Favorite Viewing of The Month?

One of my favorite flicks of all time. Kathie Moffat is one of the best femme fatales ever!

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I Only had seven first-time viewings last month and one re-watch. Overall, it was not a very strong selection of films, well reflected by the fact that a score of 2.5/5 is enough to top the first-time viewing portion.

Terror in the Woods (2018): A literal LIfetime movie inspired by the real "Slender Man" incident in Wisconsin. It's uneven in every way but surprisingly entertaining. The young actress playing the schizophrenic girl is great, and largely thanks to her, the whole thing more or less works. 2.5/5

Land of Bad (2024): An old-school action film with all the flaws and some of the pros of the 80's. It's very much like the B Vietnam War movies used to be but with a more contemporary enemy. The violence was brutal and bloody, and the film was content on being just an action flick without any poorly veiled lectures about politics. Some questionable casting choices and poorly executed comedy ensure the film remains firmly in mediocrity, though. 2.5/5

By far the best movie I watched in February was RoboCop (1987). I don't know how many times I've watched it, but probably 30+ times. It's one of my favorite films of all time and still an easy 5/5. Very few films manage to combine gritty and bloody action with so much fun and wit and still be touching and emotional. I'd buy that for a dollar, but sadly they don't make films like this anymore.

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No question, Opal (2020).

Never heard of it.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

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Still over a week to go before the end of the month, but this has been a fantastic month for first time viewings. So many great films watched on the past few weeks.

LOVE the donut scene

This was wonderfully melancholy. Bergman and Sanders are fantastic together. Why Sanders wasn’t in every movie made in the 40’s and 50’s is beyond me. I love him everytime I see him. Journey is just the kind of relationship drama I go for. Really great flick.

I usually just pick one movie, but I want to shout out The Passionate Friends as well. Both these movies may end up in my top ten first time watches this year. Lean is hard to beat for me these days.

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Letterboxd

I probably will not be watching anything of note today so I think I'm safe in picking my favorite movie of the month right now. It comes down to two films:

My five favourite first time watches of the month:

The Passion (2016)
Our Body (2023)
Dream Scenario (2023)
Horror Rises from the Tomb (1973)
Perfect Days (2023)

So far, The Zone of Interest, which I saw the first day of March.

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Nothing so far has gotten over 8/10. All I have left is Aftersun. I'll see how that fares.

I watched only five movies last month, and most were rather bad. With that in mind, the clear favorite was the only non-bad film of the bunch, Szürkület. This Hungarian remake of It Happened in Broad Daylight is mostly about brooding and dreary atmosphere. The story would be hard to follow without seeing at least one of the other versions (or reading the book). With just a little more emphasis and effort into the story, I would have liked this more (as it is, I prefer the original German film), but it was an interesting watch nonetheless.

1. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - 1964.
2. Chinaman - 2005.
3. The Holdovers - 2023.
4. Falcon Lake - 2022.
5. Red Rocket - 2021.
6. For the Love of Spock - 2016.
7. The Land of Steady Habits - 2018.
8. Jeanne du Barry - 2023.

Going off memory without looking at my checklist...

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - highly underrated
Terminal starring Mike Myers and Margot Robbie
Prometheus for its special effects and awesome depictions of alien creatures but sorely lacking in other departments
Arkansas was great and the most realistic out of these movies.
and then of course the awesome medieval movie The Last Duel which suffered from some repetition and fancy unconventional storytelling methods but overall was probably my all around personal favorite.

March '24:

I watched a few classics last month, all of which I really liked:

The Magnificent Ambersons
Modern Times
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

These are also very good:

Dune: Part Two
Armageddon Time
All Things Must Pass

I kept up the pace in March, watching as many great movies as I could and trying not to delve into mediocrity if I could help it. The greats were : Deep Crimson, Umberto D., All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), A Touch of Zen, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The Heiress, Manchester by the Sea, Le Chat, Minnie and Moskowitz and After Life. All seriously great movies.


As usual, I've got a massive heap of honorable mentions to mention - all of which simply can't be overlooked : Enys Men, Nimona, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, The Old Dark House (1932), A Film Unfinished, All of Us Strangers, First Reformed, Bottoms, Ariel, Bellissima, Vigil, Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes, Fat City, Seven Days in May, Winter Sleep, Black Girl, Dune : Part Two, Tangerines, Paradise : Love, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, The Raid, Night and the City, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness and Julien Donkey-Boy. That's a lot of movies which I got a lot out of.

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Anyways, no 9/10s for this month. I'll see how April fares.

In no particular order:

Electra Glide in Blue
Dune Part 2 (screw you, haters!)
Samurai Spy
The Philadelphia Story
Marat/Sade
Ornamental Hairpin
Saltburn
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Egg and Stone
The Foolish Bird

1) Cold Case Hammarskjold
2) Tender Mercies
3) Lean On Pete
4) The Demon (1963)
5) Funny Pages