84% (3)  Picnic at Hanging Rock  115 min,  PG,  [Drama, Mystery]  [Peter Weir]  [02 Feb 1979]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 76%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 95%,   Metacritic: 81%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations.
Actors:  Anne-Louise Lambert, Helen Morse, Kirsty Child, Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray
Writer:  Joan Lindsay (novel), Cliff Green (screenplay)
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English, French    Country:  Australia
Plot:  Three students and a school teacher disappear on an excursion to Hanging Rock, in Victoria, on Valentine's Day, 1900. Widely (and incorrectly) regarded as being based on a true story, the movie follows those that disappeared, and those that stayed behind, but it delights in the asking of questions, not the answering of them.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Peter Weir's breakthrough Australian drama about three girls and a teacher who disappear during a school outing.
Scroll To:   Up   Down   Top   Bottom   25%   50%   75%    [ / 7]

62% (3)  Foul Play  116 min,  PG,  [Comedy, Mystery, Thriller]  [Colin Higgins]  [14 Jul 1978]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 68%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 74%,   Metacritic: 45%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 8 nominations.
Actors:  Burgess Meredith, Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, Rachel Roberts
Writer:  Colin Higgins
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  When, unbeknownst to Gloria, a microfilm cassette is left with her by a dying agent, she becomes entangled in a complicated series of events. She's pursued by a dwarf and an albino, and becomes convinced that they are out to kill her. Finally, with the help of San Francisco detective Tony Carlson, she begins to turn the tables on her pursuers. It becomes clear that the nerfarious crew after her are plotting a dastardly deed indeed - to assassinate the Pope as he visits the city to see _The Mikado_. Gloria and Tony must race against time to prevent this terrible crime.
Rotten Tomatoes:   As he did in his screenplay for Silver Streak (1974), writer/director Colin Higgins mixes life-and-death melodrama with broad slapstick in Foul Play. Goldie Hawn stars as Gloria Mundy, a recent divorcée whose attempts to start life anew in San Francisco are bollixed up when she is inadvertently swept up in an assassination plot against the Pope. Offering sometimes dubious aid and comfort to Gloria is bumbling federal agent Tony Carlson (Chevy Chase). The film's comedy ranges from the farcical seduction efforts by musician Stanley Tibbets (Dudley Moore) to the zany, gag-filled car-chase finale. Foul Play features character actors Rachel Roberts and Eugene Roche as villains, Burgess Meredith as a martial arts-happy landlord, and Billy Barty as a long-suffering religious bookseller. It also packs in a memorable "throwaway" gag involving a profane Scrabble game played by sweet little old ladies Queenie Smith and Hope Summers.
Scroll To:   Up   Down   Top   Bottom   25%   50%   75%    [ / 7]

34% (3)  The Host  125 min,  PG-13,  [Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller]  [Andrew Niccol]  [29 Mar 2013]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 59%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 10%,   Metacritic: 35%,   External Reviews
Awards:  1 win & 2 nominations.
Actors:  Brent Wendell Williams, Jake Abel, Jhil McEntyre, Max Irons, Rachel Roberts, Saoirse Ronan, Shyaam Karra
Writer:  Andrew Niccol (screenplay), Stephenie Meyer (novel)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb  Website     Language:  English    Country:  USA, Switzerland
Plot:  A race of non-corporeal, parasitic aliens who go from planet to planet looking for hosts have come to Earth and basically taken over the human race. It's believed that, once inside a body, all memories of the host human are gone. Some few free humans remain hidden from them, forming a resistance group. When an alien Seeker captures a girl named Melanie and puts a Wanderer in her body, she hopes to find out where the remaining humans are gathered, but Melanie, a strong fighter able to converse with the alien in her commandeered body, convinces the Wanderer to say nothing. Disappointed by the lack of progress (though suspecting an empathy for the human), the Seeker informs the Wanderer that she'll be removed and placed in a new host while she herself will enter Melanie. With human lives at risk, Melanie convinces Wanderer to run away and hide out with the humans, but finding them doesn't mean they'll allow an alien presence among them. Jared (Melanie's boyfriend) wants her dead, but Jeb (Melanie's uncle) wants to wait, and Ian, tasked with guarding her, finds himself siding with Jeb. As Ian begins to fall for Melanie, a strange love triangle develops, with Ian wanting Wanderer (inhabiting Melanie's body), Jared wanting Melanie (imprisoned inside her own body), and no one knowing any way to separate the two without killing both.
Rotten Tomatoes:   What if everything you love was taken from you in the blink of an eye? "The Host" is the next epic love story from the creator of the "Twilight Saga," worldwide bestselling author, Stephenie Meyer. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about - Jared (Max Irons), Ian (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt) , proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world.
Scroll To:   Up   Down   Top   Bottom   25%   50%   75%    [ / 7]

89% (2)  This Sporting Life  134 min,  [Drama, Sport]  [Lindsay Anderson]  [22 May 1963]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 78%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 8 nominations.
Actors:  Alan Badel, Rachel Roberts, Richard Harris, William Hartnell
Writer:  David Storey (based on the novel by), David Storey (screenplay)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  UK
Plot:  In Northern England in the early 1960s, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver. Machin lodges with Mrs Hammond, whose husband was killed in an accident at Weaver's, but his impulsive and angry nature stop him from being able to reach her as he would like. He becomes increasingly frustrated with his situation, and this is not helped by the more straightforward enticements of Mrs Weaver.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Adapted by David Storey from his own novel, this drama stars Richard Harris as an athletic coal miner who aspires to the greener pastures of professional rugby. Soon establishing himself as one of the most brutal and arrogant players in the business, Harris begins amassing a fortune.
Scroll To:   Up   Down   Top   Bottom   25%   50%   75%    [ / 7]

88% (2)  Saturday Night and Sunday Morning  89 min,  Approved,  [Drama, Romance]  [Karel Reisz]  [03 Apr 1961]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 76%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 100%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Won 3 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 7 wins & 3 nominations.
Actors:  Albert Finney, Hylda Baker, Rachel Roberts, Shirley Anne Field
Writer:  Alan Sillitoe (screenplay), Alan Sillitoe (adapted from his novel by)
External Links:  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  UK
Plot:  Arthur, one of Britain's angry young men of the 1960s, is a hardworking factory worker who slaves all week at his mindless job for his modest wages. Come Saturday night, he's off to the pub for a loud and rowdy beer session. With him is Brenda, his girlfriend of the moment. Married to a fellow worker, she is nonetheless captivated by his rugged good looks and his devil-may-care attitude. Soon a new love interest Doreen enters and a week later, Brenda announces she's pregnant. She tells Arthur she needs money for an abortion, and Arthur promises to pay for it. By this time, his relationship with Doreen has ripened and Brenda, hearing of it, confronts him. He denies everything, but it's obvious that their affair is all but over.
Rotten Tomatoes:   A movie chuck full of steamy sex, stevedore language and electric-charged emotions, there is minimal plot line to grab hold of, but more than enough meat to the movie to make it stay in mind. Albert Finney's first movie, it is more a character study than a plot-driven film. Centering on a working-class Englishman with more than just a few wild oats to sow, it's a rebel-without-a-cause, angry-young-man kind of movie that still has enough humor and up sides to it to keep it from being depressing. Too stark and powerful emotionally for the younger set, it touches the rebel in its audience as we watch him settle into the responsibilities of adulthood--but not quite.
Scroll To:   Up   Down   Top   Bottom   25%   50%   75%    [ / 7]

80% (2)  O Lucky Man!  178 min,  R,  [Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Music]  [Lindsay Anderson]  [20 Jun 1973]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 78%,   Rotten Tomatoes: 78%,   External Reviews
Awards:  Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination.
Actors:  Arthur Lowe, Malcolm McDowell, Rachel Roberts, Ralph Richardson
Writer:  David Sherwin (screenplay), Malcolm McDowell (based on an original idea by)
External Links:  Wikipedia  Rotten Tomatoes  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  UK, USA
Plot:  Follows the literal and associated life journey of middle class Brit, Mick Travis, representing the "everyman", as he tries to make his mark in his so far young life. He is able to make great strides in his traditional view of success by being what those in authority want him to be. As such, he achieves in a few weeks what it usually take years for others, namely having his own sales territory - the northeast and ultimately Scotland - for Imperial Coffee. He is also able to garner a plethora of fringe benefits from this job, including women throwing themselves at his feet. But he will ultimately face a struggle in class and authority warfare, which culminates with his encounter with the Burgess family - wealthy Industrialist Sir James Burgess and his daughter Patricia, who Mick wants to marry - the former who is contemplating investing in the shady dealings in Zingara. Mick will also find that the class struggle not only applies in his case in an upward direction, but also in a downward direction with the working class and the truly down and out. Through it all, Alan Price and his small combo act as a Greek chorus of sorts providing commentary of Mick's travails through song.
Rotten Tomatoes:   Who better to play the coffee salesman protagonist in Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man than Malcolm McDowell, who himself peddled coffee in his pre-acting years? (In fact, the plot of the film was McDowell's idea.) This rambling 166-minute effort features McDowell as a slave to the Work Ethic, never allowing himself to be dissuaded from his work despite such distractions as fatal car accidents, crooked cops, physical torture, a stint as a laboratory "guinea pig," and seductive customers. The hallucinatory quality of O Lucky Man is augmented by having most of its supporting cast (Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Helen Mirren et. al.) "double up" in parts: for example, Rachel Roberts plays McDowell's boss and two of his customers, one French, one English-and all of them end up in bed with the hero. Watch for director Lindsay Anderson in the closing scene, bringing the events in the story full circle.
Scroll To:   Up   Down   Top   Bottom   25%   50%   75%    [ / 7]

73% (1)  Blithe Spirit  85 min,  [Comedy, Fantasy]  [George Schaefer]  [07 Dec 1966]
Ratings & Reviews:  IMDb Reviews: 73%,   External Reviews
Actors:  Dirk Bogarde, Rachel Roberts, Rosemary Harris, Ruth Gordon
Writer:  Noël Coward (play), Robert Hartung (adaptation)
External Links:  IMDb     Language:  English    Country:  USA
Plot:  N/A
Scroll To:   Up   Down   Top   Bottom   25%   50%   75%    [ / 7]