Favorite Viewing of The Month?

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I watched Aftersun yesterday too so that would also be added to the 3 I posted prior. Really good film.
I am still thinking about it days later...
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After watching these movies this month:

Blair Witch Book of Shadows
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
The Net, 1995
Attack of the Giant Leeches
Q: The Winged Serpent
Scream 2
Virus 1999
The Sender, 1982
End of the World 1977
Skinamarink
Anaconda 2: Hunt for the Blood Orchid

This is the top three.

Blair Witch Book of Shadows
Q: The Winged Serpent
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

Not the most glorious movie watching month I had, but I enjoyed these,



I'm going to have to check out this one, a matter of local curiosity. I've read that the inspiration for the conductor was Marin Alsop, a conductor, one of whose jobs was as music director for the Baltimore Symphony, back in the "00's". I was attending their series back then and, my recollection was, unlike what I've read about the movie, just how un-dramatic her tenure was. She was "out" when she arrived, nobody made much out of it, she was an excellent conductor and a likable person, popular right up to when she left, well received by the audience.

I'm guessing that Alsop wouldn't make a good movie script.
Yeah, I have caught bits of the “controversy” about it. If it is really based on her I would definitely be annoyed. Her being out in the movie definitely isn’t the problem. It’s the way she treats subordinates that’s the issue. I have no knowledge of that world whatsoever, so I wouldn’t have connected the dots of it being loosely based on a real person. My guess is that very few will.
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Fassbinder filmography can be a very rocky road. Also very varied. If you come across a dog, don't let it discourage.



Some of his best:



Ali (obviously)
Fox and his Friends
In a Year With 13 Moods (beware: has a very graphic slaughterhouse scene)
Merchant of Four Seasons
Beware of a Holy Whore (beware: I'm the only one who seems to love this one)
Yeah, I plan on watching these when I get the chance. Or whichever is available on criterion (need to double check what is).
I plan on watching his less acclaimed works as well, obviously, for the sake of completion.
Although I may get distracted by the Derek Jarman restrospective they just put up. 👀



Highlight of my January was my first films by Hiroshi Teshigahara (Pitfall / Woman in the Dunes / The Face of Another)
All of these are great. Weirdly, Pitfall is the one that's most stuck with me.



All of these are great. Weirdly, Pitfall is the one that's most stuck with me.
For me Woman in the Dunes was the standout. Such a weird premise that nevertheless somehow works. But yeah, all great.
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Alright Alright! Now for February. I have actually watched so many in one week that I had to restrain myself.

Here are all of the movies:
Pillow Talk
Tootsie
Chunking Express
Stolen Kisses
Wings of Desire
The Red Shoes
Adoption
Alma's Rainbow
Rashomon

I am starting to feel the need to take a break from movies, because I was not too crazy about Rashomon and did not love The Red Shoes as much as expected(Kind of like Singing in the Rain). I got through half of McCabe and Mrs. Miller, but an hour in, I got bored and fell asleep.

MVF of the month is bolded in red.

It always fascinated me that the guy who played Downfall Hitler was in this one.



Hmmm, let's see...

The China Syndrome
Kramer vs. Kramer
Fat Girl
Dead Man's Letters


But I think The China Syndrome takes the top spot. Just my kind of jam.
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February was not as good of a month as January for me, but I still enjoyed going through some of the movies in the "All You Need Is Love" section in the Criterion Channel. Things would have been complete if I just saw Les Parapluies de Cherbourg(and maybe L'Atlante) for the second time.







So, two Spanish films share the top spot. Infiesto is a serial killer thriller with some cult elements. Venus also has sort of cult in it, but it's a straight up horror film from the director of [REC]. I didn't particularly like the ending of Venus, but it had potential to be a lot better so maybe that's my favorite.
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February 2023:

Nosferatu the Vampyre -


I believe I made a brief post about me preferring this over Murnau's Nosferatu sometime earlier this month. While the 1922 film has the better vampire, the surrounding scenes in the film don't mean much to me. With this film though, it has far more in the way of atmosphere, whether you're referring to the landscape shots, the usage of classical music in various scenes, the sense of the city decaying as Dracula's impact on the town grows, the strengths of various performances in the film, or even standout scenes like this. Aside from Dracula (to be fair though, Schreck's performance in the original is pretty much untouchable), this film is everything which Murnau's film isn't.

That's my only first-time watch of February which I'd call great. I also revisited Written on the Wind though, which I gave a
to.
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February '23

The Virgin Suicides - Sofia Coppola's wistful and ominous coming of age movie and directorial debut.

Gog - A '50s B-movie that's part techno-thriller and part murder mystery. It has similar appeals as The Andromeda Strain and the game Half-Life.

Baskin - A surreal and odd mindscrew of a horror movie from Turkey.



Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Jurassic World: Dominion