The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame

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The trick is not minding
Seems to me he owes whoever nominated it for him a huge thank you. 😏
His glowing review was a thank you!
Indeed. And it was I who nominated it.
Casablanca is, to me, the best film ever made bar none. I know Citizen Kane is the typical response, and while it is indeed a great film, I find it a little too self indulgent.

Casablanca has the perfect blend of dialogue, acting and tight direction. IN fact, I know find the need to watch this again.



Indeed. And it was I who nominated it.
Casablanca is, to me, the best film ever made bar none. I know Citizen Kane is the typical response, and while it is indeed a great film, I find it a little too self indulgent.

Casablanca has the perfect blend of dialogue, acting and tight direction. IN fact, I know find the need to watch this again.
Casablanca won the 12th HoF

It's a film that one can watch over and over and catch subtleties in acting with each additional viewing.



Seems to me he owes whoever nominated it for him a huge thank you. 😏
oh wow THANK YOU, It's made my top 25 movies of all time and I can't wait to revisit. Excellent pick.
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The trick is not minding
Seems to me he owes whoever nominated it for him a huge thank you. 😏
oh wow THANK YOU, It's made my top 25 movies of all time and I can't wait to revisit. Excellent pick.
I’m glad you enjoyed it



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I watched The Sound of Music earlier. I'll try to get a review up tomorrow when I'm not bursting into song while twirling in the fields near my house. I'm embarrassed to admit that I watched the entire thing without realizing that Christopher Plummer was Captain von Trapp.


If it makes you feel any better, Christopher Plummer hated the movie The Sound of Music so much that he called it "The Sound of Mucus".

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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I thought I was the only one who didn't love Chinatown but it seems CR, Fred and gbgoodies share my sentiments about it. My fav Nicholson movies so far are; A Few Good Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shinning, The Missouri Breaks and Batman'89.
I've never been much of a Jack Nicholson fan, but IMO One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is easily his best movie.


Haven't seen Rango yet. I still have many westerns to see, so I need to be selective now, and I wonder if it's a must see for the upcoming Western countdown.
While Rango won't make my list for the Western countdown, I would still consider it a must-see movie before sending in your list because it's different than many of the other westerns that will likely make the list. It's a good movie, but for some reason, it just didn't hit the mark for me.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
It worked because it was just the one powerful scene...once the Shark starting chasing the family you ended up with this.



I thought Jaws 4: The Revenge was one of the worst movies ever made. It was such a stupid concept.



The trick is not minding
Rashamon

A murder.
4 stories. 4 different versions. Which is the truth?
That’s the heart of the film, but a deeper look shows that’s it’s a study of human nature for each man to embellish the truth. Even the woodcutter seemed to have left out part of his story.
This film is widely regarded as one of Kurosawa’s best and its easy to see why.
The first 45 mins seems to take too long to go through the story, however. It’s necessary buildup to the ending though. If I felt the first 2 stories, or events as they were told be those who witnessed them, went a little too long, the last two were more interesting.
The murdered man returns as a spirit to reveal his side of the story, was both creepy and amazing at the same time.
And the wood cutters story, which I consider the truth, is the best yet. And if the preceding accounts are an indictment, The film ends with hope in humanity. But I’m rambling here.
Mifune and Kyo are great here. Both completely inhabit their roles and change with them as each story requires. Mifune seems like a brave warrior bandit in the first few versions. But the final version, his hands shake as he holds his sword not knowing if he could actually survive the duel. The frightened look upon his face tells us all what we already suspected. He was over this head.
This is probably a better film then I’ve given it credit for (and indeed, I Actually really enjoyed it!) and it’s probably one of those films that need to be watched multiple times.
It’s like the stories told in this film, really. Each time you see it you get closer to really appreciating its greatness.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

My Suspect for who nominated this one is the Usual one. Or maybe CapSpaulding.
Good suspicion.


But wrong suspicion.
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Pickup On South Street (Samuel Fuller, 1953)
Imdb

Date Watched: 03/23/2020
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame, no clue who picked it.
Rewatch: No.


Pickup On South Street has a lot going for it - it looks good, it has decent acting, and an interesting premise.

Unfortunately it also has two major things working against it - annoying characters (Mo and Candy in particular) and a love story that I simply didn't buy. (She meets this dude a couple of times - during which he treats her like crap - and I'm supposed to believe that she's in love and would risk her life for him? Yeah, no.) As a result, I was not at all invested in these characters or their fates and struggled to get through this despite its short runtime.




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The French Connection





My guess: Citizen Rules.

I've owned this movie for a long time and its always kind of just sat on my shelf collecting dust. I own a few "classics" that I would like to see, but I end up just watching Deep Blue Sea or some other shlock. So this was the perfect excuse to finally get these films in my dvd player. So I start with a 3 and a half hour movie? No, I go with The French Connection.

The French Connection is a slow burn of a cop/crime/thriller. I didn't know what to expect because I had no idea what the film was about, other than it starred Gene Hackman and was famous for a car chase. While that car chase was indeed thrilling and had me on the edge of my seat, I found myself engaged in the tailing sections of the film. Seeing Charnier always be one step ahead of Doyle; such as getting on and off the subway was not only comical, but well choreographed. I kept thinking to myself, how the hell does Doyle think he's getting away with this? Friedkin filmed these scenes as if we were another undercover detective on the sidelines, watching as a voyeur. While these sequences are slow, they are still somehow engaging and take up a good portion of the runtime.

Hackman delivers a raw performance and plays a somewhat unlikable character. He has next to no remorse to a horrible action he does towards the end of the film, all for the sake of "getting his man". We learn in the title cards at the end that it was all for nothing. Schneider is his partner and has the "cooler" role, he's more professional and just as willing to put his life on the line for the sake of the job.

Back to the chase sequence, this man does not give up. He's on top of a rooftop looking at a weapon that was just used to try and kill him and he sees the man running on the streets below. He actually goes to chase after him instead of calling it a day or for more back up. The result is indeed, one of the best car chase sequences put to film. It's a little dangerous and irresponsible, but that adds to the heightened tension.

It took my a while to understand what was happening as we seem to be thrust into the lives of these two detectives in the heat of their cases, but by the end of it I was invested in seeing how everything was going to come to an end.

Good nomination, glad I finally get to check it off.



i nominated the french connection for you only to find out someone else had done it first so i had to change it
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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
i nominated the french connection for you only to find out someone else had done it first so i had to change it
That happened to me with one of my nominations for Hashtag. Funny how often that seemed to have happened.



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The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Directed by Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez

Sticks and stones...The movie that introduced found footage movie making to millions of people. I would have been fine going my entire life without seeing this so it is with great joy that I am able to say "huh, that wasn't too bad."

A group of students go to the woods of Maryland to make a documentary about the Blair Witch. On their way to the woods they stop in the local town where they interview a few people and we get the backstory of the urban legend. After that it's off to find the Witch.

Most of the movie is the three wandering lost in the woods and arguing. Every now and again they come across something spooky - usually a bundle of sticks or a pile of rocks. There really isn't anything terribly scary happening. It's at night where things get a little sketchy in a "did you hear that?" way. Their desperation is what creates most of the tension so the more desperate the become the more the tension ramps up. It builds up nicely and never takes a step backwards. It all leads to a finale at a deserted house, the cabin in the woods, where everything finally breaks.

I always thought this was a horror film for people who don't like horror films and I still think that, but it's good. No fx, no gore at all but I knew that going in so was prepared. One real positive - the camera work wasn't nearly as herky-jerky as I expected. I remember reading about people getting sick in theaters when this was released and it wasn't that bad. The characters are just interesting enough to not be boring and I enjoyed all the arguing (it was like Twitter on film). Will take a spot next four other movies on my found footage top ten list.
When I first watched this I was annoyed that it was presented like a home movie. Now every other horror film follows this formula. While it wasn't the first film to do so, it certainly was the first one to start a fire with it. I'm not afraid to say that I was wrong about it, this film was ahead of its time.



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Rango (2011), so Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp not happy with a single western decided to tell four or five in this animated epic. This is one of those films were I understand what they are going for..attempting to make a palatable western for kids but I wish they would have stuck with one idea and played that out rather than jumping all around the different western genres. The mystery aspect of the story is pretty good but then they pick the heavy to be the most obvious character in the story and I didn't really care for that. And while I appreciate the large set pieces they are somewhat undercut when it's animation and when it's just a cartoon it kinda drags.


I enjoyed the animation and the look of the film, I also liked many of the supporting figures. Some of the shots are really good especially in the background which is something kids films always tend to skimp on. But at the end of the day Rango just left me a little cold....I think I'm just getting a little westerned out.


I think this is one of the more underrated animated films despite it winning Best Animated Film at the Oscars. The look of the film is so unique and it deserves to be considered a great Western.

The voice acting is top notch and doesn't feel like "celebrities" lending their voices to the characters. Surprised to see this nominated twice though.



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Groundhog Day



Imagine living the same day over and over. Would you consider that hell? Or would that be an opportunity? Would you abuse that day, knowing you would be free from the consequences? These are questions Bill Murray asks himself throughout this film.
His first reaction is one of bewilderment. He doesn’t know what to quite make of the situation. Soon he turns to opportunity. He takes advantage of it. There are no consequences. He steals money.
That gives way to despair. He fears he is hell. Or a purgatory of sorts. Forced to relive his least favorite day over and over in a town he despises. He commits suicide. Often. He soon thinks of himself as a god. But when he fails to save a homeless man on consecutive days he realizes his hubris. That soon gives to self realization. He realizes how others view him, and worse, how he really sees himself. Eventually he betters himself, taking lessons in piano and ice sculpting. Finally he become a better person.
This film is a great comedy with some very dark moments, perfectly balanced. Murray has always been a favorite of mine, and although he has had better roles (Lost in Translation, Rushmore), he is effective in his predicament.
Very glad to have finally watched this. Well worth it.
I have no clue who nominated this but thank you. 😎
I simply adore this movie and I think it might be my favourite Bill Murray movie. I can watch this countless times and I feel like part of the community these characters live in.

Instantly quotable, hilarious scenes and the last movie that had both Murray and Ramis as a team. Shame they had a falling out, but these two work wonders together and this is proof.



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The Thing (1982)
My guess: Siddon, he's the first person I think of obviously lol


It was only after some time after watching this that it dawned on me--The Thing isn't a silly tribute piece to 50s and 60s monster horror (including the movie it was a remake of). It was John Carpenter - in his own gross, body-horror, style - developing themes about human distrust and inner fears.

In that respect, it's very similar to something such as Lord of the Flies, William Golding's famous novel. In that book, a group of young boys are stranded on an island. Their fear of a "beast" on the island (which in reality doesn't exist) drives them all to mistrust and eventual madness.

Obviously The Thing and Lord of the Flies are different stories with relatively different themes. But I found The Thing to be incredibly more profound than I was expecting. It's honestly no wonder that this was terribly received in 1982 and practically ruined John Carpenter's career. It had this dark, moody vibe that had existed in other Carpenter movies but not like this. Not to the extent of looking the viewer in the eye and asking them "You tell me. Who is 'infected.' Who should die? Who should live?" And to add on top of that, as this mistrust between the characters develops, MacReady slowly establishes himself as the leader of the group. So now we have a layer asking questions about the morality of authority in this situation.

So it gets thick. And dark. And intense. And it doesn't end easy either. We're given no answers, no happy ending, but a grim look at what destroyed the station. In fact, that's the very question - what destroyed the station? The Thing? Or the researchers themselves? It's a chilling question, and of course left open ended. It surprised me how very little the thing itself had to do with the plot - other than of course being the root of the fear and mistrust between members.

Let's all remember 1983 as the year that Ennio Morricone got nominated for not one, but TWO golden razzie nominations for worst score. I mean, what?? The Thing isn't Morricone's best work but COME ON, it's still pretty stellar, suspenseful stuff. Besides, that was before Morricone had even won an Oscar (long before), but we can discuss my issues with that when I rewatch the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Okay, speaking of ugly, yes the Thing looks ugly. The entire film does, not just the special effects. I hated it at first, but I kinda started to dig the dark colors and weird blob shape of the thing. It made it all the more horrifying and a teeny bit more fun. And YES I honestly did have fun with this, even with all of the dark themes going on.

My first Carpenter, and it's a thumbs up. Screw those '82 haters.


+
My favourite Carpenter flick, his best flick, his best teaming with Russell. This film is a horror sci-fi classic. The practical effects are gruesome and hold up a lot better than the recent prequel/remake.

The Thing is something I can watch whenever, wherever. It has the perfect sense of isolation and dread. The Thing rocks my socks.