Favorite Viewing of The Month?

Seems that I also watched only three films last month:

Uzumaki - rewatch of this weird manga adaptation horror. It wasn't as good as I remembered but still quite OK (3/5).

No One Will Save You - not terrible but would have been better without the attempt at being smart and different (2/5).

Spirited (Jagar Arwah) - an Indonesian horror / urban fantasy that somehow resembles incompetent US young adult fiction. Not good (1.5/5)

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August:
First Time: The House of the Lost on the Cape on Blu-ray
Rewatch: Howl's Moving Castle on Blu-ray


September:
First Time: N/A, though watching Heat for the first time in about 20 years certainly felt like seeing it for the first time
Rewatch: Howl's Moving Castle theatrically

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Look, Dr. Lesh, we don't care about the disturbances, the pounding and the flashing, the screaming, the music. We just want you to find our little girl.

It's been quite a month - the absolute best of the best were The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Blow-Up, Sick of Myself and Zorba the Greek - what an amazing bunch of movies those are.


As usual, there are a busload of honorable mentions - Things to Come (2016), The Killer (2023), Strictly Ballroom, Point Break (1991), Fruitvale Station, Eagle vs Shark, HealtH, Tootsie, Close (2022), Dersu Uzala, Ironweed, Traffic, Cop Land, Victoria & Abdul, H-8, Princess Mononoke, Whitney and Pig (2021).

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This month I watched 17 films and one mini-series.

The Equalizer 3 - Even though I like the first John Wick a lot more than any Equalizer, this series has kept its quality much better. There are some nice and brutal action scenes accompanied by rather beautiful cinematography—oh, and there's Denzel's and Dakota's reunion. (3.5/5)

In My Mother's Skin - A Filippino fairytale horror. Maybe a tad too slow at times, but it makes it up with a bleak story and a great performance by the young lead actress. (3.5/5)

I also rewatched the first two Halloweens, and the Carpenter's original got a 3.5/5.

Don't Blink - Ten people drive to a remote resort, only to find it abandoned. While searching for the missing, the arrivals become increasingly aware that something very strange is happening.
A lovely slow burn Twilight Zone style mystery horror. Reminded me of Phantoms, but I've never seen anything quite like it, which is a big thumbs up.

The best horror movies I watched in October:

Fade to Black
Housebound
Kill, Baby...Kill!
The Menu
The Haunting (1963)

Other than that, I watched all of Wes Anderson's Roald Dahl shorts on Netflix, all of which I really enjoyed. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and The Rat Catcher are my favorites. With those two and The Menu, Ralph Fiennes is the month's MVP!

Getting back to that time of the year when I get to watch more movies. YAY!!
Watched a few big time movies this month along with a few not so great:

October 2023:

1) Branded to Kill (1961) ‐
2) Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) ‐
3) A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) ‐
4) Fire in Castilla (1961) ‐
5) Elevator to the Gallows (1958) ‐

My strongest month of the year so far. Went from having zero perfect ratings (excluding rewatches) to two.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

This was a pretty good month overall, but probably not as exciting as September. I watched a total of 12 movies and part of a miniseries.
Not really having much motivation, I just watched as many movies as I could that fit the halloween mood.

I will not talk about all of the movies since there are a lot, but I will discuss the most important ones.

The movies were...

Videodrome
Suspiria(second viewing) - This must be proof that I am experiencing film fatigue because I liked this one better the first time than the second time. The stunning colors just did not do it for me. But I learned more details about Suspiria like the blind man and the dog.
Laura - I was quite enjoying this film noir. Great cinematography that won an Oscar and great characters(most notably Clifton Webb and Gene Tierney). There was a twist where Laura was not really dead. The only issue I have with this movie is that there was no proper resolution after Laura's life is saved. The movie just ends after Waldo dies and says, "Goodbye Laura. Goodbye, my love."
Phantom of Paradise
Picnic at Hanging Rock - Eerie Australian cult film about some disappeared girls. Pan flute music plays throughout which adds to the darkness of it. It felt like Suspiria due to both films presenting colleges housed with females. The ending then felt unresolved.
Minority Report
The Devils
The Gang of Four - Sixth Jacques Rivette film. At this point, I am starting to understand all of his patterns. Plays, a conspiracy that is usually fake, and exercises that take eternities to finish. I liked this film anyway as it still had charm and enjoyed the idea of there being somewhat of a villain(Thomas). The four girls ended up knocking/killing Thomas who was the boyfriend of one of the girls. I was bored for the first hour(I thought I saw pictures that I did not really see), but it started to pick up for the next hour and forty-five minutes. I kind of wish that I watched Anatomy of A Murder instead but that one feels like a November film.
Paprika - I was so confused while watching this film to the point where I can not remember how some scenes played out immediately after they happened. After I watched it though, I
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde(1931) - Watched because Fredric won Best Actor here in a tie with Wallace Beery. Overall, I found this one very entertaining with my favorite parts involving Hyde terrorizing Ivy. I laughed when he was calling her
Peeping Tom - Expected from a Powell movie, this one has vibrant colors. Mark Lewis kills women with his video camera and uses their reactions in a documentary that he is making. I enjoyed all of his interactions with his neighbor Helen who was celebrating a birthday at the beginning of the film. The ending is horrifying as the police have caught up with Mark and due to this and the urge to kill his beloved Helen, he kills himself leading to a bleak end to the film.
Eyes Without A Face

My favorite movie was: Peeping Tom and Paprika

Least Favorite Movie: Phantom of the Paradise(can't quite remember it).

And I would like a little help with the miniseries that I was watching. It is British classic The Singing Detective which stars Michael Gambon as the lead character. I watched the first two episodes and so far, I am just not enjoying it(although things did pick up on episode 2). I think I was expecting more of a musical type of show, but it feels more like the kitchen sink drama than a musical. Everyone gushes about how much of a masterpiece this is and that it is better than Sopranos and Breaking Bad, but so far, I just do not understand this show.

I had a pretty good month. My favorites were probably...

Barbarian
Them!
Terror of Frankenstein
30 Days of Night
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Lake Placid

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A revisit of Hostel Part II. Still one of my favorites.

1. The Hunger
2. Eyes Without a Face
3. Cat People (original version)
4. Lisa and The Devil (probably my favorite Bava)
5. Hour of the Wolf
6. Onibaba
7. Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

October 2023
Favorite re-watch: The Shining (1980)
Favorite fresh viewing: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

September 2023
Favorite re-watch: no re-watches
Favorite fresh viewing: Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

August 2023
Favorite re-watch: The Doors (1991)
Favorite fresh viewing: Amadeus (1984)

Aug
War and Peace
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Past Lives


Sep
Shoah
Hell or High Water
El Conde


Oct
28 Up
Women Talking
Killers of the Flower Moon

This month has been a pretty good month for me and actually the first so far to not feature any foreign films. I watched two movies that might be the best that I have seen all year. The first one was The Sting, due to the orchestral ragtime music, numerous twists, its layout, and the ending where the two leads successfully con the mob boss.

The other one was Gloria, which is already in my top 10 for the year despite only having seen it a few days ago. The music was beautiful, I loved the city vibe, and I just loved Gena Rowland's Gloria character in general. I was quite surprised that it got a Best Actress nomination, but I am quite sad that Sissy Spacek took it home for playing Loretta Lynn. I knew that Gloria was the basis for Leon the Professional just by watching what was going on(gangsters murdering a little kid's family with the neighbor taking him/her in). I do not normally give 6-stars to movies, but this was one of the few movies to do so as I found the entire film to be a work of art, even the opening credits.

Other films that get 6s include: Daisies, Cleo From 5 to 7, Sweet Charity, WOTVOANB, Celine and Julie, Duelle, OUT1(but because it was unclassifiable), and now this one.

Other films this month include:
Peggy Sue Got Married
Johnny Guitar
The Divorcee(Yuck! but Norma Shearer was pretty charming I guess.)
The Grifters
The Lady Eve
Bullets Over Broadway

That all for today, but one more thing to that Divorcee movie which I found boring and dated.

Take That Norma Shearer and The Divorcee!!! I'm Gloria the Professional!

This month was a mix of Christmas movies and film noir.

Favourite first time viewings:

No Way Out (1950)
The Killer (2023)
Storm Warning (1951)
The Harder They Fall (1956)
The Dark Mirror (1946)
The Bigamist (1953)
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Holiday Road (2023)
A World Record Christmas (2023)
My Christmas Guide (2023)

Favourite rewatches:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1970)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

Again, only ten films (and one I didn't even finish) watched this month. Two favorites were:

Alice - A Czech interpretation of Alice in Wonderland combining stop-motion animation with live-action. It's a little twisted take on the story (partially thanks to the style of puppetry used) and has some nightmarish tint to its dreaminess. It reminds me of Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, but without the adult themes. My biggest gripe is the decision to have the young lead actress narrate everyone's dialogue; it would have worked much better with proper voice actors for the puppets. 3.5/5

Code of Silence - A Chuck Norris film about an honest cop shooting and beating a bunch of criminals. It reminds me of the early Steven Seagal films (which is a good thing, by the way). Surprisingly good 80s action fun. This was a rewatch from my early teens. 3/5

1) The Piano Teacher
2) Sawdust and Tinsel
3) Carlito's Way
4) Curse of the Demon

November '23:

Avengement - Excellent lean and mean Scott Adkins revenge flick.
The Naked Kiss - Samuel Fuller's classic neo-noir about a not-so-perfect American small town.
Past Lives - A sad and beautiful romance about a Korean man and woman who reconnect several years after one of them emigrated to North America. One of the best of the year.

Favorites were...

Criss Cross
Le Samouraï
Murder, My Sweet
Lovely Molly