Hype Movie Club

[flickchick85]

Wow, the votes were all over the place this time! So much so, we have 6 winners and they all only got 2 votes each. And our September selections are...

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola
Written By: James V. Hart, Bram Stoker
Starring: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Monica Bellucc
What's It About? The centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land.


Good Will Hunting (1997)

Directed By: Gus Van Sant
Written By: Matt Damon & Ben Affleck
Starring: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgård, Ben Affleck
What's It About? Will Hunting, a janitor at MIT, has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.


Heat (1995)

Directed By: Michael Mann
Written By: Michael Mann
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, Amy Brenneman, Natalie Portman, Wes Studi, Dennis Haysbert
What's It About? A group of high-end professional thieves start to feel the heat from the LAPD when they unknowingly leave a verbal clue at their latest heist.


Magnolia (1999)

Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Tom Cruise, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Jason Robards
What's It About? An epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.


Perfect Blue (1997)

Directed By: Satoshi Kon
Written By: Sadauki Murai, Yoshikazu Takeuchi, Rika Takahashi
Starring: Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shinpachi Tsuji
What's It About? A pop singer gives up her career to become an actress, but she slowly goes insane when she starts being stalked by an obsessed fan and what seems to be a ghost of her past.


Princess Mononoke (1997)

Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki
Written By: Hayao Miyazaki & Neil Gaiman
Starring: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka
What's It About? On a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashi taka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.

A very healthy variety. Thanks for voting, all!​

 

[Babillygunn]

The best thing about this month is that @blueharvest and @Kane52630 will finally see Goodwill Hunting. Because anyone who has not seen that film has a void in their life that needs to be filled.

 

[blueharvest]

The best thing about this month is that @blueharvest and @Kane52630 will finally see Goodwill Hunting. Because anyone who has not seen that film has a void in their life that needs to be filled.

That's the one with "Oh, Captain, My Captain," right?

 

[Babillygunn]

That's the one with "Oh, Captain, My Captain," right?

Do you like apples?

Confusing Goodwill Hunting with Dead Poet Society ain’t funny

 

[squeekness]

Saw Heat last month because it had been awhile. It was a pleasure to see Val Kilmer still in his prime. The movie still holds up well as most of Micheal Mann's stuff does. With a cast as good as this one was, there's a lot to love!

 

[Luigi]

Lawrence of Arabia

Yeah, I can see why David loved this film.

Experiencing this for the first time on the big screen was an absolute delight, this is an incredible looking film. Downright gorgeous compositions and visuals. Was taken aback by the how tragic this film was, seeing Lawrence go from a happy adventurer to a sad husk of his former self. Those four hours flew by like nothing.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Lawrence of Arabia is easily one of the best films ever

 

[squeekness]

Good Will Hunting. I know I watched it many years ago, but I forgot so much of it, it was like a brand new movie. So very good! Amazing to see Ben and Casey Affleck so young along with Matt Damon. Bit of a tear jerker, though, but worth watching.

 

[squeekness]

I had a wonderful time with Bram Stoker's Dracula. Francis Ford Coppola's direction is audacious, wicked, and fun, and this same energy is present in every facet of the film, from the acting performances to the editing. The cast is excellent, especially Gary Oldman as the Count and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, both turned up to an almost constant eleven. Keanu Reeves is the only one who doesn't really gel, with his low energy and famously dodgy British accent, but there's something about his performance in this particular ensemble that I found charming. I wish Monica Bellucci had a larger role, but every second she had on screen was well spent. All the techniques utilized in this, like the breathtakingly beautiful matte paintings, the outrageous costumes and hairstyles, and the lavish sets, are crucial ingredients of a truly maximalist masterpiece. I had no idea this would be so good, I was not prepared!

I just watched this myself. For me this is my favorite version mainly because of the fantastic cast!

 

[flickchick85]

October is almost upon us, which means it's that time of the year again! That's right, you all guessed it: FC's Birthday Month! To celebrate, I'm blessing you all with the best director pick. You're welcome! Thankfully, he fits in well enough with the season just fine. I give you, our October category:



Alfred Hitchcock

Hey, y'all should just be proud I managed to wait this long to do it. Everyone gets up to 5 votes, voting will be open 'til the weekend!

P.S. - Remember, we've already done The 39 Steps, so that one's ineligible.​

 

[flickchick85]

My picks:

Notorious
Shadow of a Doubt
Strangers on a Train
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
The Lady Vanishes

 

[Luigi]

Could use this as an excuse to check out the Psycho series, never seen any of the sequels.

The Birds
Frenzy (Never seen)
Psycho series
Rebecca (Never seen)
Strangers on a Train (Never seen)

 

[blueharvest]

The Man Who Knew Too Much
Dial M For Murder
Notorious
The Birds
Topaz

I don't think I've seen any of those movies except for The Birds.

 

[emielaen]

Marnie
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Notorious
Vertigo
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog

 

[flickchick85]

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Which one?

 

[blueharvest]

Which one?

The one from 1956.

 

[ComicChick]

North By Northwest
Rebecca
Sabotage
The Lady Vanishes
Jamaica Inn

 

[ComicChick]

Watched Good Will Hunting tonight for the first time. It was pretty darn good. It was a great character driven film and I really liked the dialogue and how unforced it felt. Sometimes it didn’t feel like I was watching a movie, that I was just eavesdropping into their lives.

And on the day we lost Wendy Darling, I’m watching a movie with Peter
“It’s not your fault”

 

[flickchick85]

Ok wow there was a much bigger variety in votes than I was expecting for this one, so voting was once again rather spread out. Each of our 4 winners only got 3 votes each! And our October picks are:


The Birds (1963)

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Written By: Evan Hunter and Daphne Du Maurier
Starring: Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor and Jessica Tandy
What It's About? A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.


The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Written By: Alfred Hitchcock, Elliot Stannard and Marie Belloc Lowndes
Starring: Ivor Novello, Marie Ault, June Tripp, Arthur Chesney and Malcolm Keen
What's It About? A landlady suspects that her new lodger is the madman killing women in London.


Notorious (1946)

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Written By: Ben Hecht and Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Ingrid Bergmen, Cary Grant, Claude Rains and Leopoldine Konstantin
What's It About? The daughter of a convicted German spy is asked by American agents to gather information on a ring of German scientists in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?


Rebecca (1940)

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Written By: Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison, Phillip MacDonald, Michael Hogan and Daphne Du Maurier
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders and Judith Anderson
What's It About? A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.

Well, we managed to get my own personal fave of his entire filmography (Notorious) AND his only Best Picture winner (Rebecca) in there, so these are a pretty great sampling if I do say so myself! Thanks for voting!​

 

[flickchick85]

Another criticism that I have is how gratuitous the film can be, especially for the themes it's working so hard to explore. The explicit nudity and salacious camera angles, often in situations of victimization, waters down the sincerity of the picture for me, but the rest of the movie is so brilliantly made that it doesn't ruin the experience.

This is what I haven’t been able to get past with this film I’m afraid. Kinda further solidified my ongoing general feeling that outside of Miyazaki films, anime is just not for me.

 

[flickchick85]

I understand, it is a weird and often unnecessary part of the industry. Have you seen anything from Makoto Shinkai? His work is very earnest, not unlike Miyazaki's.

I have seen Your Name and I did like that one. Will have to check out some others. I have heard good things about Suzume.

 

[Snow Queen]

I haven't seen Your Name in ages, but I remember it very fondly. Never quite vibed with Perfect Blue though. Very well made, but never clicks totally right with me.

 

[Pennywise]

Just stumbled upon this thread, seems like it’s a fun one!

Haven’t watched much of Hitchcock’s films, aside from Psycho and Vertigo, but better late than never. In fact, there’s a lot of films in my life I never saw, but this thread will hopefully expand my horizon.

Cue the booing!

 

[flickchick85]

Just stumbled upon this thread, seems like it’s a fun one!

Haven’t watched much of Hitchcock’s films, aside from Psycho and Vertigo, but better late than never. In fact, there’s a lot of films in my life I never saw, but this thread will hopefully expand my horizon.

Cue the booing!

Always better late than never @Pennywise , and welcome! All are invited to participate, in voting and discussion. I generally name the next month's category a few days before the end of the month, so everyone gets a few days to get their votes in, and I post the selections soon after. So just keep an eye out for the thread around that time if you'd like to vote on our next movies. There's no real structure other than that - watch and post about the films at your own leisure! So far, the categories have just been either decades or directors, but...that might be changing in a couple months. *wink wink*

 

[Luigi]

Cue the booing!