The 27th General Hall of Fame

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I watched Demons (aka. Shura, 1971) today for the first time. Directed by Toshio Matsumoto, this Japanese film is very well regarded and highly rated on sites like imdb and Letterboxd. For me, this was just alright. There are some cool and effective moments here, but I didn't find the story to be as compelling or interesting as it could have been. The film feels too long to me. I don't think it needed to be 2 hours and 14 minutes. There were some things that I liked though. Cinematography is excellent. I also liked the style of some of the performances. Demons isn't a bad film at all, but I don't think it is as great as its reputation would suggest.





The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
Directed By: John Sayles
Starring: Jeni Courtney, Mick Lally, Eileen Colgan

I'm honestly struggling to find something to say about The Secret of Roan Inish. It's a quaint film with such a heavy reliance on oral storytelling that it's almost like your own grandparents reading you a bedtime fairytale. “Show, don't tell” is a concept seemingly foreign to Sayles, which is part of the film's charm, but also its greatest weakness.

The Secret of Roan Inish made me feel a lot of things, however they were only tangentially related to the film itself. The island I live on was predominantly settled by Irish fisherman, and the struggle of tradition versus modernity faced by the characters in the film is a mirror image of what has and is still happening here today. Many people belonging to the older generation are desperately trying to hold onto the only life they've ever known.

The problem is that the people living in these outport communities are placing a strain on the government's resources, because providing essential services to such remote areas is incredibly expensive. They can't survive on their own, especially in the winter, but won't take any incentives to relocate to nearby towns. And that's where my opinion and the film's moral differ greatly. Roan Inish would herald these people for staying true to their roots, but I think they're stubborn, and stuck in a past mindset that's no longer sustainable.

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Also I blame the film for getting Saltwater Joys stuck in my head (due to thematic similarities). Besides the fact that I've never liked the song, we all had to learn how to play it back in grade school music classes. Yes, I'm still bitter about it haha.



So I just watched My Dog Skip (2000) for the first time. Directed by Jay Russell, the film stars Frankie Muniz as a boy who gets a dog for his birthday. The film is predictable and generic and relies on a lot of cliches and cheap emotional manipulation instead of quality story telling or good acting. Muniz is not very likeable here and that is a big problem. The film doesn't work if we can't connect or at least like him somewhat. Most of the adult actors are wasted and their characters are underdeveloped. Skip is by far the best character here and the best acting comes from the dogs. The screenplay is mediocre and the direction fairly poor. There were a couple cute, humorous scenes. Overall, there is not a lot to like here and I don't think this film is hall of fame worthy. I can enjoy a good family film centred around children, but I genuinely did not believe My Dog Skip is a good film.





The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
Directed By: John Sayles
Starring: Jeni Courtney, Mick Lally, Eileen Colgan

I'm honestly struggling to find something to say about The Secret of Roan Inish. It's a quaint film with such a heavy reliance on oral storytelling that it's almost like your own grandparents reading you a bedtime fairytale. “Show, don't tell” is a concept seemingly foreign to Sayles, which is part of the film's charm, but also its greatest weakness.

The Secret of Roan Inish made me feel a lot of things, however they were only tangentially related to the film itself. The island I live on was predominantly settled by Irish fisherman, and the struggle of tradition versus modernity faced by the characters in the film is a mirror image of what has and is still happening here today. Many people belonging to the older generation are desperately trying to hold onto the only life they've ever known.

The problem is that the people living in these outport communities are placing a strain on the government's resources, because providing essential services to such remote areas is incredibly expensive. They can't survive on their own, especially in the winter, but won't take any incentives to relocate to nearby towns. And that's where my opinion and the film's moral differ greatly. Roan Inish would herald these people for staying true to their roots, but I think they're stubborn, and stuck in a past mindset that's no longer sustainable.

The "tells more than shows" criticism seems to be common to this movie. I don't mind that much since I love scenes where someone is simply telling a story. This a potential spoiler for my Jaws review, but some of my favorite scenes of all time are the one with Robert Shaw in that movie, Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade, Harry Dean Stanton in Paris, Texas, etc. If the actor/actress doing it is convincing, gives a memorable performance, etc. which I think Mick Lally, John Lynch, etc. do in this movie, it's as fulfilling to me as a scene where the visuals do most of the talking.

That is interesting about the economic crisis. My takeaway from the scene where Fiona's grandparents are being evicted is that it's yet another instance of the Irish having something taken away from them without having any say in it or power to stop it from happening, whether it's the islanders' culture, their homes on Roan Inish, Jamie, etc.



^ Only the first paragraph is really about the film, so you can stop reading after that
Welcome to the: Citizen method of writing reviews. I write a little about the movie and a lot about something else...and I like it that way!



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Sometimes those are the most fun
__________________
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



Women will be your undoing, Pépé




Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
and what happens when you don't have a legitimate Travel Agent

I have and continue to be a HUGE fan of this film since seeing it multiple times at the movie theater when I was a Junior in High School and throughout my life. So I was pretty thrilled to sit through it once more.

A fast-paced, action-driven, high-adventure, popcorn-devouring enjoyment of the finest kind with countless Iconic moments and repeatable quotes, Indiana Jones is a modernized homage to the old-time episodic action fare such as Allan Quartermain and others.

The plot is well known for most everyone, and for those who haven't seen it, sit back and enjoy the fun ride as the Adventure lets loose and never stops.



I forgot the opening line.


Jaws - 1975

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Written by Carl Gottlieb
Based on a novel by Peter Benchley

Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw
& Richard Dreyfuss

Jaws was an early film for me - my parents would take me to the drive-in as a small child, and we'd see the latest films. This planted film-loving seeds in my forming mind - our trips to the drive-in were important - more important than anything else. We ate, my parents worked and my small body and mind grew just so every week or so we could go to the drive-in, which was what it was all about at the time. The drive-in was a particularly important part of Australian culture. In the late 1970s Jaws 2 was released and so I was introduced to the shark via a double feature - Jaws and Jaws 2 - which to me, combined, was just one long movie. For a small child, to be out at night is a real adventure - but to be out at night, and experience the atmosphere of a drive-in, and vicariously live an exciting life through the characters on that gigantic screen was something else. Passing the box office, posters of the film showing would be on display to just grease the wheels of anticipation and imagination. I always remember that specifically - passing the box office. The posters. Jaws. The fear. The blood. The disfigured head, and the threat that at any moment limbs and life might be torn apart again as we watched in rapt attention. As time has moved on, some things have changed and some stayed the same.

Firstly, Jaws 2 diminished and receded as I grew older - it was something that at first was not discernable. I thought both films looked and felt the same - and although they somewhat look similar, the gulf between them is a gaping chasm. Sequels as a whole are mostly distasteful, but sometimes work- especially if an original film is produced with some forethought as to a continuing story. With Jaws it doesn't work so well. Secondly, something about the original Jaws as a whole has only grown more important and impressive as time has gone by. I don't understand why I never get sick of watching it - something inside of me tells me that anything watched a certain amount of times must become tiresome, predictable and therefore mundane. Jaws has never become any of those things. Understanding why isn't as easy as putting it all down to an affection for my boyhood memories - I continually get hooked in by the film itself, not any memories that may arise surrounding it. I always get drawn in by the story - a series of images and sounds edited together to produce an adventure and human conflict amidst survival in an environment that isn't ours. Politics, greed, family, machismo mixed with fear, death, humour and that shark. Always that shark.

The whole affair opens, fittingly enough, with that famous score from John Williams. The underwater photography feels clouded and silty - entangled in an underwater forest of weeds - but at first we see nothing but the Universal logo and the first of the credits, and we hear nothing but what sounds like the distant pings and whale-like warbles of this alien kingdom. By the time we can see clearly, that score has already ramped up, instantly recognizable to most - so much so that I can't even guess what it sounds like to someone hearing it for the first time. An ostinato of bass notes, representing the mindless relentlessness of the underwater predator. This score won Williams his first solo Oscar, and is so much more than just the "Jaws theme" as it excels in directing our emotions throughout the whole film, perhaps more successfully than any other score composed in film history. What follows sets a frightening scene - the death of Chrissie, who flirtatiously runs into the water undressing, followed by a drunk suitor. She's dragged, dunked and savaged by an unseen force as she cries in terror. If you're focused, it's unforgettable, and her cries set the tone - the terror of a wrenching, violent death expressed clearly and painfully.

There's never a sense of a dull repose to make your attention wander in Jaws when the screaming and death stop. The morning after, when the previous events slowly come to light we're introduced to the first of our main characters - Amity Island's new chief of police, Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider - who is our everyman - our entry point that we can relate to. Brody is new to the island, hates the water and is a husband and father of two male children. Scheider plays Brody as a somewhat weary working cop who isn't a tough masculine hero looking for action, but a family man. He escaped New York for a more peaceful kind of life - and also because he thinks he can make a difference in Amity. Chrissie's death is immediately assumed to be from a shark attack - and when Brody spells this out in his report, the slamming key-strikes of the typewriter accentuates this in capital letters - the dry procedural carrying a whiff of the reality of the terrible event. Brody meets Mayor Vaughn, played with cynical persuasion by Murray Hamilton - who dissuades him from closing the beaches, something Brody has already put in motion. The economic interests of the political class versus the risk to health and safety of the public is something that has obvious parallels to our present, and is something that would have been picked apart in our present climate. More deaths will follow, accompanied by the usual wishing-thinking from those with much to lose.

Director Steven Spielberg, editor Verna Fields and cinematographer Bill Butler begin their virtuoso work in a scene where Brody is sat watching the ocean while swimmers enjoy a sunny day - completely oblivious to the danger. Every time someone passes, blocking our view, the shot switches to either the ocean Brody is looking at or to Brody himself - and when the unthinkable happens and a young boy is taken by the Shark (occurring before us in realistic and bloody fashion) Butler performs a reverse zoom on Brody, perhaps one of the most famous reverse zooms in film history. Verna Fields, who worked tirelessly editing Jaws together with Spielberg in a pool house at her home, ended up winning an Oscar for her contribution to the film. She'd worked with Spielberg before, on The Sugarland Express and George Lucas on American Graffiti - she had close ties with them both. Her success ended up getting her promoted to Vice-President for Feature Production at Universal - but unfortunately she would die of cancer only 6 years later. Bill Butler's work went unrecognized by the Academy, without even a nomination. The award that year was won by John Alcott for his work on Barry Lyndon. Butler would utilize new methods for when shooting became particularly difficult on the ocean, with handheld cameras sealed in water-tight boxes.

After the two deaths, we're introduced to our other two main characters, Quint - played by Robert Shaw with a rough eccentricity typical of a sharker or whaler, and Matt Hooper - played with a lighter touch. Shaw's performance is magnificent, and he's another person that really deserved an Oscar nomination. His monologue about being one of the survivors of the USS Indianapolis was a standout moment that is well remembered, and was worded by the actor in his own way. It will be all three characters, Brody, Hooper and Quint, that will bring the film home in it's second half - facing the shark alone out off the coast of Amity, and fighting an epic battle with reels, hooks, spears, barrels, guns, poison and anything else that comes to hand. The filmmakers had great fortune inasmuch as the mechanical shark constructed for the film constantly broke down, forcing them to reveal less of it during the film's first half than they wanted. Holding back like that really increased the impact of finally seeing it when we do - and it at least feels real, unlike what we would get treated to today - A CGI shark that we'd see much too much of, diluting the effect we'd get from it in later scenes. Williams' rousing score adds to the genuine excitement and thrill of it all, as the situation on the boat gets more and more desperate.

Jaws would go on to become a cultural phenomenon. The novel it's based on was written by Peter Benchley and was published in 1974 - producers David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck quickly optioned it - so fast that they didn't stop to consider just how hard it would be to put together a film with a killer shark in it. They threw the challenge to a young Steven Spielberg, who had just had modest success in directing The Sugarland Express. Spielberg saw it as something akin to his first full-length feature, Duel, which featured Dennis Weaver facing off against a large mysterious truck on the road - and he went as far as to add the same dinosaur roar to the soundtrack at the same moment of primal defeat/victory he had in Duel, just after the climax. Jaws was however, a terribly difficult production - shooting off the coast of Martha's Vineyard posed logistical problems even without having to contend with a malfunctioning mechanical shark. Boats would drift, yachts would constantly intrude on shots and many of the cast and grew sick and became exhausted. The production is still not a happy memory for Spielberg, and it's surprising that such a shoot produced such a brilliant film.

Watching Jaws, I'm struck how much of it's quality comes from it's story (which Carl Gottlieb helped to adapt) and it's score - but it was no doubt not hurt by having an excellent young director, great cinematographer and editor. I also love it's structure - with it's thriller elements during the time on the land, and action and adventure on the sea. It's a bright, frightening ride - albeit somewhat less frightening for those who have seen it multiple times. Even without that aspect, the film is good enough to keep people coming back to it - and good enough to endure for what is closing in on 50 years. We haven't had a 'Jaws' culturally for a while now - nothing that really electrified everyone and had people flocking to see it. I only ever felt the aftershocks of it's initial release - and in the years since most blockbuster movies have been let-downs, virtually none of them really feeling like they're good films. When I see Quint's boat taking those three mismatched men out to sea through a window, while hearing John Williams capture the moment perfectly, and as we zoom inwards through shark jaws on display at Quint's operational base, it always strikes me that we never get anything like that in films anymore. Whether it be by accident or accomplished intention, everything in Jaws works, and works well together. Every scene is tight, every line delivered assured and every minute so very sharp.

__________________
Remember - everything has an ending except hope, and sausages - they have two.
We miss you Takoma

Latest Review : Le Circle Rouge (1970)



Raiders of the Lost Ark -


Even though I've seen this dozens of times, I had no qualms with watching it one more time. There's something about the movie that makes it endlessly rewatchable. Each scene is sort of like a song that you also don't mind listening to over and over again. From John William's score to the set pieces to the quotable lines, there's something memorable in each one and Spielberg films them in a way that gets the adrenaline flowing, makes you laugh, etc. every time. For instance, every time Indiana swings across the chasm in the opening scene, I gasp even though I know he's going to make it. What's more, the movie rewards repeat viewings because there are touches you may not notice and/or appreciate what went into them the first time. The wind blowing menacingly as the translator reads the headpiece and why there are snakes in Tanis are two of them for me, as is the monkey giving a "Sieg Heil." Just how did they get the little fella to do that?

Anyway, this is not just a classic for having well-crafted thrills, chills, and laughs. What it does with its theme of toying with powers beyond our understanding and that are not meant for us still resonates. Whether it's the wind, that eerie motif or of course the horrifying finale, I can't think of another movie that better depicts, as Indiana puts it, the "power of God or something." Moreover, the movie deftly applies this theme to world powers toying with technology like nuclear weapons. As that last shot puts it so succinctly, where does it end? In short, this remains an action/adventure classic, and even though I just finished watching it, I can't wait to see it again.

Oh, I totally forgot to praise the acting! I don't think Paul Freeman gets enough credit for how devious and loathsome he makes Belloq. Also, how many actors could maintain their composure after swallowing a fly?



Let the night air cool you off
Thunder Road

Some possible spoilers ahead

Knowing what this film is about and knowing that the event in my life that has had the biggest impact on me was the loss of my mother, I was kind of expecting this film to break my heart. That didn't happen, so now I am left trying to reconcile that with still thinking the film was a net positive. I could say that I may have preferred this film if it decided to go through route of straight drama, but that'd be a different film. Instead it went for quirky comedy, with an oddball, tragic lead. This has been done before, and effectively. I immediately think of Observe and Report, which I love. There is no "get-to-know-you" easing in process with this film, we dive straight into the most difficult time of this man's life, where the pressure of life and whatever his mental illness is are meeting head on. I'm not sold on the acting all the time, as sometimes it seems like Cummings was shown good acting subtleties and tried to copy them, which would hurt the authenticity of the performance. However, that might be a minor gripe, because there are times where it completely comes together and feels real and organic, such as the scene where he is being fired. I also think the crying is hard to do right on camera, because real crying makes people cringe and uncomfortable and even laugh at its absurdity at times, so when you know it's fake, it can make all the easier to consider ridiculous and over-the-top. I've only cried like that maybe two or three times in my life, but at least kinda gave me context for these kind of performances. I'd say that Cummings does it well enough. I'm not sure what it is, but something is missing from this film though. As I think the intended result of the film would have broken my heart a little more and I would have felt more strongly for this character as a person. I never quite reached that level, but maybe that is because I never full bought in to him as a real person. There are plenty of moments that I did recognize as truth to life, which I respect. I also respect the ambition of this film. I respect what it was going for. I respect it for being something different. I'll need to see more of Jim Cummings' works to get a better grasp on him, I could see my respect for him growing, but I could also see myself growing weary of him and thinking of him as being a bit self-indulgent. We'll see. As far as the comedy goes, some of worked for me, some of didn't. I don't think it ever detracted from the film if we accept that the film had to be a comedy, as none of the jokes were bad.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé


Jaws - 1975

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Written by Carl Gottlieb
Based on a novel by Peter Benchley

Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw
& Richard Dreyfuss

Jaws was an early film for me - my parents would take me to the drive-in as a small child, and we'd see the latest films. This planted film-loving seeds in my forming mind - our trips to the drive-in were important - more important than anything else. We ate, my parents worked and my small body and mind grew just so every week or so we could go to the drive-in, which was what it was all about at the time. The drive-in was a particularly important part of Australian culture. In the late 1970s Jaws 2 was released and so I was introduced to the shark via a double feature - Jaws and Jaws 2 - which to me, combined, was just one long movie. For a small child, to be out at night is a real adventure - but to be out at night, and experience the atmosphere of a drive-in, and vicariously live an exciting life through the characters on that gigantic screen was something else. Passing the box office, posters of the film showing would be on display to just grease the wheels of anticipation and imagination. I always remember that specifically - passing the box office. The posters. Jaws. The fear. The blood. The disfigured head, and the threat that at any moment limbs and life might be torn apart again as we watched in rapt attention. As time has moved on, some things have changed and some stayed the same.

Firstly, Jaws 2 diminished and receded as I grew older - it was something that at first was not discernable. I thought both films looked and felt the same - and although they somewhat look similar, the gulf between them is a gaping chasm. Sequels as a whole are mostly distasteful, but sometimes work- especially if an original film is produced with some forethought as to a continuing story. With Jaws it doesn't work so well. Secondly, something about the original Jaws as a whole has only grown more important and impressive as time has gone by. I don't understand why I never get sick of watching it - something inside of me tells me that anything watched a certain amount of times must become tiresome, predictable and therefore mundane. Jaws has never become any of those things. Understanding why isn't as easy as putting it all down to an affection for my boyhood memories - I continually get hooked in by the film itself, not any memories that may arise surrounding it. I always get drawn in by the story - a series of images and sounds edited together to produce an adventure and human conflict amidst survival in an environment that isn't ours. Politics, greed, family, machismo mixed with fear, death, humour and that shark. Always that shark.

The whole affair opens, fittingly enough, with that famous score from John Williams. The underwater photography feels clouded and silty - entangled in an underwater forest of weeds - but at first we see nothing but the Universal logo and the first of the credits, and we hear nothing but what sounds like the distant pings and whale-like warbles of this alien kingdom. By the time we can see clearly, that score has already ramped up, instantly recognizable to most - so much so that I can't even guess what it sounds like to someone hearing it for the first time. An ostinato of bass notes, representing the mindless relentlessness of the underwater predator. This score won Williams his first solo Oscar, and is so much more than just the "Jaws theme" as it excels in directing our emotions throughout the whole film, perhaps more successfully than any other score composed in film history. What follows sets a frightening scene - the death of Chrissie, who flirtatiously runs into the water undressing, followed by a drunk suitor. She's dragged, dunked and savaged by an unseen force as she cries in terror. If you're focused, it's unforgettable, and her cries set the tone - the terror of a wrenching, violent death expressed clearly and painfully.

There's never a sense of a dull repose to make your attention wander in Jaws when the screaming and death stop. The morning after, when the previous events slowly come to light we're introduced to the first of our main characters - Amity Island's new chief of police, Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider - who is our everyman - our entry point that we can relate to. Brody is new to the island, hates the water and is a husband and father of two male children. Scheider plays Brody as a somewhat weary working cop who isn't a tough masculine hero looking for action, but a family man. He escaped New York for a more peaceful kind of life - and also because he thinks he can make a difference in Amity. Chrissie's death is immediately assumed to be from a shark attack - and when Brody spells this out in his report, the slamming key-strikes of the typewriter accentuates this in capital letters - the dry procedural carrying a whiff of the reality of the terrible event. Brody meets Mayor Vaughn, played with cynical persuasion by Murray Hamilton - who dissuades him from closing the beaches, something Brody has already put in motion. The economic interests of the political class versus the risk to health and safety of the public is something that has obvious parallels to our present, and is something that would have been picked apart in our present climate. More deaths will follow, accompanied by the usual wishing-thinking from those with much to lose.

Director Steven Spielberg, editor Verna Fields and cinematographer Bill Butler begin their virtuoso work in a scene where Brody is sat watching the ocean while swimmers enjoy a sunny day - completely oblivious to the danger. Every time someone passes, blocking our view, the shot switches to either the ocean Brody is looking at or to Brody himself - and when the unthinkable happens and a young boy is taken by the Shark (occurring before us in realistic and bloody fashion) Butler performs a reverse zoom on Brody, perhaps one of the most famous reverse zooms in film history. Verna Fields, who worked tirelessly editing Jaws together with Spielberg in a pool house at her home, ended up winning an Oscar for her contribution to the film. She'd worked with Spielberg before, on The Sugarland Express and George Lucas on American Graffiti - she had close ties with them both. Her success ended up getting her promoted to Vice-President for Feature Production at Universal - but unfortunately she would die of cancer only 6 years later. Bill Butler's work went unrecognized by the Academy, without even a nomination. The award that year was won by John Alcott for his work on Barry Lyndon. Butler would utilize new methods for when shooting became particularly difficult on the ocean, with handheld cameras sealed in water-tight boxes.

After the two deaths, we're introduced to our other two main characters, Quint - played by Robert Shaw with a rough eccentricity typical of a sharker or whaler, and Matt Hooper - played with a lighter touch. Shaw's performance is magnificent, and he's another person that really deserved an Oscar nomination. His monologue about being one of the survivors of the USS Indianapolis was a standout moment that is well remembered, and was worded by the actor in his own way. It will be all three characters, Brody, Hooper and Quint, that will bring the film home in it's second half - facing the shark alone out off the coast of Amity, and fighting an epic battle with reels, hooks, spears, barrels, guns, poison and anything else that comes to hand. The filmmakers had great fortune inasmuch as the mechanical shark constructed for the film constantly broke down, forcing them to reveal less of it during the film's first half than they wanted. Holding back like that really increased the impact of finally seeing it when we do - and it at least feels real, unlike what we would get treated to today - A CGI shark that we'd see much too much of, diluting the effect we'd get from it in later scenes. Williams' rousing score adds to the genuine excitement and thrill of it all, as the situation on the boat gets more and more desperate.

Jaws would go on to become a cultural phenomenon. The novel it's based on was written by Peter Benchley and was published in 1974 - producers David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck quickly optioned it - so fast that they didn't stop to consider just how hard it would be to put together a film with a killer shark in it. They threw the challenge to a young Steven Spielberg, who had just had modest success in directing The Sugarland Express. Spielberg saw it as something akin to his first full-length feature, Duel, which featured Dennis Weaver facing off against a large mysterious truck on the road - and he went as far as to add the same dinosaur roar to the soundtrack at the same moment of primal defeat/victory he had in Duel, just after the climax. Jaws was however, a terribly difficult production - shooting off the coast of Martha's Vineyard posed logistical problems even without having to contend with a malfunctioning mechanical shark. Boats would drift, yachts would constantly intrude on shots and many of the cast and grew sick and became exhausted. The production is still not a happy memory for Spielberg, and it's surprising that such a shoot produced such a brilliant film.

Watching Jaws, I'm struck how much of it's quality comes from it's story (which Carl Gottlieb helped to adapt) and it's score - but it was no doubt not hurt by having an excellent young director, great cinematographer and editor. I also love it's structure - with it's thriller elements during the time on the land, and action and adventure on the sea. It's a bright, frightening ride - albeit somewhat less frightening for those who have seen it multiple times. Even without that aspect, the film is good enough to keep people coming back to it - and good enough to endure for what is closing in on 50 years. We haven't had a 'Jaws' culturally for a while now - nothing that really electrified everyone and had people flocking to see it. I only ever felt the aftershocks of it's initial release - and in the years since most blockbuster movies have been let-downs, virtually none of them really feeling like they're good films. When I see Quint's boat taking those three mismatched men out to sea through a window, while hearing John Williams capture the moment perfectly, and as we zoom inwards through shark jaws on display at Quint's operational base, it always strikes me that we never get anything like that in films anymore. Whether it be by accident or accomplished intention, everything in Jaws works, and works well together. Every scene is tight, every line delivered assured and every minute so very sharp.

Those beautiful, beautiful halcyon days!!!

And a d@mn fine review to boot!



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Raiders of the Lost Ark -


Even though I've seen this dozens of times, I had no qualms with watching it one more time. There's something about the movie that makes it endlessly rewatchable. Each scene is sort of like a song that you also don't mind listening to over and over again. From John William's score to the set pieces to the quotable lines, there's something memorable in each one and Spielberg films them in a way that gets the adrenaline flowing, makes you laugh, etc. every time. For instance, every time Indiana swings across the chasm in the opening scene, I gasp even though I know he's going to make it. What's more, the movie rewards repeat viewings because there are touches you may not notice and/or appreciate what went into them the first time. The wind blowing menacingly as the translator reads the headpiece and why there are snakes in Tanis are two of them for me, as is the monkey giving a "Sieg Heil." Just how did they get the little fella to do that?

Anyway, this is not just a classic for having well-crafted thrills, chills, and laughs. What it does with its theme of toying with powers beyond our understanding and that are not meant for us still resonates. Whether it's the wind, that eerie motif or of course the horrifying finale, I can't think of another movie that better depicts, as Indiana puts it, the "power of God or something." Moreover, the movie deftly applies this theme to world powers toying with technology like nuclear weapons. As that last shot puts it so succinctly, where does it end? In short, this remains an action/adventure classic, and even though I just finished watching it, I can't wait to see it again.

Oh, I totally forgot to praise the acting! I don't think Paul Freeman gets enough credit for how devious and loathsome he makes Belloq. Also, how many actors could maintain their composure after swallowing a fly?
I totally agree. The drinking scene with him and Karen Allen's Marion is so seldom talked about but such an excellent, wonderfully layered bit.




One Cut of the Dead (2017)

I surprised myself by really liking this film! And I thought for sure it wouldn't be my thing...now all I can say it POM!

Spoilers...I knew going into this that it was a comedy about a film crew making a zombie film and that they are then attacked by real zombies, which sounded kinda stupid to me to be honest.

But this film is so creative and so fun that I laughed out loud and had a good time watching it! I kind of figured that the real zombies would end up being actors but I never imaged the third act would be the behind the scenes filming of the one cut, live 30 minute tv film. What a neat idea. I loved how we seen the broadcast production first, then in the last act we see the how & why things happened, that was clever.

Oh, I loved the blood on the camera lens in the first segment that then gets wiped off after a few seconds later...and now I know why that happened.

I liked the middle segment too where we see all the actors auditioning and the film crew getting ready and they are all kind of quirky or have a bunch of conditions that must be met.

'Can zombies use an axe? They don't have free will so can they use an axe? How many types of zombies are there?'

HA! I loved the last part when they start filming live and it makes sense why the director goes so ballistic on the actors who drove him crazy during the auditions, who can blame him?

This was a really neat nomination, good choice Cosmic.




Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
IMDb

Date Watched: 01/26/22
Rewatch: No.


Ever since I joined my first Hall of Fame in 2014, I've dreaded the day that I might be expected to watch this movie. Everything I knew about it told me that I wasn't going to like it. I don't like war movies. War to me is little more than a showcase of how horrible humanity can be and it's not something I care to watch.

The idea of watching 2.5 hours of such a showcase - with footage of the real life ritualistic slaughter of an animal - was not appealing in any way. And now that I've endured that 2.5 hour showcase of horrors, I've got mixed feelings. On the one hand, I get why this film is so revered. It's thick with atmosphere and tension. It has a great soundtrack. It captures perfectly the descent into madness and the way that the reality of war can strip away people's humanity and empathy. I get it, and if that's your thing then I totally understand the love for it. But it's not my thing. Slow paced movies are not really my thing. Heavy narration is not really my thing. War and the ceaseless explosions and gunfire of it all is not really my thing. Watching an animal being hacked to death for real is definitely not my thing. And, while I don't regret watching this now that it's done, I will never watch it again even if it is nominated for another HOF.




For those keeping track this is Miss Vicky's sixth movie given a 5/10 or lower in the Hall.
I'm intentionally saving rewatches of the films I know I like for last and getting first time watches out of the way at the beginning. There will be positive reviews coming, I promise. And who knows, maybe I'll get another surprise like Baby Face along the way.

I usually save my own nomination for last as sort of a reward for finishing, but this time I think I may save Raiders for last and then reward myself with rewatches of The Last Crusade and Temple of Doom.

On an unrelated note, anyone have a good link for Cure? I don't have the Criterion Channel.



For those keeping track this is Miss Vicky's sixth movie given a 5/10 or lower in the Hall.
As someone whose film got one of those 5/10 ratings, my main reaction is "I still have a chance at the middle of her list!"