24th Hall of Fame

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Either way it's going to be interesting seeing these lists trickle in.
I put it together and will send it now. I went by if I had to watch something again today, what order would I choose.



If it stayed in, The Deer Hunter would have been my #2. It's a long time favorite with one of my favorite De Niro performances, and probably Walken's best. There are people that hate the movie.



Ah well, I was looking forward to it. Haven't seen it in a looooong time so I was curious to see how it would fare now. Hope everything is well with Agrippina.
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I saw Deer Hunter not long ago, so I may have skipped the rewatch anyway. I really enjoyed it but this HOF has some good flicks in it. I'm thinking it would have been between 5 and 7
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La Dolce Vita

Whoever nominated this owes me three hours

Nah, actually I watched this in one go...and the time flew by too. I've seen 90 minute movies that dragged, but with La Dolce Vita the visual sensory is on high and there's always something gorgeous to look at.

This was my first time watching it and I expected to be raving about Anita Ekberg. I mean whenever I see images from this movie, it's always of her. But I didn't find her or the scenes she was in to be all that fascinating. I didn't even really find her all that attractive. I mean she is of course, but just not my type. Probably nobodies type here! I actually found Marcello's wife Emma to be more attractive and interesting too. Well whenever she wasn't half dead from popping pills or screaming how much she loved Marcello.

Me, I loved the first 30 minutes of the movie, its kinetic energy and exploration of things common yet unseen, reminded me of another favorite Italian film L'Avventura.

I do however think Fellini is way over indulgent and actually a bit lazy. He gives us three nearly identical and long scenes showing Rome's well-to-do engaging in drunken shenanigans. The first of these at Steiner's house with all the bored to tears, rich intellectual types, made Fellini's point crystal clear.

But then Fellini duplicates that party scene twice more: The old villa castle scene and the last party scene in the house where the unhappy Marcello pours chicken feathers over a drunken young lady...If you tell me that's symbolism, then the pizza stains on my sweatshirt are freaking high art and surly must decipher the Da Vinci code just by looking at all that dried tomato sauce.




It's always fun for me when the Welles guy tells us how over indulgent other directors are.

Seriously though, I feel like I used to feel that way about a lot of movies. Somewhere along the line that just went away for me. I love how indulgent La Dolce and 8 1/2 feel. Give me more. Make them mini-series. I'm game, I just want to get lost in these auteurs worlds.



It's always fun for me when the Welles guy tells us how over indulgent other directors are.

Seriously though, I feel like I used to feel that way about a lot of movies. Somewhere along the line that just went away for me. I love how indulgent La Dolce and 8 1/2 feel. Give me more. Make them mini-series. I'm game, I just want to get lost in these auteurs worlds.
That's interesting as Matt once posted a link to a site that had interviews with directors and their opinions of other directors. I'll see if I can find that link.



Started it, but that's long. I will pick it up later. They seem interesting.
It's only 4 minutes long, I should've posted that as there's no way tell when the video plays, but just a quicky. I hadn't seen it in a long time, but gosh I love it.



It's only 4 minutes long, I should've posted that as there's no way tell when the video plays, but just a quicky. I hadn't seen it in a long time, but gosh I love it.
Thought it was an article. I will look at it again



ANTWONE FISHER
(2002, Washington)
A film with an African-American cast



"Who will cry for the little boy, Antwone?"
"I will. I always do."

Crying, burning, trapped, hurt, dying, trying... those are some of the words that the titular character uses to describe his situation in this film. Antwone Fisher grew up with no parents, rejected by every level of society, including the ones that took him in. He came "from under a rock", he claims at one point. A retort used as much as a defense but also as a cry for help. Because as much of a front as these kids-turned-teens-turned-adults try to put up, they're ultimately alone and helpless.

This film follows the events that surround Fisher (Derek Luke), a Navy sailor that is sent for a psychiatric evaluation with Dr. Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington) after yet another violent outburst against another sailor. But Fisher says there's nothing wrong with him, or at least that's the front he tries to put up with Davenport when we all know he's just a boy trapped inside a man. The film follows the typical motions of other similar films, with Davenport standing strong beside Fisher, as he eventually opens up to reveal his troubled past; a past that involves abuse of all kinds.

When my wife and I started the process to take in and eventually adopt our two sons, we were allowed to bring them home for a weekend; a weekend that went surprisingly well given the circumstances. Upon returning them to the foster home, this 6-year-old kid clung to my wife as we were about to leave as if there was no tomorrow. This kid, who barely knew us, who we had only met on 3 or 4 previous meetings was bawling, crying uncontrollably begging us not to leave him and his brother. I probably will never be able to get that image out of my mind because it perfectly captured how much absence of love and care, how much need is in this kids.

Fast-forward 2 years and we obviously have them with us, adopted and safe. I can listen to them playing, happily screaming and hollering in the room next door as I cry writing this. Has it been an easy road? Hell, no. I've seen them both crying, "burning", "trapped", hurt, "dying", trying... Much like Antwone, our older kid is prone to violent outbursts and there have been days where things have gotten... rough. Things that sometimes we haven't even shared with our families. But I like to think we've been able to join them in their pain, help them with their scars, and cry with them. I like to think that, unlike Antwone's real and foster family, they can count on us being there.

I struggled with writing this because the film obviously hit close to home. I tried to write from outside, but there's no escaping it. As is expected, Fisher and Davenport develop a bond, and they both help each other overcome their own issues. There are some script issues as far as Davenport's personal struggles go, but Fisher is able to find closure by reuniting with his real family. It's inspirational. It's uplifting. But the scars are there. I know. I've seen them and felt them. And for every Antwone that manages to find his Davenport, and find closure, there are hundreds, thousands of others that don't. For every I.J. and I.J. that finds us, there are many others that are still out there looking for someone to cling to, someone to love them. Who will cry for them?

Grade:





La Dolce Vita, 1960

In a series of sequences that take place through nights and days that have indeterminate gaps of time between them, we follow the exploits of a journalist/newsman named Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) and especially his various interactions with and pursuits of different women, including his fiance, Emma (Yvonne Furneaux); a glamorous movie star, Sylvia (Anita Ekburg); and a wealthy heiress, Maddalena (Anouk Aimee).

This film, to me, was almost three hours of watching a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis. Marcello is not happy. And he cannot seem to figure out exactly what it is that he wants, often filtering his unhappiness through his relationships with the different women. The nature of his work seems to exacerbate this problem--everything is a performance, a play. People become objects to be photographed and followed.

The thing that struck me the most about this movie is the stark contrast between the absolute beauty of the imagery and the despairingly hollow nature of the lives of these beautiful people. Everything in this world is gorgeous--the people, the homes, the architecture. And there is a constant swarm of photographers who surround the various beautiful subjects. And yet there seems to be no meat, nothing real to it. The shot of Sylvia in the fountain is probably the most famous image from this film, and yet how does that sequence end? The paparazzi provoke Sylvia's boyfriend into confronting and hitting her (something that not a one of the men who watch it happen do or say anything about), then throwing a few punches at Marcello. And yet it all feels rehearsed and there is no genuine passion to be found anywhere. This dehumanization probably reaches its peak later in the film, when one of Marcello's friends
WARNING: spoilers below
kills his children and then himself. When Marcello goes to meet the man's wife and tell her about her husband and children, they are surrounded by the press. And the men giving her the news do not even bother to get her to a private place to tell her what has happened. Instead she must learn the heart-rending news of her children's deaths standing on a street with flash bulbs popping in her face.


It is interesting to watch the way that Marcello expresses his own frustrations through the relationships with the different women in the movie. After having a fling with Maddalena, he returns home to find that Emma has tried to kill herself. "Why would you do it?" he demands, you know, literally hours after he has slept with another woman. Sylvia's free-spirit vibe seems to offer some escape, but even this is eventually revealed to have a calculated element. The women in Marcello's orbit all seem to have something that he wants, and yet he is let down by all of them. I'm not entirely sure Marcello himself knows what he wants. A scene toward the end of the film, in which Marcello covers a woman with feathers and, when she doesn't do what he wants, looks genuinely angry and hits her in the head with a pillow in a way that is a bit too aggressive. He rails at Emma at one point that he cannot stand her oppressive, "maternal" love, and yet he is put off equally by the more frivolous behavior of other women. (A sequence in which a man describes the perfect wife as being like a "lover and a daughter all at once" is, I think, intentionally gross. I hope.)

The main downside of the film, for me, is also something that I think is intentional. The sequences of the characters partying and hanging out get repetitive at a point (maybe around the second full hour?). But, kind of like something like Jeanne Dielman, the repetition almost felt like part of the point. Marcello is in this cycle of attending these parties and events, seeking something that he doesn't seem to realize might not be romping around holding a glass of champagne. Marcello seems trapped by his idea of where he will find happiness, and cannot pull himself out of his narrow world-view. He gets angry at the people in this world (himself, the women), but cannot seem to break free of it. There was something kind of pathetic watching the way that Marcello was constantly hitting on any woman who came into his orbit, seemingly hoping that she will finally be "the one".

Between the gorgeous photography and the slightly dreamy way that the film moves through time, I can see why this is a classic. I'm not sure how often I would want to revisit it, but I enjoyed it.




2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
ANTWONE FISHER
(2002, Washington)
A film with an African-American cast





Crying, burning, trapped, hurt, dying, trying... those are some of the words that the titular character uses to describe his situation in this film. Antwone Fisher grew up with no parents, rejected by every level of society, including the ones that took him in. He came "from under a rock", he claims at one point. A retort used as much as a defense but also as a cry for help. Because as much of a front as these kids-turned-teens-turned-adults try to put up, they're ultimately alone and helpless.

This film follows the events that surround Fisher (Derek Luke), a Navy sailor that is sent for a psychiatric evaluation with Dr. Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington) after yet another violent outburst against another sailor. But Fisher says there's nothing wrong with him, or at least that's the front he tries to put up with Davenport when we all know he's just a boy trapped inside a man. The film follows the typical motions of other similar films, with Davenport standing strong beside Fisher, as he eventually opens up to reveal his troubled past; a past that involves abuse of all kinds.

When my wife and I started the process to take in and eventually adopt our two sons, we were allowed to bring them home for a weekend; a weekend that went surprisingly well given the circumstances. Upon returning them to the foster home, this 6-year-old kid clung to my wife as we were about to leave as if there was no tomorrow. This kid, who barely knew us, who we had only met on 3 or 4 previous meetings was bawling, crying uncontrollably begging us not to leave him and his brother. I probably will never be able to get that image out of my mind because it perfectly captured how much absence of love and care, how much need is in this kids.

Fast-forward 2 years and we obviously have them with us, adopted and safe. I can listen to them playing, happily screaming and hollering in the room next door as I cry writing this. Has it been an easy road? Hell, no. I've seen them both crying, "burning", "trapped", hurt, "dying", trying... Much like Antwone, our older kid is prone to violent outbursts and there have been days where things have gotten... rough. Things that sometimes we haven't even shared with our families. But I like to think we've been able to join them in their pain, help them with their scars, and cry with them. I like to think that, unlike Antwone's real and foster family, they can count on us being there.

I struggled with writing this because the film obviously hit close to home. I tried to write from outside, but there's no escaping it. As is expected, Fisher and Davenport develop a bond, and they both help each other overcome their own issues. There are some script issues as far as Davenport's personal struggles go, but Fisher is able to find closure by reuniting with his real family. It's inspirational. It's uplifting. But the scars are there. I know. I've seen them and felt them. And for every Antwone that manages to find his Davenport, and find closure, there are hundreds, thousands of others that don't. For every I.J. and I.J. that finds us, there are many others that are still out there looking for someone to cling to, someone to love them. Who will cry for them?

Grade:
I am so glad you could connect to the film. Even if it's not a "great" film, it's a very untalked about one.