Another month of films have gone by as the numbers actually went up a bit though something in the last few days of June had me go on a personal retreat due to stress. I’m OK now but I was really going into a bad place as I needed to seek some treatment for a while. So I personally would like to thank the staff and people at Ridgeview Institute for taking me in for a few days.
The summer film season is still going on and not much is really happening. I’ve only seen 3 new big films for the summer in The Avengers, Moonrise Kingdom, and Brave as they’re clearly in my top 3 spots in the five films I’ve seen from 2012 that includes 21 Jump Street and The Hunger Games. The only new films I’m eager to see this summer are Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Dark Knight Rises. That’s practically it as I have no interest in seeing anything else for now.
In June, I saw a good number of films as I saw a total of 42 that includes 23 first-timers and 19 re-watches. One of those re-watches was a theatrical screening of Cinema Paradiso which I recommend to see no matter what cut it’s in on the big screen. Here are the 10 best first-timers I saw:
3. Pusher Trilogy
4. The Guard
5. Goldfinger
6. Dr. No
7. Brave
8. Thunderball
10. The Way Home
Monthly Mini-Reviews:
Bratz: The Movie
Is this what we want young girls to be? Vacuous, fashion-obsessed, idiotic young girls who are willing to spend their parents money to be popular and aim to be on MTV? While it’s a movie aimed for young girls, it really isn’t a film or a movie but a piece of propaganda that tells young girls what to do to be popular. It is truly one of the most disgusting and obscene pieces of trash that I had ever seen in my entire life. It’s already now in my list of the worst films ever made.
Kung Fu Panda 2
While it’s not as good as the original, there is enough for the sequel to make it enjoyable enough that allows the audience to get to know more about Po and the Furious Five. Notably as the screenplay, that features additional work by Charlie Kaufman, explores Po’s past and where he came from while Gary Oldman delivers a solid performance as a villainous peacock hell-bent on reclaiming his throne and stop Po.
Prog Britannia & The Story of Krautrock
Two brilliantly-made BBC documentaries that can be seen on YouTube explores two very different genres in the world of popular music. Prog Britannia is a wonderful documentary that covers the evolution of progressive music from the late 1960s to its fall in the late 1970s due to its self-indulgence and why it’s still considered a dirty word in British popular music. The Krautrock documentary is much more different due to the fact that it’s based largely in Germany where it reveals how German popular music managed to get the attention outside of its native country following the events of World War II where it features bands like Neu!, Can, and Kraftwerk. Both documentaries are widely recommended for music fans.
NWR
A one-hour documentary on Danish filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn made for French television is an intriguing film that explores Refn’s career up to the release of Drive as well as his arrival to Bangkok to start work on his upcoming film Only God Forgives. It’s definitely something that fans of his work should see as it features interviews with filmmakers Gaspar Noe and Alejandro Jodorowsky as well as Refn associates like Mads Mikkelsen, Zlatko Buric, and wife Liv Corfixen as they help tell Refn’s story and career including his contentious relationship with the Danish film industry.
Re-Watches:
2. Paris, Texas
6. Major League
7. A Fish Called Wanda
8. Bull Durham
9. Innerspace
10. You Only Live Twice
Well, that is all for June. In July, expect a few reviews of films by Christopher Nolan as he is the next Auteurs profile in anticipation for The Dark Knight Rises. The Bond marathon will continue as I’ll watch the 1967 parody film version of Casino Royale to maybe Moonraker as I’ll be watching them this time around on TV. I will also be watching some films by various filmmakers including Andrei Tarkovsky who will be an Auteurs subject for August. Until then, this is thevoid99 signing off.
© thevoid99 2012
The first half of the year was pretty good wasn't it? Makes me even more excited for the second half of the year and all of those exciting Oscar Buzz movies coming our way. I'm so jealous you saw Moonrise Kingdom and Brave, those two seem really great!
ReplyDeleteIt was alright. I wished there were better films to come out this year. The 2nd half of the year I always feel is much better. See Brave and Moonrise Kingdom, now!
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for the Roger Moore ones!!
ReplyDelete@David-I already have one of the Moore films recorded and another one set but first, I need to do another Connery, a Lazenby, and an unofficial parody where everybody including Woody Allen plays Bond. Moore will come in 2 weeks.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Moonrise Kingdom, too, glad to see it on your top 10!
ReplyDeleteBratz: The movie? why would you see that? :)
@Diana-It was on TV. I wondered why did Paula Abdul freak out about wanting to be in this piece of shit.
ReplyDeleteWow... it's truly disgusting. If you saw it, you'd be offended by the crass amount of commercialism that it's spouting. I don't think it's worthy to be called film since it's really nothing more than a commercial about commercialism. It's obscene.