What is the last movie you saw? and rate it.

[Emil Miller]

Most of the blockbusters I have seen recently I have not been able to finish. I started watching the action movies only recently.

The library showed an old movie (1958) about a month ago written by John Gay and Terence Rattigan that I thought was pretty good: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/101...parate_tables/ I'd give it a 10/10.

I reviewed Separate Tables on this thread a while ago and agree that it's better than any 'Blockbuster'.

Separate Tables (1958)

This black and white rendition of the celebrated play by Terence Rattigan has a tremendous cast including David Niven, Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Wendy Hiller, Gladys Cooper and Felix Aylmer.
An English seaside hotel has a number of residents, some of whom have the inevitable skeleton in the cupboard and the resultant exposure makes for the dramatic tension between them.
The main problem with the film is that it’s set-bound and the entrances and exits betray its stage origin all too obviously but, despite Deborah Kerr’s overplaying the repressed daughter of an overbearing mother, there are some excellent performances from Wendy Hiller, David Niven and Burt Lancaster. Lancaster was in my view one of the most natural actors to come out of Hollywood and turns in a very watchable performance as an American writer trying to come to terms with the failure of his marriage to Rita Hayworth, who turns up at the hotel having tracked him down through his agent.
The main thrust of the film comes from the fact that the resident British army major, played by David Niven, is in reality a confidence trickster who is arrested for molesting women in a cinema.

David Niven and Wendy Hiller won academy awards for their performances.

8/10

[YesNo]

I reviewed Separate Tables on this thread a while ago and agree that it's better than any 'Blockbuster'.

Separate Tables (1958)

This black and white rendition of the celebrated play by Terence Rattigan has a tremendous cast including David Niven, Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Wendy Hiller, Gladys Cooper and Felix Aylmer.
An English seaside hotel has a number of residents, some of whom have the inevitable skeleton in the cupboard and the resultant exposure makes for the dramatic tension between them.
The main problem with the film is that it’s set-bound and the entrances and exits betray its stage origin all too obviously but, despite Deborah Kerr’s overplaying the repressed daughter of an overbearing mother, there are some excellent performances from Wendy Hiller, David Niven and Burt Lancaster. Lancaster was in my view one of the most natural actors to come out of Hollywood and turns in a very watchable performance as an American writer trying to come to terms with the failure of his marriage to Rita Hayworth, who turns up at the hotel having tracked him down through his agent.
The main thrust of the film comes from the fact that the resident British army major, played by David Niven, is in reality a confidence trickster who is arrested for molesting women in a cinema.

David Niven and Wendy Hiller won academy awards for their performances.

8/10

I thought this movie was probably one you would have seen, if not already reviewed here. I initially went to see it because (1) it is an easy walk to the library, (2) they have a nice theater, (3) it was "free" (but then I do pay taxes supporting these showings), and (4) maybe some culture would rub off on me. It turned out I enjoyed the movie more than I expected.

Of all the people in the story, I enjoyed the hotel hostess the best or maybe I empathized with her character more. It did seem like it was "set-bound" as you mentioned. The movie was shown as part of a four-part series featuring Deborah Kerr. Of the four movies, I was able to also see "The Innocents" which was a retelling of Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw".

[YesNo]

"The Bad Seed": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048977/ (I think you can find this on YouTube.)

This is another old movie (1956) the local library displayed. Director: Mervyn LeRoy, Writers: John Lee Mahin. It was based on a play by Maxwell Anderson and a novel by William March. I'm listing all of this information since I have never heard of these people and I am trying to get cultured.

There is a question whether someone can be bad because of their heredity or whether the environment causes them to be bad. Evil can be reduced to either (1) heredity or (2) environment. There is a third alternative: they just choose to be bad, but that assumes they can choose at all.

In this case the bad guy is an eight year old girl who is outwardly too perfect, but she is killing off people so she can get stuff. It turns out her mother, who is normal, finds out that she herself is the daughter of a serial killer and she was adopted by her parents when the serial killer abandoned her. So her daughter is bad because her mother was bad.

All throughout this movie there is a lot of jarring music which tries to set the mood but is more annoying than it needs to be.

Although the movie seems to promote option (1), heredity, the credits at the end are humorous. Like one would expect in a play, the actors are introduced one by one at the end. Finally the actresses playing the eight year old girl and her mother appear. After they take their bows, the actress playing the mother grabs the actress playing the girl and gives her a good paddling. As I see it the message changes sharply at this point and the third option is affirmed with a little help from option (2), the environmental paddling.

For a score, I'd have to deduct for the music, but the story kept my interest right through the credits. And so, I'd give it an 8/10.

[Danik 2016]

Saw the last Oliver Stone film yesterday.

Whatever ones position about the issues, its a rare opportunity to watch a chapter of contemporaneous history.

Some romanticising of characters.

9,5 /10

[YesNo]

Hunt for the Wilderpeople: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hun..._wilderpeople/

Directed by Taika Waititi. This is a story about a boy who is threatened with juvenile detention if he doesn't get along with his new foster family. This new family is far from civilization living on the edge of the New Zealand bush. This makes it hard for him to run away, but there comes a point early on in the story where he has to run and then things get complicated, and funny.

For a change, the Rotten Tomatoes' critics gave this a reasonably correct rating of 98% "Fresh". Even the hoi polloi got it more or less right, giving it 91%. The correct score was 10/10.

[Danik 2016]

lol! Looks like a parody of action films. See if I can find it on the net. The director has an interesting background.

[YesNo]

I am going to see if I can find more films by him.

[Danik 2016]

Sorry, I forgot to post the link about the director:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taika_Waititi

[YesNo]

Yes, he does seem unusual. I finished "Eagle vs Shark" today: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eagle_vs_shark/

This is a story about two characters who are not very likable and so I can see how it could annoy the audience, but if you follow it through to the end, there's a charm in these characters that comes through. There's one scene where the shark who is in love with the eagle throws a heart-shaped stone into the ocean symbolically killing her love for the eagle, who said he was dumping her anyway. The stone hits a seagull and kills it. That's the kind of weird but memorable stuff that happens in this movie.

Score: 8/10

[Danik 2016]

I looked it up at the link you provided, it seems far less interesting as the first one, even stupid with this seagull scene. Your rating was probably generous.
What I liked about the first trailer: the unusual protagonist. Boy protagonists usually have to be handsome, slim and intelligent looking, not necessarily in that order. This one doesn´t. I don´t know much about Australia, but it is possible that he is from one of the native Australian groups that are segregated today. If that is the case there would be an element of social critic in the film.

[YesNo]

It is not as entertaining as Hunt for the Wilderpeople. I recall trying to watch this in the past and not being able to finish it.

[Danik 2016]

I am not much at home with recent comedys, but maybe you try one of the old ones. They used to be good.

[YesNo]

The recent comedies have disappointed me also. We saw "Absolutely Fabulous: the movie" at the library some weeks ago. Although I remember liking the old British comedy show, I almost walked out. My wife did walk out as well as many in the back rows. I think by the time it was over, and I was still there, I was the only one in the back rows. The Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a 60%. The normal people where more in agreement with those who walked out. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/abs...ous_the_movie/

It is hard to rate something like that. I can't even remember the plot. Oh, yeah, one of the two dysfunctional characters, Edina, accidentally pushed a fashion model into some river near London in the process of trying to sign the model on with her agency. Thinking this much-loved celebrity is dead generates a hate campaign against Edina and she and Patsy, the other dysfunctional character, have to flee to France where they get caught. Before they get caught they realize that they are broke and they will have to find a way to get some money so they can continue living on the Riviera. So Patsy tries to get married to someone rich. Edina has been trying to make money on her memoirs, but that doesn't go very well.

Actually, thinking back on that comedy, I kind of liked it. Not that I want to see it again.

Score 7/10

[Danik 2016]

I have to update on comedy. I´m still stuck with Charlie Chaplin.
You seem to have an ironic outlook, Yes/No. Your simpaties seem to be more with the awkward folks or outsiders that make everything wrong than with the successful Heroes or Avengers.
I found this list of romantic comedies, old and new. Maybe it inspires you.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/...-time.html?a=1

[YesNo]

I realize that I haven't seen most of those movies.

"Lars and the Real Girl" was pretty good. Also, "Clueless", "As Good As It Gets", "The Purple Rose of Cairo", "(500) Days of Summer", "Knocked Up", "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", "Manhattan", "The Princess Bride", and "Annie Hall". I must have seen "Sleepless in Seattle", "The Graduate", "Pretty Woman", "Harold and Maude" and "When Harry Met Sally" but I only remember the titles. That leaves a lot of movies out there that might be pretty good that I didn't know existed.

I occasionally enjoy seeing a few zombies in the movie such as "Life After Beth".

Thanks for the list.