a lot for some people.

Poor Officer Jimmy, he's, um, going through a bit of a bad patch there. And, if it needs saying, it's getting kind of noticeable; god bless him.

Awkward Dramedies tend to fail for me. Not always, but mostly. The Awkward aspect usually agitates than entertains. But not here. The Awkward was very much a complimenting seasoning to the stew.
Jim Cumings does an excellent job of playing a man spiraling and continually trying to hold on to his mask of self-control. Those moments of transitions from despair to "I'm good, I'm okay" impressed me. They were pretty flawless. They kept me mesmerized throughout the loss of pretty much everything; the poor guy.
And perhaps that's what sells it. The empathy shines past the awkward outbursts of youtube fodder. We care for this socially off-kilter man who continually says and does the wrong things when he's genuinely trying to do the right thing for those who matter to him.

It's touching.
Truly.

Yay! Glad you liked it.

And that quote you isolated, a moment where he does manage to say the right thing, is one of my favorite lines in the film.

Since I haven't seen the Tally yet, but from reading reviews Jaws does seem to be a favorite so it'll be interesting if the deserving and well-rounded praise carries it to the Finish Line.
And I agree with Takoma about how nice it is seeing a lesser-known taking First. Who doesn't love an underdog?

This has been an excellent run of films. So many "surprises" out of the unknown/unseen list.

It's one of my favorites as well.
A beautiful moment of clarity when it was most needed for his daughter was all kinds of beautiful.

Probably Jaws or Raiders will win. Or Apocalypse Now. I hope my nomination does good as well.

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