30th Hall of Fame

Still mulling over it. Overall, leaning towards positive.

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I'll be busy most of tomorrow, but I'll watch To Live and Die in L.A. on Tuesday.

Also, I forget if it was brought up or not, but is MovieGal still in this?

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IMDb
Letterboxd

I haven't heard from her. 5 day ago I wrote this
https://www.movieforums.com/communit...07#post2370007

Ship of Fools

I had a tough time with this one. I will say that I am currently dealing with what is almost positively sleep apnea (I am scheduled for a sleep study on March 2nd), so some of this will be unfair to the film. But if a film does not completely engage me, I will fall asleep watching it. I fell asleep at least 5 times watching this film over the course of at least a week. Once again, not the film's fault entirely, but at least partially. For instance, I fell asleep once a piece during Dog Day and An Autumn Afternoon, and maybe two or three times for To Live and Die in L.A.. I don't feel great about having to watch films this way, but I don't have much choice right now. So that's my apology for not viewing these films as intended, or at least not viewing them how I feel is fair to them. This film could have been cut down and maybe more tightly focused on less characters. I know it's based on a book, so perhaps there were just too many things they decided they need to squeeze in. Maybe a healthy viewing of film would help, but even when I was awake completely, I was being bored by this film. I do think it picked up near the end though, but still drug on with the doctor, who I wasn't that interested in. There were times were I noticed the cinematography in a positive way though, so maybe on rewatch that aspect of the film would stand out more to me as well. While ranking my films, I will do my best to be fair with this film and only judge it on the parts that I think are wrong with the film and not the things that are wrong with me.

Sleep apnea is NOT fun. Sorry to hear you're dealing with that. I hope the Sleep Study helps. Good luck, JJ.

For what it's worth, my wife has sleep apnea. Hope everything turns out well.

I'll save her nomination for the end to be on the safe side.

Also, get well soon justin.

We all won't have to worry about it. I may watch it for the hell of it since I own it though.

@jiraffejustin
Bummer about the sleep apnea. I hope the sleep study helps. If you can't finish it's OK, we're all friends here and no one will get mad. Of course I hope you can finish and if you've seen any of the movies in the past you don't have to rewatch of course.

Oh, and of course that MovieGal's nominations was one of the ones I already watched

I did mention that it was optional a couple of times:

Thanks y'all. I still plan on finishing up.

I'm just joking, but I think I got to it before that. I saw it early in January. I'm waaaaaaaay behind on my reviews

It's a good movie, I know I'm glad I rewatched it.

Lawrence of Arabia



When we saw the nominations I figured this was a shoo-in to win as long as the nominator finishes and I still believe that. There's a lot to like here, particularly Peter O' Tooles performance as T.E. Lawrence. The pacing in that first half of the film is admittedly quite good, the movie seems to have little to no lulls and the time went by quite fast. The soundtrack of this movie is as epic as the film itself, it is really that good. I thought all the supporting performances involved were good too. And lots of credit to David Lean who may have done his best job directing here, although I am pretty partial to his work with Bridges on the River Kwai. The really only downfall of the film for me is after the intermission it seems to lose a bit of steam. Luckily, we already saw over 60% of the film by then so it wasn't a deal breaker. It's overall very well shot and looks marvelous. Glad to have seen again.

One totally random question about Fat Girl what is that gooey thing that Anaïs is eating? Is it like a chewy taffy or something like that?

The past is a collage of memories and events; some of them pleasant, others not so much. But more often than not, we cling to them either way, for comfort, security, or just because we fear the uncertainty of the future. Those feelings are part of what is in the background of this 1944 gothic horror film.

The Uninvited follows siblings Rick and Pamela (Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey) as they deal with the potential haunting of their new house. Things are complicated when Stella (Gail Russell), the granddaughter of the original owner, who is deeply attached to the house and what it means for her becomes the target of some of these supernatural events.

It is Stella the one who has the above conversation with Rick, as he implores her to let go of the past. The film unfolds more like a mystery "whodunit" than a proper horror film, as Rick and Pamela investigate the source of the ghostly occurrences, which might be tied to Stella's mother and her mysterious death.

The pace at which the story moves is pretty effective, even if the resolution feels a bit undercooked. However, both the direction from Allen and the cinematography by Charles Lang, Jr. are stunning. There is some really solid use of the structure of the house, the stairs, windows, etc. along with the lighting and the shadows around it.

Milland and Hussey are pretty good as the leads. Their chemistry and sibling banter is believable. Unfortunately, Russell is pretty weak and her relationship with Milland doesn't feel real. The cast is rounded out by solid supporting performances from Donald Crisp as Stella's strict grandfather, and Alan Napier as the helpful doctor that joins Rick and Pamela in their investigation.

Finally, even though the film is labeled as a "gothic horror", the truth is that it plays more like a very light mystery, with lots of "jokey" one-liners, especially from Milland. However, I take it as a sign of the past and the era. Even if I would've preferred if the film played its cards more seriously, it still plays the cards it has well.

Grade:

I'll try to get my next review out by tomorrow.

Candyman, The Uninvited, and Dog Day Afternoon left for me. Probably Candyman next for me.

All are Rewatches.