The 27th General Hall of Fame

Booooo. Thou shalt not give Raiders a bad review!

spoilers its on track for only a middling review don't worry.

Meanwhile, I'm struggling to convince myself to finish watching L'amour braque.

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lol its so fun

No. No, it is not.

I just sat through My Dog Skip... y'all can sit through those.

On Witness for the Prosecution...
I think it's to show how dedicated he is to his job. He does have a line towards the end of the film where he completely dismisses his own failing health because the only thing that matters is the life of his client.

I already suffered through that crap.

Jaws (1975)

While it did take until my very late teens for me to eventually see this since in '75, I was in 5th Grade, and the idea of a killer shark scared the bejeezus out of me. It was very much an integral part of the Pop Culture of the Time - just on "Bruce's" theme song alone.
Just like Psycho made us leary of showers, Jaws made us stay on the beach or be far more content to swim in a lake. Well, until Friday the 13th came around, anyway.

Also, not every film can withstand Time, and what was once extraordinary becomes downright silly. But, for me, Jaws does not. Even when it comes to "Bruce" the shark and considering just how much difficulty they had gone through just getting the thing actually to work, it does pay off in the long run when get to see him taking on the three leads of this film in the second half of the film, which is my favorite part.
It still holds my attention, and the tension still works. Part of which is very much due to how all three actors draw us in; they are not mere fish food for our amusement. They matter to us. We cheer them on and fear for them as they collide with one another's personalities while trying to take on a d@mn clever, almost unbeatable foe.

In English class as a kid, they taught us that one particularly worthwhile story premise is Human vs. Nature. While the Horror genre continually feeds on that premise, Director Speilberg gives respect while adhering to his usual penchant for characters we care about, cinematic compositions that capture our attention. And films that do not fade from our memories and stand the Test of Time.

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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

I am VERY MUCH the same way when it comes to Laughton. He ALWAYS has my full and complete attention in everything I have seen him in.

ok working on a Raiders review but wow that went way over my head.

Safety Last, 1923

A young man (Harold Lloyd) leaves his country town to go to the big city to earn a living so that he can finally marry his girlfriend (Mildred Davis). He finds a room in the same building as a man who climbs buildings as a human fly (Bill Strother). Antics ensue as the young man tries to make it big while working in a department store, culminating in a much-publicized stunt of having a man climb the store.

I watched this film a little while ago, and so for this rewatch I decided to view the film along with a commentary from a Harold Lloyd archivist.

While the commentary was interesting, I don't think that it changed my feelings about the film very much.

The strength of the film, as with many silent comedies, is the precision timing and physical talents on display during the many setpieces. I appreciate that there are a variety of gags, ranging from stunts to spoken bits to visual jokes. For me, the little things were more interesting than the infamous climactic building sequence. I really like the part where Harold and Bill hide themselves in their coats to escape their landlady. I like the part where Harold, needing to get a package to a woman who is many rows behind other customers yells out that someone has dropped $50, causing the other customers to look on the floor, leaving just the old woman standing. And I liked the visual storytelling of Harold imagining a meal, only for one dish at a time to fade away as he hands over coins to a pawnbroker.

The downsides, though, were quite a few things. Miss Vicky already covered the pretty unkind stunt that involved rough handling of a cat. I also didn't care for the use of racial caricatures, whether that was the disproportionately spooked Black man or the Jewish caricature as the pawnbroker. (The two men doing the commentary were distinctly silent during the former and made some weak excuses for the latter). I also don't find Lloyd to be an actor I click with strongly. I think that he designed and executed the comedy of the film really brilliantly, but it does feel like watching a character move from one setpiece to the next.

I do understand why this one is considered a classic, but it has yet to really win me over.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
Yeah, I just don't get this one. I really don't know what its going for or what it wants me to feel. I thought they were going for the "rough around the edges antihero who lightens up and redeems himself over the course of the film" but Indy is just unlikable throughout. He's a colonist that sleeps with underage women and I think Harrison Ford is intended to be like charming here? He has about as much charisma as a glass of milk so it doesn't really work. Like, that opening scene paints him as a villain and that impression never wore off for me. There's action scenes but they're not exciting in any way. These scenes feel like they're trudging through mud every time. Really could have used some tightening up in editing. I don't really know what else to talk about, it feels like the whole movie is just this character and some action scenes. Maybe if it had more of the magical elements that come in at the end I'd be more in to it??? I just don't understand.
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Sleeps with underage women? Granted it's been several years but I don't remember anything like that.

sorry, implied to sleep with underage woman.

Don't recall that either but I may watch it tonight.

Oh, it was definitely implied there was something elicit between them when she was younger. It’s never mentioned in the movie itself, but the script has been on the record as saying she was 15 while he was in his 20’s

yes, i personally wouldn't have actually put the word "child" in that scene lmao and the thing with his student suggests an thing between him and much younger women has been a norm in his life.

In the latter case, they’re at 18 years old, seeing as they're college students, so it isn’t nearly as salacious. Also, I don’t take that imply anything “inappropriate” was going on between him and his students, but rather a young girls fixation on him.