The 29th Hall of Fame

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From his 70's films, I've seen Dirty Harry and Escape From Alcatraz, both of which are really good.
The Beguiled, The Shootist, and Charley Varrick are all great and he has other good stuff too.



I just looked at Don Siegel's filmography he sure made a lot of well known films. He did 2 with Audie Murphy, several with Clint Eastwood, several with John Wayne and a pair of movies with Elvis...I wouldn't mind watching all of his films as I like the subject matters he chose.






The Year My Voice Broke (1987)

Its a fine line when it comes to coming of age films, especially ones about characters sexuality. In the Year My Voice Broke we get a nostalgic look into 1960's Australia. This is the story of three characters a fairly typical love triangle that delves into headier subject matter as the film progresses. It reminded me of Sirk type films where the story is often time beneath the real story. This film doesn't really have that element to it...most things are explained but I still enjoyed it.

Nostalgia is an easier emotion for me to get behind than other common tropes in these halls. It's a lot more interesting to me to see older films that come from the period piece style. This has an added layer because the female character is very much a product of a very different time. If this were an American film I would say the story is slight and rote. However the different setting offers something new that elevates the subject matter.

It's a somewhat lopsided film where the first act is near perfection but then they don't really have a great story to follow up with the characters and the romance. But still compared to the last three films I watched this one didn't tick me off, I actually enjoyed this one.



I just looked at Don Siegel's filmography he sure made a lot of well known films. He did 2 with Audie Murphy, several with Clint Eastwood, several with John Wayne and a pair of movies with Elvis...I wouldn't mind watching all of his films as I like the subject matters he chose.

Yeah real shame he's such a cheap B film maker because his style is just so crappy.











I forgot the opening line.
Nobody has stepped over any line as of yet, or done anything wrong, but I'm hoping for both @Siddon and @ueno_station54 not to agitate each other to the point where things get nasty. Perhaps no more indirect, or direct barbs at each other might be a good idea to take things down from DEFCON 4 back down to nice and comfortable DEFCON 5.
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Vengeance is Mine



This is on Ebert's great movies list and it won the award for best picture at the Japanese Academy Awards. It is set in the 60's as it is based on the true story of a killer, con artist, and sexual deviant. There is some disturbing violence early in the film but from there it is mostly psychological.

Ken Ogata is brilliant in the lead passing as charming and intelligent, yet psychopathic. All of the performances are very good and the movie looks great. It is very cinematic. The relationships in the movie are very interesting, and I thought especially between the father and the lead's wife. There's a lot that's ugly but it's all very realistic and well done. It was my 2nd watch and I put it on very late which may have helped me start to feel it's runtime. That's the only negative because otherwise it is a top level look at evil.





Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956)

What's there to say about this really? It's a low budget 50s B-movie with no real interest in being anything other than that. Like, it is what it is well enough and it passes the time but there's not really any artistry on display. I mean, I'm not upset a film that only exists to be background noise while teenagers make out at the drive-in isn't the most ambitious thing in the world but you could watch this with your eyes closed and get more or less the same experience. And its not like that experience is even bad, this is perfectly fine and passably entertaining the whole time but its definitely not going to be sticking around in my brain very long.
lmao now i'm getting dragged for positive reviews?? I didn't think "wish it had a little more going on visually" was a criticism that would get anyone upset tbh.
In the 27th link when Raul complained about your noms, I defended you. I've also defended you in PMs telling people how nice you were to talk to...

But your above two post and a number of other post you've made, shows you're being deliberately inflammatory, more of a spoiler, than a serious member of an HoF...

1st you write a non-descriptive review of Invasion of the Body Snatcher's that reads as a smart-ass swipe at Siddon, then you play all innocent when people point out the film's merits. We'd have to be blind to think your review was meant to be a 'positive review' as you claim. I think we have another guap situation here.



In the 27th link when Raul complained about your noms, I defended you. I've also defended you in PMs telling people how nice you were to talk to...

But your above two post and a number of other post you've made, shows you're being deliberately inflammatory, more of a spoiler, than a serious member of an HoF...

1st you write a non-descriptive review of Invasion of the Body Snatcher's that reads as a smart-ass swipe at Siddon, then you play all innocent when people point out the film's merits. We'd have to be blind to think your review was meant to be a 'positive review' as you claim. I think we have another guap situation here.
okay fair. i don't have time at the moment but i'll rewrite the review if it will help settle the waters.



okay fair. i don't have time at the moment but i'll rewrite the review if it will help settle the waters.
Don't bother, it looks hypocritical to do that after the fact. You already did that same behavior when Siddon pointed out that your dismissal of Josie and the Pussycats as trans-phobic, was way out of line...then you claimed to rewatch it and had a change of view. I think Siddon was right when he said you hadn't originally bothered to watch Josie and the Pussycats in the first place and only watched it after he complained.



Don't bother, it looks hypocritical to do that after the fact. You already did that same behavior when Siddon pointed out that your dismissal of Josie and the Pussycats as trans-phobic, was way out of line...then you claimed to rewatch it and had a change of view. I think Siddon was right when he said you hadn't originally bothered to watch Josie and the Pussycats in the first place and only watched it after he complained.
yeah, crazy how rewatching a film you thought was personally offensive that turns out it wasn't would change your perspective somewhat. i wasn't facetious in the Body Snatchers review but i certainly could have worded it nicer, you're right and a rewrite was just going to be that. i'll apologize to whoever feels they were slighted by that review or whatever else everyone thinks is in order. sorry y'all



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The biggest positive here is the casting and the acting. Without a guy like Mads Mikkleson this really can't be pulled off in my opinion. And I really enjoyed Ulrich Thomsen's performance too. Mikkleson and Thomsen really played well off of one another.

There were a lot of really funny scenes. Dark funny but funny. Like the scene with the cat and the scene where he talks about the M&M tragedy. Stuff like that I really enjoyed.

Sometimes I felt the pacing was off and sometimes I didn't care for where the story was going. And I found the background music to be somewhat ineffective at times.

Overall it was decent. I don't think I'd rush to see again but the performances made it an adequate watch.




movies can be okay...
The Year My Voice Broke (1987) directed by John Duigan


This felt like a mixture of Peppermint Soda and Badlands with the way it told its coming of age story. The stereotypes and clichés that usually come with this genre of movies are thankfully absent this time around, or maybe I shouldn't expect the quirky and overly sarcastic dialogue shtick from this era of time as that only becomes a thing during the 21st century. Either way, let's go back to this kind of grittiness and honesty when we talk about our teenage years in cinema.

Freya is not your typical girl, and what I mean by that is she's not the type of girl that a coming of age movie typically focuses on. This is beautifully summed up in a singular shot where she attempts to spit snot on some girl. Her relationship with the two boys and the love triangle that brings them all together isn't your typical one either. Her friendship with Danny is filled with loyalty and innocent pure love, while her connection towards Trev is all about lust, danger, and living life to the fullest. The three of them together get along A-Okay, so that should tell you about the chill nature of the film's breeze.

There are also a few subplots ongoing in the background, such as the mystery of Sarah, as well as Danny's "telepathy", and they do their job at giving the story more different flavors, but more importantly, they accumulate to a satisfying tie-in with the main plot and conflict. By the end, there were some unanswered questions, for example why Nils adopted Freya in the first place, and the movie lets you have your own theories about that and about other stuff as well, which is a good thing, it keeps the setting of this small town under a mysterious light.

Overall, a good start to the HoF.
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"A film has to be a dialogue, not a monologue — a dialogue to provoke in the viewer his own thoughts, his own feelings. And if a film is a dialogue, then it’s a good film; if it’s not a dialogue, it’s a bad film."
- Michael "Gloomy Old Fart" Haneke






Vengeance is Mine (1979)

One of the things that's unfortunate with Halls like this is when you come across a filmmaker like Shohei Imamura. I've seen now about 10 of his films and I have the same problem every time. Every film I've seen of his starts off well and then just meanders for an hour and I get lost in the plot. I can understand why a filmmaker would do this but the experience for someone to read the subtitles, track the characters, and follow the plot...it's just too much.

The film is a little bit of a biopic but it jumps around in time and goes in other directions with Iwoe's father and wife. So you are left wondering just who's story this is. The murder scenes aren't really suspenseful, they are almost comical at points it's a tonal shift that doesn't really work for me. Mostly I think this is due to Imamura technical deficiency's as a film maker. 90% of this movie you have flat camera shots with minimum editing. While Imamura has creativity with the original shot the lack of cuts causes scenes to drag on.

Visually it's a fine film with Ken Ogata working as a very compelling lead but the lack of good pacing and the flipping between genre's without actually committing to anyone of them let's me down.



Tomboy



Boys Don't Cry is one of my favorite movies. I was hoping Tomboy wasn't heading into the same direction, although it probably needed to in order for it to become another favorite. That might not sound like it makes sense, but one of the best things a movie can do is hurt me. This is a younger and lighter version of Boys Don't Cry, and it at least still made me care. A big difference between the two movies is that this character is surrounded by decent people, including a very loving family. The child acting is very good and the story done well. There were some uncomfortable scenes early on that I could have done without, but I never felt it was exploitive. This movie did not blow me away, but it was a great nomination.

+



The trick is not minding
I’ll get to Stroszek and Das Boooooooooooooooooooot(!) in the coming week.

First, I spied House of Gucci just became available to stream on Amazon Prime and this takes precedent for the night.


Don’t judge me……



I’ll get to Stroszek and Das Boooooooooooooooooooot(!) in the coming week.

First, I spied House of Gucci just became available to stream on Amazon Prime and this takes precedent for the night.


Don’t judge me……
I was just looking at a Netflix movie to watch tonight, if my wife has time.



I’ll get to Stroszek and Das Boooooooooooooooooooot(!) in the coming week.

First, I spied House of Gucci just became available to stream on Amazon Prime and this takes precedent for the night.


Don’t judge me……

Ridley Scott was my director for the challenge for this year. I almost nominated Kingdom of Heaven because I guess people just kinda passed on it. House of Gucci is a polarizing film but it's one I enjoyed.