The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame
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le samourai
i've wanted to see this one basically since i started getting into movies because it seemed to be extremely my thing, but for whatever reason i never got around to it until now. one of those situations where a movie seems like it could be so perfect that you put it off so you can keep looking forward to watching it because the version you imagine might be better than the real thing. also i watched bob le flambeur a few years ago and thought it was alright but it kinda bored me so i put exploring melville on the back burner for a while.
there's not really much i can say about this one that hasn't been said, so i'll just quickly run through some of the obvious things. alain delon is so cool in this, but in such a fascinatingly self-conscious way. i'm kinda fascinated by stoicism as a philosophy even though i know very little about it, and his expressionless unflappability is what i often aim for when i'm uncomfortable in social situations in my own life, even if i'm 1/1000th as cool as he is. but the film also communicates how trapped he feels by his lifestyle, as the two opposing sides of crime and law close in on him, both using incredibly dirty tricks that suggest they are two sides of the same coin. they make this rather obvious with the metaphor of his bird that he keeps in the cage, as well as the match cuts between the police and the people who hired him.
the whole film just glides so smoothly, so sparse yet so effective. excited to watch le cercle rouge and maybe dive into some more melville after that.
i've wanted to see this one basically since i started getting into movies because it seemed to be extremely my thing, but for whatever reason i never got around to it until now. one of those situations where a movie seems like it could be so perfect that you put it off so you can keep looking forward to watching it because the version you imagine might be better than the real thing. also i watched bob le flambeur a few years ago and thought it was alright but it kinda bored me so i put exploring melville on the back burner for a while.
there's not really much i can say about this one that hasn't been said, so i'll just quickly run through some of the obvious things. alain delon is so cool in this, but in such a fascinatingly self-conscious way. i'm kinda fascinated by stoicism as a philosophy even though i know very little about it, and his expressionless unflappability is what i often aim for when i'm uncomfortable in social situations in my own life, even if i'm 1/1000th as cool as he is. but the film also communicates how trapped he feels by his lifestyle, as the two opposing sides of crime and law close in on him, both using incredibly dirty tricks that suggest they are two sides of the same coin. they make this rather obvious with the metaphor of his bird that he keeps in the cage, as well as the match cuts between the police and the people who hired him.
the whole film just glides so smoothly, so sparse yet so effective. excited to watch le cercle rouge and maybe dive into some more melville after that.
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Most Biblical movies were long If I Recall.
seen A Clockwork Orange. In all honesty, the movie was weird and silly
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I thought that and The Red Circle were excellent choices for you; good to see you enjoyed the first one so much. I envision a repeat occurrence.
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I may not be the biggest fan of Westerns, but I'm starting to appreciate them more little by little, John Ford included. Once again James Stewart is typecast as the timid man, and John Wayne is typecast as the no-BS cowboy.
WARNING: spoilers below
The final confrontation is really cool actually. Instead of being an exaggerated standoff, it's very messy and unexpected, kind of how a shootout would happen in real life. Hope I see more things like this in Ford's other work
Sorry I didn't have much to say about this one, I enjoyed it but not much stood out to me, unless you want a boring write-up of me just going 'Lighting is fine, music is fine, sets are fine' etc.
Good film
Also this fact gave me a chuckle
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I may not be the biggest fan of Westerns, but I'm starting to appreciate them more little by little, John Ford included. Once again James Stewart is typecast as the timid man, and John Wayne is typecast as the no-BS cowboy.
WARNING: spoilers below
The final confrontation is really cool actually. Instead of being an exaggerated standoff, it's very messy and unexpected, kind of how a shootout would happen in real life. Hope I see more things like this in Ford's other work
Sorry I didn't have much to say about this one, I enjoyed it but not much stood out to me, unless you want a boring write-up of me just going 'Lighting is fine, music is fine, sets are fine' etc.
Good film
Also this fact gave me a chuckle
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le samourai
i've wanted to see this one basically since i started getting into movies because it seemed to be extremely my thing, but for whatever reason i never got around to it until now. one of those situations where a movie seems like it could be so perfect that you put it off so you can keep looking forward to watching it because the version you imagine might be better than the real thing. also i watched bob le flambeur a few years ago and thought it was alright but it kinda bored me so i put exploring melville on the back burner for a while.
there's not really much i can say about this one that hasn't been said, so i'll just quickly run through some of the obvious things. alain delon is so cool in this, but in such a fascinatingly self-conscious way. i'm kinda fascinated by stoicism as a philosophy even though i know very little about it, and his expressionless unflappability is what i often aim for when i'm uncomfortable in social situations in my own life, even if i'm 1/1000th as cool as he is. but the film also communicates how trapped he feels by his lifestyle, as the two opposing sides of crime and law close in on him, both using incredibly dirty tricks that suggest they are two sides of the same coin. they make this rather obvious with the metaphor of his bird that he keeps in the cage, as well as the match cuts between the police and the people who hired him.
the whole film just glides so smoothly, so sparse yet so effective. excited to watch le cercle rouge and maybe dive into some more melville after that.
i've wanted to see this one basically since i started getting into movies because it seemed to be extremely my thing, but for whatever reason i never got around to it until now. one of those situations where a movie seems like it could be so perfect that you put it off so you can keep looking forward to watching it because the version you imagine might be better than the real thing. also i watched bob le flambeur a few years ago and thought it was alright but it kinda bored me so i put exploring melville on the back burner for a while.
there's not really much i can say about this one that hasn't been said, so i'll just quickly run through some of the obvious things. alain delon is so cool in this, but in such a fascinatingly self-conscious way. i'm kinda fascinated by stoicism as a philosophy even though i know very little about it, and his expressionless unflappability is what i often aim for when i'm uncomfortable in social situations in my own life, even if i'm 1/1000th as cool as he is. but the film also communicates how trapped he feels by his lifestyle, as the two opposing sides of crime and law close in on him, both using incredibly dirty tricks that suggest they are two sides of the same coin. they make this rather obvious with the metaphor of his bird that he keeps in the cage, as well as the match cuts between the police and the people who hired him.
the whole film just glides so smoothly, so sparse yet so effective. excited to watch le cercle rouge and maybe dive into some more melville after that.
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I've gotten away from watching movies for this while I cram for the last two weeks until the western countdown is due. I'm probably not the only one.
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no, you're not 
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The Innocents 1961 Directed by Jack Clayton
1h 40min | Horror
Writers: William Archibald, Truman Capote
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, Martin Stephens, Pamela Franklin, Peter Wyngarde, Clytie Jessop
1h 40min | Horror
Writers: William Archibald, Truman Capote
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, Martin Stephens, Pamela Franklin, Peter Wyngarde, Clytie Jessop
The Innocents is a great Victorian era ghost story and pure psychological suspense horror film. Based on the 1898 novella The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James and William Archibald’s stage adaptation, which appeared on Broadway in 1950.
Miss Giddens, played by Deborah Kerr in a tour de force performance, is hired as a governess to take care of two orphaned children by their dapper Dan uncle. Soon after her arrival to the estate, Miss Giddens gets it in her head that the spirits of the former governess and valet are haunting the mansion and possessing the children. A classic struggle between good and evil over the souls of two 'innocent' children unfolds..
Really enjoyed this, the mystery and ambiguity of the story kept me engaged through the entire film. It successfully gave me the classic haunted house chills. With shadows/ghosts appearing at windows, candle lights in dark hallways, creaking floors, eerie sounds and songs, mysterious music box melodies, creepy children, and amazing black and white cinematography in CinemaScope. Another successful recommendation, thank you!
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The Innocents 1961 Directed by Jack Clayton
1h 40min | Horror
Writers: William Archibald, Truman Capote
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, Martin Stephens, Pamela Franklin, Peter Wyngarde, Clytie Jessop
1h 40min | Horror
Writers: William Archibald, Truman Capote
Cast: Deborah Kerr, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, Martin Stephens, Pamela Franklin, Peter Wyngarde, Clytie Jessop
The Innocents is a great Victorian era ghost story and pure psychological suspense horror film. Based on the 1898 novella The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James and William Archibald’s stage adaptation, which appeared on Broadway in 1950.
Miss Giddens, played by Deborah Kerr in a tour de force performance, is hired as a governess to take care of two orphaned children by their dapper Dan uncle. Soon after her arrival to the estate, Miss Giddens gets it in her head that the spirits of the former governess and valet are haunting the mansion and possessing the children. A classic struggle between good and evil over the souls of two 'innocent' children unfolds..
Really enjoyed this, the mystery and ambiguity of the story kept me engaged through the entire film. It successfully gave me the classic haunted house chills. With shadows/ghosts appearing at windows, candle lights in dark hallways, creaking floors, eerie sounds and songs, mysterious music box melodies, creepy children, and amazing black and white cinematography in CinemaScope. Another successful recommendation, thank you!
The winner for the 17th Hall of Fame for good reason
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Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father 2008 Directed by Kurt Kuenne
This home video compilation by amateur film maker Kurt Kuenne is a real personal thing, a tribute/ in memoriam video that was actually meant for family and later re-edited for the general public. It’s unfair to compare this very personal ‘work’ to the works of Sir Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles to name a few of the other filmmakers recommended for me in this HoF.
Nevertheless the story by itself is so bizarre and dramatic that no matter how it’s told through news coverage, a movie or documentary, once you get the full story it's hard as a viewer not to feel some intense emotions. Although technically amateurish and not really meant to be a documentary, the portioned delivery of the full story did manage to captivate me for the full hour and 39 minutes runtime. Besides the story another driving force behind this are the loving, sometimes naive but incredibly strong family members, especially Zachary's grandparents.
Luckily no news of these events reached me when they were going on, so I went in blind and experienced the full impact of this powerful story all at once. Thank you for choosing this very good but difficult to rank nomination.
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I seen, Dear Zachary:A Letter to a Son About His Father in the Documentary HoF, I didn't care for it.
WARNING: "Spoilers" spoilers below
Of course a story like this one is heartbreaking and generates strong emotions. When the film maker show us the bereaved parents talking about the loss of their murdered son as they choke back tears, it's going to be powerful. When they tell about a foreboding visit to the morgue and the shock of seeing their son laying there, it hits like a ton of bricks.
But I can't escape one thing, the post production choices were poorly executed. The film maker had all of these mini interviews with friends and family overlapping their dialogue with fast break editing. It was distracting and not suited to the subject matter. I never felt like I got to know the subject.
The decision to animate the mouths in a photo of the judge and lawyer who obstructed the case was amusing, but this is a serious film and it was sophomoric and inappropriate. The film maker also did his own voice over narrative. His reading was so flat that when he spoke lines directly to the dead man's son, it sounded insincere. I'm sure he was very sincere, but it didn't come off that way.[/quote]
Of course a story like this one is heartbreaking and generates strong emotions. When the film maker show us the bereaved parents talking about the loss of their murdered son as they choke back tears, it's going to be powerful. When they tell about a foreboding visit to the morgue and the shock of seeing their son laying there, it hits like a ton of bricks.
But I can't escape one thing, the post production choices were poorly executed. The film maker had all of these mini interviews with friends and family overlapping their dialogue with fast break editing. It was distracting and not suited to the subject matter. I never felt like I got to know the subject.
The decision to animate the mouths in a photo of the judge and lawyer who obstructed the case was amusing, but this is a serious film and it was sophomoric and inappropriate. The film maker also did his own voice over narrative. His reading was so flat that when he spoke lines directly to the dead man's son, it sounded insincere. I'm sure he was very sincere, but it didn't come off that way.[/quote]
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The Player (1992)
I was never really interested in seeing this before. Once nominated, the one thing that gave me hope was director Robert Altman, whose 70's output I love, and whose 1993's Short Cuts I really want to see. I didn't think I liked satirical movies, but after some googling I guess I like them more than I thought I did. I think it's just that I don't always recognize it when I see it.
I was immediately hooked and in short I thought it was brilliant. The opening credits are shown during an impressive long take, during which some of the characters, movie studio execs and the like, talk about long takes. How friggin awesome is that? Like Day for Night, this movie is like a movie lover's dream and one long movie reference. It also just happens to be entertaining as hell from start to finish. The cast is amazing and contains so many cameos and familiar faces that I thought there was no way IMDb would list all of them, but I looked and they do.
Going in I thought this was an odd choice for me. I don't know if there was a reason the person picked it specifically for me, or if they just thought it was a great movie anyone should see. Either way I'm thankful that they did. Who picked it and why?
I was never really interested in seeing this before. Once nominated, the one thing that gave me hope was director Robert Altman, whose 70's output I love, and whose 1993's Short Cuts I really want to see. I didn't think I liked satirical movies, but after some googling I guess I like them more than I thought I did. I think it's just that I don't always recognize it when I see it.
I was immediately hooked and in short I thought it was brilliant. The opening credits are shown during an impressive long take, during which some of the characters, movie studio execs and the like, talk about long takes. How friggin awesome is that? Like Day for Night, this movie is like a movie lover's dream and one long movie reference. It also just happens to be entertaining as hell from start to finish. The cast is amazing and contains so many cameos and familiar faces that I thought there was no way IMDb would list all of them, but I looked and they do.
Going in I thought this was an odd choice for me. I don't know if there was a reason the person picked it specifically for me, or if they just thought it was a great movie anyone should see. Either way I'm thankful that they did. Who picked it and why?
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