20th Hall of Fame

This, basically. I am a religious person as a matter of fact. But I have a lot of major problems with the church... it annoys me that I must sit through a sermon and hear preachy "scholars" tell me about how should I interpret life and the Bible. I want to interpret my own way... I rarely go to church anymore for that reason, although I still feel I have deep connections with God.

I'm not sure how much that affected my viewing of Elmer Gantry. It's definitely a provocative work, and I'm still trying to digest it and relate it to my own life.

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Ghostbusters

Dr. Raymond Stantz: Everything was fine with our system until the power grid was shut off by dickless here.
Walter Peck: They caused an explosion!
Mayor: Is this true?
Dr. Peter Venkman: Yes it's true. [pause] This man has no dick.



From a comedic standpoint, that is exactly what this film does.
It plays on the main characters' strong points, it presents a story that we, as an audience can find appealing while opening up a wide variety of instances where a comedic turn can flourish. We even have an excellent antagonist for a brief moment we can hate and cheer as he's brushed aside. With all the smug arrogance that actor William Atherton is known for.

Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis had worked together for a solid decade or more and came through the comedic ranks together. That long time work history shows in the minute interaction of all three of them together. It's organic and flows beautifully.
Adding to the mix, two solid actresses who are able to hold their own as well as shine, are Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts. Even the lesser spoken of, Fourth Ghostbuster, Ernie Hudson gets his time in the sun. The final shout out going to Rick Moranis who kicks up the nerd persona to nearly iconic heights.

This is one of those films I simply adored in my late teens and early twenties and continue to enjoy watching these decades later. I still laugh at the jokes and the sight gags and cheer the boys as they fight ghouls, ghosts and the occasional Federal employee.

A great addition and a solid comedy to be included in a General HoF.

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Can you guys take a look at the 1st post and see if it looks OK? I just added some code to make it double columns and I want to make sure it isn't screwed up on mobile or desktop versions.

Looks good on Desktop.

Looks good on iPad too. Nice setup.

Hoping to see The Music Man tonight.

Cool, thanks guys for checking.

LOVE the double columns!!
VERY convenient and looks great!
BRAVO CR!

Looks great CR!!!

On my Iphone the left column is smaller, very cool though.

I was trying to make the left column bigger and just screwed up. Oh well, maybe I'll try again

i watched high noon today and liked it. it's not going to become one of my favorite westerns, but as a meditation on duty and cowardice, i think it's mostly successful. it contains neither the visual poetry nor the griminess that tend to be what draw me into a western, and is instead closer to a handsomely-mounted prestige picture of sorts, which doesn't work quite as well when the picture has become so culturally ubiquitous that i could've mapped out exactly how it was going to go down simply based on what i'd heard about it over the years. however, it still has a lot going for it. cooper is good (kelly is just okay), the ending is great, and i appreciated the pacing and obsession with clocks. the mccarthyism allegory is interesting enough but i think interpreting the whole film through that lens would get boring real fast.

+

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I think I'll need a link for Blood Diamond.

Never mind, just found one.

The Music Man



Musicals are actually something that I find myself growing accustomed to more these days. Now that's not to say there aren't any that I hate, there is plenty (Hedwig, The Band Wagon are two examples that spring to mind) but there's also a few I love with La La Land and Wizard of Oz.

And this one seems to fall in the direct middle. Although it is almost ruined for me by Robert Preston who I really didn't care for at all in that lead role. He actually seemed rather a creepy guy to me. Also, there are some insanely godawful songs sandwiched in between some that actually are quite decent. That Shipoopi song and scene is right up there for the worst scene in any movie, and I've seen Red Psalm and Utena before.

But there is a lot to like actually. The production of the film is really good and so is most of the choreography. A lot of the songs are actually very well done that I don't want a few of the bad ones to ruin it. And Shirley Jones as Marian the librarian is really an excellent performance that shouldn't go unnoticed. I think it's the first film of hers that I've seen.

What the true mixed bag for me is this story, which I'm sure has been told countless times as this seems like it's a fairly popular tale. It doesn't exactly grab me the way I wish it would have, but I wouldn't call it terrible either. The look of the film is marvelous for me and there's great camerawork.

So it has components that are good, great, middling, and bad. But overall I would say it was worth the watch. And I can appreciate the compassion from the director.

+

Glad to hear you at least sort of like it The Music Man is probably not the easiest musical for people to like because it's a niche musical, being made almost exactly like the Broadway show. That then makes it hard for movie fans as it has a lot of songs, and not much plot or character development. I probably should've went with the other musical I had in mind as it would be more accessible.

What was the other musical?

I might nominate it one day, so you might find out Or I might just save it for a Genre HoF. We'll see

Blood Diamond

So... this movie was good for sure. I enjoyed it. But there's something missing that doesn't leave it at the highest rating. I definitely liked all the characters, and the acting was fantastic, especially from DiCaprio. There are some horrific shots of the war in Sierra Leone and an overall thrilling and intense story. I liked all that. But the screenplay and the Hollywood cliches kill it for me. This movie could have been a ruthless and unrelenting comment on the horrors of war, but instead it dissolves into a Hollywood mess of saccharine quotes and misty-eyed endings. Nothing really wrong with that, and it's admittedly more my problem than the movie's, but I still feel like the movie didn't fill its entire potential. Nonetheless, the first hour is magnificent and includes fantastic character building and a pretty good script. Only in the end does it get mushy, and declines quite a bit. So overall a solid film with a couple problems.

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Have you seen Hotel Rwanda? It's more brutal and less Hollywoodish than Blood Diamond.

Nope, haven't even heard of it. It's on one list... "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers," so it must be not that brutal?