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

[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/absolutely_fabulous_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/lists/2013/04/the-50-best-romantic-comedies-of-all-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.

[Danik 2016]

Lol! I am not too fond of zombies but I guess there must be quite a lot of films with it.
This list is a conventional one. There are some classics I enjoyed like "Harold and Maude" and
"The purple rose of Cairo" but there are many films I didn´t watch either.

[YesNo]

Normally, I don't like zombie movies unless they are funny. Another good one is "Burying the Ex".

I watched "The Hollars" last night. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hollars/

Rotten Tomatoes (the critics) thought it was pretty rotten, but I enjoyed it. It could have been better, but I was able to finish it. There were times when I thought either this movie is very predictable or I have superpowers allowing me to see what will happen next. It did suggest to me that one might live longer if doctors were not involved, although I doubt that was the intent of the movie.

Score: 7/10

[BeachBooksBlog]

Watched “All is Lost” – movie by J. C. Chandor. 77-year old Robert Redford is alone at sea. No dialogues, almost no words at all. Just he, the boat and rough and tough Indian Ocean. Redford later said his co-star was the water. Excellent movie.

[YesNo]

I will see if I can find "All is Lost". It sounds unusual with no dialogue.

[Lendo]

The last movie i saw was "Alone in Berlin", with Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson and Daniel Bruhl. An excellent and fair homage to those who opposed the nazi regime.

[Ecurb]

I saw "The Eagle Huntress" this evening. It's a documentary about a Mongolian girl who captures and trains an eagle, and goes on to win a prestigious eagle hunters competition at a festival. The heroine is a 13-year-old girl named Aisholpan. She's tough as nails, cute as a button, and matter-of-fact in her desire to become an eagle hunter, thus following family tradition. Her father is a famous eagle hunter, and teaches her. She captures her own eaglet (she climbs to an aerie when the eagle is still too young to fly away), and trains it (with her father's and grandfather's help).

Her family lives in a "ger" (don't call it a "yurt", lest you offend the Mongols) and leads a nomadic life, although she goes to boarding school in town and says she wants to be a doctor (don't bet against her doing whatever she wants to do, is my advice).

The Mongolian mountains are stunning, and the eagles are huge and beautiful and scary. Some scenes were shot from drones, allowing the audience to soar with the birds.

I was invited to a wedding in Mongolia last year -- a friend of mine married a Mongolian girl. I didn't make it, but I've seen pictures -- the bride and groom were in full Mongolian regalia and galloped into the wedding on horseback. I asked Tok Toh (the bride) if urban sophisticates (her father was ambassador to the U.S. and, later, a supreme court justice) like her were expected to learn to ride in modern Mongolia. "O, yeah," she said. "Every Mongolian learns to ride."

Based on the evidence of the wedding pictures and "The Eagle Huntress", I should have gone. Mongolia rules!

[YesNo]

The Park Bench: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_park_bench/

This was written and directed by Ann LeSchander.

This is a story about a female graduate student who is tutoring a male undergraduate in English literature who needs to get a B to keep his scholarship. She is engaged and he falls in love with her and she falls in love with him and they talk about literature, exchange food and spend a semester enjoying each other's company. Eventually her wedding day approaches as well as his final exam and her thesis defense.

The story is a sweet rom-com with emphasis on the rom. There weren't any vampires or zombies in it, and outside of that I couldn't find anything wrong with it. Score: 10/10

[YesNo]

Popstar: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/popstar_never_stop_never_stopping/

This is a mockumentary about the rise and fall and rise again of Conner4Real and the band Style Boyz. It's pretty stupid, but I watched the whole thing.

Score 7/10

[Ecurb]

The two front runners for Academy Awards are "Moonlight" and "Manchester by the Sea". Both have been nominated for multiple Golden Globes. I saw them both.

I couldn't quite figure out what the fuss is about with "Moonlight". It's the story of a gay, black boy (and man) whose mother is a crack addict. The boy (Chiron) is portrayed by three different actors -- as a child, a teenager and an adult. His home life is horrid; his school life is even worse (he is bullied). He winds up in prison for bashing the worst bully over the head with a chair, and turns to drug dealing as the standard mode of earning a living.

The mood is dark -- much of the movie is shot at night. In the first segment, a drug dealer tries to help Chiron. The dealer is the most interesting character in the movie, but he disappears from acts 2 and 3.

The film is directed by Barry Jenkins, and critics rave about it. Here's Richard Brody of The New Yorker:


Blasting aside conventions, archetypes, and stereotypes, Jenkins conjures the birth of an individual’s consciousness, the forging of a complex and multifaceted identity; he restores complexity to the very idea of identity, of the multiplicity as well as the singularity of being oneself—and he conveys his own primordial sense of wonder that art itself can conjure it.

OK. I get it. But not every individual's consciousness is worthy of exploration by great art. The problem with damaged, emotionally stunted, taciturn characters (like Chiron) is that, since they barely talk, there isn't much dialogue by which their "multifaceted identity" can be explored. Indeed, conventions and archetypes can serve to draw the viewer in, to make him interested in and empathetic to the protagonist's plight. I liked the "boyhood" section (it's impossible not to sympathize with a bullied child), but was less interested in the adult section, in which a damaged Chiron moves gloomily on with his gloomy life.

The problem with my criticism of "Moonlight" is it could be equally applied to "Manchester". Lee (the protagonist) is as damaged and taciturn as Chiron. But, somehow, the movie worked for me.

My brother lives in Manchester by the Sea (a toney exurb north of Boston), so I enjoyed the familiar landmarks. Casey Affleck slouches through the town, desperately unhappy, silent, and broken. But his sense of duty and honor are demonstrated by his relationship with his nephew, whose father has just died, and whose guardian he now is. In addition, flashbacks expose both his charm (before he was broken) and the tragedy that caused his quiet desperation. Although it is true that the drama of Lee's tragedy is (as Brody might say) conventional and archetypical, therein lies the viewers' sympathy, and the artistry of the movie. The scene in which he talks to his ex-wife (Michelle Williams) on the street haunts the viewer and reveals both Lee's irreversibly damaged psyche, and his essential goodness.

[Ecurb]

I saw "LA LA Land" recently. It's another movie being touted for the Academy award.

As has now become common for highly rated Musicals, LA LA Land employs movies stars who can't sing and can't dance. Why (I wonder)? Perhaps there are no marketable singers and dancers in the Hollywood firmament these days. Or maybe the Director wants to be the star. In any event, LA LA Land is beautifully filmed. The musical numbers are staged well; the settings are gorgeous; Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling wear beautiful clothes and look great -- until they start to sing and dance. Then the spell is quickly broken.

One number, late in the film, is filmed next to the Seine in Paris. It's clearly and homage to the "It's very clear, our love is here to stay" number from "American in Paris", in which Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron dance to a Gershwin tune. I left the movie theater disappointed, went home, and played the Kelly-Caron scene, which I have saved on my TV. It's so far superior to anything in LA LA Land that there's no comparison.

[prendrelemick]

I saw a few Films this Christmas, the pick of them was "The Searchers" and "Singing in the Rain". Both of them are absolute classics of their genres. Two days later came the news of Debbie Reynolds' Death.

[bounty]

prendrelemick, I took a music and film course as an undergrad and "singing in the rain" was one of the movies we watched. I probably never would have watched it otherwise, but I am glad that I did.

I most recently watched "ex machina" and don't want to give too much away from it, but I found it thoughtful and intriguing. that the ending bothered me is probably a testimony to the success of the movie.

the basic premise is a young man comes to the rich ceo's hideaway in order to pass judgment on an artificial intelligence the latter created. its interesting enough in that regard, but than gets even more interesting when the AI does something...that i'll leave a mystery.

[Lendo]

I saw "Bleed for This" some days ago, and i liked it very much. You should see it.

[Lendo]

I watched "Trumbo" yesterday on TV, it's a very good movie.

[Lendo]

I watched "Manchester by the sea" last night, and it was a very good surprise.

[Danik 2016]

Mountains may depart
I watched this film full of sensibility about the confllicts of a Chinese family some months ago.
It starts with the festivities of the Chinese new year

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mountains_may_depart_2016/

9/10

[YesNo]

"Mountains my depart" sounds interesting. I'll see if I can find it. Bounty's reference to "ex machina" is also interesting because it challenges my view that AI is not possible, that is, a deterministic-random machine is not conscious as that machine since it cannot make a choice. It's individual components down to its atomic structure however might be.

I saw "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" yesterday: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/miss_peregrines_home_for_peculiar_children/

The plot contains time warping nonsense, but everything else about this story is delightfully creepy and heartwarming. It is so well done, that I can excuse the time loops.

Score: 8/10

[Danik 2016]

I looked it up in the net but it´s not available for free, Yes/No as it is a new film. But maybe your library might get a copy.

[YesNo]

"Mountains May Depart" wasn't at the library I walk to but there are copies at other libraries where my card can be used. I could request an interlibrary loan, but I may just drive to the other library.

I saw another movie (documentary) a few days ago, "I AM": http://www.iamthedoc.com/thefilm/ This has been going through my mind and so for the thought stimulation I would have to give it a 10/10. The title comes from a story about Chesterton who, when asked what was wrong with the world, wrote "I am". It describes the desire to consume more than one needs as a mental illness and promotes connectedness rather than individualism attempting to provide evidence that supports that view. It also mentioned that the heart rather than the brain has been shown to be our center. It makes me want to look up some of the research that was referenced in the film. One part of the movie showed Shadyac in front of some yogurt which had electrodes placed in it. Shadyac's emotional state coincided with electrical changes in the yogurt. That's the experiment I would like to get more information on.

[Bookman12]

Collateral Beauty.

I would give it a 7/10. Interesting concept and I find will Smith a brilliant actor, but not as good as I was expecting it to be for some reason. It did bring a tear to my eye all the same.

[YesNo]

I just finished Jia Zhangke's film "Mountains May Depart". It was a well told story. I would rate it 10/10. The keys she kept for her friend's return and ones she made for her son tied the movie together.

[bounty]

whenever I peek in here I almost always see movies ive never even heard of and I wonder if I am a cinematic troglodyte? laughs...

I recently read unbroken by laura hillenbrand, and then just watched the movie a few days ago. the movie did a fantastic job of capturing the very heavy and meaningful parts of the book and was itself very captivating. a disturbing movie to be sure, but my goodness one well worth watching.

[Danik 2016]

Interesting comment, Yes/No, I wasn´t aware of that symbolic meaning of the keys. You are right. With all those separations and moving around the keys represent the possibility of return.

[YesNo]

I also saw "ex machina" that bounty mentioned. I resisted watching this earlier since I had enough of AI with "Chappie", however, this movie appears to me to be very anti-AI. The story is about a rich inventor who wanted to test his latest robot built to be a seductive female on an unattached male in his company. He programmed the robot to try to escape by tricking a male to help her. He would consider his robot to pass his modified version of the "Turing test" if the male were fooled by her and tried to help her escape. The inventor expected the robot to fool the male and she did, but he did not expect her to actually escape.

The movie got me thinking about the idea of fooling someone. The Turing test rests on a belief that if a simulation can fool enough people then it really has what it has fooled people into believing it does have which in this case is consciousness. If one thinks about this in terms of scientific theories one could say that all of these theories are simulations of reality. Some of them are useful. Some are not so useful. If one is fooled by a scientific theory then one forgets that the theory is a simulation or model and starts believing that reality is just like the simulation. That is where the problem with belief in scientific models or simulations comes in. Once one believes the simulation is reality one starts acting as if it were reality.

In the case of this movie, both the inventor and the male he used to test his robot not only knew the theory of strong artificial intelligence, they believed it. That was their downfall. They saw the world full of deterministic-random machines and it was only a matter of time before someone would create the conscious deterministic-random machine. Someone who did not believe in strong AI, would not likely have ended up in the situation these two guys did.

Score: 8/10

[Danik 2016]

Yes/No, Bounty and all

One of my favorite films about machines and roboters.
Metropolis by Fritz Lang:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eBGHMfw4fo

20/10 (some missing scenes though!)

[YesNo]

I just watched that, Danik. It has a nice theme: "The mediator between head and hands must be the heart." In the documentary "I AM" one of the people interviewed, Rollin McCraty, mentioned that the heart sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends back to it. Also, Ava, the robot in "ex machina" had a brain, but not a heart.

I've heard of "Metropolis" before, but this was the first time I saw it. The experience is kind of like reading a graphic novel.

[Danik 2016]

Maybe one can say that it is a precursor of the graphic novel. But what really delights me it that today I can find most of the famous old movies in the net. Some time ago one had to go to the cinema or buy the DVD to watch them.

[YesNo]

When young I would have needed to go to a cinema to see a movie. Now they can be viewed on YouTube as you mention. I used to use a slide rule to do multiplication. Now there are Jupyter notebooks. Being able to build technology around electromagnetism makes that possible.

I've been reading more of McCraty's work on the "energetic heart" since watching Shadyac's "I am". His theory is also linked to electromagnetism.

Thinking more about those robots, I assume we all believe some theories about reality which then influence the way we behave. The heartless, brain-centered algorithmic robots will need to be replaced with something subtler if they are going to fool more than true believers. At the moment such robots can't make real choices and I don't think it is possible for them to make a choice. They are forced to follow whatever their programming tells them is optimal to do. That makes them rational and they are better at being rational than we are. However, someone has to make a choice and tell them what to do whether it is the inventor telling his Machine-Man to incite a riot or telling Ava she should use certain manipulative techniques to escape from the laboratory and drain her energy source watching people on a busy street.

I find it also interesting that in Metropolis the robot was centered in the heart beating. In ex machina, it was a brain that symbolized Ava's supposed ability to simulate us.

[YesNo]

To get back to comedy, I watched "Sausage Party" last night: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sausage_party/

There is a lot of crude humor in here and the level of stupidity is pretty high (or low depending on one's perspective). It is also a cartoon which allows things to get even grosser. Anyway, it is a story about food in a grocery story that are trying to find the meaning of life. They currently believe that when they are purchased they go to paradise. They find out that isn't what happens and then they have a rebellion. They kill all the people in the store and then they find out that they aren't even real because they are cartoons and that freaks them out some more but by that time one of them invented a way for them (as simulations) to merge with their more real counterparts.

It did make me realize that if we were simulations that's how we would act, like cartoons.

Score: 7/10

[Danik 2016]

The Salesman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZceCIM0PLg

Watched the film yesterday. Tense, excelent acting, the movie has got a well deserved Oscar nomination. A bit too long.

9,5/10,00

[YesNo]

The Salesman sounds interesting. I should show up somewhere.

I just finished watching "The Great Gilly Hopkins": https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_great_gilly_hopkins_2016/ A twelve year teenager who was abandoned cracks after harming others. To make a long story short, she grows a heart.

Score: 10/10

I also saw "Masterminds": https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/masterminds_2016

This is supposedly based on a true story. To please a girl he likes an employee of a armored car company steals 17 million dollars and hides out in Mexico. His supposed girl friend starts feeling sorry for him and warns him that the mastermind who got most of the money and planned the robbery is enjoying himself and has sent someone out to kill him. Score: 10/10

[Leopard]

Mulholland Drive, widely regarded as David Lynch's magnum opus. It was great, though I still prefer Blue Velvet.

[Danik 2016]

The Salesman sounds interesting. I should show up somewhere.

I just finished watching "The Great Gilly Hopkins": https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_great_gilly_hopkins_2016/ A twelve year teenager who was abandoned cracks after harming others. To make a long story short, she grows a heart.

Score: 10/10

I also saw "Masterminds": https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/masterminds_2016

This is supposedly based on a true story. To please a girl he likes an employee of a armored car company steals 17 million dollars and hides out in Mexico. His supposed girl friend starts feeling sorry for him and warns him that the mastermind who got most of the money and planned the robbery is enjoying himself and has sent someone out to kill him. Score: 10/10
The Salesman should not be difficult to find as it is an Oscar nominee. But it isn´t a comedy. It is very human though but one leaves the cinema with a heavy heart.

[YesNo]

I should be able to find The Salesman. The people in the trailer didn't look very happy. I should probably select more dramas. One genre I avoid is horror movies.

I picked up an old Oscar movie to watch tonight "How Green Was My Valley": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Green_Was_My_Valley_(film) I saw another film directed by John Ford about a year ago called "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", however, I thought Dorothy Johnson's short story was better.

[Danik 2016]

It´s not an actual horror movie. It might be a film about the horror of urban unprotectness in our times of social negative feeling.
It relates to at least two American art works:
The Dead of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
Psycho, by Alfred Hitchcock

[YesNo]

I'll give it a try. I thought it was more of a drama than a horror movie anyway. The horror movies that bother me have monsters popping up when I least want to see them. Of course, the music cues that they are coming and I can partially cover my eyes.

[Danik 2016]

No certainly not the ugly plastic monsters you mean.
It is a real situation. The Iranian films I have watched so far use to be very realistic.
And I think you are joking:I can´t imagine you covering your eyes because of some plastic monsters, even if some studios deserve the Oscar if there is an ugliness contest! :wink5:
I think you will like it!

[YesNo]

I couldn't find "The Salesman" in the library but perhaps it is too early for it to be out in disk format. I'll keep it on my to-watch list. It does look interesting.

Rather than "How Green Was My Valley", I watched a science fiction movie "Morgan": https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morgan_2016/

It looks like Rotten Tomatoes and I were in agreement. My score was 3/10. Their scores weren't much better.

The story did not convince me that people would act the way they did in this movie. I could not imagine an egotistical shrink insisting he be unprotected when interviewing Morgan after her wounding someone. The robot sent out to terminate Morgan did not convince me that she was not a robot from the beginning. The people who lost their weapons before they fired a shot at Morgan also seemed unrealistic.

So, forget about the movie, but just look at the concept of a genetically engineered human with superpowers and emotions. The emotions are no problem. This is a human being and conscious as such. The superpowers coming from modifying DNA or something mysterious in the human is what requires questioning whether that is realistic enough to fantasize about in science fiction. Its possibility rests on a belief that our humanity can be reduced to genes which we can manipulate. Is that realistic? The first proof that such a thing is possible would be to find a cure for cancer based on genetic modification. Until we have that, these stories are fairy tales.

One good thing about Morgan is that she is not an AI robot. She has a heart and so consciousness is not an issue. No one in their right mind wants a silicon AI robot to be conscious. We want to send such machines to explore places humans should not go like Mars or other bodies in the solar system. Or we want them to drive us around in cars. We don't want them to make choices on their own. We want them to follow their programming rationally.

[Danik 2016]

Maybe The Salesman will be available in disc after the Oscar ceremony. It must be in some cinemas from US but I have no idea how this distribution is done. Iranian movies are sometimes made with very modest budgets and this probably affects their distribuition.
I am not that keen on robot films, maybe because they are becoming more and more sophisticated.
But in older films like Bicentennial Man I often have the impression that the robots are a methaphor of dehumanized humans that long for their lost humanity.

[YesNo]

Robots may be a metaphor for dehumanized humans. That seems to be how I looked at them in the past when I was not thinking about artificial intelligence.

There is also an artificial intelligence perspective claiming that human consciousness can be generated by running a program in a robot. That cultural idea would be a way to dehumanize a human being, basically reduce the human being's consciousness to what the robot can simulate.

I don't know how the distribution is done for those films, but now that it is in my mind, when I see it, I'll check it out. Have you seen any others that you would rate as highly as you did The Salesman?

[Danik 2016]

I am very much afraid of this AI perspective. I don´t think that human inteligence will desapear as long as there are humans, but there are also groups that want to dominate other people and they might use AI or genetic means that aren´t known yet, like in Brave New World, where they have four or five genetic classes of people.

I don´t go as often to the cinema as I used to. But I noticed that one can find a lot of good films in the net. For example "Dreams" and "Dodeskaden" by Kurosawa are among my favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toZhE2nfMLk

I found "Dreams", but they have taken a lot of the films out. Well, who doesn´t want to watch good films for free?

[YesNo]

I found Dreams. I liked that bright umbrella in the rainy darkness at the beginning of the movie.

One could physically dominate others using AI. That still assumes the others are human beings. A subtle form of dominance would be to get human beings to think that that they are mechanistic machines that some future science will be able to manipulate. Since we don't know what science could be capable of in the future we assume anything might happen. That is a kind of cultural dominance. What makes it not dominance is that even the people doing this dominating are under the same hypnotic spell. Culturally today it is easier to believe science can do anything than it is to think gods, muses or magicians have similar unlimited potential.

[Danik 2016]

But human science has its limits too. One notices that when science manages to find the cure for an illness others appear.

[Danik 2016]

The unknown girl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caKLk-LizyI

Dedicated doctor seeks to find out what happened to a girl that was found dead, shortly after she refused to admit her to the clinic because it was closed.
Score:8,0

[YesNo]

I can see how the doctor would be motivated to find out more about the unknown girl. I'll see if I can find it.

We watched an old movie written by Sidney Sheldon in the late 1940's: The bachelor and the bobby-soxer https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_bachelor_and_the_bobby_soxer/

I was amazed at how funny this was and how it kept our interest all the way through. Score: 8/10

[Danik 2016]

A remarcable cast Yes/No. How old would Shirley Temple be at the time of the movie?
The unknown girl has much of a documentary. I am pretty sure the protagonist was specially prepared to handle the patients.

[YesNo]

Shirley Temple was born in 1928 and the movie came out in 1947. She may have been 19. She was playing a 17-year-old in the movie. She looked the right age. We mainly watched the movie because Sheldon wrote the screen play.

[Danik 2016]

That´s interesting. I thought she was only a child actress.
Where do you watch the new films if you want to, I mean if you don´t find them at your library? Have you got Netflix or something similar?
I used to go to the cinema almost every weekend, but it has become difficult because all the public events in São Paulo happen in the street were most of the cinemas are.

[tonywalt]

Born into this, a documentary on Charles bukowski. Also: the following films directed by kelly Reichardt

Old Joy
Wendy and Lucy
Meek's Cutoff
Night Moves
Certain Women

[YesNo]

I think Shirley Temple is mainly known as a child actress, Danik. I remember seeing some of them that made it on TV long ago. We usually get movies from the library which also has an online source called Hoopla. No driving required since the library is walking distance. There is also YouTube especially for documentaries. We rarely go to a cinema.

I found "Born into this" on YouTube, Tony. I may watch some of it.

[tonywalt]

I think Shirley Temple is mainly known as a child actress, Danik. I remember seeing some of them that made it on TV long ago. We usually get movies from the library which also has an online source called Hoopla. No driving required since the library is walking distance. There is also YouTube especially for documentaries. We rarely go to a cinema.

I found "Born into this" on YouTube, Tony. I may watch some of it.

It is very good.

[YesNo]

Yes, it is a good documentary. I remember reading something about him years ago and this confirms my impression of what he was like.

[Danik 2016]

I asked mainly, because I noticed that one of the big sources of free movies and music "You Tube" is changing is policy, at least here in Brazil. I found "The bachelor and ..." for download but I don´t think they were free downloads. Also I looked for videos of the Lollapalooza shows tht took place in SãoPaulo this weekend. Some guy put them into You Tube, but they were all taken all out again.
So Yes/no, Tony or any one who is in habit of downloading You Tube films or music had better see if there has been any change in his/her country in that aspect

[YesNo]

I only use the free YouTube service although we do purchase extra cloud storage to distribute private family videos. If it isn't in the library or on Hoopla (which is currently free with the library card), we don't get it. Our daughters do purchase Amazon, Netflix or other streaming services I am unaware of but they don't live with us anymore.

[Danik 2016]

In US you have to pay more internet services than here. I think cloud storage is still free but I am wary of using it specially for family fotos and videos. 1984 syndrome. The less is known in the net about anyone´s ties the better protected they are.
There also is a place near by where I can rent movies also new ones. There used to be a lot of them where you could rent dvd´s. But most of them disapeared because you could watch the films in the net. I think that is changing again.

[YesNo]

There's nothing in my videos that they don't already know. However, I think people should not rely on cloud storage assuming their digital files are safe there. They need to also be backed up on physical media in multiple places. One can build one's own cloud storage. Or so I have heard.

I saw the John Hughes' film "Sixteen Candles" last night. I am surprised I haven't seen this before. Score: 10/10

[Danik 2016]

I found "Sixteen candles" but didn´t watch it yet. The sound is low and no undertitles.

Watched a German film today. "The misplaced world". A family drama which in spite of PCs and cell phones seems old fashioned. I liked it but the reviews in general are not good.
Here is one:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/misplaced-world-berlin-review-773094
Found trailer in German, Portuguese and Chinese but not in English.
07/10

[YesNo]

Even though I thought "Sixteen Candles" was 10/10, I tend to overrate the good ones and underrate the bad ones. It is kind of like have two curves when giving out grades in a class. I'll see if "The misplaced world" is in the library tomorrow.

I just finished watching an old movie, "It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world". A group of people hear a dying criminal tell them where he buried a lot of money before the police arrived. The rest of the movie shows them trying to find that buried treasure. This is also a 10/10.

[qimissung]

My mom loved that movie. It is a lot of fun. They actually made it to raise some money for the widow of a director...or something. I forget who.

La Passe. 10/10

[Taybah]

Watched 'Me Before You'
I would give it a 9
Awesome story
Will keep you in tears

[Ecurb]

The church where the wedding in "Sixteen Candles" is held is the one I attended as a child (my parents were atheists, but made us kids go to Sunday School and get a religious education anyway).

I saw "Their Finest" last night. It's set in London, during the Blitz. The heroine has just gotten a job writing dialogue for movies, and the War Department wants to raise morale by offering a sentimental movie about English heroism at Dunkirk. There are a few yuks about the corny movie they are making, filled with sentimental cliches.

There is also a backstage plot involving the actors and writers, and a bit of romance. The joke is that the backstage plot (which the audience is invited to take seriously) is just as cliche-ridden and hokey as the movie about Dunkirk (albeit with better production values).

It's not a great movie -- but it's funny and fun.

[Shalot]

The last movie I saw was Wonder Woman and the theater here just got a bar. So we went and we got a drink. then we sat in the theater and watched commercials for like an hour. Then the movie started, and it looked like it would be good. but my drink was empty. And then the movie just went on and on and on and on and on and on. They really could have left a lot of it out and it would have been just fine I think. Why are movies so long now? I used to be really into movies, and now I'm into shows. Shows on Netflix that you can watch for 3 hours - a season of a series is like a 10 or 12 hour long movie divided into 10 or 12 parts depending on how many episodes. Movies seem to have gone downhill.

[Ecurb]

"Dunkirk" has received (for some incomprehensible reason) rave reviews. I was suspicious of the reviews and of the movies because Christopher Nolan's other movies ("Batman Begins", "Memento", "Inception", etc.) also received critical acclaim. And I hated them. I've boycotted superhero movies ever since sitting through Nolan's Batman movie (the one with Heath Ledger as The Joker). It was interminable. When I saw "Inception", I kept hoping that stupid van would plunge into the water, so the movie would be over.

"Dunkirk" isn't quite that bad, but it's close. It's an ensemble disaster flick that fails to create the slightest human interest in its characters, so the viewer doesn't care who survives. It seems to want to be a hard-hitting war film -- exposing the horrid reality of modern warfare -- but Nolan has added an overly dramatic (even saccharine) score that counteracts this purpose.

OK. Dunkirk is as legendary tale of British civilians' stiff-upper-lip heroism. I get it. But when one of the rescued soldiers reads Churchill's famous "We will fight them on the beaches" speech at the end of them movie, he makes even Churchill's stirring rhetoric seem dull, Impossible? Not for Christopher Nolan.

[YesNo]

I don't remember much about Inception except that it didn't make any sense. I probably won't watch Dunkirk since I prefer comedies and this doesn't sound like one.

I watched Enchanted with my daughter a few weeks ago. I can't believe Rotten Tomatoes agrees with me about this one with a 93% fresh rating at the moment: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/enchanted/ I might have to take them more seriously. Anyway, some fairy-tale characters are sent to Manhattan by a wicked step mother or queen or whatever to see what reality is really like. I'd give it ten stars. It had enough silliness to counter the mushiness. I might see it again.

[YesNo]

I saw the John Hughes movie Uncle Buck last night. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/uncle_buck/ Not as good as Enchanted but entertaining.

Score 8/10

[Danik 2016]

I saw Kedi today, a documentary on Istanbul´s cat culture. A must for all cat lovers.

http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/youtube-red-kedi-turkish-street-cats-1202391313/


17/10(10 + one point more for each cat protagonist.)

[YesNo]

From the trailer Kedi looks well done.

[Snowqueen]

I watched Sabrina (1954) for the first time and really liked it. I think Bogart and Hepburn both played flawlessly. It's delightful comedy. 8/10
Also watched I'll See You in My Dreams a few days ago. Not so good. 4/10

[YesNo]

Sabrina sounds interesting. I'll see if the library has it tomorrow.

I watched "The Shack": https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_shack/ Although I can see how Rotten Tomatoes did not like this, I'm with the people on this one. I thought it was enjoyable, a 6 or 7 out of 10.

The story is about a fictional near-death experience. The message was forgiveness. One part of the message that I disagreed with was that God seemed to know what someone would do before the person did it. They thought this was OK because God enjoyed watching us do it as if for the first time. If we are truly a source of freedom, He wouldn't be able to know what we were going to do although he could guess likely choices on our part. Basically, God knows everything that is knowable, but what we are going to do next is not knowable except probabilistically. It is nothing against his "omniscience" not to know something that is unknowable.

[YesNo]

I saw Sabrina, the Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart movie. It was at least an 8 out of 10 rating. Sabrina's father tells her not to reach for the moon and she tells him the moon is reaching for her.

[kev67]

I saw Valerian and the City of the Thousand Planets today at the cinema. It's nonsense but it looks good, rather like The Fifth Element in style.

[tailor STATELY]

Recently saw The Reluctant Saint on TCM, a story of St. Joseph of Cupertino (" the patron saint of both aviators and bad students.") which I enjoyed very much, but is not going to be everyone's cup of peppermint tea. It's in B&W and plods a bit, but has some noteworthy stars in lead roles including Ricardo Montalbán and Maximillian Schell. There is a Youtube version, which I watched also a day or two later, that is a bit stilted in its presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXxOLNRBdXw

Spoilers: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056403/

For those not inclined I'd rate it a 3 of 10; for those inclined an 8 of 10.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[YesNo]

We watched "Table 19" last night. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/table_19/

Rotten Tomatoes thought it was pretty rotten. I would agree. Score 3/10.

[YesNo]

I watched Boss Baby: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_boss_baby/

If you are seven years old and you are told by your parents you will have a new baby brother arriving shortly, this might be a good movie to watch.

[Danik 2016]

As you didn´t rate it, it seems that the film may be not so interesting to people who don´t fullfill the above conditions.

[YesNo]

I forgot to rate it and I can't seem to edit my posts anymore. I would give The Boss Baby a 5/10. It wasn't as bad as Table 19.

Last night I saw the eighth film in the Fast and Furious series "The Fate of the Furious". https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_fate_of_the_furious/ It got a reasonably good rating from Rotten Tomatoes, but I am more inclined to rate it higher--actually 10/10.

It made me wonder why I liked these movies so much. This is the best I can come up with at the moment. Based on Jonathan Haidt's moral foundation theory, this movie fits squarely in the tension between individual rights and group loyalty. The theme of "family" is constantly emphasized as characterizing the good guys. The bad guy (bad girl in this episode) belittled the family idea talking about it as some neural delusion that she had advanced beyond in her intellectual superiority. She got her butt kicked in the end, but she escaped perhaps for a future episode.

[YesNo]

I saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/guardians_of_the_galaxy_vol_2/

This is very similar to the Fast and the Furious movies except for the technology. In both, family is the critical idea and there are people with advanced "scientific" perspectives who are intent on harming that family. Those superior bad guys get their butts kicked. The main characters are very skilled but they are social outcasts who nonetheless save the world or galaxy and then go back to their simpler lives.

Score: 10/10

[YesNo]

I saw the first Guardians of the Galaxy last night. It shows how the guardians got started. Again family is the crucial theme throughout the movie. Score: 10/10

[Danik 2016]

I didn´t see these Guardia movies but the plot sounds familiar to me

[YesNo]

I normally don't watch science fiction, but the library had them on display and there was no good comedy on the shelves. I tried them because Rotten Tomatoes gave them a high rating.

[hazelk]

Just viewed a wonderful movie on TV made in Israel "Restoration" it had me spellbound and is still with me, Sasson Gabai played the lead father character who has discovered that an old Steinway in his furniture restoring shop if restored will sell and save him from losing the business and in the process could lose him his loving son. A great twist at the end.Great casting, a wonderful story.

[Universe of Ed]

My last movie was actually from 2007 "Les chansons d´amour" I think it was pretty good 9/10

[YesNo]

I'll look for Les chansons d'amour and Restoration in the library today.

[YesNo]

I couldn't find either of those movies, but I tried to watch Horrible Bosses 2 last night. I couldn't quite make it through the whole thing.

[YesNo]

I saw Snatched: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/snatched_2017/

The critics at Rotten Tomatoes didn't like it. Neither did the real people. I wonder why I chuckled through it? There were moronic moments in this comedy I am glad I witnessed, but I don't think I'd want to see them again. Score: 7.5/10

[YesNo]

I saw the 2008 comedy "Ghost Town" a couple nights ago: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1190970_ghost_town

In this case the Rotten Tomatoes critics where closer to the truth than the rest of us. I would give this a 10/10.

The movie is about an anti-social dentist who dies for a few minutes during a routine procedure. After that he can see dead people who need to find a way to communicate with the living so they can move on. It turns out he is now their medium against his will. He resists helping them but one particularly annoying ghost keeps bugging him to stop his widow from marrying someone else. She lives in the same building as the dentist and he has been particularly annoying to her. That doesn't stop him from falling in love with her himself, but the problem is he is anti-social. This is a comedy, so everything works out in the end. There is one line from this movie, which is not all that important, that I can't get out of my head. The dentist reminds a patient to floss by saying, "You only have to floss those you want to keep."

[YesNo]

I saw the new The Mummy. Technically it is well done, but it was rather boring. Even Rotten Tomatoes didn't like it: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_mummy_2017/ Score 3/10

Now the 1999 movie with Brendan Fraser was far better: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1087270_mummy Score: 10/10

[tonywalt]

Night Moves by directed by Kelly Reichardt

She's and excellent independent filmmaker.

[kiz_paws]

Just saw the movie The Dark Tower.
Very disappointing indeed.
After plunging through the reading of all those books, I'd have thought the movie would have done some justice...NOT...Grrr!
As far as the reading of the Dark Tower series, the first book was the best, in my humble opinion.

[YesNo]

I saw the 2007 movie "License to Wed" last night: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1175072_license_to_wed It was pretty rotten. Perhaps 2/10 as the critics more or less gave it. The humor didn't make sense to me or rather it made too much sense to be humorous.

However, the 2003 "Anger Management" which was on a similar theme was quite enjoyable, as I remember, even though the critics thought this was rotten as well (but not so much): https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1121649_anger_management It was at least funny.

[luvmesumchewy]

The last movie I saw was Nut Job 2. It sucked. Big time.

[YesNo]

I just checked Rotten Tomatoes and they agreed with you about Nut Job 2. I'll probably skip it.

I found two new comedies in the library, "The House" https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_house_2017 and "Killing Hasselhoff" https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/killing_hasselhoff

Regarding "The House", I could only stand about 15 minutes of it. Besides I had a plan B with the second movie. So I didn't finish it.

I almost stopped watching Killing Hasselhoff as well, but I was too tired to find the remote to turn if off. Anyway, the longer I watched it the more I liked it. Besides I didn't have a plan C. Score 7/10

[tonywalt]

Taxi Driver 10/10 classic, a study of loneliness. Even with a Hollywood ending I still stick with a 10/10

[YesNo]

My daughter recommended Rick and Morty. This is an animated comedy series. You can find the episodes on YouTube. The best one I've seen so far is Season 1 Episode 4 about simulations. I am going to have to remember this if I ever get caught in a simulation. They are moronic but addicting.

[YesNo]

I watched The Layover: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_layover/ It doesn't look good for this movie from either the critics or the people. However, I found it tediously amusing. I was able to get through the movie and enjoy parts of it.

The story is about two roommates who are trying to seduce a man who sits between them on the plane on their way to Fort Lauderdale to celebrate everything going wrong in their adult lives. The next thing that goes wrong in their lives is they are fighting over this stranger. There are some pretty good scenes especially when they try to do good and stop two marriages from happening. One was a definite oops and the other they didn't succeed in stopping, but considering everything it was all for the best. This is a comedy so everything sort of turns out OK in the end.

Score: 7/10

[YesNo]

We watched The Big Sick: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_big_sick/ This got 98% positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes! It is the story of Kumail Nanjiani, a Pakistani comedian, and how he met his wife, Emily.

The critics are right about this one. It deserves a score of 10/10. It was heartbreaking and in places so funny we laughed out loud.

[YesNo]

Lost in Yonkers (1993): https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lost_in_yonkers/

Very nice. Score: 10/10

[tonywalt]

The Truman show

9/10 (It gets higher each time I watch it)

[Danik 2016]

The Other Side of Hope:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtiFG6utst8


9,5/10

[bounty]

wonder woman, and i absolutely love love loved it! its become one of my very favorites. ive watched certain scenes in it dozens of times since.

[YesNo]

The scene I liked about Wonder Woman was her reaction after tasting ice cream her future boyfriend bought her. That scene was quick, but it is now in my mind.

[Clopin]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi 2/10

About as good as Attack of the Clones.

[YesNo]

I skipped Star Wars, but we did watch that recent movie about Churchill. I think it was called "Darkest Hour". I thought that was pretty good, say 9/10.

[Ecurb]

I've seen most of the movies favored for awards that are out now. Here are my brief reviews of each:

"The Darkest Hour" -- Say what you will about Sir Winston, he never struck me as a ditherer. Instead, his image is that of a supremely confident leader. Yet Gary Oldman dithers his way through "Darkest Hour". This movie is not terrible -- it moves along, as, given the stirring historical events it portrays, it could hardly fail to do -- but it's not very good, either.

"The Last Jedi" -- It's not as bad as the last Star Wars movie (which was a scene-by-scene recreation of the original Star Wars), but it comes close. It repeats "Emperor Strikes Back", except that it's not nearly as good.

"The Post" -- Here in liberal Eugene, Oregon, this film was greeted with more than one ovation. It's directed by Steven Spielberg, and it stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. It can hardly go wrong. The movie is about how the Washington Post stepped in to publish the Pentagon Papers after the New York Times (which broke the story) was enjoined from doing so by Federal Courts. It's a fine movie, but the John Williams score and the reaction of the audience seemed more appropriate to blowing up Death Stars than to running a newspaper. I suppose it takes (some modicum of) courage to defy Nixon -- but, let's face it, Ben Bradley isn't quite Luke Skywalker.

"The Shape of Water" -- Guillermo del Toro's science fiction fantasy is good fun. It's set during the cold war and involves Russian spies, CIA heavies, and a strange creature from the amazon who resembles a man wearing a scuba wetsuit and mask. Sally Hawkins, a mute janitor at a D.C. secret military facility, foils the evil U.S. military's plans to dissect the creature, with the aid of a Russian spy. This film is more of a send-up of 1950s sci-fi movies than anything else, but it's entertaining.

"The Disaster Artist" -- I'd never seen "The Room" (evidently admired by youthful hipsters as the worst movie ever), but this film is entertaining fluff. I never quite got the attraction of "The Room". I don't like "bloopers" TV shows, either. What's so funny about bad things? Nonetheless, this film was enjoyable, because the characters are so strange.

"I, Tonya". -- I live in Oregon, and I've been a Tonya Harding fan for years. I almost boycotted the movie -- fearing it would go for cheap laughs. Instead, it's very good, telling several sides of the story, and portraying the wacky real-life characters as, at least, interesting. Why DID the FBI find that practice schedule for Kerrigan in Tonya's handwriting? Hmmm.

"Lady Bird" Greta Gerwig's directorial debut (if you don't count Frances Ha), is a funny, touching, coming of age story. It's a little movie -- based around small themes and ordinary characters -- but it portrays them well and keeps the audience entertained.

"Three Bill Boards outside Ebbing Missouri" -- Martin McDonagh directs Frances McDormand in this dark, sometimes comic film. I enjoyed the acting, the characters, and the entire movie, although it was damaged by enough holes in the plot to drive several pick-up trucks through. A lot of professionalism must have gone into making the film -- the dialogue is witty, the photography evocative, the set-up unusual and interesting. You'd think they could have come up with a plot that holds together a little better.

[Danik 2016]

Thanks, Ecurb. Very useful as some of these films will be shown here only in February. Had a good laugh at the ironic passages.

[Danik 2016]

Thank, Ecurb. Very useful as some of these films will be shown here only in February. Had a good laugh at the ironic passages.

[tonywalt]

Darkest Hour with Gary Oldman - really liked it id give it an 8

[Danik 2016]

The Post

A film every American should see. Though I should like to see a film focused on Daniel Ellsberg himself. This one centers on the newspaper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrXlY6gzTTM

8,5/10,00

[Ecurb]

I saw "Phantom Thread" last night, induced to do so by the rumor that it would be Daniel Day Lewis's final film. Lewis is one of the best film actors of the past 30 years, and the son of former Poet Laureate Cecil Day Lewis. In addition he quit acting for five years to become a cobbler, which makes his interest in fashion and clothing piquant.

The film is gorgeous. The actors, the clothes, the still-lifes of the interior sets and the all-too-rare outdoor scenes all look great. The music by Johnny Greenwood --mostly piano -- adds to the creepy and claustrophobic atmosphere. Day Lewis's film sister Cyril is clearly designed to resemble Mrs. Manvers from "Rebecca", and adds to the creepy, stylized atmosphere. Day Lewis (Mr. Woodcock) gets rid of one model and muse, and picks up another one (Alma) at a restaurant. How Day Lewis and his models retain their slender figures is something of a mystery, considering the amount of food they order and consume. Trays of delicious-looking sweet rolls appear at each breakfast, but remain uneaten -- perhaps representing the control needed for artistic production.

Unfortunately, all of the beauty and creepy claustrophobia that the film so skillfully produces leads nowhere. Cyril is a cipher, clip-clopping about the house in her sensibly blocky high heels. I kept waiting for her to do something, but she never does. Alma and Woodcock wander through a sickly, co-dependent relationship with neither resolution nor (despite the dramatic details) drama. I suppose this is a post-modern motif -- things just happen that lead nowhere, or to walls so high their tops cannot be seen. In addition, I was annoyed with the notion that an artist is, by nature, deranged, and that his psychoses must be indulged, and his life ordered, to facilitate his creativity.

At one point Alma runs off to attend a New Years Eve party solo, and I whispered to my companion, "Let's hope they wrap it up sometime this year." Still, the positives of the film far outweigh the negatives, and it's well worth seeing.

[bounty]

just puttin' in another plug for wonder woman!!

[aravindakshan]

Last film i watched is illumination by krzysztof zanussi. Great film. It's about a guy who faces an existential crisis seeks answer through his study physics. Later thinks about joining biology but ends up with mathematics. In between he takes turn towards religion too. In each of his pursuits he finds the institutions to be in one way or other corrupt, not sufficient enough to satisfy his quest.
one of the great polish films i have seen.
This filmmaker i recently identified can be considered along with the lines of wajda, kieslowski and other polish greats.
I have seen another of his film too "Structure of crystal" . Another one centering on science graduates, professionals. Pretty good one.

[Number 34]

Just saw Justice League. It's terrible.

[Danik 2016]

Three billboards outside ebbing missouri
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/three_billboards_outside_ebbing_missouri/

10/10

[Ecurb]

"The Rider" is an independent film directed by Chloe Zhao, who hails from Beijing. Her father was a businessman , and she was shipped off to England for secondary school, and to America for further education at NYU's Tisch school of Film. From this life, she has evidently become fascinated with Native Americans, and her two films are set on the Pine Ridge Lakota reservation, in southwest South Dakota. This area was home to the last of the Ghost Dances, and the notorious incident at Wounded Knee.

The film uses Native American non-actors in the starring roles, playing fictionalized versions of themselves. The star is Brady Jandreau (playing Brady Blackburn). IN both the movie and in real life, he is a budding rodeo star who has his skull fractured by a bronc. He struggles with his doctor's advice to quit both rodeo and horse training (both of which he loves). His film debut is a smash hit -- the camera loves him. His sister and father in the film are played by (you guessed it) his sister and father. His father is irresponsible and alcohol-loving, but also loves his children and teaches them well. Brady's sister is mentally handicapped, and the film captures the self reliance of the Blackburn family in loving her and taking care of her. (In real-life she has asperger's syndrome.)

The scenes depicting Brady training wild horses are great (the real life Brady quit the rodeo, but continued to train horses). Brady's obvious expertise, concentration, skill and talent all shine. The wild Western Prairie terrain looks fabulous -- the clouds, the Badlands, and the wind-swept grass set the mood perfectly.

This isn't a big movie. There are no super-heroes. But the film captures the melding of American motifs. The rodeo is (doubtless) a white mans' invention -- but Brady (who looks partly white) and his Native pals love it. It is the acceptance of a new way of life that honors the Native Lakota tradition of loving horses, and the notion that one's identity as a man is largely defined by one's skills as a horseman. "The Rider" probably won't stay at your local theater for long: don't miss it.

[kev67]

All You Need is Cash aka The Rutles, which is a TV film really. It's a mockumentary of the Beatles filmed in 1978. It's a little patchy, but the good bits more than make up. It has a strong set of near copyright infringing Beatles pastiches. When it was first broadcast on the NBC in 1978, it was the least watched prime time show that week. George Harrison assisted making it; John Lennon loved it so much he refused to give the tape back; Ringo Starr found most of it funny but the bits about their manager and the squabbling made him sad. Paul McCartney really did not like it, but Linda did and persuaded him not to stop it. I'm a little surprised Lennon liked it, because they parodied him mercilessly. I have been around for fifty years and have only just watched it.

[melika]

The Sndrome of Berlin and i liked it 8.10

[Danik 2016]

Lord of the Flies by Peter Brook
Found it in the net:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puglTctwozM

Good film but the book is better.
8,5/10

[Pompey Bum]

Lord of the Flies by Peter Brook
Found it in the net:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puglTctwozM

Good film but the book is better.
8,5/10

A great film which I actually like more than the book. Thanks for posting it, Danik.

[Ecurb]

i saw "Old Man with a Gun" and "Widows" recently. "Old Man" is (reputedly) Robert Redford's last movie. It's based on a "New Yorker" article by David Grann -- an excellent long-form journalist -- about an elderly bank robber. The aging thief is polite charmer who simply can't resist the thrill of robbing banks and escaping from jails. Redford is appealing and cute in the film -- but let's face facts. He's not as appealing or cute as he was 40 years ago, and cuteness is pretty much the limit of his talent. Sissy Spacek plays his love interest, and in one scene she makes tea. I know old people often live unexciting lives. I also know that they (we?) sometimes drink tea, and that the scene took only 20 seconds. But that's the kind of detail that could be omitted from a heist movie, and I couldn't help but think that if she had only made coffee it might have improved the pace of the film.

"Widows" is directed by Steve McQueen (no, he hasn't returned from the dead, he's the British director of "Twelve Years a Slave"). It stars Viola Davis. A heist has gone wrong, and the four thieves are slain in a hail of police bullets. One of their widows (Viola) finds a notebook outlining plans for another big heist. Three of the widows join forces to steal the $5 million. The movie is well done and set in my former home town of Chicago. Robert Duval plays an aging Chicago alderman, and the black crook running against his son is appropriately evil (as are Duval and his son). The movie lacks something, though. The heist plotted in the notebook isn't sufficiently complicate or ingenious to carry the plot. What's the point of the notebook, with its pedestrian plot? Also, since when do crooks keep detailed plans in notebooks? Couldn't that provide evidence for District Attorneys? I'll say this: the movie is reasonably fun anyway, certainly more fun than "TWelve Years a Slave", which was about as enjoyable as being flogged with a bamboo cane.

[spikepipsqueak]

Haven't seen a film since 3 Billboards, then 2 in one week.

Bohemian Rhapsody cleaned up Freddy Mercury's story a little but was wonderful anyway. I intend to let my 8 and 9yos see it, since they love the music. Lots of background info on the band and insights into Freddy's life and personality that were already in the public domain, but very well portrayed here.

Juliet, Naked lightweight drama with lovely message. Think Love Actually but slightly less comedic. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Ecurb]

"A Star is Born" (the new one) is written by, directed by, and stars Bradley Cooper. Cooper plays a handsome (he's good at that part) country rock star who "discovers" Lady Gaga vamping up "La Vie en Rose" in a drag night club. He spots her talent and nurtures both it and their budding romance. Unfortunately, he is also an alcoholic and drug addict, and as her career skyrockets, his plummets. IN one scene, he desires Gaga to find her own authentic voice,and sing the songs she has written herself. "You must tell YOUR story," he pontificates.

This seems strange,considering that in Cooper's first attempt at directing and screenwriting, he is trotting out a movie that has been made at least four times previously. The first two were non-musicals back in the '30s -- and then none less than Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand took on the Gaga role. Lady Gaga is an excellent actress -- unsurprising, since all of her pop songs involve her performing a "role". However, none of the songs are memorable; Cooper's pop star is typically untalented; and the movie is (like it's predecessors) a downer. Gaga's "La Vie en Rose" reminds the viewer of the difference between real talent (thank you Edith Piaf) and over-the-top vamping at a drag club. In addition, I missed the Harold Arlen / Ira Gershwin songs of the Garland version, including "The Man that Got Away".

ON the positive side, Lady Gaga is believable as a pop star -- and she looks so ordinary in blue jeans that her transformation to pop star is very well done. Bradley Cooper lacks the edginess of James Mason in the Garland version -- his addictions are portrayed as a sort of victimhood from an unhappy childhood, as if his alcoholism resembled lung cancer developed from his parents' second hand smoke. The first hour of the film is good -- as Gaga's star ascends. The descent, not so much.

I also saw "The Green Book" last night. It stars Vigo Mortensen and and Mahershala Ali, and recounts the story of a pianist who hires an Italian goodfella to drive him on a concert tour through the South (it's 1962). Predictably, they end up liking each other, and Mortenson ends up being horrified by segregation. The movie cheats, a bit. Just as Sidney Portier was an M.D. in "The Man who Came to Dinner", Ali's character is a world-class pianist, a PhD., talks without the hint of any African-American accent, and, to boot, is gay. So much for white fear about black men molesting (or attracting) their women!

Nonetheless, the movie is good fun. Such films live or die by the charisma of the two stars, and Mortensen and Ali pull off their somewhat hackneyed roles very well.

[Ecurb]

Barry Jenkins new movie suffers from some of the same flaws that “Moonlight” did, but lacks the virtues. It also suffers from my notion that if Beal Street could talk, it would say, “I support a ban on studded tires.”

The movie revolves around a romance between a beautiful young black girl and her equally beautiful lover who is languishing in prison for a crime he didn't commit. The problem: as in “Moonlight”, the lovers aren't particularly interesting. They seldom even speak, preferring to stare moon-eyed at each other.

In addition, the movie “cheats”. The cop whose lies put Fonnie in jail is a more evil version of Joffery from “Game of Thrones” (I'll grant it's a minor role, but still).

The minor characters are fun: the girl's mother is loving and feisty; the boy's mother is a wicked and judgmental church-lady When she's on screen, hackneyed as her role is, at least the movie comes alive. Her scene is the most enjoyable in the movie.

The movie is well-filmed: the leads are beautiful, the scenes well-shot. But it drags. At one point, Fonnie's trial got delayed, and I turned to my friend and whispered, “Uh oh. This might take forever.”

[qimissung]

Those are good reviews, Ecurb.

I saw "Cold War" recently and loved it. The two leads are good, particularly the female, although I cannot remember her name. It takes place in Poland after WWII and is a good depiction of life in eastern Europe after the war. The male lead finally tires of life under the Soviets and leaves. His love is able to join him later, but finds she cannot adapt to the diminishment of their lives and talents in a foreign land (in this case, France). She returns home, but as we all know, you can't go home again.

[Ecurb]

I liked "Cold War", too, gimissung. It's a little like "A Star is Born", in that it's a "downer" musical. Still, the photography (in black and white) is gorgeous, as are the two lead actors. I liked the songs better than "Star's", too. In some of the reviews I read, the relationship of the two stars was called "steamy". I think this is mere shorthand, meaning the stars are beautiful. The relationship is actually underdeveloped and it's a bit difficult to understand the obsession (other than on a physical level).

I also saw the 5 Oscar Nominated short live action films recently. It would be difficult to imagine a more unpleasant evening. The first movie -- "Fauve" -- is about two boys who go into an open pit mine. One of them gets caught in a sink hole and dies. The visuals are very well done, but the story is manipulative and silly. The relationship between the boys is established with them competing with each other. It's supposed to be youthful and masculine, but it made me think that these kids are jerks. Also, the surviving boy's reaction to the tragedy is not credible.

The second movie was "Madre". It's an excellent idea for a tense story. A mother gets a phone call from her 6-year-old boy. He's on a beach. His father (from whom the mother is separated) has disappeared, and the boy is all alone, and doesn't know where he is. Nice set up. Eventually, a man shows up who (what are the odds?) turns out to be a child molester. What a way to ruin a nice idea, by trying to manipulate the audience into an emotional response!

The third movie is "Marguerite", about an old woman who receives in home nursing care from a woman who turns out to be married to a woman. This prompts the lady to regret that she had never explored her own sexuality. OK -- nothing wrong with that -- but the movie is a snooze.

The next, "Detainment", is about the famous case in England (I forget where) in which two 10-year-old boys kidnap a two-year-old and murder him. It's reasonably well done, and at least has the excuse of recounting a true story, but it's not much fun.

The finale, "Skin", is about a racist, skinhead family. Its set-up is well done. The father and son like each other. The obese mother seems realistic. Then the father gets offended when a black man smiles at his son, and (with his buddies) beats the man senseless. So far, so good. Seeking vengeance, the black man and his friends kidnap the father, take him to a tattoo parlor and (get this!) dye his skin black. When he tries to return home, his panicked son shoots him. This has to be the stupidest ending of an Oscar nominated film in the history of these misguided awards. Yuck!!!!

[Ecurb]

The other Oscar favorite that I was unfortunate enough to see recently is "The Favorite". It's the story of a love triangle between Queen Anne, the Duchess of Marlborough, and Emma Stone (whose name in the movie I can't remember). Apparently, Oscar voters like it because it's irreverent and the sexual politicking is homosexual. Sexual politicking can make for good movies ("Dangerous Liaisons", etc.). However, such movies need to involve some wit and humor to entertain. The supposedly funny scenes in "The Favorite" include Emma Stone getting pushed out of a carriage into the mud (ha! ha! She's wearing beautiful period clothing and she gets all muddy!). The audience with which I saw the movie also laughed when characters used the word "c*nt". HA! HO! HE! Old fashioned society women talking dirty. What could be more funny? Well, in my opinion, practically anything. None of this offended me -- it just wasn't funny or entertaining.

[Ecurb]

"Never Look Away" is a new film directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. You know he's a great director as soon as you see his name, redolent of Germanic nobility. Also, his previous film, "The Lives of Others" was one of the best movies I've seen in the last ten years.

"Never Look Away" is more sprawling and less tense (except in places) than "The Lives of Others", but that merely means it's still one of the best movies of the year. The movie is set in East Germany, beginning in 1937 and moving until 1961 (by which time the characters have moved to the West). It involves an artist, his family, his love interest and a Nazi doctor who moves adroitly from his SS membership to ingratiating himself with the Communists to running hospitals in West Germany. He has a talent for self-interest.

The first half of the movie (in which the main character is first a young boy and then a teenager) is tense and dramatic (wartime, after all). The second half is more focused on art and the protagonist's career. Some scenes stick in the viewer's mind --like the start of part three with our hero climbing a tree surrounded by long, golden grass. The plot is convoluted and occasionally a bit much to take, but it doesn't ruin the movie because it is so well done. Each scene is shot with care and precision. The actor who played the stage director in "Loves of Others" plays the eugenically inclined doctor in this movie, and he's superb. Highly recommended.

[Ecurb]

"Ash is the Purest White" is a Chinese film directed by Jia Zhanngke, a director admired by film fans,but with whom I was unfamiliar. It's the story of a woman from a remote town who lives on the fringes of legality with her boyfriend Jin. When Jin is attacked by thugs, Quiao (the woman) takes his illegal gun out of the car and fires it in the air, scaring away the assailants, but ending up in prison for 5 years (because she refuses to rat out her boyfriend).

When she gets out, Jin has moved on and has a new girlfriend, Quiao moves back to her hometown. Later, Jin shows up. He has had a stroke and is disabled.
Jin's pride, and Quiao's strength comprise the essence of the movie. Jin asks Quiao if she hates him. "No." Do you love me? "No. I have no feelings for you one way or another."

"Then why are you helping me?"

"You have left the (some Chinese word I can't remember,meaning the minor league mafia). In it, we talk about righteousness."

The movie is about the crowded, ambitious, fast-paced yet old-fashioned life of a huge, diverse country, as well as about two people. Very good.

[shiba28]

Hi,
the last movie I saw: Homeless to Harvard
I loved it so much it's 10/10.










Dafont (https://appsync.biz/dafont/) 192.168.l.l (https://192168ll.onl/) FileHippo (https://appsync.biz/filehippo/)

[caffeinatedboy]

Child's Play Reboot. It ditched the concept of a human using voodoo to transfer his soul to possess a doll for a high-tech doll that has malfunction. I think the whole movie was silly but good. The story is really stressful to watch and kept me on the edge of my seat. Although, it's not a nightmare inducing Chucky that I used to know.

[Secret III]

I went to watch "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" and I rate the movie 9 out of 10.

[Ecurb]

I also saw "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood". I agree with Secret. It's very good -- probably Tarantino's best since "Kill Bill". Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are appropriately star-like; characters drive around in period cars (1969) and listen to period music (like Snoopy and The Red Baron"). In one excellent scene, fading TV star DiCaprio receives a lesson in method acting from an 8-year-old girl.

I particularly liked the scene in which Brad Pitt laughs at someone playing Bruce Lee. I'm old enough to remember when a great many otherwise reasonable American citizens would argue that Bruce Lee was the world's most formidable fighter, despite my suggestion that they should, "Wait a minute, because he's an ACTOR?"

I also saw "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" directed by Richard Linklater. Remarkably, Linklater has directed a wide variety of movies (unlike Tarantino, who sticks to the basic theme of Hollywood). "Slacker", "Bernie", "School of Rock". "Dazed and Confused" the "Beore Midnight" trilogy of talk-fests, etc. All are different, but all share a sense of humor and good-natured fun. "Bernadette" stars Cate Blanchett in what is practically a one-woman show, and she's excellent in it. She's half crazy, but talented, witty, beautiful and zany in a sophisticated way. A very good movie.

[Ecurb]

"Dolor y Gloria" (Pain and Glory) is Pablo Almodolmvar's new movie. It's a colorful trip, exploring art, memory, and life. The movie opens with Antonio Banderas (who plays the Almodovar figure) sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool. Is he meditating? Drowning? The shot goes on and on and I began to worry about the poor man's lack of oxygen.

Banderas (I forget his movie name) is a lost soul. He is afflicted with migraines, back pain, and a constriction of the throat that causes choking (hence the "pain"). He says he is too incapacitated to continue making movies. "What will you do?" asks a companion. "Live my life," says Banderas.

Easier said than done, with all of that pain. Nonetheless, Banderas life resembles (surprise, surprise) a movie, filled with flashbacks, dramas, and melodramas. He lives in a house that looks like a movie set, filled with famous paintings (apparently the house is Almodovar's actual apartment). For a new showing of a 30-year-old Almodovar film, Banderas reunites with the film's star, who is a handsome, ne'er-do-well heroin addict. Banderas experiments with "chasing the dragon" himself, partly because heroin relieves his constant pain, both physical and psychic.

IN heroin-induced flash backs, the child-version of Banderas hangs out with his mother, the luminous Penelope Cruz, and lusts after a young artist (the Banderas character, like the real-life Almodovar, is gay, and one of the melodramatic scenes involves him meeting his lover from 30 years ago). In another scene, life resembles and action-flick, as a knife-wielding hulk slashes his way through the streets near a heroin deal.

The film is about the relationship between memory, life, and art. The dolor (pain) is inseparable from the gloria, however colorful the backgrounds. As the Greek tragedeans knew, you can' t have gloria without dolor.

[tonywalt]

The Joker - 9.5/10 Loved it. Dark. Left and impression.

The Master - 9.5 P. Seymour Hoffman and Phoenix Rivers are at their best. Plot lacks art, it's not for the masses. It's for me.

Once upon a time in hollywood - 9.5/10 loved it.

[kev67]

The last film I saw at the cinema was Joker, which was not bad, actually.
The last film I saw was on YouTube was Dredd, the 2012 version. Not bad, not as good as Joker, but a lot better than the Stallone version.

[Ecurb]

In Bong Joon-ho's new movie "Parasite", the Kim family represent the underclass. You can tell, because they live in a basement apartment, and get free wifi only by perching on the toilet. They are literally "lower" class, and later in the film they hide under beds and hang out in an underground bomb shelter.

Fortune smiles on the Kims, though. The son gets a gig tutoring a rich girl in English, and manages to get his sister a job tutoring another child in the family. The father becomes the chauffeur, and his mother the housekeeper (the rich family doesn't know their employees are related). The movie is part social commentary, part con-game-action thriller,, and part horror movie. Each scene has literal and symbolic meaning.

The rich family the Kims infiltrate is a bit nuts: the mother may be a drug addict and the young son likes playing American Indian --the toy arrows he shoots about the house forebode violence.

The movie is a bit too long, but well worth seeing. Apparently the director is highly touted, but this is the first of his movies that I've seen. My mistake. It's excellent.

[Ecurb]

"Marriage Story" (Noah Baumbach's new movie) is an anti-rom-com. That is, it uses romantic comedy conventions in a movie about a divorce. The lawyers, the sidekicks, and the in-laws are all played for laughs. The divorcing couple (Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson) are more treacly.

The movie opens with each partner's written list of things they love about the other person, which turns out to be part of a mediation for the dying marriage. Driver is a New York avant-guarde theater director; Johansson is his wife and star, who may have an opportunity to act in (horrors!) a TV series out in an L.A. straight out of a Woody Allen movie. Johansson's lawyer is a grotesque (but funny) LA stereotype, and so is Johansson's mother.

The problem: as with the rom-coms the movie satirizes, the leads must be sufficiently charming to make the viewer care about their fates. I'll grant that in real-life, divorcing people lack charm, are vengeful, and act greedily. So what? Why see a movie about that? At least Anna Karenina and Emma Bovary had sufficient charm to make readers care about their awful fates. Johansson and Driver: not so much.

[spikepipsqueak]

Many thanks Ecurb. Great film recommendations that will while away my spare hours for ages.

[Buh4Bee]

That's a good point. We just don't really care about the characters. I felt it was more of the same- Hollywood trying on a new gown over the same old body. There was nothing new there, but it was a good movie. I just wish it was more.

[jajdude]

Tony (2009) -- Pretty good serial killer movie, the British Tony is a bit like the American Dahmer, but in this film we don't even feel much sympathy for his victims, as they're lousy people. Of course Tony is a monster, beneath mild manners and poor social skills. It was well made and well acted, not too gross. 7/10

[jajdude]

double

[ssubterranean]

Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, ang Hugh Grant, among others. Enjoyed reading the book long time ago, enjoyed the movie as well. Stories of romance and heartbreak of two Dashwood sisters, while surviving change way of life after their father left the estate they lived in to the son from his first marriage.

[Sancho]

Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket”

Gotta rewatch it every so often. I’m not sure why. I suppose it suggests something about the duality of man. You know, the Jungian thing.

[Ecurb]

Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket”

Gotta rewatch it every so often. I’m not sure why. I suppose it suggests something about the duality of man. You know, the Jungian thing.

I saw it in the theater, and I remember Kubrik's obsession with faces -- long, almost endless closeups of strange and interesting faces. He always liked faces (hence interesting faces like Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duval).

On another note, I'm halfway through "Big Rock Candy Mountain", partly on your recommendation. I've read a few Stegner novels, memoirs and histories before (and like them), but haven't gotten to his most famous (along with "Angle of Repose", which I have read).

[Sancho]

Sgt Hartman - Lemme see your war face!

Pvt Joker - Sir?

Hartman - You got a war face? Aaaaaaaarg! That’s a war face. Now lemme see your war face.

Joker - Aaaaaarg!

Hartman - Bullsh*t you didn’t convince me. Lemme see your real war face!

Joker - Aaaaaaaaaaarg!

Hartman - You didn’t scare me. Work on it.

You may be on to something, Ecurb. Every time I watch that movie I find something I didn’t notice before.

As for the Stegner books, I struggled with “Angle of Repose.” Probably I should give it another go sometime.

[jajdude]

Tokyo Sonata (2008) - directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa who has done some horror films as well, this is an outstanding drama about a Japanese man who loses his job, goes through a crisis, as does his wife, and their talented son who plays the piano very well. I liked this one very much. 8/10

For another outstanding Japanese drama I recommend Departures (2008)... 9/10

[Francis Meadows]

The Paperboy (2012) - Watched it after I read the novel. Strong performance by McConaughey and Kidman. The movie has a good rhythm to it and, even after having read the novel, it is a rivetting watch. Still, I prefer the ending of the novel to the ending of the movie. It has more of life's unavoidable bland cruelty to it in my opinion.

Francis

[bounty]

its interesting to consider how it is that threads seemingly die, or at least go dormant for months into years at a time. this seems like one that wouldn't have.

I watch a lot of movies, and rather than post the last one I saw, id like to post one that I was surprised by thoroughly enjoying and would recommend to everyone: Rio.

its cute, comical, touching, inspiring, deliciously elemental, visually wonderfully colorful, and has a happy ending!

I recently changed my desk top background to a screen shot from the movie.

[tailor STATELY]

Haven't seen Rio yet... will have to find it on your recommendation :) Wanted so badly to watch Top Gun, Maverick at the theater, but never made it... did watch it streaming on Prime and wasn't disappointed. A notch above the earlier Top Gun in some ways which I did see on the big screen way back when, where I will only stream the reruns for about 15-20 minutes total of selected scenes: opening, ending, and the appearance of Maverick's civilian instructor (after bar scene) :) - makes for a very enjoyable fast movie.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[bounty]

a heads-up tailor, its not a musical in the strictest sense, but there are some musical numbers and dancing in it. no zombies though. it probably helps if you like animals in general and birds in particular.

I loved top gun maverick and I can see how itd be better on the big screen. heck id put it a couple notches above the original but at the same time, I loved how the sequel was so dependent on the original and how knowledge of the former made the latter so much better.

[Danik 2016]

I don´t remember my last film at the theater, it was way before pandemics.

The last film I remember watching on line is La Strada (The Road) one of the first films if not the first by Frederico Fellini, when he wasn´t famous yet and had difficulties getting actors to work for him. The film casts his wife Giulietta Masina, one of the best actresses I ever new in the main roll. Another curiosity is Antony Quinn as male protagonist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CucHyXsxCU8

[bounty]

between covid and the advent of streaming services and dvd's for free at the library, its a wonder we still have movie theaters.

[Danik 2016]

I don´t subscribe to a streaming service, but during covid we had some free streaming even from the yearly movie contest. And I have a good internet.

[bounty]

I've got four movies on my docket danik, although some more will probably be coming in this week. sometimes its six of one half dozen of the other which one I watch.

do you have any interest in elvis, black adam, death wish (the remake with bruce willis) or red sparrow?

[Danik 2016]

Thank's,Bounty. At present I'm not watching so many films.I had to give away a whole collection of old classics. Sometimes I watch one or another film on PC, when there is a good offer. My DVD is long gone.