Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame VI

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The trick is not minding
Marathon Man


This is one of those films where I’m wondering why everything needed to happen to begin with. The kind of movie where one shouldn’t think too much about the plot because the movies unravels slightly.


That’s not to say it’s a bad movie. It’s actually good. It mostly hinges on Olivier and Hoffman’s performances.

We begin with a incident of road rage that is over the top, even for New York. This leads to a crash that takes both mens lives, and from this event one man’s life will be turned upside down.

That Man is Babe, who’s father was a victim of McCarthyism and committed suicide, an act that haunts Babe. His brother, Doc, works for some sort of shadowy organization, but poses as a oil salesman.

The man who dies is the brother of a wanted Nazi war criminal names Szell, played by Olivier, who does work locating other Nazis for Docs organization. His brother had access to diamonds in a safe deposit box that Szell had stolen from Jews in his Nazi camp. For some reason, Szell decides to start killing off couriers or anyone that he considered a threat to these diamonds.

I guess the question is, why would he need to go through such actions that would bring unwanted attention to him? Why not simply gather the diamonds and take off? He has body guards.

Putting it aside, there is some good moments of terror. The torture scene for example. And Olivier delivers such a cold and calculating performance as Szell he deserved that Oscar nomination. His scenes always stand out.

Hoffman is also pretty good in this. But so is Roy Schieder as Doc and William Devane as another agent.

But that’s what you get mostly here. Some stand out performances, a few moments of genuine thrills, but a plot that doesn’t make much sense.

A good film regardless, and one I’ve been meaning to watch for a long time.



I forgot the opening line.
I found All That Jazz and Marathon Man to be very enjoyable films that are up there - not all the way at the top, but right in that upper bracket of the best.
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Have yet to see Marathon Man
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Princess Bride



Here's a nostalgic 80s film that I've held off on my entire life for whatever reason. And it is probably one of the bigger unseen films for me in terms of popularity so it was cool to see it nominated for me. The thing I like most about it is how simple the story is and how smooth the story flows. I don't see anything particularly interesting with any of the performances persay, but it was cool to see some of the people in their roles. Who knew Andre the Giant could act? I also had no idea for whatever reason that Billy Crystal was going to be making an appearance. It's not the funniest movie in the world but I chuckled a few times. The I'm not left handed scene is something I think will really stick out for me. I had no problem with the way the story was told either, I kind of dig the grandfather telling his grandson the story type of deal. Had I seen this prior it could be a Back to the Future type of movie for me that would have nostalgia attached, but since I haven't I'll just say it's a pretty solid and interesting film.

+



I spent years avoiding The Princess Bride (mainly due to its title), and didn't believe the many people who told me it was actually good, and that it wasn't at all what I was expecting. It was on the movie network when I was home one Christmas (around my 29th birthday), so I finally decided to give it a shot and absolutely loved it.

I bought the BluRay as soon as I came back in town, and then got to see it in theatres with my room mates during a film festival a month or so later. I now have a deluxe version of the original novel that I'll never read, and a cool looking board game I've never actually played despite it being possible to do so without any other players haha.





Ida(2013)

Ida tells the story of a young nun in training who finds out that she's actually jewish. She then goes on a road trip with her surviving family member while being confronted by the disillusionment of her life. The film is a period piece shot in black and white.

I have to confess I'm torn the film is a visual feast and it's got a very strong basis for it's story. But man did this feel like I was watching a perfume ad...every scene was just drawn out. I understand that the director loved the way he was photographing the film but this is a 20 minute story padded out to an hour and 22 minutes.

I also had an issue with the characters...I never got a feel for Ida and her personality and her voice. She was like this haunted spectre in the film a ghost of sorts. If you are going to do that than you really need to surround her with memorable characters but Ida doesn't really do that. The film just left me feeling like I watched gorgeous but shallow film. I'm not sure where I'm going to rank this one.



Ida was nominated in one of the first HoFs I joined, but I honestly don't remember much about it other than it having a fairly long average shot length.
I knew I seen Ida before but I didn't remember that it was in an HoF. That must be where I seen it but I'm just too lazy to go look I don't remember Ida much but I do remember that I thought it was impressive. If we were doing at top 50 ballot for the countdown it might make my list.