The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame II

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Dinner at Eight (1933)

You know this is one of those films you figure it's going to be a comedy but looking at it years later it feels more like a tragedy. Dinner at Eight is the story of a family (The Jordans) who are/were wealthy but it's the depression and one of the biggest stock holders (Marie Dressler) decides that she needs to sell her stake with the company.

The whole family is tangled up in business and sexual ties with Jean Harlow in the center chewing up scenery as a kept woman. One of the things I really appreciate about this film is how having a strong knowledge of Hollywood history the tragedies that befell the actors give it a bit of a boost.

This is a story very much of it's time as it's one of the last parties before everyone goes broke a WWII starts though the irony is so many member of the cast...

Wallace Beery is the villain of the story (sort of) his career basically ends in 5 years when he's involved in the murder of Ted Healy(the guy that created the Three Stooges). He passes on before 1950.

Marie Dressler the woman who starts the plot gets top billing but is really just there for the bookends. She was an unusual star from this era sort of like Meryl Streep and Oprah mixed together well you can kind of tell she's dying...and she does a year later.

John Barrymore was a legendary stage actor he plays a silent screen actor whose getting older and is running out of money, is getting dumped by his agent and is in a relationship with the 19 year old daughter. This is almost a parody of Barrymore's real life with the financial troubles alcoholism..he dies in 1942.

Lionel Barrymore plays the patriarch of the family...he's got health issues which is once again ironic because everyone knows Lionel ends up in a wheelchair a few years later.

And finally who really was the star of the film Jean Harlow


Who also dies just a couple years later at the age of 26(so I think she was 22 at this point)

So watching this film with all of this added historical weight makes the film seem less like a comedy and more like a docu-drama. This whole idea of these celebrities living in the dying days of opulence but we know that these people are literally going to die rather soon...it's adds a bit of heft to what feels like a basic stage production.

I love how all the old men have ridiculously younger wives...and it's a plot point...in the 30's. I like how it touches on sex, domestic abuse, and mortality...but it's also supposed to be a comedy. While I never laughed at anything in the film I did enjoy it...relatively.

BTW I strongly recommend the film Barrymore which stared Christopher Plummer who talks about John Barrymore



@Siddon Dinner at Eight That was one of the best reviews I've read in a long time. I especially liked how you set the characters and the actors in the historical time frame that they lived in.

Nope, not my nom for you.




A group of yakuza hide out at a beach after a shooting.

What an interesting film. I like the approach the film takes to the gangster genre: the violence is very matter of fact and there's more scenes of the character's hanging out/having fun than there are actually crime scenes.

The music is sparse but it is very good. I'm not quiet sure how to even describe it or what genre it is: Easy listening? Something else? Kitano has a very good eye: There's many beautiful shots of the characters at night-time or at dusk. He's also a good actor.

One thing that puts me off about the film is something I'm not sure how to put into words, but I'll try anyway. I think it's the presentation of the plot. Any scene that's not on the beach just feels very singular and not like it ties into any overarching story, even though there is one. I guess that put me off the film a little bit, it feels too disjointed. I still liked the film though.

Thank you to whoever suggested this one for me.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé


Dinner at Eight (1933)

You know this is one of those films you figure it's going to be a comedy but looking at it years later it feels more like a tragedy. Dinner at Eight is the story of a family (The Jordans) who are/were wealthy but it's the depression and one of the biggest stock holders (Marie Dressler) decides that she needs to sell her stake with the company.

The whole family is tangled up in business and sexual ties with Jean Harlow in the center chewing up scenery as a kept woman. One of the things I really appreciate about this film is how having a strong knowledge of Hollywood history the tragedies that befell the actors give it a bit of a boost.

This is a story very much of it's time as it's one of the last parties before everyone goes broke a WWII starts though the irony is so many member of the cast...

Wallace Beery is the villain of the story (sort of) his career basically ends in 5 years when he's involved in the murder of Ted Healy(the guy that created the Three Stooges). He passes on before 1950.

Marie Dressler the woman who starts the plot gets top billing but is really just there for the bookends. She was an unusual star from this era sort of like Meryl Streep and Oprah mixed together well you can kind of tell she's dying...and she does a year later.

John Barrymore was a legendary stage actor he plays a silent screen actor whose getting older and is running out of money, is getting dumped by his agent and is in a relationship with the 19 year old daughter. This is almost a parody of Barrymore's real life with the financial troubles alcoholism..he dies in 1942.

Lionel Barrymore plays the patriarch of the family...he's got health issues which is once again ironic because everyone knows Lionel ends up in a wheelchair a few years later.

And finally who really was the star of the film Jean Harlow


Who also dies just a couple years later at the age of 26(so I think she was 22 at this point)

So watching this film with all of this added historical weight makes the film seem less like a comedy and more like a docu-drama. This whole idea of these celebrities living in the dying days of opulence but we know that these people are literally going to die rather soon...it's adds a bit of heft to what feels like a basic stage production.

I love how all the old men have ridiculously younger wives...and it's a plot point...in the 30's. I like how it touches on sex, domestic abuse, and mortality...but it's also supposed to be a comedy. While I never laughed at anything in the film I did enjoy it...relatively.

BTW I strongly recommend the film Barrymore which stared Christopher Plummer who talks about John Barrymore
I chose this for you and had a feeling you'd might enjoy it.
Like you, when I visit this film, my viewing is touched with the mortality of each actor/actress coming so close to the characters that they portray.

And I now have Barrymore on my watchlist.
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Women will be your undoing, Pépé

A group of yakuza hide out at a beach after a shooting.

What an interesting film. I like the approach the film takes to the gangster genre: the violence is very matter of fact and there's more scenes of the character's hanging out/having fun than there are actually crime scenes.

The music is sparse but it is very good. I'm not quiet sure how to even describe it or what genre it is: Easy listening? Something else? Kitano has a very good eye: There's many beautiful shots of the characters at night-time or at dusk. He's also a good actor.

One thing that puts me off about the film is something I'm not sure how to put into words, but I'll try anyway. I think it's the presentation of the plot. Any scene that's not on the beach just feels very singular and not like it ties into any overarching story, even though there is one. I guess that put me off the film a little bit, it feels too disjointed. I still liked the film though.

Thank you to whoever suggested this one for me.
This is one of Kitano's that remains very high on my Watchlist. I so do enjoy his work.





Starman (1984)


John Carpenter doesn't get enough credit as a filmmaker (where's his honorary Oscar), Starman is the example of a terrible script elevated through visuals and performance. It's a simple road movie about a woman and an alien trying to get to a place...it's not particularly original and it's woefully predictable and yet I enjoyed it far more than I had any right to be.



Bridges is an alien...he acts like an alien nothing he says or does as an alien is original or really interesting. But Bridges just kept doing weird things with his body to give his character depth. Karen Allen has to do most of the work when it comes to acting and she just kills it. Allen's character has just a touch of sweetness that grows as the road trip continues you actually find yourself drawn into the story thanks to her performance.


Carpenter does an amazing job with the score and visuals to keep the film looking inexpensive but not cheap. Great nom.





The Dark Valley (2014)

What was the point of this film? How did this one make the top 100 of anything? Not to say this is a bad film it's just so ordinary, it looks good and I appreciate that but holy hell did I finish this film thinking...is there anything else.

This is the story of a young man getting revenge on the men who raped his mom, actually a number of these people are family relations. The revenge goes on and on and the viewer (myself) wonders when is the break going to come in. I mean for two hours I was looking for something to latch onto but I just sort of turned off my brain and enjoyed the visuals.

I'm going to be happy to not watch another western for at-least a year or so.







Arthur (1981)


Arthur is the story of a wealthy ne'er-do-well whose family is forcing him to marry. Arthur would rather drink and pick up hookers and race cars which frankly seems a whole lot better than what we end up getting as life moves on. I'll give the film credit it breezes by which I appreciate as I finish my binge. I don't think I particularly liked Arthur he's somewhat annoying and that humor doesn't really work for me.



John Gieglud however was hilarious as the put upon butler, every one of his lines cracked me up. I love a good dry wit and I much preferred that to Moore and Minnelli's style of humor. Not to say I disliked it, the music was very good, the highest quality of cheese money could buy. I also love 80's New York, it's my favorite setting for a film at the end of the day it was fine.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.


Starman (1984)


John Carpenter doesn't get enough credit as a filmmaker (where's his honorary Oscar), Starman is the example of a terrible script elevated through visuals and performance. It's a simple road movie about a woman and an alien trying to get to a place...it's not particularly original and it's woefully predictable and yet I enjoyed it far more than I had any right to be.



Bridges is an alien...he acts like an alien nothing he says or does as an alien is original or really interesting. But Bridges just kept doing weird things with his body to give his character depth. Karen Allen has to do most of the work when it comes to acting and she just kills it. Allen's character has just a touch of sweetness that grows as the road trip continues you actually find yourself drawn into the story thanks to her performance.


Carpenter does an amazing job with the score and visuals to keep the film looking inexpensive but not cheap. Great nom.

Starman is my favorite John Carpenter movie. I'm not a fan of horror movies, so some of his other movies aren't really my type of movie, but his horror movies seem to blend with other genres, like sci-fi, so they're at least watchable even for me. (If I remember correctly, Christine and In the Mouth of Madness even made my top 25 horror movies list.)
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.




Arthur (1981)


Arthur is the story of a wealthy ne'er-do-well whose family is forcing him to marry. Arthur would rather drink and pick up hookers and race cars which frankly seems a whole lot better than what we end up getting as life moves on. I'll give the film credit it breezes by which I appreciate as I finish my binge. I don't think I particularly liked Arthur he's somewhat annoying and that humor doesn't really work for me.



John Gieglud however was hilarious as the put upon butler, every one of his lines cracked me up. I love a good dry wit and I much preferred that to Moore and Minnelli's style of humor. Not to say I disliked it, the music was very good, the highest quality of cheese money could buy. I also love 80's New York, it's my favorite setting for a film at the end of the day it was fine.

I'm not a big fan of Dudley Moore, but I loved him in Arthur. Although I have to admit that John Gielgud stole the movie.