DNF

Trying a Netflix instant movie is about as convenient as can be. Even if it starts out as something I can’t imagine ever wanting to sit through, I am usually patient enough to hang in a little longer just in case it gets better. But after more time, if it still looks like a loser, I can bail out. I have hesitated to adopt this practice mostly because I try to pick movies I expect to like. But the time may have come to take some more flyers.

On the page for a movie at Netflix, below the place where you can choose your star rating, there is a box for “not interested”. If you mark that, they may not recommend that movie to you again. It will still show up in filmographies, but the star prediction will be blank. I have marked a few films this way and if I start bailing out of some more, I can mark those also. Then in my personal movie database, instead of giving my decimal rating I will mark it as DNF to indicate I did not finish watching. When I update my master lists on this blog, I will include DNF movies, explaining I did not like them enough to finish watching but I cannot fairly give a rating to a film I did not see completely. Whenever movies are listed from highest to lowest rated, DNF movies will be put at the end of the list.

Susan browsed the Netflix instant play listings for romance movies and came up with 18 films for my queue, and I’ll start integrating them into the viewing cycle, starting with the ones Netflix predicts I will like best. The predictions run from 3.2 down to 2.3, with the two highest being from the 1950s and the two lowest being from this Century.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. [The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar].

Being Elmo – 2011 (3.1). The red furred character from Sesame Street was omnipresent a few years back and seemed so commercialized that I was a bit repulsed, even though he was a favorite of my granddaughter and we have one of him sitting on the toy shelf in the living room. What attracted me to this documentary was the fact the puppeteer who operates Elmo is an African-American man and this movie is about him. In a straightforward way the movie tells about how Kevin Clash from the Baltimore projects was attracted to working with puppets and how his parents supported his aspirations. We see how he gave Elmo a new personality of love and how touchingly effective that is with children, particularly the sick and handicapped. There is a briefly touched undercurrent of a failed marriage and not enough time spent with his daughter, but the film is quite encouraging.

Please Vote for Me – 2007 (3.1). As China begins to dabble with tokens of democracy, this interesting and enjoyable Chinese documentary shows a third grade class being exposed to the concepts of political campaigning and popular election of a student to be class monitor. The candidates are the boy who has held the job for two years, another boy who sees himself as the best candidate and a sensitive girl who often seems intimidated. The parents are shown operating like political stage mothers while the teacher is impressive in gently guiding the process. Though the democratic concepts are foreign to the kids and their parents, we quickly see that the tactics of campaigning are not that different from ours. While political tactics might be universally discouraging, the love of parents for their children and the individual personalities of the kids are universally appealing.

Deliver Us from Evil – 2006 (3.0). Telling the story of Irish Catholic priest Oliver O’Grady, who was assigned to various parishes in California, this documentary uses extensive interviews with some of the scores of men and women whom he molested and raped when they were young children. Also interviewed are some of the parents and experts in the fields dealing with such predators as well as a priest who has made it his mission to try to get the institutional Church to face up to the reality of the extent of the problem and the great damage it has done to the victims, their families and the Church itself. Excerpts from depositions of O’Grady and from those in the hierarchy who covered up his offenses are chilling, but extensive interviews with O’Grady himself capture attention in the same way a horrific auto accident does when we drive by without wanting to look. If this movie does not give rise to your retribution instincts, I don’t know what will.

The Wonder Years (Season Four) – 1990 (3.0). As ninth graders in the last year of middle school, issues of family, friends and school are still being dealt with in the now quite familiar style. Though some of the episodes deal with incidents of not great depth, others touch on more substantial matters of love, friendship and family relationships. One somewhat surprising omission is treatment of any racial matters; in fact, though there has been a black male teacher, and a black little league baseball coach who was a war buddy of the family father, the few black students shown are always in the background and appear quite integrated, but are never give more than a passing word to say.

The Mating Game -1951 (3.0).  A pleasant surprise, this early version of a romantic dramedy has a good script (which sort of cries out for a contemporary remake) about a post WWII executive social climber with a hamburger cook mother (played by Thelma Ritter in one of her 6 Oscar nominated performances in a 12 year span) who doesn’t fit in with her son’s new style. There are good and bad characters on both sides of the social classes and though some are purposely a bit over the top, they all ring true. Sure it is predictable, but still fun to watch and not very dated, mercifully without annoying musical score until the quick wrap up ending sequence.  Gene Tierney’s classic beauty is so timeless she could fit right into a movie of today.

Anytown, USA – 2005 (2.9). This documentary about a small town Mayoral election in New Jersey is not very stylish and does not actually have anything much to teach, but after a fairly slow start with too many brief interviews with potential voters it gains momentum when an independent write-in candidate enters the race against a controversial incumbent Republican and his lethargic Democrat opponent. At that point the movie starts following the campaigns more and interviewing voters less. Adding to the interest, two of the candidates are legally blind and the independent enlists the services of the campaign manager of the successful Jesse Ventura campaign for Minnesota Governor.

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne – 1987 (2.9). Maggie Smith is an excellent actress, particularly at playing repressed spinsters, as she does in this fairly sad drama, misidentified by Netflix as a romance. Orphaned and raised by an aunt who then extracted the duty of returning the caregiving in the aunt’s dotage, Judith supports her life as a boarder by giving sporadic piano lessons, all the while pining for the romance that has eluded her and focusing her attention on the brother of her landlady. Well done all around, but especially carried by Maggie.

August – 1996 (2.8). Another variation on Uncle Vanya by Chekov, this time set in Northern Wales in the early 1900s, with Anthony Hopkins in the lead, but even if you are a little familiar with the story line, you still may be confused by the early portions of this movie as the characters gab along without telling us who they are via the dialogue triangle. It doesn’t help that Hopkins looks older than the woman playing his mother. Thankfully, a lot of the filming is done outdoors in gorgeous Welsh scenery during the month designated by the title.

That Obscure Object of Desire – 1977 (2.8). In this his last movie Luis Bunuel dealt with the consumptive attraction of a wealthy middle aged French widower with an impoverished young Spanish dancer whose ambivalent interest in the man so frustrates him that he wants to run away from her and after her at the same time. Not a dark comedy nor a light drama nor really a romance, the French film holds its age well, because of the absence of a music track to become dated and the avoidance of trendy camera work. Noted for the fact two actresses played the lead role, there is no profound reason for that and the film does not really have much to say, but it is pleasant enough to watch, including some tasteful female nudity.

A Town Like Alice – 1956 (2.8). I remember the TV miniseries of this story from about 30 years ago (which is not available on DVD), and the epic story of British women stuck in Malaya after the WWII takeover by the Japanese benefited by the extra screen time allotment, while this movie suffers in comparison. The years the women spent walking the country because the Japanese did not want to deal with them do not come across as well in the movie and the romance of one of the women with an Australian prisoner is limited to just a few brief scenes. Perhaps a viewer who does not remember the TV version would rate this film higher.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir – 1947 (2.8). A classic fantasy romance in which a widow moves into the home of a deceased sea captain who haunts the place and then falls in love with her, the script for this movie has some holes in it but still retains enough charm to make it watchable, especially enhanced by beautiful Gene Tierney.

The Importance of Being Earnest – 1952 (2.7). This is almost like a filmed version of the Oscar Wilde play, with the wit still there if less relevant 100 years later. The plot is minimal situation comedy, so the witty lines and British acting are the main draws. Watching the bit players, such as the parson, provides a quick stage acting lesson.

Castaway on the Moon – 2009 (2.6). This Korean movie is supposed to be an imaginative romance about a suicidal young man who becomes a castaway on an island in a river. It is also supposed to contain some social commentary and a hint of science fiction. What I saw was a stylish looking film with nice camera work, but with a poor acting performance from the lead in a weak script which had more logic errors than science fiction. The reclusive voyeur female lead was more intriguing but the supposed romantic attachment never came across. The small amount of social commentary was enjoyable, so maybe the film should have skipped the romance in favor of the commentary.

Forks Over Knives – 2011 (DNF). Another documentary about processed foods being hazardous to our health, the first ten minutes told me that it was not going to offer me anything new and was going to include a dose of the conventional misinformation behind the food pyramid. I’ll stick with the Paleo program, so don’t need to finish this film.