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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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

Popstar: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pop...ever_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

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:

Quote:

---

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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/mou...y_depart_2016/

9/10

"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/mis...liar_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

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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!)

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.

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.

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.