Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame VI

I will be watching my last film this weekend.

As always, a wonderful fellow ensemble of "Cheezy crackers, how much farther??" honorees--

As for me,
fell asleep in the middle of Peeping Tom. LOVE the use of a color palette. But then, for the Director of such films as Black Naricisus and The Red Shoes, how could it NOT? The music's a bit off when it gets frantic. My roommate pondered when he sat alone watching his latest kill on a projector if the music was supposed to imply him masturbating though he isn't. Well, now it does for me. lol

So we'll be finishing it tonight with vote and reviews pending

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3 Women

I had never heard of this film prior to it being nominated for me here and I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Sissy Spacek joins a care home as a care worker and becomes fixated on a co-worker, the self-absorbed Millie played by Shelley Duvall. They become roommates but after an accident, their personalities seem to shift.

It's an unusual film for sure, slow and hazy and dreamlike. It's weird and deliberately awkward about awkward, lonely, weird and at times delusional characters who seem to become each other over the course of the film. It's all a little bit Persona, a little bit Mulholland Drive.

I thought it was really good. I didn't know where it was going and I liked that. I found the characters frustrating at times, but I think you are meant to. At times I did want it to be saying or meaning something more concrete, and the ending was frustrating too, but on the whole I liked it quite a bit.

OK, that's me done. Ballot sent

Congratulations Thursday Next, you are the 9th member to finish!

Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)

Having already seen Rescue Dawn I was familiar with the story this being a 90's documentary it's a film that focuses on the subject not the style. Sadly this confluence of events hurts my viewing of the film. It sucks because it's not a bad film, Dieter is a compelling figure for Herzog to interview but the production quality is youtube level.

And really what am I left to talk about or reviewing this film, the guy comes to US from Germany ends up getting his pilots license and then he's caught by the enemy and tortured. It's just one of those stories that passes time and then you move onto something else.

Keep rolling Siddon!

Will get to 8 1/2 tonight and start Red Beard tomorrow.

Little Caesar (1931)

You always have something to say when you are the first to do it. Little Caesar came out in 1931 at the dawn of the gangster picture era. It predates Scarface(Paul Muni), White Heat (Cagney), High Sierra (Bogart)...so I have to temper my review and realize that the cliche'd dialogue wasn't really cliche'd back in 1931. And Edward G Robinson improves as an actor and gangster in following years.

But for me this film is just dated to the point of obsoletion. Robinson plays a crime boss who spouts off crime dialogue that just sounds fake and dumb. These people feel less human and more what a poor interpretation of said characters are. Robinson has a lot of energy and sells the bad writing as well as he can and I'm not sure it's fair to call it bad writing based on the time frame. But like Caged it has a corniness to it that I couldn't get passed. It's well shot but I just didn't think this was any good.

I’ll have a write up for 8 1/2 tonight. Starting up Red Beard, but going to have to split it up into two viewings.

8 1/2

8 1/2 is Fellini’s attempt at explaining his biggest vices and fears and doubts, while trying to reconcile them all. It is him at his most vulnerable. Here, he present a film about a character who serves as his proxy, riddled with guilt for his affairs, the pain he has caused his wife, and the guilt he has from being catholic. He presents himself as a man who isn’t sure if his films are as “honest” as he hopes them to be. He fears himself a fraud.

All of these pathos are on display with Fellini bearing his soul for all to see. It tells the tale of a director filming a Sci Fi epic that he is unable to be enthusiastic about. During the production we meet the various women in his life. Mistresses and actresses. Each demanding more and more of his time while a producer pushes him to complete the film.

The film has been copied multiple times. Stardust Memories from Woody Allen comes to mind first. Day for Night is another, by Francois Truffaut. Both lacked the existential angst needed, although Allen comes closest.

The direction is simply amazing. I say transfixed but this film. Every screen pops out. I may even consider this Fellinis best, over La Dolce Vita.

I've yet to rate a Fellini film higher than a 8/10 for some reason. Nights of Cabiria came the closest though and I plan on revisiting 8 1/2 someday.

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La Dolce Vita is my only 8/10 for Fellini but I have only seen 5 of his.

I've never seen 8 1/2, maybe some brave soul will choose it next PR. I've liked all the Fellini I've seen so far.

Probably doesn't deserve it... I swear, those guys who are referred by one name are usually cult of personality types. The "I-Think-I'm-Supposed-To-Like-This-Director". In music, it's Syd Barrett. In comedy, it's Lenny Bruce.


"La Strada" is my #2 all-time, but I love it, and can't always explain why, either. Obviously the script and acting do it for me, but there's humor in it, which I find rare in movies (I don't like slapstick/screwball), when he tells her to say, "Here is.... ZAMPANO!"


(with no energy) "Zampano is here", and then there's the scenes with Basehart, most which are funny. "Zampano, telephone call for you", "Zampano, want a cigarette?" or just teasing him over his 'act' when it's Gelsomina partly responsible, but she won't go with him. But, he tells her about his "pebble philosophy" how everything has a cause. And hers is to be the one who saves Zampano basically.



By "La Dolce Vita", I start to lose interest. There's something about that movie. I watched it 2-3 times in the first few days, and felt different every time. I remember the first time I wasn't digging it, and then it started to come together, until the decadent scene. Definitely couldn't stand 8 1/2 (and gave it a second chance, even being under the influence to help the surrealism) and never found anything after that I would consider great. Not even good. But i vitelloni and nights of cabiria are fine movies. I just saw "Variety Lights", 7/10. Like any director, I'd start with their first movie and watch them chronologically.

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So far, Satyricon was a dud for me, and I, Clowns was only ok.

Most of what I’ve seen of Fellini, which is less than half, has been good to great.

My list of Italian films is downright dismal, with only a paltry few, of which I have loved, including Fellini's La Dolce Vita. I have started Nights of Cabiria and truly NEED to finish it.

Paris, Texas (1984)

More often, a truly slow-paced film can take you so far out of a film that when the discoveries occur, you find yourself indifferent. But not Paris, Texas, and a lot of that has to do with the stilled deep waters of the lead, Harry Dean Stanton. Subtle, silent, the epitome of a "lost soul" who has meandered the Mojave Desert for the past four years. The whys of it, like much of the film, is a long time coming as we follow the long sojourn of walking and the slow awakening of the man he was, his relationship with his brother (Dean Stockwell), the son he left behind who is now eight and the much younger wife (Natasha Kinski) who had also disappeared from their son's life at the same time.

One of the aspects that place this film apart is the writing. Veering clear of obvious story points or flashbacks to fill in the holes, we, like the characters, must wait for the answers to what happened while attempting to reconnect with one another. Something the writing steers clear of more dramatic, cliched situations for something far more concrete in its subtlety.
The third act, with the final meeting of Stanton's and Kinski's characters, follows suit delivering an original and far more deeply emotional impact.

Long-running and slow-moving, refusing to spoon-feed its viewers, Paris, Texas still, quite strongly, engages and stays very much with you after viewing it.
BRAVO

Peeping Tom (1960)

One of the wonderful consistencies of these Personal Rec HoFs is the "surprises." Where I felt iffy or flat out wondered WHY someone picked something for me only to discover how d@mn good a choice it was. This is one of them. In fact, it is the second by the same director, Michael Powell. Though my fascination isn't as palpable as Black Narcissus, it still entertained me, and I loved how Powell uses such a broad spectrum of colors in any singular shot. Adding an almost macabre, nightmare effect to this camera-obsessed serial killer at the height of his murdering spree and the deep-rooted psychosis inflicted by his father during childhood.

I'm not much of a Horror fan beyond Universal Studio Monster films or the gothic Hammer films, so this was a brave nomination that paid off quite nicely.
Unlike this genre's recent turn of characters/victims you looked forward to being savagely murdered, we have several we care about and for. Such as the blind mother (Maxine Audley) who knows in her gut there is something very, very wrong with the quiet, polite lodger () who has smitten her only beloved daughter. Surprisingly it is mutual and set apart from his usual fatal interaction with women.
Delving more deeply into the whys of how our Peeping Tom became infatuated with preserving the fear moments before he kills them on celluloid. Something that freaked out audiences and critics at its release. Its place of reverence in the Horror genre placed very much after the fact, as well as its influence on future generations of filmmakers and Horror fans alike.
Making for an excellent finale to a list of splendid movie experiences.

and, FINALLY, my last two write-ups of an excellent batch of recommendations. My only frustration was having to place the lower end of my vote knowing full well none of them deserve it.