What was the last movie you saw?

A Delicate Balance (1973)

Our monthly journey into the American Film Theatre series. From the play by Edward Albee. Katherine Hepburn and Paul Scofield are an old, wealthy married couple. Kate Reid is Hepburn's alcoholic sister who lives with them. Lee Remick is the couple's daughter, home after her fourth failed marriage. So far this is like what might have happened to George and Martha from Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? if they were older, a lot richer, and had an adult child. Things get stranger when the couple's best friends, Joseph Cotton and Betsy Blair, drop in out of the blue with the intention of staying indefinitely, their only explanation that they felt scared. Overall it's a study of how we have to cope with our existential terrors by maintaining a Delicate Balance. (It helps to have tons of money and servants, I would think.) Two things that distracted me: It's hard to understand what Hepburn is saying, and Remick's eyes are so stunningly pale blue that it's hard to pay attention to anything else on screen. (This physical characteristic actually helps during one scene where she is hysterical.)
 
Margin Call - a huge business firm goes down overnite, wiping out thousands of jobs - AND: one of the guys has a dog, Daisy, who we see only once, and poochski is looking poorly. The last scene is this guy digging a hole in the front yard, as Daisy is done for, The End. There is absolutely no reason for Daisy's demise, but there you go, write an ailing or expiring pooch into your screenplay, the cuter the better.
 
Just watched The Bucket List again, starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Still a great film - great acting, great story, great pathos. And a great comedy!
 
"Dunkirk" (2017)

Had mixed feelings about this. One was of "Not another film about WW2?" and not just that, but a remake of the 1958 classic with John Mills and Richard Attenborough. I was also thinking, is this going to another Private Ryan, in terms of cinematic experience?

But all credit to director Chris Nolan, he does a remarkable job of a very difficult time for Britain during the war; not too many liberties taken either. But I couldn't help feel why film-makers are still focusing on a war that ended almost 75 years ago. Will it find an audience that will appreciate the truisms rather than just the action and "war is hell" trope?

Perhaps when it comes out on BluRay I will do doubt watch it again in the comfort of my own home. But judging by my experience at the cinema for this film a lot of the audience seemed to be more interested in their phones that what was going on on the big screen (unless there was an action sequence of course)

3/5
 
SKULLDUGGERY (1970)

From ten years ago, my review of the novel on which this is based:

Borderline (1953) by "Vercours" (Jean Buller) (translated from the French by Rita Barrise.)

The original title of this philosophical French novel is Les Animaux Denatures. According to Babelfish, this translates as "Denatured Animals." A peculiar title, and one whose meaning is not clear until the end of the book. It has usually been published in English under the title You Shall Know Them, although my copy (part of a series of "SF Masterworks") appears under the title Borderline.

The story begins with a startling scene; a man calls the police to inform them that he has just killed his own infant child. The mystery to be solved is not so much whether he is a murderer or not, but whether the child is human.

A flashback reveals how this situation came about. In a remote part of Africa, a group of creatures who seem to be a "missing link" between humans and other primates is discovered. Called Paranthropus or "tropis," these beings are soon trained to work for humans. Is this slavery, or just people making use of animals? The protagonist forces the law to face the question by using artificial insemination to create a hybrid between a female tropi and himself, then killing it with a lethal injection. During his trial for murder, the law is forced to come up with an exact definition of a human being.

Despite some biological and psychological implausibilities, this is an interesting thought experiment. Various definitions of "human" are suggested and discarded. The final definition accepted is an unexpected one, and one which explains the novel's French title.

Intriguing, if not compelling.
Click to expand...

So what about the movie? About one-third of it is typical explorer stuff, with Burt Reynolds and Roger C. Carmel as a couple of guys out for super-valuable "phosphor" to mine from New Guinea, and Susan Clark as an anthropologist out after fossils. Lots of romantic/sexual tension between Reynolds and Clark. Then they find the "missing link" creatures; actors in furry costumes. Near the end it becomes a courtroom drama and resembles the novel somewhat. Blandly filmed, with wild changes in mood from comedy to adventure to romance to satire to drama.
 
Dunkirk: a loser.
It had a lot of promise, but did not deliver, and the principal offender was Nolan, who tried to cover up the lack of plot with a too-cute barrage of flashbacks and/or flashforwards, all of which left most viewers, I'm sure, confused.
I kept waiting for coherence, but it didn't happen. A waste of sets, scenery, good photography, and many, many extras.
 
Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)

Drama with touches of dark comedy from the dawn of second wave feminism. Carrie Snodgress went from being a complete unknown to brief stardom, winning a Golden Globe in the title role. She's married to a social-climbing lawyer (Richard Benjamin) who criticizes her endlessly as she desperately deals with keeping their luxurious New York apartment immaculate as well as putting up with their two obnoxious little girls. She has an affair with a egotistical writer (a very young and gorgeous Frank Langella) who openly admits that he's a sadist; that's why she has great sex with him. Eventually she rebels against both of the men in her life; the lover is completely out, but there's a possibility of reconciliation with the husband when he shows his weaker side after a disastrous party for one hundred of the upper class folks he's chasing. An interesting portrait of the time. Alice Cooper and his band appear near the start, and Peter Boyle shows up at the end as one of the folks in an encounter group yelling at Snodgress as they give her wildly different advice about her marriage.
 
No dogs were killed in Night of the Blood Beast, but the space monster was, which serves it right for coming to Earth and attempting to impregnate men with alien embryos. Typical 50s fare.
 
Unborn (2009)

I love horror movies! But I prefer ones that are either a) psychological in nature, or b) have unusual special effects that are used in a frightening manner.

Thus, I cannot recommend this movie. It's cutsie, but not the least frightening.
 
Puzzle of a Downfall Child (1970)

Nonlinear, impressionistic character study of a neurotic fashion model (Faye Dunaway, all enormous eyes and razor-sharp cheekbones) who eventually lapses into full psychosis and then back out of it. Jumps back and forth in time constantly, with dialogue from one time often heard over visuals from another time. In addition to that, Dunaway is a very unreliable viewpoint character, so some scenes may not be "true" (did she really have a love affair with a much older, very famous man when she was a fifteen-year-old Catholic schoolgirl?) and others are clearly hallucinations, filmed in white-on-white. Despite that, the film is never confusing. Beautifully filmed and with strong supporting performances, but it's really a one-woman show, and Dunaway is excellent. (Apparently the character is based on 1950's supermodel Anne St. Marie, with whom the director, a former photographer, worked, and who had a mental breakdown. St. Marie even served as the film's technical consultant.)
 
VHS (2012)

Okay, don't even.

There should be a genre called "Shock Theater". This movie could ten be called the worst of that genre. All this movie did was show gore - for gore's sake. Scene after terribly acted scene of new excuses to show gory depictions of death. No storyline, no final outcome. Why this movie was even in the horror section confuddles me.

The only thing truly shocking about the movie was that I watched it all the way through! I claim temporary insanity.

Really. Don't waste your time.
 
Chuck (2016)
Okay, it's a boxing movie. Yeah, I'm not always into this type of movie but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Based on a true story this tale was the inspiration for Stallone to pen Rocky. Leiv Shriever (excuse the spelling) delivers a knockout performance. Yeah, pun intended. Give it a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Then you can see VHS. Cough.

Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
Don't know how I missed this one but I'm glad I caught up with it. I can't tell you much about this without spoiling the twist, turns and surprised. Suffice it to say, it starts out as one movie and ends up as another. Five stars.

Sleight (2016)
Another movie I was iffy about but it turned out to be totally engaging. A street magician must use his incredible skills when his sister is kidnapped. There is a lot more to this than that, so do yourselves a favor and check it out.

Droflet out.
 
Arrival

It was either Arrival or Spectral, thinking or fighting sci-fi and whilst the former was a damn good movie, we did just miss the excitement of a good action sci-fi.
 
Die Hard 4. I missed this, and it was a decent action movie. I looked at reviews for DH5 and will give that one a miss thenk kew.
 
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