20th Hall of Fame

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The Squid and the Whale



I've always wanted to see this and I pretty much got what I wanted out of it. As depressing as it is, my wife and I laughed a lot. It's interesting how different people could view the various characters. The first scene on the tennis court, my wife is yelling what an ahole Bernard is, and I'm thinking, am I an ahole sometimes without realizing it? Of course it didn't take me long to see that he was, but is that because of what his wife did? I've never been a victim of that kind of betrayal, but if I were than I'm sure it would change me. On the other hand, I thought Joan was downright cruel, but did Bernard drive her to that? We really don't know because we don't see them prior. So that leaves us with the effect this all has on the kids. I thought the character of Walt was done pretty well, but I think the other sibling would have been better off played as closer to Walt's age. With a young boy like that, it's harder to tell what drives him.

I really liked Jeff Daniels in this. He usually plays a decent or at least a lighter character, and I thought he was superb here. I always love Laura Linney. Everyone else was pretty good. It's a very realistic movie and for me it was pretty damn effective. It just didn't quite blow me away. I was shocked by how short it was and thought it could have somehow gone further. It ends a little abruptly and I could have done without the whole squid and whale thing. Great nomination.






The Music Man

This was one of those movies where I'm watching it, actually kind of enjoying it, thinking it's gonna wrap up soon, then I check the time remaining and, whoa, another hour?! "YE GODS!"

My biggest issue with The Music Man (besides runtime) was Robert Preston who did a very good job portraying Harold but did not look the part at all. I had never seen Shirley Jones in anything but the Partridge Family until this HoF but I gotta admit that she's a bit of all right. I wish she would have had a chance to sing a little something that was a bit more...fun/peppy.

Being a musical the songs are going to make or break this for me. I'm glad to say that for the most part the songs and choreography were very good. The first song was my favorite but the Pool song and the Marian Librarian were also very good. Even the Poopi song was okay because the dancing and cinematography covered up some of the dripping cheese. I would have completely dropped the Gary Indiana song especially Ron Howard doing it. That was not too good.

I thought the film looked great. Costumes, sets all that stuff were really nice. The supporting cast added a bit of comedy. It's always nice to see Buddy Hackett in a movie. He's a little like Andy Devine to me. They both have a certain je ne sais quoi that makes em fun to watch. Kinda brightens everything up when you see 'em. Also, with Buddy, you can picture him telling stories to Mama Partridge and the rest of the cast/crew that would make a sailor blush as soon as the director yells cut

I'm glad this was nominated because I did enjoy it and never would have thought to look it up - just cut down that runtime - "YE GODS!"



2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ
Monsters Inc.



I think this was only my second watch, I only remember seeing this before in my German class in high school and not caring for it all too much, although like I said that was in German.

Flash forward to this watch and I really like the two characters Sully and Mike, who definitely are a good one two character punch. The voice performances from John Goodman and especially Billy Crystal are really good too. The look of the film, as with majority of Pixar films is really on point.

However, I don't love it like I do a lot of other Pixar. And that is probably because of the story. Although nothing wrong with it, I don't find it as adventurous as I do with most other Pixar films, so that brings it down a notch for me in terms of enjoyment. My favorite scene would be the chase scene near the end where they are going in and out of doors. I thought that was great and I wish there was more of it.

It's a good film, but this Hall of Fame is packed with them so it will be interesting to see how this one does since it's an animation in a general Hall of Fame, which I really do think we need more of and I have been thinking about going that route with a nomination for awhile now.

+



Is there a deadline and is everyone still in? I just have 2 left but a busy couple weeks
Yes, in fact I was planning on making a group announcement on that. I'll go ahead and do that now.



20th HoF Announcement
@ahwell @cricket @edarsenal @Frightened Inmate No. 2 @Hey Fredrick @john connor @Miss Vicky @neiba @rauldc14 @Siddon

The Deadline to have your voting list sent in will be midnight December 19th. That gives 1 more month to finish. I won't be extending the deadline.

We have 5 members who've submitted their voting list and most of the other members appear to be doing great.

If you haven't sent in a voting list yet, please let me know how you're doing...you can post here or give me a post comment or PM, but I need to know if anyone isn't going to finish. Thanks



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
20th HoF Announcement
@ahwell @cricket @edarsenal @Frightened Inmate No. 2 @Hey Fredrick @john connor @Miss Vicky @neiba @rauldc14 @Siddon

The Deadline to have your voting list sent in will be midnight December 19th. That gives 1 more month to finish. I won't be extending the deadline.

We have 5 members who've submitted their voting list and most of the other members appear to be doing great.

If you haven't sent in a voting list yet, please let me know how you're doing...you can post here or give me a post comment or PM, but I need to know if anyone isn't going to finish. Thanks
Watched Elmer Gantry last night and should get a review written up tonight or tomorrow.
Leaving me with The Music Man, Rear Window and The Phantom Thread to watch and review.
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Watched Elmer Gantry last night and should get a review written up tonight or tomorrow.
Leaving me with The Music Man, Rear Window and The Phantom Thread to watch and review.
Thanks Ed, I know you're always solid. Looking forward to see your thoughts on Elmer Gantry. Have you seen The Phantom Thread before? If not I bet it would be to your liking.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Thanks Ed, I know you're always solid. Looking forward to see your thoughts on Elmer Gantry. Have you seen The Phantom Thread before? If not I bet it would be to your liking.
I'll leave you guessing until I post the review
And yeah, I have seen Phantom Thread - thoroughly enjoyed it and pretty excited to see it again.



I'll leave you guessing until I post the review
And yeah, I have seen Phantom Thread - thoroughly enjoyed it and pretty excited to see it again.
I thought Phantom Thread got better on a second viewing, so did Cricket if I recall correctly.



i fully expect to finish and will be devoting more time to this very soon. gonna rewatch blood simple next probably
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Women will be your undoing, Pépé



Elmer Gantry

Lulu Bains: Oh, he gave me special instructions back of the pulpit Christmas Eve. He got to howlin' "Repent! Repent!" and I got to moanin' "Save me! Save me!" and the first thing I know he rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my old man's footsteps!

I was very VERY hesitant about seeing this film originally. I was honestly dreading it.
It's because of Burt Lancaster.
I just don't care for him. From what I had seen of him he seemed, to me, as someone who's lines were fed to him and was more "Image" than "Ability". He's actually ruined two films I should thoroughly love and watch again and again: The Killers and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
So, I would avoid movies that featured him. Even if they are Greats and truly Must-Sees for anyone who loves cinema, like From Here To Eternity, The Birdman of Alcatraz, and this film, Elmer Gantry.

And I want you all to firmly understand that so that I may truly express how completely, and delightfully surprised I was with, not only this movie, but with Lancaster himself.
All the praise given about and for him in this role is very much warranted and even with how I feel about him, I am in complete agreement.
Even with the boisterous, over the top mannerisms (like that fake roar of laughter) they were ideal for this character and were exactly what was needed to breathe life and presence into the conman/salesman that told dirty jokes, drank with a passion and banged any woman who'd give him a moment's attention.
Those first few scenes that introduced us to him, in the speakeasy, waking up hung over in the hotel and skipping out on the woman still asleep and the lies he told his mom on the phone, to the brawl on the cargo train with hobos, the cringing I had initially, had faded away and I grew more and more intrigued on where this film took me.

And from there I was hooked.
Completely.
In the character, in that character's growth from Showman to a man of humility. . . and in Lancaster's portrayal.
And this praising MUST include his counterpart in this saga, Jean Simmons.

Which could easily fill numerous paragraphs as well.

And I haven't even gotten into the film, itself.

Which can easily muster paragraph upon paragraph of praise. Not only praise, but some rather interesting discussion on the subject of the story; the juxtaposition of Lancaster's Gantry's hellfire preaching to Jean Simmon's Sister Falconer's Jubilant Praising. The debate of Revivalism and Organized Religion in regards to the bottom dollar and how everyone, and I do mean every one found themselves searching their souls and coming out of that search, changed.
And that ending!
Damn!! Talk about taking a premise to a such a height and bringing it to such a crescendo!

I can so easily go on and on, having only scratched the surface of what I've enjoyed and loved about this film. But then it turns into a saga in itself, so I'll shut up and thank the person who nominated this with a resounding BRAVO!!

***I actually had to go and check and, having seen it was @cricket, there was a part of me that should have known. When it comes to older films, cricket suggests some serious powerhouses and this just one more --- f@ckin awesome job, cricket!!!
THANK YOU!






Elmer Gantry

Lulu Bains: Oh, he gave me special instructions back of the pulpit Christmas Eve. He got to howlin' "Repent! Repent!" and I got to moanin' "Save me! Save me!" and the first thing I know he rammed the fear of God into me so fast I never heard my old man's footsteps!

I was very VERY hesitant about seeing this film originally. I was honestly dreading it.
It's because of Burt Lancaster.
I just don't care for him. From what I had seen of him he seemed, to me, as someone who's lines were fed to him and was more "Image" than "Ability". He's actually ruined two films I should thoroughly love and watch again and again: The Killers and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
So, I would avoid movies that featured him. Even if they are Greats and truly Must-Sees for anyone who loves cinema, like From Here To Eternity, The Birdman of Alcatraz, and this film, Elmer Gantry.

And I want you all to firmly understand that so that I may truly express how completely, and delightfully surprised I was with, not only this movie, but with Lancaster himself.
All the praise given about and for him in this role is very much warranted and even with how I feel about him, I am in complete agreement.
Even with the boisterous, over the top mannerisms (like that fake roar of laughter) they were ideal for this character and were exactly what was needed to breathe life and presence into the conman/salesman that told dirty jokes, drank with a passion and banged any woman who'd give him a moment's attention.
Those first few scenes that introduced us to him, in the speakeasy, waking up hung over in the hotel and skipping out on the woman still asleep and the lies he told his mom on the phone, to the brawl on the cargo train with hobos, the cringing I had initially, had faded away and I grew more and more intrigued on where this film took me.

And from there I was hooked.
Completely.
In the character, in that character's growth from Showman to a man of humility. . . and in Lancaster's portrayal.
And this praising MUST include his counterpart in this saga, Jean Simmons.

Which could easily fill numerous paragraphs as well.

And I haven't even gotten into the film, itself.

Which can easily muster paragraph upon paragraph of praise. Not only praise, but some rather interesting discussion on the subject of the story; the juxtaposition of Lancaster's Gantry's hellfire preaching to Jean Simmon's Sister Falconer's Jubilant Praising. The debate of Revivalism and Organized Religion in regards to the bottom dollar and how everyone, and I do mean every one found themselves searching their souls and coming out of that search, changed.
And that ending!
Damn!! Talk about taking a premise to a such a height and bringing it to such a crescendo!

I can so easily go on and on, having only scratched the surface of what I've enjoyed and loved about this film. But then it turns into a saga in itself, so I'll shut up and thank the person who nominated this with a resounding BRAVO!!

***I actually had to go and check and, having seen it was @cricket, there was a part of me that should have known. When it comes to older films, cricket suggests some serious powerhouses and this just one more --- f@ckin awesome job, cricket!!!
THANK YOU!
From Here to Eternity and Birdman of Alcatraz are both great, and he has several other outstanding movies. I'm glad you liked it; I was counting on it.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
From Here to Eternity and Birdman of Alcatraz are both great, and he has several other outstanding movies. I'm glad you liked it; I was counting on it.
Birdman is one I would REALLY love to watch if not for how I feel about Lancaster, though I must admit to leaning to giving it a chance now.



Birdman is one I would REALLY love to watch if not for how I feel about Lancaster, though I must admit to leaning to giving it a chance now.
There's several Lancaster films I've been considering for HoFs, well one of these days I might go with one. But I do know what you mean, he can be overpowering if not in the right role. I've seen some of his films where I didn't like him at all and others like Elmer Gantry he was totally suited to the character.







Two white saviors in a film for the price of one Blood Diamond is ugh a film of excess and ultimately fails at the story it sets out to tell. Solomon Vandy plays a fisherman whose son is taken by warlords during the Sierra Leone civil war. He's also kidnapped and set to work as a diamond miner when he comes across a giant diamond. This garners the attention of Leonardo Dicaprio Danny Archer...and let me tell you the first thing I hate about this film..the names. Nobody has a normal name in this film they all feel like rejects from a Bond movie. The second thing I hate about this film is the violence. This film has a shootout every fifteen minutes and they just feel so repetitive and mindless after the second one.


You have a really cool concept with the father and son going on these two divergent paths, one being corrupted the other traveling around the country side and meeting with the "good" people. But sadly we never get anything more than a cursory glimpse at a dozen interesting subplots because we got to get Leo to star in this film. Meanwhile Djimon Honsou was incredibly solid in this and we saw some of his best work.





High Noon (1952) is to me what makes a great western. Westerns are to me at their best morality tales rarely is a film that powerful or effective as High Noon. On the day of his wedding the former Marshall gets news that Frank Miller is coming to town and he's bringing three of his friends with him to get revenge on the man who locked him up. Gary Cooper has hours to put together a team to take down the group...and he ends up alone.


The best part of High Noon is how he ends up alone, he loses his deputy because he refuses to give him a recommendation for a job. He gets one friend to sign up but when he realizes he was the only one he ducks out. We're reminded constantly that the Marshall is a good man from the townspeople but nobody wants to help him. Watching Cooper deal with doubt, hatred and pride over the course of that first hour is splendid. You have so many great scenes in this movie, my favorite is when he goes to the church and some of the parishioners make sense with their arguments. They are paying him why do they need to help the first time danger comes along. And then what effect would blood on the streets have for the towns future. It's powerful because it's relatable



@edarsenal @Frightened Inmate No. 2 @neiba @Siddon

You might want to hold off on watching Rear Window. It's still in the HoF for right now, and I'm hoping John Connor finishes....But I checked and he hasn't been online for 2 weeks and has only made 1 post in the last 4 weeks. And he hasn't finished the song tournament he was in either.