20th Hall of Fame

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Seven of the noms will be rewatches. Two of them I have at 6/10 but haven't seen them in years so maybe they've aged well. The other five I have seen are all 8+ movies. Not bad.
Which 3 haven't you seen.

Citizen, you mentioned a one week open door policy, so I might still try to come up with a nomination over the next few days. I had high hopes for a film I watched Saturday evening, but it wasn't as engaging as I was anticipating.

There are a couple more films I wanted to watch as potential nominations, but work has been an absolute nightmare lately, so I haven't really had the chance. My supervisor wants us to come in an hour earlier for the rest of the week as well (4am ), so hopefully I still have the mental energy by the time I get home haha.
Love to have you join. Ed came up with the open door policy and I think it's a great idea...1 week after the deadline isn't written in stone so if you need more time than that to find a nom you believe in, that's totally fine.



High Noon certainly isn't for everybody so I can't say I'd be shocked with any bad ratings. I do think it's an extremely well made film though.
The key to High Noon is in knowing it's an allegory for the black listing of writers during the 'red scare' when fear of communism ran rampant in America and a congressional committee was formed to investigate alleged communism sympathizer, especially writers and producers in Hollywood. The sheriff in High Noon embodies the loan man who know one will help as their afraid of the powers that be.



The Squid and the Whale 2005 Directed by Noah Baumbach

A film about a family of two / three different types of people trying to co-exist in harmony. And a cat who clearly wasn't feeling any of these people.
The characters and their individual stories weren't very likeable they were all kind of 4ssholes.
With the exception of William Baldwins character who seemed like a pretty cool brother, the film leaves it in the middle if the guy is an actual 'philistine' or not.

As an art/music/cinema lover there is still some relate-ability with some of the issues the dad and the older son experience. For example the in depth analysis of a film with references to writers and directors and that way excluding other people at the table from a conversation.

Overall I thought the film was realistic, well acted, awkward at times, but gave some insight and food for thought.





The Squid and The Whale (2005)
*spoilers*

Somebody tell me what makes this movie special? Because I'm at a loss to see anything remarkable about it. To me it seems like a rather pedestrian film that focuses on adding in some cleverness and some tacked on provocative scenes in order to cover up the fact that the movie has really nothing to say.

At least I liked the way it was filmed, the scene length and the personal feeling one gets when a steady cam is used in close quarters, suited the film. I liked the editing too, it was linear, thank goodness! The editing never became self aware or distracting to the film which is a good thing for this type of story. I even liked the actors. I thought they were cast well for the personality types they were playing.

But was this comedy-drama funny....nope. I laughed once at something flippantly said by Jesse Eisenberg. And I liked his character the best, especially when he was dating and told the girl he wished she didn't have so many freckles...An OMG moment for sure and one that showed a spark of creativity by the writers.

But I think what bugged me the most was all the lost chances that the script writers squandered. I mean the basic premise has tons of potential and it seemed during the freckle scene that we'd ultimately learn that even though his mom had ended the marriage with her affairs...the divorcee was really caused by his dad being so intellectually high tone and so lacking in human understanding and empathy. The writers could have explored that dynamic in the marriage via Eisenberg's character who seemed to be just as unemphatic as his dad. Well I guess they explored it a little but I felt unsatisfied with it as it could have been so much more.

The movie is set back in 1986 to give it some 'coolness'. Only nothing about the events were endemic to the mid 80s, nor did the film even attempt at having an 80s vibe and look to it. Other than an old push button phone and some 80s cars the film didn't even look like it was from the 80s. Which to me feels like a cheap ploy to dress up a dull film. Same goes for the little kid who's always swearing, drinking and going topless for some reason, not to mention his self exploration...OK but what does this say about him? I kept thinking he would blow a fuse and end up dead or something. But nothing was derived from his colorful character other than just some quirkiness...then at the end credits I seen this name, Wes Anderson.

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And a cat who clearly wasn't feeling any of these people.
I don't think I mentioned it in my write-up, but was I the only person who was bothered by the fact that the cat is only ever referred to as "the cat"? Like, what the hell kind of people have a family pet that they don't ever refer to by name?



You know what bothered me about The Squid and The Whale, besides the silly title....The damn Purell hand cleaner on the hospital room's wall.

That's why I used that photo.



I think The Squid and the Whale is about moments, small moments of life, much like the Florida Project (as I said in my review). I enjoyed that it explored characters that were different and ventured into territory that isn’t normal. However, it IS totally in the wrong era, and I’m pretty sure the only reason they set it in the 80s was so they could include that Blue Velvet scene.

It seems that people are looking for a typical plot in this film, and once you understand that it’s not a character analysis or rise-and-fall plot archetype I think it gets a lot better.



I don't think I mentioned it in my write-up, but was I the only person who was bothered by the fact that the cat is only ever referred to as "the cat"? Like, what the hell kind of people have a family pet that they don't ever refer to by name?
Well they're all pretty sucky people, so...
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Cool, that some of us are watching the same movie, around the same time, maybe this Movie of the Week idea might work out after all

The characters and their individual stories weren't very likeable they were all kind of 4ssholes.
I kind of liked the mom and the oldest kid, though both were off in their own world and maybe that's what the meaning of the film is...that being stuck in one's own little world isn't healthy.

The Squid and the Whale
...it's such a non-plot-based film that it's hard to really analyze. It reminds me of The Florida Project in terms of its structure and pacing (not so much its material).
Good call about it being a non plot based film like The Florida Project, I can see that. It also reminded me of a couple other films that but now I can't remember which they were. Maybe it will come back to me.

"School House Rock," wow that brought back deep childhood memories!
That's a joke you were making right? Wasn't School House Rock way back in the 70s?



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
That's a joke right? Wasn't School House Rock way back in the 70s?
yep, School House Rock WAS 70's
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yep, School House Rock WAS 70's
Yeah, but it was still being aired on public television and shown in classrooms in the 80s and even 90s - speaking from personal experience as a kid during those decades.



Cool, that some of us are watching the same movie, around the same time, maybe this Movie of the Week idea might work out after all

The characters and their individual stories weren't very likeable they were all kind of 4ssholes.
I kind of liked the mom and the oldest kid, though both were off in their own world and maybe that's what the meaning of the film is...that being stuck in one's own little world isn't healthy.

The Squid and the Whale
...it's such a non-plot-based film that it's hard to really analyze. It reminds me of The Florida Project in terms of its structure and pacing (not so much its material).
Good call about it being a non plot based film like The Florida Project, I can see that. It also reminded me of a couple other films that but now I can't remember which they were. Maybe it will come back to me.

"School House Rock," wow that brought back deep childhood memories!
That's a joke you were making right? Wasn't School House Rock way back in the 70s?
Yeah, but there’s DVD’s that we used to watch when I was a kid.



"i didn't like any of the characters" is a funny criticism of the squid and the whale. it's the most searing indictment of the male ego i've ever seen, of course you shouldn't like the characters. i find every character in it to be loathsome on some level (except for maybe the children, but only because they are victims of their parents flaws), that's why it feels so honest
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seen A Clockwork Orange. In all honesty, the movie was weird and silly
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"i didn't like any of the characters" is a funny criticism of the squid and the whale. it's the most searing indictment of the male ego i've ever seen, of course you shouldn't like the characters. i find every character in it to be loathsome on some level (except for maybe the children, but only because they are victims of their parents flaws), that's why it feels so honest
Exactly, I didn't like the characters either, but like a movie like Raging Bull or - sorry for keep mentioning this - The Florida Project, that's not the point.



"i didn't like any of the characters" is a funny criticism of the squid and the whale.
It wasn't just that they were horrible people, though. The bigger problem for me was that they felt one dimensional and incomplete. I didn't buy any of them as real people - not the parents, not the kids, not the coach. Nobody.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I know you haven't seen it yet but have you heard of the song Hey You by Pink Floyd, because nobody in 1986 had ever heard of that song
With the movie for the album, The Wall, that it comes from coming out in '82, we did get some radio airplay for this and a couple of others - especially Another Brick in the Wall that was on heavy rotation, here in the Detroit, MI area. The album itself came out around '79 so for a lot of us in high school at the time, it was a staple album to get high to. And a film to get REALLY high to. lol
Yeah, but it was still being aired on public television and shown in classrooms in the 80s and even 90s - speaking from personal experience as a kid during those decades.
Well, that DEFINITELY validates that.