25th Hall of Fame

I did root for Pierre and Cybele because they were both damaged. Well I didn't actually root for them since I don't like happy endings but you know what I mean.

I can see where people would say the director wants the viewer to sympathize with Pierre. I personally didn't.

Cricket or anyone: did you sympathize with Pierre?

Whoops, Cricket did just answer my question in the post before.

I feel like we watched a different movie. In mine I am watching a man fall inappropriately in love. In yours, Fred Rogers is being accused of pedophilia.

Did you see the documentary on Fred Rogers? It was excellent and what a cool guy Fred was And sad a lot of people do label him a pedophile without knowing what he was about (no one here of course, just people in general)

The Tom Hanks movie about Mr Rogers blew.

On the other hand, after watching The Hunt, I wasn't convinced the dude was innocent.

I sympathize with anybody who suffers, in this case with PTSD, as long as they're not an evil person. I just didn't see evil here, just concerning behavior.

Yes, loved the doc. Didn’t think the Hanks one was bad, certainly not on the level of the doc. Think I gave it a 3, maybe 2.5.

The doc made me cry, more than once

The PTSD is way under developed in my opinion. Wasn’t really a factor for me.

Sundays and Cybele is almost like a more ambivalent take on Of Mice and Men, with Pierre being the mental wounded/challenged Lennie.

You know at first I bristled at that but it’s not a bad comparison. If Pierre was handled the way Lennie was throughout we would be having a much different conversation.

Oh, and I don’t think this movie is ambivalent

True dat. Both Lennie and Pierre are handled way different.

Or Bride of Frankenstein when the monster encounters the little girl throwing flowers into the lake.

I sympathized with Pierre. I think he was a damaged, troubled individual, but not a bad person.

I actually thought of that scene while watching it.

It hit me more on the second viewing, right from the opening scene.

Whiplash -

Whiplash remains one of the best movies I've ever seen. I, like Andrew, had a band director like Fletcher. He never threw anything at us or got as personal as Fletcher did, but he did expect 110% from everyone and could be terrifying when we didn't meet his expectations. The scene where Fletcher calls out the trombone player for being out of tune rang especially true because I too endured such humiliation. Is using humiliation and fear to motivate problematic and not applicable to every discipline? Yes, and the movie calls this out. I'm still not ashamed to admit that our band was very good and I still credit the director's teachings for a lot of my academic and professional success.

This is not just a great movie for how it portrays a demanding teacher, though: it also succeeds for how it explores the cost of trying to be the best at something. Besides the psychological toll of Fletcher's tutelage and the physical toll with moments like Andrew placing his bloody hand into a bucket of ice water, I like how the movie shows the effects of such a commitment in other aspects of life. In addition to impacts on relationships with friends and family, we learn how it can end in tragedy in the case of Fletcher's former student Sean. Despite all this, the movie manages to be a lot of fun. As someone who loves concerts and hasn't been to a live one in over a year for obvious reasons, I get a kick out of the jazz band performances, and since they're so well shot and edited, even those who are indifferent or outright dislike jazz are bound to feel the same way. As for the actors’ performances, J.K. Simmons is deserving of his accolades as Fletcher for being a force of nature while leading his band and for the moments that humanize him, his "good job" conversation with Andrew in particular. I also enjoy Paul Reiser's work in his small role as Andrew's father, a man who's a good dad, a good teacher, i.e. everything Andrew does not just want to be, but thankfully, the movie does not villainize or portray him as a loser. After all, Whiplash is not just great for how it shows the blood, sweat and tears that go into greatness. It’s also great for how it asks if they're worth it.

The Green Years (1963) -

I believe this is the first film from Portugal I've seen, but it's a pretty decent introduction. As others have pointed out though, it feels like some scenes are missing. I don't know if I just watched a bad transfer of the film or if some scenes were removed when the film was made, but I couldn't help but suspect this. I could definitely feel this in the second half of the film with the various awkward cuts, continuity errors, and Júlio's rushed character arc. If I ever come across a longer version of the film in the future, I'll have to rewatch it to see if my opinion of the film grows. As it stood though, I still found it to be an effective and tragic portrait of a confident young man eagerly moving to Lisbon, only to grow increasingly disillusioned with the city as he experiences misfortune after misfortune. I'm not a history buff and I don't know much about what the social climate of Portugal was like when this film was made, but I didn't feel like the film required for me to be knowledgeable in the country's politics to get the gist of the struggles Júlio faced. I imagine it must have been hard for lower class workers like Júlio to live and work there. My favorite scene in the film was the sweater sequence with Júlio and Isla. Though there wasn't much dialogue in it, it communicated a lot about how their relationship was falling apart and how much Júlio had changed since the start of the film. Other sequences such as the night club scene and the final few minutes were well-shot, stylistically impressive, and were packed with a decent amount of suspense (looking back, I wished that more of the film was shot like those few scenes, but whatever; I liked what I got). This film can't help but pale in comparison to other movies I've seen about confident protagonists moving/arriving to new cities or locations only to grow disillusioned with their surroundings over time (Lawrence of Arabia, Rocco and His Brothers, Greed), but it's still good. While it left a lot to be desired, I did enjoy my time with this film and I'd be happy to give it another shot in the future if I come across a longer version of it.

Next up: Les Miserables

__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd

@SpelingError Pretty cool that you're watching the noms in alphabetical order. Makes it easy for me to add them to the first post.