The 19th Hall of Fame

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WARNING: "more spoilers" spoilers below
I can appreciate a sad ending if there's more merit in it, but I didn't really view the reporter as a threat. There's no good reason any newspaper should endanger a life when they clearly stated what Malaysian law would give Lewis at the beginning of the movie if his friends showed.

The end of Paths of Glory made a statement, and that's why while I didn't care for the way events panned out, I appreciated the ending for the art. I can say the same about Dead Poets Society and Ivan's Childhood. This ending didn't add anything to the movie. The stuff left for the movie was already resolved, like the romantic subplot and Sheriff's soul search. Plus, the judge didn't think about how his actions would make his own government look bad. Basically, the ending was decided on by a man who let his emotions get the best of him, leaving everyone of the main cast to suffer for the unfairness. Yes, it had emotional value, but everything the movie built up was torn down for an old man's childish decision. That kind of ending pisses me off.



Let the night air cool you off
I nominated Raging Bull mostly because I recently rewatched it and it was on my mind. I wrote a couple notes to myself about it on Notepad, but it wasn't really anything too substantial. I'll just share them here since I already have them.

Many reasons exist to shoot films in black and white, but it seems to me that just one of the reasons chosen for Raging Bull is to make it stand out as far as possible from the hugely popular Rocky films at the time. Raging Bull is the best boxing film of all-time and probably the the boxing film that least cares about boxing. Which makes it all the more interesting that the boxing scenes do such a great job of being interpretive dances representing LaMotta's outside-the-ring life. The Janiro fight and the final Sugar Ray fight are the best examples; his insecurities, jealousy, and anger are taken out on Janiro and he pummels the poor kid, and the final Sugar Ray fight is his penance for all his sh*ttiness. Even though he is shown fighting another person in all these fights, his real opponent was always himself.



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

There's nothing much to say I didn't already say on this forum about this film.
Watched it for the first time when I was 15, rewatched it countless times since then. It was the film who first planted the first seeds of cinephilia, so it's special for me.

About the film, it was made in a time where creativity didn't matter much in Hollywood by a guy with a unique path and vision. It revolutionized the independent cinema all over the world, in particular in USA, it creted a whole generation of amazing directors and screenwriters and it showed you actually make money without following the same old formulas.

The cast needs no presentation, it's filled with many legendary actors and a little surprise: the portuguese Maria de Medeiros who is actually perfect as Fabianne.
The soundtrack is the definition of coolness, blending all the different chapters with the same energy (something that is lacking on some later Tarantino works).
But what I really adore about this is the insanely good script. From the epic hamburguer scene till the bad motherfuc*er wallet scene (I own that one btw) everything is so quotable and it flows so well. I still know huge chunks of it by heart.


+
(only 3 movies ever got this rating from me)



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Don't read this if you never watched it.

Angel Face (Otto Preminger, 1953)

Watched this on big screen a few weeks ago. I knew it was a noir and that starred Mitchum and Jean Simmons, two actors I really love and that have solid reputations about what the kind of characters they usually take.
So, the first thing that I liked about this was the completely inversion of what was expectable. Mitchum is amazing as the manipulated guy, especially cause he uses his strong image to come across as a know-better. There are times where we feel he can escape from the seductive power of Diane but the cycle proves too hard for him to break it.
As for Jean Simmons, it's amazing how she uses his innocence to make us fall in love and actually have pity for her, so when she reveals herself as the cold hearted assassin the effect is that we witness the birth of the most dangerous type of femme fatale.

I'd like to know what the MoFo's think about that ending. It took me totally by surprise. Did Diane doubt her powers on Frank and actually gave up on seducing him again, or was she simply to hurt about killing her own father that nothing mattered?

+



Pulp Fiction

I'm actually not too big of a fan of Quentin Tarantino. His dialogue verges on pretentious and his violence can just be so over the top. But Pulp Fiction is absolutely perfect. This is one of those movies that I watch, and then think - "I can't change anything about this movie." I'd maybe only cut slightly the scene between Butch and Fabinne, everything is gold. The hamburger scene, the diner robbery scene, everything with Mia Wallace. The acting is amazing, the script is amazing, Pulp Fiction is just too good. Blows me away every time I see it.




The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
The Godfather (F. F. Coppola, 1972)

Watched it many times, the last of them less than a year ago so this doesn't need a rewatch.

The best thing about this is to witness Brando in one of this most famous roles, delivering a steady and experienced perfomance. He doesn't feel the need to prove anything to anyone. He was one of the greatest living actors at this time, and he plays the role of Don Corleone from that place of power which gives it the perfect energy.
Then, there's a great introduction to Pacino's character that achieves its peak on the second entry of the trilogy.

Those are the two main forces on the film, and everything revolves around them. The rest of the cast is very strong, but Vito and Michael Corleone are the dynamos that drive this film forward.
Then there's a legendary soundtrack, endless amazing quotes and a story that is perfectly paced till one the best climaxes in history.

+










The Godfather 1972 Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

2h 55min | 3h 22min | Crime | Drama
Writers: Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo
Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, James Caan, Sterling Hayden, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Robert De Niro, Talia Shire, Richard S. Castellano, John Marley Richard Conte, Al Lettieri, Abe Vigoda, Gianni Russo, Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo


My favorite / best movie of all time, I know half the script by heart and I could talk for days about it but I will try to keep it short here and only focus on a few of the masterful aspects of this aforementioned cinematic giant.

Directing
Francis Ford Coppola is one of your favorite directors favorite director.
Coppola is the only director that appears on the Top 10 Greatest Films According To 358 Directors, chosen by 358 other respected established filmmakers twice!
http://www.openculture.com/2019/04/t...ilmmakers.html

Marlon Brando and the Don Vito Corleone character
Never before or after have I seen an actor portray a role the way Marlon Brando did Don Vito Corleone. Experienced, wise like the old owl, hardened by his traumatic experiences as a boy and struggles through the gutters and rooftops of New York as a young man. The head of an organized crime family that would later turn into a fully legit conglomerate; Immobiliare.
Also displaying sympathetic characteristics like his intense love for his family, speeches invoking peaceful relations between the five families, urging them to stay out of the drug business, a powerful forgiving gesture embracing Tattaglia the man who had his boy Sonny brutally killed by Tommy guns. A playful side shown in his final heartwarming scene playing with his grandson in the garden (with oranges). Great performance and character.


Foreshadowing
Every time you see an orange in the scene, death soon follows.
Excellent use of foreshadowing that really build up the suspense in scenes.


And continued in part II & III.


When Corleone's hitman Luca Brasi was sent to infiltrate the rival Tattaglia family by feigning dissatisfaction with the Corleones. The camera follows him entering the bar entrance, but does not follow him through the door. Instead, the camera continues to pan from the doorway to outside the bar, filming through the window. The glass pane is etched with images of fish.

Later Clemenza tells Sonny;


I could go on for days about this movie, the real life people and events this fictional story is inspired by, Sicilian origin stories, and the making of is also a very interesting story on it’s own, it had many movie making obstacles and casting problems on it’s path before becoming The Greatest Movie Of All Time.

+
9000/100









It'll be interesting to see who wins out, Pulp Fiction or The Godfather (or maybe even Raging Bull).



Pulp Fiction

Another top five favorite of mine. Love the very memorable and often quoted dialogues that somehow never tire even after lots of re-watches. Great chemistry between the characters; vega-winfield, vega-mia, wallace-butch and mr. wolf-everybody.
QT is well known for paying homage to filmmakers and films that inspired him when he was still working in the video store. In Pulp Fiction the syringe scene with mia wallace pays tribute to Scorseses unreleased documentary called “American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince” for some film critics this takes away some originality points from pulp fiction.
For me, since QT never denies doing this and even talks about his inspiration in such a fanboy-ish manner, I believe there are no plagiaristic intentions.





Pulp Fiction (1994)

I've watched this several times and each time I like it less. A lot of the dislike is bound up with my dislike for
Quentin Tarantino, I can't stand the guy and his decision to include himself in the movie is one of the weak points.

The other main reason I don't care for this is the Bruce Willis/pawn shop scene...it's just too hard for me to watch. Bruce is fine, it's the torture scene itself that I dislike. Then there's the oddly out of place Julia Sweeney/junk yard scene, which seems tacked on. Someone said she was Tarantino's girlfriend at the time or maybe he just wished that! I don't know if that's true but her scene didn't work.

The worst part of the film is Quentin's acting role. Nothing takes you out of the world of Pulp Fiction like seeing Quentin act. It was such a strange juxtaposition of professional actors immersed in their roles (Travolta,Jackson) talking to Quentin in the kitchen scene. If this wasn't bad enough. This scene erases any integrity that the film had built up.

On the pro side the characters are still rich and lively. I mean these are some colorful people! But the scenes drag, they go on and on past the point of the average attention span. Then there's the interesting conversations about nothing much, I.E. the famous Big Mac speech. At first this seems pretty cool, as the characters are talking like 'real life'. But after awhile I realized Quentin is just padding the film with random dialogue. And it grows thin. First John Travolta is an expert on an inane subject like hamburgers in Europe. Then
Samuel L. Jackson is an expert on foot massages and launches into his speech. Later this trend continues with Travolta and Uma Thurman at the restaurant both taking turns at their 'expert speeches.' The first time I seen this I was impressed by the dialogue, now I find it contrived.

In short the movie is too long, the scenes are too long, and Quentin's on screen time is a distraction, not to mention I'm not a fan of most crime/mafia movies.


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Gaslight

I'm glad this got nominated, because I'm a fat sucker for psychological dramas. The light foreshadowing of the film throughout was delivered as the best possible scenario for the art of film, which is something I insist on in order to consider an example of psych-out movies to be perfect. An Ingrid Bergman's performance was stunning. She didn't falter once in the whole film, and the other actors felt lame when compared, even though the was nothing wrong with their performances. There were two moments in the film which I felt were thrown in for the sake of added drama/sentiment, but that was it. And the last five seconds of the movie... I just love that part. If that's what qualifies as a happy ending, I'll take it.




Damn, I feel like I'm falling behind already. I'm waiting on a bunch of movies from the library, but I may try to watch one from my collection today. So either Pulp Fiction, Tombstone, Open Range, or Return to Paradise.





Tombstone (George P. Cosmatos and Kevin Jarre, 1993)
Imdb

Date Watched: 5/26/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: The 19th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by Citizen Rules
Rewatch: Yes


Tombstone has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it back in the 1990's. It boasts exciting shootouts, badass one-liners, great sets, and strong performances. Unfortunately, it's also very much a film of its time in terms of style. I still had a really good time with this film, and certainly it'll rank high on my Westerns ballot whenever that countdown comes around, but I must admit I found myself rolling my eyes at its over the top theatrics. The narration, slow-motion camerawork, and overly dramatic - and often intrusive - score took me out of the film a bit and kept me from loving it nearly as much as I once did.




The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Tombstone (Cosmatos, 1993)

So... Didn't see anything special about this.
There's one character I liked and that actually felt both real and cool, Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday.
The rest of them just felt like stiff puppets trying to look manly and violent but far from being believable. Even the bad guys, Ringo and Curly Bill who looked solid at the beggining just ended up having the sole purpose of showing how awesome a hugely miscasted Wyatt Earp was. Except Doc, not a single character had any depth whatsoever, the actresses are all simply horrible on this and the supposedely key moments just fall flat.
It's entertaining ok, but the dated and cliched style, turn it into a barely decent western.

+



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
thirteen reviews in two days -- WOW!!
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2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
I will be saving them Siddon.

I could honestly write reviews for the five films I've seen but I always rewatch everything nominated as to me that's a part of the Hall of Fame process.