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Autómata (2014)
The Bad Reviews are Accurate
As has been said, this is an Asimov ripoff, a poor man's "Blade Runner." Banderas is okay, but the plot was wafer-thin: "Robots will become smarter than people!" Snore. No suspense. The ending is predictable from about a third of the way in. Plus they try to win us over with the old device of exposing heartless robots to mothers and babies in order to give them maternal feelings.
The only cool thing in the movie was the super-computer armadillo, and it had no lines.
The movie jammed about 45 minutes of plot into 109 minutes. I kept looking to see how long until the credits would roll.
Watch "Blade Runner" to see an authentic take on this theme, or watch the jarring "Black Mirror" for excellent near-future dystopian sf.
Even "I, Robot" was better, for goodness' sake.
Rabbit, Run (1970)
A film that arrived a decade late
One of those times when the film completely loses the spark of the novel on which it's based. John Updike's wonderful prose descriptions and inner dialogues made Rabbit's "run" a framework for the angst and aimlessness of a young adult whose best days are behind him. Instead, now the story is about how James Caan cheats on his wife.
The movie version came out in 1970, ten years after the novel, and ten years too late for the plot to make sense: the sexual revolution of the 60's robs the story of its tension. By this point, Updike had already written the sequel, Rabbit Redux, taking his protagonist up to the moment.
Updike fans may want to see the movie as a curiosity piece, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Svengali (1931)
Truly chilling
Recommended, but it is disturbing. Some reviewers found the film out-of-date. in fact, the theme of sexual predation, and of a character played by a 17-year-old, is still a horrible topic. The Legosi version of Dracula, which had its own undertones of seduction, came out 3 months later.
John Barrymore is excellent, but Marian Marsh almost steals the show, until the point where Svengali takes her over and she loses her personality. The rest of the characters are strictly of two dimensions.
I see where they remade the film for release this year, and horrors, it will be a musical version. I don't know if they will gloss over the seduction element, or maybe make Svengali less awful to look at (in 1931 version, the running joke is that he never bathes).