15th Hall of Fame

That's exactly what it was. From what i remember of the novel his distancing/neglect of his wife is a lot more pronounced in the novel than in the film. To be fair he does sometimes refer to her as "my dear" which is more affectionate, "my wife" is used much more often from what i remember though.

The Station Agent



A pretty cool little film. I liked all of the personalities of the characters and I guess for that I also enjoyed their acting. This was the first work of Peter Dinklage I believe I saw and thought he did real well. Also really liked Patricia Clarkson and of course I always adore Michelle Williams. There isn't a lot of layers to this rather simple film, and for that I would call it more of a fun watch and a cinematically brilliant film, but who's to say there isn't any importance to films like this as well. The real highlight is the directing of Tom McCarthy, who seems as if he puts his strengths on telling his story, rather than relying on strong acting performances to convey emotion from his audience. I have a lot of respect for those who do that.

I don't really have much to say about the film other than that. I don't think I'll race to see it again, but like I said I did enjoy it. Sorry for the lack of words.

Yeah me too! I'm so crummy with names in movies that I can watch the entire movie and still not know the main character's name. I only learned that Joan Fontaine didn't have a name in Rebecca while watching the DVD extras. The extras had interviews with half a dozen noted film historians, really interesting stuff! I learned that:

Rebecca was Hitch's first Hollywood film. He had been wanting to come to America for awhile as he knew there would be more advance film making equipment for him to use, and he was very interested in film technology. Producer David O Selznick who headed up the new (at the time) Selznick International studio brought Hitch over and they had planned to make a movie of Titanic. Selznick even bought a large ship and took Hitch down to the port to see it, but they could never come up with a working script.

So they moved onto Rebecca as it was a popular novel which both men were keen to make. Hitch had tried to buy the rights to it but couldn't afford it. Selznick could and had bought the rights to it.

Hitch's film making style was to take a novel and rearrange it, to suit the way he wanted to tell the story. Selznick believed a film should closely follow the novel, as he had done with Gone With The Wind, which was also in production at the time Rebecca was starting up.

David O Selznick was a producer who had a lot of input into the films he made, efficiently being an auteur producer. Hitch of course always put his own auteur stamp on the films that he made. So as you can guess this put the two men at odds. Selznick would come by the set to watch the film making, and Hitch would 'mysteriously' have camera problems until Selznick left, then shooting would resume, ha.

Rebecca does from what I heard follow the novel fairly closely, thanks to Selznick...with the exception of the guilt of Maxim, which was necessary for a happy ending.

Oh one more thing, Selznick at one time wanted Hitch to do the burning of Manderley with the last shot of the movie being smoke rising up in the sky making a giant R.... That's cringe worthy! Luckily Hitch wouldn't do it.

Yeah, I read about that. I'm also glad that's not how the film ended. The pillow case/garment bag was a much classier way to get that R in there.

__________________

When I have more time, I'll write something about American Graffiti. It exceeded my expectations by miles, so hopefully I'll be able to write something that is worthy of the impression it had on me. This Hall of Fame looks like, as far as movie quality goes, one of the best we've ever had.

The 2nd and 4th were probably the best. The 10th or 12th may be the weakest.

Next for me will be Shallow Grave. Maybe tonight yet, but more than likely tomorrow.

The 5th and 6th were my favorites of the General HoFs, as far as the nominations.

I've just finished watching Rebecca, but I'm struggling to write it up. I'll try to get something posted tomorrow (Wednesday).

That just leaves L'Avventura to watch. I'll probably do that Friday.

__________________

Shallow Grave



I'll be honest.i didn't like the film.

My biggest problem is what normally is the problem with films of this type. If the film doesn't necessarily take itself seriously, I need characters that I either care for or am entertained by. Neither of these options fit with this cast. Christopher Eccleston and Kerry Fox were both below mediocre and I didn't much care for Ewan McGregor either. The only scene that I really thought was well done was the gif that Miss Vicky pictured on her review. I get that dark comedies are often hit or miss, but strong characters are needed and this was not provided by the film. The screenplay seems a bit all over the map too, almost as if Boyle himself struggled with what he wanted the outcome to be.

I've only seen 2 Boyle films but I won't be rushing to see another either. I haven't yet seen anything that makes me think he is a great film maker, though obviously at some point I'll see more. But I'd be surprised if this weren't the worst of his bunch for me.

Shallow Grave was his first movie, so I would think he might have improved? Though truth be told, I shut off Steve Jobs (2015) after about 15 minutes.

Like Thursday, I also liked Sunshine on the first watch as I thought it had something existential or mystic there. But on a second watch it seemed like it was all over the place, with both hard sci fi and a very out of place horror sequence. The only other film I've seen of his was 28 Days Latter which was actually pretty good.

Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
Imdb

Date Watched: 02/27/18
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 15th Hall of Fame, nominated by @Cosmic Runaway
Rewatch: No.

This was my tenth Hitchcock, if memory serves, and I've had kind of a spotty history with the director. Some of his films I've greatly admired, others I enjoyed a lot, others I enjoyed only somewhat, and one I absolutely hated. So I really wasn't sure what to expect with Rebecca.

And what I got was somewhere in the middle. The film overall was solidly made if ultimately unimpressive. The story was engaging, the camerawork was well done and the performances mostly ranged from very good to serviceable. But there were some things about it that bugged. First and foremost the decision to change the death of Rebecca from murder, as it was in the novel, to an accident just felt like a lame attempt to keep the audience from disliking Maxim and it felt very out of place to me. Second, I didn't buy the romance between Maxim and his new bride at all and had little sympathy for what she experienced at Manderley at the hands of both the housekeeper and her husband. (Word to the wise: Don't marry somebody you've only known for a few days!) I also found the wife's naivete to be far more annoying than endearing. And third, the inquiry into Rebecca's death just seemed half-assed and rushed. I get that the justice system and investigation techniques weren't anywhere near as advanced as they are today, but I still didn't buy it.

Still, I never found myself getting bored and my complaints aren't especially major ones. It's just not something that I'm likely to ever watch again and, to be honest, I will probably have forgotten most of it by next week.


+

I find it a little funny that there's been so many harsh criticisms so far, some of movies that the viewer didn't even dislike. I have done it as well and I like it.

As far as Danny Boyle goes, I love 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, and Trainspotting, like Trainspotting 2 and Shallow Grave, didn't care for Sunshine and Trance, and want to see 127 Hours.

I swear I've asked before @Miss Vicky, but what Hitchcock films do you like. I think you like Rear Window, but can't remember the others.

I think I've gotten a little harsher than I used to be. And my flickchart often speaks for itself, because I'll see films that are higher up in my list than they should be.

I really like Rear Window and North By Northwest and, to a lesser extent, Psycho and Vertigo. Dial M for Murder and Frenzy were pretty good. I didn't care much for Foreign Correspondent and Family Plot, but they were okay. And I HATED The Birds.

Ever seen Shadow of a Doubt? Think you would really like that one actually

I'll be watching American Graffiti next. Never seen it and really look forward to it!

Was searching for In the Mood for Love to cross of the millennium list, and realized I already had it crossed off. I know I never saw it before so I must have made a mistake.