The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II

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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Probably 1990’s.
I’ve seen a few of his films, such as Volver, and have enjoyed them. He just released Pain and Glory last year with Antonio Banderas, who he had collaborated with in The Skin I Live In.
I need to watch more of his films, yet.
I've been very curious about checking out Volver for some time now. One of those times when the Movie Poster calls out to me. Each time being something I thoroughly enjoy.
__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
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Women will be your undoing, Pépé
The Sting (1973)

A very good film that I've been meaning to watch for quite some time.

It's exactly what I was expecting. The acting is as great as you'd expect with such a stellar cast, the writing is very tongue in cheek and straight to the point and the plot balances well its turns and twists with a steady pacing. I really liked the literary aspect to it too, with that beggining and all the chapter cards.

Of course, with a genre that is so popular the final twist kind of comes unsurprisingly but that's not exactly the movie's fault.

Nice choice!

Been a fan of this film since childhood. Very glad to hear you enjoy it.



I liked The Sting a whole lot the last time I watched it after previously having a strange sour feeling that was probably coming from some imperfection in my brain. I especially love Robert Shaw in it and completely torment my wife with one of his sayings. At least once a day when I say something to her, I folllow it up by saying "you follow?". It drives her absolutely crazy, and now, if she tries talking to me but I'm half asleep, she yells in my face, you follow!?!?! you follow!?!?



The trick is not minding
Neiba, I chose The Sting for you glad you enjoyed it.
The Sting is such a fun ride and it’s helped by the performances.
*shoots, scores again*



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Moon (2009)

A quite interesting Sci-Fi drama that explores the ethics of cloning.
Sam Rockwell does an amazing job as basically the only actor we see and ultimately carries the whole film. The concept is quite simple, even too simple maybe, but there are some powerful messages coming out of it. Seeing the older clone just give up on life and see the new guy flying towards Earth was heartbraking.
I also found the robot interesting, as a polar opposite of HAL-9000. He was there to serve the clones more than to serve the company which is a fresh take on the way AI connects with humans in these kind of films. Kevin Spacey's voice was perfect for it too.
I kinda wished for an extra 30 minutes to see what happened when he returned home but I understand the film was not focusing on that.

There's not much else I could say about it, I'm glad I watched this as it has been on my watchlist for some time.

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Moon is quite popular but it was just ok for me. For once, I don't see it as a movie I need to see again. I just think it's too sci-fi for my taste.




What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

When I was a kid I wasn't afraid of Freddy or Jason or Michael but I remember seeing parts of this on tv and seeing Bette Davis as Jane scared the hell out of me.

This is a movie where the performances, I think, are stronger than the story. Which is fine with me as interesting characters are what usually make or break a movie. All the performances are good but let's be real, it's Bette Davis' movie and she's great. Whether it's a maniacal cackle or just a look, she's insanely creepy. Is there anything more terrifying than Jane appearing in the background while Blanche explains the torment she's been going through to her Dr.? Bette looks like she was having a blast torturing her good friend Joan. As for Crawford, she does good portraying the tortured, paralyzed, younger sister. It's not as juicy a role as Jane but Crawford does a very good job. Shout out to the make up department as well. From what I've always heard, Bette did her own makeup for Jane but whoever did Crawfords did a wonderful job. As the movie progressed she looked appropriately worse.

There were parts that I felt dragged a little, not bad but a little and they usually involved Victor Bueno as Edwin Flagg, the aspiring musician who responds to a classified ad put out by Jane in an attempt to resurrect her career. It was an important role as a lot of the sisters backstory is told third person (especially a very juicy tidbit from Flaggs mother) and he does play a crucial role as the film begins to wind down down but... He just didn't work for me. Apparently I'm in the minority with that opinion since he was nominated for almost every award out there for his work, so what do I know?

I have to admit I didn't see that ending coming and I'm not sure what to make of it. I don't really feel THAT much different for either character after it's all said and done but it got me. Solid nomination.



The Sting is one of my favorite movies. Might have even made it onto my top 25 list. I love everything about it: the look, the music, the characters, the slang and "The Sting." The poker playing scene with Newman ragging on Shaw makes me smile every time I see it. The off the charts obnoxiousness of Newman is irresistable - "Sorry I'm late...I was taking a crap."



It's been way too long since I seen What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?...Glad to hear you like it.

If interested you might read at Wiki about the behind the scenes dirty tricks that arch rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford inflicted on each other. Its crazy stuff!

It had been hoped that Davis and Crawford would be reunited in another similar movie project Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, but after working with Bette, Joan refused to do the movie.






Strangers On a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)
Imdb

Date Watched: 11/29/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II, no idea who picked it
Rewatch: No.


Alfred Hitchcock is known as the master of suspense, and to that end Strangers On a Train has a lot going for it. Robert Walker was quite effective as Bruno, the psychopath who feels he is owed something and the premise was an intriguing one. It also had a good amount of tension throughout most of the film - though the tennis match only served to kill the film's momentum for me.

I also found myself too distracted by Farley Granger's wooden performance, by the annoyingly hypocritical secondary characters (Miriam is a tramp for cheating, but somehow Guy's cheating is perfectly okay and Anne is at no fault for being with a married man... ), and by the dangerous ineptitude of the police (Cop fires his gun at an unarmed suspect at a crowded amusement park and shoots an innocent bystander, but let's just gloss over that fact. WTF?) to ever get fully engaged with the film.

I suppose a rewatch could potentially improve my impression of it, but I think it's equally likely that the things that bugged me this time would only bug me more a second time.

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The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
The Long Goodbye (1973)

Another interesting nomination.

What impressed me more about this film was the use of soundtrack. I think there's just one song used through out the whole movie: "The Long Goodbye" but in many different versions depending on the place or the characters that are on screen. This contributes to create a very solid atmosphere. And on top of that, the song is really really good.

The acting was solid from most actors, especially Elliot Gould as the main character (took me a while to overcome that bumbling of his but after that I enjoyed his perfomance very much) and Sterling Hayden who stole every scene he was in. I found Jim Bouton acting very poor though, and it's a good thing he only has a short screen time. The femme fatale, Nina van Pallandt, is convincingly enough though I was expecting a little bit more menace coming from her.

The twist, though kind of expectable seems fresh enough though I was expecting the revelation to have a little more gravitas to it.

Crime films from the 70s appear to be what people think I like, by looking at all my noms! I'm not complaining!

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Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is a pretty nutty movie. I have it on my list of nominations for Miss Vicky. I'm only saying that because I've decided I won't pick it for her.

I'm up and down with Hitchcock. I've seen Strangers on a Train at least 3 times and I'd put that somewhere in the middle of his filmography.


I liked The Long Goodbye a lot and want to see it again. It was probably the hottest movie that people were watching for the 70's countdown, and I think it's ultimate placement on that list reflects that.



Last time we did this, I said I wouldn't mind seeing The Long Goodbye, but no one took my hint
I've never thought of you as a crime film fan but you do like those noirs.



Any guess if I'd like it?
Maybe? It's neo noir.

In any case, it's under 2 hours so not a huge time commitment. I watched it for the 70s countdown and thought it was a lot of fun.