Favorite Viewing of The Month?

Probably Edward Yang's Terrorizers


Runner up Hyenas

Not counting rewatches, my favorite viewing of the month goes to The Train. What a great film.

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My favourite first time watches of the month were:

The Little Mermaid (2023)
Three Came Home (1950)
All the Colors of the Dark (1972)
Cocaine Bear (2023)
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999)

My favourite rewatches:

Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Days of Heaven (1978)
The Verdict (1982)

May '23:

Siege - Intense and uncompromising Canucksploitation take on Assault on Precinct 13 set during an actual police strike in Nova Scotia.

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes - A clever and funny time travel comedy from 2020. An anti-Tenet, if you will.

A lot of great movies this month, but I'll keep the list down to the absolute best otherwise I'll be crowding things a little. I saw 5 that were head and shoulders above the rest and much loved by me. The Verdict, Sunset Boulevard, Summer Hours(L'Heure d'été), Munich and Rebel Without a Cause


The many honorable mentions are : Maria Full of Grace, All That Heaven Allows, Beau is Afraid, Midsommar, Edward Scissorhands, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Deadpool 2, Selma, Shadowlands, Avanti! and Fearless

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Hapax Legomena III: Critical Mass (1971) -

Prolonged scenes of yelling usually of yelling usually wear me usually wear me down, but me down, but the stylistic but the stylistic elements Frampton stylistic elements Frampton utilizes here Frampton utilizes here convey the here convey the meaningless of the meaningless of arguments between of arguments between couples really between couples really well. The really well. The repetition of The repetition of the dialogue of the dialogue matches the dialogue matches the repetitive nature the repetitive nature of their nature of their yelling. The their yelling. The audio not The audio not matching up not matching up with the up with the picture represents the picture represents how, though represents how, though the couple though the couple is saying couple is saying a lot saying a lot of words, lot of words, they're not words, they're not meeting eye not meeting eye to eye eye to eye or saying eye or saying anything of saying anything of substance. The of substance. The various cuts The various cuts to black cuts to black represent how black represent how they're just how they're just blindly yelling just blindly yelling at each yelling at each other (the each other (the improvised dialogue (the improvised dialogue matches this dialogue matches this element really this element really well). Overall, really well). Overall, it's my Overall, it's my favorite film my favorite film I've seen film I've seen from Frampton seen from Frampton so far. Frampton so far.

Raising Arizona (1987) -

This is yet another Coen brothers film I would consider great. While the overall kidnapping plot is memorable, I also found myself taken in by the smaller moments in the film which reaffirmed the various difficulties/anxieties of being a parent. Whether you're referring to H.I. attempting to take a family portrait, Ed's reaction to seeing their baby for the first time, or Glen's unruly family causing problems throughout H.I.'s property, there's a lot which leaves an impression on you. In addition to these small moments, a wide array of colorful characters populate H.I.'s and Ed's lives. There are prison escapees Gale and Evelle, furniture magnate Nathan Arizona, Glen's aforementioned unruly family, and a mysterious biker who attempts to rescue Nathan's kid. All these characters are vital to the plot as they all directly interfere with and complicate H.I.'s and Ed's wishes to start a family in one way or another. These subscenes and characters suit the film's parental themes really well and pair nicely with the anxieties/guilt H.I. and Ed have from the kidnapping. Speaking of which, though they're not the most likable characters, we at least get the only true ending for them (and some of the other side characters) which the film could've had, in typical Coen brothers fashion. The balance of hope and uncertainty we get suits their remorse over their crimes very well. The film is also quite fun as the various chase/fight scenes spread throughout are well-choreographed and consistently inventive with the set pieces and tension on display. Overall, this film really struck a chord with me and I wouldn't mind rewatching it sometime in the future.

Overall, this was probably my weakest month for movies so far, but here's hoping June will fare better.

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My basket of first time viewings sucked when compared to the first four months:
Big Bad Fox and Other Tales
Days of Heaven
Tokyo Drifter
April and the Extraordinary World

My favorite has sadly got to go to the French one again and that would be Big Bad Fox. It was such a charming animated film. Days of Heaven of course had good cinematography and felt like a nature program, Tokyo Drifter was short and sweet and also something different, and April was kind of strange with the Komodo dragons being the villains.

Top films for the month of May:

The Beautiful Troublemaker
The Raid
The Raid 2
Shanghai Express
The Stuntwoman
Peppermint Soda
Black Girl

May:


Quo Vadis Aida
Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Three Came Home

For the month of June I have a plethora of great movies to choose from. The very best and brilliant of them are : Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Third Man, Transit, A Hero, Capturing the Friedmans and Frozen.


There's a heap of honorable mentions - all of them ultra-enjoyable and great : Days of Heaven, One Fine Morning, Anchors Aweigh, 48 Hrs., The Club, Lake Mungo, Miracle on 34th Street, The Great Gatsby, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, Sweet Charity, Moulin Rouge (1952), Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. and The Offence.

This is the first month where I haven't given any 9/10's (or 10/10's). As for my favorite films I rated 8/10 though, it would be The Hill, Limelight, La Terra Trema, and Scream.

Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners, on Netflix, i had heard a lot of good things about this director, and this my first from him did not disappoint.

A few runner ups would be The Pawnbroker (1964), In a Lonely Place (1950), Safe (1995) and Duelle (1976)

So glad to see someone talking about this, not a what you might call a popular film, but my favorite from Hollis, it's effect is exactly how i'd imagine a bad drug trip or having a mental disability would feel like.

Favorites for the month of June:

Germany Year Zero
Center Stage
The Return of Martin Guerre
The Color of Pomegranates
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Judas and the Black Messiah
The Cigarette
Tangerines
Welcome, or No Trespassing
The Four Times
Caliber 9

Out of about 60 or 70 movies (you have to discount TV shows), the only ones above 7, with just a 7.5/10, would be



Air


Amores Perros


Not surprising, since I've mainly been seeing stuff from the last year.

June was a month with a couple overdue re-watches (The Godfather, The Searchers), a couple 80's flicks I should have watched a while ago (Top Gun, Crimes of Passion), a little trash (Schoolgirls in Chains), some monsters (Evil Dead Rise, Nightbeast) and some ott action (The Fast and the Furious, Kingsman: The Secret Service) but two films stood above all the first viewings: A Fistful of Dollars and Three Days of the Condor.


I'm giving the edge to Condor because it's been so long since I watched a really good political thriller. It does have the dopey, out of place love scene but other than that it was a fast moving, highly entertaining, what's going to happen next flick.

Favourite first time watches:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
A Dog’s Life (1918)
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Take This Waltz (2011)
Of Mice and Men (1939)
Stories We Tell (2012)
The Noodlepoop (1997)
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
Un Chien Andalou (1929)

This might actually be the best lineup of movies yet this year. Almost all of these are 4 stars or over.
This month, I watched:

Elephant Man: I watched this one at 12 pm at night because I just had a nap and wanted to stay up. I thought I would dislike this one because it was David Lynch, but I was wrong. I love this movie because I enjoyed watching this deformed man finally get respect from a doctor after a long time of being a stunt act. Another factor in my love for this one has just got to be that it was in black and white. It felt like a Tim Burton movie to me, except it is much more dramatic than Burton.

What's Up Doc - I had a great time watching this one. I especially enjoyed the car chase scene of this one. The whole movie was charming and while it was predictable(the doctor does
not love their fiance and falls in love with Judy at the end), it was still great fun and was the first movie that made me laugh a lot in a while. My type of thing right there.

Dressed To Kill - I watched this one when I had nothing left to do. I saw myself comparing it to Psycho how it has its main character gets killed halfway through the movie and has an obsessive madman who models themselves after a woman(Norman Bates as his mother and Robert Elliot as a woman). I think this one should have been cut just a little bit at the end because all of the scenes with the doctor escaping the prison were just a nightmare.
Weekend - Another odd FNW movie. I had trouble watching this one because it was 1:30 at night when I was watching, but I can not deny the happiness this film brought me. These characters were quite aware that this was not real life, but a work of fiction.

How To Marry A Millionaire - An entertaining romantic comedy featuring Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable. This one is very colorful just like most 50s American technicolor movies. They do not make them like they used to in terms of acting and story.

Rome Open City - I was bored watching this one until the shocking scene where Pina(Anna Magnani) gets killed by Nazis. Then I was blown away by how courageous the two main characters(Giorgio and Don Pietro) were. Giorgio was being tortured, but instead of revealing information, he instead accepted his death and so did Don Pietro. Forget 1984, this is a great work of art with great heroic characters and a story that all audiences can enjoy, not the cowardly Winston and Julia. I always felt that 1984 was more of a school lesson for the critics than a thing I enjoy, but at least the world is a better place thanks to that book.

Mulholland Drive - This film had me weirded out after it was done being viewed. I heard this film be compared to Celine and Julie Go Boating, and in a way, those two are quite similar. In C&JGB, the duo quit what they are doing in order to rescue a little girl from a group of people at a mysterious house, while in MD, I believe they need to find out where Rita was when an accident that gave her amnesia occurred. The ending kind of reminded me of Contempt because both show a deteriorating relationship along with a chilling string score to accompany this. Although the ending was said to be up to your interpretation due to the idea that it could have all been just a dream after the scene with the box. What a cold movie this was.

Five Easy Pieces - When I was watching this one, I was interested in it all of the way through, and as a person interested in music, this one was for me. It featured pieces by Chopin in it and was played by the protagonist and his family throughout the film. Standouts included the two female hitchhikers, the famous diner scene with the chicken salad sandwich, as well as my favorite part: The pretentious family friend was treating Bobby's wife Rayette like she was an idiot and then Bobby tells her to knock it off and that she is full of sh*t. "You shouldn't even be in the same room as her you pompous celibate. You're full of sh*t, you're all full of shit". Jack Nicholson did a great job acting on this movie and despite only watching it a few days ago, I love it. Its also a shame that Jack did not get Best Actor for this one and it instead went to a guy(George C Scott) who refused it for a movie that I did not particularly care for(Patton).

Reds - Finally a Warren Beatty movie after falling asleep on McCabe and Mrs. Miller. I am usually not interested in a movie like this, but this one had so much charm that it was more than just a film about politics and the revolution. I was cheering by the time the first act was done because the rocky relationship between Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton's characters was finally mended when they made it to Russia. I also wish more movies that long nowadays would have intermissions, because then it would give some breathing space for the viewers so that they could get a shower or go grocery shopping in between acts.

Those were my nine self-viewings this month, and if I were to pick a favorite, I think it might be...





















































Five Easy Pieces(1970)

Five easy stars for this movie that I truly got something out of.

January: Deep End
February: The Red Shoes/Wings of Desire
March: Children of Paradise/The Graduate
April: The Wicker Man
May: Big Bad Fox and Other Tales
June: Five Easy Pieces
July: ?

Now on my favorite movies section of my profile page, you will see my proposed top ten from late-March - June. The list will change to reflect July-September in October.

June '23:

Kind of a lean month. I only have one:

The Killer (2022): A stylish and bloody South Korean action movie that features a retired hitman, but I would not call it a mere John Wick ripoff.