21st Hall of Fame

Really? I think it's one of the best scenes in the film and one of the funniest scenes in any movie.

Also, it's a play that's supposed to have been penned and directed by the Marquis de Sade. Subtlety wasn't exactly de Sade's modem operandi so for me it didn't seem out of place at all.

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I like Monty Python too, but when we got a good look at the inmates/patients at the asylum they seemed to comical for the rest of the movie at least in the play scene and in the aftermath of the fire scene.

We disagree then, I liked the movie and thought it did a lot well, but the play which turns into a festive party seemed to farcical.

But the film is itself nearly as much a comedy as it is a drama and Les Crimes De L'Amour - the play within the play, or at least the fictional version of it shown in the movie - is clearly shown in the film as being a farce. Hell, de Sade writes "A Farce" on the title page.

Something just popped into my head as I was making pizza...the scene where Phoenix is lusting after Kate Winslet but trying hard to resist her. That was a good acting by Phoenix. I don't think he did anything wrong in the film but the character of the Priest didn't have enough inner turmoil in the script for Phoenix to explore.

One thing I didn't like, that I just thought of, was I wanted more of what happened to Michael Caine's wife and her lover. I thought for sure they would

Yeah I didn't like the comedy bit as much as the exposition and criticism of the hypocrisy that was going on then.

Do you like de Sade’s work in real life?

I have to agree with Miss Vicky here. The play was meant as satire aimed squarely at Caine, and was meant to call out the hypcocrisy that De Sade sensed was at his core (which we all knew was present from his scenes with his wife).
De Sade took glee at this, so of course he took a bit of a showmanship approach with it.

No. I haven’t read much of it but I didn’t like what I have read.

Although it’s possible that something was lost in translation.

The introduction part of The 120 Days of Sodom is brilliant. Rest of what's finished is way too repetitive but there are some chuckle-worthy things in there as well. The only other book by him I've read is Justine but I actually haven't read it since I was a kid (yeah, great literature for 13 or 14-year-old boy) so can't really comment on that. I've been meaning to read Justine and Juliette at some point. Sadly most of his writings were destroyed.

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Watched Dark City today. It was better than I remembered (upgraded from OK to good, maybe even very good). And the DC beginning is so much better than the theatrical one was. Again, a full review will follow in few days.

Dark City

Neo noir meet sci fi in the Frittz Lang mold, and pulls it off. Creepy villains hiding in every shadow, a hard boiled detective assigned to a serial murder case, one that drove the previous detective insane (or did it?), a scientist who knows more then he lets on, and the hero who is hunted by the mysterious strangers, the detective and the scientist. His fate will determine the future of the city.

This film has it all. Style and substance. Who are the strangers? Why are they so interested in our memories? The film plays out like a religious parable, with our hero John Murdoch, played by Rufus Sewell, as the mythological being who over throws the “demons” and casts them out into the light.

But the film is deeper though, such as what makes one human? His memories or his feelings? What is the soul? Th see questions are the at the heart of the strangers intentions.

Alex Proyas was a gifted director who hasn’t made many films. I loved The Crow, and Dark City, although I, Robot left a little to be desired. His films have a certain visual flash to them.

At the end of the film, one wonders what Murdoch has accomplished exactly? Where will he go from there? But then you think the answer is, now that he’s free, anywhere he wants.

The Hunt (2012)
What a fascinating look at the danger of spoken word, especially false rumors. This man's entire life is nearly destroyed when a young, innocent girl tells a small lie to her school's principal.

Things spiral out of control from there. This movie just really made me think, it made me angry, it made me sad, it made me frustrated. There were times when I wanted to punch my screen because of the way Lucas was treated.

The very sad and scary thing is, would I have done any different than those mistreating Lucas in these situations? Rumors that he is a pedophile and sexual predator spread around like wildfire, and before Lucas can even understand what is going on, he is shunned out of their community. The owner of the grocery store won't let him shop. People move away from him at church. Most of his good friends abandon him. His dog even gets killed by an angry person.

I would never kill an animal or being if their owner was a pedophile, but I wonder how extreme the other cases are in regards to what I might do. I know for sure that my parents, if they knew someone was a sexual predator, would shift me away from sitting next to them at church. And while technically it's illegal to throw someone out of a store for that it's also something I could see happening.

It's a reality that you can't blame either side for. People are scared when they hear that there is someone weird in their community, but when that person - in Lucas's case - is completely innocent, it turns into a whole new moral dilemma. Things "work out" in the end as Lucas's friends begin to trust him again and they can all meet. But the film doesn't forget to leave a sulfurous aftertaste, what with the final gunfire.

I remember reading a quote once: “Imagine if you have a pillow filled with feathers and you open up the pillow. The feathers will be carried away by the wind and you will never ever be able to get them back.” Lucas will never be able to get some of the feathers back, no matter how hard he tries. Once Klara has opened the pillow, it is all lost.

And now he must face that frustrating reality for the rest of his life.

The Hunt made me reflect on myself, it made me reflect on the world, and I really appreciate it for that. It's something that I could see myself returning to often in the future to look for more interesting things to analyze.

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Wedding Crashers (David Dobkin, 2005)
Imdb

Date Watched: 01/10/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 21st MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by rauldc13
Rewatch: Yes.


Wedding Crashers has never been a favorite, but I always liked it. That is, until now. It's been so long since I've seen Owen Wilson in anything that I'd forgotten just how irritating he is when he's doing anything other than voicing Lightning McQueen (to say nothing of how much I hate Will Ferrell and dislike Bradley Cooper). Not helping the situation was just how much of a douchebag Wilson's character John was in inserting himself into the Cleary family, pursuing someone in a committed relationship, and then the BS he pulled at his best friend's wedding. What an a**hole.

Which is not to say that Jeremy was a gem, but he at least wasn't pining after a girl he barely knew. Of course his situation is helped by the fact that I do still enjoy Vince Vaughn and found him to be the one significantly positive part of the film. That said though, his fast-talking brand of humor works so much better for me in other films, such as in Dobkin's first feature Clay Pigeons.

Overall, the jokes were more miss than hit. Comedies just don't often age well for me and this was definitely not an exception to that.

That was a damn good read I enjoyed it. I agree with your analyze of the film and the way it made you feel. We had some good conversation about The Hunt in the 13th HoF if you're interested here's a link: 13th HoF

Cool, thanks! Back when HoFs were 50+ pages haha.

I can't write anything better about The Hunt than what I already wrote in the 13th HoF...

Dark City (1998)


Dark City is a unique film. It's like a neo-noir version of Matrix (but done one year earlier) with a stylistic resemblance to Jeunet and even the old German expressionism (both sets and the look of the aliens who are like the vampire from Nosferatu minus the fangs). It's marvelous, considering the variance of its influences, that the film manages to have such a consistent and distinct feel to it.

Storywise Dark City is somewhere between fantasy and science fiction. It has a slight The Twilight Zone feel to it, but it wasn't enough to annoy me. Also, the ending was kind of stupid, but it did have that retro feel to it as well, so it's not such a big issue. I guess it's fair to say that the whole film is retro; aesthetics and mood are more important than coherent and logical plot. It's not modern hardcore sci-fi but, it doesn't care.

Due to its story, Dark City's characters aren't deep or complex. They're not driven by personal trauma and history but by the general sense of something being wrong in the world. Just like with the plot, aesthetics also trump over the characters. Still, Sutherland's acting is bad enough to stand out, and every time he speaks, I die a little. Others are doing good enough jobs, and Connelly looks adorable as a clueless femme fatale.

Dark City is a good mixture of multiple genres. It's primarily a visual experience, and despite some badly aged CGI, it still looks great today. I like its old pulpy style of storytelling, the neo-noir city, the alien machinery looking like something Lang or Murnau could have done, and its utter lack of explanations. A Good nomination which I enjoyed more on this rewatch than I did on my first viewing some twenty years ago.

Also watched the film I expected to hate and considered the most probable candidate for the last spot on my ballot, Moonstruck. If that's going to be the worst this HoF has to offer, I'm pleased as contrary to my expectations I didn't particularly hate it. It definitely wasn't good but at least it reached the lower echelons of mediocrity. A proper review will follow in a few days as usual.

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I actually liked Owen Wilson in it, but he was outshined by Vince in it. Owen has the more tender scenes, Vince the funnier.
I can see this winning a comedy HOF in the future, probably the 2005-2010 one that is planned. It’s that good.
I doubt it was the real Jayne Semour in that scene. We only really see her from the back mostly and that’s usually when stunt doubles are used, with some camera trickery.
Will Ferrell shouldn’t have been in that film. Easily the worst part of it. Sorry (not sorry) 😜