The 29th Hall of Fame

Could you elaborate?

See above. Also, if the film's main goal was to wonder us with its beautiful cinematography, dunno if it really succeeded in that...but then again, I personally highly doubt that that was the film's interest.

Don't remember them ever explaining a joke, nor actively trying to make one either. Didn't know one of docu-dramas main problems was explaining jokes right after making them? News to me.

This word is so overused at this point, it seems it gets slapped on to any film that's slightly different. Oh well.

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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

There's also a new mini series based on the original novel for Das Boot. I haven't seen it as it's not finished shooting yet and I'd want to binge watch the entire thing...anybody see this? Das Boot (TV Series 2018- )

I'm really looking forward to rewatching Das Boot by the way. I remember very little of it, which is no surprise. It will feel like a fresh watch.

I had similar thoughts overall. Only thing that I think I didn't mention in my review and that holds this film back for me a bit was that it could've done better to be more engaging, maybe through some slight changes to the story or the pacing, because I really felt that runtime at points. There's also Danny's father who clearly, thanks to no help from the actor (it's as though he was specifically directed to act as though he's lying), had something to do with Freya's mother. That didn't develop into anything, and I only mention it because it was given so much screen-time as if there was gonna be some sort of payoff.

Anyways, I'll probably be watching Body Snatchers tomorrow night. Got a 4K copy. Hype-town.

I loved the more slow and even pace of the film. So many movies just push each scene into the viewer's face and don't give enough 'quiet time' after the scene ends to let us reflect on what we just seen, before going on to the next big thing. I like it that the 'big things in the story' weren't played up to be real big.

Yeah, I'll say the actor who played Danny's father wasn't good when he was possibly denying he had been with Sara. Other than that acting scene I thought he was fine.

I'm so glad it was left open without telling the audience one way or another.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some slow cinema. I just have to be invested enough.

But it wasn't left open. Unless you're talking about what exactly he did with her. To me, what I liked more that wasn't explained was why Nils adopted Freya in the first place. I have a feeling, based on his interactions with the police, locals, and Freya herself, he was directly involved in Sarah's death, and to sweep this issue under the rug, the police gave him an out if he'd take Freya in.

As I said up above, I didn't rewatch the movie before writing my review, so sorry if I don't remember some of the specifics.

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I didn't want that explained that's what I liked about the film.

I watched the director's cut of Das Boot (1981) for the first time. I hadn't seen any of the cuts of the film previously and was meaning to eventually get around to it.

This is a very well made film and definitely a must see. Wolfgang Petersen did an excellent job directing the film and it is a technical achievement. There are some fantastic shots in the film and the use of sound is very effective too. Das Boot creates an atmosphere and there are some tense and suspenseful moments. I thought the actors all did a very good job and I believed their performances. No one actor stood out to me over anyone else.

I do feel that the film was too long though. I don't think the length was justified and it could have worked just as well or better if it wasn't so long. I've seen 8 films directed by Wolfgang Petersen and this is his best. In the Line of Fire, Air force One, and Outbreak were all good too. I think Petersen's weakest film by far was the dreadful Poseidon (2006). Das Boot is Petersen firing on all cylinders at his peak. I'm glad I finally watched this. Great nomination.

Because I've seen the director's cut of Das Boot I'm going to give the 293min full German mini-series version a go when I get to it. Spread over two or three nights. The German full-length release I have says 282min, but why quibble over 11 minutes when something goes for that length of time. I think I'll have pretty much seen all of Das Boot by then.

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You want specifics from a film I watched a week ago without a file...that's not going to happen. This was about 20 films ago for me...times in the film I had no idea what they were talking about.

I think the production design was beautiful...it was the settings less the artistry in which the film was shot that stood out to me.


Once again the film is only streamable so I can't timestamp the points. Two of the characters are walking,,,the female goes in one direction the man goes in the other the scene hangs on for a bit. He turns around...now what should have happened is he should have grabbed her or signaled her to come back or something on that line. What he did was explain the action we just saw...humor is best when it's not explained. When they are doing the casting and the policeman wants the good looking guy to play himself...that's funny. They don't need to explain the joke but they then explain the joke. Humor is best when it's show not tell.

This is actually the third HOF in a row where we've had the foreign film within a film thing with non-actors. This might be the best of the three but it's still a common shortcut and way to make a film without legitimate trained actors.

Just found out that I actually got the 1978 version instead. Didn't realize it until Philip Kaufman's name popped up. Oh well, I guess I'll be having a double feature night once I end up getting and watching the 1956 film. This actually works out better for me.

Fair enough I guess. But It's still pretty annoying for you to throw around words like "terrible acting, dialogue, story's not important and makes no sense..." without giving examples or getting into any kinds of detail, especially when the consensus feels the opposite.

What are you talking about. He explained to her why he made such a sudden change of direction, as any normal person should, because his action would've seemed so bizarre from her perspective. You wanted the girl to keep walking along with him without asking him about what he just did? Grab her? The whole point was to quickly separate so they wouldn't be seen by the approaching neighbor. And how do you want him to signal her about his own neighbor who she probably doesn't recognize...bruh this is so petty.

How did they explain the joke? You know what...never mind.

I don't know why you keep repeating this as if I'm some sort of dumbass or as if it's somehow reinforces your points. Like duh, we all know that bro.

La Promesse(1996)

La Promesse tells the story of two families in a neorealist style in 1990's Belgium. An African family who is being taken advantage of by a father/son team. The film blends sexual, familial and racial elements to a fairly predictable story. But with a film like this the plot is less the point than the messages that it's trying to convey.

The advantage of an updated neo-realism style story is it lets you go in different directions. You can play around with themes that you couldn't in the 50's. The relationship with the father and son does get creepy at points and that's sort of a selling point of the film. The father never takes the extra step into becoming a major villain...while he does bad things (and he might have done worst things) he's still grounded. Igor doesn't really need to have a personality in a story like this. He's basically a blank protagonist a cypher if you will so we the audience can see ourselves in him. Even though he's not as bad as his father but he's also young and could end up there.

Visually it's well shot I think this period of time in the 90's when they still used film and everything wasn't digital helped give the film a move distinct look. You also had a little more artistry in it than other films that would cover this same subject matter on it's budget. So at the end of the day this was a good nom.

I don't know if there is a consensus I think liked it more than Raul, Citizen Rules, and Torgo did. But for me it felt like a student film, an art project not necessary a fully realized and polished film. When people select obscure esoteric films you can kinda see why they didn't break out.

Do you feel like that was necessary? You are asking me to delve into the minutia of a postmodern Iranian film I watched like 10 days ago. Part of why I binge these Halls is because a lot of these films kinda blend together quality wise. You started your post telling me I didn't go into details...then I go into details and you complain that I think you are stupid? I don't think that really tracks.

Robot


<Hans Moleman voice> "Didn't that movie used to have a robot in it?"

What we have here is a classic story of boy meets girl, boy makes robot, robot meets girl, girl turns down robot, robot makes a bunch of other robots transform into a sphere, drill, snake, and larger robot. Oh, and all of them perform song and dance numbers in between. I was never not entertained while watching this, but the action is really where it's at. The scene where Chitti runs down the train tracks is more exciting than any action scene in a Marvel movie, and despite some shoddy CGI here and there, the aforementioned shapeshifting finale has to be seen to be believed. Don't get me wrong: the songs are also a blast, and it wasn't a surprise to discover that Slumdog Millionaire's A.R. Rahman penned them. The one with the Cylon backup dancers is easily the MVP, although it filled me with regret for not choosing a different career path. The movie's silly sense of humor is also much appreciated, especially during the mosquito scene, which may be the funniest scene I’ve watched in which you hear a creature’s thoughts since Being John Malkovich. Action and romance are the name of the game here, but I appreciate that it ends with a thought-provoking line about the dangers of AI becoming more and more sophisticated that resonates now as much as it likely would if I saw this in 2010.

Despite my description of the story and how charming and easy on the eyes Aishwarya Rai is, this is mostly boilerplate stuff. When it's not cribbing from Short Circuit - thankfully, there are actual Indian people this time - it borrows from the Terminator movies. Also, I want to see singing, dancing, Matrix physics and a “guy gets girl/loses girl/gets girl back” story when I watch an Indian movie, but despite what it made me think about AI, the movie ultimately does not provide much more than this. What I've praised about what it does with these tropes still rings true and I'll never say no to a movie that's the equivalent of a burger and fries or a ride on a favorite roller coaster I've been on dozens of times before. I just hope I'll have the opportunity to use the insult "matrix head" at least once in my lifetime.

I meant the general consensus, not specifically in this HoF.

Well, it seems like you were already delving into the minutia of the film to have critiques such as "they were explaining their jokes", and then when you give examples of that they're pretty petty and simply just not what the movie was going for. You only went into "detail" with your first example, but in your second one you left it off as "oh, they explained the joke". It's fine though, you say it's been 10 days and 20 films, I say that's fair enough, that should be the end of that.

Also, I don't think you were calling me stupid, but it does come off a lil condescending when you keep repeating and hammering that statement, especially when you've already made it clear on your original review post.

One of the problems with these halls is that people nominate the same type movies over and over again. This is as I said once again the third film in the hall in a row that did the movie in the movie thing. The filmmaker always an intent the fundamental problem with that film was that it missed the tone. A lot of these movies that people nominate the scenes feel incredibly padded so they can make a feature length runtime when they don't have a feature length plot. Having a point is one thing how you deliver that point is an entirely different thing.

Also I can only talk about what is on the screen...you might feel that it's petty to bring up the humor in the film...to me that was the thing that stood out the most. That and the production design...walking the streets of Iran seeing the homes, the cars, and the people. Those were the things that connected with me enough to talk about...the plot, performances, themes and execution, was just okay to me.

Your profile says that you are 21 years old so you've been watching and appreciating foreign films for how many years...5 maybe 10? I've been watching these films for your entire life time my perspective and point of view is going to be very different.

I have a question about A Moment of Innocence, I know Okay and Speling Error both really liked the film...Do either of you see a personal truth in the film that speaks to you on a deeply personally level? I'm just curious if either of you feel your lives took a path similar to the policeman?