Movies You've Seen Recently | September 2019

[Divius]

Welcome
Hello and welcome to the monthly Movies You've Seen Recently thread. The place to hang out with fellow movie lovers!

Thread rules
1. Be nice, be civil, use common sense
2. Respect the opinions of other members, no matter how wrong they are
3. Use spoiler tags accordingly
4. Have fun, we're all here because we love movies

DO NOT just post the title of the movie you watched. It isn't conducive to the kind of discussion & communication we want to engender here, because it tells us nothing of you, the movie, the impact of the latter on the former. Post scores, descriptions, essays, poems, gifs, hashtags, whatever provides you the best outlet for personal expression, you unique little digital snowflake. - icarus-daedelus

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Want to introduce yourself?
New to the Movies You've Seen Recently community? Let us know a bit about yourself:
1. What's your favorite Movie?
2. Who's your favorite director?
3. Who are your favorite actors/actresses?
4. Favorite Genre(s)?
5. What's your favorite performance in film?

- Post your top 5 new viewings from the previous month!

Useful external links:
Letterboxd
ICheckMovies
IMDb
Rotten Tomatoes
Metacritic

Also check out the official Film Era discord!

You need to reply to this thread in order to see this content.

Flow
BaronOfBarons
Ampersands
daydreamDE
omgkitty
kevin1025
Ridley327
JOKERACN7
Lordxar
ViewtifulJC
Halo 2
Fancyclown
Icolin
Hoju
Carl
Sterling
Mariachi507
Infernostew
Divius
Messofanego
jett
Borgnine
Angmars
Atraveller
Minishdriveby
PuckBeaverton
NoMoreTrolls
Ventilaator
Steamlord
Nexus
KraftyKrankins
S.T.A.R.S Beret
Spectromixer
Rhomega
Catsel
Foolia
Peco
Window
Overcast
ItRhymesWithDoom
ThatWasAJoke
Boogs31
Pachimari
shane632
VileZero
Slader166
More_Badass
MidnightCowboy
demosthenes
Roberto Duran
ASleepingMonkey
ZombAid
Disco
Double
andrew
Cloudwolf
okayfrog
Mi goreng
Rembrandt
Cripplegate
JetSetSoul
Halo 2
retroman
hipsterpants
sotojuan
Zutrax
Allstar
Darkwing-Buck

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If you want to be added to the list above, shoot me a PM and you'll be added.

Unsure of what to watch? Just ask for recommendations in here. We don't bite!

 

[Divius]

I've logged 31 entries for films during August 2019.

TOP 5 NEW VIEWINGS OF AUGUST
5. The Dreamers
4. Parasite
3. Winchester '73
2. Manon of the Spring
1. Jean de Florette

MOST VALUABLE REWATCHES OF AUGUST
Jurassic Park

WORST NEW VIEWINGS OF AUGUST
Men in Black: International
The Dead Don't Die
Saw V

 

[luca]

I've logged 14 entries for films during August 2019.

TOP 5 NEW VIEWINGS OF AUGUST
1. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
2. Children of Men
3. Always Be My Maybe
4. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
5. Toy Story 4

Also saw Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, Polytechnique and The World Of Us.

TOP 5 REWATCHES OF AUGUST
1. The Witch
2. Incendies
3. Memento
4. Sicario
5. Avengers: Endgame

Also saw Thor: The Dark World.

In September I might go check out IT: Chapter 2. I want to see Ready Or Not, Good Boys, Ad Astra, The Kitchen and The Informer as well.

 

[Deleted member 18407]

I logged 60 films for the month of August 2019. Not too shabby!

Top 5 New Viewings of August
1. Yojimbo
2. Planet of the Apes (1968)
3. Serpico
4. Dear Zachary
5. Freaked

Worst 5 New Viewings of August
1.Black Christmas (2006)
2. Red Sea Diving Resort
3. Blumhouse's Truth or Dare
4. Source Code
5. Crazy Heart (this one is at least the most disappointing one, I had no expectations for anything else)

 

[Rhomega]

Top 5 of August:

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2. War for the Planet of the Apes
3. Booksmart
4. Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus
5. Persona

 

[Deleted member 6769]

14 total in August for me

Top 5 New Watches:
1. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
2. Monterey Pop
3. Shanghai Express
4. Manhunter
5. A Taxing Woman

Rewatch:
1. Apocalypse Now (Final Cut, it's similar enough that I'll just put it here)
2. Furious 7
3. 2 Fast 2 Furious (so bad its good)

Worst:
1. Hobbs & Shaw

Looking forward to Ad Astra, hopefully I get a chance to see it in IMAX.

 

[Flow]

Didn't watch much, but Steven Universe: The Movie is amazing.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

1. Talk to Her
2. All About My Mother
3. Bad Education
4. The Flower of My Secret
5. Tie Me Up Tie Me Down (rewatch)

 

[Rhomega]

Taxi Driver: This movie is like Titanic for me, I'm more interested in the history than the characters, considering New York City was in a bad spot in the '70s and '80s. He's not all that well mentally and personality-wise, part of which is being an incel, but that's not really emphasized after he breaks up with Betsy, and his psyche makes this movie relevant to the world today. It doesn't quite have the "going postal" ending I thought it would.

 

[MidnightCowboy]

18 in August, all in the first half. Haven't watched any kino in two weeks sadly.

Top 5 new:
Through the Olive Trees
Bigger Than Life
Millennium Actress
And Life Goes On
Glengarry Glen Ross

andrew Gleaners 4 lyfe

 

[andrew]

didn't watch much but most of what I watched was great.

1. Night Nurse
2. Once Upon a Time In... Hollywood
3. The Farewell
4. Foreign Correspondent
5. Ladies They Talk About

worst
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot

most valuable rewatch
The Gleaners & I

18 in August, all in the first half. Haven't watched any kino in two weeks sadly.

Top 5 new:
Through the Olive Trees
Bigger Than Life
Millennium Actress
And Life Goes On
Glengarry Glen Ross

andrew Gleaners 4 lyfe

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I loved it the first time but this rewatch showed me what a masterpiece it was. It was chosen as the introduction to Varda for a couple people and I was kinda worrying we should've gone with Cleo or Vagabond but I think this was perfect. We watched Uncle Yanco beforehand too, just the sweetest

 

[Dan-o]

Violence Voyager - I don't even know how to describe this. It was intro'd as "like an animated Golden Book, but in the style of David Cronenberg." That seems about right. Just an all-out wacky experience.

Trailer (English, as that's how I saw it):

 

[Blader]

Top 5 of August:

1. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
2. The Farewell
3. Dont Look Back
4. Woodstock
5. A Few Good Men

 

[Deleted member 18407]

Felidae is a very strange animated film from Germany. It's a neo-noir style storyline with strong horror parts as well. Oh, and it's all about domesticated cats. There has been a string of murders of cats in the neighborhood and they're all male cats who have been prepared to do some mating. It's a surprisingly gruesome movie too, with some very violent deaths for the cats. There is a scene of graphic animal testing too. It didn't feel exploitative to me but if you have any reservation about violence done to animals, by both humans and other animals, even if animated, stay far away from this movie.

There is a lot going on thematically with eugenics, animal testing, and the debates about whether man is the real animal. There is a lot of striking imagery that the animation lends itself to very well, especially in the wild dream sequences. I'm not really sure how or why this movie was made, but it clearly had a decent budget and they used it. I watched it in German with English subtitles and the voice acting felt very good to me, even though I don't speak the language. The voices matched the character designs very well. I do not know how the English dub compares.

If you can handle some very gruesome animated violence, this is something interesting and different. It's a fascinating oddity in animated films that's worth tracking down.

 

[MidnightCowboy]

 

[Peru]

didn't watch much but most of what I watched was great.

1. Night Nurse
2. Once Upon a Time In... Hollywood
3. The Farewell
4. Foreign Correspondent
5. Ladies They Talk About

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Some classic pre-Code Stanwycks there, Night Nurse is v good, v good

 

[Darkwing-Buck]

Ready or Not (2019): Honestly was ready to hate this 2/3rds in, but the ending and Samara Weaving's performance salvages it for me.
If you're in the mood for some trashy B-movie gore this could be one you might enjoy!

 

[Zousi]

34 films watched in August. Top 5 new watches:

1. Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019)
2. The Rider (2017)
3. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)
4. The Quiet Earth (1985)
5. Beautiful Boy (2018)

 

[ThirstyFly]

Highway to Hell (1991) [Ate de Jong] (Rewatch)

Here's one I saw as a kid and wanted to revisit for ages, however it vanished after the VHS era and didn't get a digital release until 2016.
I don't have much to say about Highway to Hell. A guy's fiancée is kidnapped and is to be delivered as a gift for the devil, so he's forced to enter Hell in order to rescue her. That's really all there is too it.
The movie itself is okay. They clearly didn't have the money to do a robust image of Hell, but there's some nice makeup effects and such. A lot of the gags, both visual and ad-libbed (I'm looking at you, Ben Stiller) don't really land, but it has that late 80s charm (it was filmed in '89 but not released until '91).
It's one of those movies you finish, say "Well, that was cute" and never think of it again.

But it has a cameo from Gilbert Gottfried as Adolf Hitler, so I guess it has that going for it.

 

[Deleted member 18407]

Bloodsport still rules. It's incredibly dumb and filled with some of the worst acting I've ever seen. It's practically plotless. The fights are so much fun to watch though, especially with some drinks in you. The soundtrack is INCREDIBLE too and if you don't like "Fight To Survive," I don't know what to tell you.

Jackboots on Whitehall is a British puppet comedy set in WW2 that I didn't find particularly funny nor did I think they used the puppets effectively or well. Like if you're going to make a puppet movie... maybe the puppets shouldn't feel like an afterthought? It absolutely did not work for me but my wife loves it. She's a historian though so maybe if you have a better grasp at what it's poking fun at, you'll like it. The average American viewer is not going to like it much.

 

[Deleted member 9932]

once upon a time in hollywood is a bit of a stinker. Tarantino going through a very cold phase. What the fuck is sharon tate even doing in this film.

 

[Peru]

once upon a time in hollywood is a bit of a stinker. Tarantino going through a very cold phase. What the fuck is sharon tate even doing in this film.

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I'm undecided on this movie overall, but felt the sharon tate parts were beautiful, quite moving, and made a lot of sense with the ending chosen

 

[Messofanego]

Saw this on the plane to Orlando.

The Sun Is Also A Star is a culturally rich, diverse NY-set romcom but the sentimentality is too cheesy and the dialogue can be cringe-worthy. I'm guessing this is a YA novel deal? She's into astronomy and the scientific method ("if it can't be proven by the scientific method, love isn't real") and he's a poet. There is some silly fanservice where the guy's first shot is he's lying on bed with his shirt fully open displaying his ripped abs and just staring at the ceiling, so not the typical Asian American shown on film lol. Still socially relevant immigrant story (ICE is name-dropped) and love between an Asian American and Jamaican American (usually the lowest considered in dating statistics). Her family is about to be deported back to Jamaica but she wants to stay and get into astronomy. He's a dreamer but is pressured to become a doctor so is going for his interview, and coincidentally their immigration/interview location is in the same building by the same lawyer! The cinematography is really good, especially for romcom standards. It's feel-good fun and heartfelt, so would recommend if you're a romcom junkie. Better than recent Netflix romcoms at least.

 

[UberTag]

Decided to make a day trip to catch some TIFF screenings after all.
Secured tickets for both Waves (Trey Edward Shults) and Uncut Gems (Ben & Joshua Safdie aka The Safdie Brothers) this morning.
Will rush Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi) beforehand.
Won't even have to switch theatres between screenings as they're all playing back-to-back in the same venue.
Will give me something to look forward to in a couple weeks.

 

[Teenage Fansub]

Top 5 new watches for August:
Andrei Rublev
Lean on Pete
OUaTiH
The Kindergarten Teacher
Thunder Road

Rewatches:
Duke of Burgundy
Blood Simple
Hateful Eight

 

[More_Badass]

Favorite New Watches of August
Ready Or Not
Vengeance
Dirty Ho
Das Boot
The Nightingale
Full Contact
The Killer
The Black Tavern
The Duel
Dragon Inn

Favorite Rewatches
Hard Boiled
There Will Be Blood
Bone Tomahawk
John Wick Chapter 3

Worst Watch
47 Meters Down Uncaged

 

[Boy Wander]

Bloodsport still rules. It's incredibly dumb and filled with some of the worst acting I've ever seen. It's practically plotless. The fights are so much fun to watch though, especially with some drinks in you. The soundtrack is INCREDIBLE too and if you don't like "Fight To Survive," I don't know what to tell you.

Jackboots on Whitehall is a British puppet comedy set in WW2 that I didn't find particularly funny nor did I think they used the puppets effectively or well. Like if you're going to make a puppet movie... maybe the puppets shouldn't feel like an afterthought? It absolutely did not work for me but my wife loves it. She's a historian though so maybe if you have a better grasp at what it's poking fun at, you'll like it. The average American viewer is not going to like it much.

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Bloodsport is basically a fighting video game as a movie.

 

[Slader166]

Watched Kaili Blues (Bi Gan, 2015) last night, absolutely stunning movie.

Easily a 9/10.

 

[Boy Wander]

Favourite Movies I watched in August:

Into the Spiderverse
Rogue One
Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Presumed Innocent

Worst Movie:
D.O.A

 

[Borgnine]

What the fuck is sharon tate even doing in this film.

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Living.

 

[Deleted member 18407]

I drank too much while watching Bloodsport last night and didn't sleep well so I got up way early and did my daily run and watched Dredd during it, an old faithful of a movie. It's kind of the other side to Bloodsport's coin, where the plot is pretty minimal but Dredd is a much smarter movie, a much more intentionally constructed movie with more intention and some fantastic action sequences that are practically artwork. It's a very tight movie, trimmed to the minimum necessary and none of it feels like fluff. It's fucking great and a perfect exercise movie. The pacing is spot on and almost never quits moving forward. Watch it if you haven't.

I also watched Swing Girls today, a 2004 Japanese movie about high school girls who start a jazz band and it's one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I don't remember the last time I felt so HAPPY after watching a movie. The titular girls start off in a remedial math class and accidentally poison the school's brass band so they take over for the band in an attempt to get out of math class. Of course, they don't know how to play any instruments and still don't really know how to play by the time the real brass band gets out of the hospital. The replacement girls were starting to enjoy playing their instruments and decide to start their own band recreationaly, so we get to watch them learn to play and figure out how to afford instruments. The ending is so earned and I had a smile on my face nearly the entire movie. It's genuinely funny and you can't help but root for them. I almost started clapping at the end in my living room I was so into it. What a good god damn movie.

Bloodsport is basically a fighting video game as a movie.

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Oh yeah, absolutely. It comes with that same baggage where every fighter has to be the representative in the costume of their people and fighting style too, for better or worse. It's still a really fun movie and it's pretty funny that from the period is was filmed, the arcade game they had to use in the scene where Dux meets Ogre is Karate Champ and not the games that were inspired by this type of movie.

 

[Ridley327]

Top 5 New Watches for August (no particular order)
-Castaway on the Moon
-Shoulder Arms
-A Bittersweet Life
-The Farewell
-Millennium Actress

Most Valuable Rewatch: Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (with a live score!)

The "Fuck This Thing In Particular" Award: El Gigante

Yearbook: A morbidly funny premise for a short, being a man tasked with the unenviable duty of chronicling human life on earth before an extraterrestrial missile destroys all of it, makes a brave yet confident turn to a profound realization of existentialism that shifts the tone to some far more dramatic and resonant as he realizes the cruel tragedy of there being only so much room for our sum history to occupy. The shift is sudden, yet never feels forced or undercooked, resulting in a quiet knockout that takes up just 5 minutes of your time and feels more cohesive than most feature-length films.

The list for next month is as yet to be finalized, but it's getting there...

 

[Rhomega]

Her: Well that was more erotic than I was expecting. This isn't just about a love between human and AI, but rather examines the joys and frustrations that love brings, especially if you're not ready for the emotional commitment. The cinematography is pretty good, and Los Angeles looks gorgeous from Theodore's apartment.

I'll stick with being single.

 

[THEVOID]

Decided to make a day trip to catch some TIFF screenings after all.
Secured tickets for both Waves (Trey Edward Shults) and Uncut Gems (Ben & Joshua Safdie aka The Safdie Brothers) this morning.
Will rush Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi) beforehand.
Won't even have to switch theatres between screenings as they're all playing back-to-back in the same venue.
Will give me something to look forward to in a couple weeks.

Click to shrink...

Please report back on this one. Big fan of his.

Some reviews are out and they are glowing.

https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/waves-review-2-1203319165/

"Movies of this caliber come along seldom to never, and terrific word of mouth out of the Telluride Film Festival, where this A24 release made its world premiere, should ensure that this anomaly isn't drowned out in a crowded awards season."

Wow!

 

[Addi]

Top 5 new watches August 2019:

1. Ikiru (Kurosawa, 1952)
2. Once upon a time in Hollywood (Tarantino, 2019)
3. Pigs and Battleships (Imamura, 1961)
4. Hereditary (Aster, 2018)
5. Pickpocket (Bresson, 1969)

Best rewatch:

Con Air

 

[Blader]

A couple old reviews from last month:

Woodstock
At 3.5 hours, this is both the perfect length to capture the enormity of Woodstock -- the music, the crowds, the drugs, the lines, the weather, the rolling around in the mud, the swimming, the general dysfunction, the townspeople who are surprisingly more chill with the whole thing than you'd imagine -- and also really overwhelming to take it in. I had to split it up over two sittings (thanks to a nicely included intermission) because it was just getting to feel like too much. But that said, it is a really impressive feat of concert filmmaking; an incredible treasure trove of performances, captured surprisingly up close, broken up with interviews of attendees, festival organizers and people living in the surrounding town, who give you an honest in their own way account of what it must have been like to be there and absorb this whole thing. Also, is it weird to think that the lineup at Woodstock is kind of underrated? Maybe because I always think of it as more of this massive pop culture/countercultural seminal event of 60s, that it's easy to overlook what a fucking crazy lineup of bands these guys managed to pull together for this show.
8/10

Gimme Shelter
Not as good as Woodstock, and I think the reason why is because for about the first half of it, it's got really nothing to say. It's the Stones watching footage of themselves perform on tour, and nothing more to it. It's only when the film gets to Altamont that we get to the good stuff. At the point the music becomes secondary, as the Maysles really amazingly managed to find themselves close enough to capture the rampant violence and general chaos that erupted, with the Stones and any other band on stage practically begging the crowd to please stop killing each other and just listen to the music. It's really captivating stuff, and if more of the film was spent on it I would probably put this above Woodstock -- the two are really perfect counterpoints to each, capturing the breadth of the late 60s counterculture in two concerns -- but as it is a lot of the first half is spent on nothing particularly interesting.
7/10

 

[cognizant]

The weekend before last, I binged Netflix and Prime and watched these movies, all of which I enjoyed, but it was quite a bleak weekend indeed:

Triple Frontier
Sicario 2
Wind River
Bone Tomahawk
Brawl In Cell Block 99

Dark as fuck movies. At least the weekend ended with laughs of incredulity with Brawl In Cell Block 99. Bone Tomahawk had the nastiest death scene I've ever seen, not for the faint of heart!

This weekend, I've got planned:

American Made
The Night Comes For Us
Triple Threat
Head Shot
Good Time

 

[Prolepro]

The weekend before last, I binged Netflix and Prime and watched these movies, all of which I enjoyed, but it was quite a bleak weekend indeed:

Triple Frontier
Sicario 2
Wind River
Bone Tomahawk
Brawl In Cell Block 99

Dark as fuck movies. At least the weekend ended with laughs of incredulity with Brawl In Cell Block 99. Bone Tomahawk had the nastiest death scene I've ever seen, not for the faint of heart!

This weekend, I've got planned:

American Made
The Night Comes For Us
Triple Threat
Head Shot
Good Time

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Well your weekend is something to look forward to after that last list by comparison.

Good Time is great, made me a Pattinson fan. Not exactly a feel good film, but really entertaining.

 

[Ridley327]

The Night Comes For Us and Head Shot will definitely continue the ballet of brutality. Those are some insanely violent action films.

 

[Rhomega]

Harold and Maude: A tender love story between a rich kid who values little in life and spends a good amount of time faking suicides, much to the chagrin of his unsympathetic, helicopter mother. Maude feels like an anti-establishment hippie, stealing cars for kicks and blowing off the police, and I don't like her as much as I thought I would. I'm missing something about Harold and his relationship though. Why is that she is the one who gets him to come out of his shell? Why does he go along with her? I figured it would get him to stop with his fake suicides, but no. Maybe I'm just not paying enough attention.

 

[More_Badass]

The Night Comes For Us and Head Shot will definitely continue the ballet of brutality. Those are some insanely violent action films.

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Very eloquently put and very accurate

 

[Sean C.]

Only 13 films logged for me in August.

Top 5 new viewings
1. A Simple Favor (2018)
2. The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
3. The Farewell (2019)
4. Good Boys (2019)
5. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)

Top 5 repeating viewings
1. Imitation of Life (1959)
2. Eighth Grade (2018)
3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
4. A Summer Place (1959)
5. Arabesque (1966)

Ready or Not (2019): Samara Weaving (Hugo's niece, it turns out) gives a great lead performance in what is a pretty solid horror comedy. There are a few elements that are not as strong as they could be, mainly to do with the arcs of two supporting characters; and I was left wondering whether it wouldn't have been more interesting if the fakeout ending where the whole ritual appears to be nonsense was actually the real ending. But there's a lot of good humour and Weaving, as I said, is masterful at grounding the scenario.

 

[Rhomega]

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013): I certainly do relate to this guy a bit, what with heroic daydreams and lack of stuff done on my own, albeit it doesn't shut me out from reality, and I enjoy the movie for that. Beautiful shots of Iceland. Glad the plot wasn't a complete waste of time for Walter.

This review brought to you by eHarmony, Papa Johns, and Life magazine, which actually stopped making magazines in 1973.

 

[andrew]

Living.

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^^^

 

[MidnightCowboy]

Klute

A two hour flex from Jane and Gordon Willis, draped in shadow and voyeuristic pleasure. Bree is a great character, complex and frustrated in all the best ways; of course any movie that is pro-prostitute is bound to be dope (Belle de Jour baby!). On some level the therapy sessions are a little too explicit in their intent, but that's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things because Jane nails the hell out of them. The scene at the market near the end is adorable, where she clings onto Klute's jacket, finally letting herself embrace the foreign sensation known as love. Sutherland is kind of just there for the most part, but it works. Really like his expressionless delivery. The scene with the old man is another highlight. Need to watch more Pakula stat.

 

[Yams]

Top 5 watches last month

1. Mahjong
2. Taipei Story
3. Maborosi
4. The Farewell
5. Rocko's modern Life

 

[patientzero]

So, hi folks! I post regularly in the reading topic, but never caught this one. As such, going along with the questions in the OP -

1. What's your favorite Movie?

Oh god, I debate this shit constantly. I am one of those folks who has a love of both mainstream and indie/arthouse stuff, but also came of age in the 90s. As such, my go-to entries for "favorite" are Jurassic Park and The Royal Tenenbaums. In total honesty, As Good as It Gets might actually be my all-time favorite now that I'm thinking about it.

2. Who's your favorite director?

Historically speaking, I value Spielberg like no other, but of recent decades I don't think anyone currently working has anything on Cuaron.

3. Who are your favorite actors/actresses?

I have your average white, straight dude loves - think Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, everyone in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, etc. I have real soft spots recently for Cate Blanchett, Daniel Kaluuya, Luptia Nyong'o, and Jessica Chastain.

4. Favorite Genre(s)?

All are welcome, but give me a good 90s indie slice-of-life, horror, or sci-fi.

5. What's your favorite performance in film?

To echo question 1, off the top of my head, I might love Greg Kinnear in As Good as it Gets above all else.

Anyway, that's my intro, but I have 15 August films to eventually post. I'll try to spread it out!

 

[Ridley327]

God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance: There was no way this was going to live up to its tremendous title, but as far as 20-minute music video takes on a documentary about a love-in go, this seems to be about as good as you could ask for. There was definitely a lot of care put into the aesthetic direction of this, particularly once the music kicks it up a notch and we get treated to more experimental visuals through a kaleidoscopic lens and footage of hippies engaged in far more intense dancing. There's not much more to it than that, especially with the complete lack of dialogue and even any lyrics in the soundtrack, so there's a bit of a detachment to it that can make it feel a tad lengthy when it really is just a bunch of people hanging around and dancing, but it does a rather good job of capturing the acts that it winds up as a very worthwhile experience by the end.

 

[patientzero]

On my first August update, and I'm going to use my Letterboxd rating and reviews. Reviews are out of 5 stars -

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - 4.5 stars
Defining Moment: Absolutely, Robbie as Tate watching an audience watch herself and reveling in their glee at her pratfalls, all of it a scene of unbridled joy and a vision of a past and a future we know cannot come to pass. Runner-up: "That was the best acting I've ever seen."

Apollo 11 - 4 stars
Defining Moment: An early scene as we see Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin and all three are granted cuts revealing archival material of their pasts.

Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro - 3 stars
Defining Moment: Burning the counterfeit money, at once the right thing to do and also an act of utter chaos, emblematic of Miyazaki's superb take on the character.

Scary Movies to Tell in the Dark - 3 stars
Defining Moment: The "red room" and its attendant horrors doubling down on the parallel to being youthful in the face of the inexorable death machine of Vietnam while also committing the horro movie sin of completely repeating an earlier scene.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - 4 stars
Defining Moment: That first action scene as Nausicaa guides the Ohm away from its prey, and by extension its own rage. The sequence acts as combination of beautifully fluid animation, world-building, and thematic relevance.

Castle in the Sky - 3.5 stars
Defining Moment: Pazu and Sheeta's brief respite traveling to Laputa's inner gardens, suffusing Miyazaki's renown for nature in every cel. This is a movie where tone can shift on a whim, but here the whimsy and solemnity exist in in appropriate harmony.

My Neighbor Totoro - 4 stars
Defining Moment: Is there any question? All you need for a feeling of serenity is sitting on a treetop playing an ocarina with your favorite fantastical creature.

 

[Divius]

I think I have my 31 Days of Horror list ready, any of you maniacs or horror aficionados might taking a look and telling if there are any big no-no's on there? Thanks!

https://letterboxd.com/divius/list/31-days-of-horror-2019/