The 27th General Hall of Fame

I also really like a moment earlier in the film, where he totally fails to play the clapping game with the daughter, but then the next morning he's mastered it. He obviously took the time to figure out how to do it correctly. And just for that moment she is genuinely impressed and appreciative.

Midnight Cowboy has every chance, and will be right up there contending for the win - a great nomination. I was wondering if Jaws and Raiders would suffer from a kind of 'overexposure syndrome' due to the fact so many of us have seen them multiple times. Then again, The Wizard of Oz won that last one. I thought Shura (Demons) was a great addition to the group of films considered 'new' - and unanimously well received. That's where I'm going next HoF - a film I don't think many people have seen.

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That’s 5:00 my time. I’ll be at work and probably won’t be able to check it out until I’m home about 2.5 hours later. Looking forward to the results though.

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Cure (1997)

At three separate times in the past week, I've attempted to write a review; the final one was complete when they got accidentally deleted by my idiot self, which may be a new record for "What the f--- No! No, no, no, NO! D@MMIT!"
A bit insistent of it telling me, "No, not yet, later," but here we are.

A central point I would open with is an excellent take by @pahaK regarding "What Cure does the best is evoking a feeling that something is terribly wrong with the world. It has this cold, Lovecraftian feel to it. To understand is to go insane."
I had wondered how best to describe the precision of dread that meanders so slowly that it paralyzes any attempt at defense, and he nailed it for me. Thanks.

Like the hypnosis invoking people to casually murder, Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa draws us into the same submissive sleep without us realizing it. The only Exception is Detective Takabe (Kôji Yakusho) doing a complete 180; instead of being lulled into his spell, he is agitated to the point of violence against him. Something I truly enjoyed as a lifesaver in the enveloping sea of dread. Those moments were like a snapping of the fingers to "awake" in this nicely composited film.
BRAVO.

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What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

I'll be sure to save ya a cup of tea, my dear

It was lovely to see her "see" her dad in that light. A great moment.

Those Hidden Gems are such great picks and Demons is definitely one of them.

I try to nominate movies people may not have seen rather than genuine classics.

It is pretty cool to give lesser-known films some deserved recognition. I usually go with a personal favorite or newfound favorite most times and have been curious to go with something iconic that may be a pleasant rewatch or an opportunity to finally see a Must See.
With us, all going different routes does give such a great variety to these General Hall of Fames. Making such a well-rounded experience across the board for me.

That's where I usually try to go when doing these HoF. I mean, not to take anything away from masterpieces like Jaws or Raiders of the Lost Ark, but everybody has seen them, probably countless times. Personally, I prefer to go off the beaten path in terms of what I offer and what I discover in these HoF.

Then again, one might say the same about stuff like True Romance or maybe even Midnight Cowboy, both of which I hadn't seen or hadn't seen in a long time, so I guess there's benefit in both approaches.

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Probably my favorite moment in the film, even if I failed to bring it up in my review.

I won't be in the next main Hall, but for the one after that, I'm going to nominate something I don't think many people have seen as well. I have a few films in mind for what I'll pick.

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I'm glad you said that Ed, because from some of the comments I get the feeling that some don't approve of popular movies being nominated in HoFs.

Sure I like to find hidden gems too and I'm always glad some decide to nominate them...But by the very nature of the Hall of Fames, they honor the greatest of the greats. That's not a complaint about unknown films being nominated, but it is a defense of the members who choose to go with a well known film because they love it or believe it's worthy of consideration.

I agree. I guess that my personal preference comes from the desire to discover something new instead of revisiting an old favorite. But again, like I said in the above post, there's definitely something to get from both approaches.

BTW, I also want to apologize for 1) not being more active in the thread discussions, and 2) for cutting it so close to the deadline. I think I started fairly well, but last month was particularly hectic in pretty much every front from me; from work and family to all the podcast stuff I'm doing. Anyway, I think I managed to read most/all the reviews written and enjoyed most of your thoughts.

And in case I hadn't mentioned it before, I didn't *hate* any film. The one I ranked the lowest might've been a bit of a chore, but I still appreciated it and can acknowledge that at a different moment with a different mindset, I might appreciate it more.

I generally prefer watching hidden gems rather than popular films I've likely already seen several times in these threads, but I have no issues with people nominating both as I like the variety that brings to these threads. I also think some value can be had in nominating popular films. For instance, I hadn't seen and had been meaning to watch the theatrical cut to Apocalypse Now for a while, so joining this Hall gave me a reason to check it out.

With that being said, I generally try not to nominate anything too well-known. Midnight Cowboy is probably the most well-known film I've nominated in these threads (109k IMDb ratings), but I think that's about as popular as I'll ever go with my nominations.

And to that point, I hadn't seen Midnight Cowboy, even though I had been meaning to for years It was a great nom and a great film, so yeah. Nominate whatever you want, people.

I've nominated some obscure or lesser known films in the past and will do so again.

Regarding 'what' is a well known film, for me most of the films people think of as well known, I haven't seen.

I'd never seen True Romance before and was glad to see it nominated. I had never seen Midnight Cowboy up until it was chose for me in a past Personal Recommendation thread. Most all of the noms in HoFs are first time watches for me.

But if I have seen a nom recently like Midnight Cowboy that's also a plus because then I can skip watching it saving me some workload...so it's all good!

Magical Girl aka Magična devojka (2014)

I am unsure if my severe dread of what was to come was due to Director Carlos Vermut's precision or that this was a @cricket nomination and the usual front seat to things going severely messed up or, more likely, a combination of both.
In particular, when Barbara went to earn the blackmail money the second time behind the Black Lizard Door, tensing myself for the worst.

So, again, it's hard to decipher whether past movie experiences of cricket films set me at an edge or if, and this is also credited to cricket, I watched a brilliantly finely tuned slow descent into the darker aspects of human nature.

The timing of this film was flawless, and the tension was truly palpable as a loving father is willing to go to extremes to gift his terminal daughter with an outrageously expensive anime outfit. That triggers a series of events that conclude tragically.

While experiencing a film such as this, it may be easy for us (backseat drivers) to rationally object to the father's decision that propels the events. It does not deter or perhaps even enhance the effectiveness of everyone involved in making this film, from writing, acting, and production and all stops in between.

Thief makes a good point...People in past HoFs have said they were going with a movie, but didn't because they thought everyone would've seen it. Then it turns out many hadn't seen the movie and others hadn't seen it in many years.

This exact conversation has come up many times in past HoFs and I should know I've been in a ton of them!